A Booth & a Dresser

Hey there everyone! It has been too long. Between working full time & the day to day stresses of life, I started neglecting my blog. Shame on me!

Things have been exciting around here recently. Hubby & I became vendors at De'France Antiques and Collectibles in Fort Walton Beach! I have been over the moon. Its so exciting to be able to follow my dreams & passions.

Current Booth

Original Booth

That being said, we've had A LOT of extra DIYing going on to keep up with the demands of the booth. I'm pretty sure our neighbors think we are nuts with all of the loads of furniture coming in & out of the house.

Here is my most recent furniture makeover. This dresser was actually a gift from Micah. I loved the wood tone, & it was in very good shape, but I had to give it a little more oomph!

For this beauty, I took out the drawers & used a white spray primer to coat the body so I wouldn't have to do any sanding. Then, I simply painted 3 coats of flat white latex paint over the whole thing. Once that was dry, I used 100 grit sand paper to lightly distress the edges & raised areas. After wiping it down to remove any dust, I applied two layers of clear furniture wax {buffing in between}. I'm still planning on adding a little extra something to the recessed areas on top two drawers, but its lovely as is.

It now has found its perfect spot in our master. I am itching to get my hands on our other dresser, but its going to have to wait a bit.

So what do y'all think of my newest furniture addition?! 

Also, hubby & I would L-O-V-E it if you would go "like" our new Facebook page for our booth. Its called Southern Vintage, & I promise y'all with love it!

Shabby to Chic

Have you ever had something in your house that you didn't just love, but it was free & useful, so you kept it? Even though it was U-G-L-Y {"You ain't got no alibi!"}? That was the predicament that I was in with these practical baskets under our coffee table. The one on the left is a very nice rattan one from my dorm room days that currently houses our growing board game collection. The little beauty on the right {ugh} is something that ended up in my apartment after my grandmother's open heart surgery a couple of years ago. It served its purpose as a snack basket for my family at the hospital then wound up with me. Its a great basket, don't get me wrong & perfect for DVD storage, just not the prettiest. And I was not loving the way it looked when paired with the other. So what is a DIYing girl to do? Spray paint it of course!!

I perused the very limited spray paint aisle at Walmart & decided on Krylon's Global Blue in a glossy finish. {Disclaimer: While I love the way it turned out, I don't love the color with the rest of my living room. I'm planning on repainting it in a red, I just haven't found the time yet!}

I made sure to wipe the basket down with a damp cloth to remove dust & pet hair {thanks Zinga}. Then I took it outside, laid down some newspaper, & went to town. I used the entire can just to make sure that I had good coverage. I sprayed the inside of the basket, as well. I let it dry a full day, since the humidity down here in Florida is worse than Hades. 

To make it coordinate better with the other rattan basket, I added burlap to the handles. I doubled up a piece & cut it down to size. Using my hot glue gun I kept burning the you-know-what out of my fingers carefully wrapped & glued the burlap. To help keep it attached {because it was kind of refusing to lay down in some areas} I tied thin strips on each edge. 

At first, I liked the bows.  

Then, decided to cut off the tails to make it a little more streamlined & not so "country-ish". 

And there ya go! A totally new looking basket for only $3!! Plus it brings a pop of color to the space. As soon as I find the time {& the rain lays off down here} I'm going to repaint it to match my vision a little better. And, of course, I'll post an update!!

You're the Only Ten I See

Hello y'all & happy Friday! I've been slowly working on a collage wall for our living room {which is why I still haven't posted about it yet}. Its still a work in progress, but I'm very pleased with how its coming along!

There are tons & tons of fabulous free printables available online, & I finally decided to take advantage of them. Hubby & I both are from Tennessee & have lots of state pride, so what better way to honor that than some state art for said collage wall?! 

I downloaded this free state printable from Q.A. Design, which also offers every other state as well as many countries. 

Now, I love me some Rocky Top Orange, just not so much in my living room, so I used Picnik to tweak the colors a bit to match with our decor better. 

I printed my final image at Walgreens as a 5x7, which cost me under $2. The frame is from Walmart, costing under $2 as well, & the mat I already had. 

Which brings this lovely little project to a grand total of a whopping $4!!

"Are you from Tennessee? 'Cause you're the only ten I see!"

Coffee Table Overhaul

Today, I thought I'd give y'all a little sneak peak at our living room via the coffee table that I painted for it! 

Micah ended up being able to move out of barracks while he was at Fort Bragg last year, so when I went for a visit during my summer break, I helped him get some furniture. Knowing that anything he bought had the potential to end up in our 1st place together, I wasn't going to let him buy just anything! I found a matching coffee & end table {& a couch} listed on Craigslist all for $100. What a steal, huh?! We have since then gifted the couch away, but the tables made the trip to Florida. They originally caught my eye because of the shape & style. I wanted something with a slatted top & a bit decorative on the legs that would lend itself to shabby chic style. The oak color wasn't ideal, but I knew that was an easy fix. 

