Beautiful Bench

The story of a bench..
That was found on Craig's List...
That once was in a little house in Waukesha
That once was in an old building in downtown Milwaukee
That now sits in our apartment.

Not sure of the exact history--but I like to think of the people that might have
sat on in--what they might have been waiting for--
And now, this bench will be in the foyer of our new home
Who will sit and wait on this bench? What will they be waiting for?

Here are the photos:

When the bench came to live with us. So pretty--but needed a bit of love..

 

In all her glory--a bit of sanding, a bit of priming, 3 coats of paint...



a bit of poly....and we are in lurve with it!  So much so that we brought it
up into the apartment (OK, we needed room in the garage for my next round of painting...)

More to come on those pieces in a bit.

Not too many new posts until after Labor Day--I have a two "get aways" planned
and a new house that needs some bedrooms painted.



Chalkboards and Paint and Lamps

Apologies for not posting since--well, 10 days ago!
Dirty Butter has been busy...
Here are some of my latest designs:

Old cabinet door turned to chalk board!  The red was a bit too vibrant,
so I took a bit of stain and gave it a nice "patina".
Burlap and Ribbon bows were fun to make and look so cute!

Here are the trio of chalkboards that I did.
Getting a straight line for the chalk board paint and the border was really difficult,
so I hot glued some trim in between. Makes it so "fancy"
Again, the patina on the blue makes me swoon....

This is a habitat $4 lamp given new life (and a $12 shade).
A bit of spray paint and drum shade shopping, and look what we have!
I can't wait to put this in my new family room!

Bench in process--a coat of primer--just waiting for the nice black paint to be applied.
Be patient, little bench, be patient.  Saturday is the day!

Let me know what you think about the chalk boards--they really do "work" with chalk.
Cute in an entry way, kitchen or mudroom--especially with a few hooks on them for keys??  Where's the drill...

Love ya!

Evolution of a Desk

First major project--the desk from Habitat Re-Store.  It is a "SteelCase" brand, and 4 strong adults could barely get it into the van--we had a hard time getting it out of the van....and it is so big, I can't wait for it to be out of the garage!  (Even though I have had fun working on it...)
Here are some photos--there is no final "reveal" yet...one more coat of paint and then some poly-shine is needed...

 After the desk came home, this is how she looked...worn, scratched, unloved....

 So, a little TLC (aka, sanding) was required...

Sanding, and wood filling--which was followed by more sanding and washing...

The smile is because I was done sanding--the white is the primer--it really smoothed everything out. 

Here she is after one coat of paint..we wanted to keep the color as close to the original wood as we could.

As I was painting, I found out that the only wood was the top, the rest was wood-looking metal...

And here she is after two coats of paint....so gorgeous....no brush lines, only a few drip marks...

Hopefully tomorrow will be the last coat and then the following days a few coats of poly rub for protection and shine.  I can say that desks will NOT be my furniture of choice--at least a desk of this size. It was difficult to get under the desk and paint "inside"...and I am sure the neighbors got a few laughs. 

Thank goodness for Jimmy Buffett and Maroon 5 music....sure kept me going....

Can't wait to tackle the bench this week too!  Can't decide on the color--black or a dark taupe?

What do you think??