Greetings from The Crack Capital of North America!

We're not all crack heads here in Toronto, but all this scandal has been effecting us...

So,since I've been staying awake so much,I've been painting my little heart out!

I think I showed you the before photos of the great table and chair set I bought this summer:

Sorry for the bad photo, its off my computer screen.  Isn't it a gorgeous set?  

Last week I sold a sideboard I had taken into my booth, and I needed something big to fill the space.  So I felt that maybe this lovely kitchen set would look great in someones home in time for Christmas!

I would have sanded and refinished the top, but I don't like to do heavy duty sanding in my home.  My little kiddies are prone to asthma, and old varnish dust can't be good for anyone to breath in.  So, I just ASCPed it all over!  

I actually prefer the look of painted tops, but like the maintainability of an unpainted surface.

Here are the during and after pix:

Here are the painted, distressed but unwaxed photos.

Then the magic of wax...

Okay, you may not see the 'magic' but believe me the depth and sheen the wax provided really was magical in real life!  I'll have to pull out the old camera next time...(instead of my handy iPhone).

TADA!!!  Here it is, all painted, waxed, and at the booth!  Isn't it lovely?  Can't you just imagine it with small boxwood wreaths tied onto the back of each chair?  A Simple white and green Christmas?

I swear, some pieces you know you are going to regret selling, and this table is one of those pieces.  I love the legs!  How many tables/chairs does one family need? 

Anyway, I found some really neat pieces this week, some of which may not make it to the booth cause their are too hard to give up...

Keeper!!

Isn't this old wicker/rattan/straw (?)purse totally a keeper?  Its gorgeous!  I'm thinking its not old enough for the handles to be bakelite, but its still pretty old and pretty gorgeous...my precious...

I found this great Fransiscan ware teapot/teacups this week, and while they are lovely, I have probably over a hundred tea cups at home!  Off to the booth!

And all this was in one lot at an online auction.  Everything else I bid on was way overpriced, but I managed to nab this lot for under $15 including the taxes and fees! Look at that bench and old crock (5 gallon from Medicine Hat Alberta)!

As you can imagine, my crap junk treasures were in the garage, and very icky (spider webs, dirt, crud, etc...) so when I asked them if they had any paper towel (the people running the pick ups) they said that if I found any cloths, etc...in the garage, I could use them as everything in the garage was going to be thrown out...

'EVERYTHING?'...

One mans garbage ...

I got a large wooden ladder that couldn't be sold as it had a repair, and a bucket full of spindles...FOR FREE!!!  

This load was worth spider webs and crud!  Anyways, this has probably been one of my best scores evah!

Hope you all have a great evening :)

SHARING:
Shabbilicious Friday Link Party

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Fridays

Gotta Go with the Flow...

Warning:  Photo heavy post!

I bought this great old dresser and mirror this summer, and it was waiting in my studio garage until I sold some bigger pieces of furniture at my booth.  

Last week the time had come for me to bring it in and paint.  Unfortunately its getting a bit too cold and inclement for me to paint in my garage.

These are the before photos:

I love mirrors like this, they are pretty as is, but once you paint them, the details pop.

Although it was stained brown, it had a strong red undertone...

 You can really see the red in these photos.

While I use ASCP and you don't really have to sand it, I still like to sand the dresser top a bit, just to give it some extra hold.  I like to strip/stain the dresser tops, but I doubt I would have gotten much more money for the dresser, even if I stained the top.  Given the amount of time invested in sanding/stripping/refinishing properly, I felt it wasn't really worth it.

I wanted to try my can of Versailles paint, and this was the piece!

 One coat, two coats, four coats later...

and the red was still bleeding through!  Too bad because I really liked the colour.

See all the pink?  I even tried the wax then repaint technique...not so good.  In the end...I went with Graphite!

 This just goes to prove that old saying 'When at first you don't succeed' is just a waste of time!

 I'm really a 'Cut your loses' kind of girl!  I had to stop fighting the red.  Well, at least the Versailles made a nice under colour for the Graphite, once distressed.

