24 Olive Street

bad doggy

We've had a problem with counter surfing in my house. And the overall chewing of things when I'm gone. Never when I'm home...always when I'm gone. Even if I only leave for 15 minutes.

For the longest time I thought it was Copper (my golden). Because Tucker (my lab) has never done that before.

Until now that is.

I ran out for about 15 minutes the other day and came home to a package of flour on the living room carpet (that he grabbed off the kitchen counter).

And Tucker with his mouth & nose full of flour.

I have to say, it was the funniest thing I'd seen him do in a long time!!

I couldn't be mad at him cause I was laughing too hard!

Oh man, this still makes me laugh!

And thanks to this little fiasco I was able to nail down the real culprit...and he now gets to be in a crate when we're gone :(

But don't feel bad for him, it's only temporary. And honestly, he kinda likes it.

I also got some help cleaning up the flour :)

I sure wish that Minnie Mouse vacuum actually cleaned up the floors cause she loves helping me clean!

**********

I was up in Colville for Junk Drunk last weekend. Great show as always and I had great neighbors from Nebraska Lane. Check out this bag I bought from them.

Totes ma goats!! haha Had to have it!!

It was a great weekend. I wore my apron from craft weekend :)

My hubby made this bench for me out of a headboard. He's made a few now so he's getting pretty good at it! I painted it in Annie Sloan Duck Egg paint.

I got this old table from a sweet customer at Pickin' on the Prairie last year. She said "I know you can do something with it!" Yes I can!

I had my hubby chip away at some of the paint but I left some of it on there (hello, green & blue chippy paint?? Swoon!!). I sealed in the chippy goodness with some poly & added some old fence boards for the top & sealed those with poly as well.

I was a little sad to see this table go because I envisioned it as my new gardening table in my backyard but it went to a super sweet new owner :)

And my son came with me as my helper for the weekend so that made it even more fun :)

This is a dresser I dropped off at the store before heading up to Junk Drunk for the weekend...and my son's photobomb :) This piece actually used to be my oldest daughter's dresser and then we used it as an entertainment center before redoing the new one. I painted the exterior in a mixture of Provence & Pure White (Annie Sloan chalk paint) and it's sealed in clear wax.

After a few days away I couldn't wait to get back to this little one!

Cause these days of craziness and preteen hormones, this little one likes me best :)

And now it's back to baseball, soccer, flag football...and getting ready for the Fancy Farmgirl Vintage Market (name changed from "Chic" Farmgirl) on May 10th!!

"new" entertainment center // buffet redo

Last summer while out hitting the yard sales I found this great buffet. At the time it was my plan to refinish it and resell it as I do with most pieces. It has great lines, great hardware, solid wood and no major damage.

But as it sat in my garage I realized it would make a perfect entertainment center for our family room...something we desperately needed since the dresser we were using temporarily just wasn't cutting it for our needs.

So I decided to use this buffet that I found. With the doors on either side it would work great for the video games & such.

(Bottom painted, no wax yet, top sanded with one coat of stain)

I sanded down the top because I wanted to stain it a different color than what it had originally. Plus, it had a few knicks & scratches.

The bottom got painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Duck Egg with clear wax (both can be purchased at Paint in my Hair). I love this color because it's more of a greyish blue and not a bright in your face paint color. Incidentally, my hubby was happy I chose this color as opposed to Provence which was my original choice. Provence is a great color but definitely much bolder.

As a side note, I also added a coat of polyurethane before painting so I wouldn't have any bleed through with the wood. I still had a little wood bleed through but I was probably being impatient with waiting for the polyurethane to dry :)

The top was stained with Rustoleum dark walnut stain. Now I know the can says "color achieved in one coat" but I actually had to add 3 coats to get the rich dark color I was looking for. Two coats looked nice but I decided to go for 3 and I'm really happy I did. I then added 2 coats of polyurethane (cause I know one of my kids is gonna drop something on it or slide a toy across the top. It won't guarantee that it doesn't get scratched but it will sure help!

And I am so happy with the finished product. It works perfectly and adds so much needed storage. All of the video game systems, games, Skylander characters & extra DVDs are inside either doors (we cut a small hole in the back for the wires), the bottom 2 drawers hold DVDs, another drawer holds all of our remotes, controllers, etc and we still have 3 empty drawers!

And we don't have a bunch of crap sitting on top! Yay!!!

I'm not sure about those plants on either side of the tv...I haven't figured out if I'm gonna keep them or not. The pots definitely need to be painted a different color.

You may or may not have noticed that there was a trim piece that was removed from the back on the top. Originally I was going to try and sand it by hand and stain it. But then I realized if I put it back on the cord for the satellite box would have to go up and over it so I opted to leave it off all together.

