::Making simple things beautiful::

Monday, August 29, 2011

Our own hurricane via a tiny surprise house guest

Guess what I am doing right now...for the first time in Stuck on GRAY history I am blogging with a two week old baby in my arms.  I suppose you could say it is my reward for the poop storm that I just cleaned up.  (By the way, my sis and her two babies are staying the week with me).  We had our own hurricane Irene over here tonight in the form of brand new baby poo.  I was happy to be able to help my sister clean it up, but I sure do not miss these types of messes : )

Consider this some super cute transition from the poop storm to pillows.

I made a few new pillows last week.





I really like the faux grain stripe on the 16" x 26" pillow forms.  It was a nice change of pace for me to sew a different shape.





In other very important news (no I am not serious), I made new tags.  I became a tad bored with the others.  These are a bit more legit looking, at least that is what I am telling myself after the time I put in to make them.


I do have a couple other projects I am working on this week, but I am taking it a bit easy since my project time is temporarily being filled in with snuggling a tiny person.  My sister is putting me to work too...she asked me to make a set of ruffled pillow covers for her and like a sweet sister, I said yes.

Until next time, 
-Brittany


Sunday, August 28, 2011

The gray dresser!

FINALLY this da%@ gray dresser is ready to go down to my space at the mall!  
 The knobs came in the mail already and I got the drawer bottom all fixed so now it is ready to find a new home.


Here is a little shot of the new tags I made.  I wasn't sure what I wanted on them, but I fell in love with this little bee and wreath graphic.  I also added my blog site because I am obnoxious like that : )




I am so happy to have that project done.

I have been working on some new pillows so I will share those in my next post.  They are "tres chic", if you get my drift ;-)

-Brittany

Friday, August 26, 2011

"Buanderie" board

Friday is here!  Once again, the week flew right by.

I have had this vintage wooden ironing board leaned up in my dining room for months, not really knowing what to do with it.  I knew it had potential to very cute, but I was just waiting for inspiration to hit.  And then it did a couple nights ago.


I knew I wanted to add some type of lettering to it.  I thought it would be so cute sitting above laundry room cabinets or hung on the laundry room wall, so I painted the French word for laundry room.  Buanderie sounds so much prettier though doesn't it?




Sadly, or happily, it found a new home before I could even show it off!  I am on the look out for more vintage ironing boards, so keep your eyes peeled for me girls!

I hope you have a fab Friday!

-Brittany











Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Upcycled drying rack

I just had to share this sweet little drying rack.  I am fighting the urge to keep it for myself, but I think two old dish racks is a bit much for one person.


I bought it at a yard sale my sister's neighbors had last week.  They had the cutest house out on some gorgeous acreage, complete with horses and donkeys and a chicken coop.  It was a good sale, and even better scenery.




It was fun to fill it up with some of the dishes and silver from my cupboards.


I finally have the gray dresser complete with glass knobs!  I have to admit that even though I painted it just like I pictured it in my head, I wasn't 100% sure I loved it.  That is until I put the knobs on.  NOW.I.LOVE.IT.  I will be sharing that and a project for the buanderie in the days to come!  (hint google buanderie)  Thanks a million for reading!

-Brittany

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

vintage paper flowers and a love banner

 I feel like it has been forever since my last post!  Our trip was cut a little short so I never made it back over to my cousin's house to take pictures.  She too lives in an old farm style house, and her style fits the house perfectly.  She has collections of old Pyrex and enamelware, wainscoting, and lots of antique doors and hardware.  It was very inspiring.

I got to work on some new projects the first night I was home.  It was really hard for me while    I was gone not to be able to work on things when I wanted to.  I compiled a list while I was away that I have been checking things off of since I got home.

While thrifting on my trip, I came across some vintage fabric patterns.  I have seen these cute little flowers around lately and wanted to try my luck at making some.


 I am happy with how they turned out. It will be nice to have them around when I don't have any fresh flowers at my disposal, and I think the colors will go nicely with fall and Christmas displays.



I sold both of my "vintage" banners so I made another to replace them.  I was inspired by a picture I saw last week of a banner that said love.  I think it would be such a sweet addition to a bedroom.  Someday when I have my room put back together I might make one for myself.






I am headed down to my space at the antique mall today to fill in some little things.  I found a darling little vintage dish drying rack, and a really neat old 40s/50s men's tie hanger that has a little style chart and knob on it to help men color coordinate their outfit.  It is pretty neat, and also a reminder of how much things have changed over the past 50 years.  Gone are the days of dressing up, ironing, and really anything else proper.

That is all for right now, but in the next week or so I will have several new big pieces to share.  I am waiting on an order of knobs to come in the mail and then I can finally finish up that gray dresser that I painted weeks ago.  And, I think I have finally talked myself into painting a beautiful antique child's dresser that I have had forever.  Stay tuned to see some defaced old wood, unless that sort of thing pains you too badly : ) Happy Tuesday girls!

-Brittany

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A glimpse of my sister's farmhouse

I am back!  We have been having ourselves a merry time over here in Idaho.  I have so many cousins that live here, and my kids have been having a blast playing with all of their kids.  My little guy is so out numbered, he is the only boy running around ten little girls.  We caught him telling one of the girls that he wanted to go play babies.  These cuties are all very entertaining.  

