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Showing posts from October, 2015

French Pedestal

This garage sale find has been floating around my studio for years. Every time I have a sale, I consider letting it go, but I never do. So, after many narrow escapes to a better home, this piece is finally getting a make over.  First it needed to be glued in a couple places and then sanded a bit. The process was not all that complicated or interesting so I'm skipping to the finished product. I was mesmerized by the golden hues of the autumn leaves and chose an yellowish/orange color called Desert Sunset. (BM-2155-10)  It turns out it did not cover well.  I called the paint store and was told it's the nature of brilliant reds and yellows to take several coats to cover.  I'm somewhat familiar with that problem, but this was extremely thin and watery paint.  I was little (OK maybe more than a little) unhappy with this at first, but after applying a couple coats and seeing how it added a glow to the yellow paint underneath, I started to warm up to the look.  

Dressform Redressing

I thought perhaps a wardrobe change would be good with colder weather approaching.  The lace is attached to the form and I just draped a few things over the lace and that's the way it stayed.  But, I saw a some pins on Pinterest where forms were turned into...well quasi Christmas trees.  That inspired me to take another look at my dress form.  Although the seasonal decorating would be a fun project, it only works from Thanksgiving until New Years Day.  I thought it wiser to choose something that could last until I was inspired again.  I pulled a few pieces of fabric from the sewing room stash.  I added a hem to the skirt and pinned in a couple darts.  The bodice was just draped and pined.  I did sew the trim to the floor length shawl but that was the extent of any actual sewing.  I cut  a piece of the bodice fabric, pulled it through a belt buckle and pinned it in the back. A scarf and some jewelry and she was ready to grab her luggage for a trip

My First Annie Sloan Project

I have had this table so long I no longer remember where I bought it.  When I redid the guest room I decided this would be the perfect table between two chairs in what is quite a large room on my third floor.  I fully intended to paint it along with redoing the two chairs.  Then other things took precedence and ...well you know, out of sight out of mind .  Only when I am expecting an overnight guest do I enter that room and that is just to wipe a dust cloth over the flat surfaces. But now that the kitchen remodel is complete and some beautiful fall weather has arrived, I felt like spending some time in the studio.  This seemed like just the right size project to ease back into furniture painting. I removed the crusty little toes from the table legs and soaked them in vinegar overnight. A light brushing with an old toothbrush and all the rust and grime was removed.  I thought about painting them but I rather liked the natural patina so I decided to use them this way.

Glass Tray Update

Remember when I did the final post on the kitchen remodel and I mentioned the tray with the eight white doilies behind glass?  Whether you remember or not that is not the point of this post.  What I'm trying to segway into is that I did switch out the doilies for something else. Turns out those doilies were placed on the glass and covered with a paper backing and then painted over.  So, it wasn't like I was going to get them off.  It was easier to cut a new piece of glass...well sort of.  I made the first cut fine but cracked the glass on the second cut.  I have been saving glass for a long time so I did have another piece that would work but it was my last piece in that size.  So I enlisted Dan to cut it for me and, of course, it was done perfectly. I had a piece of luan just slightly bigger than what I needed.  Once that was cut, I primed it and then just started adding things. I had a small piece of burlap with some black paint on it from another project.  I ad