Time for a new life!

I found this "kitchy" cross stitched clock at LCM. It was in really poor shape, it originally came in a shadow box, but the door and glass was broken. So I took the hinges off and gave the clock a fresh coat of light blue paint. I loved this because it looked like it took a very long time to make, someone took it to a clock store to have it mounted and the gears installed, and was probably very proud of it for a long time. It makes me a little sad that items like these end up at the dump. So that's why I feel good when I look at it, it has been saved, and has a new life in our home.

A Tablecloth's new life!

I bought this tablecloth a year ago at a flea market in Moss Landing just north of Monterey. I loved it, and had been looking for one for years. I brought it home, and it didn't quite fit my table..it was too short. So I have had it in my linen closet for the past year and I was sad that it wasn't getting any use. I thought it was an antique, but as I inspected it, it had a very new label on it, like it was a reproduction. So I had no problem cutting the thing up, and making an adorable throw pillow. I made sure that Monterey was on the front, to remember this great area by. I still have southern california to make another pillow, but I have to get to the fabric store to buy another pillow form.

New Year...New Projects

I regularly watch a show on HGTV called "Sarah's House". She's my new style guru. I love how she mixes the old with the new, and a lot of times, she takes old furniture, and re-upholsters or paints them to look new. There was an episode where she was doing a tween's room, and she found this 70's style table, repainted it, and put it in between 2 twin beds. I was at LCM last week, and found the exact table she had used..so I snatched it up, sprayed it with this bright aqua paint, and put it in Maisy's room for a bedside table. LOVE!

This was a rocking chair from when I was a baby...my mom used to rock me in it. It had a 70's lattice back to it that had busted and was crumbing apart. I removed all of it, and started sanding so I could add a fresh coat of paint. As I began sanding, green was coming through, it was obvious my mom had painted it blue at some point. I loved the effect of the green coming through so I just left it like that! Found a cute oilcloth fabric and gingham trim. I stapled the fabric to the front and back, padding it in the middle to fill, and then glue gunned the trim to hide the staples. Now it lives in Maisy's room, and I get to sit on it and read her stories at bedtime.

Cookbook Shelf

I forgot to take a picture of this bookcase before I sanded. It looked so much worse than the picture, lots of cobwebs, and discoloration from being outside for a long period of time. I gave it a good sanding, filled some cracks with wood filler, and gave it 3 coats of white paint. I have painted a bookself before and put books on it, but noticed after time, the books end up sticking to the paint and the paint comes off when you would pull a book out. That's why I opted to cover the shelves with fabric. Just applied white glue with a paintbrush to the surface and slightly underneath (so I could wrap the fabric under the shelf). Beverly's fabric has a couple rolls of vintage looking fabrics that I could not resist. My books don't exactly fit the conventional way on it, but I made it work!
I am still probably going to add a cute quote from Julia Child to the front lip to make it more fun.

Repurposed Shutters

I found some nasty old outdoor shutters from LCM, they were $2 each. I considered just cleaning them up and sanding them more, but I still had some Chalkboard spray paint (which I am obsessed with at the moment). Sprayed them down, sanded the edges, added some cute scrap booking stickers, and voila! A new bulletin board!