Wordless Wednesday: Art Supply Space

My art supply cabinet.  This was a stained dark wood piece used to house books and dvds at the old house.  I painted it, and replaced the glass doors with chicken wire.

 

The whole thing was this dark wood you see on the inside of the cabinet.

Lots of space for lots of stuff.

I added fabric to the backing.

My painting cart, where I can keep the supplies needed for the current project close at hand.

New Look For the Old Headboard

I had made this headboard at my old house, but the fabric didn't match the decor/colors in my new bedroom.

I wanted something soft and quilty, and shabby chic-ish.

And I found exactly that in these great quilted pillow shams at Goodwill!

So I washed them, then opened them up so I could use the fabric from the back, as well, because the sizing wasn't right. I know I could have just removed the old fabric from the headboard, AND the foam underneath to make it the right size of these pillowcases, but that would have been ENTIRELY too much work.

And of course, since I did not take my time and do this right, I ripped up the binding a lot.

Because I never say to myself, 
"Today I will do the XYZ project.  I will gather my supplies and block out time."

No.  I just say, maybe between throwing in laundry and feeding the chickens,
"Lemme real quick do this headboard project.  It'll just take a sec."

So I had to fix it.

Use the sewing machine, they said!

But....

Welllll......

So hot glue it was.

I hot glued everything.

I hot glued the binding back together.

I hot glued the fabric down.

I hot glued the skin on my finger pads right off.  If I ever need to be identified by my fingerprints, I'm getting away with some crime scott free.

The fabric from the back of the pillow cases was too thin to adequately cover the existing fabric, so I (you guessed it) hot glued some old canvas down first, then glued the fabric over that.

And there you have it. Nothing was measured unless you count the eyeball method, so consequently nothing is square, nothing even.

It probably wouldn't hold up to much....ummm.... "activity", but the only activity this headboard is seeing is of the falling asleep while reading sort.

Maybe next thing I'll tackle will be to rehang/recenter the mirror on the wall above.  

Lemme just block out some time to get to that.

Shutter Nightstand

I just finished up my Shutter-Turned-Nightstand project and I'm pleased as punch.

How pleased IS punch, anyway? I guess if it's anywhere as pleased as the animated Kool-Aid pitcher from the commercials I saw when I was a kid, I have aptly described my feelings and can move on.




 


So I got this old shutter at a yard sale for a couple bucks.
I wanted to do SOMEthing with it, but what?
It finally came to me in a vision.
Maybe I had had too much Kool-Aid, I don't know.

Anyway, I thought, why not just paint it and put some brackets on it and cut some boards and decoupage the boards and get some flush-mount hardware and a couple of crates and find some old shoe-boxes and decoupage them, too?

Easy.
Easy-peezy.
Easy-peezy-lemon-squeezy.
Easy-peezy-lemonade-flavored-Kool-Aid-squeezy.

Now that we've come full circle with the whole Kool-Aid thing, I can move on to the project itself.

First I cleaned the shutter.
Obvi.
Bugs and grime on indoor furniture are overrated.

Then I painted it. I used chalk paint.  Annie Sloan's (of course).  The "stockist" I use is Consign-it Furniture in Kennett Square, PA.

I did a base coat of Louis Blue, a top coat or two of Pure White, and then sanded heavily to get a good bit of "peek-a-boo" color showing through.  Then I clear waxed the whole shebang.

Next I attached three sets of brackets.  Pretty sure I got them at Lowe's.  I measured up from the floor for my first shelf, which is the "business shelf" for my lap, alarm clock, glass of water, etc.  Going up from there I just eyeballed where I wanted the other two shelves.

Also at Lowe's I got a 16" x 6' edge-glued pine board.  I used my compound miter saw to cut it into four even 18" pieces (though I only needed three of them).
However, I held one of the upper shelves in place just to have a look-see, and decided it was too deep (front to back).  It looked too clunky. So I "ripped" the upper two boards in half down to 8" each.  And it was much better.

I decoupaged the shelves with some pretty paper I already had, and then attached the shelves to the brackets.

I bought a thing of those cute little fairy lights with the copper cord.  This particular set, which I got from Amazon, has a convenient thumb switch on the cord, so I can turn them on or off from my bed.  Anyway, I strung those up and down the back of the shutter so the light just softly shines out between the shutter slats.

I bought a flush-mount hardware thing-y and followed the directions, which means just hanging one part on the wall, one part on the back of the shutter, and then.....hanging it.

And that was it!

The shutter slats have just enough flexibility to shove a cord through, so you can feed power cords through to plug in behind.

This was a pretty easy project and I'm quite pleased with it.  It gave my exactly what I was looking for in terms of function and style.  The "nightlight" is just enough light to turn on in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or whatever.
Love it!

("Oh yeaahh!")



PS: Pay no attention to all the links.  Just threw them in fyi.  No affiliations.  This blog is not monetized.
PPS: Linking up with Tuesday link party in "A Stroll Through Life"

LIFE CHANGE!

June 2017?

That was my last most recent post.

SO much has happened since then.

Maybe as much in my own life as politically.

Okay, no.  That was going too far.

That being said, there have been a few changes within my own small circle.

Like divorce.

Like buying, and fixing up, and moving to a new house.

The new house is less than half the size of the old house, but I love it double.

Nay, triple the love. Minimum.

Plus there have been several high school graduations, new jobs for myself and the kids, multiple hospitalizations and surgeries for multiple kids, goodbyes to loved pets, welcomes to new pets.

Want me to go on?

I didn't think so.

So ... I'm going to leave all that right there.  Just let it lie.

Big breath.

I will be back soon with a fresh new post from fresh new me.

Branching Out

I decided to mix things up a bit by taking a break from lettered signs and moving in the direction of paintings.

  

Like, actual paintings.

But other than high school art, and one drawing class in college, I haven't had much in the way of instruction.  So I was a bit timid  when go-time came a-callin'.  So yes, I painted a picture, but no, I used no color.  Is black a color?  

Still, I found my first attempt none too shabby, so I girded my loins and put some colors in my little plastic palette.  I picked up my paint brush, took a deep breath, and tried again.

Much to my surprise, this goat appeared out of nowhere on this scrap of barn wood.  Like he had been hiding in there.

  




Confidence bolstered, I tried a few more.

I was having fun!  I was finding my fair share of frustration, too, but that's to be expected, I should think.  Being pretty new to this and all.

And so I gathered up my newly minted animal paintings on barn wood and slate and other odds and ends canvasses, and brought them with me to an artisan's market I was signed up for.  They did great.  They flew off the shelves!  I sold just about everything.

I have some custom signs I'm working on right now (lettered pieces), but once they're checked off my to-do list, I will turn my attention to exploring this animal thing a bit more.  I've signed myself up for a beginner's acrylics class this summer, and I'm anxious to learn more about this and looking forward to expanding my abilities.

And I welcome any tips or feedback from any artists!

Wordless Wednesday: New Pieces

Wordless Wednesday