4 the love of wood

LADIES FRENCH NIGHTSTAND - before and after

When I was very young my mother wallpapered
one wall in our bathroom with paper that looked
similar to newsprint. It was the end wall next to
the toilet. The first thing you saw when you walked
in and it was always there to look at and read if
you had the chance to stay awhile. There were
parisienne can can dancers and theatre ads. Lots
of images of household wares for sale like a new
iron that would revolutionize your life. It was
all very worldly to a small child and I will never
forget those images.

DIY GRAPHICS ON GLASS - tutorial

I am a fan of Murdoch Mysteries, a Canadian TV drama

series set in the 1890's. For those unfamiliar with the

plot, Constable William Murdoch is a Toronto detective who

solves his cases using methods of detection that were new to

the time. There are many scenes set in the streets of Toronto

and I enjoy seeing all the shop signs that have been recreated

for filming. They also shoot scenes in the city morgue

which has a great turn of the century look. When I was

working on this next project I envisioned this cabinet in that

setting with white vintage labelling on the glass. But how to

recreate that for myself?

DRIFTWOOD FINISH - how to video

Growing up we spent most free weekends camping

on the shores of Harrison lake. The lake always had

lots of silvered driftwood and my father, sister, and

I would build rafts to sail around on. I was a skinny

child with long legs and big ambitions. The bigger

the logs the more I wanted to roll them down the

beach and build them into our rafts. I could never

forget the look and feel of those sun kissed driftwood

logs.

BEFORE AND AFTER - grey cabinet reveal

Many of our grandmothers had a glass doored cabinet

in their homes like the one I found at Value Village.

I can remember pressing my face against the glass

to see my Gram's English tea cups sitting on the

shelves inside. My friend's grandmother was

Hungarian and they had lots of Czechoslovakian

crystal on display behind glass doors.

CREATING ORNATE DETAILS - secrets revealed

I have given many furniture projects a new

look by adding ornate details to boring flat

kick plates. The tools I use for this are a

pencil, a jigsaw, a hammer, finishing nails,

and an applique.

.

THE CHEAPEST FURNITURE APPLIQUES - secrets revealed

Want to know the cheapest way to

added appliques to your painting projects?

USING WALLPAPER ON FURNITURE - shelf reveal with a before & after

I moved into a little farm house years ago that had a super big

kitchen. The original cabinets were painted sunshine yellow

and someone added a navy blue celestial wallpaper on the upper

portion of the walls. It was HIDEOUS but that never discouraged

me against using wallpaper myself. When I'm out picking I find

wallpaper in every thrift store I visit and our Home Depot sends

old stock and damaged rolls to the local RESTORE. Wallpaper

is a perfect helper to revive vintage furniture and on this project

I used 2 different ones, in 2 different ways.

ADDING BUFFET LEGS - beefing up the frame

Most of the time I have to pull out all my wood working

skills and sometimes even the swear jar to get some legs

install on furniture. While working on this buffet outside

in the warmth of last summer's sun I took several photos

to show how the frame was built and what I would have

to do so I could install a set of legs.

SHABBY TALL CABINET - custom wood working

Growing up I wasn't the daughter that liked to play with dolls.

I was the tomboy playing outdoors, riding bikes, making ladders

to climb higher and building forts to spy from. We didn't

have a lot when I was young but we did have five acres of forest

and daddy's garage, where I could find old cans of nails and a

hammer to build whatever I wanted.

ORNATE SHABBY WHITE BUFFET - reveal with a before and after

This buffet has been perched in my back room
for five months longingly looking my way every
time I pass by to use the shower. I had huge plans
for it right from the beginning but the work was
going so slow while other things were also
demanding my attention. The final hurdle was
to refinish the inside, and make it look as good
as the outside.

ROPE HANDLES - tutorial

Time for the tutorial on the big nautical rope handles
I used on my beach dresser. They work really well
on these drawers and look incredible. It took some
time to find the rope I wanted to use but in the end
I nailed it.

WHITE WASHING VIDEO - recycling bin

I've had an unfinished wood bin in my kitchen

for years and I've always wanted to whitewash

it. Person projects always seem to take a back

burner to other work but I finally stole some

time during the holidays to get it accomplished.

I even pulled out the camera and did a quick

video of how easy it really is. In hindsight I'm

not sure what took me so long.

