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.

Christmas Crafts

Merry Christmas

I saw this cute idea for Christmas Gifts on someones blog and thought I would try it out. Glass paint pens and porcelain paint pens on different items. Some items I free handed and most of them I used transfer paper and traced them on. The glasses shown above and below I did free hand.

Pictured below are the pens I used I purchased them from Michael's they are from Pebeo. Once you finish writing on them you have to let it dry for 24 hours. Then you bake them in the oven on 325 for 40 minutes for the glass pieces and 300 for 35 minutes for the porcelain pieces.

Here are some pictures of the thing's I've completed.

My favorite furniture re-do!

This project was not my first furniture re-do and certainly not my last, but it's my favorite piece of furniture in the house. I pondered and shopped many log hours deciding what piece of furniture I wanted in my entry way until I just decided I would go flea marketing and re-do something myself. I was looking for something with storage and little bit of character. I found my piece at my local Flea Market for $97.00. It was in great condition and really only needed a little paint.

Here is a couple of before pictures listed below

I felt the piece had charm and character. At first I had planned to paint it red and leave the top as is. I also planned to remove the bottom four drawers and use baskets. I started painting it red and realized I wanted it to be lighter and blue would be the color. Here is how I transformed it.

1. I lightly sanded it so the paint would stick.

2. I painted the piece with a turquoise Behr paint color with two coats.

3. I light sanded it again to give it a little distressing.

4. I used a Warm Chocolate glaze that they mixed up for me at Sherwin Williams. I used this in the lines on the piece and some around the edges. I use a regular paint brush to put the glaze on with and I use a wet cloth to wipe off the excess that I don't want. I usually wipe of the excess about ten minutes after I put it on. If you wait longer it doesn't come up as easily.

5. I used a small amount of a tea stained glaze by Ralph Lauren that I got from Home Depot on the whole piece to get the antiqued look.

6. I used a iridescent glaze from Valspar to give it a little shine.

7. Lastly, I sealed it with Polycrylic.

Below are pictures of the products I used.

Merry Christmas and Decorating

Merry Christmas To All!

This is my first try at the whole blogging thing so bear with me!! I decided to start this blog to tell everyone about all of my renovations, furniture re-do's and crafts! I thought it would be fun to start with Christmas! I love to decorate with lime green for Christmas!! I have decorated in lime green and red in my kitchen and living room. In my other rooms I've tried to decorate with similar colors of the rooms. This year I also tried to find natural things to decorate with such as cranberries, pine cones and sticks. I like to think that my taste are eclectic because I'm inspired by a lot of things I see! I love things that sparkle especially at Christmas time.
The above picture is obviously my tree and I have red and lime ornaments with a few personal ornaments. I went all sparkly for my tree because it really shines.

This is my entry way. The blue jug which is my favorite I found at the Flea Market. I put cranberries in the bottle and used branches from my yard as well. I sprayed the branches with a little fake snow and some glitter. The candlesticks with the green puff was a napkin craft I stole from someones blog. The wreath with the H was just a recreation of something I saw in a Ballard Design's catalog. In Ballard Designs they had the monogram covered with Christmas tree branches. I wasn't quite sure how to pull that one off so I decided to improvise. The wreath was a $2.00 Hobby Lobby purchase and the monogram was a $5.00 Hobby Lobby purchase. The H was actually gold and I decided to spray it white. The ribbon on the wreath is the same ribbon I have on my tree! I also used pine cones from my yard in the brown tray and spray them with snow and glitter as well. As you can tell I love to decorate with Christmas Balls!!

This is a couple of shots from my table I used the same snow pine cones and Christmas Balls along with tree branches. The Christmas ball arrangement was just something I kept playing with until I found something I liked. My table is my second favorite thing to decorate I love layering different things on it!

For my plates I found lime green chargers at target and then placed my clear glass plates on top. I really wanted to some cute desert/accent plates for the top but I just couldn't find any that I really liked. So, I decided to make my own. I will explain more in another post on Christmas crafts how I made them. I also painted my wine glasses too! I bought the white plates from the dollar tree. It was a fun project.

My lime green sparkly branches!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!