~PERFECTLY VINTAGE - MY SHABBY DESK MAKEOVER~

 

A few weeks ago I shared some pictures with you  of the fabulous vintage desk I found at a local tag sale.  Last Friday and Saturday it was sooo gorgeous outside that I finally got busy with her transformation!  Man...it was WORK!

WORK I SAY!

Those spindly legs were challenging to paint!

I had to de-glaze the entire thing (liquid sand) and then hand sand the desk to get the finish off.  The desk is certainly a quality piece of furniture and very well made.  I don't think it was used very much because the inside of the drawers look brand new...the outside did, too!

After that she was primed with ZINSSER and then given a couple of good coats of my favorite soft white paint.  After curing for 48 hours I sanded her with my electric sander and then hand sanded for more detail around the edges.  Then I waxed her up (AS Clear Wax) and buffed her out when it was dry!

My girl is now BOOTH READY!  Just in time for the store-wide 15% off sale at Serendipity Market, Edmond, OK!

Yesterday I worked on more pocket pillows and also some new note cards showcasing some of my favorite vintage images....

Still have to deckle punch the corners, but I love how these came out.  Hope to have a few on my website later this week!

Today I'm linking up with:

 Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesdays

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Happy Hump Day!   

  
Love to you...

~MY VINTAGE LACE HAUL~

 

 Golly-Gee...can't believe I've gone almost an entire week without posting anything here on Blogger!!!!  Wowzers...what is happening to me?!!!

 

 Could it BE that my wee little BLOGGIE has taken second third fourth fifth sixth place in my life???  Yes...I think it has!  

(Things change I suppose!)

I've been busy with my new booth at Serendipity Market (what FUN I say!) and working behind the scenes on new product for my A Gathering Place website.  Don't give up on me...I promise I'm not abandoning it.

Thank you so much to those of you who have written about my hands!  They are doing great by the way...I'm thinking I'm about 80% healed.  Almost 90 days since double hand surgery and I'm excited to share that some of the residual numbness in my middle finger/right hand is slowly (FINALLY) going away.

 

I'm MORE than grateful.  Thank you, God!

Now...I must share my HUGE find of the day.  Despite the crummy weather here in Oklahoma (we need rain so I'm trying to be NICE) my Mr. AGPMan and I were up at the wink-of-the-sun in order to get in line/to get a number/in order to be the first ones in the door at a local estate sale!  

 Pure dedication to the cause, I say! 

The curtains (a couple photos up) were actually four panels (84" long) and were priced at $8.00 for all...  They included about 10 yards of extra lace, too!

Anyway...I signed up online to follow a particular Estate Sale Company and so I had a few preview pictures of some of what was being offered.

  I spied a bunch of vintage lace and linens and I know from experience you MUST get to a sale early if you even have a prayer of snagging the best finds!

Well..snag I did!

Almost everything!

I left only crumbs heavily stained/new lace things for those who overslept.

 You snooze...

 You loooooze!  (Sorry!)

 Or in this case...you get the circa 1980 polyester green tablecloth made in China.

(At least it was new and still in the package!)

I'm sharing LOTS of pictures for you so you can swoon with me. 

Simply magnificent trims, runner, curtain, dollies, napkins, collars, etc. were found at this ONE SALE!

 

 It's hard to pick a favorite...but I must say this gorgeous French Net Lace Runner (a matching pair) was an over-the-top score.  I nearly fell over from being drunk with joy on this wonderful deal!

 I'm blissfully happy right now!  Forgive me for being snarkeee!  Sometimes I just can't help myself!

 Tucked in the mix was this 1940's bridal garter...love the ombre ribbon and rose!

 

 Lots of gently used linen napkins (great for sachets come Mother's Day) were priced $1.00 per dozen.  WHAT?

 

 The piece above is an absolutely mahhhh-vah-lous example of drawn-work.  This will surely be a pocket on a pillow!

Tons of dollies were priced $4 for the lot.  I snagged a few bags like this one!

