The "Forever" Table

Have you ever thought that you could live without a certain item in your home or maybe even just thought that you could move it to another spot - but once removed from it's original location, something just felt wrong? So much so that you finally moved it back and then all was right with the world again? Yes. Me too.

A few years ago, I found the sweetest little white table at the flea market for just $20. I brought it home and tried placing it in the living room, the bedroom, and other places, but ultimately it ended up in the kitchen at the end of the counter. This has been a good spot for it because it seems to soften the abrupt, hard lines of the side of the cabinet, plus it's a great surface to decorate! This table has been adorned many different ways...like this soft romantic look compiled of tea pots, doilies, old plates, and a decorative dessert display.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd take the table out of the kitchen - you know...to free up a little space and to provide a visual change. Well, I don't have to tell you that that didn't last long! The space seemed so "off" without my little old white flea market table. So back it went, nestled into it's permanent home at the end of the counter.

I seem to be drifting toward a kind of French cottage style - rustic meets elegant. So this is what I've recently come up with for my "forever" table...



I just love straw hats! I only have two, but I'm going to keep my eye out for more and start a little collection. The white dish towel is actually very, very old but has been preserved well throughout the years. I found it on Ebay. Linens - another weakness! I like the look of it layered on top of red and white towels (clearance at Wal-Mart). And nothing says French cottage like a nice basket! I have three of these baskets (thank you Goodwill!), but one I reluctantly gave to my birds once I saw how much they loved playing in it:)



My trusty old teapot you see in my photographs all the time coupled with an old chippy guilded box that I've had for years...and a bowlful of ceramic eggs!



In case you haven't noticed, I'm really into layering lately! I layered an old Italian gold mirror on top of an antique plate for a little extra sparkle.



Do you have a "forever" piece in a permanent spot in your home? Tell me about it! I really do understand!

Here are a few lovely bloggers that took the time to comment on my last entry about my mantel...Thank you!
The 7 Daggets , Aurajoon, Walnuthaven Cottage, Therapy by Decorating, Reinvented, As Time Goes By, Honeysuckle Lane, Cozy Little House, and The French Bear.

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If you would like to read more information about the 2009 Cottage Charm Giveaway event taking place during the entire month of May and see the list of current cottage style giveaways, just click the banner below!

A Touch of Delicious Whimsy

I've been working on accessories for my little robin's egg blue studio. I knew all those knick knacks and containers that I've picked up at Goodwill and stored in my attic over the years would come in handy someday! I had always planned on remaking them at some point and finally just took the plunge and began. I first took "before" photos of everything before priming my items because don't we just love a good before and after comparison? So I took photos of everything in their "before" state and went to work.

And then the memory card in my camera died and all my "before" photos were lost.

Who is this Murphy guy and why is he and his Law out to get me? ;)

Anyway, one of the items that I worked on was an old red gumball machine. It probably isn't actually old - it just looked very sad and beaten up. The red paint was chipping off like crazy and clearly, it had seen better days. I picked it up at a yard sale several years ago for $5 and liked it because there's just something nostalgic about gumball machines. Above is a photo that I took when I first brought it home back in 2006 (when we were working on our kitchen!).

But I don't like gumballs, or sweet tarts, or any of the standard candies you would find in a gumball machine (though my kids sure do!). I wanted the piece to be purely decorative anyway, so I thought why not fill it with something I really do truly love and can't live without? Something like...

Chocolate!










I superglued a lamp finial to the top (the gumball was missing the top piece), spray painted the gumball machine in a deep chocolate brown, and added a collection of my faux chocolate desserts...a touch of delicious whimsy for my studio!

You may be able to see the lines drawn on the painted chocolate brown floor, which is actually the top of the steps in my studio. I'll be painting a checkerboard pattern there, and I've gone ahead and drawn out my grid. We'll see how it goes!

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If you would like to read more information about the 2009 Cottage Charm Giveaway event taking place during the entire month of May, just click the banner below!

A Cottage Chair Makeover Story: Yes, You *Can* Paint Fabric!

Edited to add: The discussion forum where I originally found the instructions for this project was on the HGTV website. The instructions have recently been brought up in the forum again and can be found here. I basically followed these instructions with the exception of using paste wax as the final step.

