Projects Completed

I've done a few small projects, lately. I've been in a refurbishing mode and I'm having a ball with it!

The first project...

Gazing Ball

So what! What's so special about a silly ol' gazing ball? Well, I've had it in the garden a few months. After I got it out there and we had a couple of good rains, the humidity removed all of the silver from the inside of the ball. Even though there is a plasting cover over the opening, the silver melted off of the inside. So my gazing ball turned into a 'gazing through' ball.

Hubby and I had mistakenly purchased a few cans of chrome paint because the cap was gray. Hubby needed gray paint for the wheels of his dump truck. Surprise! Not gray...chrome.

So I bought some white primer...good stuff. Right! Half of the can came out in a dry mist. The rest of it came out like normal. After the primer dried I rubbed my hand over it and took off the dried mist. Well, most of it flaked off. Then I primed again. Then I took a can of chrome paint and painted the ball several times after the primer dried. It's not a shiny gazing ball. It's got kind of a sandy texture to it in places and shiny in other places. I like it! It looks pretty cool since no one else has one like it.

Here's my before and after project.

Side Table - Before



Close-up of Detail

  We've had this side table for a long time. I've seen them at yard sales and was going to pick up another one to make a match, but didn't. Well, they are really made crappy. It's not a bad looking table, but it was beaten up pretty much. When I sanded it down, I saw how cheaply it was made. The legs were made of pieces of wood glued together, then cut and shaped. Thin plywood is the top and the shelf. The top had lifted a bit in spots and my dog had chewed a corner of the table top. It had some markings underneath the table top and on the shelf, so I didn't refinish the underneath parts for later reference.

Ta Daaaaaa!


Shabby Chic Table - After

Not too bad for a first major Shabby Chic project, eh?!

I sanded, primed and painted it with white latex paint that I had on hand. Mod Podged a piece of pretty paisley wrapping paper to the top to cover the raised area and a bad finish. I sanded the edges to give it a worn look. I gave it a coat of paste wax and put it into the 'company' bathroom for now.

I had a willow basket in my basket stash. I dry-brushed a little of the white on it to cut down the darkness. It was a really dark walnuty brown.

I still have to paint the walls and put mouldings around the ceiling and floor in the bathroom. Then I'll make the curtains and shower curtain. I already have the material for the curtains. I was planning on this being a beachy-style room. But, because of the material I have on hand, it will be a cottage-style room.

I also have that 'special project' to make for in here. I mentioned it before and I haven't started it yet. I'm still gathering pieces to finish building it.

I'd like to find a nice small chandelier-type light fixture to put in here. We're going to the flea market tomorrow! Hee Haw! I'll be scoping out chandeliers and milk glass vases for in here. Oh, and maybe some chunks of wood for the 'special project'. I hope I find at least one thing on my list.

I just noticed that it also looks like I need a piece of beadboard on the side of the vanity. This small remodeling project is starting to sprout wings! Well, at least it will be pretty and new when I'm done. This is the first room of a whole double-wide trailer load of rooms that I want to refurbish. Right now, it doesn't look so much like a trailer, but I want it to be more of a home.

Take care. I'll be showing you more of the project as I go along.