Monday, May 24, 2010

Funky Harlequin Side Table

I came across this little side table the other day at the Habitat Re-Store.  It’s nothing like anything I’ve ever seen before, and for $7, I really couldn’t pass it up.  You can see why it caught my eye:

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So fun!

I hit ‘er with some Semi-gloss White Rustoleum spray paint, and did those fabulous pulls with some ORB.  Then it sat, needing something.  But what? 

Then I saw this post yesterday from Jenifer of The Magic Brush.  She added some pizzaz to a jewelry chest with a great harlequin stencil on the top.  Hellooooooo inspiration!

But I didn’t have a harlequin stencil at 6pm last night when I decided to do this project!  (As my kids and/or Spongebob would say) BARNACLES!!  I turned to the internet where I found some great tips on creating a harlequin pattern.  I graphed out my harlequin design (see the how-to below) and hand-painted it with a flat brush and some acrylic craft paint.  With some post-painting distressing, here’s how she turned out!

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So here’s some tips if you’re interested in creating a harlequin pattern like I did.  First, I drew lines from top to bottom and side to side to find the middle point.  I found out online that a the diamonds in a harlequin pattern should have a 1:2 ratio of width to height.  For my table top, I decided I would make the width 2 inches and the height 4 inches.  Once I had the middle point, I began to graph out the table top in 2 inch by 4 inch rectangles, like so:

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I then found the mid-points of each side of the rectangles, like so:

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Then, connect all the mid points to make your diamonds, like so:

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I marked the diamonds I wanted to paint, so I would screw it up after all of that.  :)  Then it’s just a matter of doing the painting. 

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It was a little tedious, but worth the effort, in my opinion.  Here’s another look at the fabulous finished product:

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Lots more to come in the near future!!

Linking to:

A Soft Place to Land, Domestically Speaking, Bobbypins Boardwalk, Miss Mustard Seed, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello

 

I’m linking this project up to the Paint Challenge at The CSI Project!

Visit thecsiproject.com

Friday, May 21, 2010

Red Hand-painted Dining Set

I’m back!  You miss me?  And do I have a great project to share today!

But first, some very exciting news!  I’m guest posting on one of my favorite blogs today!  Beckie at Infarrantly Creative has graciously invited us on over to her place to share what we do with her readers!  If you haven’t seen Beckie’s blog, you really must.  I love it.

So onto the latest project…

I recently acquired a solid oak, round pedestal table and a set of four wrought iron chairs from two separate Roadkill Rescues.  The table was rescued from the free section of Craigslist and the chairs were in front of someone’s house on a neighborhood yard-sale day with a free sign on them, so I pounced.  :)  They were, of course, destined to be a set.

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I always feel so uninhibited when the material I’m working with didn’t cost me anything!  It’s such a breath of fresh air!  So, I really wanted to do something fun and something that I loved with this set.  I took a chance, held my breath, and thought RED!!  (Well, it is my favorite color.)

I was really inspired by Miss Mustard Seed’s (another bloggy favorite) lovely guest room.

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I love the touches of red, with the white and naturals intermixed, but I especially loved the clever way she used the jute upholstery webbing to trim out the curtains and tie up the faux roman shade (genius!!):

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And Martha used it too for this rug.  (If it’s good enough for Martha and Miss Mustard Seed, it’s most certainly good enough for me!)

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Since the caning on the backs of the chairs was pretty trashed from being in the weather, I removed it all and replace it with woven jute upholstery webbing.  So here’s my finished dining set a la Miss Mustard Seed (complete with hand-painted details):

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Isn’t our willow tree purdy?!?  We’re in our small window of green in Arizona before the scorching temps turn everything brown and crispy.  I’m soaking it up while I can.  :)

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Linking to:

Funk Junk Interiors, Finding Fabulous, Reinvented, Miss Mustard Seed

 

This project is also participating in the Paint Challenge AND the Martha Stewart Inspiration Challenge over at the CSI project!

Visit thecsiproject.com

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

A Funky Lamp Transformation and Tutorial

During my same Goodwill Dollar Day excursion last week, I picked up this fantastic lamp, marked $18.99 for one little eensy weensy dollar.  (Squeal!!)  The harp with a great brass finial to match the brasswork on the lamp was also a dollar, and the shade also a dollar.  Get out your calculators!  With the fabric, paint, and ribbon already on hand, that brings the total for this project to a whopping $3.  Shut up!!  I know!!!

Here’s her beginnings (I almost forgot to take the before pic!  You’ll notice I had already started pulling off the bottom trim):

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Check out that to-die-for brasswork on the base!!  LOVE!

I gave the glass on the base a coat of semi-gloss white, but what makes this project so unique is the shade.  (Now, I may or may not have designed the shade to tempt a certain cousin of mine who now owns the Springy Chair and Endtable.  It may just be that I have a ton of this fabric still and thinks it’s fabulous.  The world may never know…)

Here’s the beaut now:

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Another up-close look at that brasswork… GORGE!!!  (tm Thrifty Decor Chick)

In case any of you are wondering how I did that shade, here a mini tutorial:

First take all the fabric and trim off the shade, leaving just the metal skeleton.

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Then I spray painted the metal frame white.  I cut rectangles of fabric the same size as the sections of the frame of the shade.  Then sewed 1/2 inch hem along each edge, so the finished panels float in the middle of each section of shade.  With an exacto knife, I cut small little slits at each of the four corners of each rectangle to feed the ribbon through.  For each section of the shade, I began by tying the ribbon on to the top of the frame, then I threaded the ribbon through the small slit at the corner, wrapped the ribbon around the top of the frame a few times before threading the ribbon back through the hole at the opposite corner and tying the ribbon again to the top of the frame.

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Repeat this process for the bottom of the section, and you end up with your finished section of shade looking like so:

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Make sure you singe the cut ends of your ribbon with a lighter so they don’t unravel.  Repeat this process for each section of the shade, and you finish up looking like this (tah dah!!):

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Hope you enjoyed my first attempt at a tutorial.  It’s really hard to remember to take pictures along the way!!  Hats off to those of you who do them all the time!  :)

 

This project is competing in the Fabric Challenge at The CSI Project!

Visit thecsiproject.com

 

Linking to:

The Shabby Nest, Remodelaholic, Funk Junk Interiors

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

1 Dollar Chest of Drawers, Damask (Naturally)

I don’t usually have very good luck on Dollar Thursday at Goodwill.  I’ll pick up a little somethin’ here, a little somethin’ there, but never anything extraordinary.  But last week, my thrifty little friends, the discount-shopping gods smiled upon me and I picked up a two-drawer chest (NEVER had a dollar day furniture find!) AND an awesome lamp for 2 singles!  So I did a little dance of penny-pinchin’ joy, loaded them up, and took them home to work on.  I’m still working on the lamp, but I finished the little chest of drawers this morning.

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It is a solidly built little sucker, and HEAVY.  The stamp on the inside says that it was from a Marriot.  It had some holes drilled in the top, presumably from the TV swivel thingy.  I filled the holes, but decided that a painted finish on the top surface would still show where the holes were.

Mod Podge to the rescue!  I got a roll of damask wrapping paper from Hob Lob for $4.99, and used but a smidgen of the 50 square feet for this project.  Lots left to craft another day!

I painted the body a satin black, and hit those wonderfully ornate pulls with some semi-gloss white.  Just perfect to tie into the damask!  Isn’t she purdy?!?!  Not too bad for a buck!

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Can’t wait to show you my funky lamp!

‘Till next time,

 

Linking to these great blogs:

My Backyard Eden, Miss Mustard Seed, The Shabby Nest