Vintage mantel

This weekend I decided to play around the house with some decor.  

Honestly, my mantel has still had a bit of Christmas up since just last week!!

Our family room has been in a perpetual state of pause since the pretty aqua mirror I hung over the mantel came crashing down last fall.  

I yiyi.  

That was very traumatic.

The mirror has been stuck in the corner- all through the holidays- and only just this weekend got a new home.  

The wood frame is so soft, I have been leery of getting the hanger restrung and back up on the mantel.

Plus, I was really digging the vintage fence that I used for our Christmas mantel, so I decided to keep that up there.

I was totally inspired (and always am) by Meg's home.  

She has such a great eye and an amazing array of antiques.  

I was smitten with the way she displayed a wreath in her home, and I shamelessly copied her idea.

I took one of the monogrammed silver sugar bowls from my collection, and tied it around the wreath with some black striped French ribbon.

I've been re-evaluating my decor style over the last few months-

I love light, bright, girly stuff, but I also love the weight and warmth of wood and leather.  

I am wanting to shift a few things in our home towards a mix of those two looks.

(You can see more inspiration on my Favorite Decor board on Pinterest)

I added in a little bit of greenery with a couple elements, but kept a vintage look going with a lot of the other elements.

A couple weeks ago I shared this basket on Instagram.  

I found it at one of my favorite places, and was determined to find the perfect spot for it at home.  

Wellllll…..it's been more of a challenge than I anticipated, so it's been popping up here and there. 

I'm not sure if it will stay put, but we're giving it a try in the family room.

I may add in some big branches.

I also like to believe that this was at one time Beyonce and Jay-Z's….

ha.

I'm loving our new mantel.  

A bit of fresh, without too much needing to be changed out as soon as the season is done.  

I just don't have time to do seasonal changes with everything else going on!

Thanks for your visit~ I'm glad with the buckets of rain coming down today that my only plan is to restock my Etsy shop!

:)

Stay warm and dry!

xo Denise

Sharing with:
Feathered Nest Friday
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Be Inspired Friday
Fabulously Creative Friday

Let's Connect!

Facebook  //  Pinterest  //  Instagram  //  Bloglovin

How to age an inexpensive statue

A couple weeks ago I was fortunate to attend an Annie Sloan workshop!

It was one of the most fun days I've had in a long time.  

I can't remember the last time I smiled that much.

My favorite technique that we learned that day was one that I couldn't wait to try out at home!

I've had this little statue in our nook for awhile.  

I love statues.  

They add an air of sophistication and antiquity to a room.  

I've never been big on pedigree though.

Most of my statues are found locally and stamped "made in Mexico".  

I'm fine with that, because I want the 'look', not bragging rights on where it was originally made.

This one is even more humble, in that it wasn't even plaster.

Resin.

Plastic, in layman's terms.

Originally it was charcoal gray and I simply spray painted it in an antique white.

But lately, I've thought about aging it a bit, and this seemed like a fun technique to try it out on.

I used Annie Sloan's Old White. 

I popped it in the fridge with the lid off for about 2 1/2 - 3 hours and let it get nice and chilly.

After stirring it up, I went really heavy on the application.  

It gets pretty thick from being cold.

Since this is a smaller statue, I painted it all and then went on to the next step.  

If you were working on a larger piece, you might want to do it in sections.

Part Two involves a hair dryer.

Using the hottest setting, I held the dryer as close as possible to the wet paint, and went over it section by section.  You want to focus the heat on one area without moving it around much so it dries super fast.

See how the heat made the paint crackle?  

That's what you're going for.

Once it was dry, I got out my dark wax, and coated the entire statue.  

A chip brush worked great to get in all the crevices.

I wiped down the statue with a rag, and it was still pretty dark and streaky- but that's ok.  

Using the clear wax and my round wax brush, I went through section by section on the statue, and "erased" a lot of the heavy dark wax application.  

