Gossip Bench or Telephone Bench

I spotted of few of these benches at EastBrook Flea Market during some of my visits and couldn't decide if had room for one. I'm not sure if their called a gossip bench or telephone bench I heard them called both. During Christmas my husband and I were at Eastbrook and spotted one that was different from most of the one's I had been looking at. This one had simple details and the seat covered the whole piece. It was painted a shiny black and had a gold and red fabric on it. It looked pretty good but it didn't match my decor. I forgot to take a before picture but here are a couple I took after I got to work on it.

Here are the sorta before pictures:

I noticed underneath the piece that a few spots were missed when it was painted black. The bench used to be a dark cherry. My mission was to restore it to it's original color. So I bought a can of stripper and let's just say it didn't work. So I moved on to a tougher stripper and it worked but not so well. That black paint was stuck like glue on the bench!! After I pondered about it for a day or so I decided that it would look better in my living room if I painted it white. So first I bought a can of primer and gave it two coats. Then I painted it with a Glidden Color-Colonial White in satin finish. I wanted the bench to be shiny so that's why I used the satin paint. Usually when I paint something that I'm going to distress I use a flat base paint. But I wanted this bench to be shiny white with no distressing. I also knew I wanted to use a zig zag pattern for the bench seat. I couldn't find any fabrics that I liked at the local stores so I asked my friend Kelly who's a sewing master where she gets her fabric and she told me about fabric.com. They have a million fabrics and their prices are great. I found a great zig zag print by premier fabrics and it was house my house in less than a week. I left the original fabric on there and just covered and stapled. This was a tough project but I'm in love with how it turned out. It is such a unique piece! It kinda has a modern look to it.

Here are the after pictures:

An awesome find

Look at this precious chest of drawers I found at an antique mall in Prattville! Re-do to come

I haven't decided what I'm going to do to it yet. Love the wheels on it. She really needs some work! I only paid $79 for it. Any ideas on what I should do to her? Re-stain, paint?

A Pink Rocking Chair

A couple of months back my mother in-law and niece were browsing the local flea market and my niece spotted a pink rocking chair that she proceeded to sit in and cried when she had to leave it. Her Meme told her that Ash would paint her one. Her birthday was coming up so I decided that would be the perfect gift! So the hunt was on for the perfect chair. I found a really heavy one that was already painted pink but not a cute pink it was more of a mauve pink. The chair was $20.00!

Here is a couple of before pictures:

I bought two cans of Valspar spray paint (Cameo Pink) and spray her down! Then I used my new vinyl machine (Silhouette SD) I will blog more about it later. I used white vinyl in a curly font and that was it! I hope the princess likes it! Pink is her favorite color! Happy Birthday Finley!

Here are the after pictures:

Rolling Cart

My Craft Rolling Cart
A couple of weeks ago I was browsing a local antique mall and came across this cart for $5.00!!
























I decided that I wanted to paint it a neutral color and add some fabric around it to conceal my craft bins. I used burlap and used my staple gun to attach it around the base of the cart. I concealed the staples by using a brown ribbon. I hot glued the ribbon to the fabric. I decided to use some scrapbook paper for the top of the cart. I found a really pretty calligraphy print at hobby lobby. I mod podged the scrapbook paper to the top and then I used some distressing ink to make it look vintage. I sealed it off with polycyclic.

Here are a few after pics:

The plus about my little cart is that I can roll it anywhere in the house that I’m working on a project.

Table and China Cabinet

My table, chairs and china cabinet was given to me by my mom's boss. I was excited about receiving them because they were in excellent condition and the table had a leaf and six chairs. The china cabinet has a ton of storage for my china and pewter

Below are a couple of before pieces:

When I first received the furniture I thought I wanted to stain it a different color. So I began sanding it then I stained a chair, top of the table and one side of the china cabinet and realized I wanted everything white. This project then turned huge and overwhelming. I decided to sit back and make my mind up how I wanted the furniture to look and what would look best in our house. So I began sanding again and then I picked out an off white color from Glidden called porcelain that was a flat base. I painted about three coats. I lightly distressed the edges and few other spots of all the pieces. Then I sealed all of the pieces with a spray acrylic sealer. I decided to stain the top of the table a dark stain and I sealed it with polyurethane.

Here are a few pictures of the top of the table:

I left the inside of the china cabinet and the shelves their original color then I added scrap book paper to the walls of the cabinet. I used scotch tape to put the scrap book paper up and then I used modge podge to seal it. If I want to change it out all I have to do it give it a little pull and it will easily come off.

The chair pads were in great condition but I was not fond of the fabric. I took one of my cushions to JoAnn fabric and picked out a fabric and ask the sales associate to tell me how much I need for each cushion. I also purchased a staple gun to attach the fabric. I covered the fabric over the existing cushion fabric. I chose a goldish/tan fabric that wouldn't show dirt to bad. I've never recovered any type of furniture and it turned out to be pretty easy.

I removed all of the hardware from the china cabinet and replaced it with knobs and pulls from hobby lobby. Each were no more than $2.99 a piece. I used two wrought iron pulls for the drawers and two hanging pulls for the doors. On the large door and a couple of the drawers I used antiqued crystal knobs. (Those are my fav)!

This one by far the hardest project I've completed so far and the most time consuming. It was well worth it and will last a long time.

My new Obsession-Ceramic Stools

Aren't these lovely! Below are a few pictures from magazines, blogs, etc. of homes that have decorated with ceramic stools. My new obsession!

The only draw back to purchasing one has been the $150.00 and up price tag on them. I looked high and low and haven't found one in a price range I would like to spend.

Until I ran across this one at the Flea Market for $30.00

Although I'm not fond of the purple flowers and deep down really wanted a off-white one I decided to give it a little spray paint. I'm not completely sure on the rules for spray painting ceramic so I just decided to dive in and give her a light sanding and start spray painting away. I sprayed it Valspar satin spray paint the color is Chruchhill Hotel Vanilla. Then I finished it off with a little clear sealer for a little protection. I decided to see how well the spray paint was going to stay on by scratching the piece with a sharp item. It didn't scratch it so I think it's going to be fine.

Here are my after pictures below.

My dog China decided to grace the picture! She likes my new blue chair!

A Family Bread Box

This way was my grandfathers bread box. When Kirk and I got married he had a bread box that I really didn't like. First of all it had a very country-looking front on it. Basically there was nothing I could do to it to make it look good. But my bread box was perfect and it really means alot to me because it had been used at my grandfathers house for a long time. So here's how I revamped it.

• First I used a cleaner called TSP that you can buy at any hardware store. It is a really strong cleaner that I also used on my kitchen cabinet redo. When you apply the TSP you have to wear gloves because it's so strong. I gave it a good scrub and then I scrub it with just a sponge and water to get all of the cleaner off.


• Secondly I used my sander to rough it up a little bit then I hand sanded the edges.

• Then I used red latex paint and gave it one good coat. I let it dry overnight so that I could distress it easily. If you try to distress the piece before the paint's dry it will smudge.


• I lightly distressed the edges and gave it a little bit of chocolate glaze just to given the paint more of an aged look. Then I let it dry for several hours again before I sealed it with polycrylic.


• I decided to line the inside of the box with scrapbook paper. I glued the paper down using mod podge and smooth the top several times to get the creases out. I let it dry for a couple over house before I gave it coat over the scrapbook paper. Then I gave it about three other coats. I then sealed it with polycrylic.

I decided to use red to match my kitchen. I just love the way it turned out it really adds to the county-cottage feel of my kitchen.