Karla's Cottage

Karla paints a table for Karla

While I had the paints out and my work clothes on to work on the giant mural/banner, I finally painted this little table for Karla.  Last year, she helped with my Pay Pal sorting for tax time, like Beth did for me this year.  It's a good thing to have accountant friends!

So, about 6 months ago, she dropped off this little white table and said I could return the favor and paint a rose on it. 

Here is what I did:

• First, using a large, flat brush, I dry brushed toast color across the whole table top, over the white paint that was there.
• Next, I took a kitchen sponge dipped in white and sponged the center of the table, leaving the toasty color heavier around the rim.
• With a one inch flat brush, I dry brushed a hint of white from the very edge over the toast toward the center of the table, but only about 2" or so away from the edge.
• With the sponge, I wiped on a green around the routered edge.
• Where the toasty color was left as is, I painted a swirly design all around the table top.
• Last, I plopped a rose in the center.
  

I was happy to do it, but it took me forever to get around to it. I just don't paint furniture on a regular basis like I did in the past and it took some gearing up.  When I started painting roses on the banner, it occurred to me that it would be a good time to get out the much delayed project and slap a rose on it too.

(Twinkle insisted that I take her photo too)

Hope the pink is the right tone. It's been so long since she showed me the pillow sham she wanted to match, i can't remember what it looked like. ooops

Here is a table I found for myself, to use in the garden. Only $5 at the West Bottoms in KC. I paid that much for the bag of kettle corn on top of it.

And here is a mini redo that I did for  myself.  Years ago, I'd given my Great Aunt Caroline's clock a coat of white paint and then distressed it.  But it was still dark inside.  So, I leaned a page from a vintage bird book in it, and added a rim of lace (held by a couple dots of glue) to the frame under the clock face.

  It only took a couple of moments and I think it added a lot.

A mid summer zero dollar decorating redo

Dang, its hot.  Feels like it has been hot forever. In Kansas, we typically get a stretch of 100 degree plus days, but not this early in the year. It makes me quake in my boots (or flip flops) just contemplating what July and August will have in store after June blasted us with this heat.

To get the temperature off my mind, I decided to cottage-up my living room a bit.  Ithought strewing some roses about would be a cheerful summery thing to do. 

I'm afraid this photo doesn't look as cheery as it should, I took it at night, and the windows are dark.

Since my walls and furniture are neutral, its easy to change the whole look of the room with a few accents.  Throw pillows, curtains, and knicky knacks make a quick change when you start with an all ivory room.

It probably took longer for me to get the wrinkles out of the old curtains than it did to redo all of this.  I popped these rose curtains in the dryer on fluff while I took down the vintage lace ones, and packed away all of the pillows and a few other things from around the room as they were fluffing up.

When the curtains were ready, it was a fast redo, because we were due to meet friends on the lake. This was a spur of the moment plan, and I only had about 30 minutes to spare.

Over the years, I've made a few different slip covers for my big sofa cushion, and have collected curtains and pillows at clearance sales and garage sales. I keep a linen closet full of cheap, but pretty extras to switch out when the mood hits me.

This time, I tried draping the bottom of the couch with a bed skirt.  The front ruffle shows, the rest is wadded up under the cushion. Hopefuly it will stay in place, it might not.

The look I was going for was an "explosion" of roses.  I think I got it...  Few match, but I like the way they go together anyway.  You can't really tell from the photos, but the brown slip cover on the big cushion has pink roses and blue pailseys on it, so it matches a bit better in person than it seems to in the picture.

This chair was in the studio.   After bringing it in, I topped the garden table with a floral drape panel, and added a couple rosey elements to the arrangement on top.

The sheer panel on the other small table (previous photo) is also a curtain.  I had three of these panels in my breezeway and they were shredded by raccoons.  So, I trimmed off the bottoms that were ragged, used one on the table and the other two in the windows.  As long as I don't move the couch, no one will know about the shredding.

Well, I guess that's not true, I just told everyone about the rips...

My china cabinets are over stuffed anyway, so these items won't be missed in it and they add to the flowery feel of the living room now.

It didn't take much, a couple of pieces for each table arrangement gave me the rose garden effect I wanted.

I think I'll hang a framed rose print on the window frame and pin a big, fat millinery bloom in red to the lamp.

