Throw it on the Burn Pile!

My grandma called me the other day.  "Your mom said that you have been buying old furniture and fixing it up.  I have a little old table you can have, but if you don't want it, just throw it on the burn pile," she said.

I had no idea what to expect but of course told her that I would gladly take it off her hands.  When she pulled this sweet little piece out of her truck, my heart sank.  Throw it on the burn pile?  If I saw this little cabinet on a burn pile, I would crawl through soot and debris, risk spiders in my hair and scraped up knees and elbows to rescue it!

The story is, at 5 years old, my grandma was friends with an elderly neighbor man who was selling the contents of his house and moving to Pennsylvania.  She walked into his home and announced that she wanted to purchase his antique secretary (keep in mind, she was 5 years old at the time!)  When he asked her what she would do with it, she said she'd hoped to have it for her doll collection.  He then asked what she would be willing to pay, to which she replied, "five dollars."  He sold her the secretary and threw in this little cabinet, just because he was so fond of her.  She has treasured the beautiful Victorian secretary and it has been a prominent fixture in her home for as long as I remember, but she said she had never cared much for the cabinet and that her mother used it in her room for many years but most recently it had been tucked away in the storage garage.

My best guess and first thought was that this little cabinet was intended to be a child's washstand.  I am curious to know if anyone else has come across a piece like this and can offer any more insight.

I just love the beautiful, intricate hardware!

 

Chances are, this sweet little cabinet will soon be receiving the royal Annie Sloan treatment.  One things for sure, it won't be going anywhere near a burn pile!  I am thinking of using it in my new studio space, maybe to store rubber stamps or small boxes of embellishments.

 

Thank you so much for your sweet visit!  I hope you are having a lovely week! 

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Sharing this post with these fun link parties:

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home
Inspiration Friday at The Pickett Fence

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Home

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed
Potpourri Friday at 2805

French Country Cottage Cupboard

Say that five times fast!

I feel like I spent the whole weekend with either my paint brush or wax brush in hand!  It was well worth it!  I am really excited about how my French Country Cottage style cupboard turned out!  Sadly, I cannot find a before pic to share (I know you're shocked!  I am usually all about the before and after pics)!  However, it looked a lot like the hutch top desk that I painted back in March.  I am sure that they came from the same era, maybe even the same manufacturer.  This one even had the same gold diamond pattern in the glass.

(The CraigsList Posting That Sent Us All the Way Around the Block!)

For this piece, I started with one rough coat of Annie Sloan's Versailles followed by one coat of Old White.  Next, I distressed all of the edges with a fine grit sanding sponge to reveal bits of the green as well as the wood grain.

I think Versailles is the most subtle, elegant, old world green and it works so well with Old White and many of the other ASCP colors.  Well done, Annie!

I had fun styling this one, can you tell?

As of last night, this piece is all set up in my space at the shop!  It's such a great piece to use as a display, I secretly hope it doesn't sell too quickly!

I am now going to take a little break from the painting projects and enjoy some summer fun with family and friends for the next few days!  I have such a passion for furniture...it would be easy for me to get wrapped up in projects for days on end and let the summer slip by. Sometimes I get so caught up in it all that I have to stop and remind myself that there is so much more to life than furniture and decorating!  But what a fun outlet and hobby it is...and I feel so blessed to be able to share my passions with you, building new relationships along the way!  Enjoy your summer, love on your family and treasure your friends.  Be grateful and be blessed!

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Sharing this post with these fun link parties:
White Wednesday at Faded Charm
Wow us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here

Restored it Wednesday at Restore Interiors
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Party at Shades of Amber
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday at Primp
Creative Things Thursday at The Vintage Farmhouse
Link Party at Redoux Interiors

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home
Inspiration Friday at The Pickett Fence

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Home

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed
Paint Projects at Primitive and Proper
Potpourri Friday at 2805

Weathered Folk Art Style

One look at this dresser and I knew just what I wanted to do with it.  The scalloped finish was something that had been bouncing around in my head for weeks, and when I saw the fun, curvy trim at the bottom of this piece, I was excited to accentuate it by replicating the pattern onto the drawers.  .

I didn't have any special formula or tools for transfering the pattern onto the drawers.  In fact, I used a large piece of craft paper to trace the trim piece, cut it out and then layed it directly on each drawer and painted over it.

The knobs are new, painted with Paris Grey, dry brushed with Old White, distressed and waxed.

