Thursday, July 28, 2011

No One Home Out Pickin!

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging the last few days I've been busy & having trouble with my back.  I know, excuses, excuses....


I've been to some of my favorite spots pickin'! No not peas or beans vintage furniture and home decor. If you think that would be fun it is unless you are in a huge barn with no air conditioning! God bless their hearts I don't know how they keep their business open in Jefferson, Texas during this heat wave and drought we have been having. I was only in their business for about an hour and came out with some great deals but I was also sweating like a pig, shaking all over, and light headed.  So I went to the soda fountain up the street and bought a big root beer float I need something cold with lots of sugar.


That's my excuse for buying it and I'm sticking to it. :-)

I thought I'd share a few of the pieces I picked up in Tennessee with you today since I haven't taken pictures of my new finds yet.


Here is some of the jadite I found and everything in the following pictures is in my booth at King's Antique Mall in Shreveport, Louisiana.


Here are a jelly strainer, old masher, etc....


Hope you have had time to do some pickin' and good luck. 

P. S. I'm still working on my spare room redo.  I have picked up a couple of things to get it started and will share with you soon.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Everything Old is New Again

For those of you clicking over from The Graphics Fairy to view my logo I created it using the free software Picnik.

Remember this?




After much work and a lot of sweat (I had to work outside in over 100 degree heat!) here is the finished project.










Gorgeous Art Deco vanity isn't it?


Now here's how I did it.  First I stripped off all the veneer that was left on it some of it two layers deep because part of it had come off two layers deep.  Then I proceeded to sand down the entire piece.  Most of the onlays were broken or totally missing so I went to Lowe's and picked out a few different wood appliques and cut them apart to get the look I wanted and applied them to the vanity. 


Next I painted it with Old White chalk paint.  It took three coats because I didn't use a primer.  In hindsight I should have applied a primer as the wood was so dry and just soaked that paint right up.  In case you don't know it is not necessary to use primer with chalk paint which is one of the reasons I love it so much. I then applied a coat of wax after which I distressed the vanity in the areas that would naturally be worn from use.  I then applied another coat of wax and buffed.  


I decided to paint the handles the same color as the vanity after first leaving them the way they were and not really liking how they looked. After I finished my granddaughter said, "Oh Nonnie, it looks just like a wedding cake!" I just love how it turned out and seriously considered keeping it but ended up putting in my booth at King's Antique Mall. 


Any questions?  Feel free to contact me to get more details I'll be glad to share.  I hope this inspires you to go out and paint something for your home.


I've entered this vanity in the following linky parties.




Sunday, July 17, 2011

Great Antique Stores Found On My Vacation

Hello everyone I enjoyed my vacation so much but as always glad to be home sleeping in my own bed. :-)


I thought I'd share the great antique shops I found while in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Yes, I know, you thought it was just another Branson, Missouri on steroids, but they also have fabulous antique shops in the area and a nice flea market that unfortuately was closed while I was there.


I found some great items including a pair of lovely, vintage, pressed glass lamps with pressed glass shades I plan to put into my bedroom I am re-decorating, a Gen. Robert E. Lee whiskey decanter for my husband (he collects them but he doesn't drink! lol), a nice vintage school desk, a beautiful Martha Washington style bedspread (also for the bedroom redo), and other odds & ends.


One shop I really liked was Castle Antiques. Below is a picture and it is on the main street where all the shows, rides, etc. are so it is easy to find. It was a smaller store but had very good prices.  If your like me you like to go to shops that aren't so fancy where you can dig through items and find the great bargains so I thought I would share the locations of the ones we found.


Here are the directions to find more great antique stores off the strip. From Interstate 40 take Sevierville/Pigeon Forge exit South drive through Sevierville into Pigeon Forge watch for Hwy #3 (they are numbered) which will be Wears Valley Rd. take a right. You will see the first antique shops in about a mile and then more about 10 miles out all along the highway. It is a beautiful winding drive that's worth the trip and everyone was so friendly. I wanted to buy one of those cabins on the side of the mountain and just stay there!


