I Forgot...but some News

I admit it....I'm a bad blogger.  I didn't do my "Salvaged Sunday" post today...and it didn't hit me until about 4pm when I was in the middle of painting a cabinet.  If anyone cancelled plans and sat by her computer all day waiting for this post, I apologize profusely.  Fortunately, I'm pretty confident that no one noticed, and I do have a pretty good excuse.

I've mentioned in passing that I'm starting a booth to sell furniture and home decor. Surprisingly, it has been quite a challenge to find a store that rents space to vendors who allow items beyond antiques.  Most all of my items are old or incorporate old stuff, but most are not traditional antiques.  (apparently, Ohioans aren't into repurposing stuff)

So, the reason why I forgot about my Sunday post is because my husband and I have been working on furniture for the past 2 days in preparation to set up my booth.  I have a crazy fear of power saws and nail guns, even though my dad had me using a circular saw when I was 10...so, until I can over come my paranoia in relation to losing a finger or hand, I rely on my wonderful husband to risk his digits instead.

This picture makes it look like his torso is twice as long as his legs...it's not. 

I'm pretty excited about some of the things I have to show you - but I haven't had a chance to take pictures of anything yet...hopefully, I'll have something new on here by Tuesday at the latest. (please try not to lose sleep until then)

Remember this piece?  It's ALMOST finished...

I'm so VERY excited about having my own space to set up...don't tell my husband this, but I'm having so much fun doing this that if my endeavor only profits enough to support my junk habit, than I'll be thrilled.  I love staying home with my kids, and that is still my main priority, but I think doing this is only making me a better, happier mom.

I'm also very excited that I have 37 lovely followers (as of 7:37pm EST on 10/30/11)...my goal is to keep things entertaining and unique enough that at least 100 of you amazingly wonderful ladies (I haven't met any men-home-decor/crafty bloggers yet...sorry to leave you out if you are a guy) choose to follow me by 1/1/12.

I hope everyone had a great weekend...and that you have a wonderfully spooky (and safe) Halloween.

The Graphics Fairy

take care -



Little Pink and Green Bookshelf

Liz from The Brambleberry Cottage made my day by featuring this project (as well as several other AMAZING ideas) as part of:

If you haven't linked to her party on Thursday before, I highly recommend stopping by and checking it out.

My mom found this little bookshelf at a thrift store for $4...or at least we thought it was a little bookshelf until I started sanding it and I found 4 hooks on the bottom.  (Please excuse the mess and the Bud Lite box...my once huge garage seems to be shrinking daily.)

I realized that it was originally a wall shelf, but I stuck with my original impression, and I cut off the board holding the hooks.

I probably wouldn't have chosen this on my own, but my mom really liked it and it was $4...I thought I could find something to do with it.  Before priming, I hacked up distressed the edges and shelves, as it looked too "new" for the look I had in mind.  Then, while waiting for the Emerson Chest to dry, I mixed some colors together and came up with a pinkish mauve and slapped it on.  I was working on several projects at once, so I don't have any pictures of the process.

After looking at some furniture inspiration, I decided I would go for turquoise, but while I was mixing it, I ran out of blue paint....so ended up with an artichoke green color.  I wanted the pink to show through, so I took an unscented white candle and rubbed it over the edges and shelves before painting with green.

After I distressed it, was a little too bright for me, so I rubbed some dark stain over it and then a wash of black and red watered-down craft paint, concentrating it in the corners and scratches for an older look.

I had planned on giving it another couple coats of the wash to tone it down further, but decided I liked the color. 

 Not sure if it will ever sell, since it's a little different, but it was $4. Most of the stuff I've done so far is pretty neutral, so maybe this will add a little pop of color.  I'm supposed to set up my first booth in the next week, so we'll see how it goes!

I'm sharing this colorful little ditty at these parties:

MONDAY:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

The Girl Creative
Boogieboard Cottage

TUESDAY:

Home Stories A2Z
Coastal Charm
Homework
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugarbee Crafts

Serenity Now

WEDNESDAY:
The Thrifty Home
Restore Interiors
Blue Cricket Design
Savvy Southern Style
Very Merry Vintage Style

THURSDAY:

The Brambleberry Cottage

No Minimalist Here

the shabby creek cottage

FRIDAY:
Remodelaholic
The Charm of Home
kojo designs
The Shabby Nest
Serenity Now
Miss Mustard Seed

take care -
 



Whimsical Wednesday - TRUNKS and CHESTS (of the Furniture Variety)

In celebration of my current fascination with trunks and chests (of the furniture variety - but you might not be surprised what comes up when you google "Painted Chest")...I've decided to dedicate this Wednesday to the exciting storage vessel that we call the chest!

 Myriac Circus Storage Chest 

CedarChests.com

Treasure Chest - Bookcase Furniture

Metal Trunks - Maisons du Monde

Trunk Hampton - Maison do Monde

I also like the room around this trunk...

USA Trunk Stamps - Maison du Monde

I'm not particularly in love with this one, but I thought it was kind of humorous to see how other countries (I'm assuming this is a French company from currency and language on site) see the USA - "California," "Team," "Academy."

