Jack Jumped Over the Candlestick(s)

My latest obsession is candlesticks! Or pillar holders...or candle holders...whatever you choose to call them.

I want a whole bunch of big ones, various sizes and shapes, painted black, in the middle of my kitchen table.  I can remember not so long ago, there were always candle holders to be found at the thrift stores (you know...when I never had a desire to buy them).  

Now....not so much!  

Why is there a sudden rush on cheap, ugly, fairly large candlesticks?

I blame Pottery Barn!  ;)

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I mean, why pay $19-$49 from them to get this look, when you can paint old ones for next to nothing!

But....it's hindering MY ability to get candle holders cheaply.....and really, that's all that matters. ;)

And to buy new ones....WOWZERS!  They are a minimum of $10 a pop!  A little steep for me, especially considering how many I dream of owning. :)  

But ever so slowly, I am adding to my collection...$2 to $3 at a time.

The uglier the better.  I just hit them with some Valspar black spray paint and voila...I have various sized and shaped candle holders of my liking.

I have distressed one with some Rub N Buff, but mostly I just kept them solid black.

Sidenote...Speaking of Valspar spray paint.  It is not usually my first choice when it comes to spray paint.  But have you seen their new spray nozzles??  FABULOUS!!!

Other problem?  I get so torn!!!  Do I keep them all just for me??  Or do I take some to the booth?  :(  You know, I WANT to keep them all.  BUT...I also love my booth "followers" and want to share my new obsession.  

Oh, the life of a collector (and seller)! ;)

So, what did I do?

I kept three and took one of course. LOL  I think I'm comfortable with that ratio.  Now, if I can only find more. 

I also have been making some decorative candles.

I didn't take pictures, but that's ok.  It's so easy you don't need pictures.

I got this idea from my dear friend, Carol, at The Polka Dot Cottage.  She gives a wonderful tutorial, with pictures, here.

Basically, you stamp an image onto white tissue paper and then hair dry it onto the candle with wax paper.  Seriously, the hardest part is holding the image and tissue paper tight with an oven mit on (that hair dryer gets hot!).

  

It's hard to see, but this ones says, "See God in ever person, place, thing, and all will be well in your world." - Louise Hay.

The large floral one is a flameless candle.  Unfortunately, it did not get adhered good enough and came off.  But I'm not done trying to get this effect with a flameless candle.  I'll keep you posted on my success.

I DID however share these candles with my booth lovelies. :)  They just need to find their own candlesticks.  LOL  

Oh come on....THAT was funny. :P

And for complete randomness, here a couple other things I've put my touch on and took to the booth yesterday.

Excuse my disgusting carpet.  Note to self...probably not the best spot for photo ops. 

This shelf was a plastic gold scrolly shelf turned that I turned into this lovely with a whole lot of black, white, and gray paint.  

I must confess, I also did not want to give this up.  Having a booth is tough...I'm stingy. ;)

Someday I'm going to get around to showing you my new/old dining room chairs.  But this is the fabric that I used to upholster the seats.  I ADORE this fabric and want to use it everywhere!   But I do realize that might be slight over kill.  

My Gma Pat gave me a bunch of frames at Christmas she no longer wanted, so this was one that I painted and distressed and added my new favorite fabric too.  Wouldn't this be great in a gallery wall!  I may or may not have wanted to keep it to put on MY gallery wall I'm planning for the living room.  

I'm seeing a very ugly theme here...what about you?  ;)

My Nemesis

Do you ever have a project that just kicks your butt every direction you turn? 

I have lovingly referred to this cabinet as the "Project from H E (double) L!!! ;)

I think it is the first furniture piece I have ever taken on.  But after seeing all the wonderful redo's in blogland, I decided I had to do it too!  You know how that goes. LOL

So it started with this $15 Craigslist find...LAST SUMMER!

Yes....I have been slowly redoing this cabinet for well over SIX MONTHS!!!  Maybe nine?

Now you know why I call it my nemesis!

Here she is before:

AWFUL!

It used to be an old bathroom cabinet.  It would have hung the other direction....like this:

Is it weird that turning the picture upside down like that makes me nauseous? LOL

Anywho....it had a crackle finish.  I 'think' some type of oil based paint.  And had painting on the back.

It was B.A.D.

The inside was covered with old contact paper.

And let me tell you....that stuff was STUCK!