The temperatures were a little better there than here only in the 90's and less humid. I was not happy to come back to over 100 degrees plus heat index making it around 110!


Here is the pic of the first place I mentioned on the main strip in Pigeon Forge where I bought my lovely glass lamps with glass shades. I will share pics of the items I bought later.  The Antique Castle.





The next shop is on the Wears Valley Rd and if your interested the man who owns it is ready to retire and its for sale!  Wears Valley Antique Mall.



There are many more antique shops in Gatlinburg but unfortunately did not have time to visit all of them. (sigh). I hope this helps you on your next trip to Tennessee and if you have never been it is a wonderful trip their is nothing like the Smokey Mountains just beautiful.


Sunday, July 10, 2011

Working Vacation and A Bedroom Redo

I haven't posted in a couple of days because  I have been really working hard so we could leave today for vacation.  We're headed for Tennessee with our daughter and her family. Yes, two grandchildren a boy six and a girl nine. I do not know if we are brave or stupid. (That was a joke we love those grandchildren).  Anyway we have one in each car and they have DVD players and games and food so we're good. LOL 


I wanted to talk a little about working on vacations.  When you do what I do its hard to stop. I'm always looking for a good flea market, a re-sale shop, or estate sale.  Unfortunately my husband is driving and he smiles and says, "Hey, we can't stop at all of them Peggy". The thing is for several years now we have always stopped at antique shops even when we went to Hawaii we went to a flea market!   I just have a love of anything old. I love the pattina from years of use. The history behind a piece of furniture or an old car.  The thing I love most though is the memories they invoke. Is it the same for you as well?  If it is we have a lot in common and I would love to be friends!
So for the next couple of days  I will try to send you a few pictures of  anything I pick up and any inspirational items I see. I'm looking for inspiration for a new project I'm starting in my home. 
I am planning on redecorating my second bedroom.  It used to be my sons and lets just say its in sad shape.  I did move in my father-in-law's bedroom set that is quite old but my husband says I can not paint it.(Party pooper.) Anyway I am considering adding a canopy over the bed and thought I would share a couple of pictures I have found of some styles I really like.






I just love this one what do you think? Ever who made this one (in her barn it looks like lol) has done a great job. I know you can buy these crowns but I think I would like to find something unusual to use or make my own.






This is a pretty common style that I really like. I recently saw one made like this with a front panel of seashells it was really pretty.




Then there is the center crown you could make this fairly easily and I think that the first picture will be similar to this one when put on the bed.

I will posting pictures of the bedroom before I get started and want to do a very feminine room all with flea market finds.  I really don't love the bedroom suit as is but cannot paint it so I am hoping the canopy will soften the lines. 

I would love my readers help in making decisions every step of the way.  Please send me your canopy projects.  Canopy bed projects only please.   All entries will be voted on by my readers and the winner will be featured on Monday, July 18, 2011. 





Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Please Learn From My Mistakes

Well, I hope everyone's week is going well.

I thought I'd share a little of my knowledge learned the hard way in re-furbishing and re-purposing vintage & used furniture.  I recently shared some sneak peeks of a piece I am working on but didn't tell you what it was.  It is an antique vanity I picked up at a good price but it needed a LOT of love.  Let me tell you when I saw this piece I just had to have it I had always wanted one and just knew that lots of other people would to and I just knew it would sell quickly.  I was sure I could fix it right up. Yeah, right up. Sigh.

I'd like to point out first that I am not in the restoration business I do not restore pieces but re-furbish them and the following piece would have taken quite a lot of money to restore if it could be restored it was in very bad shape.

Here's the lesson don't ever let emotion rule your choices when buying to re-sale.  Look the piece over is it sound? How much work would it require? Is it something people are looking for?  How much money would you have to invest in getting it in a salable condition? Will it take more money and time than you could get selling it?


So now I'm going to share the before pictures of the vanity.  It is not finished so I can't yet show you after pics.  I am waiting now on my chalk paint to come in so I can paint it.  Here they are:

 As you can see a lot of the veneer is loose or missing.  I wish more of it had been missing because even removing it the way the pros do is very time consuming.


