garbage goes glam

Hello everyone!

It's been a while - I've missed you! I've been moving and honestly, I've been so overwhelmed that I'm kind of in survival mode. My hat is off to those of you who can move and still manage not to suck at the rest of your life. But as the new house gets unpacked and things find their place, the light at the end of the tunnel gets a little closer and brighter and I feel more like myself again.  Hallelujah.

So the new house has all kinds of nooks and crannies that my old house (with it's wide open floor plan) did not, and I am currently looking for ways to make them useful and cute. Ahhhh, the good parts of moving. Decorating all over again!

I was in major need for a cute little entry table when I saw this mod little baby in someone's garbage. I was pumped to get a chance to practice my Roadside Rescue technique, which I admit, has gotten a little rusty. I haven't been scoring too many curbside cuties these days. Partly because I don't find them as much as I used to (have people starting rescuing their own furniture instead of tossing it? The idea warms my heart on one hand, and makes me scowl at the lost freebies on the other) and secondly, because I've heard a few Roadside Rescue horror stories recently - termites, bed bugs and poop are the first few that come to mind. I love a freebie, but seriously, poop? POOP? Just hearing the story makes me grimace as I roll up curbside, now afraid of what I might find. But alas, the act of garbage picking upcycling runs deep - first, I feel a twisted moral obligation to take the "waste" and make it useful again, because I know how. (I just hear Peter Parker's Uncle Ben - "With great power comes great responsibility." Dramatic? maybe..) But more importantly, I witnessed it regularly as a child and was usually an accomplice to my Mother's efforts (though I went through the mortified stage as a teenager) I did finally come to embrace it again once I became a stay at home Mom. Let's face it - when you want to make your home cute and there's not a lot of "budge" in the budget, you get creative. I think of my Mom every time I pick something off the curb. She was always the exuberantly proud roadside rescuer, and also a woman who has a scripture for every situation, and I can't help but remember this one with a smile: "Train up a boy according to the way for him; even when he grows old he will not turn aside from it." Little did my poor Mother know that of all the lessons she wanted to instill, that garbage picking would be the one that stuck. ;) So at the risk of discovering termites, poop, or worse, I pull over, inspect, determine a piece's fate and haul it away like I've robbed a bank. (thanks, Mom. love you.)

Here she is before. Well, kind of during. I sanded her down already and then remembered to snap a shot. Some of the funk is gone, but you get the idea.



I wanted to add a touch of glam to this piece, so I decided to use an awesome line of Metallic Paints called "Shimmer" from "Modern Masters." There is a seriously insane color selection, and the paint was awesome to use. Totally solid coverage in two coats, it dries fast, (I did my two coats in the same hour) and it doesn't even need to be sealed with anything. EASY PEASY.



I chose "Blackened Bronze" for this project, because I really kind of wanted to honor the retro look of the table and I thought bronze was a cool way to do that. It feels slightly mid-century to me, which is typically out of my comfort zone style-wise, but somehow this little set up still feels like me.

(By the way, how cute are the checkerboard floors in the new place? Eeeeeeee! I love them.)




Side note: Teal Telephone. Yard Sale. $1.

Don't hate me.






I looooooooooooove the patina on this hardware. Speaking of patina, my next Modern Masters purchase will be part of their Reactive Paints Collection. Patina Aging Solution and Rust Activators? Yes, please.






Here's a glimpse at my quart post-project. Two coats on my table (and a chair, and some pine cones, and a couple drawer interiors) and I have this much paint left. Super awesome coverage to say the least.



Here's a sneak peek to another funky 70's piece I got my hands on...I'm doing the drawer interiors in Blackened Bronze, and then I'm going to attempt to mix some into my clear wax and finish the exterior with it. I'll report later how that went, so wish me luck...

And those pine cones I mentioned?



They are looking a little bit rustic & a little bit glam after I brushed some Blackened Bronze on the edges. I think that's my favorite look. Rustic & glam. Like me, in my foo foo pink skirt and sequined ballet flats, driving around in a dented, dirty pickup truck. I love it. ;)

Ok friends, thanks for listening! Hope you enjoyed my latest project.