Once we got all of our stuff down here & the house set up, this was my first project to tackle. This pieces are both very solid. We aren't entirely sure what they are made of, though. The top had a thick layer of some sort of laminate on it, but it looks like real wood underneath. It's a mystery. 

My plan at 1st was to use Micah's palm sander to take off the top layer of whatever & then stain it with a satin Walnut stain/poly I purchased at Wal Mart. To say that didn't work would be a huge understatement. It took me 45 minutes to get one little board sanded. My plan changed quickly. I went back to Wally World & got some dark brown paint in a satin finish {just the cheapest interior kind they had}. 

I dragged the heavy beasts outside on top of an old sheet & gave them both a light hand sanding. I flipped them over on their tops & 1st painted the bases with Krylon Cream spray paint in a satin finish. It took 3-4 cans to get both evenly coated. After I was satisfied with the legs, I turned them right side up. Using a wide sponge brush, I painted the tops with my brown paint. 3 coats was perfect. I probably could have gotten away with 2 because the paint covered really well, but I wanted to be safe. Once that was dry, Micah & I used the stain that I had bought for the tables over the paint to deepen the color a bit & to provide a bit of protection for the paint since it had poly in it as well.

As a centerpiece, I've displayed our wedding photo book {which I made on Shutterfly}, 'K' coasters from Bed Bath & Beyond {which were a wedding gift}, & a Bean Pod candle {They are soy candles & clean burning! This was also a gift. Plus they smell ah-mazing!}. I've been looking for a tray as well, but haven't been able to find the perfect one yet. 

We use the baskets underneath the coffee table as storage for our board games {Scrabble is our FAVE.} & for movies & Micah's Xbox games. I've been toying with the idea of painting them since they don't match at all. What do y'all think about that?

The piece of pottery that hold our wedding book was also a wedding gift from my dad's cousin & was made by her daughter, Lee. Not only is is exceptionally beautiful, you can use it like a casserole dish as well! How awesome is that?! All of her pieces are handmade. Check out her Facebook page for more pictures of her work!

This was just the facelift these tables needed! I'm all about two tone furniture & contemporary shabby chic right now. The end table looks just like this, as well, but I didn't want to give too much of my big living room reveal away! The best part is this project cost under $30 & only took a few hours! Can't beat that. 

USA Wreath

Yesterday, I posted on my easy peasy bunting banner that is adding a little 4th of July spirit to our house. Well today, I have my other holiday related project to show you!

This is a minor variation to the burlap wreath I posted about last week. Instead of making a whole new wreath, I just switched out the decoration on it!

I picked up wooden U, S, & A letters at Walmart for around $1 a piece. 

I wanted them to be a little more interesting than just solid colors, so I decided to paint the U blue with white stars & the other 2 in red & white stripes to emulate Old Glory. I started out by painting each with a base coat using acrylic craft paint {blue for the U & white for the S & A}. The white took a few layers to get a nice even coat. Don't forget the edges either!

On the U, I free handed small stars with some bright white paint & a small, precise brush. If you aren't comfortable doing that, then I suggest using a stencil or even stickers. The stripes were a lot easier. I took a thin roll of masking tape & taped off stripes on the last 2 letters, then went over the non taped off areas with red paint. It took 2 layers to get intense red that I was wanting. 

After everything was dry, I hot glued pieces of floral wire to the backs of each letter. 

The last step was to attach them to my wreath! This project only cost me about $4 & just about an hour to make. Now we are truly ready to celebrate Independence Day!!

No Sew 4th of July Bunting

I love holidays. And decorating. And now that I have my own house, I'm super excited about holiday decorating!! I feel like we have a lot of American pride around here {especially since hubs is in the Army}, so I wanted to give July 4th some special decorations of its own!

Being newly married, the only holiday decor we've managed to accumulate are a few things for Christmas. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that may or may not make the next move with us. Thus, this cheap and chic bunting banner was born!

I picked up red, white, & blue fat quarters from the sewing/quilting aisle at Walmart for 97 cents a piece.



Using my rotary cutter, I cut each piece of fabric into 3 {mostly} equal strips lengthwise.



Then, I cut each strip into 4 equal squares.



 What's really great about the rotary cutter & cutting board is that you can cut multiple layers at once, making the whole job super quick. 

I didn't want triangular bunting, so I cut an inverted V out of one side of each square with my pinking shears. Using the pinking shears again, I trimmed a little off the other sides of my flags so they wouldn't fray.



Then comes the most time consuming part…. ironing each one. I ironed the creases out of each & then folded a small section of the top down & pressed it. That is where you will attach your string.

I used white craft string that we already had. You could use anything though…. twine, ribbon... you get the picture. I put a thin like of hot glue along the top crease I made, quickly placed my string in it & folded the small flap down.



