Tweaking

Okay, so not totally thrilled with the teacup and saucer that I attached to the cabinet door sign I showed you here. 

My hubby actually gave me an idea for what to use in its place and I’m gonna go with his excellent suggestion {that does not leave this blog!  I will deny I ever said it}.  He suggested buttons in all four corners.  Luckily, I had four of the same style button and clipped off the backs, then hot glued them in place. 

What do you think?   Better?  I like it better than the teacup and sometimes it is best to follow the K.I.S.S. mantra.

Kathy

Finally! The Dresser Is Done!

Finally!  You’d think I was doing a whole suite of furniture for the time it took me to get this little dresser done.  I posted about how I found it on the side of the road here and this is what it looked like.

It was missing two of its three drawers, but I knew I could put wood there and use baskets.  Since I ordered a quart of the legendary chalk paint for my headboard, I thought I would use it on this piece, too.  Anything to not have to sand or prime!

My hubby made me two shelves out of some luan that we already had in our garage for the drawerless areas.   We also had this decorative trim left over from our master bathroom redo. 

I painted the whole thing in Annie Sloan’s Old White chalk paint, then rubbed on the Clear Wax.  {Edited to answer a comment: All products used are from the Annie Sloan line}.

You recall I asked for your help on what color to paint the baskets for the two shelves.  I wanted to make a choice between gray or black.  Thank you so much for your input on that!  I wound up not going with either of those choices!

The baskets got sprayed with Oil Rubbed Bronze; for two reasons.  First, I had it already and B. because I thought the brown would look good considering the dark wax is, basically, brown and the script writing on the scrapbook paper I used was brown. 

I added tags to the baskets using shipping tags covered in a script scrapbook paper and numbers I got from The Graphics Fairy.  I tied them on to the baskets using two colors of seam binding.

I was disliking the way the floral bit looked on the one and only drawer ~ even painted over.  Not quite the look I’m going for.

So I got some script and music scrapbook paper to see which I liked better. 

I liked the middle one best.  The background color went very well with the Old White chalk paint and the script was very soft.  The first one pictured to the left I used on the tags.

I cut it to size and Mod Podged it onto the front of the drawer.  The 12x12 sheet allowed me to get the two pieces I needed.  The picture below is pre-wax.

I also needed knobs because there were none on the drawer when I got the dresser.  I realized that I already had a couple of round wood knobs that I could use.   I dipped them in the chalk paint and stuck them upside down into styrofoam cups to dry {I put the screw in them when I did this}.

I added the dark wax to the whole piece {except for the shelf areas since the baskets will be on them anyway}, but got a little heavy handed I think and had to go back in with the clear wax to lighten it up again.  Like magic that clear wax is!  I couldn’t believe how it lightened up the dark wax and I finally got it to where I liked the look.

Finally, here she is in place in my entry foyer!  This will be her home for now.  Although, I do like the idea that because of the color, I could put this piece anywhere.  I love it!  I have some future posts planned featuring this piece.

By the time I got someone to help me bring it in from the garage on Sunday, it had gotten cloudy.  If I can get a few better pictures in the morning before I leave for work, I will replace these, as they really don’t do it any justice.

I decorated the top with stuff I already had.  The lamp I recently bought at TJ Maxx {$19.99} specifically for this chest.  The books and tray are in my etsy; the floral I’ve had for several years and is from Home Goods.

EDITED:  Some day time shots from this morning.

Now just a little bit about the paint and my take on it.  I would be a bit more careful when applying the dark wax although you can fix any area that looks too dark by reapplying clear wax.  The paint covered wonderfully and this piece is made up of plastic legs, MDF and a little bit of real wood.  Very high quality stuff here.  So it worked on three different surfaces beautifully.  I applied the paint with a good paint brush and applied the wax with rags. 

Is it worth the $34.95 a quart, plus additional for the waxes?  Well, depending on how much I can get out of this can will determine whether I would buy it again.  I applied two coats to this dresser and still have 3/4 of a can of paint left.  The major plus was no sanding or priming and if you had to get primer and paint, you might be pretty close to that price anyway.

Linking up with:

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch

Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy

Table Top Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Sizzle Into Summer at DIY by Design

Treasure Hunt Thursday at Blue Creek Home

Time Travel Thursday at Brambleberry Cottage

Kathy

Evalyse’s First Tea Party ~ A Mad Affair!

This fairy tale is my contribution to Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist’s “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party”.   Authored by, and with pictures choreographed by my daughter, it includes a cast of characters listed below.  I am pleased to show off some pictures of my granddaughter in the role of “Alice”, which my daughter was kind enough to allow for this post.

“Alice” ~ my granddaughter, Evalyse

LaLa ~ that’s me, I’m LaLa! {instead of Grandma}

The Mad Hatter ~ My son-in-law

The March Hare ~ Son-in-law’s best friend {he’d have to be to do this!} and godfather to my granddaughter

Author and Picture Taker ~ my daughter

And so, our story begins . . . .

It was a beautiful day outside and Evalyse was spending the day with LaLa.

They were picking flowers when all of a sudden, a white rabbit hopped by.

Evalyse couldn’t resist following the rabbit, so she lead LaLa down the rabbit’s path.

But soon they lost sight of the rabbit.  It had disappeared down a dark hole.

Evalyse looked at LaLa, and LaLa nodded and took out her magic dust.

And they were transported down the hole.  They found themselves in front of a beautiful door.  But it was locked!

“I think the key Mama gave you might work”, LaLa said.

And lucky for them, it did work!

On the other side of the door was a huge garden.

They walked through the garden until they came across a curious scene.

It looked to be a tea party of the Mad variety.  And who was there?

Why the Mad Hatter and The March Hare!  They invited Evalyse and LaLa to have tea with them.

Along with their tea, they had cupcakes and cookies and sweets of all sorts.

And they drank and ate until their hearts were content.

Finally, Evalyse gave a big yawn and LaLa said, “I think it might be time for a nap”.

And she picked up her sleepy baby and brought her home.

“I had the strangest dream, Baby.  I dreamt you had tea with a Hatter and a Hare!”, said Mama.

Evalyse looked at LaLa and smiled, knowing she would never forget her first tea party!

THE END!

I hope you enjoyed our little tale; it was fun to do something “fanciful”!  As a bonus, I think we will be making this into a photo storybook for our little Evalyse!

*I had some questions on my previous post asking where I got that lovely ruffled tablecloth.  I actually won that in a blog giveaway about a year ago that was sponsored by Lavendar Fields.  Funnily enough, the shop is right downstairs from where I work at my day job!   I was able to pop down there and pick it up in person. 

Kathy