Make Up Armoire

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to post more often on my blog, as you can see I am failing miserably.  It's not that I'm out of things to share with you, it's more like I need more hours in the day to sit down & just write about it.  

In January I purchased two amazing pieces from The Lions Gate Market Consignment store which is in the same building where I have my workshop. Both of these pieces were Armories, you can see the first one here.  This Armoire was really a bar.

It had that very dated 80's Blonde Faux Distressed finish, but it also had some amazing detail.

When you opened the doors it lite up inside!  This gave me an idea, what if I removed the wine bottle holder, glamed it up & turned it into a Make-up vanity!? It had an outlet inside for a blow dryer/curling iron.  That was my vision.

After doing some minor modifications, I was ready for paint.  I chose a very Bold color from The Urban Rooster called "Jaded Rooster".  It was my first time using this chalky paint & I have to say I loved it!

Wow! So much better.

After painting & distressing I decided to dark wax the details. You can see the difference it made, the door on the right has the dark wax the one on the left does not.

Now it was time to customize the inside.....

I added some cork to the doors, then stenciled it....

Then I added little cup hooks to hang necklaces on, it's hard to see them in these pictures but they're on there.

I also decoupaged the inside shelves with some script paper.

I love how it turned out!!!

A very nice Mom bought this for her teenage daughter, what a lucky girl!  I hope she enjoys it for many years to come.

 Please check us out on Facebook to see what we're up to this week.  Thank you for stopping by,  Dee

