Texas Pride

I picked up this chest about a month ago from Craig's List and no he didn't look like this when I got him and I forgot to take a picture before I painted him. He's an antique, Yellow Pine (I think) ca 1880s to 1890s. He had the most unusual joinery, it's called Knapp Joinery and this enabled me to date him. I sanded his top, restained and poly coated the top. I then painted his body in ASCP Aubusson Blue and the interior in French Linen.

When I bought him I knew immediately that he wanted to be gussied up in a most particular way but I was hesitant to go all the way. I took him to our monthly vintage sale here in McKinney, TX called The Old Red Lumberyard, and he was admired and fawned over but returned to my humble abode.

I listed him on Craig's List and was contact by someone who was interested in him and when I mentioned the extra special touch I was thinking about giving him, she became all excited and requested that I do that for her for an extra charge which I was happy to oblige.

I know, you're thinking "It's just a star and the word Texas" but to Texans this is a flag and is part of Texas legacy. This is the first flag of the Republic of Texas, and because Sam Houston was the 1st President of the Republic, I have named him Sam Houston in his honor. 

Sam went to his new digs, a young man who is proud to be a Texan. I hope he enjoys this chest and I'm on the lookout for a new piece that just might get another of our Texas flags.

Adios,

Linda

Peace, Love and a Little French Dresser

I purchased this....a-hem "Lovely" little French dresser from Craigslist. The hardware was broken and as you can see some mothers little darling expressed their creativity literally on all sides except for the back. I guess the previous owner didn't like Green Day...you think?

Here's a close up of the top

And the sides

And here she is after I sanded her down...completely. I stained the top in Dark Walnut and applied several coats of polyurethane. Then I gave her a coat of ASCP Duck Egg Blue followed by French Linen. I then sanded her down again to get a smooth finish and dirtied her up with some dark wax for protection. Almost forgot, she got some new hardware that I purchased from Hobby Lobby. She made an appearance at the Old Red Lumberyard monthly sale in McKinney TX where she found a new home.

Bye for now, 

Linda

Spooky Trees, an Owl, Miss Moon & Some Bats

This year I decided to try my hand with a little Halloween decorating. I wanted to make some spooky trees but living in a new neighborhood with new trees I could not find the branches I was needing. My husband took me to a local lake and we gathered several branches and headed home. I made an arrangement in 2 plastic pots and my husband cemented each set. Once they were set, we sprayed each "Tree" black and placed them inside the urns on my porch. I then placed crows on each tree and covered the pots with dried Spanish moss. I finished the porch with bats which were hung above the door. They looked really good before our crazy Texas wind and a couple of storms got to them. But here they are

Inside I added an old barn Owl I purchased at an estate sale for $1 that was missing an eye, added some pumpkins, Miss Moon, a cute black cat, and a cute little pumpkin gal whose name escapes me and I had a little Halloween vignette.

I totally forgot about the old book page wreath I made and to pull out my glass glittered skulls and skeleton from last year but I'll add them to the group next year.

Now I can't wait for Christmas

Bye for now,

Linda

Auction Queen

I love auctions and today I went to a fabulous day long auction in Northeast Texas and when I say fabulous...it was. I was drooling over all the fabulous French and primative pieces of industrial bread carts, painted work benches and tables, chests, servers, cabinets, carnival props, signs, and lighting. I was too conservative and lost a several pieces that I am kicking myself over including tons of French grain sacks and bolts of French linen fabric.

The best part of the day was I got to spend someone else's money. That's right, I said spend someone else's money. Jeny, a friend of mine who owns a cute little salon in Downtown McKinney on the Historic Square called Primp is expanding her space and has plans on building a new home.

I knew what she's been looking for and when I walked into the gallery this morning I saw the lighting she described to me a few weeks ago. Many texts flew back and forth throughout the day (she was off with her family at a cattle show) but I was able to get everything she wanted except for an awesome set of doors from France (way over her limit by $1,400). She got two stunning chandeliers, a pair of matching sconces, and a set of corbels. One of the chandeliers looks identical to the chandelier the Junk Gypsy's used at the Don Strange Ranch in Boerne, TX for Miranda Lambert's wedding a few months back. I saw that chandelier at Warrenton last month in their booth on sale for $1,200. Jeny's was much less.

