Finally, more furniture!

I feel as if I have been having withdrawal pains...homeschooling has been VERY hard on my furniture refinishing! But I finished this cute little project this week, and that makes me feel better. This was a custom job for a sweet neighbor of mine. She wanted a cute desk to go in her daughter's bedroom, and wouldn't you know it...I happened to have one in my garage!

Of course, it wasn't that cute to begin with...

The top had definitely seen better days. And the hardware...bleeahhh.

But there was no denying it had cute details! I love the trim between the drawers, the pretty curved front, and the chunky turned legs.

Now the desk has been painted a high-gloss white. That did not turn out to be my favorite paint! It required *12 hours* between coats.

The glossier the paint, the more imperfections show up. I put two coats on it, but there were still too many flaws. I re-sanded it, re-primed it, and re-painted it. There's really nothing to do about it in the end--it's always going to be an old desk! But it looks much better now.


The hardware was all replaced to match another piece of furniture in the bedroom (you can catch a glimpse on the right, above). I love the pretty brushed silver handles. However, the holes definitely did NOT match up! Thank goodness for wood filler!


By now I'm sure it's full of crayons, coloring books, and other paraphernalia. My friend tells me her daughter loves it. She calls it her "homework!"

New treasures

I celebrated my birthday a couple of weeks ago, at the end of August. Every year my husband asks, "What do you want?" Every year I reply, "Money for Swiss Days!" It's the best kind of tradition! What is Swiss Days, you ask?? Only the biggest and best craft show/market in Utah! It happens every year on the Friday & Saturday of Labor Day weekend, in beautiful Midway Utah.

This year I got to go with my 13-year-old daughter and my sister. My sister and I both fell in love with these preserved gourds. I understand it is a long, nasty process to get them this way!

I love the warty yellow one!

I moved the platter that was on top of my bookshelves (seen here) onto my buffet to hold the gourds. Do you see the pretty "B" hanging on my old mirror? That is one of Miss Mustard Seed's creations! I fell in love with her German-glass-glittered letters from her Luckett's booth, and she was kind enough to send some to Utah for me!




Here is my whole "buffet-scape." The tall candleholder on the left used to be black. I bought it at a wonderful local consignment store, after admiring its texture and heft (seriously, it could be a weapon) for weeks. I finally decided I was going to be sad if I ever went in and found it gone. The candleholder on the right came from Savers. Both of them got a coat of Heirloom White paint, and little antiquing glaze.

I had some burlap left over from an un-photographed lampshade project. I cut a piece the size of my buffet top, and frayed the edges. I would have like it to drape over the edges, but there wasn't that much left over!

The pretty piece of curved glass with the vinyl lettering is something I won at an open house in the spring. Well, actually my 6-year-old daughter won it...but I haven't told her that yet!

Cloche happy

This spring those little cheese-dome cloches were popping up all over blogland. There were so many; I have no idea who to give the credit to for my version!

I will admit...I went a little cloche-happy. I made not one...not two...but FIVE. What's a girl to do when she finds three matching wood candle holders of varying heights? Make three more cloches, that's what! (I bet you knew I was going to say that.)


I originally painted these three black, white, and turquoise...and then they sat...and sat...and sat on my counter. There is NOTHING turquoise in my house! I finally traded in the turquoise for Butternut Yellow, and found some things from around the house to put in them before I had company for dinner last night!


The yellow one has a pinecone and a couple of sprigs of fake berries. The white one has some seed pods and berries I swiped out of a potpourri mix. The black one has a rock and a few more sprigs of berries.

This is about as fancy as my table gets! I do like bringing out my Indian table-runner during the fall. It was my first ever quilting project!


And the chandelier gets a garland of orange-y berries wrapped around it. Fall is my favorite!








Linking up to the DIY Fall Festival!

I am SO not a decorator...

Fall is popping up all over the blogging world! It is my favorite time of year. I love the changing colors, and I *love* the cooling temperatures! I am not a summer person. In fact, I don't think I can even be a summer-decorating person! I love looking at pictures of all those beach-y cottage-y homes in the whites and pale blues...but it is just not me. I am a fall person all the way!

But...I haven't gotten out my pumpkins yet! And I do have a few (not many). But before I do get them out, I thought I might as well show a couple of things as they are right now--as long as you promise to understand that I am NOT a decorator! I am an engineer by training, a wife and mother and homeschooler by choice (most days), and a furniture painter by happy accident!

Do you remember this table that I painted? Well, it's still sitting right where I took the picture. I couldn't bear to sell it, and my husband has learned to walk around it! This is what it looks like today (crooked pictures and all):

I fell for the numbering craze along with everyone else! The tiny planters were $.25/each at Target. They used to be bright colors; I painted them black. I think Hobby Lobby supplied the greenery. The numbers were cut out of cardstock by my Cricut, and I used spray adhesive to attach them to the little planters. And the birds? Yep, they're from Dollar Tree. These were some of my first ever spray-painting projects!

The little galvanized metal & glass cloche was a garage-sale find. I am madly in love with it! (Don't tell my husband!) My daughter doesn't understand why I put one of a set of plants under it...I don't know why either. I just like it!


I also love these scales. The first one I bought is the one on the right, with the eagle on top. It was ugly brass when I found it, but I loved the shape of the thing. I sprayed it with Krylon's Oil-Rubbed Bronze spray paint, and it found a home on top of my bookshelves. The one on the front right came from DI--it got the same treatment. The one in the back (in its own case) was an auction find. I paid more for it than the other two put together--and I think I like it the least. Serves me right for getting caught up in auction fever!


Besides not being a decorator, I am also NOT a photographer. Regardless, here's the whole top of the bookshelf. I'm still not in love with it. I kind of scrambled to get some things up there after Christmas, and I'm not crazy about everything. I love the metal urn on the left, and the white urn on the right. They are old things I found at a local consignment shop, and they spoke to me. I like the tray and the platter, but I purchased those new, so they don't have the same appeal to me. Is it because I know 764 other people have the same things? Maybe.


Here's a picture I tried without the flash. It really is much prettier (and less out-of focus) in person!

Maybe I need to take a photography class!

I was featured!

A big THANK YOU to I'm Topsy Turvy, Remodelaholic, and A Creative Space for featuring my bench!