Now if I can just save up for some new carpet for this room I'd be happy camper. This dark brown that the builder put in...yuck.

it's been a while...

since I've blogged.

Busy, busy, busy. Typical life, right?!

I had started a post last week. After we lost power on Saturday, then subsequently the modem went out & we were without internet til Tuesday evening.

But then I got busy with other stuff. Ya know, typical life :)

Oh, and then my little one got up from her nap and I noticed her entire hand was blue.

Blue.

What the crap??!!

And I went upstairs to find this...

You see, my 2 yr old and my 12 yr old share a room.

And someone...ahemthe12yroldahem...left an entire pack of Sharpies within reach of the 2 yr old. So she apparently had a little fun during nap time.

I wanted to cry.

This was the dresser that I had just refinished for their room. Thankfully most of the "painting" was contained the one drawer front. And while I got a lot of suggestions facebook on how to get it off none of them really "worked".

Magic eraser took off the marker but also rubbed off the finish. Alcohol was less effective in getting the marker off and rubbing off the finish. And since I wasn't going for a distressed look for this piece it will need to be repainted and re-waxed.

Oh joy.

Cause I don't have enough to do!

The marker eventually came off her hand...after many washes.

And speaking of furniture, I've been working on lots of new stuff for my space at Paint In My Hair (as always) and one for myself.

I originally picked up that buffet to refinish and sell but we're in desperate need of a nice piece of furniture for our family room. So once this is finished it'll be our new entertainment center. I really didn't have the time to work on something for myself between working on furniture for my space, 2 shows coming up (see sidebar -->) and going out of town for Craft Weekend in - eek!! - less than 4 weeks. Not to mention sports that are starting back up.

But it was taking up valuable space in my garage so I had to work on it to get it out of there. I shared a work in progress pic on facebook yesterday. I can't wait to share the after pics!!

When a dresser has great wood drawer fronts this is my favorite thing to do. The "shell" was painted in graphite with dark wax.

This cute vanity is painted in Paris Grey with clear wax.

There's also a cute chair :)

I also added some more of my flower clips. These are pretty popular. They're great for your hair, clipped on a hairband, on a bag, wherever! There's also a few new bags in some fun fabrics :)

I'm hoping to open my etsy shop back up & I'll be adding cute stuff like these bags & flower clips along with other goodies!

We had some nice weather over the weekend (mixed in with rain) but today is all rainy so I'll be working on a cabinet/hutch that *fingers crossed* will be in the store tomorrow!

11.12.13

What a cool date. Bummed that we were running behind this morning & didn't get a chance to take a pic like the one I did last year when it was 12.12.12....

I realized this morning that I had no eggs. My pantry is barren. I haven't gone shopping in quite a while. So it was McD's for breakfast...and since we haven't done that in months I didn't feel too bad about it :)

Oh well, next year I can get one when it's 12.13.14. Or maybe I'll just take a pic tomorrow....ssshhhh, no one will know! haha

Last Saturday was the Monroe Street holiday open house and since I had some big pieces go on to new homes I took a few new pieces down to the store.

I painted this buffet in Chateau Grey & used clear wax on it. I love this paint color because it's more of an olive green than grey (or maybe a combo of both??). I love the color!

The guy I bought this buffet from was a super nice guy with a very heavy Italian accent (apparently he had just moved here recently). And he said he was suprised when I showed up to pick it up because he said he didn't think this was a piece of furniture that a 'younger' person would like. I said 'oh, I'm going to redo it and it'll look totally different!' But I got a kick out that :)

And I really wanted to keep this dresser that I painted in Provence with clear wax. I left the drawer fronts in the original wood color because I loved the design on the bottom drawer (that I realized after I took the picture is half covered!).

But since this little 'business' of mine is basically funding our Disney trip...I want to go to Disney more than I want to keep the dresser ;)

I also marked down several pieces in my booth...mostly smaller furniture pieces and my fall items.

Yesterday we headed out to the mall to do some Christmas shopping...well, Christmas shopping in the sense that I wanted to see what clothes fit my daughter (what sizes) and what else the kids wanted so I can let Santa know :)

We found these cool remote control helicopters...

I found some cool slippers & my daughter found lots of stuff at Aeropostle she liked (of course!)

I can imagine wearing those zebra slippers at my next scrapbook retreat :)

And the most favorite thing that I found at the Hallmark store...

It's a countdown to Christmas 'radio'. For every day it plays an old fashioned radio broadcast & music! And you can hook your iphone/ipod up to it! I seriously need it. I may heading back to the mall this week to get it...cause if I don't I know I'll regret it.

And I'm sure Addie & I will be heading back to the mall anyway this week for some shopping! I've probably mentioned it before but 2 of my kids have birthdays just after Christmas so I have to do the shopping for that as well. So I usually do all of the Christmas & birthday shopping before Christmas...because after Christmas there's just nothing left in the stores.

