Greer's Stencil

Hi friends!  I'm sorry for my lack of posts....  grad school kicked in it full force and I had two Anatomy exams this past week.  Hence, I've done nothing but study.

I did want to update that we finally hung something in our bedroom!  Greer has been working on some stellar Alice in Wonderland stencils.  I meant to put up more of them but I don't have all the pictures yet, so I'm posting my favorite.

Are you ready?

Originally he had some colored paper behind it but I prefered just glass.  At least for this room.  And it also seems more "through the looking glass" that way.


I haven't hung Daisy Girl yet because I'm not sure where to put her.  I think I've mentioned Daisy Girl, but if not.... here she is.

Greer found her in a thrift store for me and I just have no idea where to put it.  It's not quite what I was going for in our room color-wise.  I also want to paint the frame but Greer's not a fan of that, so we'll see what happens.  She's a cutie though, huh?

Have a great weekend!

Antique Record Cabinet: Primed Pink??

So Greer, the amazing love of my life, has been working every night on the antique record cabinet.  (I think it helps that I just bought him the MP3 album of Eddie Vedder's Ukelele Songs!)  He sanded and sanded.. and now priming.

I just want to say that he is using plain old white primer.  Bull's Eye brand.. nothing special....


I thought maybe some sanding residue was causing this, but he claims to have cleaned it all first....

Say what?  Pink?  The pictures do not do this justice.



I guess this means more and more coats of primer?  We're not planning to paint this thing pink..so I'd rather not have those undertones!

Any thoughts friends??  ¿Qué pensaís?

I'm participating in:
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
More the Merrier Monday at DIYHSH

Simple Spray Paint Projects

I snagged two little finds at a thrift store that I thought would make some fun wall hangings.  Of course I only remembered to take pictures of one... but the other is just a frame anyway.  You'll see it in the finished product photos.

You may like it the way it is and that's completely fine.  Isn't it just fun to spray paint things?  And to have a project you can finish in a day?!  That's my favorite part.

The shadow makes it a little hard to see.

I chose the ever-popular Rustoleum 2x Coverage Satin Heirloom White (couldn't find it at Lowes.. had to go to Home Depot)...

[You can see two works in progress..recycling center and end table.. oh! The frame is in the background]

And transformed the wall hanging and frame to these....

I didn't care about taking out the frame backing... a little lazy on my part but what is it hurting?

Do you have a favorite spray paint project?  I'd love to see!

Bedside Table Update

Hi friends!

If you've stopped in lately you may know I've been working on Ana White's Farmhouse Bedside Table which I am super duper excited about.  If you know me, you know that it takes weeks for me to finish a project because I am involved in so many things (grad school, grad assistantship, Zumba instructor...).  The table is so close to being finished I can smell it!  Well...actually I smelled it from the beginning.  I believe I need a face mask to work in my dad's shop....

Neither here nor there.

So I've got the drawer and table frame sanded and painted a beautiful off-white Valspar paint color called Belle Grove Antique White, one of the National Trust Historic Colors. [btw-- don't trust Lowes online paint selector...completely off when I looked up this color].  I wanted white, but not sterile white.  I picked up the paint chip, loved it, and then noticed it was Belle Grove... which is very close by to where I live (see it here).  Done and done... and I'm very happy with it!

The bottom shelf and table top are cut, glued, screwed, sanded and stained (Minwax Provincial).  All that's left with these babies is polyurethane coats and  wax finish (I use an orange-scented beeswax finish). 

Top shelf

Bottom shelf

I cannot wait to assemble this sweet thing and get it in place on my side of the bed.  I seriously need the table space, shelf and drawer like whoa.

After this project, I will have a brief furniture interlude to start on a Christmas gift for my neice.  Another Ana White plan but I'm not giving away which one just yet!  You'll have to come back and see.

Que pasa bien la semana!

Some New Projects

Yes, I know.  I have still have to put the stencil on the end table.  My bedside table is not quite complete.  Why am I taking on even more projects when I am back in school?  Taking anatomy no less.

Because this is all just so fun!

I've already mentioned I inherited the Hoosier cabinet top in my furniture stripping tutorial.  Not much news there.  Still stripping.

My wonderful father gave me and Greer an antique record cabinet that was in an old house he and Greer were taking down.  It is not in the best shape and is missing all the guts, so it isn't worth any money but it's worth loads for us.

We need someplace to put Greer's record player and store at least some of his records.  Now we have the perfect thing. 

Greer already took out what was left of the guts on top to make room for the record player.



Look at all that storage!  Records on the outside shelves because they should not be stored horizontally. 

Close up on the leftover hardware (and lack thereof).

Since I took these pictures Greer has been sanding away the original finish (he didn't feel like stripping it so we're trying to go without). 

A few things that will need to happen:

- Reattach lid with new hinges

- Replace old non-functioning wheels (or just take off)

- Fill holes from old hardware

- Replace hardware (including door hinges..they are weak)

- Install door closure magnets



I'm sure we'll find more that needs to be done while we're working on it.  That's the nature of recyclers!

Can't wait for this to have a new life.  I'm thinking mustardy yellow maybe... or tan and brown.

Participating in:
Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello
Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Furniture Feature Fridays at Miss Mustard Seed
VIP Party at Designer Garden
The Girl Creative Linky Party

Recycling Center

I am so proud of my recycling center.  I found the plans at (where else?) ana-white.com where it is used as a laundry basket dresser.

It's made of four peices of plywood from the dump that I shoddily spray-painted limey green.  I am so very proud of this project because I did it all. on. my. own.  (Following directions)

This includes cutting the long L-shaped aluminum rods with a hand saw and using the drill press to drill holes into them so they could be screwed into the sides.

I installed the L-rods (or whatever they are called) for the top two baskets but decided to simply rest the bottom one on the floor.

Everything with this project went fine... until I screwed the plywood together incorrectly.  I assembled it with the sides on the inside margins of the top and bottom, rather than outside margin (as seen in photos).  I was so mad I took a week off from the project.  The following Saturday and disassembled the thing, made some more cuts, reassembled and bam! 

Recycling center.

There's just one finishing touch that needs to happen.  The sides bow outward (I left them in the sun..don't do that) so the middle shelf is very sensitive.  It falls off the L-rod easily.

To remedy this, I plan to screw a plank across the back that will pull the bowed area inward for better support.

Hooray!  We no longer have to walk across the yard to throw recyclables into various crates.

Unrelated: Marzipan and the End Table

I love my cat.  I am just that kind of person.

She found her new favorite place white I've been storing the end table in our living room until I paint the stencil on.

Poor thing.  She'll have to say goodbye to it someday...

...but that day is not today.  I have yet to paint the stencil on... it's intimidating.  Especially since I made things harder for myself in trying to "touch up" the yellow rectangles.

My friends... don't do this.  Maybe you don't even need me to tell you this and that is fantastic.  This is a picture of primer over top of blue spots on the yellow paint that I intended to paint over and make everything nice again.

Wrong.

Yellow over white is not the same shade as yellow over yellow.  So I ended up priming the both dag-gone rectangles over again and putting two coats of yellow paint overtop. Again.

She knows when I do something dumb, doesn't she?