Painting furniture

It was such a beautiful weekend this past weekend and with the weather being not in the triple digits I got some furniture painted. There are a few ladies at the antique store that have been selling shabby chic furniture so I decided to give it try. Actually I have been collecting "practice" pieces for awhile and my OH wants his garage back. The final push was the fact that I got a new booth in Galveston and needed a locking cabinet to display small items. I didn't want new furniture (plus did not want to pay high prices) so my first piece was a old buffet top that had seen better days many, many days ago. I wanted 3 doors to open and to be able to lock. Of course the piece I had found had 1 door that opened and the two others were stationary. Enter my wonderful husband who can do wonders with woodworking. He cut the doors so I could have 3 doors and added locks. Then it was my turn. I have been wanting to paint furniture for awhile and was afraid to start, afraid to mess things up, just afraid to try something. But I needed the hutch so with brush in hand I dove right in. I didn't think to get a before picture but here is what we came up with.

We had to add glass to the centers of the shelves and all in all I am pretty pleased with the results. There wasn't a bottom so my OH also built a simple bookcase that I painted white and stained the top a golden oak. I wanted alittle more for the bookcase so I added blocks and put cutouts stained on the top. I think displays well in my Galveston booth.

Well...since I got over being afraid (my OH says he doesn't know why I always doubt myself) I can't seem to keep my paintbrush dry! Over the weekend I also completed a sweet little octagon table. Of course I didn't take any before pictures of this project either but hey...I was busy painting! Anyway, for both pieces I used primer first, then painted a light grey color latex paint. I then used a sander to add the distressed used appearance. After that I used a blue wash followed by a brown wash. Here is the top of the table after the brown wash.

The door of the table has great details which really show up after painting.

Of course before painting I removed all the hardware and while I had the items off the furniture, I spray painted a dark brown and highlighted with a copper metallic paint. The contrast is so pretty.

After everything was dry, I put a water based poly coat on the table since this piece would probably be used and I wanted to protect the paint.

Not too shabby if I so say myself...wait...I mean pretty shabby blue table!

Ok...now I am working on a twin bed that yes I remembered to take a before picture! I plan on shabby chic white for this piece. I really like painting old furniture and changing old, damaged, needing work pieces into new useable pieces.

By the way...I am having trouble posting comments on some of the blogs I follow...is anyone else having that problem and can anyone tell me how to correct that problem?

That's all for today...come back soon.

Saturday Garage Sale success

With the warmer weather comes the little signs at the roadside corners pointing to garage sales! My friend and I went to a community garage sale on Saturday to see what "treasures" we could find to put in our shops. Kim has just started her booth and we were looking for goodies to help fill her space. Spending her money was fun...but I found a few items that will eventually make it to the shop.

I found a silver napkin holder with matching salt and pepper shaker, retro vase/decanter, red scent dispenser, book "box" and wooden shoes.

I love salt and pepper shakers and I am always looking for vintage pairs. This one has the holder tree with the salt and pepper shaker hanging from the branch. The napkin holder came with the set. Love the detail.

The red scent dispenser is not vintage or antique but I will be reusing the red glass for a garden project. The book box isn't very old either but it looks like books and is a wooden storage box when opened. I will probably be using as a display in the shop. The wooden shoes...well...my grandmother had a "dutch" scene hanging on her kitchen wall and these two pairs reminded me of her so I had to get them right? I really like the detail of the smaller pair.

Now for the retro vase...I love retro items. The clean lines of this piece really appealed to my retro senses. I believe this was originally a decanter but the stopper is missing so I can see this as a vase...imagine bright orange flowers! So retro...

Now for my most favorite find of the day...these pen and ink drawings of 2 arabians. I love the simple design and detail. These were draw by the same artist in 1978 and 1979 respectively. These originals will not make it to the shop anytime soon but will reside in the new guest room we are finishing up.

Wonderful...simple...detail...

I truly love hunting for antiques and vintage collectibles and really enjoyed the company of my friend during Saturday's hunt.

That's all for today...come back soon.

New adventures

Well here goes! My sister has been after me for months now to start a blog so I thought ok why not! She has a very successful blog titled "A Little Farm with a Big Heart". I live on three acres in the little Texas town of Alvin with my DH and many other precious babies including 3 horses, 6 dogs, 4 cats, and chickens (both rhode island reds and banties). I love my animals and I love antiques and have a booth at Dixieland Antiques here in Alvin. You can visit my facebook page titled C&C Collectibles and Antiques to see my items. I plan on sharing my thoughts, ideas, and just plan pondering on both my farm life and antique life with you guys.

For today I would like for you to meet Cyrus who is one of my newest adventures.

We purchased him about 2 weeks ago from a gentleman who was getting out of horses because of health issues. Cyrus had not been ridden for about a year and I have been working with him to get him past some issues. He does not like the bits I have been using so I am going to try a hackamore this evening. We have plans on making this my husband's trail horse. (Ok mostly my trail horse but that's what I told my husband shhhhh). He is a 10 year old paint horse and I sure hope he works out.

Well that's all for today...come back soon!