Den Dreaming

Whew, the last few days here have just gotten on my nerves! Am I the only one that waits to do their taxes until the very last minute? Every year I swear I won't do that again and then I do! I think that is the definition of insanity! Anyway, I am glad to have that behind me. Onto much more fun things. The other day I was thinking, "why can't I find any gorgeous ikat fabric at the stores" and then a little light bulb went off and I started shopping on line for some. I rarely buy fabric on line just because I am afraid of the colors but I thought I would give it a try this time. Whew who knew there were so many choices!

I think I hit the jackpot, don't you? This is made by Robert Allen, it's perfect, love the feel and weight of it.  I bought this for a couple of pillow covers but now that it's here and I am loving it like I do, I am thinking of recovering an ottoman that will be a coffee table. But of course if I do that it changes everything! The misery of being in my mind!
You see I have had my eye on this rug for awhile, like maybe over a year! I first spied it when my sister and I were shopping. She fell in love with it and bought it for her house on sale for a steel! Well my love has only grown over the year unfortunately I have not been able to find it on sale and I am not really wanting to spend what they are asking. So I stalk online stores to see if they are having a sale, no luck yet.

I have to say this ikat has got me to kinda forget about the rug. Because if I am going to use this for an ottoman I probably need a neutral rug. I keep telling myself I can see the rug at my sister's house even though we don't live really close to each other it's not totally out of my life. I can visit it whenever I like. :D I have this feeling as soon as I make the choice this rug is going to go on sale, my luck right?

Isn't this a really good match? These are the chairs I want to make the pillows for. So tell me what do you think? What would you do? Think about the cabinet that I just finished, you can find that here. And if you want to see this rug in my sisters house, you can check that out here. I don't really have any other pattern in this room, the curtains are kinda like the blue in this fabric but more sheer.The thing I love about this room as it is now is that I can really add any color in hear thru pillows and kind of change things up, this ikat becoming permanent or that rug will change that, not sure if it's worth the trade off. Decisions Decisions!

Transformed cabinet Part 2

So, I shared a cabinet I bought from a friend and the story of how it came to be mine (thank you Tonya!) and the major transformation it underwent. Now I need to share it's final look (who am I kidding, when it comes to decorating nothing is ever final within my grip!)

I can't quit looking at it, I love it and I love how it feels, the wax finish with the ASCP is so nice! In case you didn't read the before story you can check it out here. Ignore this rug, it is about to get moved to a another room. I'm bringing in brighter greens and blues in this room.

This is my spring decor this year, I never got Easter decor out, too much going on, but this worked for me. Don't pay attention to the empty frame, I have a plan.

I recently found this wreath at Ross, I have wanted one of these rosewood wreaths forever, love the color combo in this one, perfect for my house! That lamp is one of the very first projects I did when I started my blog 2 years ago. You can check it out here. It is made from a vase I purchased at Ross also. Love that place!

 This silk hydrangea was too white so I hit it very softly with some light green spray paint. I think this is the first time in all my years of living here that I am finally happy with this wall! It's a large wall and I've had a hard time finding something to really feel the space, just goes to show you that you have to be patient and keep looking until you find the perfect piece!

Oh and the hardware, I love the rusty goodness. I shared this new product last week, called VerDay. It can turn anything into rust. It seemed like the perfect addition to my "made to look" old cabinet.

So here's the before....

And the after! Do you have a dilemma "space" in your home? One that you have given up on? Be patient the perfect piece is out there somewhere, maybe even at your friend's home! The perfect piece is worth waiting for, I promise!

Partying at...

Under The Table & Dreaming
Blue Cricket Design
Domestically Speaking

Beautified Cabinet transformed with ASCP!

Do you ever admire a piece of furniture at a friends house and feel you've got to have it and then tell said friend every time you are at her house that you want that when she doesn't? I do,  and I did and patience paid off! My friend finally tired of this piece and I was all over it.

 This was a Craiglist find for her, of course she brought it home and gave it a coat of paint and sanded it down. This cabinet is HUGE, it is 80 inches long and about 65 inches tall. As soon as I got it into my space I knew I was going to have to paint it, while is was perfect for her space the color wasn't working for me.

I decided to use Annie Sloan paint, Provence blue and to use the beadboard wallpaper on the back wall of the cabinet. ASPC doesn't require you sand or scrape but I didn't want any paint peeling up so I decided to scrape off the old paint on the shelving. This piece really has me perplexed, I cannot decide how old it is or if the top and bottom were built at different times or if it was a DIY job. Honestly is doesn't matter. In my opinion it is the best of both worlds, storage and shelving to display chach-keys!

