A nice change

Isn't paint wonderful?  Such a difference it can make.  We started out with flat brown walls with spots of paint ideas.  We contemplated grey, what a difficult colour.  Grey sometimes looks blue and lavender.  We finally settled on a creamy white.  High Gloss.  I know, many people cringe and say it will show all the imperfections.  What they don't tell you is it makes lamp light glooowww, candles are brighter and chandeliers sing.

with my $5.00 dresser

We are still in the process of getting it together.  Today I will begin painting the brown cabinet.    In the kitchen there is a wall that is open and after painting it needed something on it.  At homesense I found this ugly piece,

 UGH, never seen such a horrid combination of colours on such a pretty piece.  I painted it with a mix of colours, mostly a light grey and the result is beautiful.

This piece works well to distract from the electrical plug in and the phone etc.  Not bad for an ugly piece. 

Getting it all together is still a work in progress, but it makes it so nice to come downstairs to light and bright.  We are still working on some elements.  We have a hole above what should have been a fireplace.  No fireplace, just a hole.  With electricity which cannot be covered.  I hate these things, too high for a tv too recessed for anything.  I will provide pictures and show our solution.  More work to do, gotta go.

Until next time, Patricia

chic little clock

My Mom and I are in the midst of painting the living room, dining room and kitchen a warm creamy white.  What a difference light can make.  I have never been able to live in dark and a flat brown paint qualifies as dark.  Pictures to follow. 

Last fall I got into a bling frenzy (as witnessed by my previous post!) with a clock and decided to do another one.  I have had this clock for 15+ years, it was brown and never worked (because I couldn't get the back off to add the battery) but it had potential.  One day I figured out how to get the back off and then I was off!!

I painted the clock cream, then started adding bling,

It is a small clock so 1 dollar store bracelet covered the brass around the face.

Then I added a crown on top which was from a cell phone charm and then added an earring to the bottom.  I then needed pink shiny at 3 and 9 but it looked off.  I left it for a while and thought. 

What was off was the clock mechanism under the glass was brass.   I tried and couldn't get the glass off and the brass upset the look of it all.  What worked was pasting a dollar store earring onto the glass face.  It covered the brass and because the same detail was on the 3 and 9 it worked. 

I now have it on my desk. 

I love it so much that when I had sold my house I moved into my Mom's for 2 months and I brought it.  It doesn't keep great time (the battery needs to be changed about every 5 weeks) but it is a tiny bit of beautiful. 


I even liked it under the Christmas tree,

Back to painting!

Patricia

Sometimes I get carried away

When I lived in Ontario I went to a funky antique shop that I loved, Lilly's Antiques, set in a log cabin http://bricabracantiques.com/lilly.html .   It was only open a few days a week and it always  has great stuff. I went into it last fall and found a dirty clock box with no clock which had no love for years. I bought it because I could see potential. I have scoured through my pictures and cannot find the before pic probably due to the fact that I changed computers, so sorry but picture black, dirty and stinky.

 It needed a clock face so I looked for a clock face in Michael's but none fit, so I painted it and waited for a solution. My Mom brought me over a Marjolein Bastin clockface that could be cut to fit. Once I  got the clock in I went a little crazy.

I surrounded the clock face with a faux pearl frame and then added a bling bracelet from Claire's.  I liked the bling so I added more!!  It has dollar store earrings on it, 1 vintage button and another bling bracelet that I cut and then pasted on.  I used Crazy Glue for metal, which worked great as every piece of bling stayed on through the move. 

The decorative elements in the four corners were on when I purchased it and the lid opens for easy access to the battery and a wee bit of storage.  I wanted something nice on the lid so I started looking for inspiration.  It came from a thrift store that was selling old Chambord Bottles (Raspberry Liquer from France, just went on their web-site and they changed the lid to just a normal one).  I have had a little crazy thing for crowns for over a year now, so it had to get added to the clock:

I was a little hesitant to give it a permanent home, but I love it on the box now. 

Then I was looking at it all and decided to cover the back.  The wood was rough and the sanding and paint job just barely covered it so I covered it in a piece of scrapbook paper from Michael's so that it would look beautiful from either side.