In the fall, I'll want to change it around again, so wasn't striving for perfection. Its a temporary, fun look that I didn't take very seriously. I do love my white on white/ivory room most of the time, but I appreciate it more when I change it up a bit sometimes.

So, this redo took about a half hour, using things I had around the house or packed away.  The only cost was $2 for the bouquet of roses.  My local grocery store has markdown roses for $2 a dozen every week.

A tree top Christmas Party with Little Edy and a giveaway

My new, white Christmas tree is up and ready to be decorated!  I'll be away for 2 weekends in Dec. and I am a little sad about missing out on tree time.   I wanted plenty of time to enjoy the holiday decor, so my plan is to have the  halls decked before Thanksgiving. But I needed a new topper, since I  have two trees this year and plan on using my other tree in the newly remodelled kitchen this year.

While tidying up Sugarwing's room, I came across this little doll who had seen much better days. Either my fairy grand baby has the same tendencies to hang onto things that need refurbished, or she is the cause of the need for refurbishment...

This doll kind of has a Little Edy/Grey Gardens look about her, doesn't she?

The first thing I did was repaint her eyes and brows.

Then, I popped her into a party hat with the point cut off.  At this point she doesn't look like she is going to any kind of party I want to attend.  But there is still work to be done.

The party hat is a perfect skirt base for her, its sturdy and I can slide it right over the top of the tree.

 I wanted a halo that stood up from her head, so I made a wire ring to hold it.  The ring fits around her noggin, and was glued into place before gluing yarn hair over it.  The halo itself is a vintage, circle, rhinestone brooch.

To keep the halo standing straight up, I glopped on a bunch of glue where it is wrapped with the wire. That needed covered up, so I added a white millinery bloom over the glue blob.

Her dress is made up of vintage papers, trims, and lace that I glued to her body and the party hat, no sewing for me. The wings are feathers and flocked wallpaper, and she is decked out in some millinery and jewels.

When she heads up to the top of the tree, I'll get a photo of her in her new home.  That is if I ever get caught up and get that tree decorated...  Right now, its up, the lights are on and its naked as a jaybird.  But still festive!  I'm happy just to have it there waiting for me.   I've wanted a white tree for the past few years, my old one turned yellow and I hadn't found a reasonable priced one to replace it with.

The yellow was not a good "patina-ed with age look" it was a "did a dog pee on your tree?" look.  It had to go. 

My life is full of white trees right now. I've been bleaching and glittering more batches of bottle brush trees this week.  I thought I had plenty of them done, but needed another couple of sinkfuls to fill some special orders.  Plus, I like to have plenty to play with and decorate myself too!

 

Can you have too many? So far, the answer is no, and I seem to have a LOT of them.

And finally, I made up some cuff bracelet kits.

All filled with lacey, velvety, vintagey goodies.

These are priced separate from my Cuff Tutorial. Previous kits included the price of the online lesson, but with these kits, you need to either purchase the $6 class separately or use put them together in your own way. The kits come with the aluminum blanks and all the trims and bits you need to make a bracelet according to my directions in the class.

There are also plain cuffs for sale for you to use if you don't want a whole kit.

They are stocked in the Boutique in two sizes, 1 inch and 1-1/2 inch. 

I hope you have a happy holiday weekend planned.  We are going all local/free range/ organic this year, and even roasting our own pumpkin to make the pies. I've never done that before, so I might need to have a frozen pie as a back up... If you have any tips, please let me know!

Happy Thanksgiving!

PS- as a Thanksgiving treat (because I'm thankful you read my blog and buy my stuff and I can pretend this is a real job) I'll give away 2 Cuff Tutorials.  Please leave a comment letting me know if you are interested. 

ps- Have you visited Amy? She makes the best stuff from nothing.  She is having a link party and I joined it today.

Snowy little friends

Aren't these guys cute?  I had other things to do, but couldn't help myself, I was drawn to making them.  Yes, I have kits to assemble for the cuff tutorial, and trees to photograph for the Etsy store.  But do you blame me for being distracted from my chores? I had such fun transforming these little wooden ornies.

I forgot to get a photo of them first, but found this one online to show you kinda how they started out. They are those semi-vintage (late sixties or so) wooden people from Germany that are painted bright colors.

