Shabby Chic Lamp Revamp

I realize that I have shown quite a few lamp redos lately, but this one shabby chic remake was too interesting to pass up, and thought it would be worth showing off.  It is not your average spray painted lamp, and let me just say, I don't think I would have tried it, but I am so impressed with how it turned out that I guess I wouldn't fear trying it out in the future! It is from Suzanne @ Meridian Road:

I had this old lamp that I didn't like anymore.

It started out as a shiny brass lamp similar to this lamp.

 I got tired of it after about 2 minutes, and spray painted it black.

Something happened when I spray painted it and the paint turned out really rough, like sandpaper. It might have been too cold. But it looked a little like cast iron, and that was kind of cool, so I left it. And grew tired of after about 5 minutes. 

 I've been coveting this lamp

from Pottery Barn.

But the $100 price tag seemed a little, well, silly to me. It's a nice lamp, and I wanted it, but I wanted $100 in my pocket more.

I thought maybe I could fake it.

So I used this to cover the lamp.

I mixed up a thin batch, and used an old brush to spread the plaster all over the lamp.

I gave it several coats, then sanded it all smooth when it was dry.

Then I gave it a coat of some darker taupe paint that we had in the garage from some project that I don't even remember anymore.

Then I sanded it again because I didn't do a good enough job the first time, and painted it with the taupe paint again. (Just keeping it honest.)

I wasn't sure how I'd achieve the really worn and chipped parts of the inspiration lamp. 

 That's what makes the whole lamp, in my opinion. I did a search, and found that
 there are kits out there you can use(I saw that Michelle at Sweet Something Designs used one) but I was almost 100% certain I couldn't find them where I live, and I didn't want to order something online and then wait a week for it to show up. 

(I'm all about instant gratification, people!)

So I pulled out the Elmer's school glue and applied a light layer in the spots I wanted to age.

(You can get some pretty extreme crackle with glue. If you want really big crackle, use a lot and don't let it dry very much.)

When the glue was tacky but not all that wet, I went over the whole lamp with some off white craft paint, being careful to only brush over the glue spots once. If you brush over it a bunch of times it won't work.

I don't have any pictures of that step or the next few because I had become convinced at this point that this makeover was destined for the landfill and gave up on the documentation process.

But once the crackle started to show up, and before the glue was really dry, I took a toothpick and lifted out some of the larger spots of the crackled paint in the middle of each spot. 

And got this.

 

It's not the same, but I liked it OK.

Then I dabbed on some brown glaze and wiped it off in spots.

I found a lampshade I liked at Walmart. I was looking for a lighter one, but they didn't have one. Of course.

(One thing you learn when you live in a place that very few places to shop is to adapt and let go of your shopping expectations. So I adapted and let go of my expectation of having an ivory colored linen-like shade.) 

 I'm glad I got the darker color. It matches the dark spots on the lamp almost exactly.

The only money I spent on this was for the lampshade. So about $15. I had everything else on hand. 

I might get tired of after another 5 minutes, but that's OK. Maybe I'll find another one I like better between now and then.

Isn't that so cool?  I really like how she used her inspiration, and I love how it turned out!  I hope she is still liking it, I would!

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Building Your Own Daybeds

Here is a great project from Kara of Kara's Korner.    She made two matching daybeds, and they look fabulous, check out her creations:


I made my first daybed back in May, and immediately decided I wanted to build another one for the same room.  Ana White of Knock Off Wood is so amazing for providing free plans to make this possible.  If you haven't checked out her plans yet, please do so!  I wanted the beds to match up like this picture and put a table in between them.

Image courtesy of Pottery Barn

When my sister and I planned a date for her family to come over, I immediately went out and got the wood to build another daybed so that both of my nieces could have a place to sleep.

I have had this picture in my sneak peak section for forever...close to three months...entirely too long!  In my first daybed post, I wrote that next time I'd paint before building.  So that's exactly what I did.  I sanded, primed, sanded, painted, sanded, painted, and then built.

The problem with this approach for me is that I'm not a professional builder, and my pieces don't go together perfectly.  So, I sanded and sanded and sanded once I got the boxes together, which meant inevitably, I removed a lot of my paint and had to repaint the entire thing a million times (paint, sand, paint, sand, etc.)

I did manage to get the bed put together before my nieces came over, but I hadn't re-painted any of it yet and you could definitely tell it needed quite a few more coats.  I thought I took pictures of this, but I can't find them, so you only get the finishing pictures.  I did exactly the same as the daybed back in May, so if you'd like more step by step pictures, or the finishing details, go here to see them.

Ready to see the finished product?!

Here she is!

Of course I have to add a few details shots too.  I sanded down the edges again so I could emphasize the clean lines look, stained them, and repainted around the faces to keep it bright and white.

Here's a picture of both daybeds in the room next to each other.  Yes, the pillows have changed.  I'm still working on getting everything there...I stole the yellow and white pillows from my living room.

You'll never be able to see these sides most of the time...I plan on putting a table here, but I still wanted to show that I at least finished them.

I've made so much progress in this room, but it still has a ways to go.  It's not perfect, but it's miles upon miles better (and at a reasonable cost!) than what I started out with...which was this:

I've painted the floors, painted the trim, painted the doors and door knob, built a daybed, revamped an old sewing machine cabinet, and now finished building another daybed.

Let's end on one last cheery picture...

Ahhh...SO much better!  Do you agree?!

They look absolutely perfect!  AND I really love the way she distressed the corners!  Great job!

