Gone Junkin': From One Grandma's Basement to Another's Garden

Hello There!

I just finished up that white desk...I'm hoping to share it soon! I also have paint mixed and ready to go for the old screen door I picked up. This week's post is about finds at two different grandma's houses.

The first set of pictures is from my grandma Joyce. When I went to visit last time, she told me she had a bunch of fabric and patterns from her mother's time (so my great-grandma) to share. I got lots of fun fabric that's now back in style and some amazing patterns. Shopping in grandma's basement is the best!

 

Lots of fun fabric. That mustard color has definitely come back in style!

 

So many fantastic patterns! Love the retro feel. Now, if I could find the motivation to make all these clothes. The patterns themselves are like art. I'm brainstorming ways to display them in my craft room as art.

 

An apron or a retro dress to play crochet in.

 

Cute peacoats too!

My mother-in-law, my daughter's grandmother, has an amazing acreage with great flowers and landscaping. I know my pictures won't do any justice to her flower gardens, and I took pictures after things have gone and bloomed, but she's got some great ideas for using junk in your flower beds.

The corner sign with some fun fireworks for the Fourth of July.

One of the vintage bikes with baskets. 

 

A little old tricycle.

 

Old water pump to water flowers with.

 

Door mounted in the ground with hanging baskets and another vintage bike.

 

Love those baskets!

 

Old wood burning stove is perfect for flowers to fall out of.

 

Bird houses and record flowers.

 

Old scale on a sewing machine/grate table. Last year there were flowers cascading out of the bowl on the scale. This year is succulents. 

 

Old stool and some old milk jugs.

I curse you Wal-Mart Paint!

I hereby solemnly swear off Wal-Mart paint.

And of course I will tell you why.

My previous post had a wonderful desk I had inherited from my in-laws. It had beautiful lines but the wood left much to be desired, and we decided I needed to paint it. 

 

Being pregnant in my first trimester, I didn’t feel good. By “didn’t feel good” I meant I was pretty sure I had picked up a case of the plague in addition to being pregnant. I had morning sickness (no surprise since I had that the first 6 months of my last pregnancy). I could barely stay awake and often fell asleep while doing activities (and usually was quite confused when I woke up and I hadn’t finished folding clothes or my forehead was hitting the “H” key repeatedly). I also had headaches, sinus issues, and only slept a few hours a night. Basically, if you opened “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” I had every single thing they had listed, and usually it was prefaced with “A small number of pregnant woman suffer from _____.” To say the least, DIY projects were put on the back burner and just surviving the first trimester was priority number one. 

Over the past week I’ve slowly started to come out of that first trimester fog, and actually find myself having a bit of energy. Then, I’d walk outside into the 100+ degree weather and that would be all zapped away.

After attempting to paint this desk twice before, but only getting as far as removing the knobs, I decided despite the weather I was going to get it done this week while my daughter was at grandma and grandpas. She is cute but a terrible painter. The paint jobs are terribly uneven. I did a through sanding, and the next day was painting day. 

I have painted a ton of furniture, as you have seen on this blog. Usually I get my paint from Ace Hardware. I feel like you get what you pay for when it comes to paint. I was shopping for other items at Wal-Mart the day before painting the desk and saw they had the new Gidden Paint and Primer in One paint. It was one of Wal-Mart’s pricier paints, so I thought for simple white, it would be just fine. Plus it would save me the trip to the hardware store. 

 I was WRONG. SO WRONG.

(Side note: Wal-Mart used to carry Kitz paint, and I really did love that paint. I had great experiences with it)

On Tuesday, I did one coat. It didn’t cover very well, especially for being a primer too, but I could forgive that. I have found white is a pain for coverage on dark wood…but that’s pretty much common sense.

I let the coat dry all day Wednesday (well…I say that like it was intentional…I decided to spend my 4^th in air conditioning and not painting a desk in 105 degree weather.)

This morning, I wake to the sound of thunder. At first I’m confused because we’re in quite the dry spell and thunder usually meant rain. Then I ran that thought through my head again….thunder means rain…..THE DESK IS OUTSIDE!!!! I jump out of bed, throw on some mildly appropriate clothes for public display and run outside. It hadn’t started raining. So, I quickly move all the desk pieces under the covered deck.

I’m thinking to myself, oh jeez. That was close. I almost had a soaked desk. Then I’d never finish this stupid project. Then I see the paint job on the desk top. It’s kinda bubbled in a few places..I pick at it thinking I would just have to touch up the scuff mark, and the paint starts to peel back. And not peel just a little bit, the ENTIRE top of the desk peels off in one peel. I don’t know if it was the humidity, the paint was just like a latex shell over the desk. It hadn’t adhered to the desk at all! 

The offensive evil paint!

This did not go over well at 6 in the morning. I said a few choice words, I stomped my feet, threw a knob and yelled at the poor dogs who just looked up at me like “I don’t know what those babies do to mom, but she’s certifiably crazy.”

So, now I’ve got half a can of paint that has decided not to do the ONE thing it’s supposed to do…paint a surface. I’ve got a desk that is peeling off white paint like a bad sunburn. And I have to start completely over. And it’s a billion degrees outside and I’m pregnant. Oh and I have to buy more paint.

I hate Wal-Mart paint.

Gone Junkin' Wrap Up & Mini Tutorial!

Hello There!

I haven't written in a while. It's been one busy busy summer! I taught Vacation Bible School last week...let me tell you, I have a new appreciation for preschool teachers and daycare providers! I had the young bunch and while they are really fun, they are exhausting. My daughter and I fell asleep quickly every night. 

We have also been doing fun family activities like going to the zoo and playing in the pool. It's been a fun summer. We might get to find out the sex of our baby this week! So many fun things going on!

This past weekend was Junkin' in June in the Ames-Boone area. We made the rounds by visiting Once Was, J.B. Knacker (and the flea market in the side yard with Sheldahl Crossing and Anything but New), Broadstreet Market and inVintg.

I didn't get much this trip, mostly because I had two projects sitting on the back porch that were priority. I have picked up a couple of things over the past few weeks to share.

At Once Was I picked up two metal trays that I'll use as magnetic message boards.

 

A few weeks ago at J.B. Knacker, I picked up two vintage Pyrex dishes with the glass lids in great shape. They were such a good deal!!!

A few weeks ago was City Wide Clean up. I found this beat up screen door on the corner of street. It was free and had great details. It's pretty rough though. I started the sanding process today. I'm hoping to get a fun color on it in the next couple of days.

I'll need to replace the screen part I think....

 

First sanding done! Next up, paint and replacing the screen.

 

Love the detail attachment on my sander! Works great on the little groves. Check out my review of my Black and Decker Mouse sander here.

My mother-in-law snagged up this desk from my husband's grandfather's house. The wood isn't in great shape, but the lines of the desk with the curves in the drawers is fantastic! I just started sanding today...I'm excited to paint it this week!

Mini Tutorial

I painted these chairs white a few months ago. They have done a great job holding up. There are a few knicks here and there. I decided rather than trying to buy an entire quart of paint or repainting everything, I would try a little quick fix.

I went to the craft section of a local department store and got a paint pen. I dabbed a little paint on the chair, and it turned out great!

Little knick on the chair. Slowly driving me crazy.

Elmer's Painters Pen

Ta Da! No more knick and it took maybe 2 seconds. Fantastic!