Pair of Shabby Lamps

During the summer, my sister, Cindy, gave me this unique pair of  vintage, ceramic lamps that she picked up at DI for $4 each.  She has the best stuff laying around her house and I always get to come home with fun, new projects.  I don't know why I waited so long to start on these lamps, but I knew they would turn out beautifully. 

I had to splurge on the lamp shades because it was hard to find matching shades at yard sales.  I bought these at Ross (the most affordable place for new shades) for $6.99 each. The lamp shades were covered with shiny, kind of outdated, fabric when I bought them.  They would have worked, but were nothing special.  I believe that a beautiful shade makes the lamp and these special lamps definitely deserved better, so I put myself to work.  I recovered them in my faux-linen, flax-colored muslin fabric and added a ruffle along the bottom. 



Next, Mr. Rubbish spray painted the lamp bases and metal stands to match because they were old and dirty looking.  When he took the lamp apart to paint it, he accidentally broke off a small piece of metal inside where the lightbulb goes.  He didn't think it was important until he put it back together and tried to turn it on.  When we plugged it in and turned the switch, it made a bzzzzzzing sound and all of our power went out.  Luckily we didn't get shocked and from now on I think I will always rewire my old lamps first.  Mr. Rubbish is a rewiring expert, so I let him do the work. 

I love the pretty, raised flower design on these lamps.  I wish I had a spot for them in my house, but I am sure they will find a good home.  I brought them to the shop yesterday and everyone was oohing and aahing over them all day. 

 



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Cottage Gray Coffee Table

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday! Black Friday definitely worked to my advantage this year. I got a voicemail from Blessings Boutique this weekend saying that my space was nearly empty! I secretly hoped to get a phone call like this someday!

Now I am under pressure to finish my projects that are laying around at various stages of completion. We got back home from my parent's house late last night and this morning I got right to work on my quest to refill my space at the shop. I found this vintage, pedestal coffee table at a yard sale, a couple of weeks ago, for only $3! The table is solid wood and I love the pedestal base with the curved legs.

Before

The top was scratched and the stain was worn off in places. I used my palm sander to remove all the old stain and prepare the table for its new look.

After Sanding

I wanted to try something different with this table. I mixed my gray paint 50/50 with water to make it like a thin stain. I painted it on and rubbed the paint into the wood with a lint free rag. After it dried, I painted on Ralph Lauren's glaze in smoke color and rubbed most of it off with another clean rag.

I love how the finish came out with the dark wood showing through in places. It will be perfect in a French, country cottage now!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

We have had several days of consecutive rain here on the Central Coast and I was happy to see the sun sparkling brilliantly through the trees this morning. I wanted to get outside and enjoy the crisp fall air! I got bundled up, because it was really crisp outside, and took my kitty, Beau, on a nature hike. Beau loves going on walks around the property and especially down to the creek behind our house. I brought my little, wire basket and filled it up with autumn treasures. I gathered pinecones, fall leaves, acorns, rocks and moss-covered branches to create a Thanksgiving vignette!

This gorgeous, pale green pumpkin, with the tendrils, came from my neighbor's farm. Isn't it a beauty? Tomorrow it will become pumpkin cheesecake, so I wanted to capture its perfection before I cut it open!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and share a delicious feast with cherished family and friends!

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!