Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Refinished in Aqua!…

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I'm heading back to Calgary tomorrow… while I've been home I refinished the Momma's buffet… she ditched the hutch portion as it visually takes up a lot of space in the room… 


I was excited and took off all of the doors… and took the drawers out before I thought to take a "before" photo...


You can see a part of the hutch here above… and the doors and one of the drawers… I'd taken the hardware off by this point too!… 


As I mentioned it was a quick trip back to Newfoundland so no time to pickup chalk paint or Milk Paint before leaving town… so the Momma and I headed to Canadian Tire and picked up some Zinsser primer...


We didn't even sand the buffet… I wiped it down of any dust and made sure it was dry… then on with the primer!… 


It looked really iffy after the first coat… but then it got a second primer coat… and then a third!… 


Then came the latex paint... CIL Pacific Coast… a beautiful beside the seaside aqua… in a flat finish…


I primed it all up one evening and then on with the colour the next morning… I made sure to sand any drips between coats with some 320 grit sandpaper… 



The doors were the most tedious part… and they didn't look that great until they had a good solid second coat of paint… if you're painting don't fret… once the paint is nice and solid it looks amazing!… 


I didn't get a snap of the black paint used for the metal hardware… it was just a flat black...



Between coats of colour drying I took a trip out to the beaches to see what I could see… and to find some more beach treasures to bring back to Calgary for the Vintage Sale this coming June!… yes I got my email confirmation last night that I will be a vendor at THIS sale in June!… 


It was a freezing stormy day… There were starfish washed up all over the place… I threw a few back in… 


Urchins too… I tossed one back in… this one had been some seagulls lunch… only its shell left behind to collect the falling snow… 


It was crazy windy… and the waves were just roaring…


The air was salty with ocean spray…


Back at the Momma's everything had dried enough to be handled… I'd really recommend letting everything dry longer than I did here… I'd primed three times and painted two colour coats and reassembled within 24 hours… due to my shortage on time… but to be sure you don't ding up the paint wait for the recommended drying times between coats and before handling!… or if you're impatient short on time like I was then just handle everything carefully… 


So no time at all for a finishing product… the Momma plans to pickup some furniture wax to protect the paint… it really needs some cure time before it is waxed anyhow!… 


And here she is assembled!… We didn't have time to dress the top… It needs some cure time so that the things that get laid on the top don't stick on!… hehe  This is my first real BIG piece of furniture… and I banged it out in 24 hours!.. BAM!… I will follow up with photos as more work gets done… The Momma plans to antique it with some brown glazes… no sanding or chipping… just some gentle aging before it gets waxed…

What do you think!? 
xo
Lacey

This is too fun not to party:



Saturday, February 16, 2013

Back In Newfoundland...

Feathering My Nest has moved!... come check all of this out over at www.featheringmynest.ca/blog

To be blunt it's a shitty reason to be back in Newfoundland a Grandfather's passing but it is always comforting to be "back home" with family and friends…  I hopped a last minute flight this past Wednesday with just two hours to get myself ready… shower… hair… packing… luckily my Pickle got home from work in time to help me get everything jammed into my suitcase before delivering me to the airport… 


I lucked out on the second half of my trip… after running from one plane to the next in Toronto… as we landed after I was supposed to have boarded my next flight… It took me a good 30 minutes to catch my breath after I got to my seat… and that's when the luck kicked in… my seat was next two two empty seats… I had three seats all to myself… I was sure to use them all… I stretched out… 


I didn't have a lot of time in town before my brother and I headed down to St. Lawrence… but we stopped for breakfast… see deliciousness above…  and a couple fast stops downtown on our way along… 


…a couple weekends ago at the bachelorette party for Mere out in Banff I managed to lose my magnifying glass necklace… the whole kit and caboodle… but I found a replacement AND a larger one at the Newfoundland Weavery… I scooped them both up… Now to find new chains to hang them on… if you know of a good place to get a nice plain yet slightly chunky chain to hang them on let me know!… 


There is the oddest second hand store down on Water Street… I think its called Water Street Variety… they have some old and vintage items… general convenience store type things… and a bit of Asian grocery items… very random… but I found two beautiful old books there that will make a great addition to our front room shelf…  


I'm hoping to squeeze in a little more treasure hunting when I get back into town now before taking off back to Calgary next week… and of course there are a few friendly stops I have to make to see a few people that I've not seen for quite some time and miss dearly… 


I'm hoping for some nice weather too… I'd like to get around downtown for a little spell to get some more pictures of the beautiful salt box houses… if you ever have the chance to travel to St. John's do it… maybe do it in the late summer though…  


The weather has been fairly good since arriving… the past couple of days had been a little hectic… but today the Momma and I got out to one of the beaches… the others will require the quad to get out over the snow… I wanted to go beach combing… 


Amazingly we found an old float in a big tangle of net and rope… but we did not have a knife… but the Momma saved the day with her caveman rope cutting techniques...