CHANGING THE SHAPE OF FURNITURE - shabby white three drawer

Very rarely am I ever happy when I just paint furniture
to give it a new look. Every artist has something they
specialize in and enjoy doing. Sometimes when I look
at a piece of furniture I see a shape that it should be but
currently something is is distracting from it or missing.
These pieces are also broken or unusable the way they
are, which makes me want them more. It becomes my
job to recreate it for someone new to love. For this project,
a little three drawer cabinet. perfect for a little girl's room,
I added 4 different salvaged pieces to change it's shape.

BIG SOFT ROPE HANDLES - nautical beach dresser

I'm over the moon in love with this project. I finally got to
create some big fat nautical rope handles on a set of
drawers. And I'm here to tell you it took awhile to find nice
soft rope to use instead of thick prickly sisal that is
available everywhere. I went to a tack and feed store,
a boat store, every hardware store I could think of and finally
just gave up. Then one day when I was not looking there it
was right in front of me and you'll never guess where.

SHABBY CHIC BEDSIDE TABLES & FRESH FLOWERS

The holidays are over, the turkey is all done,
but our bills remain to remind us of our fun.

The day after Christmas we had a big break-down,
on my desk sat a broken computer that made me frown.

Then in the van we had a broken part that made everything cold,
so we paid to replace it like we were told.

I guess it's time to get back to work and roll up those sleeves,
to pay for the furnace that broke on New Years Eve.

GET YOUR JEWELRY ORGANIZED - dressing room update

This time of year we all love to get organized.
As a present to myself I replaced my long
dressing room mirror with a hidden jewelry
cabinet mirror to help kick off some of that
much needed organizing. I had no idea what
I was missing until now. My jewelry has always
been in a box or drawer and I have never had
it properly organized. I was always spending
too much time untangling things to enjoy
wearing my jewelry. Over the holidays I got to
use the new cabinet and it's so much fun now
being able to select a piece to wear with just
a glance.

CHRISTMAS VILLAGES and DISPLAYS

I use to have a large village with a bridge, street lights and

tons of little bottle brush trees. I also had lots of little people

to walk the streets and fence lines in my village. It is great

when children get to enjoy Christmas villages so a few years

ago I past everything on to my nephews to enjoy. They even

got the train.

HAND PAINTED SLED

I have an old metal and wood sled I display

on the porch each winter. The wood has been

getting pretty weathered and I have seen some

really pretty sleighs on Pinterest painted white

so I gave mine an update with some Annie

Sloan Chalk Paint.

MOTHER'S TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS

I mentioned last week that I have been decorating my mother's
home as well as my own. This is a peek into how her home
is shining and waiting for all of us to arrive for our big family
dinner. Please enjoy these photos ....

CHRISTMAS DECOR 2014 - part 3

Our Christmas bed this year definitely has a starry

night feeling to it, which for the holidays is a lot of

fun. Last year I used snow flakes on the window

over our bed and paired that with a heavy red

plaid & wool blanket for a snow lodge theme.

It has been quite warm this year so the starry

night theme seems to work better.

CHRISTMAS DECOR 2014 - part 2

This is day two of the Christmas décor for 2014

and it's all about our Christmas tree. I hope you

enjoy looking around our cozy home for the holidays.

CHRISTMAS DECOR 2014 - part 1

This year I'm decorating two homes, mine and my mothers.

Mother is very traditional and I'm not, so it gets confusing

when I go from one home to the other. I hope to share some

of her home in the days to come. Our main space has been

decorated in vintage whites with greenery and sparkling glass.

These are the photos taken of the décor around the TV.

20 FURNITURE APPLIQUES that will keep you inspired

Appliques and wood decorations are a fun and clever way to

add ornate design to a furniture or cabinet project. I've used

appliques to hide old screw holes and damage to the wood on

a few projects. They can change the shape of furniture and

even change the era it may seem to belong to. Wood

appliques can usually just be glued into place but when you

get creative and start thinking outside of the box you will

need something stronger to mount cast iron ornaments like

on this blue dresser (#1)

DARK WAXING WITH STEEL WOOL VIDEO - AS Graphite Paint

Black paint finishes are tricky and hard to make look

right, and I don't work with Annie Sloan's Graphite

paint all that often but when I do I have a tried and

tested method to get that great finish that I want.

