The Apple Street Cottage

Halloween is just a few days away and I want to share the last of my Halloween projects.  First up is the Witch's Boot: There are no step-by-step pictures, but this started with drawing a pattern and cutting it out of pallet wood.  Two pieces were needed, so the seam was filled-in with wood dough, sanded smooth, and painted black.  The edges were distressed and holes were drilled for the laces.   A piece of black scrapbook paper was cut to fit and heat-embossed with spider webs and spiders.  It was then decoupaged on the wood. The top 'brim' of the boot was painted purple and some black stripes were added.  At this point, the boot was sprayed with clear sealant. A piece of tulle was threaded through the holes and tied in a bow.   I'm pretty sure this is what every well-dressed witch will be wearing this season! Next is one for the kiddos: This little ghost was also made with pallet wood and painted white.  ...

Now that the transformation of that little chest of drawers is complete, it's time to share what I've been working on for Halloween! Since I had two sizes of pallet wood, it all began with making two patterns: The patterns were placed across three pieces of pallet wood, traced, and cut with a jigsaw. This is a great way to use up any small pieces that are left over from other projects.  This is the only picture I have of the beginning of the process.  Sorry, I get carried away... You can see the top of it, along with a pallet pumpkin and a bird ! The pieces were sanded and painted with white, orange, and yellow craft paint.  Once the paint was dry, they were distressed with 220-grit sandpaper.  I like how the wood shows through the different color paint - a little bit of bare wood and a little yellow tint! The pieces were wood-glued together and strapped with screws and a paint stirrer. I used jute twine and a staple gun to create a lo...

Welcome back!  Last week you saw a garage sale dresser transformed with paint and decoupaged napkins.  If you missed it, click here .  Today I have a little tutorial showing how it was done.  Let's get started, shall we? The drawers were sanded down to bare wood and the edges were painted black to match the rest of the dresser.  The napkins were found at the Dollar Store. Notice they are 2-ply napkins?  You only need one, so separate those layers! Iron the one-layer.  It helps when you are ready to lay it down on the wet decoupage medium.   Since the napkins were not wide enough to cover the entire drawer, I was going to have to piece them together.  These napkins also had a very definite pattern that was going to need matching, so it was time for some measuring.  I found the middle of the drawer and matched it to the middle of the napkin.  Then I marked the edges of the napkin on the edge of the drawer with ch...

It's been a bit of a whirlwind around here with cutting and sanding.  Winter will be here before we know it and it will be too cold for those activities!   So, I bring to you - this little chest of drawers that was advertised on a garage sale site: This is a small chest, only about 40 inches tall, but perfect for small-space living.  Advertised on-line, it looked like this: It had that lovely orange, 1940's look, but it was solid wood.  The original plan was to paint it black and give the drawers a lovely stain to show-off the wood grain.  Out came the sander and here's what I found: Poplar!   Poplar is and inexpensive hardwood. The tell-tale green tint gives it away.  It is usually painted because poplar is notorious for being 'blotchy' when stained.   On to Plan B!  After all, it was solid wood and and the drawers were dovetailed. The chest itself was painted with 2 coats of Ink Chalk Paint (available at ...

I'm so happy to finally have this little table finished.  It took a while, but was SO worth it! If you've been following the 'adventure' at the Cottage, you already know we sold it and most of our furniture.  Since we are currently living in a small apartment, we needed an 'apartment-sized' table and along came this one.   It was sitting in a corner at the storage unit building and I commented on it (the fact that it's solid maple).  The owner looked at me and said, "It's yours!".  I offered to pay him for it, but he refused.  Even my husband was excited about this table - the size, the price, what's not to love?  The best part about it? The top was already sanded!  Take a look: I had no intention of sanding the rest of it, so I gave it a quick 'once over' with some 220 grit sandpaper and it was ready for stain. After one coat of walnut stain, three coats of polyurethane were applied, allowing for proper drying tim...