Robin's Egg Blue Side Table

This little table was broken when I bought it. It was part of a pretty big haul I took away from my niece's church youth group yard sale.

My super skilled husband fixed her up as good as new, and I gave her this little chalk paint makeover in robin's egg blue.

The tag is on it because.... well..... hubby and I are opening a "showroom" space in my friend's antiques shop to sell our creations! Aaaaaahhhhhh! We're totally revamping her store - which has been closed since October - and having a big grand re-opening thing in a few weeks. We're really excited. We are hoping, of course, that it takes off and that we can actually sell some of this stuff I have accumulated and piled up.

If you're in my neck of the woods, I hope you come by sometime and see me in the Milton General Store in historic downtown Milton, NC.

Farmhouse Style Shelf

My new job working at a local Amish bulk foods store is right.around.the.corner from my favorite Goodwill store; so you can imagine where I go on many of my lunch breaks.

So I found this thing there the other day. I didn't get a before picture... but it was plain pine boards. It reminded me of something someone would have made in high school wood working class, or at a camp, or something. The thing just doesn't make a lot of sense - kind of like the unidentified thing in my last post!

So I bought it, after much dithering, and gave it the ol paint treatment with my plaster of paris "chalk" paint. Then I glazed it with my Rust-oleum "java brown" glaze which gives it the lovely tea dyed look, and waxed it with Minwax finishing wax, and added porcelain knobs that were from the buffet project.

It's cute as a button, and heavy as all get out! If I had more counter space, I'd keep it.

Oh well.

It is for sale, but not sure if it's going to Etsy; it's sooooo heavy no one will want to pay shipping on it. :/ It weighs like 15 lbs.

 Well happy Friday everyone, hope your weekend is great!

What Is This?

I bought this at a thrift shop. But I have no idea what it is, exactly. I think it might be an ashtray? But I just dunno. Anyone have a clue? Do tell!

Chalk Painted Green Wall Shelf

I picked up this little shelf at an auction. I removed the back and whipped up a nice vintage green "chalk" paint ( this time using plaster of Paris) and gave it this makeover.

This piece is for sale, and can be purchased here.  
(Edit - has been sold.)

Buffet Before and After

 As promised: the before and after photos of my infamous buffet project.

When I first saw it at Goodwill this past October, I initially walked out and left it. Then about an hour later, when I still could not get it out of my head, I called my mom, who happened to be in town, and asked her to go pay for it and I picked it up the next day and paid her back.

You just don't see these anymore. This is the first one I'd seen up close; other than that I'd only seen them in magazines.

I bought it to re-do and sell; but later, it got designated as the candy buffet for my sister's wedding. It wasn't till after Christmas that I got started on the prep work.

(We turned it over so the legs were easier to sand. The project took over my dining room, because it was too cold to work outside.)

The tools I can't do without: clamps, razor blade, scrapers, mini screw driver, tooth picks for getting in little places, a paper mask so I don't inhale all that nasty dust, Elmer's glue and wood filler, gorilla glue, sanding blocks (I love these!) and my new electric sander for large areas of sanding. Also, my shop vac, and a steam iron.....

 At first I tried to glue the loose veneer back down. It wasn't working real good, so I decided to just rip it all off. I had seen somewhere on line that you can remove veneer with a steam iron, so I decided to give it a try. I wetted a towel and placed it over the work area for about 5 minutes, then I went at slowly applying the steam iron over the area, which loosens the glue and then you can rip it off. Tougher spots needed more time with the iron, and I had to scrape it inch by inch. But by golly, I got it all off. And then I took the next layer off, as well. I will not dink around with gluing veneer down ever again.

 The doors, before (left) and after sanding (right). The whole buffet had been covered in a really crappy coat of crappy brown paint. Eww.

 This was the "let's try to glue it back down" phase.

 The cats absolutely loved it.

 Finally, I had the sanding complete and we got a warm is day (in the 60s) so we could paint it. Good thing we did because that was the last nice day we had to do it outdoors before my sister got married.
Kevin used the paint sprayer, of course. I swear by that thing. However, I did have to touch up the legs quite a bit because of weird dripping patterns because of the way we had it laying down on it's back. We used Glidden "Parchment White" in flat. Once it was dry I distressed it on the corners and edges, which you can't really see here. I also put all new glass knobs on it, bought at Hobby Lobby.

                                                As a candy buffet at my sister's reception.

I was going to glaze it, but I haven't done it yet. I had bought a glaze and it was too dark. I haven't even done any polycrylic or anything on it yet. I am still contemplating a glaze.

I am really happy about how it turned out. I kind of wish I was able to keep it, because I will likely never find another one like it. But it is just too large for my house, and besides, I already have an antique oak dining set so this doesn't fit in my decor. So, it is (reluctantly) for sale.

I've put ads out on Craigslist for it, but if it doesn't sell on there, I will send it to someone's antique shop and consign it. I simply cannot store this monster in my office/den/studio forever. :)

My Sister's Wedding, the Fashion Edition

This is a really crappy photo, but it's the only one I got on my camera showing my sister and I's vintage inspired bridesmaids dresses full length.


My sister the Bride decided she wanted black dresses on her attendants; and she let us pick what we wanted. The other 4 girls were "honorary" bridesmaids, and they  entered the church and lined the isle, holding lit candles, since the theme of the wedding was "Lover Of The Light". (A song by Mumford and Sons, which was also the song we all entered the church to -  including the bride!)