I have finished two short videos to share with you

of me using dark wax on AS Graphite paint and

using fine steel wool to apply it.

SANTA'S MAGIC KEY - christmas tutorial

The Christmas season has arrived and we started by

making a special little gift to send to George's

Grand-daughters, Santa's Magic Key. When I was

their age my house had a small chimney that went

into a wood stove and I worried Santa would not be

able to deliver our presents. When Santa has a magic

key waiting for him he has no trouble getting into

homes that do not have a fireplace. One Christmas

I even slept on the floor of the bathroom so I could

see when he might come through our front door.

MISFIT HANDLES - shabby chic chest of drawers

One of the many repurposing projects I have

undertaken is finding new ways to use vintage

hardware. Whether I find one lonely handle or

12 ugly ones I collect them until some great

sets can be created. I started using the word

"MISIFT" to describe the unique collection

of hardware when I was listing them in my

PHARMACY CABINET - shabby chic build with an old window

I like building things with wood. I keep a lot of wood

bits stored for when I want to build something. I find

building furniture very rewarding, and building furniture

using old windows from the past gets me more than

excited. This tall Pharmacy Cabinet was made with

several different vintage pieces.

CLEANING WAX BRUSHES - how to video

This is a quick video I took of how I clean

my wax brushes. I did struggled with an

effective and easy way to get my brushes

clean until I tried this.

VINTAGE CABINET - mercantile photo shoot

I had a fun photo shoot with a vintage reclaimed
cabinet that I rebuilt. I used several vintage suit
cases, a large reed basket, some old pop crates,
an old window and my new canvas tote bag. I
love the look and feel of the piece.

EARTHY GREEN RECIPE - how to color mix

I mix a nice Earthy Green color to paint
on George's candles when he request it.
Many have asked for the recipe and I
really had never nailed down how I
made it until now.

2 MINUTE WAXING VIDEO - how I use clear wax

I have put together a 2 minute waxing video for anyone

who wants to understand how I wax my ASCP furniture

projects and get a silky smooth finish. The cabinet in the

videos is a single nightstand that was painted in Annie

Sloan Chalk Paint. The edges were sanded before the

waxing started.

DISTRESSING & CHANGING - shabby chic sidetables

Autumn is here on the west coast and the winds have

also arrived starting to change how everything looks.

All the leaves are wonderful colors and the winds are

taking them from the trees. A lot of different things are

changing around me including my mother. She has

learned her life style needs to change. She had a small

stroke Christmas eve last year and this fall was for her

to relax and recover from heart surgery. Everything was

going really well until ...

FRENCH NIGHTSTANDS MADE FROM PLYWOOD - inspiration

This nightstand started out as a home made little box made
completely of quarter inch plywood. I really like working
with plywood because it is super strong and can be worked
with the same way solid woods can be. Plywood in most cases
is even stronger than solid wood. Plywood is a sheet material
manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that
are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood
grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another.

RAISED OVER $3700.00 - chairs for charity 2014

Chairs for Charity this year was another great success

with $3575 being raised at the evening event and an

additional $200 coming in later. This money will go

along way to buying toys for the many children the

Langley Christmas Bureau look after.

CLOCK CABINET - my charity donation

The Passionate Home's Chairs for Charity Auction is underway

and all the donations are now on display at Frosting. All the silent

auction items are now open for bidding so stop by and see what

you want to place a bid on. I posted a lot of the pictures yesterday,

and saved my donation to share with you today.

CHARITY EVENT - 2014 chairs for charity and more

We set up all the amazing donations for this year's Chairs for
Charity today at Frostings. Silent auction for half of the items
starts tomorrow and the live auction for the top items happens
Thursday night. Frostings cupcakery is located at the west end
of Langley's one way in down town. This charity event is a
fundraiser for our local Christmas bureau. This year it's not just
chairs, meaning there is all sorts of items donated and I have all
the photos to show you, except mine. That will come tomorrow.

WATERFALL VANITY TURNED BEDSIDES - inspiration

This is a peak at one of two beautiful nightstands I

salvaged once a mid-century waterfall vanity was ripped
into two. If you have thought about trying this yourself I'm
here to let you know you can do it but it takes a bit of work
and you need some patience to figure out how the vanity was
originally built.

