2012 Calender

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Pastel Christmas

All three trees are finally up & decorated.  I have begun the wrapping and nearly finished it.

Favorite wrapping paper this year goes to this love paper.  White paper with velour black snow flakes.  Super cute and super cheap.  Found this roll of loveliness at the Goodwill Outlet brand new.

Little gold pow & doilies name tag

from left to right: Parchment paper from Dollar Tree, Blue paper w/white pine cones are Jaclyn Smith & Silver w/red snow flakes are Trim-a-Tree both from Kmart.

Parchment paper turned out really good. Can't believe I found paper already decorated for a $1.

I'm horrible at taking pictures of Christmas trees, please forgive the craptastic photo. Lavender tree has purple & gold bows though I believe next year they will be replaced with balls.  Blue tree has teal/aqua and silver balls and the pink tree is silver bows & balls.  This is Pinkys last year, she will be for sell if anyone is interested.

Lights off.  Oooh, they really are prettier in person. The blue is my favorite.  The bow tree toppers are all Jaclyn Smith.

Let me state for the record getting a decent picture of these babies hasn't been easy.  I have a few cats in the house, 2 of which are kittens.  Christmas has been a delight for them to say the least.  Oh oh and before I forget the drapes are new.  Found them at Goodwill for 6.99 a pair.  They are a JcPenny brand in a pretty damask cream.  Nice and heavy, perfect change for two reasons...Need heavier drapes for the cold (these keep drafts to a minimum) and it's basically a nice change from the floral Laura Ashley drapes we've have for Spring & Summer.

Out With the Old Pt 2

Tonight I will be sharing one of my new favorite pieces.  An old school desk, we did like it just the way it was however I thought it's color was a bit over stated considering the kitchens new paint.  Speaking of the kitchen I do have a very small part to share. This is sort of a before & after (I'll have to take a few more afters).
Paneling Hell:

We rent & it's far to expensive to get rid of this hideous paneling so we decided to paint it.  The doorway is a door to our landlords storage area, which we do not have access too.  If you've seen my hutch redo then you can see this wall is pretty well covered.

Now that I have that out of the way here is the school desk before in it's overstated appearance:

 

Here she is in all her bright pink glory,  not horrible but in definite need of a cleaning.  Again just a bit to over stated for the new wall color.

Here she is now:

Nice lighter, softer color to go with the new kitchen wall color dontcha think?  I made this blue by combining our living rooms wall color with antique white.  Also put baking powder in the paint so it would not be glossy.  Sanded it down nice & smooth.  I really in love with this piece now.  Please ignore the sewing drawers and kittah in the pic.  I was in the process of taking pictures for Ebay.

I'm not sure if I'm finished with her.  I feel like a stencil might be in it's future, only time will tell. Oh yes and there are plans for the hideous counter top.  ewww!

Busy, Busy Bee

Things have been a bit hectic with Thanksgiving and now Christmas right around the corner.  Not to mention all the projects I've undertaken as of late, leaves me little time to update let alone get on the PC.

I thought I'd share a couple projects I've finished recently.  I still need to take a decent picture of my finished desk but I just can't seem to get the right angle or the perfect lighting lol.  Anyways first up is this lovely jewelry "dresser" I redid:

This is how she looked before.  Very pretty but a bit dark for my taste. Found at the local Goodwill Outlet.


Here she is now:

excuse the last 2 craptacular pics.  However you can see the top of my desk (probably going to get a recover).  This was my first experiment with a DIY chalk paint (I used the baking powder idea). I distressed her only a little, I'm not a huge fan of overly distressed pieces.  The inside looks brand new, I don't know if this was ever used.  Oh she is a music box as well, so she plays a pretty little tune to go with her pretty new look.  Currently this little princess is up for sell on Ebay.

Next is this cute little lap desk/music stand/podium.  I'm not really sure what it originally was. When I bought it, it was a hideous green and had mom burned into it.

