Reading by Lamp Light

I named this post "Reading by Lamp Light", I should have added "sort of".  Our power goes out a lot here in the styx of Idaho so we have quite a few Colman lanterns for back up lighting, plus a few here and there just for looks.  After going to the Farm Chicks this year I had an idea of what I wanted to do with one, but didn't want to sacrifice one we already had in case it didn't work out.  Garage sale to the rescue!  I found this one (sorry, no before pics) for 75 cents, so no problem tearing it apart.

Leave Well Enough Alone

Another lifetime ago I worked in the quality department of a large corporation.  One of their mantras was "continuous improvement".  They felt that everything could & should be improved upon.  Sometimes corporate ideology is just wrong !  Take this old mantle/wall shelf that I picked up last year for $2.  Sorry, this is obviously a during (stripping) shot, I lost the last two years of pictures that weren't saved on my Picasa Web Album, but it pretty much looked just like this minus the peeling paint.  I've had a lot of different ideas for this baby, first I was going to paint it aqua, then I figured it would be great in chalkboard paint which really needs a smooth base, so I went ahead and stripped it.

Here is what it looked like after one coat of heavy duty stripper.  People spends hours trying to achieve this look, so why should I try to improve on that?  The only thing I did was spray three coats of polyurethane on it to try to seal in the paint (I think it might be lead).

Next, and probably the hardest thing to figure out was what to use for hooks.  At first I was just going to use these simple screw in hooks, but they were too plain and too small.  Then I thought spoon hooks would look good, but when my hubby tried to flatten the bowl the spoon broke all apart.  Seems like the great (hah) set of silver he bought me awhile back is silver plated pot metal.  Then my husband suggested railroad ties but we didn't have enough, and they were too long.

 So a few days ago I was saying how I wished I had picked up some glass insulators at a sale for $1 a piece (I know...woulda, coulda, shoulda), when a light bulb went off in my husbands head. He goes over to the shop and comes back with these:

Do you know what they are?  They are ceramic insulators for electric fencing.  We have a bunch that we used to use to keep the deer out of the garden.  So a little polishing up, and some 14 cent screws and...

Dang, isn't my husband great.  A year ago he would have thought this was nuts, but now he is starting to see what revamping is all about.

So here is the shelf that I pretty much left well enough alone.  What do you think, good chippy or not?

Linking up to:

a diamond in the stuff

diy by design

savvy southern style

pjh designs 
miss mustard seed 

Weekend Finds

I know this won't be one of my hotter posts.   I rarely view other postings about garage sale finds, but I wanted to show a few people some of the great things I found this weekend, including a birthday present for my youngest granddaughter.
My shed is so full of future furniture projects that I am trying to limit myself to only buying smalls right now.  Do you know how hard that is?  Luckily most of the furniture I found this weekend was out of my price range, so I stuck to my guns and only brought home small pieces.

The Gilded Lady

A couple of months ago I saw a great blog at Hospitality Designs (metallic paint project ) using Martha Stewart Golden Pearl paint.  I immediately knew I had to use this on something.  I found a waterfall highboy dresser and vanity that were in pretty bad shape that I thought might work, so off to Home Depot I went for my paint.  On the way home I stopped at a yard sale and found this little skirted vanity table from the 1940's or 1950's.  Doesn't she have beautiful legs?  I knew she would be my golden pearl project.

Rattan Chairs Two Ways

      We have a little pub near us that reminds me of Cheers.  I worked there for a few years in my early 20's, and as the song goes, everyone really does know your name.  I don't go there much now, but every summer they have a big yard sale I can't miss.  Last year I picked up four of these rattan and wicker chairs for $15 (total!). 

Paris in Springtime

Last month I was having picker withdrawals.  You know the feeling, too early for garage sales, no estate sales happening, nothing much on Craigslist.  I was on my way to lunch with my mother and sister, when I saw a sign in front of our Salvation Army store that said all furniture 1/2 off.  Woo Hoo! 

Sunflowers in Spring

Springtime in North Idaho can be anything from snow, to thunderstorms, to beautiful sunny days (OK wishful thinking on the sun).  Since it's way too early to think about gardening I thought I would paint something a nice sunny yellow.  Jeez, you'd think that would be easy enough don't you?  Well this little chair gave me so many fits that it almost went in the burn pile.

King Me

 I guess I could have called this post "Checkmate" instead of "King Me", but I never really learned chess, checkers was more my game.  I found this little table last year at a garage sale for $2.00.  I mean who can pass that up!  It had one broken leg, but nothing my hubby couldn't fix.  It was also missing the inserted top piece, someone had thrown a peel and stick vinyl square in there, thank goodness not stuck yet.  Originally I wanted to paint this yellow and transfer The Graphic Fairy French Bee in the center.  I still think that would have been cute, but I decided to go natural instead. 

Lenora's Sonora

   You know how one thing leads to another, and pretty soon you've remodeled your whole house?  Well that's what happened to my brother-in-law and his wife Lenora.  It started with wanting to put in a wood stove, well then you have to have a hearth, then the walls look a little drab so now you paint the whole house (different great colors), and now the decor is all wrong...well you get it.  In the midst of all this, they moved around some of their furniture and her Sonora phonograph didn't fit where it was anymore.  Lenora asked if I wanted it, and as great as it is (now!) I just don't have room for it.  I could tell she really didn't want to part with it so I said "how about if I fix it up to match your piano so you can put it next to it?"

Amarrei's Rocker

     Am I reverting back to my childhood, or channeling my inner child?  It sure seems like it, my last three posts have all been about things for kids.  I swear this should be the last one for awhile.
     Last summer my mother-in-law bought a cute little rocker at a yard sale for her newest great granddaughter.  Now it wasn't bad to start with, but it had that '60s French provincial thing going on, so I thought maybe we could bling it up a bit.