I found a load of beautiful drift wood… and apparently the other beaches are even better for driftwood hunting… I'll have a separate suitcase filled with driftwood going back to Calgary… I'm not joking… I'm hoping to have a booth at a vintage sale this coming June… more details to follow once I hear if I've made the cut… and I would love to have a nautical feel to my booth… nautical and nesty… 


Here is the beach that we visited this afternoon… the waves were ROARING… If I had a lawn chair to sit on I could have stayed there for hours just watching the waves and listening to their music… the ocean is quite the soul healer… whenever I'm here in the summer my shoes fly off as I run towards the water… it's always freezing but there is something so calming about standing in the ocean's salty brine… 


Here are just a few pieces of the driftwood haul laid out in the living room to dry out… see the paint all worn off of the float over to the far far left!?… it's so weathered that the rope has a dent worn into the side of the top of the float!… amazing… 


We had to walk part of the way down to the beach… and along the way I found this old man's beard growing on some tree branches… it's like coral… 


Docs on the beach…  I had my parka on too… and a beanie… and scarf… luckily it wasn't windy but it was rather cool out there today… I did get too close and got splashed up over my boots but the snow on the walk back up out of it took care of any salt that got left behind… 

Tomorrow is calling for a winter storm… snow… then rain… then freezing rain…  I've got my fingers crossed that I can get out of the house to pickup supplies to refinish Mom's dining room hutch before the bad weather hits… wish me luck!…  

xo
Lacey

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Chalk Board Wall...

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Yep… chalk board wall… whole… wall!… Last friday I was out in Banff with a pile of girlfriends for Mere's bachelorette… a time was had for sure!… when I got home on Saturday I was looking at the kitchen wall… and it hit me… why don't we make the whole wall a chalk board!?…  I said it to Chris and he was game!  we picked up the supplies and late on Sunday I taped it off… cut it in…


…stepped it in…


…then away with the roller… and two coats later it was perfect!…


…Chris suggested we get some more frames and hang up on the wall… I've been looking but haven't come across anything yet… for now we have the one we had up there back up there… 


…now I have to brag about how patient I've been ALL week… see… you have to let the paint cure for three days… three… then you have to "season" the wall before you write on it… 


…seasoning a surface newly painted with Rustoleum's chalk board paint means taking a piece of chalk on its side and rubbing it all over the surface… then wiping it with a dry cloth or chalk board eraser… I wanted to be sure this worked well so I picked up a chalk board eraser from Staples today…  rubbed it down all over and then chalk board erasered all over… 


When nothing is written on the wall it looks amazing!… I was concerned that it would look a mess…


…now I've not written anything on it yet…


But our supplies are all ready!… It's been a busy day of treasure hunting and house cleaning and I cooked a magnificent supper… if I do say so myself my best roast yet every other roast up until now has come out rather dry I kept my eye on and our thermometer in the roast to be sure it was cooked to perfection combine that with brussesls sprouts (with bacon) asparagus and smashed mini potatoes NOM!…


I've been craving some apple pie… or apple crisp now for a couple of weeks… so a quick baked apple after supper… NOM!… I feel like I could eat a dozen more… right now!… ha!… 


Last week before heading out to Banff Colleen and I made a quick stop at Winners… and she snatched up this skully blouse and was like check this out!… I bought it… didn't even try it on… luckily it fit!… hehe… 


Oh yes!… I mentioned treasure hunting today… I found a sweet table on kijiji last night… headed out this morning to pick it up and along the way stopped at two VV's… found some sweet little treasures!… two of which are the above bell jars!… I was pumped to find these… one was over a tacky plastic gold spinning clock thing… and the other over a brightly covered spinning Christmas carousel… only the bell jars were no longer attached!… when the girl rang them in I was like here… keep these bits… I only want the glass… They are the perfect size for the little mini roses we got a Sobeys!… Squeee!… More treasures were found but those will have to wait for another day… getting sleepy here now… need a little nibbly and a snuggle with my Pickle… hope you had a great weekend!… 

xo
Lacey

Gotta link up this chalk board wall: