Aaaand the Betty China Cabinet is DONE! or 'Trust your Instincts!'

Let's remember where we started

And then we painted

And here's where the Beagle went galivanting and work came to a screeching halt

And here we are, DONE

I went with my instinct on the Toile back.  I just HAD to see how it would look... and I am so glad I did!  I meant to do a second back in the beadboard and Robins Egg.  After seeing this there is no way I could!

If you are anywhere near the NorthEast, that squeal you heard just now?  

That was me.  Sorry!

Betty B Bright, aka Bubbles, was bought at Unadilla Auction in NY either bidding against or bought from the killbuyer who would have shipped her out to a slaughter plant in Canada where she would have been processed for human consumption.  Betty, unlike 100,000 other horses in the US each year, was lucky and Equine Rescue Resource was there that night and bought her.  There was no way of knowing it at the time, but ERR bought one of the sweetest horses there was that night.   

Betty had an unfortunate accident last year, and was kicked in the face resulting in a shattered jaw.  Her jaw situation received surgery and was nearly resolved, merely weeks away from getting the ok to start Betty back undersaddle.   Unfortunately, this weekend ERR got a call that Betty was not well.  She was rushed to Cornell, where diagnostics were run.  Alas, before those could come back, she started to founder in all 4 feet, so the humane thing to do was to put her down.  Turns out the labs show she was most definitely VERY positive for Potomac Horse Fever, and was a very ill horse.  

Proceeds from the sale of this China Cabinet will all go to Equine Rescue Resource to help pay Bettys final Vet bill.

Godspeed Betty B Bright.  You were a sweet girl who touched many.

A trip to Habitat for Humanity ReStore

I'll spare you the details about the staff there- the only adult was busy texting and gabbing with friends, the rest of the staff looked to be under 12, and had no idea what prices were on items not tagged.

Anyway, I did come away with a few items:

For the end of our vanity [on the right in this pic] in our Master Bath where I want to be able to sit and use the foot soaker or paint my toenails

this vanity stool

It's already sanded and primed and it will get painted to match the bath, incl the stencil [see below] I have on the wall around the tub, and of course new seat upholstery.

You may remember this Fathers Day gift I made

I snapped up a couple more windows to make a few more

Finally, in my Laundry room I've wanted to add shelves with really nice metal brackets underneath forever .  One set next to the sink hutch:

And over the washer:

  Do you have any idea how much nice metal shelf brackets cost?

I found these curtain tie backs and I think they'll work just fine

They did have hutches, which was my main purpose of going there, but half of them were the wrong size, and the other half that I might have been interested in had no prices... and when I finally interrupted the texting socialite to get a price, it wasn't quite what I was thinking... and for something not quite exactly what I want?  Pass.

I got out of there with all that for just over $30.  That's enough damage for one day I think.

One Trick Pony?

 A while back I did this desk.  I wanted something in my kitchen and found this 'This End Up' style desk on Craigslist for the right price [cheap] and snatched it up even though it was not exactly what I wanted.  I then painted it and wallpapered the back and I think she came out quite nice in the end:

I bought this China Cabinet a few weeks ago to redo for the rescue.  Turns out one of our sweetest horses at the rescue, Betty B Bright, aka Bubbles, who was injured last year when she was kicked in the jaw became sick last week.  After diagnostics to see what exactly was wrong with her, she started to founder in all 4 feet.  The humane thing to do for her, as sad as it was, was to 'put her down'.  So poor Bubbles is gone, and the rescue has an almost $3,000 Vet bill from trying to help her until learning it was basically futile.  This is now the Betty China Cabinet.

In an effort to help raise funds to pay that bill, the Betty China Cabinet will get finished ASAP and sold.

All that was really left to do was the back, which I was doing a few weeks ago to prep for the Flea Market when the Beagle ran off.

She looks innocent doesn't she?  Out all night gallivanting!

So it never got finished and I did not go to the Flea Market with any of my wares.  Are the Gods trying to tell me something?

Anyway, I planned to do beadboard on the back of the Betty China Cabinet and paint it Robins Egg Blue.  But then I had that cream with red toile wallpaper that was just staring at me.  Begging me to use it.

I know the beadboard in blue will sell, but I really, really felt called to use the Toile.

So, to satisfy my curiosity and also to get this thing sold, I did the Toile on one side of the back, and the other I will do in the Blue Beadboard and the Betty China Cabinet can have two backs!

First I had to prime the plywood, as there were 'knots' in it and I was afraid they would show through.

Two pieces of the paper and she was done, with a slim strip added to the one edge.  

Hindsight- had I measured I could have centered the 2 pieces and probably not had to use that final slim strip to complete it.

And now as I look at this on my kitchen counter I am really jonesing to use this wallpaper in here... it really goes well with my cabinets and other colors in the room.  Talk me out of it!

This will get some time to dry and I'll get the other side [beadboard wallpaper and painted blue] done and pics of the final product will go up soon.  I promise.  Unless of course disaster strikes as it is wont to do around here.

Who?  US? 

What is 'Success'?

Late yesterday I finally got hold of the person dealing with booths for the local Fire Dept. Flea Market this weekend.  Yes, THIS weekend.  And yes they do still have booths available!
So, since 3 yesterday it has been a mad scramble to get my stuff ready to go to the Flea Market!

Of course that's when you decide you absolutely MUST change the back on the China Cabinet after all.
And sand down and put one more coat on those tables.

UGH!

Pray for a successful day, which in my opinion and in this case more than selling everything [which would be nice], would consist of getting the name out there and people interested in the product.

Inspiration or theft?

Now that the China cabinet is 99% done [I'm heading out in a few minutes to put the last coat on her],

BEFORE

AFTER

I decided what to do with the Telephone Table, inspired by a post on another blog reviewing Garage sale finds, someone had redone a Telephone Table/Gossip bench {I thought those were 2 seats, not a seat and a table?}.. is that copying/cheating or flattery?  Seriously, people have been painting old furniture to make it suitable for their homes for DECADES people, you have not reinvented the wheel, nor is it rocket science to do this, though I do agree there is a measure of artistic talent required to envision the piece redone as you stare at it's forlorn self sitting along the curb.  If you like what you see on  my blog and decide to try it yourself, go nuts and please share the results with me... I would be thrilled to have inspired, and flattered that you even read this blog, and probably inspired with the twist you put on it to make it your own!

I love this detail on the back and I can play that up with some gentle distressing.

Anyway my sister is undeniably the Coffee Queen so painting this bench the Antique white [of which I have GALLONS] and doing the seat in a coffee sack with a hint of color in the 'label' will be perfect.  I hope I can figure out how to make some dropcloth into a coffee sack look because a Google search of Grain sacks and looking at those prices almost had me in heart failure!!!  Why couldn't there have been a mother load of those babies in my dads barn?  Honestly there might have been, who knows... I only waded through about 1/3 of that treasure trove/horror show.

I am off to paint!!!  What are you doing today???

2 new projects

I dunno when I will work on them, or how dedicated I can or will be to getting them done... but here are two items I picked up in the last week to work on:


Telephone Table

I love the seat back detail

This little telephone table was at a thrift store in Cortland where my dad is in a home.  We got some 'therapy' there while he was being transported from hospital to home, and I dunno if I should thank or never speak again to the lady who told us about the place.  LOL   I got the table for $10 and my sister immediately called dibs on having it in her new house.  The question now is, black or antique white, and what fabric?  So many choices... and so much time in which to choose!  Sister will be buying her house next year.  Long story.

China Cabinet

Then yesterday I saw a Craigslist ad for a Hutch in the free section.  I am still searching for my dream hutch for my kitchen so I am compelled to look at ads for those.   While not perfect for me, I decided to pick this one up and redo it for the rescue... the landlord who's tenant left it as payment towards a couple months unpaid rent was willing to give it to me, but I felt better giving her something for it.

This I think will go white with the robins egg blue underneath, and as the back for the upper portion.

I'm actually wondering if it would make a reasonable trophy cabinet?  Some horse farms might like to have something like this in their tack rooms to display their prizes?  It's a thought.

That's the hardware before.

Here's the 'after':

Oooh Pretty!

Those door hardware pieces would not come off, so I painted them in place figuring that the primer would cover any 'oops!'  I did the same for the hinges on the center top door.  Call me lazy, but I hate removing and then replacing hinges.

I'm proud of myself for getting it cleaned and the hardware painted.  I am also scratching thanks to mosquitos in the garage.  Argh!

Ok Progress on Day 3:

Another update:

I have been more dedicated then I thought I would be, guess I need a distraction?

Anyway here she is as of today, I think she looks great!

Tomorrow is the family reunion, so she will have all day to dry and 'cure' and then I'll do some distressing and finish it up!