When I was shopping with my sisses in Indiana, I found a big bag full of these and debated whether I should buy them or not.

Because they do start out garish in too shiny, primary colors.

But the shapes were so cute, I knew that they had some potential.

And I just love to take on a whole bunch of something. Little things that get me on a roll, and I can experiment and decorate each one a little different.  I tend to to a whole bunch of most things that I do. 

Each of these was basically done the same, it was the tiny details that differed.

First, I sprayed them with Zinsser Bullseye Bonding Primer, then glazed them with a mink brown paint.

Then, I painted the faces, and added some pink detail on a few of the people.

After that, they got a coat of glitter. 

Which reminds me, have you tried Martha's new glitter paint? Well, I love most of what she makes, especially her fine glitter. But this paint isn't worth it, even with the Michael's 40% coupon.  Its too thin, and to get the coverage that they show in the store on the sample you need at least 4, probably more, coats of paint. Who has time for that??? It dries slow and if you try to recoat it too soon, it just smears.

So, while the thin, glittery paint was still wet, I sprinkled it with Martha's regular glitter, for a more solid coat of shimmer.

Once they had the clear and white gold glitters where I wanted them, I added some mica here and there.

That is when the fun part started!  I got to add beads, crystals, scarves, teensy weensy little hats made of ephemera, and other sweet pretties.

Aren't they the happiest little guys? I already miss working on them. I saved a few for Sugarwings and I to work on together, but for the most part I'm finished with them. 

Most are for sale ($6 a piece) some in the Boutique and some in the Etsy shop.  I've kept a few for myself or for tying onto Christmas presents too.

Almost Zero Dollar Decorating!

During my frenzy of de-mousing the house, I gave my bedroom a deep cleaning.  Sugarwings was spending the day with me, so it was her job to squirt the wax while I mopped the floor.  There is a short period of time when kiddos think that helping clean is more fun than just about anything.  Too bad it doesn't last longer. (and you should see how happy she was to hold the black light the time we went on a dog pee search- it was like treasure hunting to her.  I wasn't quite as thrilled to find the glowing purple marks as she was.  By the way, those black lights are the best tool around when you are housebreaking a puppy!!)

After moving all the furniture and cleaning under and behind it, I wanted to freshen the room up with a new look, but the way this room is laid out, if we want to lay around in bed and watch tv, there aren't many choices for rearranging. So, I did the best I could and moved around some of the mirrors and things on the wall. 

 

The mirror had been in the bathroom before, I switched around a few mirrors and traded them out.  Its not as fun as shopping, but it did make me feel less bored with the whole room. I kept the pillar where it is, but took the concrete angel out doors, and set an old vase with silks up on it instead.

The lamp came from the living room, and I pinned a blue millinery rose to it so it would match this room. I have a smaller alabaster lamp on the other side of the bed, so I kind of like having a near-matching set together. (both are from garage sales, years ago for about 5 bucks each)

Zero Dollar Decorating always gives me a lift, sometimes switches and trades are all I need to jump start a room and make me like it again. But, I can't quite call this mini redo that, because I did buy a few things for it.

While I was on my trip to Indiana, I found the alarm clock at an antique store ($11) and the new spread at either TJ Max or Steinmart for $40. 

I also bought two indoor/outdoor throw rugs at TJMax for $12 each, but I pointed the camera the other way, so you can't see them here.  They are a neutral tan with brown vines.

The most expensive part of the redo was a new sewing machine. I was too cheap to pay $25 for two shams to go with the new spread, plus I preferred using some vintage tablecloths and lace that I had to make some instead. 

Half way through the project, I seriously jacked up my 6 year old, low end Singer and couldn't get it to sew anymore.  I hate to admit that I am part of America's throw away society, but it would have cost more to repair than replace, so I zipped over to Walmart and got another $89 machine. Hopefully, I'll get another 5 or 6 years out of this one. 

The table cloth I used on the top pillows was a little holey, so I patched it with lace, then added rows of sheer trim (a Bird Song Tag Book Swap hostess gift!!). The shams for the other set of pillows were made from curtains that I took down in the bathroom.