I did a little more distressing on this piece than I usually do and was generous with the dark wax.  Somehow I felt like the style of the dresser and the pattern I painted on the drawers called for a more rustic look.  The end result reminds me a bit of a well weathered piece of early American Folk Art, which I think is fun.  This dresser would be sweet in a child's room or nursery but would also work well in a bathroom or art studio.  I love that people are thinking outside of the box with dressers these days.  They are such functional pieces, and there is really no need to banish them to the bedroom, especially if they can make a statement and serve a purpose in another room of the house.

Courtney of French Country Cottage shared some great tips last week for making your own chalkboards.  I had already purchased the supplies, but needed that bit of motivation and inspiration to get going on my projects!  Thank you, Courtney!  This was a piece that I had picked up at a garage sale.  I painted it with a mix of Paris Grey, Old White and Aubusson Blue, added the letters with stencils in Old White, distressed it and waxed it with dark wax only.

With the little key hooks and compartment for mail along with the chalkboard for leaving messages, I could see this being a very useful piece for someone's home.

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!  I don't know about you, but I am tired today!  Hopefully I can regain some energy soon because I have so much painting to do!  I am anxious to get some pieces completed and moved out of the garage to make room for more treasures!  My mom and I are headed out to some estate sales bright and early tomorrow morning!  I can't wait!  I hope to have some fun finds to share with you next week and will probably post sneak peeks on my Facebook page tomorrow afternoon or Saturday, so if you haven't joined me there yet, be sure to do so!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Sharing this post with these fun link parties:

Restored it Wednesday at Restore Interiors
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Party at Shades of Amber
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday at Primp
Creative Things Thursday at The Vintage Farmhouse
Link Party at Redoux Interiors

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home
Inspiration Friday at The Pickett Fence

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Home

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed
Paint Projects at Primitive and Proper

Pretty in Pink

For a blog with "Pink" in it's title, I feel like I am well overdo for a Pink Post! 

Well, I was definitely in a pink mood last night when I grabbed my can of Antoinette and put "Pretty in Pink" in the dvd player! 

So, today it's all about pink... 

I love Antoinette the best with a whole lot of dark wax!  It creates the perfect aged, straight out of a dilapedated farm house grungy pink patina that I love!

This is the first suitcase I have ever painted, and I am so excited by how it turned out that I can't wait to do more!  Once again I used Antoinette with a lot of dark wax and the stripes were done in Old White.  Incidentally, I was out of painter's tape and decided to give scotch tape a try to mark off the stripes...and it worked! 

I am always a little sad to prune back my Eden roses...especially when they still look this beautiful. However, it has to happen sometime, and they will bloom again soon, so I thought, why not have fun with this chore and work the clippings into my photo shoot!

Thank you so much for your sweet visit today!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Sharing this post with these fun link parties:

Restored it Wednesday at Restore Interiors
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Party at Shades of Amber
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday at Primp
THT at From My Front Porch to Yours
Creative Things Thursday at The Vintage Farmhouse
Link Party at Redoux Interiors

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home
Inspiration Friday at The Pickett Fence

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Home

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed
Paint Projects at Primitive and Proper

Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound

ASCP Custom Mix - French Blue and a Few Findings

Anyone who shopped Camas Antiques in the last week or so must have surely thought that I was moving out of my space, it was so sparse!  I finally had a chance to finish up a few projects and bring a truck load of new treasures in just last night!

I can't seem to pass up these little French style tiered tables.  They are so unique, delicate and versatile.  I love the scalloped edge on this one!  This pretty blue is a combination of ASCP Paris Grey, Aubusson Blue and Old White...with a lot of dark wax, of course!  I've decided to call it French Blue and had a lot of fun putting together a little Frenchy vignette to combine a handful of recent finds!

I used my French Blue mix to make over these pretty frames in addition to the side table.

These were hard to part with!  I have really become quite obsessed with ornate frames!  Both were dry brushed with old White before they were waxed.  I brushed Old White onto the detailed corners of the one on the left with a small paint brush.

I used that same technique for this lamp, but with Paris Grey and Old White.  This piece had sat and sat in my space with it's original gold-ish patina and although I didn't dislike it as it was, I knew I would like it better made over with ASCP and thought it might improve it's chances of finding a new home as well.  The finished look really reminds me of a Wedgewood vase!  I love how this piece turned out!