CHAIRS FOR CHARITY 2014

This year's annual Chairs for Charity is coming up soon.
This charity event is a fundraiser for our local Christmas
bureau where artists, bloggers, shop owners, and the like
use their skills to create something in the home décor
department that represents their passion and donates the
item to be auctioned off at a fun evening event right in
the down town of Langley.

RE- PURPOSING DINING CHAIR LEGS - nightstand inspiration

I use all sorts of legs when I'm building and redesigning

furniture but did you realize sometimes I even repurpose

legs from dining chairs. I like adding short legs to nightstands

and other pieces of furniture usually because they only need

a small lift, but when I want to lift something much higher I

look to the legs on dining chairs. Not all dining chairs have

reusable legs but those that can be used look great

when reworked into my style of furniture.

STENCIL SIGN CLASS - sign up for this Monday

It's that time again!

My next stencil sign making class is this coming Monday
October 6th. The class runs from 1pm to 4pm at
The Passionate Home in Langley.

Call 604 532 5931 right away to book your spot.

LOUVERED DOORS, SEA URCHINS, & ROPE HANDLES

AFTER

This AFTER picture is a project I recently undertook

for added privacy while covering a window and it's my

current view when watching TV. I also used a pair of

lighted wall sconces to replace some of the lost light

from the window.

CURVED GLASS CABINET - chartreuse paint

With every internet search I could think of and all my years

of loving vintage furniture I have never come across such a

unique piece as this one. And to think it has made it through

the years without either curved glass panel in the doors

getting broken or even showing a chip. To helped this cabinet

stand out from the rest I pick an extra special color.

VINTAGE KEY HANGERS - combining wood with white

I find something very appealing about natural

worn wood working next to a fresh white

palette. The old pieces of wood I use for

projects like this are from vintage furniture

that have gone past the point of saving in

there original form. The wood used behind

this painted tree & house key hanger was

the side of a deep filing drawer in a turn of

the century desk almost a half inch thick.

SIGN MAKING CLASS - this Sunday or Monday

It's that time again!

My next stencil sign making classes are just around the corner.

You have 2 different days to choose from, this SUNDAY or
MONDAY in downtown Langley BC. The classes run from
1pm to 4pm at The Passionate Home. Call 604 532 5931 right
away to book your spot.

WHITE INDIA DRESSER - repair tips

I wasn't looking to buy any furniture the day

this dresser crossed my path. The lady who

owned it had bought it as a refinishing project

and was told the side panel that was split and

separated was an easy fix. I felt compelled to

save it and the owner, as this is NOT A

SIMPLE FIX for the average refinishing

project.

UNWAXED WHITE CHALK PAINT - shabby chic cabinet

I'm happy to finally share with you my

beautiful white storage cabinet that sits

in the corner of my kitchen. It was a

found pieces sitting on the side of the

road. I fixed it up and painted it with

Annie Sloan Pure White Chalk Paint

almost two years ago. I never waxed

the paint and the finish is doing

incredibly well two years later.

A LITTLE DESK & SOME MAGIC LOVE

This little desk made it into a pile of

furniture I had given up on. It had been

photographed in it's uncared for and

ugly state and advertised as a give

away on my Facebook page.

OMBRE DRESSER - tips, tricks, and graduation

Have you wanted to paint an Ombre dresser?

Have you ever asked why it's called Ombre?

Ombre in French translates to *shadow or

shade* ... so that explains a little.

STENCILLED SIGNS - ideas, colors, and textures

My last sign class brought
together a fun group of ladies
that had a blast creating
all sorts of different signs with
all the stencils available to us at
The Passionate Home.

SIGN MAKING CLASS - sign up for this sunday

The Passionate Home has over 90 different stencils to

choose from, over 30 different paint colors to play with.

This Sunday afternoon is my next sign making class so stop

watching those kitchen reno shows where they tear out the

cabinet doors and send them to the landfill. Come join me

and the other ladies at The Passionate Home to save some of

those doors and make them into a special sign for your home

or maybe the perfect gift for a friends home! We supply

everything you will need, vintage hardware to accent your

masterpiece, a good selection of different shapes and

sized doors, and lots of imagination.

Give the store a call 604 532 5931 right away to sign up.

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