Little Pickled tables

Sometime in the early 1990's we bought the most beautiful set of tables I had ever seen. The set came with a huge, ornate, hand carved armoire for our equally as large television, two side tables, a sofa table and a hanging shelf. All solid wood and very expensive for a family making military pay. Those tables have survived multiple PCS moves (that's a permanent change of station to the non military folks), including Texas, Kansas, Texas again, Germany (two moves), Colorado (another two moves) and getting lost at sea with all our other household goods for a few months. The original finish was a lovely pickled look. OK, so it was lovely in 1992, now? Now, not so much.

The hubster wanted to donate them to Goodwill but I could not bring myself to part with them. They were the first pieces of brand new furniture we had ever bought, to include beds and mattresses which really makes my flesh crawl to think about now, but at the time we thought it was fine. Hey, don't judge. So, the little pickled tables kept on trucking (literally) to where ever we hung our hats. We made the final move about four years ago when the mister hung up his combat boots for good and we bought our toe tag house. (For those who don't know what a toe tag house is, it's the house you leave with a tag on your toe). The little tables found their way to the basement where they hung out with a ridiculously large red sectional sofa (what the heck I thinking? I should have listened to Miss Mustard Seed who advises neutral pieces for your sofas and chairs). And, they looked horrible! I could now see where four children had used them as space launching sites for their feet, and never once thought about using a coaster...in their lives...and still don't! Kids, if you are reading this, would it kill you to use a coaster? So, one day when the mister was out of the country, I pulled them all upstairs and decided to start slapping on some paint. Truly, I am sorry I don't have a before photo. I'll try to find something. The first coat I put on was Annie Sloan Primer Red. Well, red next to red was too red. (Go figure) so I topped it with Olive ASCP, distressed it and slapped on the clear wax.  I liked it...for a while. See photo above.

This past weekend, when we had such a brrrrrr, snowy, cold, windy, stay inside and eat chili kind of day, I got to looking at the little pickled, turned red, turned Olive tables and decided the day was so dreary and the basement so dark, these little tables needed to be bright and cheerful. So, I get the mister to haul them upstairs (except the huge armoire, which is holding our skis in the garage and is waiting its turn to be re purposed into something fabulous). Really, I love that man! He is too good for me and I don't deserve him. He only complained minimally, knowing I was going to do it anyway.  I decided on ASCP Arles. I've been on an Arles kick lately. I found this drab mid-century modern table, stripped the top (because it was so chippy), and painted it Arles. Currently, it is in the adorable boutique in Vail. It is super cute and I suspect it will sell very soon and make lots of money for cancer research.

So, I have painted all the tables in ASCP Arles and already loving them! Currently, they are sitting in the entry way of my house. I sort of like them there. But, the mister thinks they need to not impede anyone coming into our house and he is not fond of the paint splattered drop cloth as an entry way area rug.

This afternoon, when I quit procrastinating and finish the house cleaning (blech), I'll get the first coat of clear wax on, and get it distressed. They are going to get some dark wax on the decorative fronts. I'll add those photos later, but was so excited to show how pretty they are already.

Total cost? Since the tables are about 20 years old and were destined for G Dub (nickname for Goodwill in our house), I am saying $0.00. I have used about 1/2 quart of ASCP in Arles and have put on three coats ($18.50...again...go see Brad and Amber at Shades of Amber in Monument, CO...they will change your life!)

I am thinking I will spend right about $25 to redo all three tables and the shelf. Score! I totally love when you can take something yucky and turn it into a one of a kind piece of loveliness.

The final project. I am thinking I need to get a better camera and lighting as this does not do the little tables justice. Lovely!

Snowy Sunday Sled

It's a balmy 10 degrees outside. That's right 10! And snowy! I suppose, living in Colorado, I really should expect snow in Decemeber,but, it always catches me by surprise. It's too cold to go out, so it's a great day to make something crafty.

I bought this old sled off Craigslist and it was in such bad shape, it must mean it was destined to become a Christmas decoration. I nailed one of the boards back on, and proceeded to paint it in Annie Sloan Primer Red. Now, if you have ever used ASCP in Primer Red, you probably get a little freaked out when you start slapping it on. It comes out looking something like a Scandanavian salmon, but just be patient. When it dries, it is this amazing dark, schoolhouse red. Next, I found some great stencils at Hobby Lobby. (Half price! Yippee!) I used two stencil packages. One is scrolly alphabet and the other was a bunch of differnt snowflakes. If you are a professional, you might tape the stencil on. I'm not. I hold them in place and very sparingly dab on ASCP in Olive for the Q, and Old White for my snowflakes. If I had taken the time to tape, I might not have had to touch up the red from where I slapped on too much white. Oh well, All's well that end's well, right? Now, again, if I wanted a professional look, I might wax over the paint, but I am going for the very rustic look, so I am going to leave it as is.

Products used: Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in: Primer Red, Olive and Old White. One old, dilapidated sled off Craigslist, and two stenicl packages from Hobby Lobby. Total cost? $25. Total time? About 30 minutes.