Yep, my redos had spilled over to the adjoining bath. Well, when I started moving mirrors around, it hit me that I'd never liked that curtain in there....  When we remodelled, I found it at the Goodwill for $5, it wasn't vintage, just second hand.  And it was always too long, I kept thinking that I would hem it and never did, so I just took it down, turned it into pillow shams, and made something else to hang there, while I was on a roll.

 

My buddy, Lisa, had given me a gorgeous netting and lace bed set that was too nice to use on the bed in a house full of dogs. So, part of it is hung as curtains in the living room, the rest I cut up to make a curtain in here.

Since netting isn't private enough for a bathroom window, I sewed the fabric over some of the table cloth I'd cut up for pillows.

It isn't quite wide enough, so I hung a curtain panel on each side to cover that up.  Everything is smoke and mirrors at my house, all made to look better than it really is...

But overall, I'm much happier with the "new" curtains I made.  They go well with the Victorian Trading Co. outlet store shower curtains ($20, then dyed with tea, coffee, and Rit)

My husband is of course, just thrilled with more frills.  (not really) But he rarely notices what I do to the house anyway, so its fine. He doesn't actually care. 

I know I've told this story before, but it was years ago, so maybe its okay to tell it again? My Mother-in-Law was visiting, and my darling was showing her photos of our home in a magazine that had been lying on the table.  He was very proud and telling her details about each room as he went through the pictures.

I was a little surprised to hear him so interested, but thrilled to hear him be proud of something I've done- like I said, I don't think he notices things around the house. So, I looked over their shoulders to see which magazine they were looking at.

It was NOT our house. He just thought it was since there were pink roses and chippy paint in the photos.

 
In this photo from earlier this year, you can kind of see the old curtains on the window.  Just enough to see what I mean, about them being a bit too long.  They hung down all the way to the rose trim around the tub, the new ones (next picture) are a better length.

(that rose tile is one of my favorite things about the room.  While tile shopping, I saw it at a store in Topeka, but it was discontinued. They happened to have a few pieces left in the back room and sold it to me for 75% off.  I had enough to put around the tub, plus one extra that I keep thinking I'll make a shelf out of.)

Here is the bedroom from a couple years ago. No, I didn't change much, but just enough to keep me from being sick of it. I'm easily pleased.

 

Here is another older photo. 

Maybe it is more "edited" now.  I was going for serene.  To cut down on clutter, I also draped a small table topper over an extension rod in the built in cubby above the drawers.  It was just a dust catcher, I had stuff sitting in there, not anything functional or really all that cool. Just a couple urns and a photo.  I like it better covered up.

I like the whole room better now.  I just hope that the bedding stays ivory. The first time it rains and the dogs jump up on it, might be the end of it.  White might be smarter, it can at least be bleached to stay white... wish me luck.

 

Breezy

While I had my son here, and we both had paint brushes in hand, I asked him to tackle the breezeway with me. I've hated the too bright green it was painted for YEARS. I had painted it on a whim, I'd had a beloved puppy die in my arms after months of nursing her along and trying to keep her alive, and needed something cheerful and bright around me.  I also wanted something physical to do to keep myself busy after burying her.

Typically, I don't have a lot of bright colors in my house, unless they are seasonal accents.  But, this was an outdoor room, and I thought it was the perfect place for a splash of color.

Instead, it only reminded me of my dead dog.

And it was not fun to paint, since it is clap siding and can't be done with a roller.  And I knew that the green would be hard to cover, so I just kept putting the job off.

The new color I finally chose is much more tranquil, and is a much calmer backdrop to the stuff I had in the room already.  I left everything just as it was, the only change in the whole room is the wall color.  Well, and I switched out the seat cushion, it had been a hot pink.  The blue velvet is a cushion that my mom made about 30 years ago. 

The bench was hers too. I've painted it numerous times since I've had it.  In her possession, it was maple.

The room feels a lot bigger in this pale gray/blue.  And I'm so glad we got this done.  It makes me smile every time   I walk through it.

I was ready to get this room cleaned up and new looking after our recent raccoon attack.  Those coons ripped my curtains to shreds, and I wanted to replace them, but wanted to make sure the curtains went with the new color I chose.

  Instead of shopping at the store, I shopped at home in my linen closet and found a stack of white on white, striped sheers that I used to have in my kitchen, so my only cost for the redo was a gallon of paint/primer in one (Behr).  This kind of paint offers great coverage, and mostly did the job in one coat with a few touch ups here and there.