Adding clear wax over the dark will significantly lighten it, and buffing it out takes out a lot of the dark and adds a nice, softer patina.

The fun part about this technique, is that the cold paint and the hot heat from the dryer allows the paint to crack like aged plaster.  The dark wax highlights the beautiful patina I created by settling in to the cracks.

Sometimes a glob of paint might bubble from the heat and then you get a wet pocket that opens up while waxing.  Don't stress over it; it adds another dimension that looks like cracked plaster, or ends up being a milky wash with your dark wax.

The waxing definitely takes some time and patience on this kind of piece, but it's so much fun to discover what is happening, that it makes the process fun!
I worked on this while watching the Oscar's on Sunday night.

My $14.99 purchase from TJ Maxx, now looks like an aged plaster statue.

So cool, right?

How about you?  

Are you going to try this technique?

I'd like to do this on furniture, but want to find the right piece to try it out on!

P.S. In case you were wondering, the workshop I took was from Cheryl at The Big White Goose in Oregon City.  

She is so much fun, and a true artist at heart! 

You can look her up on Facebook to see her class offerings.

xo Denise

Sharing with:
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Be Inspired Tuesday
Wow Us Wednesday
Fridays Unfolded
Feathered Nest Friday
Show and Tell Friday
Inspire Me Please Friday
Fabulously Creative Friday
Frugal Friday
Be Bold
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Be Inspired Friday


Let's Connect!

Facebook  //  Pinterest  //  Instagram  //  Bloglovin

Vintage beach home office makeover

I've got Beach Boys radio on my Pandora station as I'm writing this post.  

It makes me happy when I'd rather be on a sunny beach, instead of dodging rain drops and staying warm in Uggs and sweaters.

It's the same vein of thought for this little makeover.  

Most of the time our office is a nice place to be.  I write my blog posts here, list items on Etsy, and Hannah enjoys movie making here; so it's not all awful gloom and doom.  

But there's also bill paying, and mundane stuff that happens in this room, and I'd rather have it light and sunny in here, than stuffy and formal.

We started out with nothing for our home office when we moved here 5 1/2 years ago.  

We bought a pair of matching desks and a tower shelf from Target.  

Lately, the beach look was just not looking quite like what I wanted.

Too dark, and not very well coordinated.

So, last Fall, I started freshening up the space.  

I started with paint.  

The new color is Benjamin Moore's Crystal Blue mixed in Valspar paint.

 

It instantly lightened the room.  

I also painted below the chair rail- it's Decorator White.

New ombre curtains in a pretty aqua color. Even though it's not obvious in the photo, I made cotton voile sheers to cover the window. 

 Our neighbor's windows look right in here, so having a bit of privacy was necessary!

We had the rope shelf to begin with, and the map wall- I just decided to cover the entire upper half in maps rather than leave any visible wall space.

Not a new project, but one that I never showed until now, because everything was so in-between stage…

I picked up this garage cabinet at our local Habitat for Humanity Restore.  They're actually upper cabinets.  The doors were already gone, and I thought it would be cool to add some barn wood to the top, and wheels on the bottom.

After living in this space for awhile, we realized we really didn't need two desks.  

Jon works from home at times, but he usually does it downstairs in the kitchen.

I found this awesome chippy white table a year ago.  

I really wanted to keep it and tried it out in our nook at first.  

It wasn't working, so I decided to try it up here.  

It fit the bill perfectly!

Love the worn patina on top.  

I sanded it a bit, and finished it with hemp oil.

I had a wicker basket that I tried for awhile as an alternate file cabinet.  

It ended up not functioning well for us, so I was lucky enough to find this well worn and rusty version from a vendor at Aunt Bee's House.  

The slatted wood top was a cool finish too.

This makes me think of something that's been worn down by the salty ocean air.

I also replaced the light fixture with this basket weave version from Ikea. 

 It adds a nice retro / contemporary vibe.

