Maple Leaf Is Almost Here!!

It is absolutely my favorite time of year and one of my favorite weekends is almost upon us! Maple Leaf Festival happens the third full weekend in October in beautiful downtown Baldwin City. If you have never been you are definitely missing out! If you are a repeat patron you know what I am talking about :) Parade, booths, food, carnival, family fall fun!!!!!!! I love it! The trees are beautiful this year :) It is such a wonderful surprise after the drought we had this summer! In preparation for the thousands of people that will descend upon this quiet little town the crews have been working feverishly to get everything looking picture perfect. We always have a beautiful town, but it really shines now :)
I also had to get my booth in tip top shape. I want to share a couple of recent projects with you :) The first is a sweet glass front cabinet that just needed a little TLC to turn it into a wonderful addition to any ones home.

This is one SOLID little cabinet! It is nice and shallow, but not too shallow. Would be perfect it a bath or kitchen.  I panted it out in Old Ochre ASCP, added new hardware, and a cute little wooden door catch. Such a difference!

See what I mean? Fabulous!!

The next piece is a nice set of sliding shutter door cabinets. They were really rough and one of those items that my husband says "Why?" to. But I knew they could be great.

After a good sanding they were painted out in Duck Egg ASCP. I knew I wanted to go with a time worn look of layers of paint. So next came Paris Gray in ASCP. Still not quite right so a third and final coat of Old White mixed with Cream for the outside. Distressing brought out some of each layer in a wonderful way that looks very worn and well loved. And I do, love it that is :) Wax and some cute handles finished it off perfectly!

Fabulous! This would be so awesome for bathroom storage. Both of these items are at Antiques on The Prairie awaiting the Maple Leaf crowd. Hope you can make it down to check out all the fun this weekend!
See you soon ~Christy

Fall Is In The Air!

Oh my goodness it is a beautiful fall day in Kansas!! Frost on the grass this morning, trees turning beautiful shades of red and orange, and some lucky person was enjoying a fire this morning. I could smell that delicious smell when I walked out the door. Hmmmmmm I LOVE FALL!!! It is even influencing my color choices in paint lately. I happened across these cute little end table/night stands at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. They were super cute, but in definite need of some TLC.

I loved the shape of them and the cute little drawer fronts and they were very solid!

It is hard to tell in the picture, but the top of one of they had some bubbling and water damage. I just put a new piece of 1/4 in finish grade plywood on top and stained it to match the rest of the table.
After sanding it was time for a beautiful new color and I was certain mustard would be great. ASCP in Arles is a perfect fall yellow, mustard color. I love it!

So cute!!!! I was able to use the original hardware because it was in great shape and it was cute! I just gave it a nice coat of oil rubbed bronze spray paint and it was perfect!

These guys have gone to Market Antiques in Ottawa to await their adoption! They are just the perfect size for a bedroom or flanking a sofa. Go on down and check them out!
See you soon!  ~Christy

Wonderful Gift From A Wonderful Friend!

Hello! I am so excited to share a beautiful dresser that I just finished. It was a gift to me from my friend Donna. It's her birthday today so I thought it would be appropriate to post about it today as well :)  This is the dresser before it was brought back to life:

 Such a great shape to it! Lovely legs and sturdy solid oak frame.

 The veneer on the sides was bubbled and peeling off.

 The drawer fronts were scuffed and scratched.

This side was in worse shape than the other.

A couple of the drawers were missing the bottom.
Oh my goodness I was in love though! I couldn't wait to scrape, sand, glue, and paint this baby back to life!
The first order of business was to remove the peeling veneer from the sides. I thought about just putting new veneer on, but wanted to give it a little something special. Bead board!! I love bead board! It would be perfect!

See? Perfect! I trimmed it out with screen door molding just to give it a finished look.

Next step sand and paint out the sides in brown paint to match the wood tone of the dresser. This step is important so that it all looks the same under the finish color when I distress :)

Once it is painted you will never know that it wasn't always there.
I even used some of the bead board to repair the bottom of the drawers! Next step color. I wanted feminine. I wanted sophistication. I wanted Provence ASCP with glass knobs!

 
Sigh......she is lovely isn't she?! It is like a giant Tiffany jewelry box with diamonds on it! I love it!
So Donna, Happy Happy Birthday my dear friend! Thank you for the wonderful dresser that I had a ball refurbishing!! We will go have dinner to celebrate age, wisdom, friendship, Tiffany boxes with jewels, and a night away from husbands and kiddos :)  BTW this beauty is at Antiques on The Prairie for anyone who might be interested in making it your own!
See You Soon~ Christy