Here's a couple of pictures of the chandeliers I got to buy for her today.

If you've seen the pics of Miranda's wedding, I'm sure you've seen a chandelier that looks very similiar to the one above. I just love those Elk heads, and when it's lit like it was this morning it's just to fabulous.

Here's another chandelier she got and you would not believe how much I/she paid for it...a steal!

Don't you just love these? I didn't get a picture of the sconces but they match the Elk head one and she loved them all.

All in all it was a long day but well worth it.

I recently got a job painting a pair of Mahogany end tables. I only took a picture of one but there are two of them and yes, that's a big hole in the top but these have a glass insert.

Each one got a coat of ASCP in Old Ochre

They were then given a coat of ASCP Aubusson Blue followed by a good sanding and some clear and dark wax, then buffed out.

They turned out very nice and the customer was very happy with them but I sure learned something as this was my first time for hire, I underestimated the time and cost as I ended up not having enough materials on hand to complete the job and had to buy a can of paint and both waxes. I chalked it up to a learning experience and advertising.

Bye for now,

Linda

Bye Bye Birdie

Today I said good bye to this cute little buffet I painted a couple of week ago and when I say little it was for a buffet it was only 38" long. I wish I had a better picture of it and had thought of taken one before I painted it to. When I brought her home she was in perfect condition just an ugly brown and she was missing her jewelry (knobs). I pulled her out of my car and placed her in the garage, hopped back into my car, hit the button to close the garage door, and began to pull out of the driveway on my way to another pick up when I noticed the garage door going back up....oops, one of the buffet's doors had opened and the garage door as it was closing hit the door and tweaked it's hinges so the door was now hanging off the buffet. Ugh! it was perfect now it needed the help of my husband's handy work to get her ship shape again.

Once she was back to normal, I painted her in a mix of Paris Gray and Louis Blue with dashes of Old White to highlight her lines and door inserts. I also stenciled her with a cute little bird encircled with a wreath of branches in gold, then proceeded to sand and distress her and polish her with dark wax.

She made her first appearance at the Old Red Lumberyard monthly sale in October but it was not meant for her to go to her new home yet. She left today for her new home in Oklahoma near the OU campus. Her proud new owners currently have 3 of their children attending there with plans for more of their pack planning on attending there so it made sense for them to purchase a second home near the campus for their housing and that's where she go.

I hope they enjoy her as much as I did in giving her a new look.

I also need to take better pictures.

Bye for now,

Linda

My Signature Piece

I did this piece a couple of months ago and it sold last month at The Old Red Lumberyard sale in my hometown of McKinney. This sale takes place usually the third weekend of the month but on occasion is moved to an earlier or later week depending on circumstances.

Anyway, back to my "Signature" piece. I purchased or should say had the winning bid on a cute little Birdseye Maple pot cupboard from a auction house I like to go to on Friday nights. I wish I had remembered to take a before picture but the top veneer had some issues so as much as I love Birdseye or Curly Maple I decided to paint it and while trying to decide which Annie Sloan Chalk Paint color I was going to use I remembered I had purchased this cute bird print paper from a local store on the downtown McKinney Historic Square. The paper's background was an interesting greenish blue that really didn't match any of the ASCP colors so I went with a custom latex paint match from my local Home Depot and away I went with sanding, painting, decoupaging the paper to the top and drawer front, followed by Martha Stewart glaze in Tide Pool, staining over the decoupaged paper, protective top coat, and ASCP dark wax. Whew, I know lots of steps but don't you think it was worth it.

I forgot to mention that I lined the drawer and bottom of cupboard with pages from an old music text book I purchased at an estate sale

I also forgot that I'm not that talented to paint freehand like some people I know (my friend and Rusty Pearls partner, Debi) so I stenciled a bird on the front of the cupboard door.

Here's a side view

I had no idea when I posted this piece on our Rusty Pearls Facebook page that it was going to get the love that it did and when I've met people at one of our month sales at the Old Red Lumberyard that I people know who we are because of this piece that they've seen posted on the Lumberyard Facebook page. In fact it was today that a visitor to our page No Sugar Extra Cream said she couldn't get this piece out of her mind and that it should be one of my "Signature" pieces.

Here she is again

Let me know what you think.

Linda