Friday's Favorite Flea Market Find....

Remember this sunburst mirror on a stand I found at the Elkhorn, WI flea market? 

 

TJ cut  off the stand for me so I could hang it on the wall.  It is in Bryce's bedroom.  I love how the gold looks against the gray walls.  I got this mirror for $12.00.  It is a dainty pretty mirror!

Here is another pretty sunburst mirror from Ballard Designs~$149.00.

I like this one too from Bassett~$265.00.

Here is one from DFO-Global Views Mirror~$537.00.

Think I like mine the best!  :)  Vintage & unique for $12.00!! 

Enjoy your weekend everyone! 

And a special Happy Birthday to TJ!!  Even though he probably won't see this! Love you!!! 

Bryce's room.....

Bryce is away at camp this week.  My goal while she is gone is to put the finishing touches on her bedroom.  A little scary since she is 15, it was much easier when she was little and did not have an opinion!  :)

One of the projects I did was re purpose an old piano bench.  We have had this bench in our basement since we moved in 7 years ago.  It has been sitting there not being used.

***A lesson learned.  When painting or sanding do not use a small towel underneath.  A large blanket or sheet works much better!  I had quite a mess to clean up after! You would think I would know that but it was late and I just wanted to get started! Or I could blame it on the heat??

I decided to use Annie Sloans Chalk Paint in Old White.  I love this nice simple color! I have it on a few things in my home.  It is the first can on Annie Sloans that I have used up entirely.



This is after one coat.  I used two coats on this bench.

After I painted the first coat I start re upholstering the bench top.  It was easy since the top could be removed.  I went with some leftover drop cloth fabric that I aready had.  I had bought the drop cloth at Lowes for another project and had some extra.  I washed the fabric first and added a little bleach to the wash.  Then I dried it in the dryer and ironed it.  Cheap and easy! Then I used my staple gun and went to town.



I love the linen look!

I used a medium grit sand paper and really roughed this one up.  I know Bryce likes our hallway bench that is pretty roughed up so I wanted this one that way.  **This is where the large sheet would have been a much better choice than a small towel!  I made a huge mess with all that sanding!  Actually taking it outside would have been the best thing! 

Here is the finished bench.  What I love about this bench is that the top opens for storage! Perfect for a teenagers room! 

Cost for bench??  FREE!  I love using stuff I already have!!  This is a big change from how I used to be.  I was very quick to go out and buy and buy and buy.  My home was NOT always filled with flea market finds and DYI projects.  BUT now that it is I am having so much fun and it feels so much more like home!  :)



Wow what a day we had!!!

My sister Kim and I just spent an amazing day at the Elkhorn Flea Market!

 

 Just call us the Picker Sisters!!!

This was one of our better flea market excursions.  We started shopping at 8:30am and did not stop until 5:30pm.  (yes the flea market is actually over at 3pm but we don't leave!) 

By the end of our day we were soooooo exhausted.  It was in the 90's & sunny and we had walked and lifted things for 9 hours.  It was a hard days work, but we had a blast!!!

Here are a few things we saw.....

What a funky couch, hey?  It was gone at the end of the day so someone did buy it!!

I thought this was a great idea.  An old weathered frame with vintage postcards behind it. 

Really cool blue metal carts! There were 2!  One for me and one for Kim.  This was one of those times I could not decide.  She bought her cart and I kept thinking and thinking and thinking.  It is really cool, but I was just not 100% sure where I would put it. 

SO I did not buy it.  Kim did as you can see!  I thought about it for the rest of the day but left without it.  I am still thinking about it of course!!!  It is pretty neat!

If you ever need yard sticks, a flea market is the place to go!  :)

And of course we had to stop by and see our friend Hippie Tom!!

Got to love Hippie Tom's merchandise! 

Here is some of his stuff he sells.

I thought this yellow table was so pretty for a patio or sunroom.

I am not sure how I feel about the Velveeta cheese box! 

First time I ever saw an old swing like this one at a flea market!  It was sold!

This vendor has such cool rusty old stuff!  We love all her things!! She is who we named the Expensive Lady but we liked her more this last time!

