Aunt Nancy's Chair....

Hi Everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  I wanted to share with you the Queen Anne style chair remake that I just finished.  My aunt Nancy gave me this chair along with it's four "sister" chairs that do not have arms.  They (Nancy and her husband Larry) were cleaning out a garage and they had these five chairs she had been saving but knew she wouldn't do anything with them, so she offered them to me for FREE!  Absolutely!  And you'll deliver them to the farm too!  Please and thank you!  They have been sitting in my storage room for about five years, waiting for me to do something with them.  So I got this big brother out the other day and decided it was time! 

 So here it is in all it's grimy, dirty glory!  First thing is to wipe it down and get to the wood.

Second thing is to take that seat off.  It's a good chair with the spring support that is in decent shape.  The only thing missing on the chair is the button on the side of the arm.  But that can be easily fixed.  It's sturdy so structurally I don't have to do anything to it.  It's "sister" chairs need a little work.

And there it is.  Finished and ready to go to the craft fair.  I used my favorite bench cushion fabric on it and really liked how it turned out.  I painted it using Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Old White.  Then sanded it a bit and waxed it.  Well, must get back out to the shop.  I still have a few things to finish before the Labor Day craft fair.  Thanks for stopping by.

Glass dome....

Hi Everyone!  Happy Sunday !  I hope you are all having a great weekend.  I'm having a productive one.  I wanted to share with you one of the things I worked on this past week.  My mom picked up several of these cheese domes while they were down in Florida.  And I've been trying to decide what kind of base to use with them since none of them have their wooden base.  I came across this candle holder at Wal-Mart and it is the perfect size.  Then I found these glass candle stick holders on clearance, also at Wal-Mart.

So I used Gorilla glue epoxy and attached the candle stick to the

bottom of the candle plate and let it dry for 24 hours.

I like the way it looks plain, but I decided to paint the base black. 

So I primed it and painted with spray paint.

And I like it even more.  More dramatic.

Then I added a nest with some blue papermache eggs.

And there you have it.  A simple stand for my glass dome and it only cost me $6.00. 

Not too bad.  Well, thanks for stopping by.

Sign remake...

Hi Everyone!  I hope you are all having a great weekend.  I want to show you the sign that my mom had hanging up in the guest room.  It's nice enough, but seems a bit busy to me.  And my mom didn't like it.  She actually couldn't remember why she ever got it and put it in a bedroom.  So she redecorated a bit and took it down.  And of course offered it to me.  Thanks Mom!

So I sanded it and painted it.  First with a small brush I added the black paint into the space between the frame and the board and then painted it with ASCP Old White.

Then I set it aside.  For about a month.  It was not speaking to me.  Or I couldn't hear it.  I had no idea what to put on it.  I kept pulling it out and looking at it, falling over it, looking at it, moving it around and nothing.  Nothing came to me at all.  So I put it away again.  I got it out last night and still nothing. 

Maybe it's because the color is wrong. 

Maybe it's the shape of the sign. 

Maybe I just have too much going on and can't focus in on what it is to be. 

Or maybe, just maybe I'm not suppose to do anything with it yet. 

Any ideas? 

Is it speaking to any of  you? 

If so, can you help a girl out and tell me what it's saying? 

Anyone? 

Maybe I'm wrong in thinking it needs to be a sign. 

Maybe it's suppose to be art work? 

Maybe I'm just finally losing it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I hope you are having a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Antique Oak Chair....

Hi Everyone!  Happy Friday!  I hope you all have a great weekend planned.  I will be spending every free moment in the shop from now until Labor Day getting ready for the first of two craft fairs.  One is on Labor Day and then I have a weekend to remake a few small things and then the next weekend is the second one.  So lots to do. 

Do you remember the antique oak chair that my aunt Barb gave me for free?  Well, I finally did something with it.

 It needed a little structural and cosmetic work on the top rails.  So I put some Kwik wood (love that stuff) on the rails where the surface cracks were and then I used wood from the broken legs of the antique ironing board that my aunt Barb gave me that used to be my grandmothers to reinforce the top rails.

 Then I painted it with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Old White.

And waxed it with clear wax and distressed it.

 I used jute webbing with a red stripe to make the seat.  And handpainted the Welcome Friends on the top of the seat back in black paint.

 And then had a photo session with the chair.  I had to take about 20 pictures of the chair because the dogs kept trying to get into the pictures.  Not the look I was going for.

And there you have it.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  And I loved not having to use primer so score another one for Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint!  It is worth the extra dough.  I'm working on another chair that my aunt Nancy gave me about 5 years ago that has been sitting in my storage room...waiting along with a set of four others.  Well, thanks for stopping by!

Ironing board as art?......

Hi Everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  I wanted to share with you one of the things I've been working on.  Do you remember this antique ironing board that my aunt Barb gave me?  Well, I turned it into a piece of art which Gail @ myrepurposedlife inspired me to do after she put the mannequin on an ironing board.

I got the idea to put a wedding dress on this ironing board and an advertisement for a Dressmaker in London on it.

 So I drew my idea of a wedding dress onto the ironing board and then painted it with ASPC Old White and then I outlined it in black.

