Nudist Dresser Project

I went to pick up a night stand the other day and ended up with a dresser as well. 

This is what it was wearing when I got it:

Not horrible, but definitely needing some love. 

Are you wondering why I called it a "nudist dresser"? Well, I started this project with a little sanding. Most times when I'm going to repaint a piece, I give it a light sanding just to rough up the surface a bit and see what's underneath. Sometimes the crazy layers of old paint shine through and I can't even bring myself to paint over it. This was not one of those times.

When I started sanding this one, the paint just started peeling off in giant strips. 

It was crazy. I'm not sure what happened with it's original layer of paint, but that's when I realized that this dresser was a nudist and it was demanding to be stripped. 

Which is something I never do. 

Luckily, my daughter has a crazy, strange addiction to peeling paint. I'm not joking. She was in heaven with this project.

FINALLY, after two days of sanding and peeling and chipping away paint, we got it down to it's birthday suit.

Except for the top, which was just perfectly shabby and I had to leave it alone.

The crazy yellow knobs actually ended up pretty cool with a coat of cream paint and a little sanding. 

This ended up being way more of a project than I bargained for, but I think it came out pretty sweet!

SHABBY CHIC DRESSER OR SIDEBOARD

$250 

Simple Reminders and Subliminal Messages

I am a word freak.

 To the point of dorkiness. I subscribe to Webster's Word Of The Day via email. I am a chronic underliner in books. There are words all over my house in the form of chalkboard messages, painted signs, art made from the pages of books, and of course - books themselves. 

I also love elements from nature. My home also has it's collection of plants, shells, sticks, branches, and yes, rocks. And now... rocks with words on them. 

On a recent stroll with the dog, we crossed a bridge over a dried up river bed. I stopped and peered over the edge looking at all of the river rocks. That's when an image I hadn't seen in YEARS popped into my head. 

When I was a little girl I used to go "rock hunting" with my grandpa. You see, he was a "rock hound". I'm still not sure if that is an actual term for someone who hunts rocks or if it is simply one of those "country" words that are invented in my neck of the woods where I grew up. 

My Gramps would wander around the mountains, knowing exactly what to look for. Usually a nondescript, ugly grey rock that he would lug home to his shed and crack open to reveal a literal gem. He had a collection of rose quartz, geodes, jade, petrified wood etc... that he made jewelery and such from. I loved all of these beautiful rocks, but I had long forgotten about my favorite rock of his. 

It was a long, flat oval river rock, probably six inches long. In bright yellow paint he had inscribed "hello" on one side, and "goodbye" on the other. 

I thought it was genius. 

Sometimes when we were saying our goodbyes at the door he would flip the rock over to say goodbye - which he found so amusing, as did I!

I hadn't thought of that rock in decades until I looked down into this river bed. I wondered what ever happened to it?I didn't say anything as we walked on, but on the way back I had to slither down the side of the hill and into the rocks to take a few home. I could have stayed there exploring all day and probably left with a truck load of rocks, but I settled for a handful as I told the story of my Gramps' rock on the way back to the jeep. 

I knew I was going to add words to my rocks as well. 

Now I have this little bowl of simple reminders and subliminal messages that reminds me not only of how I want to live, but reminds me of my Gramps as well.   

Ladders Everywhere! (a love story)

You know how it is when you have some secret obsession and you nurture it for a long time before it's fulfilled? Like my wooden ladder obsession? Well, since the acquisition of my rickety, termite eaten, later painted blue, now living happily in my garden ladder, they seem to be multiplying. I have seen more on the side of the road that I have passed by, thinking, "that obsession has now been fulfilled and one can only have so many ladders". Or maybe not. A few days ago it seemed I now had more ladders than I knew what to do with. 

I really love when the people in my life start scavenging for me. I get calls or texts saying, "you want a pair of giant doors with tons of windows?" or "I saw a chair on the side of the road today and thought of you, you want me to grab it"?

When my guy walked through the door recently saying, "I have a present for you".... of course, I thought:Flowers? A fabulous bottle of wine? No way, NOT a long awaited written expression of love?... But instead he drags me outside and shows me another wooden ladder. 

"Wow", I thought I said it pretty enthusiastically. 

"You hate it!" Says he.

"I don't! Thank you!" Say I, extra enthusiastically this time. It was cool and I love that he saw it on the side of the road and thought of me. But I have to confess, I was thinking, what am I gonna do with another ladder?!

Upon closer inspection I discovered that this one didn't have termite damage, it was probably abandoned because it would have been certain death for anyone who attempted to climb the thing, which I did not plan on doing. So, I decided it could live inside. The front and back was attached only on one side so I yanked it around a few times and separated the two sides. Which now meant instead of A ladder, I now had two ladder pieces to figure out what to do with.

Both pieces sat outside for a couple of days until a fit of inspiration came to me.

The front half now lives in the wasted little corner behind my TV. 

