$5 Lamp Before and After

 I have been in search of the perfect lamp for my piano.  I needed one that would blend in with my decor yet give good lighting for the pianist.  In my search I found some great options, but they came at a cost that really was not going to work for me.  

 Then I came upon this beauty!!

She caught my eye.  I took a double take...hmmm...looks like candle holders and it looks colonial.  

Oh!  and the price is $5?!  I'll take it!

Would you buy it?

 I thought I had some candle covers that would fit over the light fixtures, but they were too small.  Plan B was to grubby them up with my mixture of coffee grounds and cinnamon...smelled good:)...and apply with glue.

Here is a pic of before and after they dried.  You can see the plastic cover is chipped.  No problem!  You cant see it anyway!

 I painted the lamp with two coats of Annie Sloan's Graphite, letting it dry 24 hours between the two coats because I just wanted it to adhere well with less coats.  It did not chip at all!  I then waxed it in dark wax.

 It buffed up so lovely!

The lighting in the first pic is too bright.  The truer color is on right pic.

 Before and After:

Now would you buy it?

It fits this space perfect and the lighting is amazing!!

Crate Find!

I can't believe it has been a whole year since we ventured out to Wisconsin to drop our son off for college.  

As we were on our way to drop him off at his dorm, I slammed on the brakes to have hubby go check out this crate that was out with garbage.

 To my surprise it had the name Glen Rock on it and Milwaukee, WI.  Now that might not seem like anything to you, but to this mama that just moved to a new home in a different county and was dropping off her first born in Wisconsin it had some sentimentality to it.  Where I took my son for his braces' appointment was in Glen Rock, PA (many trips back n forth).  Now I was leaving that boy young man in Wisconsin.  

Every time I saw it in our garage, it was a little reminder to me to pray for him.

 It sat in our garage for a whole year, until today.

So all the mildew looking wood was dry and there were no critters living in the wood ;)

I just wanted to warm that wood up a little, so I got out my Annie Sloans dark wax (which is pretty brown compared to the Jacobean wax I have from Fiddes and Sons)

It turned out incredible! 

 It made the lettering pop and the mildew stain look less frightening.

It is a great keepsake from his first year at college!

And Free :)

My Stepback Reveal

If you've been following me on Instagram and Facebook, you probably know of my recent purchase.

My mud room gets wonderful lighting, which stirred up the desire to use that room for working on projects. When we bought our house last year, I thought I would paint and work on projects in our big basement, however I kept finding myself working on things upstairs where there is more sunlight and people. Now I want to use my mud room for this purpose.  

I  love old cupboards, hutches and stepbacks. I like the idea of using them for storage. I was really excited when I found a reproduction of an old stepback for a great price

They are called stepbacks for the simple reason that the top is set back farther than the bottom piece. I loved the black crackled paint over the red, the old looking wood door latch, and the deep bottom cabinet. What I wasn't so crazy about was the berry red back.

I was less enthused when I set my little collection of yellowware on it.

Regretting the purchase of this cabinet, I told myself to just let it set and get inspired by Pinterest.  So I did. I thought of repainting the whole thing, in the yellow color that I used in my mud room, because there were some scuff marks all around the piece.

BUT I  truly loved the black chippyness.

Searching Pinterest was helpful, but what really helped me was just looking at my hutch I painted last year. The one thing I loved was the wood background.

That would be my first step, to sand off that berry red background. If I couldn't fix the scuff marks then I would repaint the entire piece. As I sanded, I knew I made the right decision.

I started feeling extremely thankful for the person who painted it red, because it left a great layered look to the piece that wouldn't have been there had they not painted it. 

 It looked beautiful just natural.

Next, I was thinking about staining it, but I really liked the way the School Master's Desk turned out that I decided to use dark wax instead.

With my wax brush and cheap dollar brush (to get into the corners), I applied the wax. I soon realized I  loved using the cheap brush over the wax brush. The wax went on so easily. 

Here is a pic so you can see the wood with and without the wax.

Testing the dark wax on the scuff marks, I learned that it hid them well and decided to cover the WHOLE piece with dark wax.

She buffed up nicely

I am super excited at how it turned out, and I love all the room to store our school things!
The other hutch looks great in the mud room and I look forward to organizing my craft supplies in that!

Two Unbelievable Finds!

Ahh! The warmer weather is finally here!  I am back to my daily walks around the neighborhood.  Tonight the kiddos and I were out walking.  I don't know how we missed these beauties, but we walked right passed them.  We had just gotten back from our walk when a friend knocked on our front door.  She told me of these aged beauties and thought I would like to have them.  I think she was on her way home, and she must have turned around just to tell me.  I am glad she did!

Thank you, Patricia!

I can picture the parlor these chairs would have sat in.

 They actually don't smell either!

I think this is way above what I can handle, but I am willing to study up and give it a try!

The woodwork is definitely not getting painted! 

Free Cabinet

I went to an anitques shop in our area and there were these old cabinets that came out of farm houses in the area that the people were selling for $100 or more.  I thought they were neat old cabinets but not in my budget.  The other day my son and I were driving to the grocery store, and I spotted this one for FREE!

What is really neat is that it came out of my deceased Great Uncle's house.  I am not sure who lives there now though.  As we were putting it in the van, an old skeleton key fell out too.

 What little treasures!   

I am not sure if hubby thinks it is a treasure though--esp. the silver spray paint :)

I can't wait to figure out what I am going to do with this one:)