OMG Another Ladder

If you are in the business of "treasure hunting" you have probably found that you sometimes have a run on finding similar things. Lately, for me, it's been ladders. First, I bought a 6' ladder and got rid of it asap because it was too big and heavy. Next, I found a cute little 4' ladder. It's all painted up and pretty. And recently, I found this cute little ladder that only stands about 21" tall. It is adorable (after a little tlc).

This is what it looks like after I painted it. This was such an easy project. All I had to do was paint it, then distress it. I used Heirloom white, latex satin paint.

This is what it looked like when I bought it.

It's very well built. See?

The man I bought it from charged me $1.00 for it. As I carried it to my car I think he was laughing at me.

The shutter on the left is one of my painted projects. So is the "chic" sign. I made the sign out of our old porch flooring.

I have it sitting on the dresser I bought a couple of weeks ago. To see what the dresser looked like when I bought it check out  My Morning Haul

The little dresser has good bones but boy, did it need a lot of work! The first thing I did was add casters.

The paint job on the exterior was o.k. but I felt the sides of the drawers needed cleaned up. Plus, every one of the big drawers needed major repair. Mr. Shabby worked many hours fixing them for me.

After the drawers were repaired, I worked one whole day cleaning, sanding, and painting them. Then I wiped the inside of the drawers with orange bees wax. Now they look clean and smell clean.

I didn't paint the exterior , I just distressed it a little more.

This is my sweet little 4' ladder, all painted up and pretty.   Linking to:  

 

Shabby Cigar/Sewing Box

So here's how this project came about. I had a bunch of old patterns and this wonderful, scruffy cigar box. So I came up with the idea of making a treasure box.

This was a fun, easy project. I like to have projects like this that I can work on in between customers at my shop.

 

I like the old cigar box because it has character, complete with dove tail corners. But of course, since it's mine, it's scruffy.

I've had this stash of patterns for awhile. Some of them are old, some not so much. Every now and then I sell one, but not very often.

I "slap painted" one coat of my new raspberry pink, latex satin paint on and let it dry. I didn't want it to look perfect, and it doesn't.

I picked out a couple of patterns to start with and started cutting.

I knew there would be a lot of gluing so I mixed some Mod Podge and water in a bucket. I cut the patterns helter skelter, willy nilly, then I dipped the pieces in the mixture, then pasted them onto the lid. Cut, dip, paste. Cut, dip, paste.



I just kept cutting and pasting until I achieved the look I wanted. Not quite enough yet.

More is better. This is what it looked like when I was finished.

The inside of the lid is covered with black and white pattern pieces.

On the front I added the word "Treasures". I was going to add "Buttons" but decided that would restrict its' use. Now I can use it to store threads, trims, buttons, scissors, etc. I'm not quite sure I like the way I added "Treasures". I might have to change this. p.s. I did take off the word "Treasures". I just wet it down and peeled it off. I showed it to a customer and she bought it! $20.00.

I distressed the edges a wee bit. Then I sealed it with Mod Podge. I like how it turned out. I think I'm having way too much fun!   Linking to:

 

What Are Friends For?

I was on my way to work, minding my own business, when my phone rang. Ringggg Ringggg. It was a friend of mine who says she has a dilemma. She's on her way out of town when she spots 4 old screen doors curbside and she has no time to get them. Could I please go pick them up? She says if I do, she will keep 3 and I can have 1. Now, when I was in the first grade I remember my teacher asking "If you have 4 screen doors and your friend keeps 3 of them, how many do you have left"? I remember asking my teacher "Teacher, that doesn't sound right, does it"? So I asked my friend, how about if I keep 2 and you keep 2? After all, she found them and I picked them up. That arrangement was agreeable to both of us.

Here's what they looked like curbside. I decided to call Mr. Shabby to come get them. He hates it when I load dirty things in my car. I quickly took a few pictures while I was waiting for him. Also, I looked around for more treasures.

