Martha Stewart Stencil on Canvas

 Hello Friends!
I have been away from blogging. I have a hard time consistently blogging because I have a job where my schedule constantly changes! Today I am sharing my ugly abstract paintings I made last year. Here they are *shudder*

My apartment is a beige box! Beige carpet and walls!  So when I moved in last year I wanted a quick, cheap and easy fix to the boring walls. Needless to say they are ugly! So I decided they needed some updating.

  I have a brown sofa and love seat and accents of teal around the apartment. I wanted to keep the colour combo.

 Firstly, I painted the old canvas beige...I know more beige! I needed a plain background for the teal colour. I bought the Martha Stewart stencil package called arabesque. I got it at Michaels on sale for $22 which was fantastic!

 Here is after the first couple of attempts. The Stencils worked great and I was really liking what it was turning out as.

 I used Martha Stewart's stencil brushes and I highly recommend them. They made the task so easy!

 Here is the after photo! I like these so much better than the other ones! What do you think?

Here's a last little close up.

Repurposed Dinning Chair

Hello Friends! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, I have been really busy working. I am super excited about how this project turned out. I got this chair at an auction last spring for $2!! Great deal! I have been planning on painting it the same turquoise colour that I used on my buffet. I just couldn't find the right fabric for the seat cushion. I searched and searched and manage to find a couple of options that I liked. I wanted something muted that would work with my apartment and wouldn't compete with the bright colour of the paint.

 This is the chair as I had bought it. I loved the details of the legs!

 I sanded the entire chair after removing the seat cushion. I had some help as you can see the back half of my puppy. I then sprayed my chair with my turquoise pant.

 After the paint had dried I attached the newly upholstered seat cushion.

 I am so happy I went with this beige and cream striped fabric as it works with the carpet and the paint in the apartment. Since I can't change those two factors I had to work with them.  

 I just love the extra pop of colour it adds to the boring beige wall!



How do you work around design dilemmas?

My New Buffet

I had been looking everywhere for a buffet that would be perfect when painted and distressed. I finally found one at aberfoyle antique market. This is what I started out with.

 I decided to paint the buffet:

I painted two coats with my new paint spraying gun. I fell in love with this gun as it makes painting things so much faster! However I left my painted buffet to dry outside overnight and when I woke up early it was covered in dew! I had a minor panic attack and hoped the sun would help to dry the buffet quickly. A couple of hours later and I found that the dew had made streaks in the finish.

After I looked at the "dew disaster" I realized I liked the effect it had made. Since I was planning on distressing the buffet anyways the extra imperfections the dew had made worked. I would have painted another coat of paint if I had wanted a perfect finish.

Next I sanded using a 120 grit sandpaper on some of the detailed areas and where it would naturally have some wear.

I took out the wooden knobs and replaced them with anthropologie mother of pearl knobs. I love these because they match the feel of the antique drawer pulls the bottom drawer had.



Here is the final look!

So what do you think?

First Post: breaking the ice

Hi Friends!
This is my first blog post and to be honest I'm quite excited about it. I have been busy with little projects, crafts, and antiquing. I am excited to start sharing with my new friends.

I will share one preview with the group. My teal buffet. I found a willow dresser last year at the christie Antique show that was distressed and gorgeous. I bought it for my living room to put my oversized hand me down t.v on. Well since then I have been looking for a buffet that I could paint to match. I wanted one with lots of carving and details to it. I was extremely excited when I found this one at aberfoyle antique market in the spring. It's just perfect!
Later on I will show you the steps I took to get the buffet looking like this!
P.S. Can you guess what my favourite colour is?