~ Santos - Cage Doll On A Quiet Street - Grace

2011 ~ We were considering a quick trip to Sanford last weekend, but just didn't get around to it. Then as I was moving things around in the living room, and dusting this lovely Santos, I was happy that I had decided to get her. She still makes me smile......

Many things had changed the last time we were there, and the real downturn in the economy had not fully hit yet. If we could just take a moment to do whatever business we can with the small "mom & pop" stores in our own home towns, instead of laces like Walmart, we could make a huge difference. I know many people are trying to do just that.

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Jan 2009:
The air was so fresh and brisk as we walked along the street where we've been many times before. Those who visit this little blog have seen pictures of the old buildings and how wonderful it was to have the street brought back to a new life with antique shops, places to eat and the farmer's market on Saturday when we usually go. A couple of years ago we saw an ad on TV about the shops that had opened trying to be a part of the antique & tourists market like their sister city Mt. Dora, with Renninger's.

On this day it was obvious that Sanford must be struggling. Many of the shops were closed, and the street was pretty empty. We had made the quick trip up there to find a Santos. She has eluded me, even though she has been in my grasp a couple of times. The first time I looked and yearned, but kept myself from spending. When I decided maybe I would go ahead a buy her, she was gone. Then on the next trip, there were two to choose from. One had a prettier face, the other had beautiful wings. I left empty handed again, unable to decide.

But the trip this Saturday, was to bring her home. That is if there was one in the shop-art gallery. It's a wonderful place where they have art showings, display folk art and have artists' studios that they rent. As we walked towards the shop, in the window, there was one, only one. She had the beautiful wings, and I couldn't remember what the other one looked like. I thought about it. I walked through the artists' rooms, looked at the art, and then came back around and said...she's mine. As you can see she sometimes gets dressed up just a tiny bit, too.

It was sad to see the row of shops slowly closing down. Business has been so bad and most cannot wait for it to get better, whenever that might be. We ate lunch at a new restaurant which had only been open for 3 months and we were the only ones there in the afternoon. The food was excellent. I hope they can weather the stormy times and be successful. It's hard to find such good food with big food chains squeezing out the little mom & pop places.

This Santos is a celebration symbol. Life is good, even in days like these. I am fully aware almost every minute to be thankful. My family is all healthy, kind and wonderful, there is lots of sunshine and puppy kisses. Really perfection, as I am learning to stop and bath in the Grace.

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After I posted this, several people asked if I knew where they could purchase a Santos/Cage Doll. At the time, I knew of very few places. Since then they have become more available online. This site has mine as well many others. All beautiful from the pictures. (This is a "free advertisement" without any benefit to me. ) http://www.santoscagedoll.com/

This shop tells you up front that they are reproductions. You might wish to be very careful since I have seen the exact same ones being sold at much higher prices as "antiques" which they are not.

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See Y'All Soon~
Donna

~ Silver Leaf Top on White Coffee Table Makeover - Chalk Paint & Silver Leaf

A few years ago I fell in love with a black table with an églomisé top. I was smitten and almost purchased it. By now I know if I overspend on something it may not be worth it. So I'm happy that I waited on the buying the expensive one.

Right now I am painting

~ Crowns In Art & Decorating?

There are times when you just get tired of seeing some things used over and over again. But then again, some things stand the test of time, for a very long time. Go back hundreds of years and you will see many crowns in art. Usually to depict royalty of some sort. That's what makes it all the more appealing to me today to use crowns. There is no such thing as "royalty" in the sense that anyone is born at a higher rank than you are. Some people just think they are.

I love the combination of elements in this art using an antique ledger page from the 1840's, vintage crown image, and beautiful handwriting of French script from the 1840's to 1850's. I also have some larger ledger pages which look and feel very much like an old parchment. Art printed it is so beautiful because it does look quite old. I'm thinking a crown might look very lovely on it as well.

It's been busy around here with paint brushes flying. Next up for me is a small coffee table with sliver leaf top and some chalk paint white love.

See Y'All Soon ~
Donna

~ White & Cream

White and cream, colors that dance so harmoniously and beautifully together.
Especially with the wonderful aged patina of the cream.