Anyhoo....so my sister Noelle and I dithered about what to wear; whether or not we wanted to match, etc. etc. I looked all over the internet at just about every dress out there and nothing settled with us. I have a dozen or so vintage, black cocktail dresses in my closets and we had pretty much decided to just wear those, when I discovered the dresses above on eBay for $50.00 with free shipping.

I decided to order one, just to see it. It was perfect and my sister loved it; I loved it, so we made our decision. Then I bought black crinolines from a seller in China for less than $20 a pop - which was waaaay cheaper than a lot of crinolines I looked at from US sellers. We just had to wait forever for them to arrive.

I did wear a vintage beaded belt with my dress, which you can't really see here. We carried simple baby's breath bouquets that I made, and wrapped with jute twine.

 My sister Noelle showing she's got swag. Also, my brother's girlfriend Lindsay behind.

 My sister Naomi and our parents.

My sisters and I, and our niece Abigail, who is wearing one of my vintage dresses.

Everyone waiting around on pews for their turn with the photographer. The girl in the foreground is also wearing a vintage black velvet sheath dress.

I have decided letting bridesmaids pick their own dress within a color boundary is the way to go! So much less stress, and everyone ends up liking their dress, and can wear it again, probably. 

A Vintage, DIY Wedding

I am flat - out exhausted, physically and emotionally.

My sister got married this weekend, and it was a DIY wedding.... and we DIY'd all of it - except the cake. Someone else did that.

First of all, the lovely bride:

I bought these brown paper bags on eBay and Mom found the stamps. These were for the candy favors. They will be for sale in my Etsy shop soon, because we made waaaaay too many.

 A little before of the reception hall: the flourecent lights were covered with tulle and Christmas lights. My sister wanted a soft candlelight look. Right here I have to say: While my sister, my mom an d I hatched all the ideas amongst ourselves and were heavily inspired by Pinterest, the work was carried out by our friend Faith Freeman and her daughters Joanna and Alice. Mom and I lent our help mostly in the evenings; but the bulk of what was done took two and a half days and was done almost exclusively by these lovely ladies. And my husband, who did the heavy lifting and moving, and was go-fer boy. :)

 Aaaaand my buffet. Purchased at Goodwill in really awful condition. I've been sanding and stripping and painting and babying this thing since Christmas.... I'll do a detailed before and after soon.

 Of course, with a sister that sells burlap bunting banners for a part time gig, she wanted to use banners in her decor. We also made burlap table runners.

She came to my house and said "I like this, and that, and that, and also this", and pointed to everything she wanted in the wedding, and we packed it up and used it. Including the tree slices. We had fallen a large dying tree in the yard and so we used slices of the branches as pie and food stands. Almost everything used as decor for the wedding was mine... she wanted to use vintage things instead of lots of flower arrangements.

Doors was one of the first things my sister decided she wanted for the wedding. We had some doors, of course, but our friend Daniel works on a construction crew in Northern VA that removes asbestos from old historic buildings and remodels them; so he had access to all the doors we wanted. He drought down a load, and he and my husband put several sets together.

My husband also made the trees, which was my idea .... that I almost regretted because it was one of the most difficult things we did. We screwed pieces of wood to the bottoms of carefully sculpted tree branches and placed them in burlap bags filled with gravel. Mrs. Freeman and her team strung them with lights. 

  One of the trees was designated as a "Wish Tree"... also my idea. (I got the inspiration from a smaller wish tree thing I saw on Pinterest. But ours was bigger.) Instead of a guest book, people wrote a message on a tag and tied it to the branches. Later, we removed the cards and put them in a pretty box for her to look at later.  The small stable next to the tree is something from my house as well...

Several tables had lights underneath, so the appeared to glow.  It was awesome.

We used doors in the corners, to give the rather hum drum room the feeling that it was a older space.

 My old suitcases were made into a gift card box.... the photo is of my great grandmother Sophie Rose Kelly, whom my sister is named for. The mini banner is one I sell in my shop.

 Years ago I had bought hundreds of white hankys at an auction - and never did anything with them. Mrs. Freeman draped them over the backs of the chairs and taped them in place - it was a genius plan!

This set of doors blocked the closet door and the tree behind it was just an awesome touch as well. It covered up the fire extinguisher. :)

 The cake table.... and banners from my shop. Every window in the place had Christmas lights in them, and the effect was AMAZING.

 The candy buffet..... the glass candy jars are from my friend Sally, with the antique shop. I have wanted to do a candy buffet for years and finally did it!!!

I don't think I have enough sisters to have weddings for me to do ALL the ideas I have. I guess if I wanted to act on all my wedding ideas, I'd have to become a wedding decorator.

I have about 100 gallon size pickle jars in an old barn on our farm. We cleaned some of them up and put sand in the bottom, and a candle, and put them all over the back deck ovelooking the lake, and lined both sides of the sidewalk leading into the building. It was fantastic.

Here is what the Wish Tree looked like at the end of the evening.


Ok that's a lot of photos, so I'll quit now and show photos of our vintage inspired dresses another time.

It was the best wedding ever, even if I do say so myself, and I LOVE using vintage stuff instead of a zillion flower arrangements!! The only roses we used were in her bouquet, (which I made) and the corsages. All the other flowers she wanted was baby's breath. Which we did use tons of.

Vintage, DIY weddings for the win!!