Wednesday, December 7, 2011

A New Guest for the Holidays!

We usually host someone for the holidays, either my parents and/or my brother and his family.  We have a nice guest room that I haven't fully taken advantage of yet as far as re-decorating and "crafting up"goes, so I thought I would start somewhere, and that somewhere would be the bathroom!

I found a small vintage step stool or mini wood ladder at a ReStore over my Thanksgiving visit to my brother's house in Indiana.  By the way, if you have never been to a ReStore, it really should be on your places to visit list! They have hardware and home and building materials at a fraction of the retail cost and profits help Habit for Humanity International.  I have one fairly close to me, but was not able to visit it yet.  I took advantage of going out shopping with my sister-n-law on Black Friday and avoided the mall crowds by going to thrift stores and the ReStore!  What a fabulous shopping experience! It also feels nice to be buying from a store knowing that you are contributing to a good cause! 

Back to my mini ladder/step stool whatever thingy!  It was pretty paint stained and worn, but I had a vision for it! (and it only cost $3, so what could go wrong?)  I thought it would make a nice shelf of some sort.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to cut it up and hang it on the wall (I have seen that done and it looks quite nice) or just try to utilize it somehow as is.

Initially, I thought it might make a nice wine rack of some sort.  I tried different ways to figure out how it could hold the bottle and decided against it as I had a vision of my dog (still a puppy) running through the dining room and destroying my creation and my wine!  No good for anyone!

I then settled on making it a fixture for my guest bathroom. It gets lonely up there and doesn't get a whole lot of use, so it is in need of a makeover.  What better time than now before I have guests arrive?

I painted the little ladder in my favorite Annie Sloan Paint, Old White.



 Then I used another one of my favorite sites, The Graphics Fairy, to embelish the top step.




 I had picked up two tins at a local thrift store and painted them with Annie Sloan Duck Egg Blue (one of my new favorites!) and used them as holders for towels, soaps and such.  I was going to do another coat of Old White, but actually liked how rustic the little ladder looked with one coat.  I just did a quick wash of the Duck Egg over some parts to seep in a little blue color.
I think this little ladder will look perfect in my guest bathroom.
It could just be the spark I need  to start redecorating the whole room! 

Happy Holidays and Sweet Crafting!

DeeDee





Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Finally, a use for my Duck Egg!

I am a big fan of Annie Sloan Paint.  She has some wonderful colors, but when I first started out, I found that I relied mainly on the tried and true ones, Old White and Graphite for most of my painting. 

I decided to step a little out of my comfort zone and order a can of Duck Egg blue.  I was so excited about this color.  It is, literally, the color of a robin's egg.  Very delicate and just pretty.  I opened the top of the box it came in and placed it next to my work bench/painting area to anxiously await for a future project!

The can of Duck Egg sat there in my garage for a good few months.  Every time I had a project come up, I would look at that can, and then move on to my Old White.  Thus, my little pot of Duck Egg sat lonely by itself, still in the box it came in, just waiting to unveil it's true potential!

Then, when I was rummaging through some of my great finds, I noticed two metal ornate frames I had picked up...somewhere...


They are brass and have a great ornate leaf design all around.  They looked like they were at one time possibly mirrors.  The back of them has a little "shelf" around it as if the mirror was placed in there, but the clasps or metal flaps that might have held the mirror in place are missing.  So it was hard for me to visualize exactly what to do with these as it would be troublesome getting something to stay put inside the framework.  Still, I thought these were really beautiful when I saw them and surprised at how substantial and quite heavy in weight they were.

I thought a chicken wire memo board might be a nice idea for them and easy to attach as I could wrap the wire somehow in the back through the ornate design, so I went to reach for my tried and true Old White.  Then a thought rushed over me...what about my Duck Egg? Yes, the Duck Egg it is!  Finally, I had found a use for my Duck Egg!

Here is the result of my little project:




I think that the little brass frames look perfect in this color! 

My little pot of Duck Egg no longer sits lonely in my garage.  It has now been proudly moved to my crafting space indoors and is being used again for another project that should be finished shortly.  I am happy to have discovered it's potential!

Sweet Crafting!

DeeDee