Wine Rack

 Weather is getting warmer and I will apologize in advance for lack of posts.  I have no idea why we even own a house in the summer months because we are never in it.  I make chips and salsa for supper 3 days a week and for a special night we get pizza..... yes I know that's not good but when our days get longer we try to squeeze so much into them that eating and cooking has no room in our schedule.  

Painting does fit into my schedule but taking the pictures.... not so much.  So again I will do my best to keep this blog current with some items to show you what I'm up to.  

However there will be lots that you won't see until July when my sister-in-law and I have our annual Jazzed Up Junk Sale.  Somethings are just worth the wait.  

Here was the wine rack before paint.

It's painted in a great grey color with white edges.  

I am the fruit snack Grandma so of course I have a jar full of them for every visit.  This is a jar I showed from my weekly finds and the trivet it's sitting on is also a weekly find.  

The wine rack is distressed because I am a distress lover..... everything needs to be distressed in my world.  

Oh you noticed the empty wine bottles..... yeah I don't drink wine so finding bottles to fill this rack was a bit difficult and all I had was empty bottles.  

And the full ones...... them is OLD..... and were probably given to us.  

The edges of the wine rack are painted in white.  I am loving grey and white together and for this item it just worked.  

Did you need another before and after?  

Okay here it is.  

Later....

March Madness Day 31 - Blue Mason Jar Box - Blue Box

It's the last day of March Madness and I'm so glad you stuck it out with me for 31 days (actually 30 cuz I missed one day).  I'm not sure you are going to miss these daily posts but I'll certainly have a hard time adjusting to it.  

I was hoping for a big grand finale for the last day but my last 2 weeks have been crazy busy at work and at home so that didn't happen.  However this blue box isn't too shabby to finish up the month.  

When I bought this box it was similar to the many John has made for my painting classes and the price on it helped it to jump in my cart.  All put together and painted already.  

I wasn't too crazy about the blue color but I could make it work but the yellow had to go.  

To calm the blue down I did some serious sanding.  It took forever since it was some type of regular latex with a gloss finish.  I finally got down to a matte finish.

Ane covered up that bright yellow with some Rust-Oleum Linen White.  It needed a little something for the front of the box.  That's a large flat space, so it got a vine stencil in Linen White.

And for a fun surprise it got Linen White handles on both sides.  

This box is a bit bigger than John's so 3 Mason Jars fit with lots of wiggle room.

The blue works with the white and a coat of Clear Wax she's ready for someones table.

Another look at the before and after.  Hardly looks like the same box.

Later.....

March Madness Day 29 - Coffee Table

It's day #29 of March Madness, are you sick of all these posts yet?  Don't worry it will be over soon and then we can all go back to our regular scheduled programing.  

I love the Annie Sloan color Coco.  It's a gray and a tan all in one..... a warm gray.... a perfect neutral for all those people that shy away from color.  I painted the coffee table that I got a few weeks ago in Coco.  

I'm really looking for a color to paint my dining room table so this was a good testing piece for if I want Coco or Linen White or Florence or Emperors Silk or Old Ochre......

Here is the coffee table before painting.  

This table is HEAVY, sturdy and a great piece with the lower shelf.

A bit of distressing, clear wax and a small amount of dark wax on the areas that would have naturally gotten dirty/worn.  

Our new furniture still has not arrived so I'll have to wait to decide how this color looks with the new couch.  

Then I need new pillows, new rug and a new blanket.  Oh and I should get my window done for above the family shelf so I can hang that back up.  

A look at the before and after.

Later.....

March Madness Day 28 - Graphite Shelf

I was trying to arrange my gallery wall on the carpet the other night which includes this shelf.  I painted it Annie Sloan Graphite.

The shelf has lots of details and makes it pretty unique.  I distress the details to make them stand out.

And then used Annie Sloan Dark Wax.  No clear wax this time, when using dark wax directly on the graphite it becomes a beautiful black finish.   I couldn't find a before picture of this shelf.... I think it was before I starting taking pictures of my finds.  But if you happen to find it on the blog let me know.  

So you ask how the gallery wall went?  It didn't..... wrong day, wrong time, wrong light.... I just wasn't feeling it.  Everything got put back away and I'll try another day.  

Later.....

March Madness Day 27 - Happy Easter with flowers

My very wonderful neighbor and friend knows I love tulips and this morning she brought me down the most beautiful tulips for our Easter table.  She and her husband are the best and we are so lucky to live right next door to them.  We might get into a bit of trouble with them..... like Friday's adventure to watch the Badger game lasted into Saturday morning....

So how about this weekly find painted.... 

It was pretty ugly in it's before state.

I painted the inside and outside with Krylon Spray Chalk Paint in White

Then I painted the outside only with Amy Howard Cartouche Green.  I love this color, very beachy spring color.  Distressed down to the white and in some spots the raw metal.

Used Annie Sloan Clear Wax to finish it, I liked the clean fresh look so no dark wax was added.  Don't be afraid to mix all the different brands of paint and finishes they get along very well together.  

Another look at the before and after.  She sure is pretty now.

Later.....

March Madness Day 26 - Bird Print

The bird print didn't last long without me putting some paint on it.  I liked the soft yellow of the mat and decided to use Amy Howard Mollie Yellow which matched perfect.

He got paired with my other bird tile in the bathroom.

And it matches this vase too.

A little distressing and then Amy Howard Clear Wax.

Another look at the before and after.

Later.....

March Madness Day 23 - Distressed Mirror

I had a project in mind and thankfully it was completed without a trip to the ER.

I had this old round mirror and wanted to wear off the reflective back enough to have a few poppies poking through.  I took paint remover and got the black paint off the back of the mirror, then there is a reflective coating that makes it a mirror vs a piece of glass.  I researched it and found one site that you could use oven cleaner to remove the reflective coating..... it didn't work.  Another way was to use muratic acid.  I also read all the dangers of using it and the bottle has skull and crossbones on it.  I opted to not do it..... skull and crossbones were speaking to me.

Then my wonderful neighbor had some chrome cleaner that was pretty strong and he thought it might work.  His wife brought it down and advised me to make sure I used it outside.   Well his wife and I gave it a shot right inside the garage.... that enough ventilation right?  It's a big garage..... We tried it on a new mirror that I had laying around so if it ruined it I didn't wreck this old round one.  As we stood over it and watched it did nothing, we smelled nothing, no smoke, no green fumes..... nothing....  I wiped it off and some of the reflective coating came off too.  

Fast forward to that night as I'm trying to fall asleep and my throat is sore and I have a bit of a dry cough.  Coincidence.... I don't think so.  I think the warning from the neighbor to do this outside was some pretty good advice.  You'll be happy to know I did the old round mirror outside, even in the cold snow.  This one didn't come off as easy as the newer mirror so it was a couple days standing outside trying to remove the reflective coating.

Finally got enough removed to still be able to know it was a mirror but have poppies peeking through.  

This project wasn't something I would ever repeat again, both for the danger or it and I like the look but I don't LOVE it.  The frame was painted in Annie Sloan Emperors Silk with dark wax. 

Later.....

March Madness Day 22 - Another wood bowl

Wood bowls are a favorite of mine.  Every time I see them they have to come home with me.  

This bowl is a more modern version with the straight sides.

A little gray chalk paint and some craved skeleton keys on the front.  

With the straight sides it's much easier to fill with some fun jars.  Clear and dark wax for the age look....

Perfect!

Later.....