The CSI Project’s Top 10!

I’m absolutely on cloud 9 about being in the top 10 projects for the 3rd week in a row at The CSI Project!  This time, you had to link up things you had gotten for free.  I linked up a few projects, and the Two-Toned Freebie Dresser was chosen by The Nester for one of the top 10 projects!

 

In other related news, the dresser sold this week!  The lady who bought it brought me a pair of nightstands to makeover to match, so stay tuned to see how these babies turn out…

  

This dresser was also featured on Craft Gossip and Like Merchant Ships, and we got a lot of traffic and new followers come from the exposure on those sites, so a big thank you to them and a big welcome to all the new readers!!

We’ve had a tremendous response to not only this dresser, but the Sultry Gray Sideboard, and the Metallic Secretary as well.  It was a huge week up in here and I’d like to thank everyone for their wonderful complements!  There’s so much more to come, so thanks for reading, for following, and for all the great comments!  :)

Metallic Secretary Desk

As I was driving my kids to go swimming the other day, my neighbor was in the process of taking out this old secretary desk out to the curb.  Screech of breaks and hold on to your seats kiddos!!!  Mamma’s gotta go score some furniture!  (It’s an addiction, really.)

It needed some screwing and gluing, and for something to be done about the hideous faux wood grain paint job someone had attempted at sometime in it’s existence.  (It was painted chocolate brown and messily streaked with black over that, I’m guessing to simulate wood???)

One of the hottest trends in interiors right now is the use of metallic finishes, and I was inspired by all the great metallic looks out there as I was contemplating what direction to go with the design of this piece.  Here’s some of my inspiration:

(Silver Leaf Bombay Chest, not sure of source )

(Zinc Dresser and Iron Bed Restoration Hardware)

(Silver Leaf Dresser from Decorpad)

(Antique Silver and Gold Painted Dreser from Horchow)

(Burnished Silvery Chest from Horchow)

(Silver Leaf Bombay Chest with Scroll Detailing from Horchow)

 

For my little freebie secretary, I combined the burnished, heavily antiqued look of the zinc dresser from Restoration Hardware or the burnished silvery chest from Horchow with the tone-on-tone scroll detailing of the last Horchow chest above.

First, I brush primed the piece with Kilz.  Then did a base coat with Rust-oleum Bright Coat Silver Metallic Finish Spray Paint.  Here’s how she looked after the base coat.  The brush strokes from the primer coat showed through, which really did make it look very much like a silver leaf finish, but WAY easier.  ;)

 

Then I mixed up a glaze to add the antiquing using Metallic Champagne paint from Folk Art along with some black acrylic to darken it to a pewter color and water. Then I added the hand-painted scrolling detail, also using the Metallic Champagne Folk Art paint mixed with just a touch of burnt umber to darken.  I added back the original antique brass hardware, after giving them a good scrubbing with soap and water.  I also added a handle to the top part that I salvaged from another freebie, the two-toned dresser that I finished up last week.  Waste not want not!  :)  And here she is all prettied up:

 

The moral of the story, you don’t always get what you pay for.  Sometimes you get much, much more.  ;)

 

This project is competing in the Roadkill Rescue Challenge over at The CSI Project!

Also linking to parties at:

Domestically Speaking, Somewhat Simple, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Miss Mustard Seed, The Shabby Nest, Finding Fabulous, Life in the Fun Lane, Perfectly Imperfect, Thrifty Decor Chick, Shanty 2 Chic

Two weeks in a row in the CSI Top 10!

I hope this isn’t gloating… or prideful… but I’m SO excited that the wonderful Miss Mustard Seed chose my Sultry Gray Sideboard to be in The CSI Project’s Furniture Makeover Challenge Top 10 projects!  That’s two weeks in a row!  Hooray!  AND I had someone contact me yesterday about coming and buying it!  The online validation is fantastic, but the monetary validation… even better!  :)

Two-toned Freebie Dresser

I found this awesome, nine-drawer, solid oak dresser for FREE on Craigslist.  The lady said she was giving it away because it had been sitting outside and the top was all weathered, and it was missing most of the pulls.  Neither of those things bothered me in the least because:  A) the top being weathered made it easy-peasy to sand down to bare wood, which I wanted to do in order to stain the top and B) I was going to replace the pulls anyhoo!  :)

Yep.  That’s one weathered top alright.

 

So, after I almost broke my father-in-law enlisting him to help me pick up this heavy beast, I got out the course sandpaper and stripped what was left of the finish off the top with my palm sander.  I painted the base a creamy not-quite-white and stained the top a rich, deep mahogany stain.  I picked up some great black pulls from Hobby Lobby while they were half-off last week, and voila!

 

I LOVE those pulls…

Hope you love it as much as I do!!

 

This project is competing in the Furniture Makeover Challenge and the Roadkill Rescue Challenge over at The CSI Project!

Also linking to:

My Backyard Eden, Blue Cricket Design, Bobbypins Boardwalk, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Life in the Fun Lane, Perfectly Imperfect, Thrifty Decor Chick

Sultry Gray Sideboard

I have wanted to do a sideboard pretty much since I started redoing furniture, a desire made all the more palpable after seeing this gorgeous sideboard that my good friend Cassie from Primitive and Proper did many moons ago.  (This has to be one of my all-time fave furniture makeovers of all time.)

