Cottage Studio Furniture Progress

Boy, do I have a lot of furniture to paint for my craft studio! But it's coming along and really, I find painting to be quite relaxing. Today I put the first coat of paint on an old armoire and my new craft table hubs built for me. I also primed an old telephone table and a sideboard that my grandmother gave me 15 years ago. This is the part where my mother will probably call me and say "I thought I said that you should *not* paint that sideboard! It's CHERRY!". (I'm sorry, Mama!). It's an old table that has been needing to be refinished since it was given to me - it had a sticky finish from where it had been stored in an attic of an old house for a while. I did start to take the old finish off many years ago, got about a fifth of the way through, and then my 1st daughter was born. And that was as far as I got. This old table has moved everywhere with me ever since - and always put in storage until I thought I could get around to stripping it completely. It really has been a shame that I've never really used in all the years that I've had it in my possession. I thought long and hard about it and decided that I was going to use it in my studio (it has wheels, can be easily moved around) and that if I was going to use it, it should fit my style and work with my decor. Besides, I've only stained a couple of pieces of furniture before in my life, and they both turned out horribly. This piece will get passed down to my girls, and hopefully by the time they're grown and I'm ready to give it up, I'll be able to afford to pay a professional to strip and refinish it for me.:)

Is that my phone I hear ringing? Help!


We've made some progress with the big ugly (and dirty!) cubed storage unit that once held paint cans and tools in our garage. Hubs has added extra shelving to it and a new top and bottom. The shelving will serve to hold trays of faux desserts as I'm working on them. We wanted to add the beadboard to the sides of the unit on Saturday, but it started raining and we didn't have enough room to cut the beadboard in the garage. But here is how it looks as of now:



When it's all finished, it's going to take a while to paint, I'm sure. The shelves slide out, so at least that will make it much easier. When the shelves are all painted along with the inside of the cubes, we'll slide them back in and attach a beadboard back and moulding to the front.

If you remember from a previous post, originally I had planned on hubs building a nice L-shaped unit that would run in front of the sliding glass doors and then down the adjoining wall. I still want to do that, but that requires even more time and money, and I'm anxious to get crafting. So we'll work on that down the road. For now, the armoire will hold some supplies and the computer.

So if you're wondering what I'm to, I'm probably painting...or on the phone doing some serious explaining to my Mom!

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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 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!

Craft Studio Progress

I snapped a few shots of my craft room today. Not a ton of progress made in here since the beginning of the year but it's looking a lot better than the before. I'm still loving the robin's egg blue and have found a few ways to incorporate into other parts of the house. LOVING it with RED and WHITE and BROWN!

The little blue thing that you see there near the ceiling at the windows is a snowflake left over from the party, lol. I need to get the big ladder in and take it down. I didn't think to put the switchplate covers back on until *after* I took the photos, either. :)






That old vent needs to be replaced or repainted. At some point, I hope to have a large, tall cubby/shelving unit right there to hold supplies and inventory. We have something like that in the garage and it's so ugly (bright yellow!) but solid wood and very spacious. I'm thinking about adding molding and trim and additional shelving to it as the current cubby holes are very large and could be divided into halves or even thirds. With a beadboard back and then painted out in a fresh, bright white, I think it could be beautiful piece, though. The problem is that it now holds and organizes a lot of things for us in the garage. I would have to do some shuffling and rearranging, for sure.



My project for this week will be painting the stoop and stair treads a deep chocolate brown. The stair faces will be white.



Here is the craft table hubs is working on for me. It needs a little more trim and maybe a wooden applique on the front of the skirt (kind of like what we are putting on our doors, except a little bigger). I will be painting the craft table white and have a glass top to go on it for easy cleanup.



I will be sure to share photos when the steps are completed. I'm excited about chocolate brown and hope it looks as good on the steps as it does in my head!

Cottage Studio Ceiling Makeover Completed

First I'd like to thank all of you who stopped in and supported my blog sale last week! Your items have either already arrived or are due to arrive any day now. You may not realize it, but you've helped me take another step in accomplishing my business goals. Thank you so much!

Now, about that studio... We've actually been finished with the ceiling and walls for a little while now. We painted the walls a nice robin's egg blue and added additional trimwork to the steps. I still have a bunch of junk that I need to move out of the space before I can get some good photos of the entire studio so far, but I did snap a few shots of the ceiling. If you remember, we once had old skylights that were removed when we replaced our roof. This left four ugly plywood holes in the ceiling and I wasn't sure how I could make them look attractive until we could afford to redo the entire ceiling someday down the road. We also had a very ugly (and dusty!) ceiling fan and a couple of equally ugly lights that needed to be addressed. Replacing them was not an option because as usual, our budget is so tiny it's practically nonexistent:)

So here is the studio ceilng "BEFORE"....






And here it is "AFTER"....