Then I added 1 piece of the bracelet bling onto the clock mechanism without even realizing it would move.  It is a flower shape and all day it turns around catching the light. 

At first I was unsure of this overly blinged up clock and I put it in places where it wasn't noticeable but now it has grown on me and I love it.  I think because it is essentially white, cream and silver it works. 

Sorry, I only have a 4mg camera so the picutres could be better. 

Patricia

Glamming up

I moved back to Alberta from Ontario a few months ago and in Ontario they have a garbage idea I like.  If they don't want something they put it on the street for someone to pick up and it's free.  Loved that.  My Mom was moving and we were clearing out her garage when she put a small plastic container on the street.  It held all her bike repair equipment.  I kept looking at it and 24 hours later I took it off the pile and gave it a home.

I like it, it had potential and it holds all my cords

But it is bland.  I need fancy for my desk so I started hunting for an idea.  I discovered I couldn't change the knobs, even a power drill wouldn't release them.  So I thought some more and then I went shopping and got these on sale,

Ugly I know, but I didn't want the yellow flowers, I wanted the bling.  I took the bling off the flowers (it was sewn on) and then glued the bling onto the drawer knobs with crazy glue designed for metal.  Here are  the results:

Here it is all together,

I love it!! Glams up my desk.

Until next time, Patricia

A Shabby Chic Bed

I love white duvet covers.  Have had them for years.  Once I got a cotton one for a dollar at a garage sale and used it for years.  I have tried other colours and I always go back to white. 

I used to have this bed:

A beautiful white sleigh bed (I was experimenting with beige and it didn't last a month)

Then I seperated and I decided I would take the bed with me.  It's queen size my room is not.  The day I discovered that it wouldn't fit was move in day.  It sort of all hit me on that day and I got the blues.  I couldn't see myself without my beautiful queen sleigh bed to crawl into. 

As I went to bed (in a blow up mattress) with the bed in pieces all around me I was searching for blogs and ran into http://www.myshabbystreamsidestudio.blogspot.com./  I had seen it a few months ago but not followed up on it.  I read the whole blog and it inspired me and changed my thinking.  Sandy had created a beautiful bedspace in the loft that was no more than a beautiful duvet and a blowup bed.  It made me realize I could create a beautiful space for myself that would fit the dimensions of the room.  I felt so liberated I carried the bed to the garage and put it on Kijiji. As well I wrote Sandy to thank her and she was kind enough to write back!!

I looked all over for a double bed ( Double gave me more room), for weeks and then I settled for a basic flat bed at Ikea.  I was shopping and discovered I could get a prettier bed for a better price and it was the Leirvik.  Ornate and painted cream - aaahhhh!! 

Here it is in progress

and here it is now

I adore it, I adore my Rachel Ashwell Duvet that I coveted for years (and have to spend 45 minutes ironing).  It's mine, it's peaceful, it's calming it's everything I wanted and on move in day thought I would never create.  I had no idea Ikea would make me so happy. 
I have a small room, I look out the window onto other condo's and I love it.  What do you think of the picture above the bed, remove it or keep it?
Quick story, in 2006 my family and I went to California.  I agreed to everything (even space mountain) and asked for only one thing, to go to Shabby Chic.  All I wanted.  Could have added on PomPom and Bountiful, but for me Shabby Chic was mecca.  One day we rented a car and drooovvvveee and finally found it.  I walked in and it was amazing, white settee in the window and a white bed in the other.  The bed had the same cover on it I now have.  It was stunning.  The place was so calming, the couches were so comfy and the fabric was amazing.... but the prices were high, I was mindful of the budget and purchased nothing.  I could kick myself now but it was a different mindset for me then.  But..... I should have at least purchased the gorgeous matches!!
Anyway, now I have a beautiful bedroom.  I adore it.  It's coming together and beginning to work for me.  The paint is soft muslin (Behr) in CIL voc free high gloss paint.
Until Next Time, Patricia - Part 2 of my Shabby Chic Bed Story can be found at:
http://whitecottagechic.blogspot.ca/2011/03/shabby-chic-bed-part-2.html

My Desk

For years (when I was married) I worked on a black computer tower on a big brown bankers desk.  I tried to make it look good but it never worked and I dreamed of the day when I would have a beautiful laptop and a pretty desk.  I bought my laptop this spring and then after the dust settled from the move, I went on Kijiji and searched.  The only desk I saw that met my needs was this:

It was perfect, petite to fit into my tiny room, had 4 drawers to fit my stuff, and best of all pretty.  I bought it from Linda at http://www.paintedwhyte.com/.  I knew I wanted to paint it and change the handles but I had to wait until I was finished ziplining!!

