Funkque ReDeux: Lots of catching up to do!

I'm getting ready to head to TEXAS!! WA-HOO! Y'ALL!

Round Top, to be exact - ANTIQUE WEEK! If you've never heard of it, where have you been! Check it out!

http://www.antiqueweekend.com/indexmain.html

It's the largest show in the country, held twice a year - spring & fall. I'll be driving there so I can fill up my truck with lots of awesome treasures to bring back home!

It's going to be another Mother-Daughter fun-filled trip! I'm going to meet Vicky in Austin, we'll stay the night at Travaasa Spa, http://travaasa.com/austin/ , what a treat that will be, and then head east to the HIll Country! We've been there before, years ago, for Antique Week in the spring. Oh, Lordy! You can't even imagine how HUGE it is until you actually see it! I'll be sure to take lots of photos to share with y'all!

Meanwhile...I've been getting more projects near completion. I try to get them finished before leaving on a trip, so I don't have to do it when I get back! Crazy, I know! Anyhoo....remember this desk from before?

It's a neat Craftsman-style desk I found at a local Thrift Shop. Looks like it may have been hand-made. The condition was fairly good except for the big black ring on the top - most likely from having a plant sitting on it where the water damaged the wood.

I tried several different techniques to remove it, but nothing seemed to work. I didn't want to sand it down and lose the look of the wood grain, either. Since I wasn't going to paint the desk - I thought it just wouldn't be right! - I decided to put a dark stain only on the top.

Here's how it turned out! It doesn't look too bad, and it covered up the dark spot, so it's a win-win!

The wood grain still shows through the stain. The contrast really makes a difference!

It grows on you after awhile! I want to keep it! But, it's too large, and it doesn't match the

cottage-style furniture I have in my little house!

Maybe it'll work perfectly in yours!

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I promised you a photo of the small dresser with the

stenciled numbers after the hardware was attached. Here it is!

BEFORE:

The new dark bronzed drawer pulls and door knobs really brought it all together!

AFTER:

Mucho better!

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I love old frames! The more ornate, the better. The one pictured below is a closeup

of the intricate detail. It's very large - the opening is 16" X 20" and very heavy.

It has layers, like a frame within a frame!

I picked this frame up at a local barn sale. It was a steal!

I grabbed it before anybody else saw the price tag!

It was filthy dirty and covered with years of dust. I cleaned it up

and took an old toothbrush to get deep into the crevices.

Then I painted it entirely in a black base paint. After that

was dried, I applied a white-wash with a big soft bristled brush.

Lastly, I gave it an over-allsoft brush finish with metallic gold to highlight the molding.

That really brought out the details.

Now it needed something IN the frame!

I cut a piece of quarter-inch plywood for the opening, glued corkboard onto it,

and covered it with a patterned burlap fabric. After securing it into place, I applied a backing and

hanging wire. Voila! A fancy memo/cork board!

Pretty enough to hang as a picture!

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You're going to be surprised when you see what I've done to the old buffet top that I picked up at Gold Rush Days in Oronoco, MN this summer!

This is what it looked like

BEFORE:

There's a lot of carved detail going on here!

Makes me think of the sun!

I debated about painting it 'Shabby Chic' white, which seemed rather BLAH with all the detail on this piece! So I just started out with bright colors, not really having any plan, and this is what transpired:

ZOWIE! It's an EXPLOSION of a crayon box of colors!

I kinda got the idea of the color combinations and patterns from a book of Mary Emmerling's that I have. She uses vibrant and bright happy colors in her work. I refer to it frequently.

Not that I'm trying to 'copy' her look - it's my own design - I'm 'inspired' by her look!

I'm not finished with this piece. I want to make it into a coat rack. I have some really cool knobs and hooks to add to it. As soon as it's complete, I'll post some photos!

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Another project in the works is a vintage kitchen utility cart. You know the kind, 3 metal shelves with chrome legs on casters so you could roll it around easily. Everybody had one at some time or other way back when - probably your Grandma! I didn't take photos of it as it 'was' - but believe me, it needed a major overhaul! It was so rusted, you couldn't tell what color it had been! But that's never stopped me yet from attempting a '~~makeover~~' an EXTREME MAKEOVER!

It's not done, either, I still need to work on the rusty casters and put a poly-seal coat on the whole thing, but here's the color I picked:

Turquoise blue trays with white legs! I haven't got the casters back on yet - I'm spray painting the metal part with a hammered silver color to cover up the rust! It's going to look very RETRO!

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You've probably noticed that I've been using a lot of color on my latest projects! Not painting everything 'distressed' white! While I still love that 'Shabby' look, I like to experiment with putting different colors and patterns together. It's WAY MORE time consuming and labor intensive, but it's ONE-OF-A-KIND!

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Speaking of color.....

The leaves are starting to change! Temperatures are getting cooler! You know what that means.........

FALL IS HERE!!