But for now I have some grocery shopping to do so we'll be able to eat again!!

the blue desk

I picked up this desk at a local thrift shop last year with plans to refinish it for one of my kids. My son really needed a desk for his room since he loves to draw & build his legos but doesn't really have a good place to do that.

Photobomb! haha

I didn't do a 'before' shot of the desk but let's just say it had a crappy paint job on it. It's amazing how many pieces of furniture I find that were 'redone' where the person either had no idea how to paint furniture and/or just did a super sloppy job.

Anyway, I just did a light sanding on the desk (& heavy sanding on the drawers...whew, they were a mess) & painted with good ol' acrylic paint, then sealed with a coat of poly (2 coats on the top of the desk...it's gonna get a lot of abuse!)

I already had the chair...also picked up at a thrift shop about a year ago. I like the contrast of the wood wtih the blue desk so I opted not to paint it. But I am thinking of making a cute chair pad to go on it.

And the handles I just gave a coat of silver spray paint (they were an ugly gold).

And now my son has a 'brand new' desk!

I think he likes it :)

And now we've realized that his room definitely needs to be painted (it's still light blue from when it was Addie's nursery). And I also need to give that lamp a little makeover.

24 Olive Street has moved!!

Now that it is 'official' I can share my happy news that I am a new vendor over at Paint in my Hair! I am so excited about this opportunity to spread my wings a little bit so-to-speak! I've admired all of the fabulous furniture & other goodies that are available at PIMH for quite a while now, not to mention a few of my favorite fellow crafters/junkers are also vendors there. 

It's going to take me a little while to get all set up & get my space exactly how I want it but I thought I'd share just a few pics I snapped of the progress so far (and a few of my new furniture pieces that I just finished up)...

I love how that charcoal grey hutch turned out (already sold). It's a little rough around the edges & a bit more rustic (which I love) but it's a great piece. Originally it was the same color wood that you can see on the inside of the top part. I painted it using the same color paint as I did on the headboard bench project. It has quickly become one of my favorite non-chalk paint colors for sure!

I love how that vanity turned out (painted in ASCP in Paris Grey with clear wax).

You can kind of get an idea of what it looked like before (on the left)...

This is typically what my side yard looks like at least 1 or 2 days a week...furniture being sanded, prepped, painted, waxed... I would use the inside of the garage but let's just say there's more projects waiting to be finished so not a lot of room in there! My husband hates it. What can I say...until we win the lotto this is going to have to do as my 'workshop'! hehe

Like I said, it's going to take some time to get my space looking the way I want...but for now it's a start :) I'm going to be working on it some more this week (and taking in more stuff) so by next weekend it should be all set up...fingers crossed!

And hopefully now I can start getting my storage unit cleared out so I don't feel like I belong on an episode of Hoarders ;)

Lots of goodies waiting for a makeover!!!

Of course, once it gets cleared out a bit you know I'm just gonna fill it right back up again, right?!! Ahhh, the life of a junker :)

I'm also gearing up for Pickin' on the Prairie next month. If you're local you don't want to miss this show!!

headboard turned bench

I'm sure most of you have seen this idea. I certainly didn't come up with it. But there are many different versions of it on the web...and lots of ideas on Pinterest for sure (you can see a few on my 'Repurpose' board on Pinterest).

Last year I picked up this old headboard & footboard at a yard sale with plans of turning it into a bench. Truth be told I have a few sets in my garage :)

And last year I didn't get a chance to do anything with them. So this is the year!

I didn't take a picture of the headboard & footboard before I started (I probably have a picture of it from last year but I'm too lazy busy to go looking through my photos for it!)

But here's a picture of the bench in progress...

I'm not going to bore you with every little detail of how we put this together because it's already been done a million times for sure (I really liked this one). But you can see we used the headboard in back, then we cut off the bottom part of the legs of the footboard for the front of the bench, used a 2x3 for the side frame along with a smaller piece of wood to use as a ledge to hold the 2x3's for the seat.

Then we added a 2x3 for the front between the legs & added the decorative piece from the footboard for the front.

Now someone will probably wonder...why 2x3's instead of 2x4's? For one thing, it's a little bit of a cost savings. But more importantly, I didn't want to have any boards cut in half (lenghwise) for the seat because it wouldn't look right. So based on measurements if we used 2x4s the seat would've either been too shallow or too deep. Does that make sense??

Disclaimer: I say 'we' but ultimately my hubby did all the hard work on this. I supervised, sanded & painted but he did all the contruction. He did a super job :)

I went back & forth on what color to paint this beauty. At first it was going to be white. And then I remembered that I still had a bunch of paint leftover from our laundry room pedestal (post coming soon) which is an awesome gray so I ended up going with that.

After a little distressing, some poly, this is how it turned out!

