Oh no. Here we go again.

I've always said I like industrial decor but felt my wall to wall carpeting didn't lend itself to that look. So I did painted wood furniture, which I love. Or I wouldn't be here right? That's what I do, I paint wood.

I was never quite satisfied with one wall, no matter how I changed it. I always thought it was too shabby and too whatever. Real life never seemed to match my white vignette photo (above). Ever.

Exhibit A.

The sum of these parts is Too Much.

Exhibit B

Less is more. Now I'm happy. Happyish. I love my white doors and my clock and my red horse and my old cupboard door but putting them all together didn't really excite me.

Then I went to a sale and - be still, my heart - there was an industrial window that I had to have. Or I would die. Seriously. It came home with me and two friends helped me lift and move stuff to make room. Actually, it was more like 'Get. Out. Of. The. Way. We'll do this.'

And then my industrial dreams came true.

It's a work in progress. I'll move things around and try other items. Those little mirrors aren't right. I have some old post office box doors that have never been displayed .....

I'm trying out my crusty old Delco sign. The jury is out.

The handles and patina make my little heart soar.

The buffet mirror was going to be a test but a big molly bolt had to be used, so the mirror stays. At least until I feel like repairing an above-my-reach hole in the dry wall.

The view from the kitchen. I think its the brick that makes the window work and it pulls in the Delco sign. I love that window. Too bad they only had one. And lucky me for seeing it first!

Linking to:
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I have a bovine

A lovely young woman gifted me with this awesome canvas. I've been wanting one of these farm animal prints for ages, so I was beyond thrilled. One of the reasons I had held back from grabbing a barnyard print off Decor Steals is: I had nowhere to hang it.

But now, armed with cow and iPhone, I set out to find the perfect spot.

Oh look. The door wall again. yawn. This spot is a moot point anyway because the doors are gone. The clock is gone. It's all gone, replaced with .... well, it's a work in progress so I'll post the New Wall at a later date.

So. The cow.

In the kitchen? hmmmm

Maybe by the patio door.

Squished into this spot? Maybe not.

How about her own personal cow-space?

It's open range land around here. You'll find cattle wandering up the road or just standing there, chewing, staring at you. eeek

They are big.

Smart car vs bovine?  shudder.

My cow can be free range; moving from spot to spot until I'm happy. There. Another decision postponed!

Linking to:
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my uncommon slice of suburbia
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finding fabulous

Whassup with Facebook?

I didn't want this to be a blog post - it's just me asking for suggestions on what to do to disguise or enhance the broken portion of this stained glass window. Three times I came home with glass pieces and three times they got broke. Did anyone see that movie "The Mexican"? There's a scene where a frustrated Brad Pitt is jumping around punching the air.
I can relate.

Now, Facebook's business page won't let the owners post. There's a lot of cranky people online looking for a solution.

Anyway, any ideas on the broken window? I have a couple ideas but I want to see what inspiration others might have.

       

Happy Saturday!!

Happy 2014, already in progress!

I've been quiet for almost a month! Actually I wasn't quiet at all, I was growling at the weather that kept me iced in for almost 3 weeks. I tried to write new posts but they always sounded like variations of "Day 11 of My Incarceration." Pathetic.

Mr. Bad scheduled his trips around my appointments so he could give me a ride. The problem was I had worn summer tires on my car and we have a 14.5% grade. His truck has Manly Tires. They look at ice and laugh.

So, I finished my custom orders. I carried things from room to room to see if they worked better. Then I looked around and thought hmmmm. And I painted my Made-In-China-Reproduction-Mora-Clock white. I like it a lot better.

 

Then New Years Day came and I was able to replace our old, too-soft sectional. Yippee! Finally, all that brown was going out the door.

Take a look:

That's a heck of a lot of brown.

PHASE ONE

From the above to this in one afternoon:

I've started prettying up the bookcase. It's funny how a photo makes you sit up and take notice. That bookshelf is a mess! It's become jammed with stuff we don't know where else to put. Or are just too lazy to take the extra 10 steps into the office.

I was able to wave 'buh bye" to the huge ottoman and I created a new coffee table with some of my old trunks. Now there is storage galore with the three trunks, a new bench ottoman and a vintage leather suitcase by my chair.

I'm still working on the details, such as which little table goes where, and where do my plants go? Which lamps and where do they go? All that will be PHASE TWO. 

I remembered something I meant to do years ago, which is make a floor lamp from a spot light and wooden tripod. Down to the barn I when for my old tripod and I dug around in my lamp parts box and found a 'stand-in' light. (I know, it's a pretty sad little stand-in).

A friend said my cool old wood stove would make a great end table so I had Mr. Bad wrestle that bad boy into the house. I'll get both the lamp and stove cleaned up before I make a final decision because right now they look like someone should take them back outside quickly.