 I handpainted the Dressmaker on the top of the ironing board.

And the details of the Dressmaker and address in London on the bottom.

I know it's hard to tell in this picture but I put clear and dark wax on the entire board to age it, but I just couldn't sand it.  So I'm leaving it as is.  I'm going to see if I can get some better pictures of it, but I just couldn't wait to post it. 

Here's a little bit better picture of the coloring of the dress.  Thanks for stopping by.



Old books and a couple of stools...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Monday.  I want to show you the stack of books that my mom gave me.  She picked some of them up at a library sale, some at garage sales and others at Goodwill.  She used some of them as interesting lifts for decorating but decided she was storing too many of them that weren't being used.  So she offered them to me.  Uh, yes please!    And the stools I picked up at Wal-Mart for my kitchen island.  The plan is to paint them and put padded seats on them, but they are going to have to wait until after these first couple of craft fairs are over before I'll do anything with them, besides sit on them at the kitchen island.  (That's why I haven't had the big reveal yet).

So what would you do with a stack of old books?  Make book bundles of course.  I thought they'd be good "fillers" for the craft fairs.  I know anyone can make them and it doesn't take any special talent, but lets face it, some people just aren't the do it themselves kind of people, even though they know they could.  I like these kinds of people.  They help make my business work.  Even though I won't make much on these (unlike PB, charging $37 for a bundle of books) it adds to the bottom line and helps fill my booth space out and might lead to someone buying something else.  And that's a good thing.  So here's my version of the book bundle.

 I left the covers on the more interesting ones.  And then added the fabric tie and the antique key.

And here they all are, boxed up and ready to go to the craft fair!  Well, have a great week everyone!  Thanks for stopping by.

What I'm doing this weekend...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Sunday!  We've been busy around here cleaning up the storm damage.  Thanks to my brother and Dad, we've been able to get alot done.  So my brother should be leaving today and I will hopefully be able to get some of these benches painted.  These are just a few of the benches I will be working on.  There are a couple of others that I need to paint too. 

Have a great rest of the weekend!  Thanks for stopping by.

Solid back storage headboard bench....

Hi Everyone!  I just wanted to show you what I was working on this past week out in the shop.  This is a headboard/footboard that I picked up last spring at my favorite used furniture shop.  It's about an hour and twenty minute drive away, but I have never been disappointed.  I have always been able to pick up headboards.  It's in a town close to where my dad grew up so the owner knows my family and once he found out what I was looking for, he doesn't pass them up when he goes to auctions.  I wasn't real sure about this one when I bought it, but now I'm really happy that I did.

Since it's a completely solid footboard it was just begging to become a bench with storage.

I added the center supports but made sure to turn the 2x4's on their side so that they wouldn't take up too much room.

And here it is with it's plywood seat/storage top.  I have to face the edge of the plywood and add the hardware to the inside.  Normally I use piano hinges but since there are two center supports I'll either have to use several small piano hinges or a different style of hinge.  I also add a lid support that keeps it from slamming shut which works great on toy boxes with little fingers.  The last thing you want is someone getting hurt.  Now the fun begins.  Painting and decorating it.  I'm envisioning it in white or cream with some sort of artsy sign across the back that dips down onto the seat.  Maybe a tree limb with leaves...I have to think on it a bit more.  But I'll definitely show you the finished product.  Well, thanks for stopping by.

Storm damage....

Hi Everyone!  Well, it sure has been an interesting summer.  Last night we had two waves of storms come through the area.  We had 60+ mph wind and sideways rain.  In the first wave I lost the walnut tree and part of the fence row.  And one of the gravity gas tanks was blown over.  Thank goodness it was the one that was empty, otherwise we'd have had a real mess on our hands.

In the second wave I lost the really old, really big cotton tree in the pasture.  And the top part of the maple tree.  Luckily it did not damage the garage.  It did "kiss" the corner of the roof and only dented the the corner of the metal roof.

We have a lot of clean up to do but we were very lucky.  On my way to town I saw that my neighbor's garage was totally destroyed and the top of my other neighbor's chimney was knocked off along with countless tree limbs.  Crops have been destroyed.  In places the corn and soybeans are lying down.  In others the corn has been stripped of it's leaves or ears of corn.  With all the flooding we've had of the Missouri river around here, we certainly didn't need this.  But thank goodness it wasn't worse than this.  I lost some shingles off of my roof and the flat roof over the back porch and pantry is leaking a bit, but that's nothing compared to what it could have been.  It always amazes me following each storm that this house that was built in the 1880's and added onto in the 1960's and sits on top of a hill, manages to weather the storms and keep standing.  Thank goodness!  I'll keep counting my blessings!  Now the clean up begins.  I hope you have a great day today!  Thanks for stopping by.

*Update:  At 11:00 this morning, my dear brother arrived after a 6 1/2 hr drive from Illinois so he could help with the clean up and get my roof fixed.  I spoke with him at 7 AM and he didn't tell me he was already on the road.  We also discovered that a wind block in the corral was blown down and the light in the corral is leaning forward, more than usual.  When I got home for lunch, they had already moved a lot of the tree limbs by my garage.  So here's to big brothers that come to the rescue!!  Thanks David!