I kind of forgot to take a picture before I added the wood filler to cover the Mom.  However I did remember in time to show the pea green color.  Oh ignore all the other crap around, that's where I store all the furniture to be redone.  That's my desk in the sanding phase.
Here is the desk/podium now.

I had found this lovely "oops" paint at walmart for $5, it's a minty color & I think it looks great.  I don't understand how this is an oops.  Anyway I added a Fleur-De-Lis stencil over where the Mom was filled in.  I did not distress it because...well I didn't think it needed it.  This would be a great gift for a student or for a teacher as a lap desk. Also could be used a table top music stand or podium ?  She is currently for sale on Ebay as well.

Last little thing is a set of metal/brass rose wall scones.  I've had these for quite awhile, I couldn't decide what to do with them.  Finally I gave in and painted them pink.  See I feel like I use too much pink, but I can't help it not only do I like pink but I feel like others do as well.

Found at a local Goodwill, I couldn't resist the roses, they are so pretty.

Lightly distressed so you can see the brass a bit.  I think they turned out great (if you are a pink person).  They are currently up for sale on Ebay (though I admit it will be hard to see them go).

That is all the projects for now, I'll update on a few more tomorrow, plus I'll share the school desk I redid that I am completely in love with.

oops

So my pictures did not turn out the way I wanted them, as in I have a horrible time setting up a picture to show the item in a presentable manner.  I want it to look lovely not like "yup there is a pretty type lap desk sitting on a chair" lol.  Plus my niece and nephew were here this weekend so I didn't get to do what I needed because I was busying running them around to get haircuts.

However some time today the desk will be in place and I will do my best to take really good after pictures.

Updates

I'll have a good update tomorrow.  My desk will finally be done, and a mini lap desk that will be up for sell is done as well.  I'm still unsure how I feel about the top of my desk but the paint is lovely.  I have to poly it and put on the new nobs and it will finally be all done.  After that the only chore will be cleaning off my current desk and dismantling for the trash then hauling the new desk up.

We got caught up in our thrift store weekend and ended up buying two pieces of furniture that we really didn't expect to buy.  However this gives me a chance to do up our old hutch and sell it and do the "new smaller and much more apartment size hutch" up.  Also bought a secretary desk that I plan on redoing for resell.  So big things in the works, stay tuned and have a great weekend.

Sarah

P.S. Does anyone have any advice for me as far as Etsy vs Ebay goes?  I've been a seller on Ebay for years however that's usually video games/consoles or random items.  I'm wanting to sell my "twice loved" items as I call them.  Right now it would start out small just so I can see if anything sells.  I'm just not sure how a more personal item such as a refabed desk or self made items would sell on Ebay.

Procrastination...My Friend

Today has been a serious procrastination day.  Okay admittedly I got to do some thrifting and helped mom buy a cool old recliner.  By help her buy I mean Will & I picked it up at the Flea Market and carried it up the flight of stairs.  Ooh was my back killing me after that, it was sore to begin with but now it kills just to stand up straight.

Didn't find a whole bunch of goodies at the thrift store but just enough to add to the pile of "stuff".  The good news is that everything we bought is coming in as is, I do not have to re-do any of it.  After much procrastinating I finally took my butt downstairs and sanded the first layer of shiny paint off the old desk I bought to replace my oh so lovely particle board desk that I've had for 8yrs now.  I'm really excited to see how it turns out.  I'm a bit twisted on the paint color though, I'm not sure if I want it the same light gray as the nite stand I redid a couple days ago, or if I want it slightly darker.  The room itself is an aqua blue with one gray stone colored accent wall.  All the frames on the wall are either white or black.  Then I have GISLEV rug that we got from Ikea down.

I really like the shade of gray, it's not as dark as our wall and not nearly as light as the nite stand.  So I keep thinking would the desk look better in a similar shade as the rug?  As you can see I am seriously conflicted, I would like it all to match but at the same time I don't want it to be to matchy matchy since none of the pieces in our room are in the same style. I suppose in the end I will decide right before I start to actually paint, that's how I usually work anyways.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and thank you to all of the lovely ladies who left me comments on my hutch redo.