Removing things from the top of the black chest before painting it.
But taking a moment to appreciate them first.
A very large, vintage rosary.

See Y'All Soon~
Donna

~ The Entry - Just Simple & White

Old gilt mirror was looking a little tired. In addition to a little touch up with Treasure Gold, the inset on the frame was painted a blue green. First lime green, then French blue, then an antique varnish/glaze. Still looks old, nothing newly painted.

The plaster artichoke came from out on the porch back inside again. It was painted with some umbered green first to settle in the crevices, then dry brushed in Old White chalk paint. That type of paint helped to maintain the look of the plaster and allows it to be cleaned up but still chalky looking.

As shown previously the fabulous vellum book that was a gift/giveaway on Willow Decor by 3 Fine Grains. Stunningly beautiful to see and hold. The walls have been painted with a few layers of paint and glazes. The golden yellow which replaced the off whites is gone, now replaced with ... off whites and taupes, again. Much the same as several years ago I suspect.

After finding the little heart stones at the beach, it took over a year to find a shadow box that would work and that I actually liked. This one was perfect.

The ex-voto heart, my three shells and an antique key make the perfect house blessing.

Although this table changes more than anything in the house, a few pictures were snapped before the things moved around. I love the white on the wrought iron table. It's a fun and different look from before.

A small entry, and just some very simple things. And lots of white .... again.(Before)

See Y'All Soon~
Have A Wonderful Day

~ Rust Love .... Faux Real

Rust hasn't always been embraced for its beauty. But you might love rusty old things. Rust is just such a beautiful thing, except when it appears some place where it's truly not wanted. You might have had your own adventures with navel jelly and sanding and painting to get a perfect finish on a metal piece or two. I have as well. But in the last few years, I've fallen more and more in love with the simple yet complex beauty of rust.

After

The wrought iron table in the entry was last painted black, and it was a lovely verdigris green previous to that. I'm trying to remember back 20 years or so wondering if it was white when I first found it. It was a garden piece way back then. But as I was searching for an iron table that wasn't way too expensive for the entry, I realized it was perfect for the entry area. And it's been there ever since.

This time I painted it an aged white, and did a little distressing (sanding) and faux rust with paint. I was not looking for a very distressed, totally chipping look. I painted it from my stash of white paints and not the chalk paint at first, but did touch it up with the "old white" Sloan chalk paint after painting the plant stand with that one.

After

The "plant stand" was really, really rusty. Quite a bit too much for bringing indoors. It has been outside acquiring its patina for a very long time, probably about 10 years. What got me started with using it in a more rusty state was another iron table that is on the front deck. It was in such bad shape of totally peeling, chipping and rusting, that it was set aside to go in the garbage when we could figure out how to get it there. Then suddenly, you know how those things hit you, I realized it could be saved for its next incarnation. That table was slightly dry brushed with white paint with its purpose to be very, very old looking. It worked! And it led to this planter coming in the house and having a new life of its own.

This time I wanted it to look older and more aged. So when I dry brushed the chalk paint on it, it was with a light hand so that the rust would show in the spots I wanted. In order to keep it from becoming too white, it was a little slower process. Just so you can stand back, take a look and then decide if you want more white or less rust or if you might be done.

To create the faux rust look, you will notice that rust has many layers of colors and it is not really just one color. It ranges from a very dark, almost black, brown to shades of burnt sienna. So all you really need is a dark brown, and the burnt sienna with a beige or light brown to make a few different colors.

For the planter I used the chalk paint (old white) because it had the exact look of old paint that I want. You can of course use any white paint of your choosing.

See Y'All Soon~
Donna

~ The Decorated House - Blue French Provincial Nightstands - Makeover

Revisting the French Nightstand Makeover ~
It all began before Sweet Daughter even purchased her home. We shopped a little here and there for at least a year, or two, ahead of time. Setting up a new nest can be expensive and this certainly helped. For Christmas or birthdays she would often ask for things for her one day home and she kept a list of things she would need. When we found a pretty blue and brown comforter set and put it away. That is one of her pillows and the pillow sham in the first picture.

