The safari-thing gets a facelift!

I have fallen into a terrible habit of not taking "before" pictures of anything. Not to mention photos of the steps and mistakes on the way to "finished." When something is finished and I'm setting up the tripod, then I think about all the opportunities I had to show the good, bad and ugly.

Next time, I vow. Next time.

This baby was done in a distressed leather finish all over. I could only envision it in a safari style decor.

Isn't the detail pretty? I kick myself because I experimented with crackle on the sides but never took pictures.

 

The brown leatherette (or whatever) covered the safari-thing inside and out. I left some here because it was a nice accent to the white.

This deck Oops, Safari-thing, has so much shape and the original brown highlighted it beautifully

Pretty!

 

Our herione runs .... and .... and .... she FALLS?

Yup, she falls. We've seen it in movies hundreds of times, SHE FALLS? Really?  

Oh, my ride is here!

I was walking across the living room to grab the vacuum and my super-grip shoes super-griped and down I went. I won't be painting furniture any time soon. 

Out past my temporary work room we go. Good-bye furniture!

Listen to your mother: always wear clean underwear and big sunglasses.

Notice the bare leg. Another favorite pair of pants were cut off me.

Meanwhile, down at the pasture, the helicopter pilot didn't like the slope and headed off to the flat field down the mountain.

Mr. Bad stepped into the ambulance for a moment to comfort me. (Can you tell how unnatural my right leg looks?) When I saw this picture I was amazed at how well stocked the ambulance was. I guess I was too shocky to notice during my ambulance ride back in February.

So, back at the hospital with another broken femur. Good thing I only have two.

Furnture and Horses

Does it seem like the days are only four hours long? I never complete my to-be-done-or-else list. That's the norm for a lot of people, I guess, but when I don't get everything done I'm reminded daily by the furniture piled up in the driveway. I've been working under a canopy out there, except when it's 100°; then I stand in the garage and whimper. Heat is my only excuse. I can't pretend I forgot, as in 'Dresser? What dresser?' when there is a stack of them in the driveway.

The heat has been terrible, not normal at all.. And the air has been full of hideous smoke from all the big wildfires around us. I managed to get a few things done, including another deconstructed horse! But I am far below my usual productivity.

However, here's a quick look at what I did manage to accomplish.

The Hutch Thing
Before. 
As is typical of me, I bought this hutch/armoire/thing without proper inspection. When I got home I found it was missing two drawers from the inside. For Pete's sake.

After. 
I fixed the interior, which I'll show in a future post, and updated the exterior. Now I like it.

The Ornate Table
Before. 
This is the photo posted on a local online sale site. Seriously, I went to look at this table not realizing how garish it was. You can see the green paint, but in person, yikes. It was metallic mint, with metallic hot pink on the metallic gold. It wobbled and the marble top wasn't attached. But, I was sure it would sell if painted white. 

(I was told that the original owner of this table had her whole house decorated this way.)

After. 
Sooooo much quieter.

The Painted Dresser
Before.  
When I saw this dresser on Craigslist I thought it had appliques but they turned out to be stenciled. As for the rest of it, well .........

After. 
Wanna know a secret? I didn't paint it at all. I sanded it down and just left it.

The Rustic Cabinet
Before. 
I found this cabinet in a garage, buried under lumber and ... stuff. It took three people to get it out.

After. 
I forgot to take an 'after' picture so I had to go to the cabinet's new home - an old, 1800s, log cabin. And no, there is no outdoor loo, we had to go outside for photos because the cabin is kinda dark.

The Second  Deconstructed Horse

Before. 

I found this little horse on etsy. I wanted to see how a small wooden horse would look 'deconstructed' as compared to my bigger one. I'll do another post later on showing the steps.

After. 
He looks like a real horse. I carved his face and added a bead eye. Two bead eyes. Two.

Before.

After. 
I still need to trim his wild, wild tail. On this horse, I left the original rabbit fur mane.

Meet the Mane and Tail Donors

Cassidy

Socrates

R and R

We managed to get away from it all at Ocean Shores, WA. We stayed at a house with cell service in one corner of the dining room and no internet. YIKES! I had to relax! All I did was sleep and eat so I guess I needed the rest.

It's good to get away from it all.

Sharing with:

the dedicated house

The horse in between

Between projects and in stolen hours I've been working on something for myself. Last year I went to France with this idea that I would go to a flea market and find a 100-150-year-old toy horse at a reasonable price, and I would come home with a big stupid grin on my face. Bwah ha ha ha ha. Not.

What I found were merchants anticipating my arrival and the three horses I managed to find were so ridiculously expensive that I was stunned. And they weren't even the type of horse I wanted.

I wanted the horse shown below.

This old playground horse was the best horse I found. For several thousand dollars he could have been mine. I would have been over-joyed to bring this horse home. But alas.......

Much to my surprise, this old playground horse appeared on ebay. Should I do it? Hmmmmmm

Back home in Oregon I looked briefly on ebay, France's ebay, as well as Denmark's for a horse. But seriously? People were so (shock!) dishonest! My Made-in-Bali rocking horse was being touted as a 'Victorian antique' and listed from $999 to $3500. 

My Made-in-Bali rocking horse........ hmmmmmm.......... what if.............. I bet I could.........? And so I did.

The wheels were turning and I couldn't stop myself. I was imagining my horse getting older and older!

I was winging it. First I sprayed it white. Then I sprayed it black. Then I painted over it with Paris Grey chalk paint. Next time I'll paint after the carving is done.

Once the paint had dried, and armed with a mini belt sander and mini re-cip saw, I went to work. That crazy, carved mane was first. I sanded down as far as I could, then it was time for the saw. heh heh heh. Chunks flew everywhere. Big chunks! For being tiny, those tools have some real power.

There was almost two inches of wood to remove. I just kept at it with my mini-recip saw until the blades gave out. They kept bending, I kept straightening them out, over and over until they just pooped oit.

Almost there. I had to use a small triangle sander around the face. And in tight spots I used my mini belt sander. Have you seen them? They look like a Sander-on-a-Stick. Love that thing.

When I sanded the platform I found unexpected aqua paint.

 

Finally the wooden mane is gone. (I can't believe how much work that was!) I cut a trench down the back of the neck to hold the new mane.

For the new mane I used actual mane from my mini horses. This whole process wasn't as easy as I'd hoped. I had glue all over the mane and my fingers. it was a gooey mess. This old horse came close to having dreadlocks.

The circle is to remind you how much carving had to be removed so you can be awed by my tenacity!

I glued some burlap on and sanded it down to simulate the layers old horses have. I wasn't happy with the burlap, it was too prominent and made the horse look like a middle-ages war horse.

I tore most of it off.

Less is more. 

And, finally, the finished, deconstructed horse.

 

Before and after

Okay then. I now have my "antique" toy horse.

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