A look at everything. Life is good.

Yesterday I was sitting in my chair under the ceiling fan watching some hairs float down. I'm loosing my hair in slow-motion. Last time I went bald it was there, then it wasn't, then we dyed the peach-fuzz green. Now I wake up and check how much pink skull is showing. And it's always more.

Somehow that lead me to thinking about one of my high school buddies. He lost his wife last year and is devastated. His grief breaks my heart.

On the other hand, my other best buddy from high school has made it to the Westminster Dog Show with her fox terrier. I'm so happy for her I could burst. I'll be glued to the TV.

Such a wide range of emotions in the length of a minute. Our hearts can stretch in so many ways at once.

I was going to post about something else entirely but thinking about life made me look back on the past year. I was looking at old posts and decided to do a before and after because, really, it's a chronicle of my 2013. And it's much more colorful than 2013 spent in the Infusion Room, right? And all those pesky blood transfusions? Dull. Always red, no variety.

Besides, my passion for painting furniture is a major part of my own fight.

So here's my recap of 2013. I'm going to do it backwards -

after and before.

My card catalog table (which I regret selling) started out ......

like this.

My tuxedo high-boy started out ....

 

metallic blue.

"Who you gonna call?" Walter looked like a cartoon ghost.....

Who could ever forget Walter? I still overhear people referring to my booth as "where that clock was." He's another piece I wish I could have kept but there was just nowhere to put him.

I called this old, old, old jelly cabinet 'My Nemesis' and for good reason. Everything on it fell apart as I worked on it and it took 9 days to get it finished.

I learned a lot from this project. Never, ever buy a piece of furniture that has strapping tape around it.

I fell in love with this really odd file cupboard ....

It started out dirty and awkward looking and became cute.

This was a nice little change ...

 

Sometimes a piece just needs some POP.

Ha ha ha ha ha. Heart thing. You make my heart sing.

Mr. Bad Rabbit thought this was by far the ugliest thing I'd ever dragged home. Maybe, but the joke was on him after the transformation!

Love that red!

It's upside-down because the top was soooo warped. It stayed this way for about a year.

 I kept this one. Mine.

Mine.

When I brought this home Mr. Bad looked at me like I'd lost my mind. The picture doesn't show what bad shape this cabinet was in. The whole thing jiggled and wobbled and veneer was peeling off.

I love empire furniture and this secretary was meant to be mine. Except it's not. I sold it.

Ick. Can you imagine? Who would even attempt this? I thought I'd be taking off veneer for the rest of my life.

I'm off to a slow start this year. I haven't been painting much furniture, instead I'm doing windows and doors. And frames. It's nice to slow down just a little.

Oh, and I started needle-felting! A post is coming soon.

Linking to:
savvy southern style
miss mustard seed

the dedicated house
mod vintage life
funky junk interiors
nifty thrifty things

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:
miss mustard seed
finding fabulous

savvy southern style
shabby nest
mod vintage life
funky junk interiors

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:
elizabeth and co

my uncommon slice of suburbia
miss mustard seed
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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miss mustard seed

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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the dedicated house

coastal charm

savvy southern style

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