 I'm from the school of light distressing.  Chris, my neighbour and painting pal is from the school of heavy distressing, and while its not my style (maybe I'm a bit of a chicken?), her pieces are actually quite lovely. As you can tell, I painted this one. Chris is in FL for the winter (lucky B****!) so no heavily distressed pieces in my booth till May!

Here she is, all assembled in my booth. What a great piece!  Most of the pieces I paint I wish I could keep, and this piece definitely one of those pieces!  Good thing I live in a wee little house!  

Excuse me while I go hunting for something to paint in Versailles :)

Sharing:

Sunday View

Here comes the (corpse) Bride!!

101 things to do with a used Wedding Gown:

Well, only kidding!  

• One $7.99 vintage wedding gown and veil from Value Village.
• One wig recycled from last years Gypsy fortune teller costume.
• lots of eerie make up.
• fake bugs.
• And of course...a hot glue gun! 

What do you get?  Daughter #2's all time favourite Halloween costume!  Her words, not mine...Well she is only 10 1/2 so its not that great an accolade!

Isn't she boo-tiful?

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Corpse Bride with a baby carriage!

Is it time to throw the bouquet?  I think not...

Wanna fight for it?  I'll win.

Buh Bye...

BHWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

It was really only $8 for the gown and veil, and it was really quite nice lace.  It broke my heart to cut the skirt, but not before I salvaged the ruffled tulle lining first...

Won't it make a great cushion or two?  I just have to learn how to sew...but I'm a pro with a glue gun!

Sharing:
Sunday View

My New Favourite Annie Sloan Colour!

Its seems its feast or famine with my posts...but lately its been lots of famine.  Do you ever feel like you're that mouse on the wheel?  Run, run, run little mouse! HAHAHAHA (thats the world laughing while I miserably try to keep up)!!!!   Everyone knows you're not getting anywhere...but everyones to kind (or scared) to let you know?  

Thats been me lately (this whole last year maybe?).  So its not like I've not been doing anything to write about, I just don't have the time to write.  Also, I never have my good camera with me, and my iPhone photos never really represent the reality of the painted furniture.

However its time to write.  I just had to write about this gorgeous dresser in my new favourite colour!  

Here is the before of the dresser.  It was bought from an online auction, sight unseen.

It was a solid piece, but had a little veneer loss in places.  Nothing wood filler couldn't fix.  Then, I painted it in Annie Sloan Aubusson Blue.  Okay, I don't know if I've ever mentioned that while blue is an okay colour, its not one that speaks to me.  I don't hate it, but I rarely buy blue anything.  Although I've bought three of AS blue paints so far.  

So when I opened my can, I looked at it and thought...'hmmm...yep, its blue.'  And thats about all I thought.  

Then I painted it, and thought, 'yep, its not a bad blue...' but again, thats all I thought.

When I sanded it (before waxing) it went all scratchy like denim, and while I wasn't expecting it, I kind of liked the effect.  However, I like my chalk paint waxed, otherwise its just too flat.  

As soon as the clear wax touched it...it just came to life!

Please believe me when I say this photo doesn't do justice to the colour or the piece.  This really doesn't represent the richness or depth of this colour!  Its really much bluer and warmer.  

This piece sat in my booth for four days before it was put on hold by a customer, and picked up two days later!  

Now I can hardly wait to find another piece to use this colour on!

I also sold the three chenille blankets I had this weekend (YAYE!!!)  I had four blankets and only sold one all summer, and the other three this weekend!  Isn't that strange?  I always think of chenille as a summer weight bed cover, but come fall and boom!

Anyway...I have to bring this set inside from my garage to paint.

Isn't it gorgeous?  The table and chairs were part of the same lot in the same online auction.  Although the colours aren't the same, once I paint the chairs and the table legs/apron, they'll patch perfectly.

I just have to decide what colour...  

Play it safe or go bright again?  Hmmm....

Anyway, I hope any Canadian readers had a great Thanksgiving!!  Gobble Gobble!  