I went to Canada Tire and got Debbie Travis paint and I discovered they are going out of her paint and paint supplies.  Damn!! I have painted most of my furniture with her paint which lasts, for some reason smelled good, and lasted through moves and feet on the coffee table and was less $ than Benjamin Moore (which I also love).  Anyway, I got CF9N, Cloudy White in a gloss finish (from CIL) and went to work.

Then while the paint was drying I ran to Lee Valley Tools, a great place for glass drawer pulls.  I had to get help but back in the store room were beautiful milk glass pulls which I have always wanted.  They were $10.00 and change each and soooooo worth it.  So here is the final result:

And since I had the brush out I painted my chair,

and I painted over the moving damage and it isn't perfect but that does not bother me at all.

I just love it all

Until next time, Patricia

My pretty frame

Last spring I was at a garage sale (of some very neat people, you could have eaten off the floor of their garage!) and I picked up a frame for $1.00.  I painted it green which is very unlike me but it seemed to want green.

I added paper from the dollar store and then began to play,

Loved this (it was on a table)

loved this too

Suddenly I kind of liked green.

Until next time, Patricia

Sometime's it's just luck

Last summer I was heading back from the beach with my family and stopped at a garage sale that we found just ending.  I admired a ugly dining room chair and the couple offered it to me for free. Actually they offered me the whole set but I just wanted this one.  I saw potential!!

I went to Home Depot and picked up square decorative pieces to put on the chair which I applied with wood glue (I love wood glue, what an invention!)

I painted it a robins egg blue that I had leftover from Home Hardware's Canadian Home and Country paint.  It was awful!!  Too vibrant for my taste too blue.  I hate when that happens and I sort of needed to see it all done to realize how awful it was.  I decided to get my creamy white Benjamin Moore Aura "Gardenia" paint out to fix it.  I didn't want to make it completely white so I watered the paint and then ran the brush (not foam) from the top to the bottom of a section and came up with this dreamy effect.

I also had to change the seat.  I just turned the chair upside down and unscrewed the seat from the frame.  I placed a white cotton piece of fabric I had on it, tacked it on (my stapler was not working!) screwed the seat back on and done!

I love the result

Lovey does too! 

We just moved and the movers somehow cracked the front of the chair into jagged splinters right at the figure 8 portion.  I love the chair so much I am now just covering the splinter with a pillow until I can figure out how to fix it.

Until next time  Patricia

Mirrors

I love Mirrors!!  I adore venetian mirrors, mirrored boxes, vintage mirrors, mirrored furniture (not that I have any) mirrored tables.  Well, you get the picture, I love mirrors.  They reflect everything beautifully,

whether they are new or old.  This is a vintage mirror that I got for a nickel at a garage sale.  The woman selling it was shocked that I wanted it. 

I adore venetian mirrors

I love how they reflect candles, sunlight and flowers.

The mirror above the table is plastic and I picked it up at a garage sale for $5.00.  These are great if you find them because they are vintage, the mirror is dark in some spots and it is easy to remove the mirror and spray paint the frame.  This frame was peach (remember when every home was peach?? ugh!!) and I spray painted it a high gloss white. 

I was lucky enough to find this venetian tri-fold mirror in 2007 and I have looked high and low for another for my Mom, and unless I was willing to pay over $500.00 on ebay I couldn't replace it.  I adore it.

I even have a mirrored coffee table

This was an auction find that was dark brown and I painted it and put the mirror in it.  I love the way it reflects everything beautiful on it.

 
Some people say when you have this many mirrors it's because your vain, not me I'm just in love with light and reflection.

Until next time,
Patricia