This is the ASCP sanded down just a bit. At this point I am not sure what the final product will be. I had just been to Anthropology just before I started this project and they had a great piece that looked like it had been pulled out of some old barn. I was hoping I could fake that with this paint. 

Once I got 3 coats of the blue on I decided to sand and wax. Now let me tell you something. I think people think that ASCP is so cool because you don't have to prime and sand but what you should realize is that you have to put a few coats on so to me it doesn't really cut down the time or work on a project. The bonus is the look of the paint, it is still alot of work but it's worth it!

I didn't take pics of all the trial and error I went thru but again let's just say this piece is helping me exercise  soooooo much patience!!! I usually like a project I can do in a few hours and be done with it, but I kept telling myself do it right, take your time, don't settle for less than you want. So, finally I get to this point and I am crazy about how it's looking, this is what I had in my head, totally loving it!

I think this chunky trim is one of my favorite parts of the piece. I have only painted one other piece of furniture with this paint and my kitchen cabinets ( which I have yet to blog about). I don't really know what I am doing so I started to research it and found Shaunna on Imperfectly Perfect and she had lots of great info and even has some videos to show you how to wax and use the dark wax. Her info was so helpful with this project, I had failed when I had tried to use the dark wax before. If you are going to try this paint, you have to watch her videos.

So, here it is all done and yep I am very happy with it. I have to tell you this project took me hours, literally it is all I worked on for 3 days. As I said it's big and there were alot of steps. The waxing process takes a little muscle but I am very happy with it. Check back tomorrow and I will show you how I accessorized it. What do you think, have you ever seen a large piece of furniture like this before?

Linking to:
Tatertots & Jello
Ms Mustard Seed

I love RUST and I cannot lie!

Ivy & ElephantsI don't know about you but "all things rusty" gets my heart to pumpin! I just love em! It doesn't matter what it is... if there is rusty goodness I want it. Do you ever see those big rusty tin barns , I could cover our den in that stuff.  I promise, sometimes it doesn't take much to make a girl happy! Well, recently I found out about a paint that lets you make your own rusty goodness. Pretty exciting huh? Let me show you what I have been playing with.

This finial is from Hobby Lobby in the garden department, I bought it on clearance at the end of the season for 3.00. Doesn't it look like a chunky piece of iron rusty goodness?

Here is what it looked like before, pretty ugly huh?

And here is a dollar frame that I played with. This product doesn't just do rust, it has several colors of patina's. I've used them all on this piece.

Here are some paper tags that show the different kinds of patina you can get from the product. There is gold, iron, brass and bronze. The tag with the fleur di lis, is actually fabric canvas, like a drop cloth. It has all of the products on it. You can paint this stuff on anything (except aluminum) and it will do it's magic! Once I found it I couldn't stop thinking of all the things I wanted to use it for. My husband says "you can't rust everything"... as I have been playing with it all weekend, my response... "says who". I actually found out about this at my favorite crafty place The Little Blue House. Everytime I find a new product I say I want to paint my bathroom with it, and yes I would love to do the same with this rusty paint!

See these hooks, I have a plan for them too, but first look at the transformation...

Do you love it as much as I do? Alot of this stuff is going in my kitchen. I am kinda at a stand still trying to figure out the tile so I have been working on some other ideas I have for the room.

These actually used to hang above the pantry and the refrigerator and I originally thought I would paint them blue.

But then they looked too new, one dimensional and shiny so I sanded them and they were ok but then...

I added this new paint product and wa la, beautiful patina and rust! Is it just me or do you hear the hallelujah chorus?

The thing I love about this product is that it's not just paint, the paint actually has metal particles in it and so when you spray on the reactor it causes the paint to start to patina, so not only does it look like rust it has the texture and even a hint of the smell.

The product is called Verday and is sold by Ten Second Studios. I'm not being paid to tell you about it, they don't even know I exist. I just love it and so I had to share. So what do you think, should I paint the bathroom wall? Can you imagine one of those ugly brass chandeliers, or how about lamps, oh and hardware, yep I've already worked on that, come back soon and I will share a piece I remade the hardware. I may have to change my name to Ms Rusty Pants!

A Stroll Thru Life
Stories from A 2 Z
Sugar Bee Crafts
Crafty Texas Girls
Savvy Southern Style
Blue Cricket Design
Domestically Speaking
The Space Between
The 36th Avenue