Well if the Dictionary isn’t Literature…it might as well be Furniture!

Ok…don’t laugh, but yes I used the tilt feature to show this cute end table/night stand straight!  I can’t figure out why I can’t take a straight picture to save my life! 
So back to the end table.  I bought it for I don’t remember how much…about a year ago.  I know it wasn’t much, as the lady wanted it gone!  I have struggled with what to do with it, even contemplating making a kitchenette out of it.  Don’t you love the dental work on the top?

But alas inspiration sprung in the form of one of my chalk boards! 

3 coats of primer…and she was stunning in white!!!

I painted her in a lovely white that was a mix of a bunch of whites that I had on hand.  I than accented her details…and some of her bumps and dings with the black glaze I have been working my way through.  I modge podged a layer of dictionary paper to the top, and added a simple stencil to accent it.  4 coats of red paint around the top, and one coat of black glaze over that for added character!!!!
See my hubby’s socked feet!!!  I told him to move!  He said his hairy toes weren’t showing…so this was good enough!  MEN!

Better detail of the front.

See my new fancy fridge!  Isn’t she pretty!

Close up of the top.

I am tired of the same old hardware…so I went to Hobby Lobby and got all new brass and porcelain hardware, that I thought added to the classic yet kitschy look I was going for!!!  I love how it turned out!  She is now for sale, if anyone is interested in her!

Picture Frames and Award Ceremonies

I got this huge frame from a friend who was downsizing from a 10,000 sq. ft. house (YOWZA) to a small farm house! It came with this rather not so lovely oil on canvas painting of a snowcapped mountain.  I forgot to get a pic of the painting…but trust me, you aren’t missing much!

Up close detail of the frame.  It looked like someone dry brushed some gold onto the wood…idk…it was odd.

I gave it 2 coats of Zinsser Spray Primer in white and two coats of Rust Oleums “Real Orange”.  After it dried I brushed on the black glaze to accent the details!  A coat of poly will seal it all for many years to come.
My client really wanted matting with the dictionary paper…and as I struggled with a way to come up with that, it dawned on me to use the original canvas painting as the matting.  I used my Dremel Saw Max (I know I have said this before, but if you don’t have one of these…you NEED one NOW!) and cut out the rectangle.  I primed the painting to give it a white base to which I modge-podged the dictionary paper right over it.  Since I knew she has a little girl, I decided to let the pictures on some of the pages show.  Normally I don’t do this.

Simon has been going though some on lead training with Da these past few weeks.  He is such a good puppy that his training is going so easily!  He loves to spend his free time with me and his big sisters Garnet and Jordin.  If he isn’t playing with them, then he is following me around or trying to nap in my lap (which is hard since I don’t sit still for long!).

AWARDS!

A few months ago my good friend Kim Stephens announced that I was the winner of the Kennewick Chapter Daughter of the American Revolution Community Service Award for my work with the Guardians of Freedom Project.  I was completely humbled by this, as I don’t do it for self recognition, but rather recognition for our troops.  A month after Kim’s initial announcement I was again honored to find out I had won the Washington State Society DAR Community Service Award, and would be honored at the Kennewick Chapters 100th Anniversary National Defense Banquet.
During the announcement of my two awards, I was again honored to hear I had won 2nd Place in the Northwestern Division.  Wow!  What a night!

The National Defense Banquet was a Formal Event, so that meant I had to scrub the paint off my hands and put some make-up on!  But it also meant I got to spend the evening with some of my most favorite people in the world including my two little brothers.  Everything I do, I do in honor of them, so I could not imagine accepting an award and not having them by my side!  MMFN Joshua A. T. Doerr of the USS John C. Stennis on my right and CM2 David A. Doerr of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 18 out of Ft. Lewis, WA.  I am so proud of these two young men!

It is because of David that this all came about.  He called his Big Sister and asked for help for our Wounded Warriors in Kandahar Airfield Afghanistan!  Little did I know that 2 years ago I would be where I am today!  Kim said it best when she said “The realization of a dream you never meant to have, but seized.”
Below is the pic of the 1st group of Wounded Warriors we helped.  That is David in the uniform.

My very talented hubby Thomas designed our logo, which has my brothers David’s face. 

For more info on the the Guardians of Freedom Project and how you can help go to www.guardiansoffreedomproject.org

Help us Help the Wounded Warriors in Afghanistan!

Linked to 

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

Weathered Chairs to Lavender Princess Chairs

My friend brought me these chairs that she rescued from her husbands cleaning rampage!  The table didn’t make it! 
They had been left outside for several years and had a lot of weathering!  Personally I thought they were fine…but I am a bit partial to that chippy distressed look!  But since I know not everyone thinks like me, I decided to pretty them up just a bit.

So after A LOT of sanding (about an hour and a half on each chair!).  I got them down to this!  Oh and did I mention…I got a sunburn while sanding…since we haven’t seen much sun lately, I am not complaining!

I painted the bases of each chair a Royal Purple.

I then gave the seats a soft lavender color. 

I then used the same damask stencil I used on the White Desk.

I placed them asymmetrical…just for the fun of it.  

I took the shape that I use for my price tags and outlined it on the back of the chair rung.  I then painted it with chalk board paint.  I figured they could be used to write names on them.

Friends Forever

Pic of the front.  They turned out beautiful!  I wish I had a little girl who could enjoy them!

Gifts, Waterlogged Desks, & Peanut Butter Pancakes for Puppies…

Wow, I have had a crazy busy 3 weeks!  2 weeks of Carnival Living…love me some hand dipped corndogs! & 1 week of arguing with the weather in regards to my painting schedule!  I was not winning the argument by any means!

