Sitting pretty

A couple of weeks ago my mother gave me a vanity bench for which she no longer had a use.  Since I don't have a chair for the small secretary in my bedroom, I thought I could paint and re-upholster the bench and use it there.

I mixed up a batch of my off white faux chalk paint and painted on two coats.  I waxed with Minwax paste wax and followed that with Annie Sloan dark wax.  Three layers of wax and some serious buffing and I called it "done".

The color in the fluting was a weird shade of green.

Looks better antique white, doesn't it?

I really love this fabric.

This morning I pulled the nasty, old fabric off the seat and then upholstered the bench.  I used a layer of muslin over the foam and batting and then finished with a piece of one of my favorite fabrics, Portobello Market.  Normally I would not use quilting cotton for the bench cover but because it will be used fairly infrequently and because I have a layer of muslin under the cotton, I think it will do.

All I have left to do is staple the burlap on the underside of the bench.  I would have done that today except that I ran out of staples.

I am really pleased with the bench.  It will look great with the secretary....as soon as I paint it!

(Linking to:  Tutorials and Tips Party, Home Stories A to Z; We Did it Wednesday on Sew Much Ado; Domestically Speaking Power of Paint Party; Lilyfield Life Paint Parade; Start at Home Paint Party

I am loving this color!

Here's the footstool that I painted up yesterday as a test piece prior to painting my grandmother's dresser.

The color is EXACTLY what I envisioned and a lighter, brighter blue than ASCP Duck Egg.  I think this color juxtaposed against the mahogany will be gorgeous.

Actually, before I paint the dresser I am going to repaint the table that I painted last year with ASCP Provence.  I thought about selling the table and buying something else for next to the bed but the table is exactly the right height for my crazy, tall bed.  (Though I did really want to go shopping for another piece of furniture!)

Ms. Crafty Pants

For Labor Day my decorating consisted of a tea stained bunting and matching wreath.  I decided I wanted something a little different for Independence Day this year.

I picked up this at the Goodwill the other day

sprayed it with some spray paint

grabbed a bunch of silk flowers at Joann's today

and fired up the glue gun.  After wrestling with the ribbon (I hate bow making!) and the addition of some small flags I ended up with this

for my front door.

Now I have to scrape dried glue off the top of my washing machine.  I like the crafting process so much better than the clean up!

Next up...

When my aunt moved to Arizona, she gave me my grandmother's dresser.  Because the finish was horrible, I used Formby's refinishing solution to remove it.  The dresser has been in an "unfinished" state for years about 8 years.  I had every intention of re-staining it and putting on a couple of coats of wipe on poly.  Well, that never occurred.  Then I discovered chalk paint and thought I would paint it.  Well, I thought about that for a year.  I struggled with the idea of painting it until I realized that my grandmother would totally be in favor of me doing whatever I decided.

The dresser is mahogany and has a beautiful grain.

I love the little detail on the top.

I think these fluted details will be especially gorgeous after I apply dark wax.

I have seen dressers on the internet with both painted and stained features.  Because I do love the mahogany, I am going to leave the drawer fronts and the top in the natural wood.  The frame, sides and scroll piece on the top will be duck egg blue...or at least my version of duck egg!  (I picked up a quart of Behr's latex in flat and tinted to as close a match as I could get.  I will add plaster of Paris and make my own version of "chalk" paint.)

To test the paint color (and see if I really like it) I am going to paint this first.

My mom just gave me this old footstool to use to climb up into my bed.  It is obviously hand crafted and was probably made by my grandfather.

Off to mix up paint!

This just made me smile!

I parked behind the house last night.  This morning as I walked toward the back gate, I was blown away by this beautiful spiderwort.

The muted sage green is just fabulous against the deep violet of the flowers.

(By the way, I think these are pretty good photos from an iPhone.  The only editing I did was to crop the pictures.  I think I may actually be getting the hang of taking a picture with my phone!)

Giddy with excitement!

My new mattress gets delivered tomorrow.  The fact that I am this excited about it should tell you a little something about my life!  Because the mattress is one of those very plushy fat ones I had to purchase new sheets.  I love sheets and towels.  If I worked at Bed, Bath and Beyond (also known in some circles as "Bed, Bath and Satan" due to the level of temptation) I would be totally broke all the time.  600 count Egyptian cotton sheets?  Yes, please!  100% cotton heavy weight bath towels?  Oh, baby!

(Which reminds me - I just saw an advertisement for "quick drying" towels.  My only experience with quick drying towels would be those that were nearly threadbare.  No, thank you.  I want my towels fat and absorbent!!)

Anywhoo, I purchased these sheets.

LivingQuarters Cool Touch Select Percale Sheet Sets

Being of a certain age, the thought of cool sheets grabbed my attention.        I can only hope it isn't a bunch of hype as the sheets are currently in the dryer.

One last night on my 10 year old mattress and then blissful sleep on my new mattress and cool sheets.  Whoo hoo!!

Decisions, decisions...

I want to paint my walls.  All my walls.  Right now everything is Glidden Antique White.  Walls, trim, ceiling, everything!  It is a nice neutral white.  The biggest problem is that it was all applied very poorly.  The homeowner before me sprayed all the walls and was very light handed with the spray.  His wife did the trim and she was very stingy with how much paint she put on the brush!  I have put this off as long as I can.

So - my first dilemma.  What color?!  My living room and dining room are connected so that is the biggest space on the first floor.  I decided that I want something in the beige family.  (Oh, how I would love the trendy grey but I will save that for the bathroom when I finally paint it.  This paint job will be a one time thing for me.)  Once I decided on the idea of beige - what beige?

 

Some beige colors lean toward green, some to orange, some to grey.  Then there is the whole issue of light.  Most colors look very different as the lighting in the room changes.  What happens if I love it in the morning light and hate it in the late afternoon light?  What if I paint the room, put all my furniture back into place and hate the color all together?

Maybe I should just get more Antique White and call it a day...