Your Before and After

Here's a Before and After of a napkin/mail holder that I posted about on my blog not too long ago. I asked readers to tell me what to do with it and received a lot of great ideas. Here's the one I used...

I painted it a light blue/turquoise color, then a light coat of white and distressed it. I really like how it turned out! What do you think?

Shabby Chic Mail Holder

My Quick Home Improvement Project

I love wood...possibly something to do with being born and raised in Oregon. So a few years back when it was time to buy a new front door for our home, I had to have a wooden door - unfinished! My husband liked metal for the security, but I wanted wood. The sales people recommend painting it, but I like the wood so I insisted on staining and sealing it for beauty of it. They insisted it would be a lot of work to maintain, but they don't know me. I love painting which is basically what staining is, but with a slightly different medium. You do have to keep up with re-staining and sealing and sometimes sanding it, but to me it's worth it!

Upon returning from vacation the other day, our front door welcomed us home looking a little shabby (and not in the good way). So I got out my stain and a brush and got to work. Thankfully we had a rare sunny day - important as you don't want it to be too cold or wet (or too hot for that matter) when you stain.

It will need to be sanded the next time I refinish it, but this time I simply cleaned the door and used and stain and seal in one product. I use a lighter color stain as we have a darker color house and the light door really pops. Simply put a light amount of stain onto your brush (I like to use foam) and "paint" the surface going in the direction of the grain of the wood.

I love the finished product which was almost dry in this picture.  It is not only important to me because it is our front door, but also because it is the background of almost all of the pictures in my shop.

Upcycle Your Recycleables - A Cute Tutorial!

We are die-hard recyclers here in Oregon, but reusing or upcycling is even better for the environment than recycling so I am always looking for ways to reuse everyday items.

We use a lot of aluminum cans and this project will work for any size can. You simply need to adjust your other materials to fit. In my example, I used a large can that held juice (pineapple juice if you must know - it's my favorite).

I first used spray primer to prepare it for several coats of pink paint until it was covered to my liking. (You should coat yours to your liking.)  I then selected a piece of decorative paper to match both the paint color of the can and the colors in the picture I wanted to use. 

Selecting the paint color, paper, and picture is my favorite part of this project.  This is where you get to be really creative!  Cut the paper large enough to leave space for the photograph you will be using and small enough to fit on the can.

 

You can use a multitude of adhesives for this project, but of course some will work better than others. I used double-sided tape which worked well. I tried scrapbooking tape, but that did not hold. When finished you can use your now beautiful can for storing just about anything!

Amazing Versatility of Old Ball Jars

I love old glass jars of any type, but finding Ball jars in great shape is always exciting. Whether clear or blue, they look great and have so many uses! I love the look of the blue jars but as I mostly use mine for storage, the clear jars make it so I can quickly find what I need. Here's a look at my storage use for Ball jars...

But what else can you do with Ball jars? The possibilities seem endless. Here are some of the great ideas I found on Etsy. Enjoy!

Hanging Lanterns

Light Fixture

                                                 

Flower Vase

Soap Dispenser

Chandelier

Painted Lids

     Necklace               

Have you seen any other uses for these beautiful jars?  Share them in a comment.

A Peek at ShabbyNChic's Creative Space

I love to feature artists' workspaces because I love to see them myself.  So I figured, why not share mine?  This is just a peek as I am still re-organizing my space.  I will share more in a future post.  This space is where I work on small projects, projects with detail, and it is where I store everything that is for sale in my shop.

my teacup collection

I have a space the size of a typical bedroom in the downstairs of our home.  Because it is downstairs, I had to use light, bright colors - mostly light green and white.  I love my white tab-top curtains - so simple and bright.  I love the shadow through the curtains on sunny days from the lavendar plant outside the window.  I put the same curtains over the closet where I store the items I'm selling in my shop.

Craft rooms/studios/office spaces easily get cluttered, like my slat back chair which is currently storing magazines that I need to go through.  No worries.  I do have another chair elsewhere in the room that I can actually sit in.  I love this chair that I found at an estate sale for $5.00!  It goes great with the old desk I got online for free.  I love bargains!

I tried to keep the decor simple, yet still welcoming and inspiring.  I found this great wicker shelf with drawers for storage for $1.00, but I should have taken pictures.  It was a serious 1970's orange.  I took care of that with a couple of coats of white paint.

I love this wooden box I found at a sale for $1.00.  I thought I heard the woman wrong when she told me it was a dollar, then I happily scooped it up!  It is more seating and when opened...