First let’s start with some of the positive of the week…I had given my neighbor and her sister some of my collection of wine jugs.  I had had plans to make them into something…but hadn’t gotten to it yet.  And let’s face it…I love my wine!  So I had a few to many glass jugs hanging around the house, my son keeps snagging them for coin jars!  And knowing how talented Mrs. Goldsworthy is…I knew she could make something amazing out of them!
Well yesterday Katie showed up at my door with the most amazing gift!  A Beautiful Wine Jug turned into a flower vase complete with my lucky #5 on it!  I LOVE IT!!!!!  I feel blessed to have such creative people in my life who think of me!

To see more of Katie Goldsworthy’s talent, check out her blog Creatively Living!

Tell her Amy sent you!

And now for the argument with Mother Nature!

A client dropped off this desk for me to redo.  She is the same lady who bought the Lavender Chair.  She plans to redo her mothers office as a surprise gift and the chair was the basis of her color palette and style!
Well let me tell you this desk had seen better days…about 30 years ago!  It clearly had been left out in the weather for some time, as there was severe water damage to the entire piece.  And a bizarre thing, sand!  It was coated in sand!  I think it spent more time at the ocean than I do!

I gave it 3 coats of primer after scrubbing the entire piece down with TSP.  Thus the beginning of the end with the weather!  It rained between each coat!  In and out of the garage the desk went!  Sooooooo annoying!  I had to replace one small cross piece on the right side between the drawers.

After 3 coats of Behr’s Ostrich White (it rained twice during this part of the redo!) I decided to accent the features of the desk with some black glaze!  I had to hustle my butt…because you guessed it…it was starting to RAIN AGAIN!

I picked up the new hardware at Hobby Lobby for 50% off!  Score!  I loved how it classed the desk up!  I didn’t bother filling the original screw holes, since this hardware covered them perfectly.

Since I knew the chair was going with the desk, I wanted to add a little something to tie them together.  I painted the inside of the desk the same lavender of the chair.  I even lined the drawers with the same material as the seat cushion of the chair!  It’s all in the little details.

I painted a simple damask style stencil on the top…I put it over a heavily damaged area to help hide the blemish.

Since the original skirting was so damaged I decided to cut a new one.  My hubby was awesome…be bought me a table saw to help me out with this process!  He’s a good man!

Ok…so I have issues taking pics straight…I fear that I am crooked!  But I just discovered this cool feature that will make the pic straight for me!!!!!  Finished product with the new skirting!  I was quite pleased with myself!  It turned out beautiful!  And the client was so pleased!!!

And finally Puppy Peanut Butter Pancakes!  It all started with my son nagging me to make pancakes for brunch (we slept a little to late to call it breakfast).
When the pups heard the word Pancakes with Peanut butter…well this is the face they gave me!  And well how can you say No to that?

Well I didn’t.  This is the three of them after Sunday Brunch!

Simon loves his big sister Jordin, even if she only mildly tolerates him!

Garnet needed an afternoon snack!  So I gave her the Skippy jar.  If you have never given your dog the nearly empty peanut butter jar (plastic only of course) then you are missing out on hours of entertainment!

Even Simon got in on the Skippy Jar Fun!  You can see the muddy paw prints on the towel (I need to buy a good rug for the sliding door area)…that is from all the rain we have been having!  Which Simon thinks is great!  He keeps bringing us worms and slugs!  So gross!  But he is quite proud of himself!

Tales from the Junque Pile

I went junking a few weeks back with a good friend and client!  I grabbed a bunch of funky frames and this cool little brass urn!  Can you guess what the urn is made out of?  I’ll give you a hint…part of it once brought light into a room!  Still curious?  Read on…

The base of the urn is an old brass lamp…the top is a brass hanging planter.  They are bolted together on the inside…Clever right?  I gave it 2 coats of spray primer.

After 2 coats of Royal Purple and a coat of black glaze, this is what it looked like.

I sealed it with 2 coats of polyurethane as I wasn’t sure if I was going to put it outside or inside.  For now it is inside.  I planted a pathos vine in a plastic pot and put it inside the urn.  It sits on my buffet awaiting a new home…but I love it so much I might just keep it!

Project #2 Ugly old plastic Homco picture and frame.  As you can see this has seen much better days!

2 coats of primer…this baby was going RED!

2 Coats of red and one coat of black glaze later and she turned out beautiful!

I wanted to keep the mat from the original picture, but couldn’t figure out a way to make it work.  My hubby said to just paint it white.  So I painted it red…yeah I know I should have listened.  So as I was sitting there thinking about it, the dictionary jumped off the table and screamed to be used!  So I grabbed the modge-podge and went to town!  I painted a piece of wood with chalk paint…and well she turned out incredible!  One of my most favorite pieces to date!

Grandma’s Chair Pt. 2

Grandma’s Chair Pt. 2 turned out lovely!  Here is the history on these chairs…Grandma had her garage cleaned out and that meant all the furniture came to my house.  I got 4 of these chairs…each one in worse condition than the last. 

I think I will be able save three out of the 4. 

Grandma's Chair Pt. 1

With the second chair I decided to go with a lavender color that I custom mixed with white & grey gesso and royal purple  paint.  I added a black glaze to the flower part of the chair to really accentuate it!  This was my hubby’s idea…good job hubby!  I used the black and white damask material from other projects…I love how it turned out!

Now to figure out what color to do the third chair if I can get it in good condition.