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Happy Accident Hutch

4/28/2013

Many things about this hutch were what I would call Happy Accidents. I had a few troubles along the way, but the final result is gorgeous and looks pretty great sitting here in my breakfast nook. I found this hutch on Craigslist from a nice lady who was moving to Florida and couldn't take it with her. It was a LONG drive to get it, but definitely worth it.
When we got it home, we realized it had a pretty strong odor. Not gross, it was like she had kept herbs and spices loose in the drawers. Hubs decided to put cedar chips in it for a couple of weeks. It helped quite a bit! I could have used some Kilz on it and would have if the smell had been terrible, but I didn't think it was necessary.

I do love how pretty natural pine is and did contemplate stripping and re-staining it. Originally, I had planned to strip it, stain it gray and then do the aqua wash over the entire thing. Even though I wasn't 100% sure what I wanted until I was done with it, I knew natural wood just wasn't what I wanted in my nook.

COFFEE - CHECK
WD40 - CHECK
SAFETY GLOVES - CHECK
SAND PAPER - CHECK

Just White with Natural Guts

With Color Washed Shelves & Pretty Blue Guts

HINT: Do not use Green Frog Tape on freshly painted wood. There is now a "delicate" version of Frog Tape - it is yellow. Otherwise you might end up tearing your hair out along with taking the paint off of the wood. Oops & Grrrr

The words of the day: Touch Up!

Found these perfect knobs and drawer pulls at Lowes! They match the blue wash perfectly!

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42 Comments

Love in the Library

4/21/2013

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Is it possible to love a piece of furniture? Some may say it's crazy, but I say absolutely! My initial instincts when Hubs found this card catalog was to paint it red. Then that naggy lady who resides my my brain said, "No, that's too crazy!" However, my heart said to throw caution to the wind and go for it. The heart wants what the heart wants, right? Thankfully, that's the route I went because I LOVE how it turned out. The ASCP in Emperor Red was the ticket I needed to turn this tired ol' brokedown piece o' junk into a fun, hip and beautiful conversation piece. After I painted the first coat I let it dry and when I went back out to my workspace. I would have sworn I had a brand new Craftsman toolbox sitting there! I love Craftsman tools, but that was not the look I was going for. A second coat of paint and the dark wax gave me a beautiful finish.
Something I learned on this project was not to leave used wax rags on your newly waxed finish. It will take the finish right off. I didn't know that and now I do. I suppose this is also good info if you want to remove a boo boo you made with the dark wax.
A lot of elbow grease went in to this project. If you are interested, click on Read More below and you can see some more photos and a little more description about how I took this from a bit of a beast to a beauty.

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Texas Antiques Fair - Part 2

4/11/2013

3 Comments

Hi Guys! I apologize for the delay in posting. I've been recuperating, but I am feeling pretty great today and thought I'd post a little more about our quick trip to Texas.

Variety is the Name of the Game
So friends, I could talk until I'm blue in the face about the crazy variety of things you can find at the Texas Antiques Fair, but I think it would just be easier to show you! If you get a chance, this is a show I'd definitely recommend, even after only getting one day there! If you click on one of the photos below, a larger image will pull up.

Revelation Decor
As I said earlier, we met some amazing and really talented people. One of the tents that stood out to me was Revelation Decor. This is a super-nice husband and wife team who treat their furniture with a paint treatment that is similar to auto painting. Their pieces, to me, looked more like works of art than a refurbished piece of furniture. They were shiny, amazing and fabulous! I really wish I had more photos to post, but I was having a problem with the lighting and I didn't have a tripod with me. Click on one of the furniture pics to the right top open the photo gallery, so you can view a larger pic!

Las Brisas Ranch
Located in Fayetteville, Texas, this ranch is a popular place for weddings and it's easy to see why. The grounds are unbelievably beautiful and the proprietors, Kathy and Eldon, are two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. Mom and I stayed one night here and I am chomping at the bit to get back down there! I had a great time snapping pics of the flowers and roaming around the property.

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Texas Antique Fair - Part 1

4/2/2013

2 Comments

Sweet ladies little helper!

Well, friends, here it is Tuesday and I'm supposed to be in Texas. Unfortunately, I had an unexpected complication and had to come home much earlier than anticipated. I was able to spend a full day at just a small piece of the fair and will post pictures. I can't even begin to tell you how incredibly bummed I am about not spending the week there, but sometimes things just don't go as planned. I'm already planning next year, though - maybe I'll even talk hubs in to renting a U-Haul to cart my treasures home! :-)
If you haven't visited Texas, you have to go. I was lucky enough to be down there when the wildflowers are blooming. I've never seen fields of flowers like this, they were really amazing! Our first night was in Austin, a quick meal back to the hotel and to bed. We were up early an on track for the Warrenton portion of the event. There is a huge variety of stuff at this show- it was pretty crazy. Keep an eye on the blog, I will be typing up part 2 shortly! I'll be talking about cool people and artists we met, along with the super nice couple at the ranch where we stayed on Sunday night. Plus, more pictures of cool stuff! Click on the gallery pics below to enlarge.