Month

February 2017

$10 Antique Book Find

Today I got to spend the afternoon with my daughter who is about to graduate from High School. She went with me to run an errand and we decided to make a lunch date out of it. After lunch and a little bonding we decided to stop at a thrift store that was close to the restaurant. My cute 18 year old daughter likes to go thrift shopping with me! ๐Ÿ˜Š She gets almost as excited as I do when we find a treasure at the thrift shop, yard sale or estate sale. And today we got lucky!! After finding some cheap movies and a few of The Office seasons we took a stroll over to the glass display cases to see what was there. There were some fun old and not so old items on display but I think we ended up with the oldest item there.

This book was in this bag so I wasn’t sure what it was but I was surely curious. So I asked the cute lady working there if she could open the display case for me. I pulled the book out and I could see right away why it was kept in the bag. It’s falling apart. So I carefully started to go through the pages to see what was on the inside.

I discovered a few pages had pictures glued to them and I found a flower that had been placed in the book to be pressed, I assumed. I also found the name of the book. The Plays of Philip Massinger with notes by W. Gifford. This is Philip Massinger

He was born in the late 1500’s and apparently his plays were rather popular back in his day. But this book is not as old as him. I found a few dates in the book leading me to believe this book was published in the mid 1800’s. ๐Ÿ˜ฎ There was also a signature in the book that was fading and turning brown. I couldn’t make out the name but…I found another clue! Yes I am a detective! ๐Ÿ˜‰ On the inside of the cover of the book I found a small oval piece of paper that was also glued into the book with a name. A.V. Lesley M.D. New Castle, Del. ย So, back to the signature in the book…

It’s a match!!!! I know I’m a huge nerd!! ๐Ÿค“ In more ways than one, but this is definitely one of them! But seriously who wouldn’t be excited about finding these little connections! And there’s more!! Thanks to google I found a tid bit of information about A.V. Lesley!! (Do you like all my -> !!!!! <- ๐Ÿ˜‰) His full name is Allen Voorhees Lesley and he built a big old beautiful house in, that’s right, New Castle, Delaware. He built his house in 1855 and passed away in 1881.

Soooo if that is his signature in his book, and I tend to believe it is, this book is like 150 years old!!!! (More exclamation points) ๐Ÿค—๐Ÿค—๐Ÿค— (and some jazz hands)

As you can see I ended up buying the book. I don’t know what it is about finding something old and holding it in your hands but I feel like I’m touching a bit of history. This book has seen better days and I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do with it but I’m excited to own it. And all for $10!!!! You never know what you will find at the local thrift shop.

Do you thrift shop, yard sale or estate sale? What’s your favorite find? Please leave a comment below and tell me about it. And if you live close by let’s go shopping!! ๐Ÿ˜ƒ I’ll bring the exclamation points and jazz hands ๐Ÿค— !!

Thanks for taking a look at my blog. I really appreciate it!

Cindy

General Finishes Pearl Effects

I tried out a new product this past week. General Finishes Pearl Effect Champagne Pearl. I purchases a vanity a few months ago and found a chair to go with it and it was time to paint the set and get it ready to sell.

Both pieces got a thorough cleaning and a little fixing. The side drawers on this piece didn’t sit right and there were a few gaps between some of them soooo I used the sticks used to stir paint to even them out. I cut them and glued them to the wood side rails that had been worn down.

Genius right! ๐Ÿ˜‰ I also had to replace a few screws on the back of the side compartment that were not holding the door in place anymore. Time for paint! Can’t go wrong with a pink and white vanity set so I used Annie Sloan Antoinette and Pure White. The chair was already white but had some stains and wear so it got a new coat of paint. Then, to bring the 2 pieces together I painted the accents on the vanity Pure White and the accent on the chair Antoinette.

Now, even though these pieces were not an original set they look like they were made for each other.

There seems to always be surprises when refinishing a piece of furniture. I planned to remove the hardware on the drawers and side cabinet but I would have had to take out the lining to get to the screws in order to remove them. I didn’t want to do that so I painted around them with the paint and the General Finishes Pearl Effects.

Both are easy to clean off if you accidentally touch the hardware. With the Pearl Effects wipe it off while it’s wet but Annie Sloan Chalk Paint will come off easily with a wet rag and a little pressure once it’s dry and then you won’t take the paint off in the areas where you want it to stay. General Finishes Pearl Effect comes in several colors but for this I used Champagne Pearl. It is white with a touch of shimmer giving it the Pearl Effect. I didn’t want to lighten the color of the paint so I watered this General Finishes down by wetting my chip brush before applying it over the Antoinette and Pure White Chalk Paint.

This process is really easy. Just brush it on and wait for it to dry. I then sealed it over the paint with General Finishes Top Coat Semi Gloss. I used 2 coats to finish it. Once it’s dry it has a lovely subtle pearly glossy finish!

AS Antoinette is such a pretty soft pink and I have painted several pieces in this color. It’s beautiful with a wax finish and with the General Finishes over it. I added it to my booth with the other pretty in pink pieces!

The General Finishes products are so easy to use and work so well with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I will be trying out more of their products and posting about them here.

Tell me what you think of my pink and white vanity. Have you used General Finishes before? I would love to hear from you!! ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

Thanks

Cindy

Mixing ASCP to get a custom color

Mixing Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to get just the right color is easy. ย Sometimes you may want a different shade or color than the original paint colors AS offers. I always get a few plastic spoons and a plate and start mixing to get the color I want. I wanted a soft grey/blue color to paint a set of candle sticks and a clock. So I stared mixing Paris Grey and a touch of Florence and then added some Pure White. Here’s the result.

 

I love this color. I will be writing it down so I can find another piece to paint this pretty blue. Do you mix ASCP colors? What’s your favorite color recipe? Would love to hear from you! ๐Ÿ˜Š

Thanks for stopping by

Cindy

 

Estates Sale Saturday Find

I dragged my hubby out on a Saturday morning and made him go to an Estate Sale. We ended up at the cutest house in the cutest older neighborhood in Salt Lake. (I’m ready to move. I’m already working on my husband ๐Ÿ˜‰) It was the 3rd day of this Estate Sale so I am certain I missed out on seeing some amazing pieces of furniture and knick knacks. But the house itself was worth the drive. Stained glass windows and rounded doors. Seriously they don’t make em like they use to. I โค๏ธ old homes. LOVE THEM!!

Anyhoo I did find a couple of fun pieces.

This darling little drop leaf table on casters and chair where still there and waiting for me to take them home. Because it was day 3 I got them at a good price.

More Estate and Yard Sale shopping is in my future.ย Are you an estate/yard/garage sale shopper? What’s your favorite find? I would love to hear your tips and tricks to finding good deals so please leave a comment.

And thanks for stopping by! ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

Cindy

Apothecary Style Dresser

Apothecary style dressers and cabinets are very popular right now. ย I found an old 1970’s dresser that would be perfect to upcycle into this style. Each drawer has 3 square sections that could be made to look like separate drawers.

This is the dresser before. It was a good sturdy dresser but the front had some damage from the drawer pulls. It took a lot of wood putty and sanding to fix the worn areas on the drawers.

But the rest of the dresser was in great shape! One thing I don’t like to try to fix is drawer slides. It can be really frustrating to find just the right slide to replace a broken or missing one. Cosmetic problems are easier to fix, especially if you are painting it.

I decided to go with two paint colors on this piece. I taped the body of the dresser and painted it Annie Sloan Old Ochre.

The drawers were painted a mix of Old White and French Linen. I distressed the edges of the drawers so each of the squares on the drawers looked like a separate drawer.

I ordered filing cabinet drawer pulls on eBay and placed one on each square of each drawer. There are 9 drawers but 27 drawer pulls giving this piece the look of an apothecary.

This is such a fun piece and one of my favorite before and after projects.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this project. And thanks for taking a look at my blog. I appreciate it! ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

Cindy