A "Weigh" Cool Refurbishment

We had this old scale that was so neat, but in pretty ragged shape.  With many antiques, it takes away the value if they are touched, but we decided that it was worth it to us to redo it and enjoy it. 

It's a REALLY heavy piece! 

We took it out to the garage where my husband started disassembling it.   (At this point, my work was done!)  :)

He took every single piece apart.  There were lots and lots of pieces! (Lots more that didn't make this picture too.)

 

To remove the paint, he sanded, then used Citrastrip and the paint came off pretty easily.

He then filled in any dings with filler since he was going to paint it glossy and the dings would show.

He sanded the filler down and painted it with Automotive paint.

After getting it all painted, he wasn't happy with the finish on one of the pieces, so removed the paint and repainted it.  (He is much more patient than I am!)

He buffed out all of the brass pieces, which turned out so nice and bright.

He brought all of the parts into the basement to dry.  He then reassembled it.

And here it is finished!  I think it's absolutely beautiful and am SO proud of how incredibly talented he is!!

 I will add more pictures when we get the tray and weights added.

Thanks so much for coming by!

Pam

I am linking to the following parties:

Between Naps on the Porch's Met Monday

Funky Junk Interior's Saturday Night Special

No Minimalist Here's Open House

Pink Postcard's Transformations and Treasures

Savvy Southern Style's Wow us Wednesday

French Country Cottage's Feathered Nest Friday

At the Picket Fence's Inspiration Friday

The Charm of Home's Home Sweet Home Party

My Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday

Remodelaholic's Anonymous Party

The DIY Show Off's Project Parade

Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party

Baby Girl's Nursery Design

I'm living vicariously through a client of mine:  She's having a baby girl and I designed her nursery!  I'm doing the final installation today with my assistant, Meghan, and we're so excited!!

My client was looking for a fun, sophisticated nursery.  {When I walked into her living room for the first time, it looked like it had been done professionally, although she did it herself, so she has an amazing sense of style.}  She wanted fresh & happy and not over-the-top girly.  She's drawn to paisley and florals.  I thought I'd share our plans with you, so here's the floorplan we created for her:




And here's a quick peek at the pieces selected:

{The mobile (top left) has been custom made in our colors from Pink Perch on etsy.   We've done curtains out of the Schumacher floral (top right) and used the paisley blockprinted crib bedding, lamp, chair & table pictured.}

Here's a close-up of the Schumacher fabric:

It's wild & fun & not your typical girly floral. 

We mixed a few Pottery Barn kids pieces with a custom green viney chandelier by Stray Dog Designs  (one of my new favorites for lighting!) and an overscale seaweed print that we'll be tacking up with nailhead.  The "LILY" drawing on the right is a mock-up of a framed fabric panel with wooden beads & letters draped over it for the room.  The green polka-dotted fabric at bottom right is the fabric we used.

Here's a pic of the project {mid-stage} to give you an idea of what it actually looks like:

We're leaving in a couple of hours & I cna't wait to share 'after' pics with you!!

Even if I never have a little girl of my own (fingers still crossed though!) at least I got this chance to do little sweetie Lily's nursery!!  She's due in May and we're so happy for our clients!! 

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

It didn't rain!

You know you've been gone from the office for a while when you have to think about your passwords when logging back into your accounts.  I have to say that I would love another month away, but that's just not the way it works...  And I've realized just how many junk emails I get a day and it is CRAZY.  I need to get some sort of filter on there because for some reason I get multiple emails a day from women all over the world in their 20s asking me to marry them.  And I also get emails about enlargers.  (You know the kind I mean. ) Somewhere along the line, I must be logged into somewhere or some search engine or whatever as a lonely middle-aged man.  (Don't know what's up with that because I am not lonely.  ;)

Anyway, we had a really great break!  We dyed Easter eggs:

And the Easter Bunny hid them:

My children had peeps for breakfast:

peep! peep!

{they're honestly really gross to me but they are pretty cute.}

The kids looked far & wide for eggs:

Our backyard was pretty muddy but that didn't stop them:



I set an Easter table & we had our family over. 

{I used a massive piece of peachy-pink & aqua woven paisley fabric that I bought a while back as the table cloth.  It usually hangs out in our family room as a throw blanket.}

I topped it with a frayed aqua linen remnant and then loaded it with aqua bottles of daffodils from my garden as last-minute easy centerpieces. 

