My Olive Love

Good Tuesday everyone! While slowly getting ready for the next trunk show in Schaffhausen (Switzerland) my back is sloooowly getting better. But really slow.
I still need a lot of rest but that gives me the chance to do another post.
Last week while my neighbors where on vacation and left me a part of the garage to work on furniture I  was able to paint another beauty.
The one underneath all that good stuff...

At first sight I saw it all in Annie Sloan Henrietta or Emile, anyways in a pinkish color. I was dreaming of a sweet girly looking table standing in a field full of blooming springflowers, a laptop or a book on it and a white shabby chic-ish chair in front.... can you see it??

I started off with old ochre to give it a light base. But the thing was...it looked so good in that old ochre that I decided to leave it that way. It would have been cool to keep the top in a dark brown but since it had a huge crack I had to fix that was not possible.
So I painted the top in old ochre too and covered that with Olive.
I've never used Olive before but I fell in love with it!
To add a little extra details I painted some leaves onto the tabletop and around the edges and drawer, changed the knob and done.
I could look at it all day and I'm sure it also will fit the blooming field! ;)

Much love, Dina

   

jenniferrizzo

Have a seat

Days have been great! A very successful trunk show, an invitation for another market in June, the o.k. to participate at another trunk show, an almost car free garage giving me enough space to finally paint my tables and some more small dressers and sideboards, enough of free time to do this all because I was able to get off on my job and yesterday I was able to visit a store that would like to host my stuff.... yeah! Time flies by, days are short, and this week is almost over.
The next market is coming up next Saturday and I'm almost sold out, so I will have to hurry up on getting off of my furniture (oh noooo!) and getting back to sewing purses and bags and knotting jewelry.

No question, I pushed myself a little over the top this week.
Lumbago!
And since my first thought was to warm the muscles instead of cooling the sore nerve it got worse. So I'm sitting...well, I'm trying to...in my bed reading through posts.

But luckily I prepared a little show off of a small stool I painted a while ago. Unfortunately I didn't take a before picture. It was painted in a reddish brown and the seat had the original color of hemp twine or straw.

I painted the legs in Annie Sloan "old violet" and used an almost dry brush with a little "old white" on the seat, sanded the edges...here you go.
Much love, Dina

 

Sneaky

Today I would like to show you some sneaks of some of the things I'm working on. Some things are done, waiting to get photographed and some of them are in progress.
Enjoy! :)
Much love, Dina

Time is a "more Guts than Brain" Project...

More guts than brain! That will definitely be a new series on my blog!
Do you know that? You see something in a dark corner in an antique or thrift store or at a garage sale and you think...no, you don't think! You're grabbing it, paying, leaving, driving home with a big smile on your face, already knowing what this piece possibly could look like after you're done with it.
Two days later you want to start your project, looking at your treasure and think: "hmmmm - ok - wait! - no...hmmmmm"
I often thought: I've seen this on other blogs so it's possible and I'm just gonna start on it.
You start and face about ten call outs with the piece.
BUT! When you're done (I did not finish all of my "more guts than brain" projects!) you're so satisfied and proud and you've learned so many things, maybe techniques, another point of view or something about a material.
I would love to start a new linking party on this topic because I'd love to see and read about your projects!
What do you think about that?

My latest "more guts than brain" project was this chair.
Now some of you might think there's nothing to be worried about, but I've never faced a furniture with an upholstery. I didn't even check on it before. I was so lucky that the straps where still ok!

Now here's the before:

Guess what, my husband didn't like it and asked me more than once "why did you buy this chair?"
-"because I see the potential of it!" was my answer but I didn't think of the skills that where required do work it's potential out.

Let me tell you, I was sweating more than once! Above all when I had to rip off the fabric and realized what I have been starting on.
I planned to write a tutorial for this but I actually can't tell you exactly how I did it but I just did it!
And here it is:

What can I say...I went back to the antique store and bought another three of those chairs... definitely more guts than brain huh? ;)

Much love,
Dina

  

Time is a suitcase...

...loaded with good things.

Suitcase Rummage in Lucerne, Switzerland
www.koffermarkt-luzern.ch

Yes ladies, I did my first "suitcase rummage" at the end of the last year in Lucerne. "Last year" sounds so weird, or is it just me...
I got an invitation to it without knowing what it is but I was thrilled when I found out what it's all about. It swapped over to Switzerland fully now and there are popping up suitcase rummages all over the country for this year.

No need to say: I had a BLAST and my bags and necklaces seemed to be some of the hot sellers which made my heart sing! By the time I went home there where six small pieces left, so no rummage anymore. I even sold my decoration to a girl; a brooch I used to tag some lace. She wanted it really bad so I gave her a good deal.

On this occasion I naturally wanted to have a unique suitcase.
Here is what I did...

When I got the case the false leather outside was a bright orange-deer-brown and the also-ghastly, brown satin fabric inside was splotchy. Well, don't get me wrong, I guess it looked funky in the 70's. Unfortunately this was the only suitcase at the flea market.

The decision was made with ease, I ripped out the fabric inside and spotted cardboard underneath!
A cardboard suitcase! All right!

I painted the false leather on the outside with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (yes, I did!) Duck Egg Blue, let it dry and then I brushed old white onto it. Just some strokes with an almost dry brush to bring out the highlights.
In this case I did not wax it for I wanted this dry and matt look, keeping in mind that the color could chip off and get wet. As a small decoration I used oxidized metal stamps (a butterfly, a leave and a tag).

On the inside I used Japanese Cotton Fabric (50% Cotton, 50% Linen), glued and sealed it with Mod Podge. You could use outdoor Mod Podge if you would like to be able to wipe a surface with a wet towel.

I did a quick upholstery for the inside of the cover with a light cream cotton fabric and then, decorated with a lace trim (for hanging up some earrings) and two bronze brooches (yes, that where the ones selling too).

Actually you could use such a suitcase as a decorating item in your home too where it could hold magazines, kids toys, books, remote controls, a cat (?)...or just shine.

And here it is in action! Much love, Dina