This was just an old wood mirror – that a billion people have had over a dresser at one time or another.
I slapped on two coats of CeCe Caldwell’s Vintage White. Distressed. Applied clear wax. Buffed. DONE!
I’d love to make the directions more complicated … but that’s all there is with CeCe Caldwell’s Paints & Finishes.
Old Mirror redone using CeCe Caldwell’s Vintage White and clear wax ~ Keys to the Attic
A couple of weeks ago, I started an upholstery class at the Portside Arts Center. I am so excited about this for a few reasons. First, I’ve always wanted to learn how to do upholstery. In my flea market and yard sale travels, I come across so many stools, chairs and small love seats that I love and can just envision in my house if only it were cleaned up. Second, I need to clean up and reupholster these very same items that I ended up buying anyway for the time that I learned how to reupholster (trust me, there’s lots of stuff down there). Finally, it thrills me to be able to pick out fabrics in colors and styles that I like and will blend in my rooms – this makes the possibilities endless.
Much to my delight, Portside Arts Center offers upholstery classes at an extremely attractive price and … they’re right down the street from my house! So, I thought that I would take you along on the journey of my 10 week class and, as much as I can, share with you my experience and progress.
This is the chair that I decided to reupholster. This chair has been in my mom’s basement forever – as you can clearly see.
Remember that I started this class two Tuesdays ago, so the first two classes consisted of completely stripping the chair of its fabric, stuffing and support straps – right down to the frame. This meant removing all of the nails, tacks and staples that was holding all of this stuff together. Our classes run from 6pm until 9pm and, for most of us, it took the entire first class and part of the second to do this. Lots of muscle work!
This is my “naked” chair. You can see the zig zag springs in the seat section that are used to support the stuffing that is used for the seat. There were four springs there, but two of them had lost their uumph and will need to be replaced. I forgot to take a picture of the old stuffing that I ripped out of the chair, but I can tell you that it was layers of straw, cotton and horse hair stuffing. And it was old and gross.
Next week I will share with you my next steps and I will take a picture of the fabric I bought to recover my chair.
Before I take off, I want to give a shout out to Portside Arts Center! This is a fantastic asset to our neighborhood and I am so lucky to have them 5 minutes from my house. They are a non-profit, 501 (c)(3) community-based educational arts center run by a lovely woman named Kim Creighton. The Portside offers more than 60 different music, visual and performing arts classes to children, teens and adults. Check out their website at: www.portsideartscenter.org
Note: Where the edges of brown look like they have smudged white paint on them – they don’t. Again, it’s because of my very sad photography skills.
OK … so, don’t kill me … but it looks like I forgot to take a “before” picture of this table. I could have sworn that I took a picture of it months ago when I first brought it into the store … so maybe the secret cyber picture thief took it. Either way, if I come across it I will post again with a before/after shot.
Moving on, this is table that I picked up at a yard sale last year and I immediately envisioned it fixed up and sitting in my yard, or on a porch or deck. The table is wood, but the wood was dried out and looked really sad and tired. I knew, if possible, I wanted the top of the table to have a natural wood look with the sides and legs painted white and distressed for that shabby chic/cottage style look.
First, I rubbed (using an old t-shirt) the top and underside of the table with hemp oil. It took about 2 coats to revive it because the table was really dehydrated, so it slurped it right up. It made the top look happy and perky!
Then I painted (two thin coats) the legs and sides using CeCe Caldwell’s Vintage White. Once the second coat dried I did some light distressing. As I usually do, I started with all of the edges. Once the edges were done, I decided that I liked the look as it was, so I left the distressing at that.
For a finish I used two different products. I used CeCe Caldwell’s Satin Finish on the top and underside – simply because I wanted those areas to cure a little faster since, more than likely, the top of the table will be heavily used. Then, I used CeCe Caldwell’s Clear Wax on the all of the area that was painted white. What ended up happening (which I really, really liked) is that the top had a little bit more of sheen to it, while the white parts of the table had a very muted sheen.
So, this my indoor/outdoor end table. Come on in to the store and check it out!
Wax brushing and the drill buffing brush shipment arrived today, so we are stocked up. Pricing for the brushes is as follows:
2 in. brush – $25
1 1/2 in. brush – $20
1 in. brush – $16
3/4 in. brush w/ short handle – $14
drill buffing brush – $25
Americana Vintage Candles at Keys to the Attic
Keys to the Attic is now carrying Americana Vintage all natural candles. The three flavors that we have are: Homestead, Lemon Custard and Mulled Tangerine.