Nite and Day

In one of my recent romps to a local thrift store I found this vintage side table that I felt would make a great nite stand for our room.  While redoing the kitchen I have slowly started to also weed out the old in our bedroom and try to make it a bit more "grown up".  The room is painted in blues with one gray accent wall.

Here is where the side table turned nite stand started:

Please forgive the junky looking room.  That is quite literally my junk room, it's where all my projects to be done sit until I am ready to work on them. I believe I paid $7.99 for the table, short of some chewing on the back left leg it was in great condition.  With a bit of sanding and some paint that Will mixed for me I think she turned out great.

After:

I sprayed the hardware black then distressed it a bit.  I'm not big on to much distressing, at least not in our bedroom.  I leave that to the rest of the house lol.  This was my first time using polyurethane (Minwax), I'm not sure if I did it right or not. However I knew I would need something on it to protect the paint.  Regardless I love how she turned out,  Will did a great job mixing the colors.  He used Antique White (color place) with just a dab of Stone Ebony Black (Better Homes) and it made the most perfect gray.  I have a desk and a dresser to repaint and I think for one of them I will be making some DIY chalk paint.

Linking up to:

Linksy Partys

Ugh! I'm nauseous, I just joined my first linksy party and I'm so nervous.  However I thought it might be a good way to get my face out there.  Not that it matters too much, I started this blog just to have a place to record all the changes this shabby apartment will be going through.  To anyone who may come and visit Ooh So Shabby, welcome and I hope you come visit again.

From Trash to Treasure...ish

Bought this desk organizer/remote controller caddy awhile back at Goodwill.  I had originally bought it to help my mom make some rhyme or reason to her desk, instead she put all the remote controls to our TV, DVD player and such in it.  I'm sure one day it will make it's way to her desk instead.

Before:

After:

I think it turned out pretty good & it matches our walls perfectly. There were screws in the back so I took it apart as much as it would allow and spray painted the inside first.  This was actually a bit of a pain to paint, had to be oh so careful about not mixing the colors.  It happened a couple places, but they aren't very noticeable.

Paint Used:
Krylon Ocean Breeze (blue)
Krylon Almond (brown/tan)

Out with the Old pt 1

Finally I have pictures of progress in our kitchen.  It has been a long journey, one that took much longer than we all expected.  I guess one has to live life as well as remodel a kitchen lol.  The hutch is complete, the kitchen cabinets (which was a surprise update) are finished.

This has been a labor of love, the hutch has been around as long as I have.  First belonging to my grandmother (it's at least 40yrs old), then lived for awhile in my aunts house, then moved to my uncles and currently our home and when Will & I find a place of our own it will move with us.  In other words she stays in the family.

Here she is in the beginning:

from top to bottom, as you can see she needed quite a cleaning.  The wood is very soft and was easily nicked.  For the most part she has been rather hidden, in our living room no less.  With the new kitchen we decided she needed more of a leading role & less of a walk on role.  So from the living room she was moved into the kitchen.

Here is the dilemma with the knobs.  The one on the right I bought for a desk I will be redoing later, we just wanted to see which would look better.  The off white knob with black vines or a big chunky glass knob.  Tho the picture is not great I think we made the right decision.  What do you guys think?

Here she is all finish:

She is still a work in progress as far as accessories go.  As you can see she got a nice white coat with blue accents.  I used Kilz primer, Antique White by Color Place and Clear Blue Sky by Glidden (though to be honest we had the color mixed in the cheaper Color Place paint.  If you get the right person working in the paint department they will mix it for you.  If not then you are stock with buying the $26 paint.  We are on a budge & I repeat we are renting. Some will warn that you will not get the right color if you use a different paint, that is to be expected so we did not worry too much as long as it was a close match.) However if you are going to go cheaper paint I would suggest getting Kilz stain blocking primer.  We had originally bought just a cheapy primer for $11 and we had a lot of bleed through on our walls.  I decided to bite the bullet & buy Kilz, WOW!! what a difference.  We only needed one coat of primer as opposed to 2 or 3.  So with that being said I also used the Kilz on the hutch since it was so old and has been around a lot of smoke.  The knobs I got from Hobby Lobby for $1.99 (50% off).  We decided to leave the drawers original hard ware though it is still a debate.  I spray painted them with Krylon Ocean Breeze, then distressed them.  However my OCD is kicking and I can clearly tell that the blue on the back of the hutch and the blue on the handles are two different colors.  Mom says she doesn't notice it and Will says it's "not that noticeable" but I notice.  We bought some nice drawer pulls for our cabinets that I've debated on going back & getting for the hutch, but that's for another post.