Although blues are beautiful, Sweet Daughter was not that excited about my painting her nightstands blue. She thought black would be just fine. And I'm sure I'll paint them black or white ..... one day. Of course the obvious thing was to paint them white. The bedding has been in her room for a little over a year, so she might want to change things out in another year, and of course since she purchased her home, her rescue lab puppy has arrived in the meantime. But you know he is not allowed on the bed, right? I think Saturday & Sunday's are days of clemency. Sssshhh.... he's not supposed to know.

{Edit: 2011. Cody Puppy is a bit calmer, and now has his own coverlet and is allowed on the bed at his other house. And although he's worth it, he still doesn't get on the Nana's bed. :) }

You've seen this type of nightstand so many times at garage sales, consignment shops and flea markets I'm sure. I did too, unless I was looking for them. Then it seemed they were much harder to find. It was especially difficult to find ones that someone had not already sprayed white including the drawer pulls and marked up quite a bit.

This worked out great! I bought a set that had the nightstands, a headboard & footboard, and 2 different sizes of dressers. Both of the dressers are smaller ones which is perfect for what I needed. She got the nightstands and headboard, and I took the dressers. One of which will be the same Tiffany blue as the other painted one.

The tops looked more like a formica surface than just wood, and was a bit slick. So I sanded them lightly and painted with a white primer so the paint would adhere, and last longer.

(Edit: 2011 These were painted before the blogworld explosion of chalk paint use on furniture. I have not tried it on this type of shiny top surface, but would have been happy if I had that paint when these were painted.)


The only problem I had with this project was the fact that Sweet Daughter's light is quite different in her bedroom than it was in my living room where I painted the nightstands. I don't recall ever having furniture "change" colors on me as much as this blue did. But this was the first time I was so sure of the color and then found it was different at another location.

They appear more blue at her house. Even though they look so good, I used to think I would sneak over there one day and add a touch more green to the blue. But not yet. She might want something else entirely one day anyway.

The drawer pulls were a more simple design than the last ones, and she asked for them to be in a similar finish as her curtain rod. So they were painted with a dull dark pewter metal spray paint and then gold Treasure Gold (rub n buff type product) was added to the top.

It seems like there was a period when we saw more of the French Provincial furniture painted blue. But I haven't seen any in a long time. So this seems kind of new and fresh. I think my daughter is just happy to have something to put the clock on! (Edit: 2011, sure seems like a lot more blue going on since the chalk paint arrived!)

1. Sand lightly as needed.
2. Prime if any surface is slick or you need to cover up old paint.
3. Paint in color of your choice. Slate Blue in this case.
4. I repainted the gold to a softer, more aged gold. (Looks a lot brighter in that last photo than it is in real life. It is a very aged looking gold.)
5. Add as much aging as you wish. I kept this very light handed, and just added a bit of burnt sienna brown to the top and wiped it off. Leaving more at the edges.
6. Topcoated just the very top with a wipe-on polyurethane.
   
7. Added one coat of paste wax on top and buffed.

Happy Weekend!
See Y'All Soon
Donna

See lots of painted makeover treasures for this week at
Miss Mustard Seed's blog.

~ Silver Heart Ex-Voto & ADD

I remember looking for a silver ex-voto for quite a while before finding the three I have. Now with a simple search, they seem to be very easy to find. It is very difficult to tell whether one is old, or more newer. Often made of tin, not silver, they have a beautiful patina without being old at all. That was fine with me. The antique ones could fetch $800 or more, so the newly made ones work well since I just love the designs.

ADD-like symptoms seem to strike often these days as I have a little trouble finishing one decorating project before jumping to another equally enticing one. I am by nature a planner. Even after spending days on end choosing the right color, furniture and adornments, once I see the individual parts are perfect, I'm ready for another project, another challenge. Not the best way to actually get things done. Sometimes worse, after getting most of an area done, but not finished and moving on to other projects, when I return to the first room, I have new ideas for it! A little attention deficit at play.

