In My Garage Right Now...

I have a fantastic aunt who recently moved here to Arizona. She drastically downsized her home and had lots of great, wood furniture that she no longer had room for. She called me over to see if I would take a couple pieces off of her hands (best aunt ever!). When I pulled up to her house, she had a corner curio sitting on the curb with a "Free" sign on it. It needed a little repair and she figured no one would want it. I snatched the sign off and loaded it on my trailer.

I knew I was just going to do a basic, lightly distressed black with this piece, so I never planed on featuring it (it's kinda boring, I know). Because of that, I never took any "before" or "during" photos. You can imagine what it looked like before. Basic 80's, medium oak. Brass, pseudo-victorian hardware.

It did have 2 glass shelves, but to update the look a little I decided to make some wood shelves instead. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. The moulding fits the style perfectly. I updated the hardware as well.

Sorry for the mugshots. This lady already sold to a friend before I finished it, so I didn't see the point of dragging it into the house to take a couple shots and then dragging it back out to the garage. Not bad for a free hand-me-down eh?

Tutorial: Ballard Design Inspired Pear

So we've all been in love with the terracotta pears from Ballard Deigns for years, myself included.

source

It wasn't until I was walking through Hobby Lobby last week when I got inspired. They had a set of an over sized pear and apple, decoupaged with old book pages (sorry, I looked for a photo and couldn't find one). That's when the "I can make that!" light bulb came on. A couple days later, with my 40% off coupon in hand I went to Joann's. I bought one 6 inch styrofoam ball. The cones only came in packs of 2, so I bought a pack of medium sized ones.

First, using a bread knife, I cut off a small section off the ball to create a flat bottom.

Then, I cut the top off of the cone, about half-way down.

Then, I simply hot glued the two together. I wanted my pear to sit at a slight angle, so I glued the cone off-center.

Next, I raided my kids' craft box for some Playdoh. I didn't think till after, I should have just made a small batch of homemade since it doesn't need to be colored.

I used almost the whole can to fill in the space where the two pieces meet. I also used a small bit to round out the top of the cone. I went out into the yard and found a twig to stick in the top for a stem.

I let mine dry outside for around 36 hrs. It may vary where you are, but just make sure its dried through. Next, is the messy part. I used glossy Mod-Podge because its what I had. I'm sure matte would work fine too.

I grabbed some plain ole tissue paper from my wrapping supplies and ripped a couple sheets into manageable pieces.

Using a foam brush, I laid a thick layer of Mod-Podge down on the pear form. I then draped tissue paper over it and bushed another layer of Mod-Podge on top.

After drying a couple hours, I Mod-Podged another layer of tissue paper and let it dry another few hours.

This is what it looked like after it was all dry.

To give the pear color, I used some warm tan "oops" paint and acrylic paint. I used an apple green, burn orange, and mustard yellow.

I started by brushing on one coat of the tan all over.

Then while still wet, I loaded my foam pouncer with green paint and started to blend. I concentrated the green on the bottom and top and lightly blended it down. 

I added some orange around the fullest part to mimic blush. The whole thing felt a lot like applying makeup really...blend, blend, blend.

Finally, I pounced on some yellow for highlights. I also flicked a little bit of white paint to create the little speckles you see on a pear, but decided I don't like them. They remind me of my mom's adventures in toll painting in the 90's. I stole a stem and leaf off of one of my silk trees, gave it a couple quick sprays with some dark brown paint, and hot glued it to my stem. 

Here's the final result! What do you think? I think it's more realistic than the Ballard Version, but the size and tone are the same. With the stem its about 13 inches. I love it, but it needs a friend... a green toned one.  I can't decide if it needs a big brother or little sister. What do you think?

Styrofoam ball:         $6

Styrofoam cones:     $4.50

Tissue paper:           already had

Mod-Podge:           already had

Stem and leaf:         already had

Paint and Glue:        already had  

_______________________

Total:                      $10.50               Ballard Version: $49

Linking at:

Jennifer Rizzo

/>

Industrial Numbered Crate

After I refinished my table and got my industrial chairs I needed something on the table to tie the whole "Industrial Farmhouse" look I was going for. I planed on just constructing a planked, wood top but then I found another great, heavy-duty farmhouse table for dirt cheap at a yard sale. Now, my thoughts are to sell the original table with the matching chairs and just make my own table from the newly found, yard sale table. Anyways, I digress...

So, in the meantime, I need something to A. Tie the styles together and B. Create some height (we had a counter-height table before this one, so even though its standard height, it looks too short to us now).

Using some leftover 1/2 in plywood from another project and my table saw, I came up with this.

To make the stencil for the numbers, I simply printed the numbers on some cardstock and cut them out with an exacto knife. To get the cardstock to stay in place while pouncing the paint on, I lightly sprayed some spray adhesive on the back of each stencil and made sure to really rub the stencil into place. Worked great. No bleeds.

To make it look authentically old, I distressed the wood a bit. I planed the corners to make them look worn, and just went to town banging my hammer all over the thing.

For the finish, I started by staining the whole piece Antique Walnut and let it dry overnight. Next, I brushed on a layer of Antique Crackle from the Old Fashioned Milk Paint company. I didn't want uniform crackling  so I brushed it sparsely in some areas, heavily in others (the heavier you apply the crackle medium, the larger the cracks). I also rubbed a little Vaseline around the handle holes and on the corners. Next, the whole thing got brushed with one coat of a creamy white "oops" latex paint. While it was still wet, I used a rag to wipe off some of the edges. I think distressed the paint much more natural-looking than using sand paper.

I braided 6 strands of jute together to make handles.

(LOVE the natural- looking chippyness)

I decided it needed some hardware to look more tough, so I grabbed some small L brackets. The color choices at Home Depot were brass, shiny zinc, and black. I wanted more of an iron color, so I bought the zinc ones and got creative layering bronze spray paint and black, sprayable window tint. I love the way they turned out! I will be using this technique again.

In each section, I placed a half-gallon mason jar and some faux grass. I had originally planned on dying my jars light blue, but then liked the lightness the clear glass gave. We'll see, maybe I'll end up dying them anyways.

Here's how it looks, in place with my new table and chairs. What do you think? I think it looks old and authentic. It's just what I wanted!

Linking at: