By The Way Jenn Gray: March 2012

Friday, March 30, 2012

painted accents

I was tired of some of my accent pieces. I still loved something about each piece BUT wanted to refresh them.

spray painted and then hand painted for a unique finish and texture

painted turquoise and then distressed and the side plaques are lightly brushed over with yellow ASCP in Arles

turquoise with sea blue and antiques (was a trio of mirrors that were gold, I removed the mirrors)

hand painted yellow ASCP in Arles and aged with some stain rubbed on and off (was a putty stone colored resin wall plaque)

turquoise and distressed (were black and brown)

Thursday, March 29, 2012

restoring a 100 year old buffet

For the life of me I cant find the before picture. SORRY. when it was delivered I had not seen it in person. It was much larger and much more beat up than I anticipated. An antique Jacobean buffet is 6' long and is circa 1912.

She had melted crayon on her, stickers inside and a skyline high school late library's notice from 1952 in the main drawer. she was wobbly and overall drab. I scraped out the goo, tightened her up and then cleaned it with white vinegar and hot water. I then lightly sanded down some scraped up areas, broken or cracked places and rough places. I cleaned it again after.

Then I applied restore-a-finish. It goes on like an oily rub on stain. it soaks in and does not get gooey or sticky. I did two coats and rubbed it in like I was polishing it. over night I left it with a plastic tarp over it.

Better than new beautiful! She has a broken knob as her only flaw now.

When I unveiled her mys husband saw her for the first time and was convinced I spent a fortune. I had to show him the delivery slip so he would believe me.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

cedar chest

Many people have one laying around. Passed down from a grandmother or aunt. The antique cedar chest. Nothing screams dated like one of these babies. I refinished one of my two chests when I did my master furniture. I wanted the wood to peek through and wanted to make the chest amazingly beautiful.

I sanded it down, wiped it well and then painted it with Valspar enamel and a cheap brush. I worked fast with fast light strokes. I went right over the hardware and layered on the coats swiftly and lightly. It really is very pretty and 100% better than it was before. I put layer of satin poly on the tap where the dog likes to jump up to get on and off of the bed. I did nothing to the inside.

I have another one that is in terrible shape. Not sure what I will do with that one.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

horizontal trim-Tiffany Blue laundry room

AND....a pop of orange.

let's start with the perfect Tiffany Blue paint color shall we.

BEHR Ultra 8 oz. Gray Morning Interior/Exterior Paint Tester # 490F-4

Then lets get a big 5" MDF primed board and lay it horizontally to create a casual, finished look.

I had some challenges in the room that i identified and planned the project around from the beginning.

laundry harmony

I can only assume that a big part of why I love to do laundry is that I have perfected the ease of the process over the years. Sometimes being a little OCD and going nuts if things are left undone can turn into a great motivator to simplify a task.

I have designated laundry days AND I do hand-kitchen towels more often. I have a family of 5, a dog and a LOT of laundry. So I have 2 designated days. Everyone knows these are the days and we bust out all steps so that all the laundry gets clean and put away same day. My days are Sunday and Weds.

purex you complete me

I have to say that I love to do laundry. I am one of those people that likes to laundry. I enjoy getting stains out and delivering my family with fresh and fluffy stuff. They think I am crazy...but they smell nice so no one is complaining. I now have perfected my products and MUST share. Before I do that I want to tell you what NOT to purchase; liquid fabric softener or the sheets for your dryer. WHY?? They contain oil, oil that makes fleece and towels less fluffy. Oil that makes sleepwear FLAMMABLE! Nope, Im not kidding. read the back of the container. It tells you not to wash sleep ware or towels or fleece with it.

My solution is the Purex crystals. they are sugar and clay and smell amazing!! I get the tropical (yellow). I have to order it from Amazon.com {LINK}Tropical Scent Crystals 6 pck because no stores ever have it.

the great fall

So I fell in a parking lot. I slipped in ice and that's all I remember.
I woke up and people were hovering above me.

I was in a bit of shock at first, so I didn't hurt. I was more worried about my phone and bag. As the minutes passed by I realized I was hurt. I would say my injuries are not life threatening, but I am sore!

I have been rubbing healing heat all over myself. I love it because you don't smell like sport cream . Its lovely and minty.

should I or shouldnt I?? ascp my wood mantel...that is the question

A large part of my heart wants to refinish this lady in ASCP, Old White and distress her like my dinette. The mantel is the front centerpiece in my great room and I think it would be an amazing finished project. My reluctance you ask? WELL this paint everything white craze is just that...a craze. This is not a project I can reverse when the fad moves back to wood is good. What should I do??

ASCP dinette froom 1922

For forever I have wanted to refinish a dinette set. The set I found was from 1922. It had only 4 chairs with cane backs. It had two leaves.

reclaimed wood and 100% hand cut paper art gifts & home decor items

Large wall planter made out of a wood pallet

This piece is fashioned after an Asian water color painting. It is 8x7x2 antique stain. $10

100% hand cut art pieces out of card stock and an exact-o knife

As a Christmas Gift my sister Kate brought me a set of seasons blocks. Handmade of reclaimed wood.

These Seasonal Blocks are double sided and can be mixed and matched to your preference. They are $40 a set.

Milk glass has been around since the 16th century, but the term itself was coined in the 20th century to describe the opaque white plates, goblets, serving items, and decorative objects that became popular in the late 1880's.

France was the first place milk glass came into vogue, and 19th-century French milk glass is highly collectible today. By the early 1900's milk glass was a symbol of the style and taste of American households enjoying the fruits of the Gilded Age. These privileged individuals filled their homes with milk glass produced by 19th-century U.S. glass manufacturers, including New England Glass Company, Bryce Brothers, Gillinder & Sons, and Atterbury & Company.

Milk glass plates are one of the most popular collectibles from this era. One particularly rare plate featured the face of George Washington and had a border of thirteen stars. Other plates sported relief portraits of Christopher Columbus at their centers, and in 1908, plates were produced to help spur the presidential campaigns of William Jennings Bryan and William Howard Taft.
Regardless of the imagery at its heart, whether it was relief flowers or painted birds, the borders of milk glass plates were often pressed or molded to resemble latticework or pinwheels. Some edges were scalloped, others were beaded like frosting on the rim of a wedding cake, and a few were even smooth and round, with undecorated centers to go with these uncharacteristically understated edges.
Platters were a step up from plates—unlike dinnerware, which demanded a certain minimum level of functionality, platters could go all-out when it came to decorative effects. The relief on a rare Lincoln platter from the late 1800s is so great that it must have been used exclusively as a commemorative object. At the other end of the utility spectrum were waffle platters, whose gridded surfaces resembled those of the popular breakfast item they were designed to carry. Somewhere in between was the retriever platter, which depicted a three-dimensional dog head breaking through cattails at the bottom of the platter.