The Apple Street Cottage

I recently found a candlestick table at an estate sale.  It was not looking this cute at all! It looked like someone's dog had chewed the edge. And it was rockin' an orange finish. I forgot to get a picture before I started sanding, but here's a peek of it with my other treasures: It needed a makeover, so a few minutes with my orbital sander did this to the top: Not bad for a few minutes of work! I filled-in the chew marks with wood putty and sanded them smooth.  I almost forgot to take a picture, but remembered as I started painting: After a good cleaning, the top was stained with Red Mahogany and the rest of the table was painted with black chalk paint.  The top received 3 coats of polycrylic and the rest of the table, two coats.   It was done and perfect for a plant... ...or an old-fashioned candlestick, if I had one! I hope you'll pin, share, comment, and follow.  If you click on those 3 little lines at the top left o...

Say hello to the updated powder room.  It's a  challenging space and my goal was to brighten it up on a budget.  The room is approximately 5' x 7'(and I'm rounding up), has no windows, and contains the washer and dryer.    The entire project cost me about $35.  Are you ready to see how I did it?   Let's get started... Behold the 1980's oak: Here's a separate shot of the vanity.  It was tough to get the whole area in one photo since the room is so small. I decided not to paint the walls since the dryer is stacked on top of the washer.  See them right next to the vanity? In order to get them out for painting, I'd have to take the door to the room off it's hinges and move it.  I wanted this to be an easy makeover, so I opted to paint the medicine cabinet and the vanity.   Off came the hinges, knobs, shelf pegs, and pulls.  The pulls were being replaced, but everything else was spray painted.   ...

Last summer we stopped at a yard sale.   It was late in the day and the man wanted to get rid of the few things that were left.  This rocking chair had a price of $15 dollars and he was trying so hard to get me to buy it.   If you know me, you know I LOVE rocking chairs and the last thing I need is another one ( I already own 3).  I mentioned this to the man and he dropped the price to $10.  I still told him, 'no', but he persisted!   I finally looked at him and explained, 'I really don't need another rocking chair and, anyway, the most I would pay for it is $5.'   He said, 'It's yours'.  My husband said, 'For 5 bucks, get it.' Have I mentioned he might be an enabler?? He put it in the car. I didn't look too bad, but when I got up close, I could see the finish was worn, there were some chips and dings, and some of the cross pieces were loose.  So, there was a little gluing, filling, and sanding.  Then two coa...

When I first spotted this little footstool at the estate sale I attended last November, it was sitting in a corner with a box of junk sitting on top.  There was nothing special about it, but for $2 it was coming home with me to get a little love! The green top lifted right off and the first order of business was a cleaning with some Murphy's Oil Soap. A few rough edges were smoothed down with some sandpaper and it was ready for paint.   Two coats of Waverly Ocean Chalk Paint were followed by a couple of coats of clear finish.  Quick and easy! Then I turned my attention to the top.  Using a screwdriver, I pried off the finishing nails. This revealed a combination of cotton batting and wood wool under the green plastic. Here's a close-up of the wood wool, if you've never seen it before: Since I had no desire to reuse any of these materials, I grabbed some batting and stapled it to the board. This is one of the pictures I warned you abou...