Sweet Little Graphite Nightstand

I found this adorable little nightstand at a garage sale and immediately fell in love with it.  It's at least half the size of today's nightstands (I think this one is vintage 1940s or 1950s from days when bedrooms were a lot smaller).  

Although the wood was in good condition, the original varnished finish wasn't, as over the years it had become dry and cracked in some areas.

With chalk paint, sanding and other preparation usually isn't necessary.  But in this case, I knew I was going to have to sand a little to get the smooth finish I wanted.  So, I used my electric hand sander to smooth out the rough spots before applying two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Graphite.

 I knew I wanted to do something to make this little nightstand special so I painted the drawer with two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White.  After it dried completely, I stenciled a design on the drawer by stippling on paint in Graphite.

 Annie Sloan clear soft wax was brushed on and the excess was wiped off.  Buffing brought the finish to a nice sheen.

This night stand is now at my space at Old South.

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A Table Re-Do Using Beauty Tools

I was driving down the road one recent Saturday morning and noticed a yard sale going on next to the highway.  I was 40 miles from home and on my way to take care of some personal business but couldn't help but glance over to see what kind of things I could see from the road.  I spotted a few pieces of small furniture and after debating for a few quick seconds, I turned around.  This little table is one of the treasures I left with:



  

 

It was in good condition but was looking a little plain to me.  I love the trend of mixing stained wood with painted wood, so since the top was good, I decided to just paint the legs and the bottom shelf.  I applied two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White.

 

 

The cute little spindly legs have vertical grooves cut in them and while they filled up with paint, I knew I would want them to look slightly distressed and old. 

 

So, I pulled out my top secret distressing tools!  These are very rare and expensive tools so most of you probably don't have them readily available for your use.  Not !



 

That's right, a cotton swab and a bobby pin!  I chose the wet distress method since I was going to be using these two "tools".  I soaked one end of the swab in water and pushed it down the vertical grooves of the legs.  As the chalk paint got wet, it softened up and I was then able to use more pressure with the cotton swab to slightly remove some of the paint.  I repeated the process on all of the legs, around the edges of the bottom shelf and on the other areas of the legs where a little distressing was needed. And I did have to use several cotton swabs as they wear out pretty quickly! 

 

What I like about this method is that the paint is completely removed in some areas but the paint is only thinned in others, allowing the original finish to peak through.  I took a wet cloth and wiped over small areas where i wanted further distressing.  I then took the curved end of the bobby pin and gently scraped off paint on some areas of the legs and in some places on the vertical grooves.  See the bobby pin in the photo above with the pain gunked up in it?  That's some of the damp paint that was gently scraped off.  And this method is NOT messy.  I did the work on this little table inside my living room.

 

 This is how the legs looked after my wet distressing with the beauty "tools":

After applying a coat of clear wax, wiping it off and out of all the grooves, I let the table dry overnight before buffing and applying lemon oil to the top.  I just love the slight distressing and the way the long grooves look.

 

 

And here she is - ready for her new beautifully distressed life:

 

 

 



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From Ugly Duckling to Beautiful Swan

 

These are the kind of projects I just love from beginning to end!  I spotted this little spindly legged table and thought it might have great potential, but it was looking a little like an ugly duckling!  The legs were good but someone had nailed a painted wooden circle onto the top.  I took a chance and hauled it home with me.

 

 

After I pulled off the added on top, I found it was actually a piece of old panelling that had been added for who knows what reason!  I was excited to see the original top underneath was in pretty good shape except for little nail holes where the panelling had been nailed. 

 

 

 

I filled in the nail holes with wood filler and lightly sanded the top.  After two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Gray, I felt the table still looked a little plain and wasn't living up to its full potential (sorry, but in my enthusiasm I forgot to get a photo after the coats of paint).  I remembered I had picked up an inexpensive stencil on impulse awhile back and thought it would work perfectly.  I decided to just stencil across the center instead of over the entire top to keep the pattern from looking too "busy".  The stencil I used is the Jacobean Floral pattern made by DecoArt and I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White.

 



 

After the stencil paint dried, I very lightly sanded the design to smooth out any texture created by the stencil paint.  I applied a coat of clear wax and then used fine sand paper to slightly distress around the edges.

 



 

 

 After applying more clear wax over the distressed areas and buffing to a soft sheen, the ugly duckling was turned into a beautiful swan!

 

 

 I'm going to have a hard time letting this one go!

 

A Budget Fall Mantel

This is my simple Fall mantel which was put together without spending a lot of money.

I already owned the clock face, candlesticks, jug and mirror.  To accessorize, I added a ready-made mini wreath purchased from Target that was hung over the mirror with a small piece of twin.  Twigs from my backyard were placed in the jug.  I had purchased the paper mache' pears from Michael's months ago knowing I'd use them one day.  They were a dull, unfinished brown that looked like grocery bag paper.  I brushed on varnish to seal them and give them a nice, warm color and then placed them on a little tray I found at a thrift store.  The Autumn plaque was made from an old board I had.  I painted it with Coco Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and then stencilled the letters with Old White.  I sanded lightly to give it an older, distressed look.  The candlesticks were made ready for fall by removing the candles and adding pumpkins from the Dollar Tree.  I first used wood putty to fill in a crease that ran all around the pumpkins, then painted them with Old White before brushing on clear wax and lightly distressing and buffing them.

These were the pumpkins before.  I love Chalk Paint!

I spent less than $10 creating this mantel.  Look around your own home and yard and see what you have that can be used to create your own personal mantel.