At one time it had some lovely wood onlays on the feet but they were all broken except for one and though I had pieces they were in layers as if the onlay was made in layers and was almost impossible to re-apply.




This is after I removed not only the layer of veneer but the one underneath it. I had to remove both layers because a lot of the second layer was missing also. Whew!




Although the mirror has most of the onlays missing the mirror is intact as is the mirror that goes in the center of the vanity.  The mirrors being intact was one of the reasons I purchased the vanity even though it was in such disrepair.


So, my point is that the vanity will come out lovely when I finish it but I've had to put too much work into it to make a decent profit.  My emotions won out over common sense.  I would keep the piece but unfortunately I have nowhere to put it.  Don't get me wrong I would do one like this again but only to keep not to sell.  I have thoroughly enjoyed working on it.


I hope you will keep this information in mind if you are just starting in the re-furbishing business as it will save you a lot of time and money.  I can't wait to show you the finished product so please keep checking back with my blog to see the pictures.  


I would also like to say how much I appreciate my followers.  Thank you for your interest in what I do.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Beautiful Angel

Hi ya'll, hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July.  We ate too much especially homemade ice cream and stayed in out of the heat! No fireworks its to dry around here for those.

I wanted to share an angel picture I put together for myself recently.  I found this icky, brown, plaster frame at a yard sale.  I painted it with silver acrylic paint and during the process broke a piece off the top, bummer, but my hubby glued it back together for me so I was still able to use it.  I had an angel graphic that I had been wanting to do something with that I got again from "The Graphic Fairy".  

I took a sheet of  scrapbook paper that was a dark silvery blue to a pale blue in the center and printed the angel out on the center part, which was tricky as I cut down a 12" x 12" sheet to fit my printer. I had picked up a piece of glass to fit at my local hardware store and DADA! a lovely picture to put in my yellow and blue bedroom.

Hope this really easy project inspires you today. Have a good one.



Saturday, July 2, 2011

A Great Find!

Well, hi ya'll. I intended on having this post up a lot sooner but the computer decided to try my patience today and wouldn't let me edit my pictures. Sigh.  But at last here's my post for today.

I stopped at a local shop the other day and found something I have always wanted and I'm so excited! I love to do counted cross stitch and needlework when I have time and have done some things that I plan on sharing with you one day soon. I know and understand all the work it takes to finish one of these large cross stitched pictures and have always wanted one done by someone in the 1800's. During that time learning to do needlework was a must for any young lady and was part of her schooling.

The following picture was probably done by a young girl as her final piece at the end of the school year to show everything she had learned and how adept she was with her needle.  If you'll notice at the bottom it says Mary Whitworth's work 1851. It is sewn on linen and you will notice that on the left side there are less dark blue stitches than on the right.  It could be an error or simply that she ran out of blue thread.  Also, there is a little bleeding of the yarn under her name where someone washed it.  Other than that it looks great to be over 100 years old!  I think she did a wonderful job don't you?

I hope you love it as much as I do its going on the wall in my family room.

Have a great 4th.  










Friday, July 1, 2011

A Door to Nowhere?

Hi ya'll, 

Hope everyone has great plans for the 4th we are planning on grilling burgers and trying to stay out of this exhausting heat!


I thought I would share my take on the door hall tree. I made this one for those of you who have a small entryway like I do. It was a bathroom or hall door that was in sad shape with several colors of peeling paint.


 I sanded and painted it a lovely aqua green, then distressed and antiqued it with a water based stain. I  painted the frame of  an antique mirror white and antiqued it then added two hooks, a small shelf, some architectural interest, and a glass door knob. I really like how it turned out and thought it would look great in any home but especially in one decorated in the rustic or country style. By the way, you can buy the hardware to fasten this to the wall at most hardware stores.

You can find most of the items I put on my blog at King's Antique Mall, 133 King's Hwy, Shreveport, LA. 


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