The white curtains also helped create the breezy feeling this room now has.  And under them are new, aluminum screens to hopefully prevent more coon invasions! If that doesn't work, we'll have to go to chicken wire over the windows.  Or razor wire....

  (the bird cage stand holds a simple chandelier that I've epoxy-ed tea cups to after taking out the wiring and the lighting parts. I keep tea light candles or fresh flowers in the cups, depending on my mood)
Even before I painted over the pea green explosion on the walls, I have considered this my pink and green room.  And I figured I'd have to do some redecorating and moving things out when I repainted. I was thinking that nothing would match any more.  But I am quite taken with the soft blue back ground, against all the pink florals. Plus, there are hints of blue here and there that I never really noticed when the room was green, like in the pillows, the broken plates in the birdbath that I made, and in the flowers painted on the bench.

There is very little blue in the mosaic table, but that doesn't really bug me.  I still think it fits the room fine.

I'd planned on repainting the shutters on the door too, but I'm liking the black and roses with the blue.  It seems like a nice contrast, and not too matchy.

(the shutters were bi-fold doors from a garage sale for a couple bucks. I took them off the hinges and painted them up, the other half of the set is on the front door to my studio)

After a while, I just might paint everything that is black now, a medium gray, with sepia glaze over it.  But for now, I'm satisfied. The gray is a maybe, and if I decide to do it, will be a good project when I'm feeling the need for another fresh-up.

Do you ever play with Rate My Space on HGTV's site? I have fun with it. You can lose a lot of hours browsing from one room to another...  anyway, if you want to check it out, you can start with this room, and give it a rating for me!

 

Next post, I'll show you a few more of my changes around the house. I've been productive lately!

It all started with a mouse

Do you ever just put up with stuff around the house and let it bug you each time you look at it, till it gets to the point that you just don't look at it any more?  I never used to, but in the last couple of years, my house has been neglected. 

See what I mean? All of our shutters were peeling,  the worst were up on the 2nd floor, so I just never looked up.  But when the ones right by the front door started to get worse and worse, it became hard to avert my eyes.  

Then, we were invaded by mice.  Yes, what do mice have to do with shutters?  Well, I guess these nasty little poo droppers just seriously got my attention, and when I started to clean up after them, I got kick started into a deep cleaning mode and went berserk over all of my house, including those peeling shutters.

  I moved all the furniture, cleaned behind it, and then did a couple switcharoos with a few doodads and some stuff on the wall in my bedroom.  That got me thinking how much I always hated the curtains in the bathroom, so I whipped up a new set with scraps and lace.  I then ended up buying a new spread, and a couple of rugs for my bedroom and sewed some pillows to match.  While I was rug shopping, I finally picked up some paint to redo the breezeway and these shutters.

Its been a crazy couple of days, but worth it.   I think that since our remodel plans have been up in the air for so many months, I've been just letting stuff slide, thinking I'd take care of it all at the same time, after the remodelling. But then, I realized how hard it is to live with the mess of ripping out walls, and thought, I should have some areas that were all done and nice to make myself feel better while living through the horror of having half a kitchen.

 Sugarwing's Daddy dropped by while I was scraping the ground level shutters and offered to do the higher ones for me.  I have a terrible fear of heights and was going to just continue with my policy of never looking up when I pulled into the driveway. 

This kind of peeling is fine.  This is an old shutter that I have hanging on the wall of the house for decoration by the back door of the studio.  When I bought it to paint roses on, the peeling paint was one of the things that drew me to it.

But this is a whole different story.  This just looks like no one loves the house. 

Years ago, I made these shutters myself.  We'd taken down an old garage and saved the wood. I cut two pieces the length of the window, marked a triangle shaped notch in each, cut it out with a jig saw, then lined the notches up to form a diamond and screwed small boards across them.  It was simple, and free to do, since I already had all of the wood.

I know they aren't perfectly straight, but for me, the old wood and simplicity of them compliments our old house and helps make the new addition fit in with the older half of the house.

More redo pictures to come! 

And in case you were wondering, I think all of the mice are caught.  Twinkle helped, she is a good hunter.

