Grain Sack Bar Stools

In our previous home, we had a “peninsula” rather than island.  It was made for bar stools, but we never had any because it would have felt too crowded right next to our table.  In this house, we have a lovely island, and I spent MONTHS searching for bar stools that met my criteria of “cheap enough” and “cute enough.”  I was perfectly willing to re-make a set, but I kept finding sets of TWO and I needed THREE!  Eventually I purchased three stools from Pier 1, and I have been quite happy with them (you can see them in my kitchen here). 

And so, of course, MONTHS later…I came across three barstools that met the aforementioned criteria at a garage sale!  So even though I no longer needed them for myself, home they came with me...

I really like the way my own bar stools that are all the same style but different colors (it makes me feel quirky…in a good way) so I decided to give the same general feel to these.

Inspired by grain sacks and my love of all things numbered, I painted each stool white (Behr Ultra Silky White, I think) and then painted on stripes in green, blue and, red…

…finishing them off with a little number detailing just for fun.

I know oh-so-well how much abuse bar stools undergo, so I distressed these pretty heavily.  I like how the little round derriere-space shows up so nicely now 

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

Fall Mantel

You’ve probably already noticed…but I rarely show pictures of my own home.  My home doesn’t have the greatest lighting, and I don’t have the greatest camera…so I never feel the pictures turn out quite right!

So here’s a rare opportunity to see a little glimpse of where we live! 

One of the nicest features of our new home is an actual fireplace with a real-live-MANTEL!  It’s just the best thing on a cold gray morning…plus it’s fun to decorate!

My shutters (first seen here) are a pretty constant backdrop.  For this season, I brought out my Felt Leaves Garland. 

The “Fall Fling” sign was hand-painted by me (first seen here)…that may be why the letters are a little crooked, but I don’t care…

This little rocking horse was an antique shop find (he wears a garland for fall).  I had to take him apart and re-glue him.  Although I took him with me to the Barn Market, I put a pretty high price tag on him because I wasn’t sure I wanted to part with him…and obviously, I didn’t 

I bought a HUGE tri-color mum at a grocery store last week, and it sits in a Décor Steals olive bucket.  Here’s hoping I can keep it alive all the way to Thanksgiving!  I don’t have a good track record with plants.

Welcome, Fall!

Three-Tone Dresser

My dear parents were visiting us all last week, so I’m a little behind on projects…but I wouldn’t trade my time with them for anything!  This is the first time they’ve been able to come see us since we moved last Christmas.  My mother is in very poor health and it is particularly difficult for her to travel so I don’t know how many opportunities like this we will have.  She kept fretting that she was “keeping me” from getting ready for my next show…but I reminded her of one of the greatest lessons she ever taught me…

People are always more important than things!

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So here’s a project that I actually finished several weeks ago; it has already gone on to a new home.  I did get to enjoy it in my dining room for a little while!

It was a garage sale find that was meant to be mine!  It was in remarkably good shape…it had the original casters (love those), all the pulls, no missing veneer, etc.  The only thing it was missing was the little metal drawer stops that keep the drawers from sliding all the way back…a few partially-exposed screws took care of that!

I thought the wood veneer on the drawers was too pretty to cover up.  the top drawer is something like curly maple…I think…while the bottom drawers are walnut.  I am no expert, so I could be totally off here!

Although I used the same antique walnut stain on all the exposed wood, I wipe it off very quickly on the top drawer to highlight the difference.

The body was painted in Sherwin Williams Creamy, and lightly distressed and glazed.  I love the contrast of the paint and the stain!

You can see another two-tone dresser I finished last year here.  I don’t think this one will be the last!

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

Woven-back Bench @ Remodelaholic

Remember my bench from this summer?  It’s being featured at Remodelaholic today!

I’d love for you to come visit me there!

Navy Blue Desk

I’m normally not much of a “blue” person, but every once in a while it just seems like the perfect color!  Case in point…this little desk.

When I picked it up at a thrift store, it had seen better days.  You can get a little hint of how scratched and faded the top was here…

It had this little chair sitting with it.  Although they were not really the same style, it fit perfectly, and I kind of liked the contrast of the streamlined desk with the pretty turned legs on the chair.  I didn’t notice until I got home that one of the dowels was missing, but it was an easy fix after drilling out what remained of the old dowel.

I used the navy blue paint leftover from my office project (Sherwin Williams Naval, BTW).  I had originally planned on staining the top, but it wasn’t cooperative to that idea…ever have a project like that?

I brightened up the pulls and the metal trim on the legs with some Rub-n-Buff (love that stuff!), and the seat got a bright new fabric.

I had cherished some hopes that this little desk might actually stay in our office; I imagined it floating in the middle of the room…however, I wasn’t crazy about it when I tried it out.  I don’t think it was big enough to fill the space.

So it went home with a sweet young woman who was going back to school.  It was fun to enjoy it for a little while!

Thanks to Knick of Time for featuring this project!

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

Round Aqua Table

Shortly after we moved to the Seattle area, a co-worker of my husband’s offered to give us “a table” they were no longer using.  All I knew was that it was FREE, and that definitely caught my interest!  It gave me the courage to drive into Seattle BY MYSELF, and that was a pretty big deal for me!

I have to admit…I wasn’t all that thrilled with it at first sight.  In part that was because in my head, I was expecting a dining table…and it wasn’t that!  Second, it was super big and chunky, and it had some funky white knobs that I didn’t think looked too great against the wood (photo taken after I removed the knobs).

It took me MONTHS to tackle this project—but when I did, I finally fell in love with this little table!

I used some aqua paint leftover from painting my oldest daughter’s room (75% Belize by SW).  Suddenly the table because fun and funky, and the white china knobs (from Japan!) were a perfect fit!

Oh, how I love how paint can transform a piece!  This table has two adjustable side shelves, and then those knobs are on large cupboard doors for hidden storage.

I think round tables are so fun—they are so nice to put in a corner and break up a room of “square,” or this could be such a fun nightstand!

 

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack

You had me at “hello”—a typewriter table

Honestly I don’t know what happened to the month of August…it went by in a whooosshhh!

First it was getting ready for The Barn sale…

Then we squeezed in a family vacation…

Next it was my birthday, and I threw myself a party…

And after that I got to go on a quick trip to Utah by myself…

Next up was Labor Day and the first week of school!

Now it’s the second week of September, and time to get serious about my projects again!

This little typewriter table is one I finished for The Barn market.  It started out looking something like this (I forgot to take my own “before” picture):

source

The finish was a little beat up and boring, so I livened it up a bit with my favorite color…red!

I used my Silhouette to create a typewriter stencil and the word “hello” for the drawer…you know I can rarely leave well-enough alone! 

While at The Barn Market, I caught one lady trying to peel up the typewriter image with her fingernail!  “No, no!”  I said.  “It’s not vinyl; it’s paint!”  She apologized and moved on.  But later on I thought to myself…even if she did think it was vinyl, why on earth was she trying to peel it off anyway?? 

Thankfully the paint survived the ordeal!

I think this would make such a fun, quirky end table or nightstand…don’t you?

Thanks to Elizabeth & Co. and Knick of Time for featuring this project!

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Perfectly Imperfect	No Minimalist Here
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	Mod Vintage Life A Little Knick Knack