Painted Minis

    

   A mini blog about some of the small accessory items. Its not always big projects, some times its just a small item that's needed to pull the room together, a chair a foot stool or a little nick knack shelf. That little item you have around the house that just needs a little update, like the last patio chair a little paint in current colors and now we can move it in side to the desk. Same with the little foot stool that was hiding under the bed a scrape of burlap from another project some paint and now your feet want to rest again. The little shelf that grams gave you years ago, wipe off the dust - fresh coat of paint removed the scratched glass put in wire and know its ready to show off those little nick knacks in a fresh new way!





The Ugly Duckling of Garage Sale Finds

-BEFORE-

The ugly duckling of garage sale finds: a 1970's armoire looked over by everyone. Went ahead picked it up and brought it home for the challenge of it. Due to the veneer couldn't be sanded, only thoroughly cleaned. So we will be using chalk paint! A fantastic paint for almost any surface. (chalk paint can be found online or in a variety at local stores.) It contains unsanded grout which help it adhere to a plethora of surfaces. On to the armoire, I chose a nice khaki beige to quiet the exterior design. love the color, chalk paint gives it a matted silky look. Now to give it the pop all pieces need: the interior vintage green! The hardware in a rust tone. And the ugly duckling becomes a swan, loved by all.

-AFTER-

 

Franken Dresser



 -BEFORE-

 

              Found on the side of the road barley hanging on, was the shell of a dresser and two of the five drawers. I picked it and brought it to my storage are of pieces and parts, its not an elaborate piece or even expensive just one of those simple pine boxes with simple pine drawers, The wood alone being worth picking it up and storing it.
                So that was a year ago or more, skip to now in walks a picker I work with, with 3 drawers in good shape just minus the simple pine dresser they would have been apart of. Yes I did pay him 3 dollars for the drawers so he wouldn't throw them away, took them to the storage area to find that they where a perfect match to the old dresser.
                Well that inspired me to the one day transformation, a quick sanding check for structural strength make sure all drawers are tight and glide well. I am  choosing a vintage yellow chalk paint that I have on hand, the simple color will be a nice match to the simple design. let the two coats of paint dry for two to three hour and then come in with a small hand sander to give the piece back a little of its age. What once was left for trash on the side of the road is now a great dresser once again!

-AFTER-



Modern Tramp Art

Tramp Art: Was art made in the united states from discarded materials, in the period following the civil war through the 1930's.
My updated version is my bottle cap mirrior. Bottle caps being an art form all their own.

-BEFORE-

I'm thinking mirror, I've had this wonderful oval mirror in the garage forever. Time to use it! Got a piece of birch plywood, painted it a nice nuetral background, and attached my mirror in the middle. Now it's time to lay out all the fantasticly desgined bottle caps I have. This is the time consuming, but interesting part of this art form. Once I've decided on my pattern (which in this case, took two days of laying out bottle caps) you start hand-nailing each one to the backing. Then, I trimed the outside of the wood with black paint to give it a nice outline detail. And now, my modern version of tramp art!

-AFTER-

 



Juliet's Writing Desk

-BEFORE-

Whats the problem with most teens bedrooms? Storage and function. One of my granddaughters needs a desk and a chair a couple of dressers and her full size bed, all in an average size room. In order to leave her a little room I went looking for the perfect desk and dresser in one(they are out there), took about 6 weeks of looking but finally found it! Good size dresser drawers nice sturdy design great overall piece, know to update it for a young lady. I chose a light turquoise blue for the body of the dresser, antique white wash fore the bamboo looking legs. I removed all the hardware and trim on the desk gave it a light sanding and put three coats of paint on it, then did the same for the legs. The finally step for the legs was a wash of diluted brown paint over the legs approximately three times all a matter of personal taste.

Finally to finish the desk off i decoupaged old writing paper from my local scrape booking store on the top. Followed all the directions for decoupaged, after it had time to dry (about one full day) I put three coats of water based clear coat over the entire piece for a little extra protection. and wow the desk looks really Fantastic I am supper happy and more importantly so was Juliet.

-AFTER-

Turquoise Fun!

-BEFORE-

Dumpster diving can be so much fun. Found a great retro dresser, knobs included (very rare to find knobs!) First a little cleaning to get rid of grit and grime, next a little sanding to smooth out wear and tear from it's former life, now for a splash of color! I am choosing turquoise, as it is my current go-to color for everything. Two good coats, light sanding then a third coat. Now it's time for the fun accent pieces: what color to paint the knobs? Tried several, decided on bright pink. Love the knobs, but it needed a little something extra to make it pop. Mod Podge'd great black and white print paper around the trim to finish it off. Couple coats of varnish for durability. And wow! The dresser of your dreams is complete!

-AFTER-

 

Well Thing at the store are better than expected turns out there are a lot of people who also like Trash to Treasure or Flea Market Finds or just the simple art of re purposing the things that are already around us. Still located at Willowstone Antique Marketplace 1710 Dublin Blvd. Colorado springs, but have expanded to space 165. More space means more projects cant wait for the challenge.As I have gotten back to my forgotten passion the ideas and inspiration seam to be coming faster than I can produce them. The best part though is finding inspiration all around me that's been there the whole time, just blocked by the static of everyday life. Lets all slow down a bit and appreciate the simple little things around us that help make us who we are.