Vanity Bench

Good afternoon everyone! I promised earlier this week that I would have the pictures of the vanity bench up, and guess what? I finally got it done at the besties house last night! She took a few good pictures for me this morning with some sunlight and it really looks good. She bought the bench with the vanity, though it actually doesn't really match, which is ok because we were going to restyle it anyways. 

So here is the before picture. Very... how do you say it nicely... grandmotherly? I'm not a big fan of cross-stitching. My mom was a crafty DIY girl herself back in the day so we always had crafts and projects laying around. I would attempt to learn how to cross-stitch with the end results of me wanting to light it on fire with a match. So yeah, this is bringing back some bad memories.

Even sanded down it looks better... OK OK OK... I know, lay off the stool. It's not its fault, it's my cross-stitch phobia.

And here is the after! She picked out the tapestry from Hobby Lobby, and we got well more than we needed so I'm seeing pillows for her bed in the future with the left overs.

I love the little circle-ly gold thingies on this fabric. I'm sure someone has a technical term for that but "gold thingies" work for me. That's a nice picture with the vanity in the background too.

And here's some detail sanding I did with a handy dandy sanding sponge. (Her poor camera died so this is a cellphone shot. Sorry it's not as clear.) She only wanted a light antiqued look, so I didn't go crazy with it. Though... she actually had to say, "don't go overboard now". Ha! I was getting a bit carried away. :)

So there you have it! What a great, simple transformation.

Tomorrow I have to do some supply refreshing, so I might just pop in really quick with a before picture of a buffet/server that is naked and ready for some paint. If you are looking for a buffet/server, check back tomorrow. If you are interested in it, we can always discuss color and design!

Have a great rest of your day everyone and I'll see you all tomorrow!

~ Susan ~

Grandma's Table is Complete!!!

Hello there everyone! It's Monday, and I know everyone hates Monday's, but be happy! You get to see the after pictures of the round table and chairs that I completed for K and M this past weekend!

So remember those ugly chairs I had that I salvaged, sanded and prepped to be sold? Yeah... they were definitely fugly. Well, K and M needed some great sturdy chairs for their made over table so these ended up being just perfect. Old and busted on the right, new hotness on the left.

(MIB reference there... love it?)

And here was the table and base in their original - I need to be made over - state.

The table had more work than just painting the base and staining the top. It was too short and needed a few strategically cut pieces of wood to extend the base to a height for dining. I also added some felt feet to help with a wobble it had. 

Check it out! Chairs and all! It's amazing how a little color can make something so cool.

Over there on the ledge is a picture of K's grandma who handed this table down to her. I think it's a perfect place for a picture of her to rest. I will admit, this was definitely a challenging and emotionally rewarding project. I couldn't be happier with the outcome and I know that K and M are extremely happy with the way it turned out too. 

Next on the agenda is my besties vanity bench.

Keep an eye out on the blog in the next day or two!

If you are interested in any restyling of a piece of furniture you own or need something new, please let me know!

~ Susan ~

Grandma's Walnut Table

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted in awhile, but I've been obsessively working on a walnut table and a set of four chairs for a couple of friends of mine. When I say "obsessively working" I mean, I think I have grown horns and popped out 15 white hairs because I want to get this thing perfect. The thing is, it's not just my first bona-fide project to me, this table has special meaning for the owners. It was passed down from a grandparent, and I completely understand how important that can be. 

Lemme get a little personal with you....

I grew up with grandparents on both sides of my family, but I was closer to my dad's side than my mother's side. I loved my Grandpa and Grandma Z very dearly and have fond memories from my childhood of visiting them in Detroit. I abruptly lost my Grandpa to a heart attack the day after Christmas in '92, which was just two short years after loosing my brother to suicide in '90. Needless to say, life was rough back then and my attachment to my Grandma grew even more after Grandpa died. I grew up through my teens and 20's (I even lived for a short period of time in Detroit when I was 20) growing a deep love for her. We were two peas in a pod when it came to attitude and humor. In 2004 we had to move her down from Detroit to Missouri because her diabetes grew so bad that she lost both of her legs and couldn't take care of her house anymore. I loved visiting her up north and I didn't want to see the house go. I even considered buying it just so I could keep going up there, regardless if she was there or not. In the end we had to sell it for medical reasons which really tore me up. After she got here it was a slippery down hill slope health wise for her and we lost her in January of '08 at the feisty young age of 87.

To make a long story short... I've realized why this project is so important to me.

Grandmothers are so special. 

