Patina General

Corner Cupboards: Before/After

If you visited us this weekend, you maybe noticed this pretty pair of corner cupboards in our Lake Beautiful area. Well, thought I'd show you how they looked when I picked them up and what I did to transform them.

Workbench Transformation

My husband and daughter found this workbench during one of their Saturday morning treasure hunts while I was working at the store.

Stapled Seat Cushions 101

I did a lot of seat cushions last year for our big grad party celebration. Happy Girl handled the sewing end beautifully, and I wielded the staple gun endlessly. If you own an electric staple gun, re-doing your kitchen/dining room chair seats, or your outdoor chair seats is rather simple, and an easy project for a non-sewer.

My Masterpiece Buffet

It's finally done! I finished the buffet for myself...well, our home...not that it really matters to any of the other house dwellers. But they do agree it turned out pretty funky. Funky, Junky...to be exact!

Vintage Ceiling Tin...Lots of Possibilities

A few years ago I went to an auction for the sole purpose of bidding on vintage ceiling tin, it's not something you find everyday.  The auction held several familiar faces, meaning lots of competitive bidding.  An auction friend and I decided to join forces and take on the crowd together.  We scoured the piles of ceiling tin and made our choices.

Auction bidding is known for getting one's heart pounding, but this time was different, the stakes were higher and the prize much larger.  Our palms were sweaty and tension was in the air.  The bidding climbed quickly, but we were determined to stick with it.  We won most of our desired piles. 

Victory was ours, but writing the largest check I'd ever written at an auction was a little painful.

We sold several pieces of the tin as is, because we have very creative customers.  They were going to be used as wall hangings, window valances, back splashes in kitchens and the list goes on.

I love using the tin on furniture.  One piece of tin adds so much character and takes an ordinary piece of furniture to extraordinary.  Brian isn't as fond of vintage tin, it's a beast to cut and install.

Putting it in a frame for a wall hanging is a little easier and gives any wall great texture.

Adding a few hooks to the tin makes it functional wall art.

My latest project, a dresser for our master bedroom.  Coming soon...  a custom built headboard and footboard(containing vintage tin).

 

Favorite Projects of 2014, a.k.a. Year in Review

Cranking out projects is what I do all year long. I thought it would be nice to sit back and review the year and see all that I had accomplished in 2014. I feel like it's been a great year of junk. I can honestly say, I think I've gotten a little junkier this year from all the industrial projects I've worked on...and that's good!

Kitchen Stools: Revisited and Revised

I got the stools done, and just love how they turned out!

Well Made Furniture

We definitely see our fair share of junk, but we do love resurrecting pieces that just have some inherent qualities that reach out to us. But it is sure nice once in awhile to get a piece of furniture, or two in this case, that are well-built and in great shape, despite their years.

Once a Piano Bench, Now a Coffee Table

This piano bench has been sleeping in our attic for years.  Found it during my early auctioning days.

Herman Miller Chairs

I became a stalker a few weeks ago; on the hunt of some of these great, vintage chairs. Mr. Fix-it and I were on our way back from returning all the grad party tables and chairs to the store: 2 van loads. Ahead of me was a flatbed truck with 6 fiberglass chairs tied on. All I could think of was, "I really hope he's not planning on scrapping those chairs!"