2010 Has Come to a Close and Resolutions for 2011

Well, this has been a crazy year! I have been so involved in my booth at the antique store, along with my day job, that I have not had alot of time to post to my blog. My goals for the upcoming year are as follows: 1. Post regularly 2. Take before photos 3. Get a new camera to improve my pics. 4. Catch up on all of my painting before I buy more furniture to paint. 5. Master Mod Podge 6. Join more linky parties 7. Find more ways to repurpose and restyle my finds. 8. Clean out my stash of projects. Ok, now that I have that off of my chest, I am going to get ready to head to the neighbors house for a fun New Years Eve Party! I hope you all are ringing in the new year in style! Ann

You Can't Paint That Table !

Once again, excuse the poor quality pics. Someday, I will get better at that part of posting. This is one of those fabulous finds from Goodwill that I came upon on a Saturday Night. My husband was out of town and I had nothing better to do. Anyway, this oak table was sitting in the back of the store with the kids toys and no price tag. She was very solid, but had several large gouges on the top. I finally found the sweet little old lady who worked there and asked her what the price was. It was only $14.00. Sold! She then proceeded to give me a detailed tutorial on how to restore it back to its original state. After all she said 'You Can't Paint Oak'! I just thoughtfully nodded my head and agreed with her, knowing I was going to paint the table. It was in too bad of shape to refinish, and after all I love painting furniture. I took her home and filled in the gouges with putty, sanded the heck out of her and started painting. After a coat of primer and several coats of white paint, she was this beauty. Of course, I once again did not take any pictures before I took her to the antique mall, so she is covered with my display. she actually sold to a lady who owns a very upscale, shabby chic shop in town where everything is white! I am so proud that she gets to go to a very nice home. I am linking to these parties:

A New Life Rocks On

I know it has been two months since I posted last time, but I am so busy with projects that I never have time to sit down and post. Of course, I always have time to read everyone else's posts, so I think it's time I get busy with my own. I am so hooked on painting furniture that my mom actually walked into my house last week and said, 'Well I see you haven't painted all of your own furniture, yet'. No mom I haven't, but I am thinking about it. This is one of those great bargains from the thrift store, I think this came from Savers. I know I only paid $9.99 and it was ugly through and through. I am not very good at remembering to take great before pictures, but this is the best I have on this rocker. It actually had a dark green cushion with it that I recovered.

It had a wood finish with some very 1980's gold trim on the legs and a floral design on the top. The gold trim was actually a decal and it was a real chore to sand it off. I actually started to paint over it, but it was slightly raised and showed through the paint. So, after lots of elbow grease and perserverance she turned out like this-

This is in the booth at the antique mall, so I did not get a great picture of this cute rocker by itself. I love the fabric on the cushion, it was of course a remnant I picked up at Joann's.

It really updated this newly painted rocker. It actually sold very quickly, so I am happy that it can have a loving new home.

I am linking up to:

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

Baby, Oh Baby!

I am so excited to announce that my newest grandson was born yesterday and he was a BIG BOY! John Patrick came into the world 5 days late and he had really been packing on some pounds those last few days. He weighed in at 9lbs 12 oz, and he was 22 in long. He looks like a 2 month old. Anyway, we are so happy to finally get to meet him and so proud of his mom (and dad). He will be welcomed home tomorrow by his sister and 3 brothers. We are truly blessed to have 6 grandchildren (1 at our other sons house). They bring so much joy to our lives.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

I am really sorry for the quality of this picture (check out the reflection of the unfinished ceiling in my basement). I am obviously new at this photo thing, but this is the before of my mirror from Salvation Army. And, this is after a couple of coats of Krylon White Gloss spray paint. Isn't she a beauty! I am sure you can imagine my excitement when I first saw her, she was a real sleeping beauty!

I love finding pieces like this and knowing they will have new life again.

I am so excited to join my first link party! Check out all of the great ideas at

Under the Table and Dreaming

and and and

Cherished Hand me Downs

I have always loved old things, especially things that have been in the family for a while. I love repurposing old furniture and mixing it with newer things. So I guess I have always been "green". We can all be green and recycle in more ways than we think. It doesn't just have to be green bags and recycling our paper or plastic, although those are great things to do. We can recycle and reuse many things in our lives, and I want to talk about the many ways we can contribute to saving out earth and still maintain a stylish, chic approach to life. I will share alot of old things as well as new things made out of recycled materials. I would love to hear from you about what you have done or used to create a stylish lifestyle with recycled items. I am going to start with some of my favorite pieces that I have been using in my home for years. I never thought about them being hand me downs or 'old', used furniture. I thought about how beautiful they were and how blessed I was to have them in my home. I have also realized that these 'old' pieces are well made and have lasted so much longer than pieces I have purchased along the way. Sustainable furniture has been around for a long time, people have been passing down family heirlooms for many generations. I have also purchased newer furniture over the years, only to be disappointed by the quality of the construction. It usually ends up falling apart in such a short time.

This is probably my favorite piece that I own. It is actually called a doughbox. A doughbox was a kitchen essential used to keep the dough in that was rising for the days bread that was to be baked. Obviously, I have never used it as a dough box, but I have used it as a side table. It also functions beautifully to store seldom used items in, I am currently storing tablecloths in it. It is a beautiful piece that was brought to Kansas on a covered wagon from Ohio by my great grandparents. If it could survive that trip, it is definitely sustainable.

Well, that's it for today, but I'm looking forward to sharing my ideas and finds with you, and I would love to hear about your chic but recycled items