Caged

Of course, I couldn't do anything else till I painted these bird cage charms that I showed you in the last post! I know there is a ton of stuff to get ready for my trip to Texas and teaching at Paper Cowgirls, but sometimes its nice to take a mental break from all the real work and do a fun  job instead.

EDIT- so many people asked about these charms, that I added a few to the Boutique 

It was a quick little project and a much needed, pleasant, side trip to my busy day.   All it took was a spritz of bonding primer (both sides) a dab of blue paint on the birdie, done with a teensy brush, then a slap of glue and a sprinkle of glitter.

This might not have been very high on my priority list for right now, but it made me happy to do. Now, I can go back to my boring kit making.   All of the ribbons are dyed and everything is arranged, trimmed and ready to go. All I have to do is the packaging.  Ugh. That part is no fun at all.  I'd rather be making stuff.

Hmm, maybe I can make some cute tags to tie onto the packets....AFTER they are all packed up.  That will give me something to look forward to as a reward for getting it done.  Okay, back to the drudgery.  Have a good weekend!

Lace, starch, giggles, and snorts

What gorgeous weather we are having! I took advantage of the sunshine to get outside and do some yard clean up.  Last fall, I kind of slacked on the leaf clean up and realized what a big mistake that was this spring.  Leaves left over the winter get soggy, heavy, half decomposed, and best of all, used as a cat litter box.

So, the leaf blower wouldn't do the trick, it took rakes and snow shovels to clean up what I could have just blown away into the woods if I'd done it last fall.

But, its done now and while the yard still has its grey winter gloom look, it isn't buried in leaves.  Everything looks much tidier.  I picked up sticks and branches, and raked over mole mounds to flatten them out.

Gee, that's interesting, huh? Well to get to the point of the story, I found a branch on the ground that I thought was a pretty shape, and I spray painted it white to bring into the house.

It was a good day to be outside spray painting, so I grabbed a few vintage cardinals and white washed them too.   I thought maybe I'd foof them up and add crystal eyes, millinery flowers, and other pretties, but decided that I liked them just as they were, simple and white.

I brought in a peeling paint flower pot full of sedum and stuck the branch down into the dirt.  The sedum was nice, but I wanted a bit more at the base, so I sat a house plant into a terra cotta pot, tied a pretty page from an old book to it, and added that next to my tree.

To make sure the tree stayed upright, its stuck in the dirt nice and solid, and I braced one side with a rock and the other with the pot of flowers.

The fun part was making leaves for my tree.  I'd seen some similar ones at Anthropologie last year and wanted to try making some myself.  I don't know how they did theirs but this worked for me.

I cut some random leaf shapes from lace and soaked them in full strength starch, then left them on a cookie sheet to dry over night. 

When they dried, I wired them onto the branches.

I'd also wrapped Xmas lights around the tree, and did a slightly crappy job of it, they are just loosely draped. It would have looked better if I'd spent more time on it, and attached them more attractively.  But the branches are pretty fragile and I didn't want to snap them all off by messing around with them too much.

 
One bird sits in a little nest that I found in my stash, the rest of the birds just clipped on.

Besides waiting for the leaves to dry over night, it was a very quick project. And easy to do.  I didn't use a pattern for the leaves, and they are different sizes, just like a leaf would naturally be.  I discovered that it was easier to trim them up into a better leaf shape after the starch had dried, than before I dipped them and the lace was floppy and wrinkled.

If you want to try this, it's probably a better idea to starch the lace, let it dry, then cut the leaves out. 

You could also purchase white birds at a craft store if you don't have any old ones to paint. 

Another variation you could do, is to just put branches into a large vase or urn, not a flower pot full of dirt.

My weekend wasn't all yard work and spray paint.  The newest Fairy Grand Baby came by to visit for a while and we got in some good giggle time. That baby has the cutest belly laugh/snort thing that she does.

Oh, you are NOT going to paint THAT are you???????????? Yep, and here is how.

Thanks for all the compliments about my pretty little fairy baby at the Renfest!  I have to agree, she's a cutey.

We had her most of the holiday weekend, along with my mother-in-law here for a few days from Green River, WY.  Chasing Sugarwings kept me busy most of the time, but after she left, I had a day to spend with my husband's mother. She sat at the dining table and embroidered and at first I was up and down doing little chores here and there, and tidying up the place (after Hurricane Sugarwings has blown through, there is a lot of picking up to do).