I came across this slightly-neglected-but-never-the-less-gorgeous French buffet at Goodwill and it became an immediate must have.  I LOVE the bowed drawer fronts!  (I had to do a little reconstructive surgery on the applique with some wood filler, but all’s well now…)

So I had a plan to paint her gray.  Cara needed a little bit of convincing, but I think she came around.  :)  A dark walnut stain on the top for a two-toned look and some heavy distressing, the original ornately beautiful hardware, and we called her done!

I think I’m in love… wishing I had more room in my house…

 

This project is competing in the Furniture Makeover Challenge at The CSI Project!

Also linking up to:

C.R.A.F.T., Skip To My Lou, Under The Table and Dreaming, My Backyard Eden, Blue Cricket Design, Bobbypins Boardwalk, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Life in the Fun Lane, Perfectly Imperfect

And a leetle more news...

Hello tres lovelies!! It's been a while since I've posted and I know I've missed it. We both have a blast sharing with you all of what we love doing. My pregnancy is coming along well, and I'm feeling so much better. Enter 2nd trimester glow. And a smaller nod to a (larger-than-normal) pot-belly too, which will hopefully grow to a fancy large curve.

So, even though I'm feeling better, I've made the bittersweet decision to devote more of my time and energies into my artwork. I've been “WOO HOO”ing in the fact that my work will be showing in a new, larger gallery, which is a fabulous opportunity to buckle down and stop floating from one lovely flower to the next. So hopefully I'll have some leftover energy to paint when all of the kids are tucked in at night, but (sigh) you know how THAT goes :) :). Of course, I still will be sneaking in a furniture backyard play-date twice a month or so with Ann Marie and our kids. Although we need a play-gate for our toys, because the kids keep getting into the paints and tools.

Slainte to you all!
Cara

Next Week: a once-loved secretary desk with some hand-painted designs. Something else I look forward to... a trip to the old shoppe bookstore downtown, to gain some ideas/purchases of antique children's literature for color/pattern inspiration for some children's pieces (hopefully headboards?) WEEEEEEE!!!! Can't wait! See you there.

We made The CSI Project Top 10!!

 

I’m SO excited!  My little Bugga Boo’s new (old) dresser redo made the top 10 projects on The CSI Project’s Yard Sale/Tag Sale Challenge!!  Woo hoo!

And those wonderful Shanty 2 Chic gals also featured my headboard bench this morning!  LOVE them!  :)

A big congratulations to Amanda at The Hand Me Down House for her big win with the totally awesome Pottery Barn Chandelier knock off made from a hideous (and also very abundant and easy to find) old light fixture!  It was by far my favorite project this week.  Cara and I were just talking about it the other day when we got together to work.  What good choices the Shanty 2 Chic sistas made!!  ;)

Thanks for all your wonderful comments about this little dresser!  I’m pretty smitten.  I keep walking by her room and peeking in with a contented sigh.  :)

Casa de Twice Lovely

Well, It’s about monsoon storm season in Arizona.  This was very worrisome to a woman who works with wood furniture, predominantly outdoors.  We had a few days in a row of the big ol’ thunderheads rolling in by mid-afternoon, so I started pricing out canopy enclosures to be the new Twice Lovely workshop.  Those puppies are pricey!  (At least for this cheapskate…)  But my BFF Craigslist came through for me again.  I found a 10’ x 20’ (one car garage size) vented pitched roof enclosure with “windows” and everything for $150.  It was only used once and in pristine condition.  I’m a happy girl, with shade AND protection from the elements.  A fantastic business investment, if you ask me.  :)

I’d show you the inside, but I don’t want to spoil any surprises.  It’s filled with lots of goodies in various stages of completion.  :)

My Daughter’s New (Old) Dresser

Some of you might remember this fabulous, very OLD dresser that I picked up from Goodwill several weeks ago for $40 (that’s definitely in my upper spending echalons, but this baby was too charming to pass up!)

I knew I could make some moolah selling it, but in my heart of hearts, I knew I was going to paint it white and keep it for my daughter’s room.    A woman came by to purchase the sofa table I did several weeks ago, and asked if I had any dressers.  I hesitantly showed her this one, which I hadn’t started yet.  She asked if I had any smaller ones.  I happily said, “Well, I was hoping to do this dresser for my daughter’s room.  Would you like to see the dresser she has in there now?”  I showed her the little dresser, and she bought it for $60, as is (I didn’t even have to take a paint brush to it!)

So I got a dresser for in there that I LOVE, it’s bigger,better, more charming, AND I made money on the exchange!  Things have worked out in this very fortuitous way for me in other exchanges of items for my home, where practically everything is a twice-loved, second-hand project of some sort.  I’m on a constant quest to find the best, most perfect fit for us for the very least amount possible, and upgrade for (at least) free.  :)  I’ll show you a few more of those upgrades in another post, but right now, here’s the finished dresser, in all her white loveliness:

Here it is with more of the context of her room (I think it’s a perfect fit!):

The dragonfly etched mirror that was above the old dresser was too big to work over the new dresser, so I moved it over a little white desk that’s just to the left of her play kitchen there, so that now works as a little vanity.

I’m sharing this project over at the Yard Sale/Tag Sale Challenge at The CSI Project.

LOTS more projects in the hopper and coming very soon!  I’ve been a busy girl, and with Cara’s help, we’re cranking them out!  :)

 

 

Linking to:

Domestically Speaking, Bobbypins Boardwalk, My Backyard Eden, Somewhat Simple, Shabby Nest