~THE MOST AMAZING VINTAGE SHABBY COTTAGE CHIC CHEST EVER~

 

 Way back in February I shared with you all about my fabulous Craigslist find!  Remember this gorgeous vintage chest of drawers?  I fell in love with it even though it had a few minor issues...

 The drawers were all in working order and the entire chest seemed to be sturdy and strong.  Just a wee bit of repair work was needed on some missing carved scroll work, but other than that it was an absolutely stunning piece of furniture!  Not sure I'd have even considered painting it had there not been the missing pieces (you can see some of the missing pieces on drawer #2).

 

 Here she is after her makeover!  Certainly the most beautiful and enchanting vintage chest I've ever given seen.   Hard to let this one go!

  The original handles/pulls were left in place and some creative work clay-work was needed to refashion the missing piece of scroll work.  Not perfect, but you really can't tell unless you are looking!

Isn't the crown on the chest beautiful?

Beautiful detail work!

I love how this vintage 1920's era chest came out...couldn't wait to show you!

Destined for my shoppe/booth today!

Love to you...

 

~~~SHABBY COTTAGE CHIC PAINTED FINDS~~~ And Words From A Wise Man

   

 ~VINTAGE PICNIC BASKET~

I started back to work in my studio today and I'm shocked my time off went so fast!  Bah!

 ~FABULOUS WOODEN SIGN~

Vacations never last long enough, huh?  It's a good thing I actually love what I do or else I fear I'd be in big trouble!

 ~HAND PAINTED METAL SIGN~

Can't imagine working at a job that doesn't feed my soul!!!  Today I feel especially blessed and grateful I'm able to do what I love!

~CHARMING METAL CASE~

I'm almost done with the vintage style Chalkboard Sign I showed you a couple of days ago.

 ~VINTAGE CAKE BASE and COVER~

Such fun to get back to my work even though my downtime was more than wonderful.

 ~SWEET ROUND BASKET~

When you love what you do it just calls to you to come back!!!!  I've revamped my studio just a wee little bit and love the new, better organization of it all!

~RETICULATED TRIM BASKET~

~PETITE and SWEET BASKET~

Today I'm showing you a few things I've got on the horizon.  Not sure what order I'll be painting them but all of them will be done before too long!  Lots of base painting to do and that always takes most of my time!

Hope your January is going GREAT!  Our weather has been truly amazing here in our state and that of course has me longing for Spring and I said as much.  My Mr. AGPMan reminded me yesterday as we drove by the barren trees and brown earth we must experience the dying back of the old to enjoy fresh, new life in our world.

"Don't rush time, Baber!"

he said with a big smile

"It's coming and going too fast as it is!"

I hate it when he's right...

Love to you...

~VINTAGE MANNEQUIN DRESS FORM~ A Makeover From the Ground Up

~VERY MOULIN ROUGE~

Earlier this month I shared with you some photos of the hot pink and black dress form I discovered at a local shoppe (you can see her at the top)!  Miss Josephine (that is what I named her) was originally bright hot pink and lots of black and way tooo intense for me!  Well, Miss J's transformation began a couple of days after I found and today I'm going to walk talk you through her makeover up until this point!

 ~A BODY of FIBERGLASS~

I've purchased several new and vintage and antique dress forms over the years and all were made of metal, papier-mâché or layered cardboard.  Well... my new friend, Josephine, is the first one I've ever found made of fiberglass.  I wasn't even sure what her body was made of until I asked my Mr. AGPman about it.  (No wonder my fingertips felt like I was being stuck with prickly little needles!)

~WHAT A MESS~

I began by removing her fabric covering and the thin layer of gray foam.  It had been attached with cheap hot glue so most of it pulled right off (I also removed her finial).

~JOINT COMPOUND~

(sold in tubs at hardware stores)

After discovering she wasn't made of papier-mâché (my first guess) I knew immediately I'd have to resurface her body with joint compound (JC).

 ~LATEX GLOVES A MUST~

I donned a pair (several to be honest with you) of latex gloves and began by NEATLY smoothing the JC over the fiberglass webbing with my hands.

 ~WORK IN SMALL PATCHES~

 ~SMOOTH ON CAREFULLY~

You want to make sure when apply JC that you smooth out as much of the product as possible.  You will need to sand off any ridges and bumps so the smoother your surface ends up being the less work you'll have later on!

~DRYING IN THE SUN~

After thoroughly drying (only took about an hour in our Oklahoma HEAT!) I lightly sanded off the rough areas and applied a second coat with a 3" sponge brush!  My goal was to have a fairly smooth surface but one that would have some character after it was painted!  I didn't take a picture of the sanding part because I didn't want to ruin my $$$ camera!  (WEAR A MASK!  That powdery stuff goes everywhere!)

 ~PRIMED with ZINSSER~

After smoothing out my new best friend :) I feathered off the majority of the dust and then primed her with Zinsser 123 Primer using a fresh 3" sponge brush.  Do not skip this part.  If you paint directly over JC it will not hold and will eventually crack and flake off!  You also cannot spray paint over JC.  All it does is absorb into the JC and you waste a bunch of money!

~LATEX PAINT FINISH~

After priming I gave her two coats of my favorite Cottage White Latex Paint (Behr Paint/Home Depot).  Now, I just may recoat her again with my favorite sugary pink paint (custom color) before I move on...

I have great plans for Miss Josephine!  I've pretty much settled on a French Theme and plan on hand painting French lettering and maybe some tiny roses on her body in a sweeping garland-type style. Again...haven't fully decided yet!  I'll keep you posted.  At least for now this is where I'm at!

I'm off to work!  Hope your day is fabulous!

Love to you...

~A SWEET SIGN for a SWEET SHOPPE~

 ~VINTAGE 'N' ROSES COTTAGE~

A couple of weeks ago one of my website customers emailed me about making a hand painted sign for her little cottage business.  I finished it about a week ago, but the silly thing just would NOT dry in our Oklahoma humidity.  Even with the heat it remained tacky!  I was finally able to snap some pics of it yesterday and today it will be on it's way to another country. 

 

 ~HAND PAINTED LETTERING~

Generally I don't do signs much anymore.  They are labor intensive for me and I'd much rather paint what I call SMALLS! :)  Still...just like the metal signs I showed you yesterday...sometimes I just can't help myself and have to take the plunge!  The problem is I end up loving them all and then decide I don't want to part with them!! 

 ~BEHR'S COTTAGE WHITE PAINT~

I especially love the shape of this sign.  I've had a few of them over the years and this is truly one of my favorite styles.  Most I've kept for MOI! :)  My sweet buyer really had to BEG me to sell this one to her.  It was my last one in stock...  :(

 ~SHABBY CHIC-ed UP~

Today I'm working on some special orders and then off to prime that sweet table I showed you yesterday.  I'm going to do something a little different with it (I think!)...  I rarely paint roses on my own furniture (not for my den/living areas anyway).  But~I'm THINKING about some roses and maybe a French saying...hmmm...  Gotta put my thinking cap on!

Hope your Tuesday is beautiful.  It actually rained for about 30 minutes yesterday evening in my town.  I couldn't believe it...  It could have lasted longer, but we'll take what we can get!  No whining here!

Love to you...