Also available in my space at the shop is this large, unique vintage mirror painted in Duck Egg and Old White.  Notice the applique swap out.  The original flourish was fine, but I was recently given this beautiful little floral bouquet and had been looking for a special piece to feature it on.  Two sweet gals from the UK, Celeste and Lizzie have a business called Shabby Finds where they sell their unique, resin appliques to add something special to everything from furniture to frames!  This applique was incredibly easy to apply.  What I found to be really great about the material these gals use to make their appliques is that it can be slightly softened with the heat from a blow dryer and molded onto the piece you are applying it to.  I love how this little change really re-defined the look of the mirror.  The applique worked perfectly with ASCP paint and wax!   

My space at the shop feels a little more full now, but there is still plenty of room for more treasures!

  I am off to work on some more small tables and chairs to add to my display!  Today was all about blue and grey, but I hope to have some pink pretties to share with you later this week!

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Sharing this post with these fun link parties:

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here
Restored it Wednesday at Restore Interiors
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Party at Shades of Amber
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday at Primp
THT at From My Front Porch to Yours
Creative Things Thursday at The Vintage Farmhouse
Link Party at Redoux Interiors

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home
Inspiration Friday at The Pickett Fence

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Home

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

It's a keeper...

Last week I shared the beginnings of a room transformation.  Our former formal living room which was so seldomly used and that had been furnished with a lot of Victorian hand me downs was stripped bare for a fresh start.  Hoping to create a comfortable, less formal sitting room which would also function as my studio, I painted this dresser/credenza last week to hold art and craft supplies.  I wanted to do something new and unique with the paint treatment but decided on the same Paris Grey accented in Old White look that I used for the Pemberley Buffet.  The colors turned out to be perfect for the piece and for the room.

I realize that the before photo doesn't make this piece look as pathetic as most of the pieces I rescue and makeover.  Although this dresser wasn't in bad shape when I picked it up, it was a funny greenish color (not quite cream as it appears in the photo).  It also had a laminate top which wasn't so pretty and was obviously used in a teenage girl's room because it had bits of pink and purple nail polish dried on some of the drawer fronts. 

Two coats of Annie Sloan's Paris Grey and a little dark wax and no one will ever know this once looked like a dated formica counter top!

I love to accent beautiful details on furniture with Old White and dark wax against a bold background.  These details were all but lost with the original finish on this piece.

I didn't do a thing to the hardware.  It was complete and beautiful as is.  Lucky me!

Our new sitting room/studio is coming right along!  I now have a chaise lounge and a storage credenza!  Tomorrow, my husband and father in law are picking up a beautiful 8 ft. long table for me!  I would love to keep going on this room but I think I will stop, for now and focus on a few things for the shop!  Don't worry though, there will be a complete room reveal post before too long!

It felt a bit like a luxury to actually take the time to paint something substantial for our own home.  This piece is definitely a keeper.  I think I am going to enjoy it for a long time!  Until the day I find something I love more!  Hee hee!

It's always fun to have options!

Thank you for your sweet visit!  And thank you for your kind comments and emails!  I feel blessed to have so many wonderful Blog friends!  I hope you are all having a lovely week! 

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda 

Sharing this post with these fun link parties:

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here
Restored it Wednesday at Restore Interiors
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Party at Shades of Amber
THT at From My Front Porch to Yours
Creative Things Thursday at The Vintage Farmhouse
Link Party at Redoux Interiors

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home
Inspiration Friday at The Pickett Fence

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Home

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

 

Skeleton Keys

My grandpa collected skeleton keys.

He sought them out at estate sales and antique stores, pretty much everywhere he went.

When he passed away earlier this year, my mom asked me if there was anything of his that I would like to have, to remember him by.

I am sure that I could find at least one item in every room of my house to remember my grandpa by.  He was always bringing me little treasures...

His collection of old keys and locks is extra special.  It's something that he treasured.

And now, this treasured collection sits in a pretty bowl on our mantle...

where everyone can enjoy it...

This afternoon I let my boys sit on the floor with the pile of keys and locks.  They had so much fun examining them, pointing out the uniqueness in the different ones, and trying to find the right key to open a lock. 

I was pleasantly surprised when we found a match!  How sweet and appropriate that it was a heart shaped lock.  I hadn't even noticed this one until the boys started digging through the collection today.

Someday this collection will be passed on to my boys.  Maybe they will add to it, maybe they will tuck it away for safe keeping, or maybe they will display it as I have.  Regardless, I am sure that they will treasure a collection that once belonged to their great grandpa.  I know that I will forever think of Grandpa whenever I come across an old skeleton key.

Thank you for your sweet visit.

Best Wishes and Blessings,

Amanda

Sharing this post with these fun link parties:
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Wow us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here
THT at From My Front Porch to Yours

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home
Inspiration Friday at The Pickett Fence

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Home

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

What's It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants