I Love Washington table

Today is the one-year anniversary of the day my husband started his new job in Seattle, Washington.  Although the children and I didn’t join him here until just before Christmas, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on the changes we have gone through in the past year.

I’m happy to say that we are pretty well adjusted to life in our new home in a new state!  We lived in Utah for 17 out of 19 years of our married life, and we were in our last home for almost 10 years…so it was a big change!  But we have found Washington to be a lovely place to live (although there are a LOT more people…and traffic…here than I could wish), and we’re grateful for this new phase of our life.

That said, today seemed to be a food day to show off this little table I made over 

It was just a simple little pine table I picked up at a thrift store.  The lines were so simple that it needed a little embellishment to make it special.

After painting the table yellow with some diy chalk paint, I cut a stencil of the shape of Washington out with my Silhouette machine and painted it on.  A little red heart marks the approximate location where we live.

This little table was purchased by a woman who intends to use it as an end-of-year teacher gift!  I pretty sure it will be a one-of-a-kind offering!

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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

Stool 17

One week from today I will be setting up for The Barn Vintage Market!  I have been working like crazy to get pieces ready.  As my garage empties out…my dining room is filling up!

I love to take little “accent” pieces with me to these sales—small items that can sit in a corner, but don’t cost too much or take up too much real estate in a home. 

This little stool was picked up at an estate sale.  It was  perfect candidate for trying out a MMS Milk Paint sample I ordered earlier this summer.  I used two coats (and that used pretty much every drop), and followed it up with dark wax. 

The jury is out on milk paint for me—I like the finish just fine, but I’m not crazy about the cost or the runny-ness.  I do love the MMS wax!  I have a few other samples to use on other projects.

I actually put something down before painting on the kitchen table!  That’s a big deal for me!

Naturally I had to “embellish” the top a little.  This led to a long discussion over what number would be the “prettiest” to use.  My daughter thinks I’m nuts, but what else is new??

What about you…do you think some numbers are prettier than others?

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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	A Little Knick Knack

New Stools

I know I should be updating on The Handbuilt Bedroom, but it’s too grey to take pictures in my son’s room right now.  Instead I thought I show my new kitchen acquisitions…I have stools!

Although our previous home did have a bar of sorts, we never had any bar stools because it would have been too crowded with the table right next to it.  In this home, though, the island is perfect for some extra seating.

I scoured Craigslist for some stools I could paint, but never did find anything with enough “pizzaz” for me—or that came in a set of three—or that was the right price!

I had about given up on the hunt, when I walked into Pier 1 and saw these beauties:  the Weldon stools. 

They come in both bar- and counter-height--although I personally think “counter-height” ought to be 26” rather than 24”—and they come in a whole bunch of great colors!  I fell in love!

I couldn’t choose a favorite…can’t you tell??

Thanks to a 20% off coupon, they came home with me.

The kids love them, and even I will take advantage of the extra seating now and again…especially when there are warm cookies on the counter!

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Not a paid advertisement…I just like the stools!

Stripey Stool

Just a little “after” project to show you today….the “before” is not to be found!

I darkened this cute little stool with some antique walnut stain, and then used a little homemade chalk paint to “embellish” it a little.

   

Of course I sanded off some of the paint to make it look it’s age!

I guess it could be a flower stand or a little end table…

 

But you know what?  I wish I had kept it for my shop!

<sigh> 

Maybe I’ll luck out and find another cool stool for there someday!

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party
Cowgirl Up!	{aka} design Coastal Charm

It’s not a table

Hello, everyone! I am ‘back’ from Bella’s Vintage Market, and it was a lot of fun. And a lot of work. And a lot of HOT! This was only my second market, and I never really considered the whole pack-everything-up-on-a-hot-July-afternoon angle!

I promise there are pictures, but I haven’t even looked at them yet! So I thought I’d share another makeover that went with me to the market.

I found another set of three oak barstools (you can see my other sets here and here):

Since I’ve been on a French typography kick lately, I had a grand idea to transfer three vintage French ads to the tops of these stools. I had read about Mod Podge transfers and Citra Solv transfers, so I had high hopes of getting one of these methods to work!

It wasn’t mean to be.

I tried Mod Podge transfers at least three times, and I always ended up with something that looked like this:

or this:

Really charming, right?

When I tried the Citra Solve transfer…I got nothing.

So, it was on to “Plan C.”

Yes, I resorted to my now famous technique using the overhead projector!

I found three different chocolate ads from The Graphics Fairy. I pulled out portions of those ads that seemed to fit well on a stool top, and painted them up!

This one is my favorite. As with my other projects, I distressed the lettering to make it look old and faded. And to help hide my mistakes!

I think this one is my least favorite, although it may be growing on me. I was free-handing the various flourishes, and they could be better!

I think my flourishes were better on this stool! Actually, this one may be my favorite. I don’t know.

Here they are as one big happy family!

These went home with a great couple that drove two hours one way to purchase a French coffee table I haven’t shown here yet, as well as another not-a-table typography project yet to be revealed! I thought they had great taste!

Hope you like them too!

Linking up to these great parties!