My newest niece, Addison was born a hefty 8 lbs. 7 oz.  She cracked her collar bone and got some big bruises on her way out, but overall is doing great and loves to snuggle up with her auntie : )

My sister and her husband bought a charming little farmhouse a couple years ago and have been working hard to renovate it.  They live out in the country right on the outskirts of town, it really is the perfect location.  There are a lot of projects that are not finished yet, but I wanted to share a few of my favorite things inside the house.

This picture might be a little blurry but they tiled a really great shower.  Inside there are dual shower heads.  If I go missing for a half hour, they know just where to find me.


This little window across from the shower is so precious.  I love the pink ruffled curtain.  A set of curtains just like this is officially on my to do list.  I think I want a pair for my kitchen windows!


Their bedroom overlooks the wrap around porch on the front of the house.  It is such a spacious and bright room with FOUR windows!  I just love this vintage bed lamp.  I have one on my list of wants!


Here is a view from outside their bedroom door.  It is an over sized pocket door original to the house.



Such a pretty room, don't you just want to cuddle up on that bed?



This dresser is awesome!  My sister bought it at a garage sale for $20, almost worth moving to Idaho for good garage sale finds like that.


I took these pictures late in the evening so they are not very bright and there are shadows but my camera battery is going to die soon so I don't want to retake them all.  I have another cute old house to share so I want to conserve the battery power.




This dresser is in their living room (I am realizing that my sis has the same disease I do...dresserholic).  She bought it at a local thrift store for $20.  It doesn't really show up in the picture but the mirror harp is still attached.  What a good find.  I made her the wreath for Christmas.


Here is my goofy guy dressing up in pearls.


They found this curved antique tin piece at a garage sale for $10 and used it as inspiration to build a mantel.  


Another garage sale score, I am jealous!


  Her neighbor tore down an old house years back and gave this chandelier to her.  My sweet mom painted it and hung it up for her before her first baby was born.



She bought the old oak pie safe above at the thrift store for $15.  She detached the doors so she could display her collection of vintage dishes.  Can you believe the wonderful things she finds over here in the country?

I am going thrifting with my cousin tomorrow to find a few small things for my booth (I have no space in the car to bring home anything big).  If I find anything good I will definitely share pictures.  

Thanks for reading, enjoy your day!



Monday, August 15, 2011

One shabbied up desk...yes please!

Happy Monday!  By now I have made my way across the state line and seen a beautiful baby girl make her way into the world.

Here is the desk that I shabbied up for my friend Emily.  She is an amazing photographer and is probably cringing at the sight of my pictures right about now.  To see a tidbit of her awesome work, you can check out her blog.

Here is a picture of the desk before I painted it.  It was already so pretty.  I knew painting and distressing it would only be icing on the cake.


Here is the after.


This was one of those projects that I figured would be pretty straight forward.  You know, the kind of thing you have done a million times and could do with your eyes closed.  Boy was I wrong.  

I completely ignored the fact that I would be painting white over a cherry stain.  Folks, that is a recipe for disaster, unless you take the proper steps.  For several hours, it looked like it belonged in Barbie's dream house.  It was BUBBLEGUM PINK!  Two trips to the store for the right sealer and umpteen coats of primer and paint later you can't even tell.


Well I can tell but can you?


So if you find yourself attempting a project like this where you will be painting over a dark or reddish stain, let me save you a bit of headache.
Mistakes I made-
::Do not sand off the varnish!  The varnish had the stain all sealed up so when I sanded it off, the stain was able to bleed all over into my white paint.  I had to turn right back around and reseal it all after I sanded.

::I should have simply used a stain blocking primer underneath my paint.  In case you are curious, I bought a can of KILZ primer with stain blocker, it is a miracle worker ;)

Normally you would not want to paint on top of varnish but since I was sanding most of the paint off anyway I didn't care if it stuck too well.

Once I read over this I realized how little sense I make when I explain things.  Sorry, you can just ignore all of that malarkey above if it makes no sense to you.

Have a fabulous first day of the week, I will be back soon to share more goodies.



Friday, August 12, 2011

Another piece that I can't part with

How did the past week fly by so fast?  I can't believe that it is already Friday!

I have a new piece of furniture that I want to share.  I was originally going to paint and sell this dresser but I can't bring myself to do either.  Once I brought it inside the house I just fell in love with it.


I apologize for the semi blurry pictures.  I was in a rush this morning so I didn't have time to retake the pics.  I guess a bad picture is better than no picture.





 

I brought home the curly willow wreath that I had in my booth and stuck it on my window frame.  I love it sitting up on the dresser, and I love even more that it is sort of hiding the unfinished project on the wall behind it : )  Yes my friends, that is how I roll.


I made a sweet little ruffled slip cover for this round stool.  I had to put it up to keep it safe from my little monsters.  I will put it in my booth eventually but for now I am liking it.


Have you ever seen more random wall art?  It sure is funky but I love it.



I switched out my dining chairs momentarily, until I realized that these ones were chipping off paint like there was no tomorrow.  I guess when I get home I will have to seal those puppies up.




That is all for now, I will be posting throughout my trip when I can.  I am hoping to get a little thrifting in if I can, but I can only bring home small things since we will be driving home in a little car.

Enjoy your weekend!