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Updating an Oak Stair or Handrail to White and Walnut

Kimberly at Craftyland has made some beautiful changes to their stair handrail.


ever since we moved into our little bungalow just over a year ago, the staircase going down to the basement has been a thorn in my side. the oaky colour stuck out like a sore thumb next to the hardwood we put in, and the staircase is front row center in the kitchen/familyroom/dining area of the house... so it needed a makeover BADLY!! here's the proof:

i started by purchasing an orbital sander (how i survived this long without it boggles my mind!) and sanded off all the varnish from the railing. a few new sanding disks and two very wobbly hands later, it was ready for some stain. i used a gel stain which was awesome! so easy to apply because it went on more like paint than stain.

after one coat of stain

i did an extra coat of the stain just to be sure i wouldn't forever stare at it and wonder if it was dark enough. next i applied 2 coats of diamond gard varnish and moved on to the spindles. first i primed them with bulls eye 123 which meant i didn't have to sand them down to the bare wood like i did for the railing. then i applied 2 coats of paint we had leftover from when we painted our trim and wainscoting.

2 coats of stain and 2 coats of varnish

let the priming begin!

i'm so so so in love with how it turned out! now i just have to decide what i want to do with the wall heading down to the basement.. still undecided.. but for now i am just going to enjoy the transformation :)

Very nice change on the white stair handrail. 

 How do you like it?

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Laundry Room Design and Decorating Idea

I love a beautiful laundry room.  I feel like, if I have to do the chore of washing the insane amount of clothing and linens we go through in a week, that I should at least enjoy the experience right?  And what better than some eye candy- in the form of a beautifully decorated laundry room?  Well Jenny at The Rodden Family  was inspired to make her laundry room a beautiful space and she did it all for under $6.00, check it out:

Okay I am sure most of you have seen The House of Smith's Pantry facelift. 

I must say i was beyond inspired and my wheels immediately began spinning!

You see Mrs. Smith owns a vinyl business, Wonderfully Wordy, therefore she had the means to use a nice amount of vinyl to create this quatrefoil design you see and paint to her hearts desire and create the most "perfect" looking pantry in America. 

Well, being the absolutely Martha/ i-can-do-anything-if-i-set-my-mind-to-it me i went ah-pludering.{if that isn't a word it is now;) } I knew my husband would laugh hysterically at me if i told him i wanted to order this large amount of vinyl and actually spend $ on this project so i had to think harder....

I needed to spend less than $10.00 and create the same look. 

Well if you know me at all, you know i like to have things that other people don't have, i really love different. 

Well, how many people do you know that have used their favorite wedding wrapping paper from Hallmark and turned it into their absolute favorite wallpapered room in their house??

 I DID!!

I know what you are thinking... Jenny Beth, most people are spending whole weekends to rip down tacky wallpaper, and you are hanging it??

Have no fear my friends, Spray Adhesive came to the rescue. 

Whenever I am ready to "change the look" all I need is my handy-dandy Magic Eraser and a slight amount of elbow grease and all the tackiness is gone. 

Like in an hour.....

Here is a closeup of the pattern, has a slight sheen to it with a pretty small repeat, i.e. makes it easier to match the pattern.

Here is the whole project. 

I tried my very best to eliminate as much unnecessary junk as possible.

I think the top right corner is a lost cause though. haha

Took two of my Arthur Court canisters and added them in here. The are filled with sweetnlow and soup mixes, not something i use all the time. 

My sweet friend Anna wrote me a thank you note, and i just love the way she wrote our address so much i had to add it to the "decor."

Needed to add some hang tags to everything so we would know where our items were hiding. haha.
{all fonts are compliments of the incredible Amanda fromwww.kevinandamanda.com}

More or less, this project was really good to weed out the clutter and send everything we don't use on a daily basis out to the "satellite kitchen" in the guest house. 

Speaking of the guest house: I hope to one day make it out there and begin working on projects but as i am continually learning.... slow and steady wins the race. 

Also for those of you still wondering, we are going strong with the homemade detergent. Only good things to say and my pocketbook is loving the slight relief!!

Happy early Friday/ first football weekend for most of us!!

ROLL TIDE!!!

ps. did i mention i only spent 6 bucks and some change on this project??

I think this looks great, and it is also functional, which is a must!  Great Job!

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Little Wooden Window Bench

Tracy at Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures had her hubby make a nice little wooden window bench for her dinning area.  This is such a sweet project:

My husband was tired of me nagging asking him to build me a bench for my bay window in the dining area so Friday we went to Lowe’s and got the wood to build it.

Knock Off Wood had the plans to build the bench that I had in mind.  You can see the post here.

After getting all of the wood pieces cut

my husband stayed up late to get it finished for me.

 

 

I think he did a great job.  After buying $30 worth of wood my sister comes by and informs me she has one of these in her attic that she bought for $5 at a garage sale.  Oh well.  I would rather have one my husband made just for me.  Plus it lets me talk about him on here which I told you he likes.

Ok here it is painted. 

  

Sometimes I think my glazing technique just makes things look dirty, this was my 2nd paint attempt because the first green made my bench look like a baby shower mint.

 

But I couldn’t leave well enough alone.  I found a cool stencil at Hobby Lobby this weekend that I wanted to try. 

I got out my favorite color of stencil paint (Folk Art in wrought iron) and my favorite stencil brush.

   

Now that the bench is done, I need to come up with something else for him to make so I can nag some more. 

It looks great and what a good hubby for making it!  I think that the stencil adds a nice little detail to the new little wooden window bench, don't you?   

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