Before and After: Arm Chair & Mailbox

One look at this arm chair and I knew it would be gorgeous all shabby!  The carvings at the top of the chair were exquisite and I loved the ribbing down the curve of each leg.  It was nice and sturdy and came with a padded seat which I took off in order to shabby.  I started priming it and then remembered that I needed to take a 'before' picture - 

that is what the white is on it!

The pad just happened to be in great shape and I loved the tone on tone linen look so I just screwed the original pad back on after I sanded, primed, painted and then distressed the wood to help the beautiful carving stand out more!

This wall mailbox was dirty and had the remnants of stickers on the front.  It quickly got a thorough cleaning and some goo-gone took the sticker remnants right off. These mailboxes usually have a metal eagle attached where the holes are - but this one must have taken flight!  What was I going to replace the eagle with?  I wanted to make this look a little more feminine thinking it would be great for storing office files in home office.  It was just the right size, would even hold legal size and the closing lid would hide the mess of paper files out of view.  After some light sanding and a coat of primer, 

I decided I would paint this two-toned.

I grabbed all the wooden embellishments I had on hand and started placing them over the holes.  This one covered all of them beautifully!  So after some light sanding and priming, I decided to paint this pink and white, and then glued the wooden embellishment on with some E6000 glue.  Now this 'mailbox' is ready to store files or even to collect the mail!  Both of these projects are now on sale at Melange! 

Fresh Eggs and Fry Daddy!

I got this old desk years ago from a friend and my three boys used it growing up.  Now it was time for the desk to go so I moved it outside with plans on painting it shabby white and selling it at Melange.  Unfortunately, the rain got to it before I did so I decided to tear it apart and repurpose the parts! 

The inside panel of one part of the desk was in perfect shape and I was in a painting mood!  I started decorating for spring and wanted something new for my mantel hood display area in my kitchen.  Spring always brings lots of birds to my yard and I love collecting their nests - but not until the eggs have hatched and the birds have moved on! I love those old painted market signs and the signs you see advertising farm stands you see along the road.  I decided I needed a fresh egg sign so I whitewashed the panel, sketched out "Fresh Eggs by the dozen" lightly in pencil for spacing, grabbed my paintbrush and went to work!  I added the cluster of eggs to symbolize my three sons who have left the nest!!

I placed the sign atop the mantel on a cast iron plate stand but it looked lonely.  I had just found this shabby wire basket at the Goodwill for a dollar, thinking it was an old egg basket - when I got home I realized it was really the basket for a FryDaddy!  It had old oil cooked onto the metal which came off easily after one trip in the dishwasher.  I added some plastic speckled eggs in light pastel colors and placed it next to the sign - That's better!!  I still think it looks like an old egg basket!

 I love the way the sign goes with the colors in my kitchen.  I just had my kitchen remodeled by DreamBuilders of El Dorado Hills.  This cooktop / backsplash area with the potfiller is one of my favorite parts of my remodeled kitchen!  The rope and accent tiles are a bronze metallic so I added some bronze metallic paint swishes into the nest on the sign - just enough 'shine' to add a little extra dimension to the nest on the sign!  Now my mantel area is ready for spring - and part of my theme for my Bunko night next week is birds!  Have you ever used something like my "Fry Daddy egg basket" in a different way?                 P.S. If you like my "Fresh Egg" sign I have smaller versions for sale at Melange!