I really should be sleeping....: September 2011

Fall Burlap Pennant Banner {quick tutorial}

A quick and easy fall banner.

Supplies:

Burlap

Acrylic Paint and brush

Permanent marker (to match paint)

Jute

Sewing machine and matching thread or hot glue

How to:

I die cut my burlap, but you can easily cut the shape with scissors. I used my computer to write "fall" then sized it to what I needed. Print the letters in outline. Using either a lightbox or your window, put the burlap over the paper and trace the outline with a permanent marker. Paint in your outline. Be sure to put a scrap piece of paper under your work, so it doesn't bleed through on your desk/counter. Let dry. (Crucial step. Trust me. I had paint all over my sewing machine because I was too impatient.) Line up your pennants in order and sew the burlap onto the back of the pennant using a zig zag stitch. (This would have been a bit easier if I had used a cording foot, but once again...too lazy/impatient to get it out.) Optionally, hot glue or fabric glue the jute to the back. Or hand stitch.

Here it is on my (undecorated) mantle. Hey, its still September....for one more day.

It was 90 here yesterday. Not feeling too fallish yet.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll decorate. Then it will at least be October!

Dresser redo

I am LOVING this chalk paint stuff!!! Besides the gorgeous finish, there is NO sanding and NO priming! WooHoo!!!

I did a few repairs then painted it in ASCP Old White. I lightly glazed it and put the original hardware back on.

I know its a great piece when I want to keep it. But alas....there is no room in my house, so it went up to the shop.

Here is what it looked like before. Not too bad. Some of the bottom had been chewed by....something? I also had to do some veneer repair to the top. Ugh. First time, but it came out ok.

Hall Tree Makeover

This is a piece that has been painted and painted (before a certain *ahem* someone knew how to paint furniture) and painted. And now painted again. It has also been moved and moved and moved and moved. It had been beaten up then stuck in room after room, then in the upstairs hall because there was no place for it. I finally asked myself, "Why do you keep trying to make it work?"

So I attacked it with a light sand (only to clean up some of the bumps and bruises) and then some ASCP in Paris Grey.

See these hooks? I took the bright silver ones off, since they didn't really fit. I found these at an antique store. I know they are supposed to be ceiling hooks, but they were the perfect amount of rusty and quirky so I put 'em on.

Then I waxed it and attacked it again to distress it. There was no way I was stripping this baby and that's what it needed, so I figured I'd bring out the flaws rather then try to hide them.

And my dear friend hand painted this tile (since I broke the other one trying to get it out).

Here are the legs...

Below the grey is black. Below the black is white. Below the white is wood. They all make an appearance.

Here is the (almost) before and after.

Its ~~up for sale in our booth~~ SOLD. I really like the after, but my entire house has a carmely-tan trim (which sets the tone for the entire house!), and grey just does not work with that!

Armoire Redo

(Sorry no "staged" picture, but this baby was too heavy to move around for pics, so I cropped out the messy garage! ;)

Found this baby on Craigslist (love CL!!!) originally for The Painted Paisley (the furniture painting biz I have with a friend).

Then when I moved "B" to her own room, the room did not have a closet so I needed an armoire and decided I'd keep it. I started painting it before the 115 degree 3 month heat wave set in and so it sat, and sat, and sat in the garage with its base coat, but that's as far as I got.

We finally had a break and two of my kiddo's started school, so I had a little more free time and tackled the rest.

Ripped out the shelf inside and added a bead board backing.

Outside - ASCP Chateau Grey

Inside - ASCP Old White