Because I use vintage lace and trim in my work I'm always on the hunt to discover and track down more.  Even though handwork has made a huge comeback over the past few years the beautiful old stuff made long ago by loving, hard-working hands is dwindling away.  Once it's gone it's gone.  I can't even imagine the hours that went into fashioning each lovely old piece.  I know in my heart when these women pass on and their estates are liquidated it will be challenging to discover more.  Today I'm so grateful I'm able to truly benefit from all their talented work.

Hope your Saturday was as incredible as mine. 

Love to you...

~FRENCH LINEN PINAFORE and OTHER VINTAGE FINDS~

Don't you just love it when you find great things?  Seems I'm always stumbling upon the neatest JUNQUE when I least expect it (and most often when I'm BROKE!).  Still...the

THRILL OF THE HUNT

keeps me looking and pressing on.

 I've been hibernating inside my home since Thursday so NO TAG SALE SHOPPING for me this week!  But a couple of weeks ago I did find some amazing treasures and today I'm showing you just what I discovered while scouring our local thrift shops here in Oklahoma!

See that amazing little white frock at the top?  When I first saw it at a local tag sale I wasn't sure what it was.  I knew from the lace trim it wasn't TRULY vintage...but I did recognize the lace edging and knew it probably hailed from the early to mid 1970's (gee...that's about 40 years old)!  It's a sheer French-English style linen pinafore with button closures on the sides.

Now...this pinafore is LONG!  At 5.4" when I held it up to me it dragged the floor.  Obviously it was fashioned for someone really tall!

 

Anyway...LOVED it and so home it came.  I'm going to enjoy it for a bit in my studio and then I'll probably pass it along and offer it for sale in my booth!

Isn't it grand?

 My next little find was this charming vintage compote from Japan.  When I was little my mother use to say..."It's cheap!  It's from Japan!  Only junk comes from Japan!"  I just crack up when I think about her saying that now!  We scramble to find things Made in Japan...

 Cost?  A cool ninety-nine cents!  Pretty fab, huh?  I'm keeping it.  These days I don't allow very many WHITE FINDS to pass thru my fingers...

Here's the tag...love that it's still in place!

Found another vintage style shoe planter for $2.99.  SCORE!

 Absolutely hated the floral insert and so I removed it!

 After washing it up I was surprised to find that some of the original paint came off while soaking in the water!  I LOVE IT EVEN MORE NOW!!!  Who knew?  Nothing is needed on the inside...not florals, nope, nauta, nothing!  Yep...keeping this, too!

A while back I shared with you my great vintage lamp finds.  Remember?  I snagged two identical petite old lamps at two different thrift shops in my city!!!  Well, I finally found matching shades that fit the lamps and decided it was my Mr. AGPMan's turn to perform his style of makeover magic.

I've seen all around blogland and beyond how lampshades have been transformed using chicken wire and decided to try this look out.  It's a wee bit industrial looking for me...but since I'm not planning on keeping the lamps (no room!) I figured why now go for something different!  Now...working with wire is NOT MY THING and after my guy finished the shades I was shocked at how long it took him to actually cover them with the wire.  Above it the first side he finished...took him 30 minutes to do just that little bit!  I plan to show the lamps to you sometime later this month...they came out darling!

Last find was the old Home Interiors (circa 1980) votive candelabra holder.  I remember having this exact one around the time my son, Brandon, was born (1982).  It was long ago discarded and now here I am buying one again!  I haven't worked on transforming it yet...but I'm going to!  I saw it somewhere holding cupcakes and I thought that was the SWEETEST THING!  Too bad only five will fit!  Still charming!

OK...more soon!  Hope your Tuesday is wonderful.  Come Thursday I get to LEAVE MY HOUSE!  After almost of week of being cooped up I'm about ready to lose my mind....

Love to you~

~VINTAGE FRAME FRENCH WHITE CHALKBOARD MAKEOVER~

 ~GREAT CHALKBOARD~

Sweet As A Family Schedule Board

A few days ago I shared with you a vintage framed print I snagged at a local thrift store.  No time was wasted transforming this fabulous aging piece!!!  I know a great find when I see it...  I love the old appliques on the frame...yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

 ~ORIGINAL SHAPE~

Above is how the framed print looked a few days ago.  It's was pretty dirty...probably from nicotine, etc. so the original picture was removed and it was replaced with fiberboard.  It was then painted with three pretty good coats of Valspar Chalkboard Paint in black.

