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

It's a Hall Tree

I've been on the re-purposing Band Wagon lately.  I love to take old, sometimes discarded items & turn them into beautiful, functional pieces again.
I get so many ideas from Pinterest & that is where I got my inspiration for this project. 

In my collection of roadside treasures I have an old  solid wood door that has a full size window in it.  It was perfect for what I needed.  I also had a large Mission style coffee table that had a few cosmetic issues, but it was also perfect for my project.
 Unfortunately, once again, I have very few before pictures.
  

  We sawed the coffee table right in half..

This will become the seat part of my Hall Tree.

We secured the table to the door & painted the whole thing White.

Loving it already....

Now it was time for the fun part,  the details & graphics.  I found a French address on The Graphics Fairy website that worked perfectly.

Now I wanted to add a vintage door knob & some coat hooks.  This proved to be very challenging.  The door knobs were easier to find then the hooks were.  I guess everyone is inspired by Pinterest & coat hooks are very desirable right now.

Luckily we were able to find them both at a huge Antique Festival a couple of weeks ago.  It took us a while to figure out how we wanted to attach the door knobs, with their back plates, to the door.  I like what we came up with....

The door knob is amazing with the back plate...

The coffee table is nice & big, perfect to sit down & put your shoes on....

The graphic is sooo cool.....

It's a Hall Tree!  I wish I had an entryway where I could put this because this would be a keeper. 

I scored another door this week, it has three horizontal panes of glass instead of one.  I'll be able to make another using the other half of the coffee table.  Maybe I'll get lucky & someone will want one customized with their name on it.

These Hall Trees are a lot of fun to create.  I've seen them all over the Internet lately.  Do you use a Hall Tree?  Was it handmade?

 You can find us on Facebook to see what we're working on next. Thanks for stopping by,  Dee

A Custom Window

Has it really been almost a month since I last posted anything?  Where has an entire month gone!?  Christmas is just five days away,  Gulp....

My only excuse is I've been very busy, you know how it is this time of the year.  I had a few custom jobs to do & that's what I want to share with you today.  

My sister called me a few weeks ago & wanted to know if I had any ideas or anything special she could give for a Christmas gift to one of her clients.  We discussed a few ideas & decided on a window.  I had several to choose from but they were all to big.  The one that would work perfectly was already painted. This is what it looked like before I started:

It's actually an old cabinet door.  It was in my booth all summer & I had pulled it out to re-paint it anyway.  It's the first time I have stripped any of my graphics & I have to say it was painful to do.

After I scrapped the graphic off & sanded the coral paint I wiped it all down & started over.

I painted the wood black first, then painted two coats of white.  Before I painted on the white I rubbed a little Vaseline on the edges, so it would distress nice & chippy.

Next it was time for the graphic.  You can read my tutorial on how I put the graphics on the glass here.  It's a tedious process but so worth it.

This was a quote the client had on a wall in their home already, but they are moving & my sister thought they would love to have it in their new home.  

Now it was time to make the special gift wrap.  I sewed a "slip cover" for it out of drop cloth.  I tore it so it would have frayed edges.  I have to admit, I am not a seamstress.  Simply sewing up the two sides took me forever!!  I am sewing machine illiterate.

Once I finally had the sides sewn up I added the graphics.

Made the matching ribbon, hand stamped & so perfectly shabby...

All wrapped up....

And here it is in it's new home.  They loved it.  I think I like this version better too.

 Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to check us out on Facebook. I hope everyone has a safe & very Merry Christmas. 

Shabby Fireplace

Can it really be Turkey week already?  I can't believe how quick it got here.  

It'll be Christmas in the blink of an eye. Now that I've totally freaked us all out, I want to show you what I did with another Roadside Treasure.

I know, I know... the Roadside Treasure fairy has been really good to me lately.

During one of our delivery days we passed this small fireplace someone had set out to the curb. 

It is such a cute petite size. It looked like it had been one of those electric fireplaces that you plug in.
I thought it would be a perfect display in my booth.
I had an old antique four pane window that worked perfectly for a back.

I spray painted Krylon's Mirror paint on the glass & screwed the window to the back side after painting the whole thing shabby white.

How cute is that?

I added some Birch log candle holders to the inside & put it in our booth.

It's so pretty when the tea lights are flickering & reflecting off the mirrored window.

If I had a bigger house, this would have stayed with me.

Here are some pictures of a few Christmas items I've got in my booth at Collette's Vintage Mall. 

Cute Chicken wire burlap Christmas trees.  I am displaying some ornaments I made with Plaster.

Burlap Bird on a Wire.....

I just love the pop of red sprinkled around the booth.

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. 
Thank you so much for stopping by, don't forget to check us out on Facebook for some more inspiration.
Have a great day!  Dee

French Laundry Ironing Board

About a year ago I seen one of the coolest up cycled wooden Ironing boards & since then I have wanted to paint one.  I found one last week from a fellow vendor that was perfect.  You can see my inspiration here.

I sanded it all smooth & painted it black.  Now it was ready for graphics.

 I had my eye on a sweet french script stencil & this was the perfect project to try it out on.

I found this stencil from a shop on Etsy called "Wall Masque Stencil Co."  I love it's versatility.

I had a vision for the look I was going for.  There was an application I used to do when I did faux finishing called "Shadow Stripe".  It was a shiny stripe next to a flat/matte stripe. This was the look I wanted, but with words. So I used a gloss black for the stenciled words over the flat black paint.

How cool is that!!?

Now I'm not done yet.  I wanted to add white graphics over this.  I created it on my computer & transferred it on with my overhead projector.

I  had intended to paint the words in solid, but after outlining the letters, I liked the way it looked.  Unfortunately I lost a lot of the contrast of the background when I applied the wax.  You can still faintly see it when the light hits it just right. 

It was really hard to get a good picture in this bright light.

I still love how it turned out. These old ironing boards are so much fun to paint.  There are so many new ways to use them nowadays. Pinterest has a ton of ideas.  I would use it for a sofa table or it's perfect for entertaining.  Couldn't you just see it in someone's vintage style laundry room or sewing room?

I'll keep working on this technique.  I've already got a few ideas rolling around in my head.  I just need to get my hands on another Ironing board.

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out our Facebook. Take time to enjoy your summer,  Dee