Clock Redo

Before- This thing was ridiculous looking!

And After

Found this clock on sale at Marshalls but hated the gold.I painted it then antiqued it with brown glaze. Looks quite lovely in my living room.

Vintage Frames Meet Vintage Mirror

I loved the frames in my bathroom but wanted to try something different with them. I am liking this a lot more!

Yet another bird window

Before- Just needed a little cleaning up.

And After

My latest bird window. This window was another Lady Jane's on Cherokee Street purchase. The trunk is a new addition from an estate sale near my house. It was a $15 find this weekend! The window is pretty heavy so I figured it would be safer on a chest instead of hanging on the wall. I trust the 50lb picture hangers, but I  don't trust the plaster walls in my old house.

Birds on a Wire

I was eating lunch at Local Harvest in the Tower Grove Area and couldn't help but notice these windows they had hanging on the wall. They were old windows, the paint was chipping off they had old advertisements on them. They were hanging from a hook on the wall and I loved them. I found some windows at an antique store but they were $20 each. Not much for what I hoped would be a cool piece of art. My friend who lives in Benton Park found two of them in an alley near his place and grabbed them for me. They were exactly what I was looking for. I didn't repaint them or do much of anything except use a little windex to clean them off. I love love love birds so I found bird decals like the ones you'd put on a wall to use on the glass. I used old wire I found in my tool box and screws that have hooks on the end to hang it on the wall. I have another one similar with window panes I also made. This was one of the easiest projects I've done. It's unique and definitely my favorite!

Cherokee Street Treasure

 

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Painted

I've been looking for a stand for my TV in bedroom for some time now. I had an idea to help my friend decorate his loft with antique wooden doors ( that's a whole different project). Anyways, I knew I couldn't go to the antique shops on Cherokee Street ( you can check out the stores here )and leave empty handed.





















































We walked the store lined streets in search of old doors. We came across a cool little place called Lady Jane's. Jane was actually an old man who chain smoked cigs the whole time we were there. There is a lot of cool stuff there and I headed to the basement to do some digging around. I saw what appeared to be an ornately detailed wooden stand just perfect for a tv. I was sold on it instantly and expected it to be really expensive. I smiled, pulled the "I'm a teacher" card, which I use all the time to wheel and deal at estate sales and garage sales and he said he'd sell it for $40. I was expecting to pay a lot more than that so I didn't even bargain with him.

 

So here's what I did to this guy:
-Lightly sanded it with a sanding sponge. I like the imperfections so I don't do much sanding.
- Primed it white. You can use any color primer, I just always use a light color on darker pieces of furniture so you can see where you've painted.
- 2 cans of Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze
- Valspar Antique Glaze


Now, I usually paint furniture pretty neutral but I decided to try something different. If I didn't like it, I knew I could easily paint over it. When I finished spraying it it resembled something out of Barbie's dream house. It is a really pretty color but definitely needed to be glazed to tone it down a lot.

The glazing is tedious but really easy. I brush it on making sure to get into the cracks really good, then wipe it off with a damp rag. Glazing is fun because it wipes off really easily. If I don't glaze a project I usually sand it a little to give it an older look.

The color is growing on me. I usually don't paint something this bold, but i do like it!

Vintage Clock

This was a super easy project. I found this clock for $6. I sanded it a little and painted it. Then I used a sanding sponge to give it a vintage look.

Bathroom Vintage Backless Frames

I got this idea from the store Anthropologie. I frequently go there and secretly take pictures in the store of things I want to replicate. This is a random collection of frames from estate sales and thrift stores. None cost more than a dollar or two and added some charm to my bathroom. Again, I used Krylon spray paint in white.

Night Stands

I just moved to a different place in South City and have a huge bedroom. I really wanted to find some night stands to refinish. I found this guy at Goodwill (surprise surprise). I loved it but wanted to find a set. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted another one! I didn't care how much they were...I had to have them. To my surprise they were $7.00 a piece! I almost cried with excitement. I took them home and sanded them in my basement. It's too hot to spray paint anything outside so I usually paint in my basement. Little did I know the fumes would travel through the vents. I surely ticked off everyone in my four family flat that I just moved into. Anyways these guys were a piece of cake to paint. I used a sanding sponge when I was finished to roughen them up a little. The spray paint gives them too new of a look so I primed them dark gray so the color would show through a little.

Bookcase Turned Hutch

I had my eye out for a hutch for my dining room for some time now. Vintage, retro, yet girly was what I had in mind. I stumbled across this gem at Goodwill hidden in the corner. It was covered in crayon, finger smudges and an assortment of other questionable spots. I liked the color of it so I just wanted to repaint it. It's not an antique piece but I knew it would turn out just as I had envisioned it. I primed it white and used Krylon Ivory Semi Gloss paint. It is the color I use on most of my projects. I took off the beadboard on the back and spray painted it with Krylon Jade (I think that was the name of it). I thought it was nailed on, but it wasn't. It had about 100 staples in it. Well worth the work because I love the color.  I usually antique most of my projects with a brown glaze. You can find it at Home Depot and a little bottle of it will last a long time.

Coffee Table

Next was the coffee table. This big beast was only $40...another Goodwill find I had to have. My inspiration came from a coffee table I found at Pottery Barn with a hefty price tag of $600. I was determined to recreate it! I somehow fit this in the Jetta after taking the legs off. The table was pretty beat up so I had to do a lot of sanding before I could prime it. I spray paint everything! I also don't recommend going cheap on spray paint. I only use Krylon spray paint. Wal-Mart carries it for around $3.50 a can. It dries really fast and adheres to almost any type of finish. Sometimes I can skip the primer depending on the surface, but to be safe I usually prime everything.

The knobs were from World Market. They have a huge selection of knobs you can use on all kinds of projects and they aren't very expensive.

Here are some before and after pictures.

It all started with a chair in the corner.

Those of you that know me well know I am a thrift store junkie. I frequent Goodwill and local thrift/antique stores. Some might call it an obsession, but it's a hobby I've grown to love. Besides the thrill of a good find, it's taking someones old furniture and turning it into a work of art. I usually find a project a week of some sort to do and when I am done with one, I am itching to do another. A lot of my ideas come from blogs I read so I decided to create my own to share some of my projects and ideas with other people.

This was the first piece I refinished. It was a $5.00 thrift store find and I had to have it. I had no home for it in my house but knew I could find a spot for it. This chair spiraled into many other rehabs that I will share.

 Before

After