Oak Coffee Table "Re"....

Hubby and I discovered this at the Goodwill. It's not very old. It used to have little "wings" on it, with hinges, so that when it was open, it was round. But, the "wings" were missing. It was also covered in peeling black paint. It actually wasn't too bad as a black piece.... but I had an idea in mind that was a little more dynamic and "shabby cottage".

I used a little get stripper to get the majority of the paint off the top, and Kevin sanded off the top for me. I helped a little bit. Here, I was starting to stain the top ("golden oak" by Minwax). I still think it would have been fine left black on the bottom, but...

I think white, being more neutral, will sell better.  I chalk painted the bottom white and lightly distressed the legs, and finished off the whole thing in a light wax. It is as heavy as all get out, being solid oak.

Pansy Ring

I have wondered what this thing was for a long time... years, in fact. There were several floating around the antiques shop when I was just an employee there.

 

Well the other day Sally told me what it was, finally!! It's a pansy ring..... 

How adorable is that?! I have never, ever seen those any where else, ever.  I think I will have to buy myself one; just because.

Also, I made this chalkboard sign this week from a door from a door off and old buffet my husband found under a pile of his junk in one of the barns:

It has a jute string at the top in case I need to hang it if I ever go on the road or something.
The shop is open, and slowly attracting customers; but it has been hard to get people to realize it's open after being closed for so long. It's going to be a lot of hard work.... but I am up for the task. :)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, everyone! With warm weather here, yard sales will abound; so go forth, and be thrifty!

LOL

Songbird Guitar

I pulled this out of the dumpster a couple of years ago. It is a cheap, K-Mart Christmas special type of thing, made in Japan, pretty much worthless as a useful instrument. It has been sitting around in storage all this time.

So like anything sitting around taking up space these days, it got painted. Then I did this bird design on it, which I based off a stencil I have. Then I kind of embellished it....

It was Kevin who suggested that I do some vines on the sides as well; and it turned out great. He is really developing a artsy eye from all the stuff I've shown him! He has excellent judgement on these things... who would have thought? He's such a "man's man" ..... I never would have imagined he'd have an eye for art, color, and design like he does.

The cool thing about it is ( and you can't see in these photos) that I painted the bird in short strokes and it resembles feathers.

The sad thing is, when I put the polycrylic on it, for some reason the stain on the bottom part where the strings attach bled through and made the whole part look pink-ish. :/

Oh well, it is what it is.

Sweet Turquoise Dreams

I bought this at an auction last fall, not because I wanted it, but because I felt sorry for the auctioneer who was pleading for an opening bid. Then I stashed it in my barn, after trying to sell it on CL for $20 just to get it gone. Nobody wanted it.

Fine, then. You know what that means.

(A little stencil detail)

I painted it turquoise, and added a little stenciling to break up the solid turquoisey-ness of it. It has the rails, and everything. I think it is a cute as all get out! It is for sale, and will be in our "gallery" "showroom" thingy tomorrow for opening day.

Tomorrow is our official first day, and the weather is going to be gorgeous and warming up. Fingers crossed for a few "beginner's luck" sales. :)