The beach picket wall hanging brings in some warmth and a worn look to the room.  

I spotted it in the PB Teen catalog.  

It wasn't even featured in the photo!  It was more in the background of a bedroom shot, and I had to search the catalog to find a price.  I never did, and finally looked online where it said it was on back order. It actually arrived really quick, so it must not be an item that they plan on stocking very long, considering how obscure it was!!

Fun little clips to hang photos and mementos.  

I love that it has the look of something on a Nantucket beach!

The vintage Hawaiian flag was also another find from an Aunt Bee's House vendor.

We kept the tower since it works well for us still.  I painted it in Miss Mustard Seed's Ironstone and gave it a good distressing with my metal scraper. 

We've collected Tikis on our trips to Hawaii.  (hoping to add a few more here…. ha!)

I also put all our family photos from various beach trips throughout the office.

I wanted to keep the desk top fairly clutter free, so I hung an enamel pot for putting bills in.  

I added a little chalkboard label to the front too.

It's been nice to freshen up the space, but I know we will tweak things here and there along the way.  

I keep trying to decide if I want an area rug in here, but I'm not usually a fan of area rugs over carpet.  Adding in hardwoods isn't in the budget right now, but that would be my wish!!

If you'd like to see some of the photos from our office before, you can click here, here, and here!

Thanks for visiting our new lightened up space!

Want to know where I got the goods?  

Here's the source list:

Maps on wall- vintage atlas and maps from garage sales

rope shelf- DIY project, find it by clicking here

bookcase- Restore (DIY rehab)

green round vase- TJ Maxx

wicker chair- Ikea

Pillows- Target clearance and vintage from Aunt Bee's House

Curtains- Target

Bamboo curtain rod- Michael's

vintage tripod lamp- DIY project, find it by clicking here

Paint- Crystal Blue and Decorator White, Valspar

picket fence clip board- Pottery Barn Teen

vintage Hawaiian license plate- on loan from family

vintage Hawaiian flag- Aunt Bee's House

tower shelf- Target, painted in Miss Mustard Seed's Ironstone milk paint

fern- TJ Maxx

vintage farmhouse table- local vintage store

vintage banker chair- Awesome's vintage store (no longer in business)

metal desk lamp- Target, clearance

vintage Pepsi crate- local vintage store

rusty file cabinet- Aunt Bee's House

enamel pot and hanging system- Ikea

chalkboard labels- Martha Stewart collection from Staples

vintage surf prints- All Posters.com

Questions about anything else? Just ask!

I'll reply in the comments section in case someone else has the same thought.

xo Denise

Sharing with:
Tuesday's Treasures
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Be Inspired Tuesday
Wow Us Wednesday

Let's Connect!

Facebook  //  Pinterest  //  Instagram  //  Bloglovin

Luckett's Green corner cabinet

Hi everybody!

It's been a busy, and yet kind of relaxing week here.  

I think we can all relate to needing balance in life, and this year I am being very conscious of my time and how I am using it during my day.

We had quite a bit of snow a couple weeks ago, and now we are dealing with major rain, so it's been good to stay inside as much as possible!

I bought this cute little corner hutch around the holidays.

It was a quick replacement to another hutch I sold quickly.
 I needed something to take it's spot.
I didn't even have time to paint it, so I gave it a quick clean and popped it into the shop to see if it would sell as is.

It didn't, and this week I was ready to swap it and bring it home to paint it.

I thought it would look great in a weathered chippy finish, so I started with Miss Mustard Seed's Typewriter.

When it was mostly dry, I went over it with Luckett's Green.  The spots where it wasn't completely dry gave it some depth when the colors blended together.

It chipped beautifully in a few spots, and it makes this piece look older than it is.

I swapped the hardware with some glass barrel knobs, and added clear wax.

Let me just insert here that I finally broke down and bought an 'official' wax brush over the weekend.