In your thrifting adventures, have you ever run across a perfectly well formed, good boned, sturdy upholstered piece at a great price...but you didn't buy it? Was it because you didn't like the upholstery and you thought you didn't have the skills to reupholster it yourself? Or maybe you knew it wasn't yet in your budget to higher a professional to do it for you?

Here is an alternative that can work for some low nap fabric: Paint it! Yes, you really can! And you don't have to purchase those expensive upholstery spray paints that come in limited colors, either. Just use a brush and a can of paint in whatever color you like.

I found four of the chairs above at Goodwill a couple of years ago. Obviously, they were from the 70's. (They came with the small, sturdy but beaten up dining room table that I turned into a large coffee table). I paid just $20 for the table and four chairs! I loved the form of the chairs but hated the color of the cushions. Originally, it didn't even occur to me to paint them and so I just stuck the chairs in the garage until I could figure out what to do. Then I came across a discussion in a decorating forum and someone there had actually painted their entire sofa. It looked great...it looked like leather! I was inspired and thought that if someone can paint their whole sofa, then I could try painting my chair cushions. If it didn't work out, I could always recover them down the road - and anything would be better than harvest gold, right?

The original fabric was velour, I do believe. (I am challenged when it comes to knowing fabric types so I apologize if there is another name for this.) As I mentioned, smooth, low nap fabrics work best for this project.



I made sure that the fabric was clean and dry before I began. Then, with a brush and a can of interior latex satin paint (Olympic Premium, "Dark Granite" is the name of the color I used), I started painting. I started with the edges, making sure I pulled back the decorative cording on the cushion so that I could paint in the the grooves. The first coat probably won't cover well and will look absolutely hideous. If you try this, you will want to throw out your furniture project at this point. Ah, but please don't! It gets better!

I let the first coat dry completely. It took a few days because the first coat really gets absorbed into the fabric. When it was completely dry, I sanded it well with fine sandpaper. This step is necessary because the paint raises the fibers in the fabric and it will feel rough to the touch. I sanded the fabric smooth, wiped it down, and then applied my second coat. It was the same process...I let it dry for a few days and then sanded and repeated. I believe I painted a total of four coats. The final coat did not require sanding because the fabric was completely sealed by the first layers of paint and no longer was rough to the touch.



The result was a chair cushion that looked like soft vinyl or leather. This "finish" can be cleaned easily. Just wipe it with a damp cloth!



Or you can bring it up a notch and even stencil something pretty on the seat. I didn't but I just might in the future. I think it would look great! The photo below shows the nice, soft sheen that a satin paint finish produces.



I painted the rest of the chair as well. I "distressed" it by gently brushing some of the edges of the chair with brown paint. Since this chair was photographed a few weeks ago, I've repainted the frame in a solid white as I decided I wanted it to look a little less distressed. I believe my reasoning behind brushing on the brown paint on the edges was to paint over it again with white and then sand back down lightly to the dark brown. But solid white looks just fine. This chair and another just like it will go in my craft studio.



While I don't think I'd be brave enough to paint an entire couch, I'm glad that attempted chair cushions at least. To me, they look a so much better! And we have more room in our garage now!

Sadly, my memory card for my camera just died yesterday. I had a camera full of "before" photos of various studio accessories. And the photos of my youngest child's first missing top tooth :( Hopefully we'll get a new card soon so that I can share the other projects I've been working on. Until then, I'll let you know that my farm style craft table is completed and ready to prime and paint - hubs did a fabulous job! The steps in the studio are also painted a deep chocolate brown and just need a little touch up work. I have another table that I need to start sanding in preparation for paint as well. Three more major pieces of furniture for my studio need to be built and/or made over: a large L-shaped unit, the shelving unit that will sit on top of it, and the makeover piece is a large cubby style system. So much to do, but I will be thrilled to finally have my own space to create!

Seeing Red in a Cottage Kitchen

I've been fortunate to meet so many other "red lovers" in the last few days. I really appreciate all the thoughtful comments about my red cabinets. Someone asked me if it was a tough decision to choose a bold color such as red for our cabinetry and I have to say that for me, I didn't even have to think twice! Love, love, love red! (Now, picking the right shade of red was quite a different story!)