And the back half found a lovely little spot next to my bed. 

A couple of holes pounded into it now displays some dried roses from the garden.

And there's even a spot for my grandmother's handkerchief and some restful words. 

I realized two things. 

One: you don't need a lot of space to turn a ladder into a unique and fun display.

And two: Sometimes something dragged off the side of the road is a perfect expression of love.  

Snazzy Coffee Table Re-Vamp

The term "as is" always makes me skeptical when making a  purchase. However, when it's something I'm planing to refinish, not so much. When I saw this lovely table, checked it's price tag and found "as is", I had to wonder why? 

It was definitely shabby with moving tape stuck all over the legs and some scratches and such. But with no real damage and no wobbles, it looked perfect to me!

After a thorough sanding, a few coats of "Gypsy Teal" paint, more sanding and a clear coat, it came out  quite snazzy I think! 

As usual, I start to think, "There has to be a spot in my home for this"! But alas, I think this one will find the perfect home out there somewhere. So it too is up for sale. 

SNAZZY GYPSY TEAL COFFEE TABLE

$100

 Sold!

Antique Armoire Makeover

ANTIQUE CHABBY CHIC ARMOIRE

$550

SOLD!

I stumbled upon a treasure chest of a moving sale a couple of weeks ago. I didn't mean to, really. I didn't mean to even be shopping. But some supernatural scavenging force pulled me up the hill. When I pulled up to the garage, I knew this was going to be exciting. The sale was at the home of a wonderful, fellow scavenger who was moving back to Alabama. Or was it Georgia? I couldn't think straight...

 There was an amazing antique settee, beautiful old wing chairs, all kinds of interesting things, but of course, I instantly gravitated to the most raggedy thing there. 

It definitely needed some love. One of the doors hung by one hinge, it had no backing, the veneer on the sides was peeling off and it was a wobbly little sucker. 

All of those things to me meant perfection!

The man selling it said it came from an estate sale in the south and had originally belonged to the first black female pilot. I love to know the history of how these pieces come to me!

We agreed on a price and managed to stuff it into my Jeep, along with some other treasures I will share later...

Then the fun began...

I stripped off all of the peeling siding, added new screws to the missing hinge, used some wood glue to re-attach some trouble areas and began the painting process. 

A layer of crackle glaze went straight over the wood, then a soft blue paint with off white for the details. A couple of days of sanding and finally adding a new backing of bead board and my raggedy little darling was perfectly shabby and chic. 

This is a hard one to say goodbye to because I love it so much, but it is for sale. 

You can email or call for details! 

  

A Cute Stripey Glass

Just wanted to share this glass I fell in love with at a thrift store the other day. The blue happens to be my favorite color. The stripes are so happy. The shabby gold of the rim makes it a little fancy. I paid a whopping .99 cents for it and it brings me so much joy!

Don'tchya love it?!

Chandelier

I love, love LOVE my chandelier. 

What I love most about it, besides how fabulous it is, is that I found it on the side of the road. 

Yep. This might just be the reason that I keep pulling over to piles of junk today. 

About seven years ago, I was preparing to open my photography studio. This happened to be about the same time that I really started to hone in on my love of all things shabby & beautiful. I decided I wanted just that kind of comfy, vintage feel for my studio. And the perfect chandelier was a must. 

I scoured craigslist, the internet, local shops but couldn't find what I was looking for at the price I was looking for (which was next to nothing). Then one day I was driving home and happened to see a pile of stuff on the opposite side of the road - in which there was a divider, therefore forcing me to continue driving for about a mile until I could turn around and go back to explore. 

What originally caught my eye was a snazzy little wooden table that was buried in cardboard boxes. I stopped and as cars whizzed by me I began to move the boxes off the table when I heard a tinkling and rattling from within the box in my hand. I opened it up to see what was inside and...

 THERE WAS MY CHANDELIER!

I almost had a heart attack.

Even though all the crystals were off and rolling about the box and it was covered in a horrible black tarnish, dirt and spider webs, I couldn't have been more thrilled!

I brought it home to the usual eye rolls and comments about how it couldn't possibly work, to which I paid no attention as I embarked on a three day job of bringing it back to life. I scrubbed, I tediously rehung each crystal, and finally packed it back into a box and brought it to my new studio. Where it sat in the box for a whole other month or two! I was dying. My vision was for it to be hanging in the window glinting and twinkling at everyone passing by. However my friend who was doing the electrical work also had no faith in my little roadside scavenge with which I was still beaming with pride. I really didn't care whether it worked or not. I LOVED it.  

Finally I convinced him to hang it regardless and voila! It worked!!! 

I can't tell you how many people have commented on it through the years, and whenever I tell them I found it on the side of the road I feel like one rock star of a scavenger.

And thankfully, because of that find my faith in other people's junk possibly being my treasure keeps me pulling over to peruse the roadside piles.