Compass Rose Beauty

Two weekends ago we went to Ella's dance competition and spent the weekend at my mom's house.  My parents are getting ready to sell their house so they need to get rid of their surplus furniture, decor and knick knacks.  This armoire was one of the many surplus that I got to take home to paint.  I remember my mom bought this when I was still in high school with the intent to paint it red with milk paint.  That never happened so it has continued in its original pine state for 23+ years.  

We have painted quite a few armoires since we began refinishing furniture and Justin wanted to do something special with this blank slate.  Enter the Compass Rose.  

According to Wikipedia, "The compass rose is an old design element found on compasses, maps and even monuments to show cardinal directions and frequently intermediate direction. The "rose" term arises from the fairly ornate figures used with early compasses. Older sources sometimes use the term "compass star", or stella maris ("star of the sea"), to refer to the compass rose.  On our piece, we used the 8-point compass roses uses the eight principal winds—that is, the four cardinal directions (N, E, S, W) plus the four "intercardinal" or "ordinal directions" (NE, SE, SW, NW), at angles of difference of 45°."

Believe it or not, I did not get a good before picture.  I've already kicked my own butt for this a few times before and you'd think I would learn, but Noo! Not me!  I will just describe it to you. . . it was raw pine, no stain, no color, no polyurethane, nothing.  Got it?  Good!  Anyway, in the picture below we have already painted the entire piece with Reclaim's Buttercream.  Reclaim paint has everything you need in one jar, primer, paint and sealer.  It is amazing and so simple to use!  Justin has already traced the compass rose and applied the first coat of Caromal Colours Huckleberry Blue paint .   The other parts of the design were painted with Caromal Colours Colonial Blue.

By the time I got home from work today, Justin had 

already sanded the armoire.  Even though we don't 

need to apply wax as the top coat, we used the Walnut Liberon 

wax more for the color and age it gives the piece.

I love this piece, other than the knobs just don't 

work for me.  They just stand out too much and 

almost look like eyeballs.

Again, love everything but the knobs.

In the pics below we just removed the knobs

altogether to see what it would look like and it made

a huge difference.   We are now on the lookout 

for some fabulous knobs that won't distract from the design.

I really do say this all the time, but this is one of my favorite 

pieces we have done so far.

If you are interested in getting some of this 

fabulous paint for yourself, follow the link on the right

hand side of this blog.  Make sure to use coupon code: BrendaUtah to 

save on shipping.

Have a great day and happy painting!

RECLAIMing our outdated coffee table

Since we started using Caromal Colours, we have only ever used the textured basecoat, but now in their other line, RECLAIM, they have beautiful new colors and they have improved the paint even more, so we couldn't resist giving it a try.  RECLAIM paint has the primer, paint and sealer all in one, which is a great way to save time and $$.  Grey is my new go-to color and their Pewter is delicious!

We have had this coffee table for over 15 years!  It is made of solid wood and very well built.  As you can see from the pic below, it was a little hammered and needed some TLC.

The table has great bones and just look at those legs!  I am a sucker

for great legs!

Unlike the textured basecoat, which you apply with a chip brush, we were able to roll 

the RECLAIM, so the top took all of 2 minutes. . . seriously!

In the pic below, you can see where we applied Vaseline

before we painted, just to make the paint chip away easier and make 

it more distressed.

Next, we went out in the glorious sunshine and painted the legs Off White.

That was definitely more time consuming, but only because we had to use 

a chip brush for the legs.

We had used a scraper on the top but didn't sand yet.

Our electric sander was on the fritz, so this baby was done all by hand.

We went pretty heavy on the top, just to make it look old and worn.

I don't think I own a piece of furniture that isn't distressed.  I just

think it gives your pieces character and I am far from perfect in 

any aspect of my life, so this style really truly reflects ME!

Now, the top, sides and legs have all been sanded. 

Next up, we applied the antiquing glaze for an even more worn look.

I don't know if you can tell from the pic below, but the 3 boards on the 

right of the pic have the glaze applied and the 3 on the left do not. 

You can definitely tell the difference in the actual wood that is coming through. 

But the real difference is when the glaze is applied to the Off White paint.  It looks incredible!!

This is a gorgeous piece and definitely one of my new favorites, 

but I say that about every new project we complete.

Well, happy painting everyone!  

Oh!  I forgot to let you know. . . we drew a winner for the free jar of paint and 

TIFANI DULANEY, you are the lucky one!

Let me know which color you want and it will be on its' way.

When one door opens...

Another weekend at the cabin, another project done.  We have grand hopes for the gardens at our cabin and this weekend was just one more step (of many) to achieving our goals. We don't really do anything "normal" around here, always looking for something different to add to our decorating, so decided to put a really old red door with chippy paint as our gate in our future garden (I know people have used doors before, it's just not what you typically see as a garden gate).  My mom is a collector of vintage items and had this door leaning up against the wall inside.  Justin buried a couple posts, screwed the hinges in and Voila!  She is gorgeous!

 It's great, other than now my path of pallet boards is off center and 

I have to play in the dirt some more. 

Look at this beauty!  My mom had this old washing machine basin lying around the yard.

Hopefully she doesn't mind it is now a planter!

Love to repurpose things.  They give your decorating so much character.

Barn-Style Sliding Door Weekend Project

Great weekend for doing projects!  Here was a little teaser from my last post and what we started with:

And this is what it turned into:

Unbelievable, the talent my husband has and the ability to make what I envision!  Our landlord had some old 2 x 6's sitting out in the weather.  We asked her if we could buy some and they were transformed into this beauty!  The handle is from the plumbing department at The Home Depot.  The rollers on the top of the track are from the garage door section.  

This thing is so heavy and so huge, just under 8 feet tall!  Which is great because we have 10-foot ceilings and it seems more in proportion with the room.  I really have dreamed of having a sliding door, but thought it was out of reach because the cost of the track kits start at $250 and go up from there. We made this entire door for around $50!  The only thing left to do is install a small rubber caster on the wall so that the door doesn't bang into the wall, which I learned Here.

I'm in love with this door and how it changed the whole look of our bedroom.  It also matches the new laminate floor we just finished installing. 

Next up, painting our bedroom a light gray, but not sure if hubby will agree to this!

Update on the Dresser Redo, and a New Project

So glad it's the weekend!   I wanted to give you an update on the dresser I am painting.  Here is the before:

And here are the drawers all painted with Caromal Colours Peppercorn basecoat, and Paprika on top.  We have also applied toner to pull all of the great color through.

I have the skeleton of the dresser painted as well, just need to apply the toner and I am waiting on my beautiful hardware.

As far as the new project Justin is working on. . . what do you get with this combination?

Our landlord had these beautiful boards out in the weather and we just couldn't resist.  Just and the boys are building a rustic sliding door for our bedroom at the cabin.  It is going to be amazeballs I tell you!

I should get the dresser finished tomorrow, all except the hardware, and will post the pics.

A lot of change has happened since I took a hiatus from blogging. . .

My last blog post was dated April 29, 2012.  So much has happened with our family/living situation/jobs/life since that time.  We lost our house (it is what it is and I have finally made peace with it).  We moved to a small town. . . It took a little getting used to but I love it!  Our son stayed to finish out his senior year and play football (I don't know that he would have ever forgiven us if we made him move).  Our oldest got a great job with a great company and now lives on her own.  So 3 kiddos made the move with us and it made this Momma sad to leave 2 behind.  Change is inevitable, but that doesn't make it any easier.  My little birdies are starting to leave the nest.

  Source

  I have really missed blogging.  It is my creative outlet.  I love painting furniture, giving old discarded items a new life and new home.  Sometimes it is the find that gives me the biggest thrill.  With the discovery of Caromal Colours Paint, re-doing furniture has never been easier.  It is simply the best.  No sanding before you start painting your piece so you get to the fun part right away.  This paint bonds to almost anything.

The very first piece we have ever painted was this:

(Apparently I didn't know how to crop yet)

Here is another one of our first pieces:

But, my very favorite piece of furniture we painted so far was this one, named Kennedy:

I found that naming each piece gave them a little personality.


So I may have already lost all of my followers, but I hope to gain you back one by one, plus a whole lot more.

Here is the first piece I will be painting in my second phase of blogging:

 A tall, very plain, part particle board, part wood dresser that will be transformed shortly.    Check back to see the results.

Also, last time I blogged (almost 2 years ago), I was having a contest and once I reached 100 followers, I was going to give away a jar of Caromal Colours paint.  I am at 100 followers, not sure how many are left, but I will run the contest through to the end of February 2014 and will draw a winner on March 1, 2014.  Just leave a comment below to enter to win.

Here's to many more posts, many more projects, and many more adventures.

Public Safety Announcement

My 18-year-old daughter just told me that if you are kidnapped you are supposed to pee or poop your pants!  Hahaha!  It does make sense but the way she said it just made me laugh!

Mantle/Fireplace Reveal. . .

Here is what my fireplace and mantle looked like before:

And, here is the gorgeous after:

This was exactly how I pictured it would turn out.

Funny thing, though, now I need new blinds,

need to rip out the carpet and I would

love to put in wide plank rustic wood

flooring, I need a couple of topiaries on either

side of the mantle, plus some more

awesome accessories to go along with

the new look, a couple of accent pillows  

made from vintage fabric to go in

my new-to-me chairs, and I 

could go on, and on, and on. . . but I won't

because you get me.

Don't forget my contest.  When I get 100+ followers,

I am giving away some amazing paint from

the Caromal Colours textured basecoat collection.