A Black and White Table Makeover

I purchased this little table at a yard sale for $3 .  It had an arborite top on it and the legs had been replaced with some home made ones but it was the very sturdy.  It looked like a miniature mid century kitchen table except the legs were wood instead of chrome.  It was first thing I ever painted with my DIY chalky paint about three years ago.  At the time I was really concerned about the paint adhering to the arborite surface but I went ahead and painted it anyway.

I distressed the top corners a bit at the time (the black area is the original paint job) and as you can see, the paint had stood up fairly well.  There are a few more little dings in the paint but considering how I've used it,  it's a wonder there is any paint left.  It's been used as everything from a side table to a play table for the kids to run their dinky cars on... and it's been three years. 

I wanted to give it a new look so I decided on a partial make over.  I painted the legs white.  Then I taped off the diamond on the top.  I just left the black distressed as it was and painted the diamond first with a base coat of DIY primer and then two coats of the white.

Then used tracing paper to transfer the image I hand printed out.

Using the tracing method gives you enough of an image but you can fix any missing lines when you paint it in by hand.

A little distressing of the image and a coat of wax to protect it and I'm ready to use it again..

Right now I'm using it a side table .

It makes a great place to put a book or my coffee in the morning.

This little table has so many uses, I think it will be around for a long time to come. 

One piece... Three Projects. -part two - Desk to Tween Vanity

I few weeks ago I  updated a wash stand and had some left over pieces.  I wanted to show you how I use every single piece if I can and promised three projects from one piece. See the first project here.

 

That wash stand had a lovely little  tippy mirror on it that I couldn't use because a few of the spindle pieces couldn't be tightened enough.  However there was nothing wrong with the mirror itself so I wanted to find a new home for it. 

I repaired and painted a turn of the century ladies writing desk and chair last year but couldn't sell it because it was just too small for a desk by todays standards.  There definitely wasn't enough room for a computer and all the stuff that goes with it.   

This is how I married the two pieces together.   First I repainted the desk with a lovely soft white called Queen Annes Lace from BeautiTone .

Then I painted all the pieces that held the mirror together.

It's easier to scrape the paint off the mirror after it's dry than it is to tape it off.

I printed this postage stamp photo and used tracing paper to transfer it to the desk top, and drilled two pilot holes for the mirror spindles. 

At this point I did a dry fit to make sure everything was going to fit together.  You can see the fine lines where I traced my picture.

I  hand painted the picture and when it was dry I lightly sanded and distressed to make it look like it had been there for a long time.

Now I had to get rid of the blue inside.  It just wasn't right for a young lady's vanity.

Ahh... much better. Things are starting to come together.

























I wanted to do something different with the seat so I found a bright pink bath mat on sale and used it to recover the seat. 



I painted the mason jars to add the finishing touch and I think I've created a vanity that any young lady would love.

Canada Day Mason Tea Light Holder

Every time I look through mason jar projects at this time of the year I see tons of pretty little mason jars painted with stars and stripes in red white and blue.   My friends from south of the border are really busy.

What I don't see is Canada Day mason jars and I kinda wondered why.  So I decided it's about time someone made them.  I'm so glad I did because I absolutely love  it.

First I gathered together a bunch of stuff because I wasn't really sure how I was going to make it.  I mixed a batch of my DIY chalky paint in red.  This little bowl is about a half cup. Once it's mixed I just keep it in a jar and it will last for a couple of weeks.

Then I washed my mason jar and dried it really well.  First I gave it a good coat of the white I already had mixed. 

While the paint was drying I measured a spoon and using pliers I bent it to hang down into the jar.

It will hang inside like this and hold the tea light candle.

I painted the back side of  a small maple leaf to use like a stamp, then painted the top and bottom of the jar red as well.

A little sanding of the raised areas and some jute twine around the top and it's done.   All that's left is to add a candle.

I love how it looks and I can't wait to make some more.  I think these would look great going up a set of stairs to a deck to light the way home after the fireworks,  or lined up on a mantle. 
Where would you put yours?

Painted Mason Jars

My first mason jar project was my mason jar soap dispensers found here and at the end of that post I decided I would work my way through the ton of projects that I have saved on pinterest.

The other day it was rainy and cold and I was looking for a small indoor project.
I got out a couple of mason jars, some leftover chalky paint and a few little bits of ribbon. I think I'm the very last person to finally try painting mason jars but I have to tell you I am really surprised at how pretty these really are.  It's also a really great way to use up bits of leftover chalky paint as well because it takes such a tiny bit to cover the jar.

 I decided to put on a dark coat first then a light coat because I wanted the raised parts to stand out a bit when I sanded them. 

While I had the paint out I dug into my stash and found this silver tray from the thrift store so it got a coat of paint too. Some sanding of the edge of the tray and the raised lettering on the jars. Add some ribbon around the top and I'm really pleased.  Aren't they pretty.

I had a bit of the light colour paint left so I used it on these two little dogs.  Also found in my stash they were  bookends but I never used them so I took the bottom pieces off.

 

















They add just the right touch for little displays around the house.

To brighten up a shelf in my china cabinet until I get around to painting it.

And on this vintage tray.  You can see the tray makeover here , it was actually my very first post.

So if you find yourself with a little time on a rainy day start painting a mason jar.  You never know what it will lead to.

Vintage Window makeover

I've had a few of these old windows hanging around for a while and finally decided I needed to do something with them.  

They were very dirty and had hardly any paint left on them.

I gave them a really good scrubbing with warm soapy water to get all the grunge off and then I gave them a rinse with some bleach added to the water to make sure there was no mold.

The putty holding the glass in was dried out and broken up.  I removed the broken bits and the glass was still nice and tight in the frame so it didn't take much to cover the edge.  I just used a bit of wood filler.

 I primed the window using some of my left over DIY chalky paint in black.  Once it was dry I painted it in this pretty grayish blue. 

I finished them up with a coat of dark paste wax and added some pretty white hooks

I had such a hard time taking pictures because it was such a rainy dark day.
 

This would look so pretty in an entry.  Maybe displaying some family photos behind the glass.
The nice big hooks would be great for coats and hats,  and little side hooks for keys or purses.

It would be wonderful in a bathroom for towels and robes too. 

   I  really like how this one turned out.


What do you think.  Entry or bathroom?  Or maybe you have another idea.  I'd love to hear it if you do.

Kitty cat storage.

I absolutely love my kitty.  What I didn't love was the big bag of dry cat food sitting on the floor of the closet.  It inevitably gets  spilled and I was tired of cleaning up the mess.  The simplest solution of course is to pour the bag of food into a bucket with a lid.  I couldn't just have a plain bucket of course so I had to paint it.

I put about 2 tbsp. of plaster of paris into a little bowl and mixed it to a paste with a tablespoon of water. To the paste I added about 1/4 cup of regular acrylic craft paint. 

I used a sand block to gently rough up the surface a we bit and then painted the bucket.  I left the upper part of the bucket white because I figured it get too much handling to not chip and start looking.... well .. ugly.  Going to the ridge gave it a nice clean line.

When the paint had dried for about an hour I used a piece of dowel to "write" on the bucket. What it actually did was remove the paint to let the plastic show through. I wouldn't have been able to do this once the paint had cured for a few days. I could have used chalk or white paint to label it then.  This chalky paint  is pretty durable on the plastic..

There are some really great  paints out there that are great for using on plastic, like the Fusion spray paint,  if you would like to use them, but for me it's all about saving money and using what I have on hand. 
It's been over a week now and I am very happy with how well the DIY chalky paint holds up.  I'll be using it to make a few more of these buckets to solve some small storage problems.