$5 Fabulousness

Good Morning! I'm taking some time in the midst of a leap day snow blizzard here in Eagle Creek to share my latest project with you. I was fortunate enough a few weeks ago to acquire a couple little tables for next to nothing while out on the town with my baby daughter. I drove quite a distance to get them,  in fact the lady couldn't believe I'd come so far for a $5 table.

Most of the time when I'm looking through Craig's List or an estate sale and I see something that interests me I have an almost instant vision of what I'm going to do with it. Maybe that's weird...I don't know. By the way, currently as you may have already noticed I do most of my painting on my kitchen island, hence the cupboards in the background. This time of year the lighting in the workshop is horrible without the big door open and well...it's just way too cold!

This little table came to me painted bright white and baby blue painted like clouds. It had beautiful carving on the legs that was hidden under all that paint. I sanded it smooth, gave it two coats of primer and then two coats of ivory. I found the center and divided the table into 3" stripes with painters tape. I grabbed a fabulous can of oops gold paint that I have been dying to use and filled in the stripes. Once it was dry I removed the tape and lightly sanded the whole thing to get a smooth surface.

After I had such success using the heat transfer tool on my last project, I was excited to try it on painted wood as the instructions said I could do. I found a wreath graphic that suited the shape of the table and had it blown up to match the dimension of the table. Here's where things became a hot mess...literally. I first tried a sample board and it worked beautifully. I taped down my transfer and went to town. Now I'm not sure how hot this little tool gets, but I do know if you don't keep it moving it will burn your paper.

I tried to "peek" along the way as I had done with the fabric transfer I did before and it was so hot it peeled the paint off with the paper! I was so frustrated I had to walk away. I stewed over it as I tried to sleep that night and decided I was going to try it again. This time I was going to let the image cool before I tried to remove the transfer. So as crazy as it seems, I sanded the top again, repainted it as before and applied another .40 copy to the top. This time I was successful! It is faded in some spots, but I think that adds to the charm of the whole thing. I sanded all the edges, antiqued them and finished it with clear wax. Actually, I liked it so much I almost kept it for myself.

Once again, I have managed to demonstrate what NOT to do for all you ladies out there. This little tool is a great thing with endless possibilities, but keep it moving... or have the fire department on speed-dial!

Linking up with these lovely ladies:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                     

                                                                   

Something Old, Something New

I don't know how many times this shelf has tipped over and hit me in the toe...more times than I can count! You see, years ago when we were newly married with absolutely no decorating budget my husband crafted it with his own hands. That was a pretty big accomplishment since we were barely 20-something, at least I thought so. Flash forward 20 plus years and although it doesn't fit my "style" any longer, I just couldn't part with it because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I have literally had it leaning against the wall in my closet for years.

I finally did get the courage to ask him about recycling it into something new for the shop the other day during one of my "clean out the clutter" binges. He gave me permission to morph it into something new. When I thought about what I could do with it I remembered I also had some old wicker wall hangings I'd been hanging onto. What if I cut them apart, glued it to the shelf and then painted it? Why not? Primer and a coat of latex right over the top, it worked like a charm. 

The only problem I needed to remedy was the fish cutout in the center from its previous life( I made the hubby pose with his handiwork ) Hmmm...what could I do about that? I had some old frames laying around, what if I transferred an image to a piece of drop cloth, framed it and then nailed the frame to the shelf right over the fish? Done! To finish off the edges of the wicker I glued some ecru colored trim around it as well as around the canvas image.

I had picked up some little crystal knobs at the craft store...have you been to Michael's lately? They have some adorable knobs in the dollar bins. I have collected quite a stash for future projects. They stood out a little too much on their own so I grabbed some jewels I had in a similar color and added them to the transfer, better. 

I'm looking at things around the house with a new eye now. What do you have laying around your house that you could transform? Some glue, some nails and some paint can turn a whole lotta' pieces of nothing; into something. Maybe even something someone will want.

Linking up with these lovely ladies:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                     

                                                                   

French Footstool

I'm currently in the middle of about a half dozen small projects to fill up my space at "The Roost", most of which I am only about half way through. Why oh why do I begin a new project before I finish the one before it? I blame it on my age...if I don't jump on something the minute the thought comes into my head POOF it disappears. I suppose it would be simpler to just write the ideas down, but that would be logical and often for us creative types logic just doesn't fit into the equation.

Recently I stumbled across this sturdy, but 1980's ugly ottoman at the Goodwill for $7.99. It was a lovely forest green and pink velvet...way beyond its prime I would say. I have seen so many cute stools on blogs and Pinterest recovered to look fabulously French.

I was in need of a bench to stage with a beautiful 1930's vanity I purchased recently and thought this would work perfectly if I transformed it. I ran to my neighborhood Lowe's to pick up another drop cloth....what would we do without these now that we know how versatile they can be?

Another blessing in blog land, Karen at http://www.graphicsfairy-diy.com// provided me with a fabulous french graphic that I took to my local Kinko's and enlarged to 200%. It only cost a couple dollars and was the perfect size to cover my ottoman top. Now, I have used the freezer paper transfer method on pillows with okay results. Just recently I gave the Citrasolve method a try...it worked about the same. The newest method I found  was to use a heat transfer tool with a laser copy, color or black and white. I just happened to already own one of these little tools that I purchased years ago off of QVC.

I layed out my drop cloth and "dry fit" it around my ottoman for size. Then I did my best to center my printed design on the fabric and taped it down to avoid slipping. I preheated my transfer tool and worked in little circles across the design carefully lifting and peeking occasionally. Since my design was so large I cut the paper away as I went to keep track of what I was already done with. I have to say, aside from my hand getting sore from gripping the tool for so long, I was really impressed with how well the image transferred. I understand you can buy these on Amazon fairly inexpensively.

I removed the wooden legs, gave them a coat of ivory paint and distressed them. The pink velvet trim had to go! I used my handy dandy staple gun and upholstered my new beautiful design right over the top of the "seen better days" green. Once I screwed the legs back on it was good to go. All together it took me just a couple hours to complete. As impatient as I am...that's about perfect.

Linking up with these lovely ladies: