From Christmas to Easter Decor

TRUE CONFESSION:  I'm STILL in the process of packing up some of my Christmas decorations. (I KNOW....it's terrible!) I'm trying to re-organize as I put stuff away so it's taking FOREVER. Still, I really should be done by now!

Anyway, as I was sorting through Christmas decor,  I ran across this small tree and decided NOT to put it away quite yet!

 

You might remember that a few years ago, I found this little tree -- still with the tag! -- on the curb in a "natural" shade of hot pink. It only took 100 cans of spray paint to cover the pink!

 

This curbside tree turned out to be a great little find! I've used it every year since then, decorating it in a variety of different ways at Christmas. 

So since I still hadn't put it away for the season, I thought I might try using it for Easter. And I like how it turned out!

 Tree in hand, I dug around in my holiday boxes for suitable decor. I found a set of eggs I purchased a few years ago. At the time, I added ribbon to each egg by attaching it with a pin. The eggs had been tucked away unused, so I decided to hang them on the tree.

Then I discovered a set of ceramic birds I'd totally forgotten! I bought them to match the eggs, but they had also been stored away for many moons.

So with the eggs and birds in place, I'm happy with how my little Easter tree looks! It's just the right amount of Easter decor for me.

And as a bonus, I've now justified my extreme tardiness in putting away my Christmas decorations! 😉

jp

TLC for the Grill/Garden Cart

 After a couple of summers in the intense patio heat, the "grill cart turned garden cart" was in need of some TLC this spring. The paint had chipped and the galvanized elements had not weathered well.

It took a bit of effort but, thanks to Spouse, the gray paint now looks much better. I spray painted the black elements again to touch them up and they now look fresher.

I found some galvanized tin-like spray paint and gave the birds a new coat. (Strangely, they had turned a chalky tan color in the sun.) While they're a little brighter than they were originally, I'm happy with how they turned out!

 

But the little buckets were in sorry shape, almost rusted through. Honestly, I don't think they were meant for outdoor use. OOPS!

I managed to scrape off some of the rust and tried spray painting one of them. It sort of worked but the buckets themselves were so worn that I decided to replace them. 

Luckily, I found the exact size online and, while they have a shiny instead of dull finish, they're much sturdier than the original buckets. They even have liners which will help protect the metal.

Once all the touch-ups were done, I loaded up the refurbished grill cart with a few herbs and flowers and we are off and running for another season!

 jp

Old Made New: Hobnail Milk Glass Lamp

My mother-in-law has been sorting through some items in her house, occasionally choosing a small piece or two for me to sell, such as an old tin of bath powder or a china serving bowl. But on a recent visit, Spouse brought home something I could not bear to part with: A charming old hobnail milk glass lamp!

  I've always loved hobnail milk glass but only have a few pieces. Over time, most of my mom's hobnail glass must have broken, because I found very little of it in my parents' house when preparing for their estate sale. 

When I was a little girl, we had a small drinking glass made from hobnail milk glass. I can remember running my fingers over the little bumps and my mom telling me it was hobnail milk glass, which I thought were very funny words. My mom also had a hobnail jewelry container (also called a cigarette box) on her dresser. I loved the box and brought it home with me from my parents' house, along with a couple of small vases.

I'd never mentioned my love of hobnail milk glass to my mother-in-law, so it was a nice surprise to see Spouse walk in the door with the lamp. I immediately asked her if I could keep it. I am delighted to have it and give it a new life!

The original glass shade on my mother-in-law's lamp had been replaced with a cloth one. The original shade would have looked something like this one. 

 A quick online check indicated that hobnail lamps are readily available at reasonable prices but the shades are extremely pricey. That tells me that over time, most shades have broken and are now harder to come by, driving the price up.

I'm not a super big fan of the original shade anyway and since they're cost-prohibitive, I started looking online to see if I could come up with an alternative shade to give the lamp a fresh, updated look. I was immediately drawn to this lamp project and tagged it as my inspiration piece. The brighter gold and the simple shade really draw the eye to the hobnail parts of the lamp. Even though it is a vintage piece, it now has a modern look!

 

Finding the right shade is going to take some time, since it has to fit over the glass chimney of the lamp. In the meantime, the metal parts needed freshening up. First I gave the glass parts a thorough cleaning, then I taped them off to leave only the metal parts exposed.

 The spray painting went very quickly using this paint:

It is a brighter gold than the original brass finish, but I think it gives the lamp an updated look. Of course, the purist in me paused and thought about it before painting, as one should always do before re-habbing a vintage piece. But since these lamps are readily available at thrift shops and online, I don't see the harm in giving it an update. If it were highly collectible and I hoped to sell it, I definitely would have left it in original form.

After painting and clean-up, here's the updated lamp! It really does look brand new. Now to find a simple shade that will keep the focus on the best parts of this pretty little lamp: the hobnail milk glass!

jp

More Fun with Spray Paint

 Last week I spray painted three more things in our house. Given enough time and money, I could perhaps paint every surface in Rustoleum's Oil-Rubbed Bronze. I love it that much!

The main target of my spray painting was this tray. I found a large stack of these trays in my parents' basement. I think my mom acquired them from her aunt, but I had never seen them used so had no emotional attachment to them. They're actually pretty handy to have around the house so I kept a couple but gave away a few to a friend and sold the rest in my Brass Armadillo case. 

I decided to paint the center of the tray and leave the edges exposed, because the green is just about the right color to use on my bar cart. I taped off the edges, leaving the middle open.