1761 German Wheel Chest (not restored) - Fischer-antics

Garden Storage Trunk - Trunks and Chests Store

 

Antique Handmade Oak French Country - Eurolux on Ebay

Antique French Oak Wedding Chest - Les Antiquites Maison on Ebay (If you want it, better act now, it's on sale for only $11,145.60 - too bad they only have 1, or I'd buy one for each of us, right?)

Antique European Folk Blanket Chest c1800 - One of a Kind Antiques

Quite a range of available styles...some I like better than others.  For some reason, I didn't come across any of my painted chests (of the furniture variety). Maybe if I painted my chest, errr  my trunk...uuummm, my furniture with more pizazz, I'd have more luck?  (Teehee...I crack myself up - that's what happens when you've been up since 3:30am because your screaming, teething 11-month-old wakes up your 2 year-old...I'm sure many of you can relate!)

Sharing at:
the shabby creek cottage

No Minimalist Here
Serenity Now
The Shabby Nest

take care -

 



Painted "Emerson Seed Co" Trunk

This project was featured by the lovely Kindra at At Home With K... 

  If you haven't visited Kindra's blog - or linked up to her Terrific Under Ten Tuesday Party (link below) - I highly reccomend doing both!  Kindra's party is for projects that cost under $10.00....so obviously, thrifty fun to be had by all! 

This is trunk #2 in my attempt to save the ugly old trunks of America...for some reason I have a whole trunk collection piling up in my garage.  I don't have a particular love for them over any other pieces of furniture.  I have at least 3 more that I know of that need some love (if you could see my garage right now, you'd understand why I said "that I know of").  So, to recap - Trunk #1
And on to trunk #2...unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the "before" - but this was a big old green trunk/chest that I found at a yard sale for $6. When I get a chance to paint without children running amok, I often forget everything (like taking pictures) and focus on getting as much painting done as possible.  I did a layer of light gray, and then a couple coats of black.  The writing is in white.

Sorry for the poor pictures, I was wrangling toddlers and trying to make room in the garage to take pictures because it's raining outside.  It was good fun, if you can't tell by my tone!

I like how it turned out much better in person than in these pictures. 

The lid is a little crooked, but I like the dove-tailed corners.

"Emerson" is my daughter's name.

  

I had to do a lot of cropping to cut out our insanely messy garage. 

I'm sharing this post at these fantastic link-ups:

The Brambleberry Cottage

No Minimalist Here

the shabby creek cottage

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

The Girl Creative
Boogieboard Cottage

Coastal Charm

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Tip Junkie

Homework

At Home With K

Domestically Speaking

The Brambleberry Cottage

No Minimalist Here

the shabby creek cottage

The Thrifty Home

Restore Interiors

Blue Cricket Design

Savvy Southern Style

Very Merry Vintage Style
Remodelaholic
The Charm of Home
kojo designs
The Shabby Nest
Serenity Now
Miss Mustart Seed
{primp}

Hope you have a great week -  

take care -

 



How to Send your Blog Posts to Facebook or Twitter...

Let me start this off by saying that I am in no way a professional blog-updating-or-facebook-posting expert...obviously, right?  Really, I barely know the difference between a wall and a tweet. I only have a facebook page because people kept telling me I needed one...and I never post to it.

So anyway, I was trying to figure out how to send my blog posts to my Salvaged Whimsy Facebook, and I came across dlvr.it. 

I haven't figured out all of the fancy tools there...but I was able to get my posts to start showing up  on Facebook, so I thought I'd pass the info along to others who may be technically non-proficient (is that a word?)

If you have questions...very, very, very basic questions, please let me know and I'll help as much as I can...but I'm self-admittedly, not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree when it comes to this stuff.

take care -
 



Salvaged Sunday - Ideas from Pinterest

 I've been spending some quality time with my good friend, Pinterest, this weekend, and thought I'd share some "salvaged" ideas I discovered there...

Great idea for an old suitcase....re-nest.com

 

love.these.doors (I'm a door snob....shhh) myhomeideas.com

  

I love the salvaged wood used in traditional headboard design.  creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com

 

I wonder if I'm really good, if Santa will bring me this amazing kitchen for Christmas?  kitchenisms.com

  

repurposing at its best.  sa1969.wordpress.com

  

I've said it before, but if I had know in 7th grade that locker baskets would be so popular one day, I would have stuck a couple in my book bag.  I love this, but not for $3000. Olde Good Things

...if only I cooked...3.bp.blogspot.com

bhg.com

old crib.  I LOVE the floor!  achadosdedecoracao.blogspot.com

Repurposed headboards - kimberlytaylorimages.com

I took all of these images from pinterest, and tried to credit them back to the site listed there, but if one of them is yours and you'd like me to change the source or remove the picture, please let me know and I'll do so immediately.

Max is begging to go outside, so I'm off to play.  Hope you're having a great, relaxing weekend.  I have another chest to show you this week...It's finished, I just need to take pictures.

take care -