To turn over a new leaf (oh sure I am!) the entry way is getting all the attention. Starting small might make this easier. The wrought iron table has been repainted, the mirror touched up, and finally, finally, I am putting together a little "House Blessing" with my silver (tin) ex-voto and the beautiful heart shaped rocks/shells I found on a beach vacation which I wrote about here.

Thanks for the lovely comments
on the flower pots in the last post.
See Y'All Soon~
Donna

~ June - White Flower Pots With Lots of Color

The urns have been dark and light, and now they are white antiqued with gray. I'm liking them very much in their latest incarnation. More of my favorite flower and plants combinations, blackie and marguerite sweet potato vines flowing over the edges with the same colors being repeated in the coleus and Persian shield. The dark pink pentas reflect the colors also found in the coleus, and those tiny blue and purple flowers are so wonderful with the larger purple plants.

These sit on wood columns in the front of the house. They are such a nice addition for a little curb appeal. All of the flowers will last through the whole summer and most will winter over as well. As long as I can keep them watered until some rain comes.

They were planted about 3 weeks ago. To speed them up a little bit, I purchased the green sweet potato vine at the nursery and pulled the black/purple from the backyard. The coleus were both small and a couple of gallon size. All of these lovelies grow quickly which makes them favorites of this impatient gardener. And they do well in part sun, if you have the time to keep them watered! And that is everyday for us if there is no rain.

See Y'All Soon~
Donna

~ Small Space Gardening ~ Kitchen Courtyard Before & After

It's done!

When you saw this picture last, the work on the new garden area was just getting under way. This was before, which doesn't seem so bad right here.

There were a few reasons for a complete makeover, but the one thing that started it all, one of the most important reasons, was the need to fence it in completely because Cody Pup was (is) such an escape artist and we live on a corner with traffic on one side. Since Cody thinks running as fast as he can without looking first is great fun, it was scary to think he might get out the door by accident, or by his planning.

Also the ground had become lower towards the house which is not a good thing. So all the planted area closest to the house had to be dug out, and the dirt moved and leveled better and draining towards the the gravel pathway.


The second big reason was just the simple fact of wanting it to be looking really good again. We took apart the landscape stone wall on the berm and rebuilt it. Roots and settling over the years had made it no longer level, and it just bugged me enough to fix it. Not a big change, lots of work, but I'm happy we did it.

We added a second archway to mimic the one that was towards the front of the house. Then added gates to each archway.

There also was a French drain under the gravel path and it needed to be redone after the several years it had been there. This was a big job, taking out the old one, moving most of the stones, and re-digging the trench and gravel pathway. So before we knew it, we were in the middle of really taking almost everything out and starting from scratch. Picking up all those pebble rocks used previously was as much work as digging up any plants. But Sweet Hubby just got to it, and never complained that I was undoing and redoing something .... again.

It's fenced in on all sides now with new gates at each end. Just perfect for when Cody wants to come out and help me garden. He's great at digging, fetching the plastic pots the plants come in, but not too good at planting anything yet.

See Y'all Soon~

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~ Those Cute Shabby Potting . Cabinets . Hutches

Kirk's wonderful potting bench sent me searching for the pictures I took while at a large antique fair that used mostly "junk" to make these fun potting benches. So here's a little repeat from a couple of years ago that is worth seeing again for anyone who missed them, or someone looking for more inspiration of flea market and little junk finds to make into a new treasure.

These made me regret that we did so much de-cluttering and didn't save more scraps of molding that we had left over. It always seems to happen like that doesn't it?

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There were a few emails and questions about those wonderful junk to treasure potting, hutch, cabinet, bench or thingies. The previous photos did not enlarge, this time if you click on them, you can see more details.

Wouldn't this be a great project if you were tearing down and old fence? You could use some it for the backs or sides. We have some lattice pieces that we saved, and I think that would look so nice as well. You could use an old dresser or kitchen cabinet for the bottom or some of the top, too.

Love the use of the posts on this one. I don't have any of those just hanging around, but you can buy newer ones at Home Depot or Lowe's, and make them look old.

And that scalloped molding is fabulous! Expensive to buy anything like that new, so it's worth the hunt to find a few pieces.

See ya' soon!

~ Happy Mother's Day!