I kept the string still attached to the spool & just unwound it as I needed. You could use any placement with your flags, but I wanted mine almost touching. After what seemed like a bajillion years, I was finally done & ready to hang it!

The awning of our porch is pretty high up, & we don't have a ladder, so I ended up on Micah's shoulders… Too bad there wasn't someone else with us to get a picture of that huh?! There were already staples where I was planning on hanging it, so used my staple gun & {carefully} tacked it up every so often. I wanted my banner to swag quite a bit, but once again the options are pretty limitless on how you want to hang it. 

I was super pleased with the end result! It is by no means perfect {nor is my hanging job}, but I love the bit of color & whimsy it adds to our front porch. And it was only $3 to make, so you can't beat that!

Chevron Monogram Burlap Wreath

Today I wanted to share with y'all the burlap wreath that I made for our front door! A wreath was one of the 1st things on my to do list after we got all settled in {the outside of our place definitely needed a little sprucing up}. After one failed attempt that involved a vine wreath, I found this tutorial on Pinterest & knew it was just what I had been looking for. 

I got the burlap, floral wire, & "K" at Walmart, then picked up the wire wreath form from JoAnn's {I got the medium sized one}. 

I loosely followed this great tutorial to create my burlap masterpiece. Its very easy, you just have to play around with it until you are satisfied with how it looks. 

I previously painted my "K" for the failed vine wreath disaster…. I'm completely & utterly obsessed with chevron, so I knew that was what I wanted for my wreath. I used a straight edge & just winged it a bit. I chose a bright & summery color palate, but then after some complaining that it "looked Jamaican" from Micah, I distressed it with my antiquing gel, & I actually like it a lot better.

Once my wreath was done, I hot glued a piece of wire to the back of the "K" & attached it off center on my wreath. There were already screws in our door from a past resident, so I just popped it up there & voila! All in all, this took about 30 minutes to make, some patience, and about $10. Not too shabby, huh?

Table Re-do

Today's post is all about the end table {at least that's what I think it is} that I painted for our guest room.  This table was completely FREE. Which is the best kind of table if you ask me! We picked it up off of the side of the road in our neighborhood. I know that sounds sketchy, but our waste management people pick up furniture, appliances, etc on Saturdays, so people throw out stuff that they don't want anymore on a regular basis. And you know what they say… one man's trash is another man's treasure! My dad calls it "garbage chic."

The face of the bottom drawer was broken {hence the reason it was tossed to the curb, I'm guessing}, so Micah did a quick repair job on it. It was two toned, which I love right now, but it was yucky thin laminate that was peeling off in areas. So, of course, I decided to paint it. There are a lot of colors going on in our guest room, so instead of doing a pattern on the table like I had originally wanted, I stuck with a solid color. I was leaning towards a very light turquoise, but Micah hates that color {& he threw a mini hissy...}, so I went with a pretty green called Apple Orchard. 

I'm not sure if I went about painting the "right" way, but it worked for me {this isn't a valuable piece of furniture that we are planning on keeping}. I wiped it down & then just went to work. I was afraid that if I sanded it the veneer would rip off, so I didn't. It took quite a few layers to get an even coat. You have to make sure each layer is completely dry before you put a new one on. Once it was all dry, I reattached the drawer pulls back on & put the drawers back in. And ta da!

This isn't a paint job that's going to last for a long time or be super durable, but it works for us! And I love the way it looks in the room. 

{Sorry the pictures are a little blurry…my iPhone failed me on these!}

Embroidery Hoop Monogram

I know I promised an "after" reveal of our house.... but I have a few projects in the works, & I don't want to show you a half done place. So, instead, I'm going to go room by room. I think that's going to be much less overwhelming for me & everyone else! Today, however, I have a glimpse of our living room! I wanted to create a gallery wall behind our couch, & what gallery wall would be complete without a monogram?! {I told you I became a bit monogram obsessed after getting married!}

My first idea was for a framed monogram, but then I wanted something a bit more original. After browsing through JoAnn's for a while, I saw some embroidery hoops & genius struck!

I grabbed the medium sized one & hurried home. The hoop was raw wood, so I decided to paint it white. Then, I cut a piece of fabric left over from my button pillow project, fitted it, trimmed the edges & secured it to the back with hot glue. 

I'm obsessed with ombre right now. Obsessed. After seeing this project done by Mandi at Vintage Revivals, I decided to do a modern ombre on my K {which I picked up from the craft section at Walmart}.  I don't think all colors look good ombre.... but blue is one of the ones that do {at least in my opinion}, & I really love navy blue right now. I divided my K into 3 horizontal sections & painted the bottom section with a navy acrylic paint. Then mixed in white until I got the medium & light tints of blue that I wanted & painted those next. After everything was dry, I hot glued the K to to the fabric on my hoop & voila!! Custom, unique monogram.