 

But I did spend a bit of time sitting at the table and the more I sat, the more I stared at the buffet and the painting above it.  The buffet had been maple finish and I painted it gray with a cream glaze over it last spring.  And the picture was one that I have loved for years but always thought about lightening up.

For the last few years, EVERYONE told me not to paint it.  And I rarely leave things as is, but I knew that this frame was worth money the way it was.

But honestly, was I ever going to sell it? No, I've had it for a long time and always plan on keeping it. I figure that I deserve to look at it and enjoy it, without debating whether or not it should be painted.

I know, there will be gasps of horror. But I'm glad I did it.  And I didn't just slap some white on it, I took my time and made the frame look old. Well, "took my time" is all relative, I guess. I paint fast, I had the buffet, the small mirror frame, and the large, antique frame done in about 3 hours while I chatted with my mother-in-law. 

Here is what I did:

1. Primer, good bonding primer.  I just tucked some wax paper behind the frame and painted it on the wall right where it hung. The wax paper protected the wall from my brush.
2. A coat of ivory/bisque eggshell paint
3. Thick coat of porcelain crackle finish (I worked on the buffet while this dried)
   
4. Next, I brushed on and wiped off coffee with cream colored glaze
5. After that dried, I lightly sanded all raised areas.   I was careful to do this lightly with a sanding sponge, because much of the ornamentation was plaster.  I wanted to get down to the gold paint, not the white plaster.
6. I added another layer of crackle glaze.
7. As the crackle glaze dried, it had a chemical reaction with the exposed gold paint and turned a greenish tint, like a copper patina. (this is a trick I discovered accidentally a while back and love to use. Its unpredictable but pretty)
   
8. Over this, I  brushed on and rubbed off an ivory glaze and a sepia glaze, randomly putting them over the frame, some over lapping, some spots one color, some spots no glaze.
9. After it all dried, it was a little too green, so I dry brushed the ivory/bisque colored base paint over the areas that were too vivid.
10. Then a little more sanding to bring out the dark wood and more of the gold paint underneath.

This was a lot of steps, but I think they paid off, the frame looks like it was out in someone's shed being stored away for years.

The main trick is to not be too perfect.  Nature doesn't age things perfectly.  Sometimes the trick to a good faux finish is to be messy.

I did NOT cover this with clear coat. If I had, there might have been another chemical reaction with the newly sanded spots with gold paint showing through. It would have turned more green after the clear coat dried.

The buffet got a very similar treatment, with a creamy white painted streakily over the existing gray, so the gray showed through.

Then, crackle glaze, and sepia brushed on and wiped off over the crackle, after it dried.

I used the sepia very heavy in corners and edges.

When it was all dry, I used an acrylic clear coat over the entire piece.

I love crackle.  Its tricky and unpredictable, but wow, when it comes out nice, it is really something.  Don't ever use too much, use it selectively in spots.  Not on every single inch of the piece. And feel free to add another coat or two if needed, and you're not thrilled with the first. (this only applies to porcelain crackle, weathered crackle is a different product.  Read your labels!!)

After repainting, I re-foofed the top of the buffet, using some of the projects that I made in the Romantic Gothic Ghosts class. This cone was done from Beth's images and tutorial.  I didn't have a cone handy, so I used an upside down party hat.

I'm so glad that I have the class pretties to display in my "new" dining room for fall! The moody, wistful shades (with NO orange!!) are just what this room needs to look festive and still look like "my" house- not the Halloween party store.

We are adding some little videos, giveaways, and decorating tips to the Gothic Ghost blog.  The posts will be left up as long as I have a Typepad account (and I don't see me leaving any time soon), so you can take the classes at your leisure. But if you want to win any of the prizes, those are time sensitive.  There are still three to give away.  

Often, I see the beautiful posts up for White Wednesday, but I'm never in time to enter. Well, today seems to be a good fit and timely too. So, I'll be linking with Faded Charm.

As much as I love whites, I really should make more of an effort to be a part of it regularly!!

There are so many link parties now a days... Here are more that I joined.  I usually don't get around to it, but they are always fun when I do!

Power of Paint

Transformation Thursday