I've been using chip brushes of various sizes to wax my furniture- never washing them, just tossing them out when they get too hard from build up to work with.

Lazy.

Having a wax brush is so nice.  It really does make things easier.  

I've developed tennis elbow thanks to waxing, and this seems to alleviate that aggravation too.
You can see that with the shape of the brush you can get every last scrap of wax out of the pot easier, and it seems to glide on better.

I liken it to fine art:  you might be able to paint a nice picture with so-so brushes, but you wouldn't want to finish it with craft paint poly and a sponge brush.
Right?

Anyway, I really love how this cutie turned out.  

It was pretty ordinary before, but the beautiful shade of green makes it so much more eye catching.

I'll be delivering it back to Bella Hill this weekend.
I expanded my space there a bit, so I've got a little more room to play now.
;)

xo Denise

Sharing with:
Feathered Nest Friday
Fabulously Creative Friday
Be Inspired Friday
Furniture Feature Friday
Show and Tell Friday
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Be Inspired Tuesday
Tuesday's Treasures

Let's connect!
Facebook  //  Pinterest  //  Instagram  //  Bloglovin

Guest post at Savvy Southern Style: my favorite room

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

I am so humbled to be a part of Kim's fabulous My Favorite Room series.

You can visit me at Savvy Southern Style today.  

Here's a sneak peek ;)

Thanks Kim, for the invite!  

It's been an honor to share with her readers.

xo Denise

vintage Simmons steel dresser and some Oregon history

Last week I braved the beginning of our snow storm to pick up this:

I saw it on Craigslist about a week ago and was instantly and desperately smitten.

The desperation part was what had me trekking out in the snow to pick it up.

I knew it wouldn't last long, and I wanted to be sure I didn't miss out on it.

I always love when the pieces I acquire come with a story or some history.

I live in Oregon's capital city, and so we have lots of government agencies here.

One that I have driven past for years is the Oregon State Hospital.

oregon.gov photo credit

It was made famous in the 1975 movie, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" starring Jack Nicholson. 

imdb file photo

They filmed a lot of the scenes here in Salem, West Salem, (where I live!) and the coast.  

I've never actually seen the movie in it's entirety - I was 3 when it came out.  

It was on TV recently , and I caught some of it. 

It was unreal to see so many familiar landmarks!!

Anyway, the hospital in recent years was looking down right scary. 

 So decrepit and falling apart.

I always felt bad for the families who had loved ones here because it would truly be so depressing coming to the building.  

It has a long and shameful past.  

If you want to Google the hospital, you can, but trust me, it's past is depressing.

About 7 years ago it underwent a major renovation, and the building looks beautiful now.

New paint, new additions, and the architecture of the building is better highlighted.

More importantly, I hope that the patients there are receiving better care thanks to some of the conditions that came to light during it's reno.

During the renovations, there were a lot of things that were taken out by former employees and this dresser was one of them.

Simmons - the same company that makes mattresses, was also in the furniture business until the Great Depression, and then they gave up that branch during economic hardship.

Simmons steel dressers were used in hospitals and the hotel industry.  

You can see restored or mint condition pieces online.

This one made my heart go pitter patter though.  

I love the scraped off and chipped white paint.

The knobs were also steel, but two glass knobs were added by a previous owner to the two top drawers, which I also find charming.  

I still have one spare metal knob if I ever decide to replace and have all matching.

This replaces a small wood bookcase we've had since our very first apartment, on loan from Jon's mom.

We're going to turn it back over to her, and enjoy our new industrial piece of local history.

Even though the history behind the site that this came from isn't wonderful, I hope we can give it new love and life.

I gave it a good cleaning but that's about it.  

I plan to add in some drawer liners and oil the glides so the drawers will run smoother.

I'm enjoying adding pieces to our home that are unique and have an interesting history!

I'm looking forward to fluffing our nest more this year, and rounding out a lot of our decor.

