Graphic End Table

We've been enjoying spectacular late summer weather here in Boise, and I've been taking advantage of the cooler temperatures to refinish some furniture. 

This consignment store table we purchased recently has found a prominent place in our living room between two chairs, so its unattractive grain patterns and unfortunate shade of orange stain has made refinishing it a must. 

When I saw that my sanding, conditioning, and re-staining the top darker wasn't going to cover the bad grain pattern, I went hunting on Pinterest for ideas. I found a fun table created by the Sisters of the Wild West that was inspired by some Pottery Barn wall art. All I had to do was modify the shape of Amy's and Emily's number graphic to fit our square table.

After measuring the table and resizing the graphic to fit it here, I used white chalk on the back of the printout to transfer the number outlines to the table top. I freehand painted the numbers with an artist's brush and two coats of white acrylic craft paint. Next, I distressed the numbers and toned their white paint down even more with some dark glaze. To finish the top I protected it with two coats of wipe-on poly. 

The bottom was sanded, primed, and painted with two coats of homemade chalk paint. After lightly distressing, I used both light and dark furniture wax just on the bottom for an antique look. 

I think refinishing this little table used just about every technique I know!

If you like my graphic end table, make sure you hop on over to the Sisters of the Wild West to see the beautiful inspiration.

Have a great week, everyone!

Let's go party!

Rooted In Thyme
Beyond The Picket Fence
From My Front Porch To Yours
Elizabeth & Co.
Mod Vintage Life
Our Home Away From Home

My Repurposed Life

The Charm Of Home
Miss Mustard Seed
The Cottage Market

DIY Photo Clipboards

 I hope your week is going well so far! I've been having the best time in my craft room the past couple of days working on some small projects for our home. 

Love Grows Wild

The one I'm sharing today is a tutorial for making my version of some DIY photo clipboards inspired by Liz at Love Grows Wild. I featured Liz's clipboards last August on Friday Finds and thought they might be just the thing for a long narrow wall space above my family room sofa.

My Television Console

 I changed the finish on my version of these clipboards to fit the vintage feel of our family room and tie in with this white chalk painted media stand with a dark walnut stained top that's on the opposite wall. I've been wanting to display photographs of the beloved furry members of our family for the longest time, and I think my informal distressed clipboards are just right for some lighthearted four legged artwork. 

Following Liz's tutorial, I started with a 1" x 12" x 6' pine board. I cut the length into five 13" pieces to make five clipboards. After sanding, I applied a coat of dark walnut stain and let it dry overnight.

  

The next day I applied two coats of homemade chalk paint. When the paint was dry I used coarse sandpaper to distress just down to the dark walnut stain. After sanding the boards once more with fine sandpaper I applied a coat of clear furniture wax for protection. 

  

I didn't like the way sawtooth hangers made the clipboards stand out from the wall, so I improvised my own hangers by wrapping some floral wire around two small nails. I measured each hanger carefully to make them all the same.  Taking the time to do that made it much easier to hang all the clipboards level with each other on the wall. 

 

I hot glued squares of cardboard over the nails so they wouldn't scratch the walls. 

 

For clips I found these cute miniature clothespins in the craft section at Fred Meyer. I dropped them into some dark walnut stain and then drained them on a rag and wiped them off.

 

I used a piece of 8"x 10" scrap paper to figure out where I wanted the clothes pins to hold each photo, marked the spot on the board with a pencil line, and then used a thin line of hot glue to apply each one.

 I probably should have used wood glue for that step, but I was impatient and didn't want to wait for it to dry. So far, so good, though. The hot glue is holding the clothespins just fine. 

I think it took me as long to find and prepare my photographs as it did to prepare the wood. I edited and re-sized each photo to 8" x 10" using Photoshop. If you don't have photo editing software on your computer, I highly recommend PicMonkey. 

 

At this point, my printer ran out of ink. Grrrr...  When my sweet husband brought me some home that night, I printed out my photos. 

 

I trimmed the photos on my paper cutter, but scissors will work great too. The last step was the easiest: clipping the photos onto each clipboard.

 

And here they are! Our little ragamuffins! 

 

Our family room has a high bank of windows on one wall. We love the view of the trees, but they only leave a narrow strip of wall above the sofa on which to hang artwork. 

