Salt Lake Tribune Home & Garden Festival

I had the wonderful opportunity to decorate a Vignette for the Salt Lake Tribune Home and Garden Festival. This is a spectacular show with amazing vendors that is geared towards making your home and outdoor living spaces that much better. I felt all legit with my vendor badge which let me come and go as I please. I really was excited, but super tired and it shows! lol!

 

 

It was quite the learning experience, which I am grateful for. I had some amazing friends, also doing vignettes, that helped me along and guided me in this whole process. I am quickly realizing how much I still have to learn as my little hobby grows, but it is through these growing moments that I can improve and be better. So YAY for growing moments!

 

Considering everything involved, I feel my little vignette came together. Yes I see how it couldn't have been much better, but it could have been much worse!

 

All in all I am so glad I was able to be apart of this. I met some great people and hope I will get to work with them in the future!

 



"THE" Antique Bench

I found this bench on a local yardsale site. I knew it had some potential to be amazing but it want until we picked it up that I saw how MUCH potential it had! The previous owner told me about how his parents owned an antique store and they ship most of their items from France and Belgium!?  he had received a few items as gifts over the yrs and this was one of them. The details in person were exquisite! I couldn't wait to get home and see my vision come to life!

 

My plan was to use Sweet Pickins Milk Paint in Sweetie Jane. with the age of the piece and the details I wanted an aged, chippy look so I knew Sweet Pickens Milk Paints was perfect to achieve this look. I did a quick sand over the whole piece and cleaned it up a bit. I got about 1 1/2 coats into it and ran out of paint ;(  I wasn't able to get more in time and was very anxious to get this piece DONE! so off to Home Depot to try to get a similar color so I could finish it up! Let me tell you, that was HARD! Sweet Pickens Sweetie Jane was dimensional, it is gorgeous! but it made it hard to match, which tone should I go for? I finally settled on 2 colors that were kinda close and mixed them together PRAYING it would be ok! I got home, mixed my paint, made my DIY chalk paint, and got to painting!

 

 

I wanted to gorgeous details to stand out more then if I just distressed it. One color was just not doing it for me! It was lacking something........ you ever get that feeling too?! So I whipped up some DIY chalkpaint in my favorite off white color (sorry I don't know the name, its a custom mix, but it is very similar to ASCP in old white) and started painting the details. The legs details took FOREVER with my ittie bittie paint brush. But in the end I am SO GLAD I did!!! It was well work the time! The white details just MAKE this bench! What do you think!? when I listed this bench it had thousands of views and a mile long list of people wanting it. It was the first piece that a little part of my heart dies when I saw it drive away..... but it was purchased by a wedding décor rental place so lots of people with get to enjoy it!

 

 

 

I LOVE the look that doing milk paint toped with chalk pant gave it. Its chippy but not too chippy, its aged, perfectly distressed and finished off with Sweet Pickins Clear Wax witch adds a nice softness to the finish.

Product List :

*120 grit sandpaper

* Sweet Pickins Milk Paint in Sweetie Jane
wwwsweetpickinsfurniture.com

*custom mixed DIY chalk paint

*Custom mixed white DIY chalk paint

*Sweet Pickins Clear Wax

This LIttle Bench

One of my dear friends from HS asked my if I would redo a bench for her. it was a fantastic Lane cedar bench, and let me tell you, it smelled FANTASTIC!  It had great lines, the top lifts for incredible storage, and a cute little key hole to boot! It definitely needed a facelift and I was thrilled that I got to be the one to do it!

 

Can you see the potential gold mine!? Regardless of which paint I use, I ALWAYS sand. If it is a no prep type of paint like milk or chalk paint, it is more of a quick, light sand to just rough it up a bit and give the paint something a little extra to grip too. We went with a white DIY chalk paint. When doing a light color like white, and a darker base, expect to do an extra coat or 2 depending on which type of paint you use. With this piece I did 3 coats of my DIY chalk paint. Next up is my favorite part.... can you guess?...... YEP! DISTRESSING! A light distressing took place. With the pic below I am about mid process and this is right after it had been hand distressed with sandpaper.

 

 

Miss J wanted more of a distressed look then what a light sanding afforded. I did a light all over stain with Rustoleum glaze in Java Brown. The nice thing about glaze is that you can wipe it away easier then you can with stain, which makes it perfect for DIY-ers or the beginner.  Miss J also wanted to ditch the gold hardware, good call! Don't you agree!? Nothing that a little metal spray paint cant fix! Add some new fabric and the end result is stunning! Can you say OOOH LA LA! I was very tempted to bribe her to let me buy it from her! Even the hubs was down with that plan, so that says something!

 

 

 

SUPPLY LIST :
* Glidden white base paint - no color added
mixed into a DIY chalk paint

* Rustoleum Glaze in Java Brown

* Rustoleum Satin Oil Rubbed Bronze + primer spray paint

* Verathane Water Based Heavy Duty Polyurathane

Vintage Vanity

A neighbor of mine, Miss L, asked me if I would re-finish this GORGEOUS vanity for her daughter.
Um, OF COURSE! This vanity was just stunning so I was honored that she asked me to work on this lovely little thing! The details are just lovely.

 

 

I sanded her down and did a coat of primer. Because of the age it was very likely that there would have been bleed through staining so by doing a coat primer first, it would help to keep that from happening. then I did 3 light coats of latex paint with my paint sprayer. Then its time for the fun part! DISTRESSING! I lightly distressed the edges and detail, which I think brings those details out more then if left untouched. 3 coats of poly and she is ready to go!

 

 

 

As I was working on it, I couldn't help but think of all the stories this little vanity was apart of.  I could totally picture it in a scene from Downton Abbey and thought about how much juicy gossip must have been shared while sitting at this vanity getting ready for a dinner party.