The plates displayed our various platters that we've either recently bought or have had.  The center platter is from my grandmothers china that we inherited with the hutch.  I wanted to give it center stage so to speak.  The platter on the left was also one of my grandmothers.  The rose dish I found for .50 cents at a thrift store & the plate was a project I've posted about.  The bell we've had forever, I sprayed it with Krylon Ocean Breeze & gave it a little distressing, as for the apocrathy jar I found at Goodwill for $1.50, I couldn't pass it up.  Will made me put back a clear one last week that was only $2.99.  I'm sure with time what is displayed will change, plus the very top of the hutch will be decorated as well.  I hate leaving all that empty space...empty.

Oh and before I close up I forgot to mention that I mixed some of the Clear Blue Sky with a bit of water washed the center of the lip with it, just to show the details better.  I'm still not sure about it, what do you guys think?  She also got a very light distressing, I didn't want to over do it since it is a family piece. Now that she is finished I'm am completely in love with her all over again.

Linking up to:

Wheww! Long time no update.

So we have undertaken a large update for our kitchen.  Sure most of you are demolishing your kitchens and getting new...everything.  However as you all should know by now, we rent and therefore can't get new everything.  So instead of looking at that 1970's paneling any longer we decided to paint it, we also decided that it was time for that carpet (yes you heard me right, carpet) in the kitchen to come up.  We decided to go the cheap route & just lay those self adhesive tiles down.  Sure it's cheap but my God is the difference amazing.  We also got a new refrigerator and stove, in black.  I'm really liking how easy they are to keep clean.  I'll be sharing pics and updates ASAP.

We've also been doing a lot of thrifting.  I have found some great pieces for refurbing, I can't wait for the kitchen to be finished so I can get started.  I'll be sharing pics of all my goodies in the next couple days.  I would like to thank my fellow bloggers for all the great inspiration you've all been posting.  I found recipes for DIY Chalk Paint and chalk board paint.  I def. can't wait to try these out.  Keep doing what you do everyone, you're amazing.

Before & After

I thought I'd share a couple of my thrifty finds that I gave a new look to.

Before:

After:

It's the grey, white & blue striped bottle

Before:

cute find @ the local Goodwill. .99 cents a piece

After:

 

I like how in all three pictures the wall color looks different lol.  Silly flash.

as you can see I sprayed them a lighter color (Ivory) from Krylon, then sanded them a bit to give them a nice shabby look.  I really like how they turned out.  The bottom one is my favorite.

I literally had a spray painting debate in the middle of Goodwill when I bought these.  A lady came up to my cart & saw the plaques.  "ooh I love those" and I smiled & agreed I too liked them.  She then asked me what I was going to do with them.  I told her spray paint them a lighter color & then sand them a bit.  She got very vocal "oh no no no, no paint" as if I was a 5 year old.  She said the darkness was what made me so lovely.  For her maybe but for me it was the design.  I do not really like dark things & are living room area is shabby & light.  I was actually angry at the woman, don't look in my cart and then ask me what I will do with something if you aren't expecting an honest answer.  If she like them so much she should have put them in her cart, instead she walked past them.  So in this telling I suppose I'm just trying to state some like dark & some like light.  I notice a lot of people get upset when they hear you are going to paint something.  It's all a matter of preference, neither way is wrong.  I do not think I harmed the plaque's charm or loveliness by painting them.