  Here we are all loaded up!! See the awesome blue lockers on the right?  Love those!! Kim is going to use them for mudroom storage.   Check out the cool typewriter table on the end.  It was FREE!!

Here are some things that I found!  A pile of old metals crates, an old window, and a really old beat up bench!  Window & bench were FREE!

Another rusty thing, I was on a rusty kick I guess!  I love this metal bin!  It is covered in shellac (is that how you spell that??) so it is nice and shiny and protected.  I got plans for this little guy!

Big plans for this door too!  Cool thing about this door?  It was FREE!!!!  

 

Another old worn barn door.  This is just what I needed for the finishing touches in Bryce's room!! Oh and it was FREE!

Love this old card catalog drawer!  $5.00.  The clear glass bottle is an old baby bottle-$1.00.  The amber bottle was $1.00 as well.  So pretty!!!

We learned a little something this last flea market.  It you wait long enough vendors start throwing stuff out!!!  NEVER EVER thought we would garbage pick, but garbage pick we did!! It was so much fun!!!  One persons trash is for sure anothers treasure!!  :)

Friday's Favorite Flea Market Find!

I am keeping it simple today! It has been a crazy week and I am a bit behind in everything!!! 

Ever have weeks like that!?  I thought I would have more time when the kids were out school, I thought wrong!!! 

Here is Friday's Favorite Flea Market Find.......

 My little old weathered planter!  For $5.00 I just love this planter!

I like this one too!  Ballard Designs-on sale for $89.00.



LOVE Pottery Barn's weathered white window box-$169.00

These are pretty cool too!  Reclaimed wood barrel planters-$129.00-$229.00 at Pottery Barn.

Or this old weathered beauty for $5.00 from a flea market.  I will take it!  :)

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!

The dresser is done!

I really can't say enough about Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint.  Here are a few reasons why:

*It is soooo easy to use!

*I can paint inside my house, no smell and no mess!

*Beautiful colors! (and you can mix them to make other colors too, that is so cool!)

*Alittle goes a long way!

*Durable!!

Here is the flea market dresser we found for $80.00.  Before I started painting it I clean it up really good! That means not only did I dust and vacuum it, I disinfected it as well! Sprayed all the drawers with lysol as well! 

I did not need to do any sanding with this paint so that saved alot of time!

I was so excited to try this color.  I had bought it a few months ago and was just waiting for the right piece.  It is Old Ochre. 

  Bryce did not want a white dresser since we just sold her old white one.  We did not want to go with TOO much color either so this was a great choice.  It is darker than an off white but lighter than beige.  This is how it is described...

 Old Ochre
a soft warm neutral that can be dark waxed to make the colour of old French painted woodwork

This is one coat on the top.  I  used a regular paint brush. I prefer a brush over a roller. It is easier for me to get in all the groves. (the paint looks pretty white in this picture, it does darken up when dry)

It works best if you remove all the drawers to paint them.  I removed the hardware as well.

One coat done.

This paint dries so quickly that by the time I am done with the first coat, I can start the second.  I am all about fast!  I usually always do 2 coats with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint.  I like that the extra coat gives it more protection.  After the paint was dry I used sandpaper and roughed up a few areas.  This part can get messy.  The paint sands off in a very fine dust.  Probably smart to wear a mask when doing this!

After I sanded the dresser I applied the clear wax. This step is very important.  The wax does a great job of sealing the paint.  I let the clear wax dry overnight.  (I have not always done this but it seems to work better)  I then take a cloth and buff the wax to a nice shine. the more you buff the shinier it gets!

Bryce wanted some dark wax on this as well so I added a few swipes of the dark wax with a brush after I buffed the clear wax.  I swiped it on and then wiped it with a rag.

You can see here how the dark wax adds some more dimension. 

Here is the finished dresser!  We kept the original hardware on it, it adds to its charm! 

I just love this dresser.  It is solid wood, has cool wheels, deep roomy drawers,  its from the 1920's,  and it has a nice to new paint job!  :)  Oh and it was made for my daugher with lots and lots of love!