It is storage for my records. I love my records and I have to have music!

I love listening to music while I work.  My husband bought me this "vintage-looking" record player that can also play my cd's.  It sits on the table where I work.

I hope you've enjoyed this peak at my craft room. 

Shabby Chic Before and After

I found this piece at a thrift shop and loved how delicate it was, but it wasn't very cute...and I like cute!  So of course it had to be painted and white was the way to go!

So after filling in the hole at the top, sanding, cleaning it, priming and painting it and then distressing it, here is what I have...

Shabby Chic Candle Holder

It can be hung or sit on a piece of furniture. I can imagine how beautiful it would be with the glow of a candle in it, reflecting in the mirror on a dark evening. What do you think?

I want your 2 cents!

If you follow my blog then you may remember the last time I asked for opinions on a piece I had. Usually items I find "speak" to me and that is what inspires me to determine colors, finishes...  Occasionally I find pieces and am not sure what to do with them. Well, here is one of those. 

I really like the rustic look to it. My own home is a sort of rustic cottage style. However, not sure that's the best fit for my shop or for this piece. I am thinking of painting it white (of course), but the large knot in the wood makes me nervous about that. The fact that the wood is burnt also makes me think that white may not be the best choice. 

So...should I do a white-wash finish or paint it another color: green, blue... or just leave it as is? Oh! By the way, it is a napkin holder that can also serve as a mail holder. Please comment with what you think.

A Re-do on a Budget

A guest post from Autumn of Pulp and Palette - a very fun story to accompany these fun chairs!

My husband and I decided to shop the local market looking for a basic side chair so that we could paint it, and re-cover it. After weeks of searching, we decided to go back to the 1st market we went to weeks prior and went to the very back of the building, where no man really goes. From a distance we found these awful brownish vinyl, 60's era chairs. They were ugly as sin. Perfection!

Priced at $35 for both of them, we stood there looking at them and discussing when the stall owner noticed and came over. My husband asked, "so, these are $35?" Stall owner: "no". Hubby: "But they're priced $35. They aren't more are they?" Stall owner, in his barely-understandable-heavy-Greek accent, "for you and wife, $5." Hubby & me, in conjunction: "$5?! Each?!" Stall owner: "No. $5. Both." Hubby & I: "We'll take 'em!!"


So we left the market with our 2 ugly as sin, but perfect finds, only $5 lighter.

So off to purchase fabric and paint. Long story short, we purchased 2 little pots of sample paint from Bunnings {Australian version of Home Depot} for $10. Next stop: fabric purchase.

Now, I gotta explain myself a little bit and my fabric and paint colour choice. For about 5 min's during 2009, I was into this bright; funky; retro, phase of design. It was during that 5 min's that I decided to do this project. Thank goodness, it only lasted for 5 min's. I'm planning on re-covering my re-covered chairs in something much more subdued; vintage, and simple...much more my style. I digress...so, fabric. I chose 2 black and white patterns, complimentary of each other, and enough of each to cover the seat cushion and the back cushion. From memory, I bought just 1 metre of each design. Fabric was on sale, so, $8, for both. As a side item, I purchased the teal trim for about $5.

 

There you have it. My DiY chair recover/refurbish project for $28 - for everything! And the chairs are actually quite comfortable.

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Giveaway Winner Announced!

The winner of the Vintage Craft Kit is...

Zoe of Sealed with a Kiss on Etsy.

Congratulations Zoe!

Check back for more giveaways coming soon. 

Before and After: Guest Post

This Before and After features Paige, a guest blogger with a simple fix for a beautiful result. 

She started with a faux-wood mirror (that's right, not wood) that did not go with the decor in the room, so...well I'll let her explain.

Call this the lazy girl's way to re-paint something.  It won't work for every project (if you're dealing with a glossy finish, for example) but for my cheap faux-wood mirror, skipping the sandpaper and primer was the way to go.  I just applied three coats of paint with the foam brush.  I allowed drying time between each layer, and used even strokes to avoid brush marks.  

That's it.  Didn't even tape off the glass, though I kind of rolled the dice with that one.  Feel free to do so if you're worried about having a steady hand.

A beautiful end result that shows that we can refinish pretty much anything which means even less going into landfills and it can look amazing!  


Look at Paige's shop of feminine handmade and vintage jewelry - LittleWhiteChapel to see her other talent. You can also see more of her talent on her blog at: finalclothesout.blogspot.com