Are you ready for pure heaven? These candles are the very best around…and I have tried them all! They are made with only the purest of oils (not artificial.) They burn evenly, smell insanely delicious and make wonderful presents.
These handmade candles are created in the USA by an artist named Sandra and her husband. Her husband pours them and then the base is hand dipped 7 times by Sandra and her son. The candles are then rolled in natural spices and scents.
These candles burn for 155 hours and make fantastic gifts (or, if you’re like me … a gift for myself). I used to be a devoted Yankee candle fan, but I think these are my new favorite!
Come on into the store and take a whiff – I always have one burning 🙂
Americana Vintage Candles at Keys to the Attic
I was looking for my hammer this morning when I realized, after tripping over various pieces of furniture, tools, boxes, etc., that my work room in the back of my store is a MESS. Actually, I’ve realized this quite a few times over the past couple of months, resulting in just as many mental notes to clean the mess up.
So, after an exhaustive search for my hammer, I decided to paint instead. My Rationale: By painting something, I am technically cleaning up my back room because I am removing something (that I’ve been tripping over) in order to paint then sell it.
I made a mental note (to store with all of my other mental notes that get buried in the recesses of my brain) to look for my hammer later and worked on my painting project instead.
This decorative wall piece used to be the top of a mirror that was broken. So I removed the mirror and the rest of the mirror frame until I ended up with just this top piece. Unfortunately, in my haste to start painting (and forget about my hammer), I forgot to take a “before” picture. But below is the “after” picture. I used two coats of CeCe Caldwell’s Michigan Pine, distressed with a damp cloth, and sealed with clear wax. The entire project – including drying time – took less than two hours (understanding that most of this time was waiting for the paint to dry and the wax to absorb).
FYI: I did end up finding my hammer and it wasn’t in my work room … no wonder I didn’t find it there!
Check out our facebook post to see what’s new this week:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.488312424562728.1073741826.313885188672120&type=1
Or visit our New Arrivals page to see new things that have come in the past few weeks:
Here are some “Before & After” pics of a stool that I painted yesterday using CeCe Caldwell’s Paints & Finishes. The color that I used is called Sedona Red. This was so simple, but I’ll explain what I did.
First, I couldn’t even tell you where I got this stool. It’s been in my basement, for like, forever.
Yes, the stool is ugly, but I always knew that it had potential! Now, you would think that I would tell you to clean the stool because, as I always say over and over, “you don’t know where it’s been or what it’s been used for” (get your minds out of the gutter!). In this case, the stool was already had several layers of paint on it – the top layer being a really ugly brown.
So, I literally just wiped it down with a paper towel – not even a damp one … just a dry paper towel. Sometimes I’m just impatient … not always a good quality, but I’m working on it.
Then, I just slapped on the paint. Seriously. I didn’t sand or prime or anything. I used one coat on the legs and two coats on the top. I waited for the first coat to dry before applying the second coat.
After both coats dried, I used a wet (but very, very well wrung out) piece of a t-shirt and rubbed where I wanted the distressed effect.
After this dried, I applied clear wax (really rubbing it in) and let it sit for about a half hour. Then, I took a dry, old (but clean) dishrag and rubbed, rubbed, rubbed until the wax took on a nice subtle shine.
This is the finished product.
Check out some of the cool new stuff we got in this week!
So, while everybody on the planet (ok, so I’m exaggerating a little) is getting snow, here in Philly we are getting rain – again. It’s bad enough that I can’t control the weather, but in the past few days I can’t control my hair, either … rain = frizz.
So, while I’m here at the store – which has been pleasantly picking up through word of mouth – I’ve decided to paint. So, I’ll share what I’m up to.
I forgot to take a “before” picture of this shelf that I just finished, but here are the “after” pictures. I used CeCe Caldwell’s Chalk and Clay paint – the color is Smokey Mountain Gray. I simply slapped it on (literally) and let it dry – which took no time at all. I then distressed it using a damp cloth and let that dry. I lightly coated it with a water-downed layer of CeCe Caldwell’s Satin Finish and let that dry. Finally, I applied CeCe Caldwell’s Clear Wax (which I LOVE so much) and buffed it with a dry rag.
This whole process took me about 2 hours – INCLUDING drying time between all the steps! Sooo easy!! Here it is (and please remember that I am seriously shitty photographer, but I’m working on that):
Since, it’s so dreary here, I’m getting ready to work on a small stool that I got from who knows where …. knowing me, I probably “trash-picked” it. Either way, it’s gonna go from Ugly to Lovely in 2 hours. I’ll be sure to share the “After” … 🙂