Here's a closer picture of the side of the stove - the reason I bought it:

I don't know what I'm going to do with it after I take off the rust - paint it? Glaze it? Just put poly on it? Leave it the heck alone? Put it back outside? We'll see.

PHASE TWO has started. More on that later.

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The masterpiece and how I did it

Note:
I don't know how, but this post from 12/2013 was reverted to draft. I don't think it will go back to where it is supposed to be when I publish it. So, if it jumps the line, you'll know why an old post turned up.

The masterpiece and how I did it

That's what my neighbor, who doesn't really like painted furniture so much, called it. Well, I don't know about that,  but I think I worked on it as long as Da Vinci did the Last Supper.

A couple years ago I did a copper patina on a light fixture - a little light fixture. This time it felt like I was trying to cover an acre of wood.

It was really easy!    cough cough  snort

Here's the desk as it arrived.

At this point I started wondering if I bit off too much.

See the crackling? It was everywhere. It's a good thing I enjoy removing veneer. It's such a Zen activity. I just zone out and scrape scrape scrape heat gun scrape scrape scrape hmmm maybe soup for dinner scrape scrape scrape.

After a lifetime of veneer removal I started the painting process.  I used two shades of copper and two shades of turquoise, as well as a sage green glaze and a black wash.

This is the first step. I used a brush, fingers, rags and a sponge to get a mottled first coat. While that was still damp I went over the entire area with the glaze.That smeared the colors together. Finally I added a very watery black wash to age the surface.

Now, let me warn you, you are about see a most unsightly mess. Horrible. I'm going to hypnotize you so you forget you ever saw it.

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(Ewwww, how can anyone work in these conditions?)

Here all the "copper" pieces are glazed and drying. 

I had to take over part of the living room because I had two projects taking up my little work room. The front door was totally blocked so if anyone knocked i had to wave my arms and point to the garage.

 

Before the black wash.

After the black wash.

I purchased these fun glass knobs for the desk. They are over-sized and really cute.  However, after I put all six on, it was a bit much; the knobs drew too much attention. When I walked around a corner in the house and saw the desk, all I could look at were the knobs. Not only are they huge but they also stick out a couple inches. You would have had to see it to understand how wrong that looked.

I replaced them with more appropriate knobs.

I added an escutcheon and skeleton key from my stash.

I painted the writing area a mottled tan with a copper border. In my haste to take pictures I left masking tape hanging off the mail dividers. Nice. Good one, Daena. While I'm on the subject of masking tape, I used the new Frog Tape for sensitive surfaces. It's formulated to not be as sticky as regular tape. It worked 50% of the time for me so I wasn't real impressed.

The trim and part of the legs are American Accents Espresso.

Finished!! Yay! 

Now I can sit back and enjoy the fruit of my labors.

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Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree

the 2013 twig tree
The DIY from last year is below.

With lights.The flat screen TV turned out to be the perfect background to get a good shot. Who knew?

 

Snowbound! I've been snowed in for days.

twig Christmas tree at night

Last year I shared my little DIY Christmas tree. It got a huge response so I thought I would re-post the original for those who missed it.  So, here it is again, my LED twig tree. It's such a fun tree for the office or home with no room.

 How to Make an Odd Little Tree

I know just about everyone who is going to have a Christmas tree already has it by now. But maybe you want a little tree for the office? And you're in the mood to make your own? I wasn't in the mood to make a tree until a co-worker showed me the Olive and Cocoa catalog. We visited the website and saw this:

For me it was love at first sight. This tree is adorable in its rustic goodness! BUT. But with shipping it comes in at $102. I knew the craft store had these LED branches so I thought I'd save some money and make my own tree. 

I had no idea what I was doing but hoped for the best. I bought 2 different types of LED branches, some floral tape and a few little ornaments. Then I went home to try and bend my newly purchased Willow branches into a fir tree. Good grief. I had no idea I was so floral tape challenged. Talk about fighting the good fight. sheesh. I didn't think I'd ever get those stems wrapped. Seriously. But I did and here's how my tree turned out.

Not exactly like the original but you can tell it's a tree! For the longest time it looked like The Nightmare Before Christmas. I was bending twigs and wrapping tape and getting it all tangled and having it break, then it would unwrap at the bottom and so on. Then I ran out of twig. I had my second box of branches but they were battery operated not plug-in like the ones I had just taped. Oh well, how bad could it be? I taped the battery stem to the electric one and continued bending and wrapping and bending and wrapping. Repeat.

Other than having to turn on the bottom and top separately, it worked fine.

The tree unlit. It needs a few more ornaments. I would love to find some minis made of mercury glass. Oh wait! I can faux paint any old mini ornament. Duh!

And at night. 

It's sweet in a rustic way.

This is what I used but the results would be far better if you had two of the same kind of branches. I used what I had but it certainly wasn't ideal. My little tree cost $30 compared to $102. I could have shopped around and found a better price on the branches but I think over all I did pretty good.

Have fun!

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