Plant Stand + Pizza Stone = Cute Side Table

I was outside looking through my own pile of rubbish the other day when I suddenly got an idea.  I saw my old pizza stone and a plant stand and I thought they would make a perfect little table if I attached the stone to the top of the plant stand.  

Pizza Stone

Plant Stand

After painting them both a pale green, I attached the pizza stone to the top of the plant stand with E6000 glue.  Then, I traced the top of the table onto a pretty piece of paper from the art supply store.

I cut out the paper and decoupaged it onto the top with Mod Podge.  When it dried, I gave it two more coats of Mod Podge to seal and protect the surface.

I painted the entire thing with a coat of light brown glaze and rubbed it off with a rag to give it an aged look.

I love the birds, fancy scripts and stamps on this pretty paper.

This was such an inexpensive, easy project and I am happy that I was able to reuse two things I did not want anymore to make it.

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My Sister's Bedroom Makeover

I just spent two days visiting my younger sister, Emily, and her family in San Diego.  I did not have as long of a visit as I wanted, but I did leave her with a little dresser makeover during my brief stay.



before

Emily received a set of three vintage dressers from her mother-in-law when she got married.  There are two small dressers that she uses as nightstands and one larger one.  She told me that she was ready for new bedroom furniture, as she just got a new bed and wanted updated nightstands/dresser too.  I do not believe in buying furniture new, especially when you have some that is perfectly functional and only in need of a little re-love. 

Her dressers have a lovely shape and I like the scalloped edge along the bottom. The finish was well-worn and outdated, but that was easy to fix. The first morning I was there, we headed to Home Depot and bought some supplies and got right to work!



After

She also had a little lamp with a garage sale lampshade that I wanted to recover. 

I used some vintage bird and floral fabric that Emily got from our older sister, when she cleaned out her massive fabric collection. 

Below are pictures of the finish before and after.

I used a palm sander to even out the surface and remove the old stain before primering.  Then, I painted two coats of pale gray.

When the paint dried, I distressed all the edges, so that the white, base coat and the original wood showed through in places.

We originally wanted to buy crystal knobs for the dressers, but in an effort to save money, we spray painted the existing knobs silver.

I used things that she had around her house to decorate her dresser.  I love the blues, silvers and grays together.  Emily loves birds, so I paired her ceramic bird with the bird fabric on her new lampshade.  She has several of the beautiful, old, blue mason jars with the original lids from garage sales and she got the l-o-v-e letters as a wedding gift.

This is just a start. Emily is going to finish painting the other two dressers herself.  I think it is a huge improvement already and I can't wait to see her room when it is all done!

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Christmas Window Mantle

Since I don't have a fireplace mantle, I decorated the built-in shelf above my living room window.  I gathered redwood branches and pinecones around my house and mixed them with some of my Christmas decorations.  I brushed white acrylic paint over the pine cones and then sprinkled gold and white glitter over them to add a snow frosted look. 

I wanted my mantle to be natural and whimsical at the same time.  I added birds, pomegranates and shimmery ribbon to the branches and pinecones.

When I was visiting my sister this summer, I found these vintage, glass Christmas balls for $1 at DI.  I hung these under the shelf and in front of the window with some clear string.  I love the pretty, pastel colors of the vintage balls.

I am so happy to be done with working on stuff for my space at the shop, so I can finally focus on decorating my house for Christmas!

Songbirds

I was inspired by Renee at Shabby, Chic & Charming wth her adorable burlap, bird Christmas ornaments. You should check out her blog and see all of her beautiful projects.

I created my own bird ornaments using a small piece of cardboard, that came with a lamp kit, and more vintage sheet music.

Here is the piece of cardboard that the birds started as. I am not sure why I am including this photo...maybe just to show that even a piece of rubbish like this can become something beautiful with a little imagination!

I drew the bird shapes on the cardboard and then cut them out and used Modge Podge to decoupage the sheet music to the front and back of the cardboard. I attached a delicate gold thread and shredded the wings and tail feathers.

My sweet sister, Emily, gave me these ceramic, bird ornaments a few months ago. My whole family loves garage sales and they are always finding things for me that they think I can fix up. Well, I finally transformed these little birdies in time for Christmas.

I painted them a creamy white and sprinkled them with white and gold glitter.

Here are all the birdies together in a tree!

I know I have been doing a lot of little Christmas decoration posts, but that is what I have been busily working on. I promise to have more big projects coming up! I am going to be starting my first upholstery attempt with two antique chairs over the Thanksgiving holiday. Wish me luck!