Sunny day projects

I absolutely love the sunny days here in Fort Collins. It makes it so nice for drying time on painting furniture and other items. On this particular sunny day, I grabbed some garage sale pieces and spruced them up for my booth. I did some small candle holders, some wall art, a little wicker table with drawer and a buffet. The sun was so warm that it only took me a little over an hour to finish all the projects below. Here's a look...

Cute little table with shelf I picked up at a garage sale

Darling detail on drawer pull after the dry brush. Little flowers really show now.

Finished product. So cute. Sun dried it for me and I used the dry brush technique so it only took me about ten minutes!

Before...boring brown wall art. A little shabby chic and...

Just did a little dry brush of reds, greens, golds and shabby white and they turned out great! Thank you sunshine!

One of the favorite pieces I have ever done. Found this at a thrift store! Beautiful and solid.

Beautiful detailing on the hardware.

Beautiful scrolled and detailed legs. It was so solid.

First coat of linen white. The sun was so hot that I had to really hurry to paint because I didn't want drag marks. Turned out great!

Handle detailing. Was very happy with the way it turned out.

After....second coat of white and then sanding. I did a heavy distress on this. The sun dried the paint so it gave a little "peeled" finish to it. I love it!

This was a thrift store find! As always, enjoy the sunshine...wear your sunscreen and Happy Thrifting! XOXO the thrift addict

Some quickie projects!

Life gets busy for most of us doesn't it? Before we know it a week has passed and we don't seem to know where the time went. Here's a list of a few quick projects...Worked on this antique cabinet with my friend Jane...love how it turned out! Did a quick re-do on a lamp shade as well.

I love the details on these little wooden insets for the doors. So cute!

Painted with a brush on the front and then sprayed on the back. I sanded them off a little bit to shabby them up before Jane put them back in the doors.

This is the after photo although it was before Jane cleaned off the paint from the glass. We were sort of in a hurry. She had to get it into her new bigger booth at A & J Antique store!! I always love spending time with her. She is so much fun and we are a great creative team!

This next project was so much fun. I found the lamp at Goodwill and the shade was in a corner of ARC. Put them together and really enjoyed the way the finished product looked in my booth after I added some little flowers to the shade. These are so feminine and cottagey (there's that word again!)

I cut up a shirt that had the cute cut out embroidery fabric and put it together in a flower. Added an antique brass grommet and a little rhinestone for accent. Love this look! Hot glue holds the flowers on the shade. Here's another shot.

It is in my booth at A & J's between these two cute little purple chairs that I think I may have actually sold yesterday??? Here's the finished product.

Loving this look right now. Just adds such a distinct touch to a room. You can go overboard with the feminine florals in a room but I like to sprinkle a few. Then it is more of a surprise to the eye!

Happy Thrifting! XOXO the thrift addict.

Seeing Green!

With all of the rain in Ft. Collins that we have had lately, we have been wondering if we would ever see the sun again. Well...out it came and made my painting projects dry in a jiff!! So glad to have cool temps and warm sun to speed my projects along. Here is a little project I did over the weekend. Solid wood chest with dovetail drawers. HEAVY piece! I thought about doing just a plain shabby chic "creamy white" but decided to punch it with some of the green I had picked up at the dump. A gorgeous spring green. I think I must have been influenced by all of the beautiful green the rain has produced. Take a look at the before.

The top of the chest had some rings on it and scratches so I sanded a bit with a medium grit to smooth things out. Some of the drawer pulls were off so I had to put them back on and tighten others. No big deal. The only problem with this piece whatsoever is just it's weight! It is so heavy that I had trouble moving it around. I put two coats of green paint on it. Painted over the hinges as well. Here's what it looked like along the way.

First coat of green paint was easy. Painted directly over the wood. Applied it directly over the drawer pulls...check out the next photo.

The paint is a gorgeous deep sage green. It looke white in this photo for some reason but it's not.

After both coats were dry, I used 3X sand paper to distress the drawers, top and sides of chest. I did this with what I call a random distress technique. It puts distressed areas on the piece, not just around the edges. You have to use an artful eye and place the sanded areas so they don't end up in a pattern.

A photo of the top of the dresser so you can see how the distressing is placed.

I finished the chest with a coat of polycrylic. Beautiful. Take another look at the before and after.

Total project time with the sun's help just under 2 hours. I purchased this throw away at Goodwill. Solid pine chest with dovetail construction and in great shape with all the drawers working. Look at it now. It is in my booth for $195.00 Happy Thrifting! XOXO the thrift addict.

Parsimony Market & Luciana!

Hey guys...sorry to keep you waiting on new projects...but I have been super busy working on a business venture and the big news is ... I am finally getting a puppy! I am road tripping to Idaho tomorrow with Ashton to pick her up. She is a French Bulldog that we named "Luciana." We are going to call her Luci for short. She is adorable and this is fullfilling a dream of mine that I have had for several years now to have a Frenchie. I am so anxious to bring her home. Here is a picture of her.

The breeder sent me a video of her yesterday playing with her sister. She is lively and just so chubby and cute. She is going to get along wonderfully with our little Boston Terrier "Pickle."

The business venture I have been working on is launching soon. I opened an Etsy store called "Parsimony Market." The definition of Parsimony is "extreme frugality." Let's face it...if you are reading this then you are someone who exhibits the trait of parsimony!! I am opening up my vintage world to the public in two ways. You can click the link on my page to visit my store. I only have about 15 items left as I have already sold some things...YAY! Will be placing more items this afternoon. The other way I will offer my items is still a "secret" of sorts until I launch. Until then...go out and find some cool stuff and happy thrifting! XOXO...the thrift addict