Painted floor mat

Here in Canada this time of year brings lots of wet boots into the house and most people (us included) have floor mats to catch the worst of it. 

Of course that means these floor mats look very old before their time. 

Ours was no exception. 

See how uneven that colour is? That used to be one nice evenly dark coloured mat. Now it just looked sad. 

So bring out the chalk paint. 

One layer of grey, let it dry, tape up a simple design and go at it with a couple of layers of cottage white. Distress (it's going to get distressed anyway) 

Seal it with a couple of coats of poly and give the dogs a treat for not even looking at the mat while I worked. 

So here she is! 

Just in time for all that Christmas traffic!

This took me one day to do. 

I wish I had done it last year. But when I mentioned it to hubby last year he put a damper on my idea by simply saying NO!

This time when the urge struck I waited till he left for work and didn't mention it to him till he came home. 

His exact words were "I LOVE IT, that looks great!"

Then he turned to me and asked how worried I was he would hate it. See he remembered the conversation last year. 

Sneaky man. 

Sneaky me. 

What did Shakespeare say? 

"All's well that ends well" 

"wink" 

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Santa collection (my Christmas adddiction)

I think we all have our collections. Especially those of us that are in this remodeling/recreating business. 

I love my clocks and scales

My husband is loving the scales and he now has an obsession for vintage fans. 

But when it comes to Christmas it's a whole new ball game. 

I love sleds. But so far I've kept it to really small ones. They can take up so much room, and I just don't want to deal with it. (for now...the time will come) 

It's really Santa I'm obsessed with. 

But they have to be different than the traditional ones. 

 I try very hard to keep them together, in one section of our great room. I think my family would declare a mutiny if they started popping up all over the house. 

 This one is the only really "traditional" one that I have. I picked this one up in the summer at a yard sale. Santa moves, lights up and recites "Twas the night before Christmas" I thought my grandson would love it. (in time)

 I have some porcelain one and some that are cloth and others that I think were meant for the top of the tree. I even have one that was probably popular 20 years ago with the coloured fiber optic lights

 See how most are gathered?

 I like to find unusual ones...or ones that have great facial expressions.

 This is my newest one. I seldom see them with grey clothes and I'm really in love with grey this year.

And what tree would be complete without a paper mache santa? I mean if you have to have an addition you have to go all the way right? 

What are you addicted to at this time of year? 

Come on, you can tell me. 

My sister loves her snowmen...and I totally feed her addiction. She's gotten a few from me this year. :)

White Bedroom set for a special Birthday Girl

I'm often asked where I get my stuff. 

Everyone assumes I just get it all from yard sales. 

As all of YOU know. Yard sales are just a small part of gathering things to redo. 

One of my spots is auctions. 

You have to have a plan when you go to auctions. Live or online. 

Set your limit and stick to it. 

Which is not always easy, especially when you love something. 

Two weeks ago I snagged this set at auction. 

The set was in great shape and the bonus was that it was sold as a set. So often they are split up and you end up paying a ton more if you want each piece. 

This set was sold right away and custom colour picked for a special little girl. Doesn't it scream little girl to you? 

It was picked up on the weekend and I'm anxiously waiting to get pics of it in it's final home. 

 I didn't get a pic of the mirror all finished, but I'm sure you can use your imagination.

 I switched out the knobs. Go back and check out the ones that were on there and please agree with me that they just would not have worked on it now.

I can't wait to see how it looks now all set up. 

Thats the only really bad part of this business. Sometimes you just don't get those promised pics and a little piece of you is left hanging. 

I hope Suzanne sends me at least one......when the room is ready to show off. :)

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Vintage Sideboard

Oh my, I have not been blogging like I normally do. 

It's been a very busy fall. 

The Christmas season is normally pretty busy, but it seems like we have been having family gatherings just about every weekend since September. 

I think we may take a couple of days off to be by ourselves right after Christmas. I think..I hope. 

I've been working hard. 

I mean really hard. If you follow me on facebook, you can see all the things I've been doing. I really encourage you to do that. 

A couple of weeks ago I did a dresser for a new client. I don't think I even have pictures of it for you. 

And if you don't know how this business works it goes something like this. 

Client calls..." I have a friend" 

Me..."friends are good"

Client..."she has some stuff she wants to get rid of, I'm not sure if you would be interested. I mean I'm sorry if you aren't, it's old, you like old stuff right?"

Me... "I love old stuff" 

Client.."I told her you might like it, here is her number you can pick it up right away, she wants it gone"

numbers are exchanged and I make the call. 

After all it's old stuff. 

I went, I looked I brought home

Isn't it sweet? 

I love when clients think of me. Thank you MJ :) 

Of course I had to get to work on it. 

I picked a colour combo of Cottage white and sage green. 

And she turned out wonderfully :) 

 I forgot to remove the dust from the top after the final sanding.

 I love when all the pieces are still there. Often these sliding drawers are gone. This one had lots of ink stain, so the bottoms of the drawers were taken out and flipped over before I even tried to finish it off. I could have sealed it and hoped for the best, but I've learned that sometimes it's easier to flip it than to fight it :)

So much nicer now don't you think? 

And the new owner is so pleased. She went home tonight. :) 

The perfect piece for Christmas gatherings. 

I hope Tracey sends me pictures of it in it's new home. 

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Pretty Yellow Vanity.

I have been so busy doing Custom orders lately that I haven't had time to do any of the stash things I've picked up. 

Customs are great, and I love fulfilling the dreams of my clients. But sometimes it's nice to just do a piece for the love of doing it. 

I picked this up last summer. Asked hubby where I got it (normally I'm really good at remembering) He couldn't remember and I couldn't remember so it's our mystery piece. 

The mirror is missing, but I don't care. It's actually more flexible this way. A mirror can be hung behind it, or use it as a desk for a child or as a hall table...entertainment center. Even as an extra table during the Holidays (picture snacks and drinks on it) 

But it needed a bit of loving, and I was sooooooooooo willing to give that. 

oh the sweetness of it all. 

If I had a little girl or a grand daughter this would be perfect. But as it is (daughter grown and only one grandson "so far") it's up for sale for anyone interested. :) 

Update
This has now gone to it's forever home. 

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