Shabby White Armoire

```````````Happy Belated New Year everybody!!  I am so excited to have a fresh start, a new beginning.

My first project this year had me so inspired. I bought this Armoire from my good friend Jennifer at Lions Gate Market. It had good bones, but the finish screamed 80's.

It was big & Blonde, but it had good bones.

It's a Thomasville!

The previous owner had cut out the back to accommodate a T.V., There was a pole in it at one time & there was also an electrical plug with the cable cord. So it was very versatile, it could be an entertainment center or a clothing Armoire. 

I had big plans for this Beauty:  The first thing I did was give it a new Beadboard back.  Then I had to get rid of the Blonde finish so I painted it Bright White.  The old Blonde finish had a Faux distressing so I had to re-create the distressing with paint. So I painted the distressing back on, only in Black.  Then I did a clear wax on the whole thing. 

 To make the detail pop, I did a Black wax. I mixed Black paint right into my Clear Wax.

Here's a picture before Black wax:

Here is a picture after Black wax:

Before,

After,

Left side door has Black wax, Right side doesn't.

This is a good close up of the Faux Distressing: 

Love the new back! We cut a hole on the lower right hand side just in case someone wanted to use it as an entertainment center. I hope it goes in a Baby Girls Nursery.  

Or maybe even a very Sophisticated teenage Girls Shabby Chic bedroom.

Oh, who am I kidding!?  It could easily go in a grown up Woman's Dressing room.....

Available at V Trading in Grand Blanc, MI

Someday I hope to have a big enough Bedroom/dressing room,  so I can have one of these for my very own.  Where would you use this Beautiful piece?  Armoire or Entertainment Center?

  Check us out on Facebook to see what we're up to.  Thank you so much for stopping by. I wish you an amazing  & inspired New Year, Dee

Faux Copper Lamp

I seem to have a thing for lamps lately.  If you read my blog then you may remember the floor lamp I did recently, you can see it here.  I see some very cool lamps at the thrift shops all the time. I like the older lamps that have the nice lampshades with an actual frame you can work with.

Last weekend I went shopping at Collettes Vintage flea market & found the perfect style lamp.  I loved the shape of both the lamp & the shade. Plus the shade had the good frame.  The old cord was very worn so I asked my hubby to replace it.  It's inexpensive & very easy to do.  Better to be safe then sorry.

I had a paint technique I wanted to try. It's called "Copper Verdigris".  Here is a picture of the lamp before, well kind of before. I was so excited to get started that I didn't remember to take the dang picture until I had already started painting.

This is a glazed ceramic lamp & yes I am painting it.  Will it rub off once it's dry?   Hope not, guess I'll find out.  I gave it a quick sanding for good measure.   I'm using a paint I used back in my Faux Finish days.  It's called Modern Masters.  It's a fabulous paint, their metallics are exceptional.  

It's used on the castle roofs at Disney.

So this is the color I went with,  it has a nice dark copper look to it.  It's pretty opaque so it only took one coat.

Once that was good & dry I gave it a quick coat of The Vintage Farmhouse distressing paint in "Milk Pail", my favorite color.

Looks kind of scary at this point.  Now for the fun part,  I let this dry then I did another coat of the same color but I used a sea sponge.  I wanted to give it some depth.

You want some of that copper to show thru in some places.  After that dried, I took alittle bit of a lighter blue called "Mason Jar" & sponged it on lightly.  I wanted the shape to pop so I highlighted the raised detail of the lamp.  I'm really liking it at this point, but I think it needs a little bling.  

So I added another metallic paint called "Warm Silver". Once again I applied it with the sea sponge very, very sparingly.  You just want it here & there.

Now I'm loving this!  I let the whole thing dry over night.  I was a bit nervous weather the paint was going to rub off but so far so good.  I did do a coat of spray poly first, then I did a coat of wax.  Not a speck of paint rubbed off when I buffed out the wax.  Woo Hoo!!

Now for the lamp shade.  It needed some help, the poor thing was so stained.  Do you remember the French paper I used on my last project, here?  I wanted to try this paper on a lamp shade.  I stripped off the silk fabric,

This is what the bones of the good old lampshades look like.  So many possibilities....

I used Modge Podge to glue the paper to the frame of the shade one panel at a time.  You have to be very patient with this.  I did every other panel first then went back & finished the opposite panels.

Here is the lamp all done...

I am really in Love with this now....

Notice the subtle sparkle that last metallic layer added?

Such a pretty lamp....

I hope this inspires you to try this fun paint technique.  It's easy to do & looks amazing when your all done.  I may have to try this on a larger piece sometime.   

Thanks so much for stopping by, please check us out on Facebook.  Have a great day,   Dee

Lane Hope Chest

Happy February everyone.  Hope you're all staying warm.  We have been in the deep freeze with record breaking temps & snowfall most of the winter so far.  I have never been more ready for Spring to arrive.

I have had this project on the back burner for several months now.  It's a Vintage Lane Cedar Hope Chest.  It was in pretty good shape, just needed a good cleaning.  Here's the before picture:

It had so much potential with the padded top & the trimmed out detail on the front.  

I painted the body Black, distressed it & gave it a clear wax.

My mind was racing just thinking about what I was going to put on the front.  I wanted to try my hand at decoupage.  I am the first to admit, I'm decoupage challenged.  It is not an easy medium for me.  I never seem to be able to get all the ripples out no matter what I do & this drives me crazy!!! 

I had a paper I was dying to try & this piece was perfect to experiment on.  This is the paper:

It's the Document gift wrapping paper from Ballard Designs.  They discount it after the Holidays so it was super affordable.  I just love the look.  I decided to cut the letters apart for a more filled in look, then I overlapped & decoupaged them onto the front of the chest.

I upholstered the top with a Cream colored Matlasse fabric.  It looks like a plush quilt, love it!

Here is a close up of the front.  So loving this paper.  My decoupage didn't come out to bad.  I'll keep practicing until I'm happy with it though.

Available at V Trading in Grand Blanc, MI

I love this transformation.  I can see this at the foot of some one's bed.  I have big plans for the rest of this paper, I have almost three full rolls left.  That paper is too cool to wrap presents with.  What would you do with this paper?

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Don't forget to check us out on our Facebook, see what we are doing in between posts.  Stay warm & pray for Spring!  Dee

More Windows

I have a thing for old, antique, vintage windows.  They just look cool.  Weather you fancy them up, repurpose them or just leave them in their original state they are so fun.

I have painted my fair share of windows these past couple of years.  You can see an example Here, Here & Here.  I love how versatile they can be. 

A couple of months ago a friend of ours was remodeling an old cottage & was replacing the windows. He gave me four of these beauties.

They are BIG!  I'm talkin 32" square.  I so would have loved to just leave them in their original state & hang them all together, either side by side or two on top & two on bottom.  Alas, I just don't have that kind of wall space.  So instead I get to play & create four fun pieces.  

I gave this one a coat of The Vintage Farmhouse Distressing paint, the color is called "Carriage House".

Now for the fun part.  I have been on this "Bird on a wire" kick lately, just can't seem to get it out of my system.  

How cute is that!?

I have it hanging in my booth.

I already have planned out the next two & they are both different without birds.   Do you have antique windows in your decor?

What's your favorite thing to do with old windows?

Thank you for stopping by for a visit.  Check us out on Facebook to see what we're up to.  Have a great day!  Dee