I love the gray because you could dress it up with some bright, funky pillows.

And truth be told, if I don't sell it I won't be that upset...cause it sure looked really good next to my huge planter & the flagstone on my house :) Btw, that planter I won in a facebook giveway for Garden Springs Garden Center, a local nursery where I buy most of my flowers in the spring! Isn't it pretty?!

just finished

We're heading into the end of the school year, Addie's birthday has come and gone, my mom flew back home today, and I can now start getting geared up for the Strawberry Festival in less than 2 weeks!

Here are a few pieces I just finished up (excuse the glare, it's very sunny out!)...

A little desk redo using Arles & Pure White Annie Sloan chalk paint with a distressed chevron pattern.

To give you an idea, here's a before & after:

Wouldn't this look cute in a playroom, child's room, or even in a foyer??

And this is one of my faves...

Do you like my 'studio'?? Aka my backyard! haha It's been so warm & sunny out, it's perfect weather for painting.

I played with some Color Me Happy chalk paint in Twinkle Toes for the first time on this. I have to say I was a bit worried when I first opened the paint because it's a bit watery. But the coverage was great and I absolutely love this color!!

Love the curvy lines on these old tables :) All she needs is a coat of poly & she'll be all done!

I'm off to work on some more goodies for the show!

to paint or not to paint...

...that is the question.

Normally when I find old (or older) furniture it is in desperate need of a facelift...either the wood is faded, scratched, stained, or just plain ugly.

But not with this piece...

Found this at a yard sale yesterday. Oh how I love the curvy lines :) And while I much prefer the painted look it seems a shame to paint this one because it's in near perfect condition.

I mean, seriously, other than a minor scuff at the bottom which you can't really see anyway it really doesn't have any flaws to be repaired.

It also has a great - huge - mirror.

Isn't it great?! I'm seriously thinking of keeping this beauty for myself...my constant dilemma in this junkin' 'business' :)

Actually, not for me, for my girls. My little one will be transitioning to a big girl bed within the next 6 mos so we'll have a wall in the girls' room that will be empty (we'll either do a trundle or bunk bed on the opposite wall). If I end up doing that it will definitely get some paint.

Decisions, decisions... :)

This little desk will definitley be getting a makeover. The owner told me her dad found it in an old schoolhouse in Kansas :)

I found some bright & happy yellow Annie Sloan paint. I'm thinking of trying doing a chevron on the desk part.

So that's what I'll be doing this week! The weather has turned beautiful, it's warm & sunny out, and the rain (I hope) has moved out of here for a while!

Vintage Finds and Handmade Treasures Market

Another great show has come and gone!

All of the pics are from my cell & for some reason weren't the best. Oh well!

The Vintage Finds & Handmade Treasures Market was a lot of fun.

Jennifer & Kathy did a wonderful job and were super nice as always :)

There seemed to be a pretty steady stream of people coming through despite the rainy weather.

My oldest daughter Olivia came with me to help out

And to 'hide' under the table...her little reading spot ;)

I met many wonderful people on Saturday and got to chat with a few other vendors who were my neighbors :) I bought a hoodie from peace within which I cannot wait to wear!

Here's a few pics of furniture pieces I worked on for the show...

This little table had a missing square piece out of the top. Not sure what used to be there. I'm guessing maybe a square tile? Anyway, after painting it I had my hubby cut a piece of wood and I adhered a map of Spokane to the front.

I got a lot of compliments on that one :)

There's also this stool that I painted the same color (I've been playing with some chalk paint lately!)

But after I painted it I didn't like how yellow that wicker looked. I was afraid of that! So it got a fresh coat of white paint!

SO much better!

Do you wanna see one of my not-so-secret weapons for painting?

Yep, it's Press n Seal! So much easier than taping things off. And it adheres to most surfaces. Although on this one I had to press it down several times. But it's still better than tape because I had a kind of 'skirt' to cover the blue parts while I painted the wicker white.

Not to mention you don't have any sticky resido.

I love using this when spray painting lamps to cover the cord & any other parts I don't want painted.

I thought this little table was so cute

I must confess that I have a love/hate relationship with tables that have legs like this. I hate painting them but I'm always so happy when they're done cause they always look so good!

Love chippy, curvy table legs :)

Did you see that card rack I used on my display above?

Here's the before & after pics...

I've been looking for one of these for months. I found that one at an estate sale a few weeks back.

It was very dirty & rusty.

But after a good spray down & some white spray paint it's just perfect! (I didn't worry about the rust that I spray painted over because it's not for sale...just for display!)

I saved my favorite creation for last...

This wreath was a lot of work but so worth it. I used vintage sheet music to make all of the cones.

Even my son gave me several compliments on this one :)

And with that, I'll leave you with a pic of my lovely painting assistant...

Happy Monday :)