But you don't have to have red cabinets to have a red cottage kitchen. Red accents are just as lovely with cabinets of just about any color. It's a beautiful morning - just perfect for snapping photos, so I took a few shots of some of my red accents right now:

There are those berries again! You've seen them in my window sill as well. I found the big white bowl either at Goodwill or Marshall's on clearance. I bought it a while back, but I know that I didn't pay much (true to my thrifty form!).




A teapot from Ebay, platter, bowl, and eggs from Goodwill, vintage doily from Ebay (it was a part of a very large vintage doily collection- I struck gold with this one!), and dish towel from Wal-mart... Funny story about the eggs: One morning I decided that I was going to order some ceramic eggs online. But I first made a run to Goodwill, because...that's just what one should do on a Friday morning...and what do you know! I found these ceramic eggs all wrapped up and hidden down in a vase!



I bought lots of red and white cotton dish towels on clearance from Wal-mart a couple of weeks ago. They came in packs of three for just $2 per pack! I bought three packs to use just for decorative purposes. A couple towels sewn together would make a great little summer pillow cover, don't you think?



A little word stone I made a couple of years ago....




I bought faux apples at Wal-mart as well. Did you know that you can now buy them by the bag? The cashier ringing me up that day thought it was a real bag of apples! The old bowl is from Goodwill.



I hope you've enjoyed taking a peek at my recent red additions. I want to incorporate more robin's egg blue - just a little here and there as a secondary accent color - but it's a harder color to find. But you can bet that I'll also be on the lookout for that happy and delicious color red!

Cottage Style Altered Art

Do you remember the sweet painting below that I bought at Goodwill last year? I liked it, I really did! But with my new found love of robin's egg blue, I just couldn't make the dark green and yellow background in the painting work for me. What to do?



With a little paint and a lot of nerve, I tackled the background myself. I also painted the frame a dark, chocolate brown.



I'm no artist but I know that it lacks the same depth, shadow, blending, and texture the original painting had, and I may continue tweaking in future...you know...as I save up a little more creative nerve:) For now, I'm just going to enjoy my new cottage style "altered art"!

Cozy and Fun Kitchen Projects

When I'm not knee deep in piles of laundry or drywall dust, I might be making something fun like....

A "berry" red arrangement from my backyard to my window sill......



Or a cozy paper pennant to go above my kitchen sink.....






Or glittered letter magnets for my kitchen island....







Don't you agree that every once in a while, a girl just has to stop the world and...



What have you creative souls made lately? Please share and inspire me!

A Glimpse of Spring + Family Day

Wow - thank you all so much for your nice comments about the penguin cake I made back in December! It really was so much fun, but I think it will be a *long* time before I do another!

And thank you for your continued patience with me and my scant blog entries. This is just the way it is in the winter for me. I slooooooow down and basically just take a long winter break. Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to spring.

Hubs brought me some lovely flowers last week and I couldn't help but to start getting excited about springs upcoming arrival. It motivated me to spruce the place up a bit (well, whatever one can do while living in a torn apart fixer, anyway). We recently celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary and as part of the "celebrating", I made a huge turkey dinner for our family day. So it was nice having the place come a live and seem a little spring like, especially on our special day. The weather was unusually warm, too - in the mid-60's that day!

Here are a few shots one little vignette...Come on spring!













Oh, and just for fun...here is the turkey spread from that night. We're *still* eating leftovers a week later! I think I was most excited about the rolls - I found an awesome recipe that I'll try to share soon. I LOVE my bread machine (see it below on the cooler?). Even though it basically just kneaded the roll ingredients together, it saves me so much time. And for loaves of bread, I just love how it does everything, baking and all. Wouldn't trade it for anything!



I put the girls in charge of decorating and setting the table. They did a great job, don't you think?!




There are still a few snowflakes hanging from our ceiling from our party in December. The kids wanted to leave them up, but I'm slowly, one by one, pulling them down:) We made about a hundred of them - can you imagine!






I hope everyone has a great week!