Night Table and Jewelry Box Before and After's

Night Table Before:

Old night table: $7.50 (Thrift store) Spray Paint: Rustoleum Satin Black $9.00 Hardware: Rona $6.00

Lovely chipped up top and ooooold style handle.

The new handle was a bit smaller so I got my handy hubby to drill me some new holes.

Spray painted outside - dried in about 20 minutes!

Night Table After:

Distressed slightly on the edges with sandpaper. Purdy! :)

Looove the new handle. I'm so excited to put this in my room :)

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Decor DIY ~ Candle holders

These were a couple dollars each at a thrift stoe - every one I went to has so many brass candle holders!

I spray painted them from top to bottom and bottom to top to make sure all the little curves and crevices are filled in.

All done! Distressed just a little - don't think I'd distress them at all if I did it again though -they looked nice and crisp before. Not a big deal though :)

Decor DIY - Mirror

I found this mirror at value village for $8. It is actually plastic! Completely fake, but who would know once it's up on the wall?! (Except you of course....shoot...)

The Before Shot - same brand of spray paint I used on the stool - again -wasn't pleased with it.

Masking Tape to cover the mirror - took a few coats to cover the gaudy dark gold.

All dry!! (One good thing about this brand of spraypaint is that if it gets on your floor it comes off with soap and water...not that I would have any experience with that ;) ....hehe)

A close-up of the distressing afterwards.

The Stool - After Shot

Kitty sittin pretty.

Kitty hiding.

Kitty attacking stool. I guess she thought it needed more distressing ;)

Stool - Before and After Pics!!

So here is the lovely little stool before.

Disassembled - kitty always wants to help.

Tools of the trade

Yes - I sanded all the paint off on my living room floor while watching a movie - does that make me strange?

hehe it cleaned up in a cinch with the vacuum.

Fabric was $2 I believe from the thrift store. Wrapped it snugly.

And then staple staple staple! I didn't do the neatest job - but who ever looks underneath?! Then the edges were trimmed off. The corner's were trickier -folding it to make it the least lumpy. I had short staples, I would recommend the long ones as there is so much fabric on the corners.

(I had to use lots of staples so it would hold.)

The spray paint I used. First one I've ever tried - not sure I would recommend it as it didnt coat entirely evenly, the lid was impossible to get off, and it gave a tacky texture once dry. However, that could have simply been my lack of experience ;)

Painted and dried, I sanded off paint where it would normally have wear...the edges.

I did end up coating the stool with a varnish. It made the finish look a lot smoother and less tacky. I'll post that and the final results soon!!

DIY much?

Well I'm still admiring the creamy white/distressed look so let me show you another blog I've come across!!

Centsational Girl

Isn't that incredible? You could probably pick all that stuff up from a thrift store for less than $20. (More money to splurge on those rich soaps and nice candles heehee). I went to my local 'Sally Ann' as most call it (I have no idea why...?) and found some brass candle holders I might go back and get as my first 'distressing' project. We'll see. But she gave me another idea as well, a DIY entertainment center! have a look at what she did:

Now that just shows you the general idea. The only things I need to buy in this case are the two tall shelves on either side. But whether they come from a garage sale or walmart or otherwise I can't see them being too expensive. A piece of wood to li on top would be nice as well, I'm thinking if I actually do embark on this project maybe I'll employ my papa's skills to make a nice curvy beveled edge type thingy. (Can you tell by my descriptions that I'm new to this whole decor thing?!) And then when all four pieces are gathered....yes, you guessed it. Painting and distressing them all for a uniform finish. *Sigh* this is what I daydream about. I'm going to pretend I don't hear your snickering.  Tata for now....

PS: I have so many unfinished projects at the moment, and a cruise (WAHOO) coming up in a few weeks that I may make myself wait until closer to the end of October to try anything. But then again.... I've never been a very patient person. We'll see what happens :)

Maybe....just maybe.....

Well I have spent the last few days wiping drool off my keyboard. Okay, thats not only an exaggeration its also a little gross - never the less - you HAVE to see what I've found. This blogs has me so inspired and eager I can barely contain myself.

Her name is Holly. And she is amazing.

How bout another?

So perdy. K one more:

So simple! Just some paint! (Love these airy french looking pillows as well...)

Her blog is In the Fun Lane.

So.....this got me thinking. We have a loooot of mismatched wood in our home. Outdated wood, plain boring pieces (that aren't really worthy to be called a 'piece') and all different shades and types :) So after reading this blog, my mind has wandered onto the DIY course. Why purchase new, expensive furniture when just a few cans of paint will recreate what I have already?? And then maybe, just maybe, some magic Holly dust will rub off on me from reading her blog and I will be able to create something almost as nice. Okay okay, I won't kid myself....;)