Tutorials

Ballard Knock Off

I love Ballard Design but I do not like the prices.  I found these jute covered pears and loved them so I decided to make them myself.  I already had the jute cord, a glue gun, plastic apples and pears and plastic Easter eggs.  I went jute crazy!

Do you believe that these pears cost $24.99 - $29.99 for  one and that's the sale price.

Like I said, I went a little jute crazy!

Don't these eggs look lovely in this little antique bowl.

Now they sit on my kitchen table on my moms sliver tray with these two little 

chicks and flow blue vase. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope you enjoyed my knock off creation!


First Chalk Paint Creation

IT'S FINISHED!  My first Chalk Paint creation and I'm pretty happy with the outcome!

So, what do you think.  I used Old Ochre which is a very pretty color.  

Actually, I started out with Cream but thought that it was 

a bit too yellow so I painted the Old Ochre over it. 

I then sanded it and waxed it with the Annie Sloan clear wax.  The wax is amazingly easy to use.  It is sooooo smooth and goes on like butter!

I did sand the piece enough so little bits of the Cream color show through 

and it really looks nice.  

This is the before picture that I almost forgot to take and the 

lighting wasn't good but at least you get to see what I started with.  

It was just a simple dresser I picked up at a garage sale a couple of years ago. 

You can see some of the creme color coming through on the edges in this picture.  

Now I need to find a new home for this lovely piece of furniture.  

It is currently living in my husbands workshop in the basement.  I might 

be moving some furniture around my house so I can fit this one in!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Half Moon Redo

I've had this little table forever.  I got it at a garage sale years ago for $5.00.  It was in pretty bad shape so I just restained it at that time.  After looking at it this way for years I decided to give it another facelift......so I got out the paint and brushes and went to work.

As you can see, it's a bit of a mess but I still really like the detail.

I've never used Valspar paint before but thought that I would give it a try.  It was only $3.00 for a sample size compared to having to buy a quart of Benjamin Moore which is about $16.00, so this was a big savings.  So for $3.00 a sample size I'm sold!  The color that I used is called Eucalyptus Tree.  It is a bluish green color.

 First, I sanded the piece to get the old varnish off using my handy dandy palm

 sander.  I just love this thing.  If your going to refinish a lot of furniture 

I think that it's a must have.

These block sanders are also great to use and are very cheap,

 I think they were about $3.00 each at Home Depot.

After the paint dried, I sanded the edges to make it looked distressed.  This is 

where my block sanders came in handy.

 

And then I used Valspar Antiquing Glaze to give it that worn aged look.  I've 

never used this product before and honestly wasn't thrilled with it.  It 

was a little thick and hard to wipe off.  Since it was giving me such a 

hard time I used my old standby, "Minwax Stain in Provincial" on the top 

of the table.  I actually love using stains for

 this.  They are really easy to work with.

 After the stain dried I clear coated it with the Minwax Polycrylic.

 I have a thing for yellow tulips....they are my favorite flower!

Thanks so much for stopping by.