Making the Old, New Again!

It has been a while since I have blogged.  Summer has been fun, busy and long.  The kids have monopolized all of my time and I have loved every minute of it. 

But I have done a few projects along the way.

My bedroom suite is old.  It was old when I originally got it as a teen.  But I love it and feel like it is a classic and traditional design.  But it has taken a beating over the years.  It has been moved to 8 different homes.  I was tired of looking at the scuffs, scratches and white paint marks.  So I made an attempt to restain and shine it up.  This was completely off the cuff with no real idea if this would turn out or not.

I was amazed at how well I did!

Here you can see what I have been living with. 

The brass on the hardware was discolored and gross too!

Each drawer was scratched and dinged up.

Here is the after of the same drawer. 

 I wiped stain over the cleaned drawer to fill in the marks.

Each drawer was restained and left to dry for over 5 days.  They were extremely sticky during this time.  Once the tackiness stopped I went over each drawer with wax.  The excess stain came off during this step.  After I let the wax dry, I buffed and polished the dresser.  It looked brand new.

I also repainted the hardware gold and then sprayed one light layer of Oil Rubbed Bronze over the top to help take off the shine.

The change is really remarkable!

I hope you all are having a great summer!

I am linking up with:

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays!
DIY by Design for Sizzle up Summer
No Minimalist Here for Open House Thursdays

Moss Basket Tutorial

I have had some requests on how I actually did the Mossy Basket on my porch.

This turned out to be so easy.  I wish I would have attempted it sooner!

I started out with a cheap basket.  I wanted one with a large handle simply because I knew the volume of the moss would make the basket look smaller.

I painted the basket black so that any bare spots would not be as noticeable.

I used moss that comes in a bag.  The moss is folded into a ball. 

You have to unroll the moss and tear into the size pieces you need. 

 I used Elmer's Craft Bond spray adhesive to attach the moss. 

I sprayed small sections of the basket with the adhesive (it is very sticky) and then placed the pieces of moss on to the basket.  What you see above is 2 sections.   I did use 2 bags of moss for this basket.  Notice I didn't paint the bottom of the basket.  You will not see this.

Here you can see the embroidery floss that I have weaved all over the basket.  I did this to help hold in the moss.  The adhesive does a good job of keeping the moss on the basket but the moss has a mind of it's own and puffs up after while.  I did spray more adhesive over the entire basket at the end to help control fly aways (just like you would with you own hair with hairspray).  I did a sloppy job of wrapping the floss around because it was not the easiest to get done.

The moss is on the inside as well. 

I couldn't find a happy stopping place that I thought looked good. 

I was very happy with the way it came out.

The ribbon is a stripe of fabric I had left over from another project. 

 I found the apples at Tuesdays Mornings.  Place mats are from Ikea.

Enjoy!

Mossy Baskets

I have wanted to knock off the Pottery Barn's Moss covered

baskets that they featured around Easter time. 

I like the organic feel of these baskets. 

I have been trying to find a cheap basket to experiment with. 

I found one today for a buck.

Some black acrylic paint, 2 bags of moss, spray adhesive and some embroidery floss

 and I had a pretty good knock off.

I painted the basket so that the pink color wouldn't show through.

I used acrylic paint simply because I didn't have any dark spray paint on hand.

Here you can see how I wrapped the embroidery floss around the handle. 

It really helped hold the moss on.

Perfect for a fun centerpiece on the porch table.

I am sure I will have a plant in there soon.

Let me know what you think!

** Tutorial is up!  Visit HERE to get the step by step instructions**

I am linking up with:

Feather Your Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Inspiration Friday at At The Picket Fence

My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Fridays

Chic on a Shoestring Budget for Flaunt it Friday

Tabletop Tuesdays at A Stroll Thru Life

China Cabinet Vignette

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope your week is getting off to a great start. 

 I wanted to show you my best thrifty find to date.  I found this large tole painted

(I think?) tray at Goodwill one day for $1!!!!  It is rusted in spots, the edges are beat up but I thought it was pretty cool looking.  My original intention was to make the tray into a chalkboard.  Once I got it home I put it in a few places to get a feel of the size and I knew it would not be touched!  I loved the pheasants, the folksy type flowers & grapes and how the black tied the frames surrounding the china cabinet.

My Pottery Barn knock offs found a good home here.

Here is the big picture of what I see from the kitchen. 

I think those brown chairs need to be green?  What do you think??

I am linking up with:

A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesdays

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays

House of Grace for Twice Owned Tuesdays

The Ivy Cottage for Say What Party

DIY by Design for Swing into Spring

Very Merry Vintage Style for Share the Love Link Party

No Minamalist Here for Open House Party

French Country Cottage for Feather Your Nest Friday

Chic on a Shoestring Budget for Flaunt it Friday

My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday

Vintage Milk Can

I found this cute red vintage metal milk can at a thrift store one day. 

 I knew I had to have it. 

The body of the can was wrapped in a cute western toile. 

But the fabric was old and torn.

 

I had the perfect fabric in mind.

After some measuring, ironing, lots of hot glue and a few coats of Modge Podge

 I had a great piece for my back porch.

I think it is super cute!

I am linking up with:

Between Naps on the Porch for Met. Mondays

Dittle Dattle for Amaze Me Mondays

Southern Hospitality for Thrifty Treasures

The DIY Showoff for The DIY Project Parade
Boogieboard Cottage for Masterpiece Mondays
Strictly Homemade for Strictly Homemade Tuesdays
The Girl Creative for Something I Just Whipped Up!

Coastal Charm for Thrifty Tuesdays
House of Grace for Twice owned Tuesdays
The Ivy Cottage for Say What!
Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays!
DIY by Design for Swing into Spring!
Very Merry Vintage Style for Share the Love
No Minamalist Here for Open House Party
Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday
My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday
Chic on a Shoestring Budget for Flaunt it Fridays

Spray Paint & Green Apples

Sometimes you find quality accessories at Goodwill.  Sometimes you question whether or not a piece is worth the time you may have to put in it. 

This is a story of one of those times.   

 I found this large planter that was filled with floral foam covered in moss.  The moss was sticky feeling and all of it was attached heavily with hot glue.  But the size and shape was perfect.  I wanted a basket weave dish to put on my coffee table.  I have been looking and had just about broke down and purchase a bread bowl from Williams Sonoma that I had been wanting.  I knew that I wanted green apples to place in this bowl. 

Accessories on my coffee table get thrown to the ground by my sweet fat cat. Fifi thinks she owns the joint and my decorating gets in the way of her lounging.  The size of this container was perfect. 

After numerous coats of white spray paint it now looks like this:

I purchased the faux green apples from Tuesday Morning in the clearance section. 

There is still plenty of room for Fifi to relax. 

My kids keep wanting to play with the apples.  They look real. 

I paid $4 for the planter and $12 for the apples. 

 I had the spray paint on hand from another project. 

 $16 really brightens the room.

Lacy

I am linking up to:

Thrifty Decor Chick for Home May'd Spray Paint Party

A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesdays

Savvy Southern Style for Wow us Wednesdays
Common Ground for White Wednesdays
House of Grace for Twice Owned Tuesdays