(Click photos below to enlarge)






Despite the challenges and limitations, I think the ceiling makeover turned out pretty well! Hubs did a great job turning those plywood holes into "windows", didn't he? I painted a subtle sky background and used a stencil to add my sparrow. As for the light and fan makeover, thank goodness for my trusty brown camouflage paint! With a matte clear coat, they look like oil rubbed bronze fixtures! I did another fan makeover in my living room about three years ago with a different type of oil based paint, and let me tell you, what I used this time around was MUCH easier and faster! (I have a little bird - my Ginger - on my shoulder right now or else I'd go to the garage and check the spray can, but I believe it's either Rustoleum or Krylon brown camouflage paint. I got mine at Wal-Mart.)

Hubs has already built one of my craft tables. It just needs a few pieces of trim and it's ready to paint. It's got a tongue and groove pine top and is very farmhouse in style. Here is a shot of the table top before he put it all together. He cut the "tongue" part off and will add trim around the perimeter side edge of the tabletop. I thought about some kind of rope moulding but I think I'll probably just stick with plain, flat trim to keep the look simple. I have a glass top to go right on top for easy cleanup as I'm a very messy crafter. I look forward to being able to see our dining room table again because that's where all of my stuff has been for weeks!



I hope everyone is staying warm! We started using our fireplace this week and it's never been more welcomed!

Who I Haven't Forgotten...

You, dear readers. Though I'm sure you may have thought that I had.

For those that have followed my blog for years or have blogs of your own, you know that sometimes this happens - this business of going for weeks without a single update.

In my excitement over my studio room redo and my just knowing that at least this project would be quick and painless and over with in no time flat, I failed to remember that it would take an act of the Almighty for us to work through any remodeling plans in a timely manner and without a hitch. Can I just say that hubs and I have had many serious "discussions" over the s l o w progress of our cottage in the making. We seem to have two different views, many times, of how quickly a project should move along. Between real work and life, the reality is that maybe in a months time, five to eight hours may be dedicated to a project. So this is my reality and it has been since we've moved here. I think had I known this is the way it would be, I would have been content to live in our regular 70's made ranch just the way it was. But who knows...maybe when we are finally finished, I'll be glad that we struggled through each and every project, large and small. Maybe I'll say..."It was all worth it." Maybe I'll say that it was ok that we lived with a gutted bathroom for five years because once we finally finished, it was all that I could have ever wished for. Maybe I'll be glad that we lived for years without any real flooring as our beautiful hardwood sat untouched in the garage while we finished up the "dirty work" inside. Just know that right now I am extremely envious of all of you who are able to complete remodeling project from start to finish in a reasonable amount of time. You have my undying admiration! We, however, are not one of those types of people.

So in my disappointment and discouragement, I couldn't bear to write and update my blog. I hope that you have been there or at least understand.

We had to paint the studio three times, of course. I ended up using a custom robin's egg blue that I created myself even before I had painted the swatches you saw in my last post. My color had a bit more green in it and a little less blue - which is what I wanted. We painted the whole room out and needed just one more coat but ran out of paint. But when we had another custom gallon mixed and on the walls, it wasn't the same color as what hubs had already cut in in the corners and along the trim. Soooo....we had to buy another gallon and paint the entire room again. Much better! A couple of weekends hub was out of town, so no real work in the studio took place because I cannot for the life of me paint trim without getting it on the walls. Hubs put the second coat of white trim paint on last weekend, thinking the painting would finally be *done*, but it still needs another coat. Though the steps and stoop have been primed, I'm going to hold off painting them until last because I don't won't hubs work boots marring them up. The fan and lights have been painted for weeks now and I've been dying to have them installed, but I guess I'm going to have to practice patience for a bit longer. I don't want to take photos of the studio so far until they are up and the last of the trim paint is done, but it has turned out nice so far. If you look at one of the photos of the kitchen below, you can get a sneak peak of the studio walls if you look through the french door to the right. Who knew red and robin's egg blue could work so well together?! I'm not going to make predictions on when we'll start building the work stations as hubs has another trip coming up. I just hold my breath and hope that we can begin sometime this month maybe. My plans to officially start my business this year have once again been foiled. Hubs says I should "create product" anyway, but that's not how I work when supplies and stuff are strewn everywhere because they don't have a home and proper organization - and it looks like all my "spare" time needs to be spent on trying to help him work on the room.

I do, however, have photos to share. Just little vignettes I photographed today and recently. I have a new found love of robin's egg blue and have begun collecting and making accessories to use throughout the cottage. Also, I've completed two Wilton cake decorating courses and wanted to share with you the last cake I made for class. I'm making a similar one today for hubs grandmother:)







I made these spools well over a year ago. I love words and old-fashioned style paper, so this was a nice way to bring the two elements together.





I painted the birds with my custom color but the creamer I found at Goodwill - it is my exact blue!



I thought about shooing this moth away before I took this shot, but she was frantically flying about the kitchen lights last night when I was baking some cookies...I was glad to see that she had found a peaceful, safe spot to rest so I left her:)







(This is the photo from which you can see the robin's egg blue studio walls...)






We worked on our cakes in class. We learned the basket weave technique and promptly applied it to our cakes. Mine leaves a lot to be desired, lol! My frosting softened too much as I held the decorating bag in my warm hands, but thank goodness for lots of flowers to cover it up!








Thanks for continuing to stop in and for all the emails and nudges I've received:) Thanks so much!