Antique thread dowels

Unfortunately, the pics from this project were lost when my cell was stolen. But the end result is one of my favorites. We'd picked up the antique thread dowels in one of our travels and now I wish I'd gotten more! The piece of walnut is an inch thick and sanded smooth then lacquered to keep all its natural grain. I picked the raw wood up at my local sustainable home improvement store; Community Forlklift. 

Love this wine rack

What to do with a marble slab

On a barn sale search, we found a dirty but promising loose white marble slab. I had no idea what it would become but knew I needed to give it a new lease on life. Without an intended project, it sat around our house for a few months. 

Then one of my great friends moved into a new place. She was in need of furnishings and an idea was born to give the marble slab a new home. We went to our local sustainable home improvement store; Community Forlklift o get supplies. Since the marble itself was very heavy, there needed to be ample supports under it. We gathered some old sturdy table legs, sheet wood and molding. The pieces were cut to size. 

And then painted. 

The molding was attached to the table legs, more for style and look then support. But when function works, why not. 

The needed stability and strength came in a sheet of wood used as a platform and secured to the tops of the legs. 

Once scrubbed down and sealed, the marble topped off a pretty gorgeous coffee table. 

What do you think?

Barn yard save

At a country barn sale, the best finds can be discovered. Good thing for me, my husband loves the search and creation process as much as I do. We picked this tired old thing up and were both excited about our plans for it. 

It had years of dirt, grim and paint covering it. A lot of sanding and cleaning up later and it was barely recognizable. 

The screws to open each drawer were removed and soaked for a few days in a degreasing/stripper/bad smelling gunk. The face, sides, front and back of all wooden surfaces were taken down to complete smoothness.

We started with a base coat of stain wanting to apply it lightly and maintain the beautiful grain of the wood. 

To make a statement, there needed to be some fun color involved. To do this, painters tape, spray paint and some patience were needed. Each box was taped along the inside rim so only the interior got sprayed. Love the effect!!

The tricky part was turning it into something functional and adding legs. Old stair banister spindles were cut down and painted to match the top. Using a bracket to attach each leg to a stabilizing solid board worked to maintain the sturdiness needed. The now clean golden screws were added back as drawer pulls. 

I'm in love with the end result. Good thing the plan is to keep this for ourselves right now!

DC table

I fell in love with the lines of this little side table at our local sustainable home improvement store; Community Forklift. It needed some TLC but the amazing bones were there. 

It's size made it more useful than I'd thought and it spent a few months as the official "project work table". Throw a drop cloth over it and it was used for painting supplies and drying of other projects or was just the perfect height for a lap top in front of the TV. Despite its easy use and my husbands protests, I finally got to work on making it gorgeous again. It was sanded down to remove blemishes and rough spots in the peeling paint. Once smooth and back to clean wood, I applied a dark espresso stain. 

While the dark stain is one of my favorites, I knew it would make the table a bit bland. No fear, there was a plan all along! From antique books, I'd pulled a number of maps and drawings. The paper color was beautiful; years of fading into a gorgeous patina. I sorted through those I had pulled, to get all the DC area maps. Figuring out placement took some thought and decisions for what the final piece would look like. 

But once decided, the maps were secured, allowed to dry and a few coats of lacquer were added. The result was stunning, more elegant than I could have dreamed. 

I'm totally sad I don't have a place for it in my own house but can't wait for someone else to love it as much as we do. 

For sale now. 

Revamping a tired old table

In need of dining room table, we found this gem; an old table and chairs. It was a steal! All 5 chairs and table for cheaper than the gas to go get it! Ok, not really, but getting it out of the couples storage unit and promising to make very good use if her fathers table set got an even bigger discount off the already silly low price. 

They were all pretty wobbly and not too pretty to look at but oh did we see potential. 

The cushions were removed, wood glue added and bolts tightened. No huge repairs needed and soon they were totally sturdy. Now the fun work began. The table and chairs were sanded down. 

We picked a great vibrant color and started painting. Using a paint sprayer used more paint but was so much easier. 

Then I redid the cushions in a great heavy chocolate brown textured fabric. 

We could have stopped there since it was already an amazing transformation.

But we had bigger plans. A few antique stores later and we had the supplies. 

Using vintage road maps and Mod Podge, the table started to POP! The plan was laid out and spaced to fit. 

The maps were glued down. This process took awhile. When working with Mod Podge and paper, rips and tears are pretty easy. You need to go slow. 

 Excess edges were trimmed and once dry, a few coats of lacquer were put down 

The surface is smooth, shinny and totally interesting. 

We love our table!!

Glass globe to ceiling fixture

Found this amazing glass globe at my local sustainable home improvement store; Community Forlklift and knew it needed a new lease on life and a new purpose. 

So after some thinking an idea came. Mounting and wiring were purchased

It was wired and connected to the ceiling fixture socket

And now makes a gorgeous custom hall fixture

Topped it off with an Edison style bulb

Fits pretty nicely