So, as a furniture novice...first I removed the contact paper.  Which turned out to be a nightmare!  It was down so hard, I couldn't just pull it off.  I had to use wallpaper remover and a scraper!

I was frustrated before really even starting. 

So I let it sit awhile before coming back to it.

When I finally got up the nerve to revisit this project, I tried sanding it.

But I decided pretty quickly that I was going to need to strip it!  UGH! 

I wasn't sure what kind of effect that crackle and oil (I think) paint would have on my finished product and I sure didn't want to do all that work to paint it and have it messed up.  And sanding wasn't getting me anywhere fast.

So, I bought furniture stripper and went to town. 

Furniture stripper was actually pretty easy to use...but it took me several coats to get it acceptable.

So....I got frustrated....and it sat....again. LOL

Next, I decided spray paint was the way to go. 

Doodle's room needed more of the grayish blue color spread around, so I figured the cabinet would be a great way to do that.

Unfortunately, the color I 'thought' would work, turned out looking like 1985, let's add some ducks wallpaper!!!

Thoroughly FRUSTRATED.....yep......it sat for MONTHS!!!!

Then finally, as Doodle's room was coming together, I knew she was going to need that cabinet for storage.  So, I repainted it.  This time with a quart of paint I got at Lowe's, a close match to her throw pillow.

YES!!! 

Finally!!!

Something I was pleased with.

BUT.....I did NOT want to tackle stripping the doors!!!

So, it went in her room, without doors, for MONTHS. LOL

But, FINALLY, with my new found freedom, I got the gumption to finish the whole stinkin' thing!!  It moved to the top of my list very quickly. :)

And last week, with a huge sigh of relief (and possibly some dancing and whooping), I finished the cabinet that was once my nemesis!!!

And I am in LOVE!! :)

I added feet I got at Lowe's to the bottom of the cabinet to make it look more like it was meant to be standing on the floor and not hanging on a wall.

Of course I distressed it.

I was a bit overwhelmed when picking out the knobs.  So many things would have looked great on this cabinet.  But eventually I decided I wanted a somewhat vintage, but understated look for the cabinet.

I got the adorable knobs at Hobby Lobby for $2.99 (I think, they may have been $3.99 each).

And now Doodle has a ton of hidden storage for her books, movies and bead supplies!!

And most important of all.....I can finally mark this project off my list!!!  LOL

Staged, before I had to add all her tween girl stuff: ;)

And here with the stereo, her beloved shells, and collectible she loves. :)

I got the little lamp at the Christmas Tree Shoppe for $10.  That place is so awesome.

I have a few more things to finish up in her room, but it is almost complete!!!

And I have some other functional ideas I used in her tiny 9x9 bedroom to show you soon! :)

(Check out the tab at the top of the page for the parties I attend and will be linking this project to.) :)

Yard Sale Steal!

First, let me say THANK YOU for all your well wishes!!  I really did appreciate them!  We are finally back to normal again! 

Well...as normal as we get anyway. :P

I do alot of things with the intent to blog about it.  And inevitably something comes up and I never get around to it.  Does that happen to you?

One of those things is, I thrift alot.  And I yard sale when I can (meaning when I actually get my lazy butt out of bed on a Saturday morning early enough). 

But I don't want to show you what I pick up until I've 'redone' it.  Which usually sometimes never happens.  So, I have a garage of 'stuff' just waiting for me to have time.  I'm sure I'm not the only one this happens too...as I've seen pictures of some of your garages. ;)

Notice you haven't seen pictures of MINE.  heehee

Anywho...a few weeks ago I actually made it out on a Saturday morning to hit some yard sales.  I picked up quite a few nifty finds that day, but with all the Halloween hubub and decor, I'm just now getting around to putting out and showing you my MAJOR FIND!

I was so excited to find these!  I'm not even sure what their technical name is...but they are wine bottles! 

Can I just say...they are so ME!

I paid $3 for the large one and $2 for the small one.  I have no idea...that might be a rip off or a steal...but I felt like it was steal. 

They are very ala-Pottery Barn to me. :)

I love their aged and torn labels.

I NEED to find a third one now to complete my 'set'.  Isn't three a set?  Or a collection?  Something like that.

But until then, I'm totally in love with these in my living room on my end table!

Did I mention I LOVE them!  And for $5...makes me love them even more!!  :)

So, while on the hunt... :)

Until next time....