 

I think our new photo clipboards fit here perfectly. 

 

Every time I walk into the room and see our furry family members looking at me, they make me smile. Each photograph captures their unique personalities; Tucker, my black lab, is smart and he's always watching me attentively to see where I'm going and what I'm doing. It's hard to see here, but there's a big grin behind that lolling tongue. Molly, a golden lab and my oldest grand dog, is loving and gentle. Jake, the West Highland Terrier and my youngest grand dog, is always looking for trouble. He's so darn cute, though, he melts our hearts, and no one can stay annoyed with him for long. 

 Our pets enrich our lives so much. They really are family members, and we're happy to give them a place on the wall. And in case you're wondering, my daughters' photographs are hanging on another wall in our family room. I haven't forgotten the humans!

I'd love to know if you display photographs of your cherished pets around your home too.

Thanks so much for coming by today, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your week! 

 

{Check out my Spring and Winter clipboards, too!}

Let's Party!

From My Front Porch To Yours 

Elizabeth & Co. 

Beyond The Picket Fence 

Rooted In Thyme 

My Repurposed Life

It All Started With Paint 

Cozy Little House 

Jennifer Rizzo

Knick of Time 

 

 

 

Black & Gold Table

Last July I found this little shiny black sewing table at a yard sale. I think all I heard about it at the time was "$5.00," and I said, "I'll take it!"

In my rush to get a great deal, I didn't look too closely. The first clue I had as to why it was only $5.00, was how heavy it was. I couldn't lift it by myself! That's when I saw that the table opened down the middle on hinges and was actually a sewing machine cabinet.

A long time ago!

After my husband lugged it to the car and inside our house, I did the investigating I should have done at the yard sale. (I now call this table my learning table, as in a what to pass by at a yard sale-table.)

I set the table aside for a while, and when I had some spare time (some what?) I went at it with a screw driver, and just look at what came out of that innocent looking table. No wonder it was so heavy!

I couldn't see any way to make the inside usable or fix the broken hinged faux drawer front, so I glued and screwed them down tight and filled in the crack on top with wood putty. I had planned on painting the table white, but the white primer changed my mind. My $5.00 table that I'd already wasted too much time on seemed to be getting uglier and uglier the more I did to it!  

At this point, I thought maybe I should just junk it (or as they do in Maryland, leave it out at the curb.)

Instead, I mixed up some black chalk paint and repainted it black.

And gold!

I think it was the gold that did me in.

 And turned this sad little sewing cabinet into one of my favorites!

 

The black chalk paint gave it a soft vintage look, and the Martha Stewart gold metallic paint from Home Depot gave it some pizazz.

This little pain in the neck $5.00 yard sale table has turned out to be one of my favorites and now resides in a place of honor in my craft room. 

Ironically, it has made the perfect little sewing table for me!

 I'm sharing my black and gold table at these fun parties! C'mon along!

Elizabeth & Co.
From My Front Porch To Yours
Stone Gable
Rooted In Thyme  
Common Ground 
The Charm of Home
French Country Cottage 
Miss Mustard Seed  
Funky Junk Interiors 
Coastal Charm 
 

Waterfall Table

 Yay! I finally have a project to share with you! 

You might remember this little yard sale waterfall table I bought on a lazy summer Sunday back in July. My brother wanted me to keep the wood look, but it was in bad shape. In fact, I learned how to use wood filler for the first time to fill in some missing veneer and deep scratches on this piece.

After sanding and priming I painted the edges and bottom shelf linen white with homemade chalk paint.

For the "waterfall" part I mixed up a warm neutral beige to set it off a bit from the rest of the table.

I distressed and waxed, and the finish is as smooth as silk now. I also replaced the old knob with a new vintage glass one.

I love the cute new shabby chic look!

This little table was way easier to move around and more fun to work on than my big television console, and I'll definitely be watching for more small projects like this one to paint.


If you live in the Boise area and are interested in purchasing this table, shoot me an email from my sidebar and I'll send you the particulars.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day! 

 

I'm sharing my little table at some really fun parties! C'mon along!

 Elizabeth & Co. 
Shabby Art Boutique 
French Country Cottage 
The Charm of Home 
My Romantic Home
The Vintage Farmhouse 
Pieced Passtimes