~~~~SHABBY COTTAGE CHIC MAKEOVERS~~~~ And Hand Painted Pink Roses

On Saturday I showed you some of the amazing finds I found while out estate and tag sale shopping in the great state of Oklahoma!  I hauled home some truly fabulous things and began transforming them almost immediately.  Today I'm showing you a sneak peak of the things that have been primed and base painted.

Here is a picture of those two vintage millinery stands I showed you on Saturday!  They were primed and then painted with Valspar Churchill Vanilla (close to Behr Paint Cottage White) before being gently distressed!  I haven't decided yet if I'm going to sell these...maybe one...maybe both...maybe NONE! :)  I love them so much and can think of so many things to use them for...  Jewelry comes to mind!

Here is the before shot!  The stands were actually neat 'as is' but the bottom of one was heavily corroded...so paint won out!  Love the makeover!

See this sweet little clock?  Transformed again with the same fabulous paint!  She was $1.  Here she is made over...

I love the vintage recipe box (or whatever it is!) below! 

And this tissue box cover...

And this charming old brush...

 Look closely at the picture below...you'll see they've all been painted!  I'm working in my painting studio today and many of my finds will be graced hand painted pink roses!  Watch for them to be uploaded to my A Gathering Place Website starting this evening...

Didn't the old perfume bottle (in the middle) and the brush come out sweet?

I love these wooden hearts!  They originally had a 4th of July theme...  I think they will be perfect for Christmas...

Lastly...aren't these scrolly little signs the best thing evahhh???  I just love them...  Perfect for lots of little sayings...

OK Peeps!  That's it for today.  I'm already face-deep in paint and I'm lovin' getting back into my second favorite thing to do in all the world...

We actually had a TINY BIT OF RAIN during the early morning hours today.  Sooo refreshing!

Have a GREAT MONDAY!

Love to you...

~A SHABBY COTTAGE CHIC CUBBY MAKEOVER~

~SWEET CUBBY FOR LACE~

For the third year in a row I've decided to participate in the

"WHERE BLOGGERS CREATE PARTY"

hosted by the ever talented

Karen Valentine of My Desert Cottage.

Once again this fabulously fun get-together has more than a couple hundred participants.  The grand reveal is July 15, 2011 and I hope you'll stop in for a peek at what's new!  So many incredibly talented women will be taking part in the excitement and we'd love to have you join us as well!  Click one of the links above for more information...

~GREAT FOR OLD RIBBONS and LACES~

Over the past twelve months I've revamped my working studio quite a bit.  As I told you a couple of days ago the wall colors have been changed from a pale pink to a soft creamy white and even though much of the layout has stayed the same I've tried to alter several key elements in the room.  I'm loving the transformation which includes the changing out the skirt on my sewing machine table (to something less busy!) as well as the removal and then the addition of different furniture pieces.  I've been focusing on working "smarter" not "harder" and I'm truly loving the change.

 ~TOTALLY YUMMEEEE~

For me, the reasons for decorating with whites have been simple.  White is capable of unlimited subtleties without ever becoming boring or tiresome.  It's ever lovely, ever fresh.  Even though most of my home showcases this purest of colors I've found when used in my studio or working space it helps me focus on the project at hand instead of everything around me.

 ~GORGEOUS INSERTION LACE~

When I'm out and about tag sale hunting (or just merely junkin', you KNOW it's my favorite past-time, right?) I'm always on the lookout for storage/display pieces I can use in my workroom.  I can't stand digging in big plastic bags for just the right piece of vintage lace or ribbon...it absolutely makes me nuts!!!  I like to see what I have at hand and wasting time "searching" is, well, a waste of time.

 ~LOVE BOTTLES and BUTTONS~

The little cubby you see above was found at a Speigel auction over ten years ago.  I fell in love with all her little drawers and it's been another perfect place for holding bits of old lace and trims.  I've stacked it up with a sweet little piece found at an estate sale...both sit upon an vintage dresser/chest.  Everything has been painted out with my favorite Cottage White Paint (by Behr/Home Depot) before being gently distressed.

In about three weeks or so I'll be showing you more of where I create.  Soooo~  I hope you'll visit me again to see what's new!  In the meantime don't forget to visit Miss Karen and her wonderful blog.  You will LOVE her!!!!

Blessing for an awesome summer day!

Love to you...