How to Distress a Milk Bottle Basket...

 

I purchased a heavy reproduction milk bottle basket at the thrift store for $3.00...

It was a brown color with a light wood handle. It looked new and I wanted it to look old, so I'll show you how I distressed it...

 I wanted an old fashioned vintage green, so I used a really simple and quick paint layering technique.

 

I didn't prime it, or anything. Not priming it makes the paint distress easier...

 I just used simple and cheap acrylic paint. I used an ivory color and a turquoise color and I used a simple green scrubbie to distress it...

 

 

I used a cheap chip brush and I used a stippling technique to just bounce the paint onto the metal.

I started with the ivory. I stippled some on and then dabbed it with a paper towel.

 

 

Then I bounced some turquoise color on top of the ivory...

It's a messy process, but it is a quick process...

 

I used the plastic scrubby to rough across the paint. Then I used a piece of sand paper to really rough up all the edges when the paint was completely dry. 

To seal it and give it a dirty antique look, I covered it with dark wax and subtracted the wax with some clear wax.

I let the wax dry for about an hour and then I buffed it to a sheen with a soft polishing cloth.

 The end result was a wonderfully distressed, chippy, vintage green paint color...

 The color compliments my beautiful "Peony Tulips" that I got from "Breck's"  last fall and planted around my front patio.

 

They look beautiful out my kitchen window...

They're quite Enchanting ~ like something from an English Garden, or a Fairy Tale...

They're ensuring I have a "Beautiful Spring"~!

=)

How to Paint a Shabby Chic Mirror...

Have you ever run across a mirror that had so much potential in your home, but it was just the wrong color?

Do you have a passion for something a little "Shabby" sometimes?

Me too... 

I couldn't help myself when I ran across an old, vintage mirror. I had to buy it. It had to come home with me. I fell in love, but the color was just all wrong~!

It was kind of a greenish hue, but the style of it was so pretty that I could see all the potential it would have with a bit of paint and some love...

First, I had to cover all of the little beveled mirrors, so I tore up some file folders (some thick cardstock) and carefully shoved it between the mirror and the frame and then, I taped the card stock pieces in place with little pieces of frog tape.

I also taped some painters paper up around the mirror because it is crazy heavy and it was on the wall already and I didn't want to remove it to paint it...

I primed the mirror with 2 coats of Zinsser Primer.

(Please, please, please properly prepare a piece before you paint it, so the paint will stick!)

For the first coat and to completely cover that greenish color, I mixed 1 C. of  flat, white, latex paint with 2 Tbsp. of hot water and 2 Tbsp. of  My Savvy Sister Chalk Paint Dust and painted my first 'cover up' coat.

~Actually, you mix the 2 Tbsp. of chalk dust with 2 Tbsp. boiling hot water - then you mix in the 1 C. of flat latex paint~

(Horrible picture, I know... What's up with that?)

(=

I let the first coat dry over night...

(Because I was tired, it took 3 hours to tape off the mirrors~~~)

Then, I used a Behr color called "Decorator White" for my 2nd coat. 

I used 1 C. of  Flat Latex paint and I mixed it with 2 Tbsp. of hot water and 2 Tbsp. of My Savvy Sister Chalk Paint Dust

The mirror only took 2 C. of chalk paint to cover really well, with 2 really thick coats. 

Once the whole mirror was completely dry, I used some Fiddes & Sons antiquing wax in the color 'Ruger Brown,' to bring out all of the carvings and to change the piece to an antique white color.

Ok, some people wax a piece with clear wax, then they use the dark antiquing wax. 

I don't...

Wax is expensive and really time consuming. 

I put the antiquing wax straight onto the chalk paint. Then, the secret is to use clear wax to subtract the excess dark wax off of the piece. 

I'm sure not everybody does it this way, but I do when I'm trying to create an antique white color.

I knew this piece was going to take a lot of clear wax, so I used a can of  Minwax Paste Finishing Wax that I picked up at Home Depot.

The Minwax done the job, but the smell was awful~!

(I usually use Fiddes & Sons waxes, but I was out of their clear wax...)

~~~Ugh~~~ 

Open a window, or 3, if you use Minwax paste wax...

"Wax on.... 

Wax off... 

The Waxer~!"

(That always rolls through my head when I'm waxing something - like the 'clapper' commercial. 

(=

When your clear wax has dried, buff the piece with a soft cloth. and it's finished~!

It takes a ton of elbow grease to antique something with waxes, but the end result is fantastic...

And, there is no right, or wrong way to do it. Just use whatever technique gets you the end result you seek.

And my living room needed a little "Shabby" piece behind the sofa, to add some life to all my Russian pine.

                       Before:                                                                           After:

        

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DIY - Rustic Vegetable / Fruit Bin...

I needed a 'Veggie / Fruit' bin for the counter...

The 'Man-Child' built me the potato and onion bins out of old apple crates prior, but I also needed a big one for the bar / counter to store the rest of my fresh veggies / fruits that are always just piled around in bowls and such. We consume a lot of fresh produce and it was going to be nice to have it all in one place.

We were sitting in the kitchen talking this morning and I was looking at the ones he built that are harbored by the fridge, when an ingenious thought hit me.

I had 2 old, steel, industrial drawers tucked away in the hole where the dishwasher used to reside.

I seen them stacked there, pulled them out and we started discussing making a custom veggie / fruit bin and how we would do it.

The 'Man-Child' got some old pallet material, some clamps, a few pieces of cardboard and he started to piece together a prototype...

I fell in love with it from the inception. 

It was PERFECT for the counter and matched the other potato / Onion bin in the kitchen perfect~!

And, it would hold a ton of veggies and fruit...

He was attempting to piece it all together, measure, assess, think on things...

When help arrived...

Even the 'Lone Ranger' had 'Tonto'...

Although, I think Tonto was probably more helpful than Oliver was to the 'Man-Child' today...

Have I ever admitted just how awesome it is to come up with an idea, an item and say what I'm thinking and the 'Man-Child' can build it for me? 

It's the advantage to living with a contractor...

<Of course, it's nice to live with a contractor that loves to build you're crazy ideas ~ too!>

And, a contractor that's great at developing his own pattern and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty...

And, a contractor that loves Arizona brand sweet tea as much as me...

(=

Who can take an idea.

Go outside.

Gather some tools.

And, create something fantastic...

He even included a custom made top for me to attach my green vintage chopper to the top...

The green vintage chopper that matches my green Wayrite scale that sits on the other produce bins...

The 'Man-Child' never disappoints when he makes me something. 

This one turned out Fantastic for this Farmhouse Kitchen~!

He even took the time to build little dividers to go in the drawers...

He's an Awesome Guy~!

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DIY - Bed Spring Wreath...

 

I figure the hardest part about making your own rusty bed spring wreath is probably finding the old bed springs...

The cute Bed-Spring wreath I made took 14 - old, rusty springs...

 Materials Needed:

1 - A Man to cut the springs off the old mattress frame...

(Or, some kind of saw, because they are thick wire!)

~I'm all for the feminist movement - woman's power, etc. but come on - I'm pretty weak~

(=

2 - Some kind of wire frame to wire your bed springs to.

(I used a wire the Man-Child cut off an old wire tomato cage he made me a few years ago...)

~You could use a wire frame from the florist if you're not a scrounger like me~

[=

3 - Some rusty 'pliable' wire to wire your springs onto your frame.

(Thick wire will make you swear, I swear...)

=D

4 - Wire cutters of course.

(=

5 - GLOVES!

(Maybe, a current tetanus shot?)

=/

6 - A Crazy Imagination~!

(You could make these any shape you want, a circle is good for me)

=]

 

I found my old bed springs in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, the 'Man-Child' was cutting a tree down at a friends farm and as the tree was falling toward me ~ I noticed a set of crusty, rusty, old bed springs buried in the dirt. I was scared for a split second that the tree would fall on the bed springs. 

It was a nail biter until the tree hit the ground and missed the little treasure I spied...

The 'Man-Child' went from timber cutter, to bed spring junker in like 2 minutes~~~

 

These old, rusty bed springs are wicked strong.

They're made out of really thick old wire. 

There is no way I could cut one free and even the Man-Child struggled with the fighting tools in the pickup, so we ran home and got the heavy duty artillery  = big wire cutters of multiple sizes and even bolt cutters could be used. In the end, the most practical thing was a Dewalt cordless saw. 

The cordless saw made the bed spring removal a breeze!...

(=

Wearing gloves is a great idea, but I'm slow with the common sense at times and what the hey, I had a new box of Sponge Bob bandaids I needed to test for the next boo-boo, or 13...

I wired the springs to the wire form with one up and one down, so they would line up with ease...

 I done my best to keep the springs even as I wired them around the circle form.

It's not so easy with really thick old springs.

I figured with Spring coming soon, I needed a 'Spring Wreath'~!

(Pun intended, he - he...)

Of course, an old piece of chain came along for the ride...

It's amazing what treasures can be found when you come across an old homestead while cutting down trees.

The 'Man-Child' told me when he gets home this weekend, he'll solder, or weld this old chain into a heart shape for me.

Yes, "Spring Fever" is in the air~!

But, which Spring Fever might that be?

(=

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