~GORGEOUS WOOD APPLIQUE FRAME~

The frame was painted out with a dry angle brush.  I opted to NOT cover the entire piece but just paint the highlighted areas with an light antique white paint.  It's was then only minimally distressed before being coated with a good rub-on wax.

  

 ~BEAUTIFUL TRIMWORK~

My Mr. AGPMan cut the fiberboard for me by using the original print measurements removed from the frame.  If the print had not been textured (to make it look like a hand painted oil on canvas print) I might have opted to just paint it out with the chalkboard paint.  But...it was too highly textured for that!  So the fiberboard was the next-best option!  Total time to makeover this piece...hmmm...about two hours!  Pretty good, huh?

Just a note...

 

~VINTAGE FRAMED PRINT TURNED MIRROR~

Many of you asked about having a mirror cut for the frame...  This of course would have been lovely...but it can also be really expensive as the price of mirror cutting is based on the size!!!  In the past I've used an old framed print and turned it into a mirror (one hangs over my fireplace/see above), but in the end the chalkboard was a less expensive and fun way to transform the piece into something different and exciting!

This little beauty is going into my Antique Booth Space at Edmond Antiques in Edmond Oklahoma today!  I'm over the moon happy with how it came out!  Hope you'll try this super-fast way to transform an aging framed print you may have on hand.  Never know what you're going to find out there...

Happy Thursday!!!  I'm off to work!

Love to you...

~FRENCHY FANTABULOUS FRAME FIND~

~FABULOUS OLD FRAMED PRINT~

After tending to my booth space early Saturday morning I set off for a day of junking and slumming.  Generally I don't go tag saleing by myself, but since my Mr. AGPMan started his accelerated degree program 15 months ago I've gotten use to it.

 ~GORGEOUS APPLIQUE TRIM~

It's not nearly as fun to find treasures on my own, but until November it is what it is.  My pal, Judy, goes with me sometimes and so does my friend, Becca, but honestly they wear out before I do and then I feel guilty for dragging them around! :(  Besides, when they find something I like FIRST then I'm jealous and pout and whine until they let me have it....

 ~CIRCA 1951~

(I'm totally kidding...you know that, right? )

 ~PRECIOUS KAISER DEMITASSE~

Anyway...I found some truly amazing things both for my booth space, my home and lots and lots of things to repaint for my website. 

 

 ~LOVING THE LID~

Snagged this sweet white demitasse set for $1.99 at our local Goodwill.  Swoon................  Such a deal!  Oh...and the framed print above?  Found that at another OKCity shoppe for a fraction of it's value.  The print itself isn't my fav, but the frame is fabulous. I Googled it and found one like it in a darker frame on Craig's List in Sacramento for $200.  (((Eeeek.....)))

I'm thinking of turning this one into a chalkboard.  I'm going to lighten the frame a wee bit and then we'll see.  I don't have a space for it in my home and won't know if I can use it in my kitchen until we are farther along on our remodel.  Still think the chalkboard idea would be sweet.

A family's schedule could be written on it...what do you think????

 ~LOVELY HIGH-END DRAPES~

I gasped when I found this set of drapery panels.  Excellent sewing skills were used to fashion this great find I can assure you.  

~SWEET FLORALS~

(Very Cath Kidson Looking!)

Anyone know the print?  These are going on eBay or I may put them in my booth space.  The soft blue ground and vivid florals remind me of Cath Kidson's fabric and complements.  If you know the fabric maker I'd love it if you'd share...thank you...............................

 ~SWEET TEA LIGHT CANDLE HOLDER~

I found many more fabulous treasures...found this sweet Tea Light Candle Holder for $2.00 (half off) and knew it came from a retail/wholesale magazine I receive in the mail...wholesale it's $22.90 so this was a good score!

~WHAT A FIND~

I'm off to paint more pretties for my website.  Yesterday I began uploading some hand painted finds and if my camera will cooperate I'll be listing lots more today!  I think it's time to service my LUMIX FZ35!

~HAND PAINTED ROSE SIGN~

Hope your Monday is fabulous!

Love to you...