I took the operation out to the back yard. It was a fairly windy day, not ideal for spray painting. I may have painted some trees in oil-rubbed bronze. Still, it covered very easily with no sanding.

While I was at it, I spray painted two frames. 

 They turned out great!

After two coats, I let the tray dry for a couple of hours then brought it back inside for the unveiling.

I was a little nervous about how the tape would pull off, but it came off perfectly, leaving no peeled or irregular edges. My "Plan B" was to go back and paint the edges if I didn't like the results.

Lily watched from a safe distance while I pulled off the blue tape.

And this is how it turned out! The green is just the color I needed on the swanky bar cart.

It matches the round antique tray I picked up awhile back. 

 Now...what else can I spray paint?

Bar Cart: Part 2 - Painting Prep

I'm pleased to report that progress continues on my bar cart project! Luckily we've had some very nice, calm days lately so I decided to start spray painting. Too bad Bailey, my spray painting buddy, is away for the summer. I'm on my own with this one, although Spouse has a bit more interest than usual in this project since the word "bar" is in the title!

 Aside from taking apart the cart, I've been planning what I want to do with it. I decided to paint the cart to match our other metals using Rust-oleum Metallic spray paint in Oil-Rubbed Bronze. We've used this for other projects around the house with great results.

 With that "big" decision out of the way (whew!) my next task is to find some mod/funky/retro type contact paper to cover the two shelves. I've found several fun patterns online but of course nothing local, so it looks like I'll be ordering it. That makes me a little nervous because there's always a possibility that I won't like it when I see it.

While I'm thinking about color and pattern, I decided to go ahead with the painting. As I took apart the cart, I noticed that two of the screws were missing, so I purchased all new hardware to match -- screws, washers, and nuts. The screws are silver so I'll paint the heads to match the handles.

After disassembling the cart, I sanded it down and washed it again. I wasn't happy with the wheels so I scrubbed them with a Goo Be Gone product and washed them again in Dawn. This time the shop grease came off completely.

Next I taped off the wheels with blue tape. I decided to paint the silver part the same color as the rest of the metal, so I covered up everything else with tape. Good thing I got a new roll because it seemed like I used most of it on the first wheel!

By the time I got to the last wheel, I had figured it out!

At first I thought I'd have to tape off the center part of the trays but then I realized that all of that part will be covered up with contact paper or such, so no additional taping was necessary. Good thing! Taping is NO FUN when you're excited to get to the painting!

I consulted with Spouse about the best way to prop up the handles for painting. I didn't want to place them flat on the floor and have to turn them to paint the other side, because I was afraid that would create a paint line between the two sides. Spouse had the smart idea of propping up the handles against old yard sticks so that I could reach all sides at once. 

Here's a sneak peek of this great idea! Wish I'd thought to put newspapers on the grass. I may or may not have painted blades of grass onto the wheel brackets. :)

 Next post: Spray painting!

Bar Cart: Before...

 Do you ever feel like you've got too many projects started and not enough completed? That's how I feel right now. So why not add one or two more to the list?

This cart is currently sitting in our garage awaiting a makeover. It is one of two carts which I brought home from my dad's garage last summer. As I was trying to decide what I could keep that would remind me of Dad, the two carts spoke to me. I wanted to keep items that would be useful, not just packed away in a box.

This cart actually belonged to my grandma (my mom's mom) who used it as a serving cart for our Sunday lunches. At Grandma's house, it carried shrimp salads and fruit plates. After she passed away Dad snagged it for his garage, where it lived a much rougher life as a tool caddy.

To fully appreciate where this cart came from, you must see the state of my dad's garage when I first started organizing prior to our auction. You can see the cart -- piled high with stuff -- in the lower portion of the photo. 

 After I organized his garage, I could see that the cart was quite a nice tool caddy, very handy to roll around while working working on projects. Dad actually had another cart just like it in a different building, complete with little hooks for his wrenches. I gave that cart to the neighbor boy who used to help Dad with his projects.

I thought about Grandma's cart all summer long and finally decided to keep it, along with a second three-shelf cart. I will be refurbishing the three-shelf cart for my craft room, using this "before/after" photo from Pinterest as inspiration.

I am planning to refurbish the tool caddy to use as a swanky bar cart. (Of course, it would work great for any type of beverage. Maybe I've been watching too much Mad Men!) The metal will be bronze to match our finishes and I'll use some type of geometric/retro print on on the shelves. This "before/after" photo from Pinterest is one of my inspiration photos.

The bar cart project is at the top of my list for this summer. I hope to get started on it in the next few days!

Too Cute to Hoot!

 Knowing how much I love owls, a friend of mine recently purchased a cast iron owl ashtray for me at an auction. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but after a little thought we determined that it had been an ashtray. He had it sandblasted so that all the rust and wear was gone.

I accidentally deleted my "before" picture, but when I received my owl, it looked MUCH better than the one in this picture I found on the internet! In fact, it really didn't even need painting, other than to prevent rusting over time.

 

 Enter our favorite Rust-Oleum Oil-Rubbed Bronze Metallic Spray Paint:

 

 Before I could say "whooooo", Spouse had given it a couple of quick coats. It turned out great! I love how it is both stylish AND functional!

 

Now this cute little guy now has a new mission in life in my craft room. He can hold small rings and chains...

 

...or jewelry tags...

 

 ...or trimmer blades! (Why do I have so many trimmer blades, anyway???) Or buttons...or whatever!

 
He's too cute to HOOT! :)
jp