A Tale, A Tutorial, & A Tease

I thought I'd tell you a bit about my table. I found it at a thrift store last year. It's old and very sturdy. Years ago someone put a stain/varnish on top of the existing finish, probably to hide scratches, but it made it look like a really bad faux wood finish (the picture shows the drawer with the original finish). The drawer front was broken, fortunately all the pieces were inside the drawer. The trim around the top had a chunk cut out of it, probably to make it fit into a certain area, or to have a spot for electrical cords to run down.
A well built piece of wood furniture always melts my heart, especially if it's an orphan that needs a home. So, even though I had no clue where I'd put it, it came home with me. I used a heat gun to take off the "faux" finish, which peeled off quite nicely. I pulled off the trim and replaced it with a decorative moulding. Then I gave the whole piece a good sanding, still leaving some of the signs of wear. I choose to paint it by hand because there is just a feeling I get from brushing on paint that I don't get with spray. I feel kind of like I'm bonding with the piece and honoring it's craftsmanship (I know, I'm strange!). I painted it black because black is elegant but neutral, and I know this table will probably move around my house.
After finishing the mirror, I noticed that the moulding on the table had a similar detail (a happy coincidence), so I decided to use my silver Rub 'n Buff to add detail.
Since some of you asked how to use this product, I made a tutorial:

Squeeze a small amount on your finger.
A little of this stuff goes a looong way!
(Ignore the fat fingers!)Lightly RUB your finger over the area you want covered.You can add a small amount of R'nB on a
stiff bristled brush to help with the details.
(Notice that I cut down the bristles
on the brush to give me more control)After it's dry, you can go back over it with a soft cloth 'N BUFF to make it shine.Oooooo, looks like I'm almost done with my table.
Can you guess what Monday's post will be?

Hooray!

Look what I got from my sweet blogging friend Shirlee, from the Painted Prairie. She is so generous and thoughtful! She gave me these two very pretty awards. Thank you Shirlee!
I am a bit of a rebel. I have decided to break the rules and give these two awards to anyone who is feeling the desire to have them. Yep, they're yours for the taking---think of it as finding the very best treasure in the box marked "FREE" at a garage sale!
And, just a little update. . .Remember this project? I wanted to paint it by hand instead of just giving it a quick coat of spray paint. Well, I'm happy to announce that it has it's first coat of paint and, if all goes well, by the end of the day it should be finished. I'm still debating on how I want to finish it though. Do I want to sand it and distress it, or maybe do a little Rub 'n Buff trick to the moulding? Hummmm, decisions, decisions!

Valuable, But Small

One of my favorite lines from a movie comes from You've Got Mail. Meg Ryan's character writes, "Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. . . valuable but small. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave?"
I, too, lead a small but valuable life. I live most of my life within a five mile radius and I'm happy with that. Occasionally I venture beyond those five miles, and when I do, my big thrill is to include a thrift store in my travels (I know, I know, I'm livin' on the edge of excitement!). Yesterday was such a day. I went to a thrift store in another city and look what treasures I found!

Mirror Image

I found this beauty of a mirror for twelve dollars
at the thrift store a few weeks ago. (Yeah, that's my hand and camera in the reflection. Argh!)

The paper backing had been removed and there was a stamp on the wood frame. The stamp said: Made in Belgium Sep 1928. The mirror is showing it's age (aren't we all?), but overall, it's in pretty good shape for it's eighty years.
I'm not a gold kinda gal so I felt the need to give it a makeover (I wish someone felt the need to give me a makeover!). Don't worry, there was gold paint remnants on the mirror indicating that this wasn't it's first redo.

I masked out the mirror using junk mail,
making sure to slip the paper under the frame
to prevent painting the glass.I painted it a rich black.Once the paint was cured,

I used Rub 'n Buff in a silver tone

to highlight the details.

I'm lovin' the finished project.I just need to the perfect place to hang it.

Maybe That's Why!

I was feeling very overwhelmed last week because it's half way through the summer and it seems that I still have things on my to-do list from the start of summer. I decided to buckle down and accomplish some tasks. One item on my list was to plant a tray of flowers that had been patiently waiting for almost a month. I woke up early Saturday morning with the firm resolve to cross that task off my list. I weeded and planted and enjoyed the quiet of the morning. However, when I finished planting I decided that I was short about four flowers. So off to the store I ran---to pick up only four flowers, so that I could be finished planting for the summer, and cross one item off my list.
I arrived at the store and grabbed a small cart to put my four flowers into. And then it happened! I overheard the manager say to an employee, "We're marking down all of those gallon perennials to seventy-five cents each."
OH WOW! HOW COULD I PASS UP THAT PRICE?!?!
Right then and there, I traded my small cart out for the biggest one they had and I began to load it with twenty-three lovely perennials, three flats of petunias (also on clearance), and the four flowers.

(This picture was taken after
I planted the four flowers and a few petunias)
NO WONDER MY TO-DO LIST NEVER GETS SMALLER!
I add things on faster than I take things off.