As you can see, they are pretty rough. But the thing I absolutely love is the inserts. Every one of the doors have one.

If I were laying in bed dreaming about things I would like to find for free, I never would have imagined anything this wonderful. I see these sorts of things in blogs all the time and wonder how in the world do you girls find all this wonderful stuff?

I'm loving these inserts. Now, what to do with them?

We dropped off two of the doors at my friends house. I think they all looked about the same but I didn't have a lot of time to examine them. I didn't see anymore treasures but we have an agreement. Anything else wonderful we find at this house we will split. Woot! Linking to:
   



The 4' Ladder

The other day I showed you pictures of things I bought at a parking lot flea market, including this little 4' ladder. It's just the size I was looking for but it needed an updated look. First, I painted it, then glazed it with watered down brown paint, then distressed it. I will study on it for awhile to see if this is the final look.

This is the way it looked when I bought it. I liked the size and it seemed to be nice and sturdy.

I didn't have to do much to it. I applied one coat of latex satin paint, then let it dry overnight. The color is Robin's Egg Blue.

After I painted it, it looked too new so I mixed up some brown paint diluted with water. I then wiped it on with a soft rag. After that dried, I sanded distressed it. To see the original post when I found this ladder click here:  My Morning Haul 

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My Morning Haul

Once in awhile, but not very often, I get up early on a Saturday morning and go looking for garage sales. One of my fellow bloggers, Distressed Donna Down Home, did a post about her and her nieces recent buying trip. You can see her post here    Crawling The Low Country For Treasures  Well, after reading her post, I was inspired to go on a shopping spree myself (I'm sometimes very impressionable). So Saturday morning I threw back the covers, jumped crawled out of bed, and off I went. Now, keep in mind, their trip lasted several days, and mine was only for a couple of hours. I sort of had a vision of what I was looking for and overall I think I did pretty well.

My first purchase of the morning was at the very first sale. This little dresser is really cute. It needs some work, of course. A couple of the drawers need fixed and it needs new casters. And probably some sanding and a new paint job.

As you can see, it took up most of the space in my car.

It has some nice details and I like the two little drawers on top.

It's funny I found this book case. I've been wanting one for awhile. This one is solid wood. I'll probably take the back off and paint it a different color than the shelves and sides. It stacked nicely on top of the dresser.

The 1970 Naval Training Center book was a nice find. And the tea tile is very pretty.

I'm always looking for unusual flower pots. These are both nice and the one on the right depicts various wines.

I thought the framed marriage blessing was real pretty. I will update the frame with a shabby chic look.

This is a Florentine plaque Made In Italy. The colors are real pretty and are more aqua than shown in these pictures.

I can always do something with old, wooden crates. I will white wash these after they get a good scrubbing.

These Mid Century Modern bar stools are in rough shape and might need more attention than I want to give them. I'm not sure which way to go with these. They're pretty rusty. Too rusty, I think. Even for a shabby chic décor. I'm going to see what it costs to have them sand blasted. I like them so I will at least make an effort to rescue them. I didn't realize it until I saw this picture that the chairs each have a different design on the back. One has straight lines, one has a Deco pattern.

Galvanized wash tubs always sell well for me. And, I love this little 4' ladder and plan to paint it. To see what the ladder looks like after I painted it click here: The 4' Ladder  I bought a similar ladder a couple of weeks ago that was 6' tall.  It was awkward and heavy to move around. I bought it one day for $5.00 and when a guy offered me $7.00 for it the next day I gladly took it.

I love the stools but like I said, it might cost too much money to refurbish them.

The wooden crates are a nice size and they're not very heavy.

I was happy with everything I bought today. But actually, I only went to one garage sale where I bought the dresser, crates, and one flower pot. The rest of the stuff I bought at a parking lot flea market. I had to quit and go home because I ran out of room in my car. Needless to say, I'll be busy this week cleaning, fixing, and painting.

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