{I pretty much do everything in my own home last-minute, so I was lucky that I'd even planted my daffodil bulbs last-minute (this March!) and they came up late enough that they just bloomed this past week & I had flowers for Easter.}

We made eggs with everyone's names on them for placeholders:

{I only took a pic of this one because I took the pics before the party & didn't want the eggs all sitting out.}

My mom made these beautiful pansy cupcakes:

{She used actual pansies, which are edible}

...And I turned 29!

~And there it didn't rain!~ 

It almost always rains on my birthday so we were shocked when the sun held out & we had temperatures in the 80s.

Hope you had a happy Easter & I'm so envious of any of you that are still on vacation!!! 

Enjoy!!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

The Writing's on the Wall

I made a very simple piece of wall art the other day.  I started with a typewriter graphic from The Graphics Fairy.  I collect old typewriters, and was so happy to find a graphic that looked almost exactly like this one.

I flipped the image in Picasa by clicking Ctrl/Shift/H.  This gives you the mirror image for iron-on transfers.

I copied the image onto Transfer paper in my inkjet printer. I cut it out very close to the edges of the printing.

I ironed it on.  By ironing onto the burlap, the image did not come out as dark as I would've hoped.  I know I could've used a different fabric to get a darker picture, but I think the burlap is neat.

I added some batting then the burlap.

I pulled the burlap tight and hot glued it to the back.

I then set it in the frame and it was done. It was such an easy and inexpensive project.  

I had all of the supplies onhand, so that made it especially inexpensive.  :)

Thanks so much for visiting! 

Pam

I am linking to the following parties:

The Graphics Fairy's Brag Monday

Debbiedoo's Newbie Party

Dittle Dattle's Amaze Me Monday

Between Naps on the Porch's Met Monday

Polly Want a Crafter's Craft Link Party

Homemaker on a Dime's Creative Bloggers Party

The Stories of A2Z's Tips and Tutorials

The DIY Show Off's Earthy Essentials Party

I Love Old Windows

I loved the window project that Lisa at Serendipity Chic Design did.  Her husband found some great old windows at the dump!  Soon after her post, I saw an ad for windows that had been taken out of a house from 1865.  I talked my husband in to driving 100 miles roundtrip to go pick some up.  Yes, in a snowstorm!!  No, we aren't the smartest people to do that--in a snowstorm when gas prices are going through the roof!  :)  But, we got a couple of very neat old windows.  I was also able to pick up a couple for a friend. 

I love the wavy old glass!

I hung one on the wall and attached a wreath to it.

I liked it, but felt like it was missing something.  So off to my favorite store, Home Depot.

I started with a new fence board that cost $1.87.

I bought Apple Cider Vinegar and some Steel Wool (I had no idea what 'grade' steel wool to get, so I got #0 and it worked great).  The vinegar was $1.12 and the steel wool was $3.98, although I only used two out of the 20 or so pieces in there, so I'd say it cost 40 cents.

I read that you're supposed to soak the steel wool in the vinegar overnight, but I am a very impatient person, so I put it right on...

And I didn't even get any splinters.  I did wear some little gloves because the apple cider vinegar smell was not appealing to me and I didn't want that smell on my hands.

I let it dry for a couple of hours, then it looked Instantly Old!! (If there are black dots all over it, just put another coat on)

We took the window off the wall and drilled holes in the board and window and attached the two pieces.

And now it's hung with a shelf.  I've been experimenting on what to put on the shelf and so far these items are working for me. 

I'm so happy with the finished product! 

Thanks so much for coming by! 

Pam

I am linking to the following parties:

Between Naps on the Porch's Met Monday

The DIY Show Off's Project Parade

Funky Junk Interior's Saturday Night Special

Pink Postcard's Transformations and Treasures

No Minimalist Here's Open House Party

At The Picket Fence's Inspiration Friday

Stuff And Nonsense's Fridays Unfolded

French Country Cottage's Feathered Nest Friday

My Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday

Chic on a Shoestring's Flaunt it Friday

Tatertots and Jello's Weekend Wrap Up Party

Under the Table and Dreaming's Sunday Showcase

The Tattered Tag's KISS party

Favorite Post of 2011 Link Party at Home Stories from A to Z 

A BIG Thank you to Denise at Pink Postcard for featuring my project on her blog!