CHRISTMAS VILLAGES and DISPLAYS - cloches, mantles, and more



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.

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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.

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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 ....

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CHRISTMAS DECOR 2014 - decorating the bedroom




Our Christmas bed this year definitely has a starry night
feeling to it, which for the
holidays is a lot of fun. 


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CHRISTMAS DECOR 2014 - decorating with burlap




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.

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CHRISTMAS DECOR 2014 - decorating around the tv





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. 



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20 FURNITURE APPLIQUES that will keep you inspired

(#1)
 

Appliques and wood decorations are a fun and clever way to add ornate design to a furniture or cabinet project. Wood
appliques can usually just be glued into place. When you start thinking outside of the box you will
need something stronger to mount cast iron ornaments like
on this blue dresser 



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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 Annie Sloan Graphite Paint and
using fine steel wool to apply it. 

If you have trouble viewing these videos try using an alternative browser such as CHROME.


HAPPY DARK WAXING!

STEEL WOOL has  been used by wood workers for decades.
FINE steel wool is used for buffing & cleaning, shellac,
 lacquer & varnishes (use with wax or oil)





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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. 

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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
 
 
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PHARMACY CABINET - build with an old window



TIME TO CALL THE PHARMACIST. 
I'm calling this one My Pharmacy Cabinet. It was made with several different vintage pieces including an old window. 
   


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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.

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THE MERCANTILE CABINET - photo shoot







I had a fun photo shoot with this vintage 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.

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EARTHY GREEN RECIPE - annie sloan chalk paint






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. #earthygreenrecipe
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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. 
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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. 
  

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FRENCH NIGHTSTANDS MADE WITH PLYWOOD - white bedside cabinets





This nightstand started out as a simple little box made
completely of quarter inch plywood. It was lovely homemade by someone one once upon a time.
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RAISED OVER $3700.00 - chairs for charity 2014









Chairs for Charity this year was another great success.


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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. 


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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.


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TALLER NIGHTSTANDS - using chairs




I use all sorts of legs when I'm building and 
redesigning
furniture. Coffee table legs, sofa and arm chair legs, and did you realize dining chair legs can also be used. 

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1950's 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. 

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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.
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SIGN MAKING - ideas and stencils






Thinking about making your
own sign? Maybe you can find
a class close to home that offers
help with stenciling. 



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FIXING SPLIT WOOD PANEL - white dresser with india knobs



I felt compelled to save this dresser
when I came across it at a yard sale.
The lady who owned it had bought it
to refinish and was told the split side
panel was an easy fix. Once she got it
home she realized this was NOT A
SIMPLE FIX.


The two panels had to be leveled and lined up, glue
 applied, and clamped together.

Inside I used a couple of broken metal hinges to stabilize the
 fix. The hinges are not the solution to holding the
 panels together, but they will hold everything in place while
 the glue sets.


Once everything was fixed she got painted in a creamy white
 ASCP, and new India bone knobs added. I found the six of 
them at my local HomeSense. The plates you see behind the
 knobs are antique metal pieces also painted in the same
 creamy white ASCP then wet distressed.


Everything was lightly edged distressed and the three 
drawers were lined with a floral black and white wallpaper.

  


 


********************************************

Stop into FIRSTFINDS HARDWARE STORE and see
if we have any shabby chic white hardware for your next project.


 
 
 
 

TIL NEXT TIME


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NO WAX USED ON CHALK PAINT - pure white kitchen cabinet





I'm happy to finally share with you after 2 years our beautiful white un-waxed storage cabinet. It sits in the corner of our kitchen and was originally painted with Annie Sloan Pure White Chalk Paint.



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THE LITTLE UNWANTED DESK - white paint and fabulous hardware





This little desk made it into
a pile of furniture I had given
up on. It had been photographed
in it's un-cared for and ugly state
then advertised as a give away on
my Facebook page. But there
were no takers.





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OMBRE DRESSER FOR TODDLER with tips & turquoise


Do you want to paint an Ombre dresser? Have you ever wondered why
it's called Ombre? I will help answer some of these questions and offer tips I learned while creating my Ombre dresser for a little family member.





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STENCILLED SIGNS - ideas, colors, and textures

 
This first cabinet door was painted with ASCP Coco
and stenciled in white. Dark
wax was applied only on the outer frame and edge and some heavy sanding was done to distress the whole sign.
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Q&A - spray painting, upholstery, and sandpaper



 

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SPRING FLING II - annie sloan florence chalk paint




Once upon a time I painted a dresser
light turquoise, white, & green,
and named it the SPRING FLING
dresser. The color combination was
extremely popular and I was challenged
to recreate another dresser with a
complimentary look.
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HOW TO GET DARK DISTRESSING UNDER WHITE - tutorial


See how I get a dark distressed look
on light colored furniture
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SALVAGE YARDS - inspiration


 
It's time to look up your local salvage yards
and think about taking a stroll one weekend
afternoon and see what you can find. Maybe
a load of bricks for a garden walkway, a
vintage washing machine to plant some
flowers in, a fancy architectural window for
that blank wall space in the living room, or
maybe you will fall in love with an antique
lighting pieces and a whole room makeover
might start.
 
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