They touch our hearts with the loving kindness of a gentle mother yet they can discipline us on the same hand that they spoil us rotten. Every day I look at her 25th wedding anniversary ring, because it's my wedding ring, and it makes me think of her love and laughter. This table is just as special...it was passed on by a loving Grandmother. Because of this I grown horns when I think something is going to go wrong and I pace around it popping white hairs making sure it's completed correctly. I'm taking every step in restoring it very carefully with extra special patience and love because I know how special it is to my friend K.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll be posting more pictures of the completed table and chairs soon.

~~~

"Oh thank GOD you guys are here... this hospital food is the pits. I could throw the biscuits at the wall and they would chip the paint. Susan... go get me a couple Coney dogs from up the street."

Miss you Grandma. ~ Susan ~

Eeek! I Forgot to Wrap the Wedding Gift!

This past weekend my husband and I attended a wedding for a couple friends of mine. The sun was shinning, the weather was beautiful and I swear there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I was stoked because I just love weddings. The ability to share something so intimate yet add your own personality and style to the shindig is right up my alley. You guys will see what I'm talking about by the end of the post. Also, my goodness copper and dark purple are such pretty autumn wedding colors. I was also excited because my bestie hand created the necklaces and bracelets for the Bride, Bridesmaids and the Flower Girl too! 

So here we are traveling from the wedding to the reception, and we pull up to the reception hall and I remember... OH CRUD... I forgot to wrap the gift. >.< And did I mention we were in the middle of Nowheresville, IL? There wasn't anywhere I could run and grab a bag or paper or anything to wrap our gift. Granted, it wasn't a very large gift so that made the situation less stressful. I did find the one and only gas station in town (it wasn't hard, it was at the one and only 3 way stop). I ran in hoping they had something I could work with...and success! The DIY rescue was underway!

I didn't use the glue or the paperclips, but that's ok, we can always use glue and paperclips here at the house. I used the twine, the markers, one handkerchief from the pack and my mini-Swiss army knife I always have in the truck. I also crumpled up the paper the gift came wrapped from the store in... and...Voila! My gift!

I know it isn't much but it was enough to put a big smile on the Bride's face. She loved the flowers and the fact that I did it myself in a crunch for time.. typical me.

Anyways, there's my DIY rescue. I'm going to put up some more pictures of the wedding that I know you guys will enjoy. The Bride totally rocked an Autumn/Zombie theme to her wedding and it was so cool!

A Candy Bar... get it? Candy Bar? haha!

So cool...  little baggies and all kinds of candy to shovel into your own said baggy.

A picture of the table... there were others with wine bottles as centerpieces.

The amazing two sided cake... white with purple... dark green with zombies and blood and the Bride and Groom fighting them off with chainsaws!

Temperature color change cups. Bride and groom on one side, BEWARE OF ZOMBIES on the other!

So awesome! lol

Hope you guys enjoyed the post! Enjoy the rest of your week!

~ Susan ~

A New Place to Paint

What a week.... Things have just been overly crazy in this house with so many things going on. All through the week I squeezed whatever time I could into painting the room I will call my "studio", though it feels weird to call it that. On Tuesday we took our little metal head to his first concert. We received such an overwhelming response with pictures and videos from patrons at the show and the band itself that we created his own facebook page and a channel on YouTube. That literally took up my whole Wednesday. Then on Thursday I spent the day helping a friend of mine, she was getting married on Saturday. Friday I spent the evening painting up the rest of the room, including the concrete floor. Saturday was the wedding and reception which was in Nowheresville, IL. I didn't mind it though because it was absolutely beautiful weather with an equally beautiful wedding. Plus, I was excited to see my BF's custom made jewelry (Archaic Mementos) on all the bridesmaids, the bride and flower girl. The reception was fun, and lemme tell you folks... if you are getting married... rent a free photo booth for the night. HELLO HI-LARIOUS! So Sunday was my "catch up on laundry, clean the house, put everything away and situate the studio so you can get to working" day until we had to go trick or treating.

So here is that wonderful picture of my future studio that I posted before...

And now a couple empty room shots.

There is some mystery sticky substance on the floor that was here when we moved in.

I stuck a box over it.

I will end up with a solution to this wall sooner or later.

And now for all of you that have OCD... you may want to look away from the screen while you scroll past this part... My basement full of furniture. Doesn't look that bad does it?

Until you look behind the couch....

Yikes.

There is a place for everything and everything in it's place is how this house is ran, and now I can successfully say that is the case with all of my furniture.

I'm not too hot on the red saran wrap looking wall, but hey, it covers up the yucky insulation and I was really surprised the paint even took on the plastic in the first place.
Oh and I added another light in the back of the room.

Sooooooooooo much better. I woke up today energized and ready to work! 

Tomorrow I will be sharing with you some pictures from the wedding and a little last minute DIY I had to come up with from miscellaneous stuff bought from the only store in town where we were... yay for that lonely gas station!

:)