Thanks for letting me share!

xo Denise

Sharing with:
Feathered Nest Friday
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Furniture Feature Friday
Be Inspired Friday
Inspiration Exchange
Fabulously Creative Friday
Show and Tell Friday

Let's Connect!

Facebook  //  Pinterest  //  Instagram  //  Bloglovin

DIY vintage tripod lamp

I've still been working on our home office makeover, and it's nearing completion!
  Over the weekend, I made a lamp out of a vintage tripod my dad passed on to me.

This is a relatively simple DIY project to complete, and I'll share some fixes that I couldn't find when I was researching how to do this one.

First off, you need a tripod.

Mine was free since it was a hand me down from family, but you can find these online on sites like Etsy, Ebay, or if you're diligent, at yard sales.

Next, you'll need a lamp kit, available at hardware stores.

This cost around $11 and has pretty good instructions on the back of the package. 

The first snag I hit when I attempted to start the transformation was this metal spring in the center.
It's where the camera / scope was screwed on originally.  

No problem, I'll just unscrew it.

Wrong.

This pops up and down like a pen with a clicker, but it won't unscrew.

Here's how we fixed it:

Using a metal drill bit, we attempted to drill it out.
It may have helped, but mostly it helped make the hole bigger that we needed for the wiring.

Drilling might have gone on for awhile until we decided to use an awl (sharp pointy piece of steel used to sink nails) and a hammer to pop out the spring.

Bingo.

It may have been both aspects, maybe just the awl, but either way it did the trick. 

That was one solution I couldn't find online.

We pretty much followed the instructions on the lamp kit packaging, but here's a visual.

First, you won't need these.

They are only used if you are making a lamp with a bottle. 

Ditch em.

Using the hollow threaded screw and cap, put these into the center hole and leave 1/4" poking up top.  I screwed it in but also lightly tapped the hollow screw in with a hammer to get it in where I needed it.

Add the cap over the screw.

Take your electrical wiring and poke through the screw and cap from the underside of the tripod.

You will need to follow the diagram on the package to make a fancy wiring loop, but it was pretty easy.

Next, take your wires and identify the wire insulator (in my case, the white plastic casing around the wiring) with ribbing.

At first I couldn't tell any difference between the two wires because it was pretty subtle.
Taking this photo made it crystal clear.

Following the package directions, attach the ribbed wire to the appropriate colored screw on the underside of the housing.  I didn't get any specific photos here, but there was a silver screw and a coppery colored one, and each wire needs to be wrapped around the right one.  Again, refer to the package instructions to tell you which one goes with which.

Kind of like when you have a dead car battery and you have to use jumper cables.
Use the right connection so you don't get shocked!

Finally, you can slip the cardboard collar into the metal switch collar, put it over your wiring, and screw it into the base.

That's it.
Other than getting slightly confused over which wire was which, it was really simple, and took me maybe an hour start to finish.
(and a lot of that was just figuring out how to get the metal center part out!)

I purchased an Ikea lamp shade (Jara).  It's nice and oversized (18" across) which is what you want to complete the look.  A regular lampshade (even the big size) is too puny to pull off this look.

Also, a stripped down wire shade would also look amazing if you wanted a totally industrial look.

I love it!!
It lends great character to the room, and I love that I got something from my dad's collection of vintage stuff.

I'm hoping to finish up a couple more elements to the room, and have the reveal up soon.
We had a big snowstorm last week, so a lot of what I hoped to have done had to wait while we snuggled in for the latter part of the week.

If you have questions on how to put the lamp together, let me know and I'll put the answers in the reply section of comments so others can see the solutions.
Thanks for letting me share this fun project with you.

xo Denise


Sharing with:
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Wow Us Wednesday
Be Inspired Friday
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Fabulously Creative Friday
Fridays Unfolded

Let's Connect!
Facebook  //  Pinterest  //  Instagram  //  Bloglovin