 

What do you think!? I absolutely love how it turned out! It now sits in a cute teenagers room adding more stories, I am sure, to its vault!

PRODUCT LIST :* Kilz Primer
* Glidden base paint - no color added
* Varathane Water Based Heavy Duty Polyurathane

 

 

Welcome!

Hi everyone! And WELCOME to my first blog post! EEEEK! I cant believe I am adding another thing to my plate! But here we are! A lot of you have asked for info on the products I use, different techniques used on certain pieces, tips and detailed before and afters. I have found FB to be a hard place to do all of that and knew I needed a different avenue but hesitated because I feel so stretched as it is, I am NOT, I repeat, I am NOT a writer!! plus it is hard to open myself up knowing there will be criticism and there are some mean people out there, and if I am being real here, that scares me. But the time has finally come that in order for us to grow it must me done ;) I know I say it a lot but I am truly grateful to YOU! you make if possible for me to work from home doing something I LOVE and it would not at all be possible if it wasn't for my amazing followers and clients.  So THANK YOU!

OK so to start things off, I decided to do my latest project since it is fresh in my mind ;)

So this little lady was off to the dump and I just had to rescue her! I mean, come on, how can you resist those darling sliding shutter doors!? My original plan was to do Sherwin Williams White Raisin, AKA the PERFECT yellow! But as the months went by she kept getting pushed to the side while my attention was on custom projects.  Well little lady your time has arrived! I had some  Rustoleum Metalic Gold spray paint left over from another project and thought I would spray this pretty little thang down.( SIDENOTE I LOVE this gold spray paint! it actually goes on pretty even and lasted longer then I expected! PLUS right!?) I gave her a quick sand and started in with the gold. Well me and spray paint have a love hate relationship and this time it was leaning more to the hate side. So I whipped up some of my DIY chalk paint and painted her white, but I did leave the inside gold, just for fun!  A little sanding here and a little distressing there and I was in love! Gold and turquois (the original color) showing through and I was smitten! It turned out better then I thought it would. Plus I had the perfect little blue knobs to finish her off. SHHHHHH don't tell my DS that I used his knobs he picked out for his nightstand! ;)  I topped it all off with 2 coats of wax.  Yes folks, I. Said. Wax! That story is for another post another day, BUT You have asked for wax so I am delivering.  sorry for the grainy pics but she is now sold so they will have to do.

Here she is before getting a pretty makeover

and here she is after!

 

PRODUCTS USED :

Sand paper

Rustoleum Metallic Gold spray paint

My own DIY chalk paint

Glidden white base paint (ie no color was added)

Minwax finishing wax

Corkboard Makeover

So this is my FIRST tutorial, so be kind :) Plus I am watching Once Upon a Time while I write this, anyone else LOVE that show!!?? Anyway because it is my first, I decided to go EASY! And what is easier then a corkboard makeover!? I have had this corkboard for forever and knew that someday it would be needed and that someday I would make it "fancy" (that is what my kids call every upcycle, craft, you name it!) Well that someday was finally here. I am in the process of FINALLY organizing and decorating my office/craft room/homeschool room. While the corkboard isn't necessarily  hideous, it just wasn't my style.

So off to the craft store I went to pick out some fabric. I starched and ironed out my fabric, while the starch isn't necessary, I find it helpful as it stiffens the material and makes its easier to work with. I cut the fabric a few inches bigger to leave room to work with and glue down on the backside. I didn't measure before I went to the store, so I got extra just in case, therefore I needed to cut it out.

Once I had the fabric all cut out, I used a spray adhesive. Obviously I am not paid to endorse any products so this is completely my unbiased opinion..... I LOVE Elmers Craft Bond spray adhesive! It was super tacky yet I was also able to peel the fabric up and reposition if I needed too. It was so adhesive I had to SCRUB my hands a few times to get it all off! Yep I am SOLD! Ok back to the tutorial ;) There is some overspray so make sure to have something underneath with SEVERAL extra inches or go outside, just know there is overspray and again this stuff is tacky!   So you don't want it on your carpet , counter, table, you get the picture. I worked in about 4 inch sections so I could make sure it was even and smooth out any wrinkles.

 

I made sure it was all smoothed out and that it was "crisp" along all the edges because I am going to use thumbtacks around the edge and I didn't want the fabric to not lay smooth, if that makes sense?

 

Now onto the fun stuff! I used good ol thumbtacks and pushed them in around the edge of the corkboard. I wanted to do some cool design but I was in a hurry and just wanted to get it done, plus after you push in a hundred or so thumbtacks your thumb starts to hurt ;) I am a bit OCD on thngs being just so and even so I drew a line in pencil from edge to edge to that they are straight. then I measure out the spacing and made marks for those. Granted it is still not perfect, but it could have been much worse and from a distance you can hardly tell

 

Once all my thumbtacks are in place, I used the spray adhesive and sprayed the edges and smoothed the fabric over the edge. then spray along one side on the back and smooth the fabric down and repeat on all 4 sides on the back. Your fabric should stay just fine with the spray adhesive, but I am overly cautious, so I added a thumbtack in each corner and 2 along each edge. And WALAAA! your new corkboard is all "fancied" up and ready to pin those important notes, reminders, pictures or whatever else you want!

 

Hope this inspires you to transform something in your home that will make you smile! I am so excited to get this hung and start using it! Whatta think?

COST BREAKDOWN :

Corkboard - free
Fabric - $7 (it would have been cheaper if I measured before hand)
Pushpins - $3.76 (I used one pkg of 188 and a small amount from another pkg)
Spray Adhesive - $2