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Sharing:

The Scoop Link Party
Between Naps on the Porch

Home Sweet Home 141

Transformation Thursdays - Shabby Creek Cottage

Christie's Antique Show Fall 2013

I was so excited to go to the biggest antique show in Southern Ontario!  I didn't get to go to any antique shows in the spring, so I was really looking forward to going...and we got there and started walking around...and it started spitting...then in started DOWNPOURING!!!!!

That was the fastest I'd been in and out of that show!  I was drenched by the time I got back to my car!  

However all was not lost.  I did manage to buy a couple of things before I got back to my car!  

Look at this beauty!

I don't know why I was drawn to her (in the pouring rain), but I saw her and I thought 'wow, she'd look great in my booth!'  

Now I don't sell too many hats, and I'm not allowed to sell costume jewellery because one booth has exclusive rights to that, but I just thought she would add a real vintage vibe to my refurbished antiques/furniture booth.  Sometimes I buy things just to give my space credibility...you know what I mean?

So, as I saw this beauty on a table, the pouring rain was blurring my vision a bit.  As I got closer I saw this:

The chipped chin, nose and chipped bits off the face didn't stop me...

Nor did the discolouration at the back of the base...

When I removed the hat the dealer was selling with her, there was some colour missing from her hair too...

It was raining and not a good day for the vendors, and she wasn't pristine, and also...most people (my friends) thought she was kind of creepy...so I asked what herbest price was.  The vendor went from $65 to $60 (including the hat).  So I says...'but I don't want the hat.  How much for just the head? I just want the head!'  Yeah...she wasn't budging from $60.  So I told her I'd pay $35 for the head if she was interested.  She sold it to me for $40 (icluding that hat!).

Home she came, and off to Home D I went and came back with two sample pots of paint/primer... 

 I pulled up a bottle of brown acrylic paint from my basement and got ready to fix her up.

First I gently tried to pull off her price tag from her neck...(WHY DO VENDORS STICK TAPE ON SOMETHING FRAGILE!?!?!?!?!!?!!????!!!!) and this is what happened:

Ok, so the tape removed the paint - PISS ME OFF!!!  Btw cover up DOESN'T WORK...see the beige on the white?  Yeah, not such a good idea. 

Anyway I cleaned her up with a damp cloth with soap and touched her up lightly with the paint, and mixed some of the brown craft paint with the beige, and fixed her hair as well...kind of like highlights!

So here she is with her newly applied make up, covering all her little chips and dings!  And her new high lights really suit her, huh?

Here is her white hickey all covered up!  You can still see the rough spot where the original paint was removed, but I just lightly painted, I didn't use spackle on her (like when I apply my own make up)!

Its not perfect, but its much much better!  I may go buy a slightly darker shade and sponge it on...if I get around to it!  

Doesn't she remind you of Lucille Ball?

And she's another reason I LOVE 'antiqueing, vintiquing, junking, thrifting, etc...'

I think I liked her because subconsciously she reminded me of the lovely mannequin head Vickie at Ranger 911 has in her blog header!  Except Vickie's is all sweet looking and mine looks a bit like the android from ... whats that futuristic movie from the early 1980s????

I also found this great crate:

I loved this tea crate, with the original lid!!  LOVE (sigh).  

Thats all I got at this show, everything was crazy overpriced!  I went for a few reasons:

1.  To see what new trends were out there in the 'antiquing' world.
2.  Pricing.  What should I be pricing at/near.
3.  What great thing would I find for ME, not for the booth (as buying from other venders usually makes it too expensive to sell).  

What I found was that there was NO WAY I or any of the other vendors at my antique mall would/could sell for these prices.  I guess Christie's gets antique hunters from Toronto or other bigger cities, and they will pay higher prices, as antique stores in the city will command them.

It was fun anyway...and maybe one day I'll try my hand at selling at Christie's!

Sharing:
The Scoop Blog party

The Dedicated House - Make it Pretty Monday

Coastal Charms - Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia - Tuesdays Treasures

Elizabeth and Co - Be Inspired Link Party