Floating photography

Who in this world doesn't love chippy frames all worn and tattered? Sigh.

The photo didn't fit any frame I had.

Turns out, that was a good thing.

It looks a bit like it's "floating".

I want to visit this Italian cafe named after me!



I wish to sit with my girlfriends in those rattan chairs and order a glass of wine and a flaky pastry.


We may just sit there all night.

Photography art "Andrea Pansa" by Alan Blaustein.

A gift from friends.

I adore it - and them.

Dresser turned Wine Hutch

Another fabulous garage sale find. This blue dresser is absolutely stunning!

Just look at the patina on those drawers!

But.... *sigh* .... look at the condition of the drawers.

I had to toss my thoughts around for awhile on this one. I hated to take those lovely carved drawers out of the picture but despise repairing them at the same time.

This brings me to a perfect reason to link this post to Miss Mustard Seed and her Copy Me Challenge. Even she has to toss drawers aside from time to time. Read about her situation HERE.

I decided to set my drawers aside, for now too. They will make their appearance again...someday.

The BLUE was fabulous on the dresser, but I wanted a deeper, richer...you know, more of an aged look. So I used a stain to "glaze" over the blue paint.



The next fabulous thing I discovered was the planking that made up the inside of the dresser. Ooh Laaa La!

I installed a shelf and stained the inside. Was totally LOVING the dark stained look. But I was still searching through my stash for the perfect solution for shelving for the top drawers

If you search long enough...the solution will appear. I've had a few very water damaged pressback chairs in the corner of the barn for a few years now. The only thing salvageable on them were the backrests, and it seemed a perfect solution to cradle a few bottles of wine.



I put a divider between them so the fit would be nice and snug.

(photo credit: Jennifer Hagemeister)

(photo credit: Cindy Willey/Megan Ockert)


Sometimes it's SO hard to let a piece of furniture go after creating. I almost swapped the blue (used to be dresser) wine hutch out with the one below that I made a few years ago. Almost. The stained (used to be dresser) wine hutch won in the end and is still in my house.

Andrea's wheel platters...

Linking up to Becky's under $100 Linky party over at

Beyond the Picket Fence

* * *

Here's a quick and super easy project for all you wheel lovers out there (and you know who you are!) Wheels are indeed one of my favorite junk items, so I decided why not use them in some fun, resourceful way? Since I love to cook and entertain, this idea came to me over New Year's when I realized I could really use more serving pieces.

Here's the low down on my wheel platters...

First, start with a great old wheel from a child's bike, a tire from a wagon, tricycle, etc...

Dab on a little Gorilla super glue - the stuff is awesome and I use it for a million things. It dries clear too, so that's a plus.

Center your plate (I chose clear glass because I still want to see the wheel through the plate), and press down for a minute or so until the glue dries.

There you have it. Told you it was easy! I am SO loving how these turned out!

Hope you're having a funky junk-filled kind of week!

A Dandy Chandy... Updated.

When I spied this brass chandelier at a garage sale my heart went "pitter patter". The owner still loved it but was ready for an updated light fixture in her dining room.

See the before...

It was a bit tired and outdated.

I carefully dismantled the chandelier, taking all the crystals off and soaking them. Then scrubbed each and every one with a toothbrush. I sorted them all out on a towel, counting to make sure I could create a balanced look as I put them back on the chandy.

Then I taped off any areas I did NOT want to paint.

I used a quality spray primer and high performance white spray paint.

And...Taa Daa!! It truly was even more gorgeous in person than the photo shows!

Linked to:

SNS #68

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Furniture Feature Friday

Frugalicious Friday

A Sack is a Sack is a Sack...right?

I'm linking these sweeties to Miss Funky Donna's...

They're not really grain sacks (like the linky theme), but coffee sacks instead. But hey, a sack is a sack is a sack, right? ;)

I hope you don't mind...this is a bit of a repost, but I just couldn't resist sharing AGAIN!!



There really isn't anything soft and cozy about a hefty piece of burlap, is there? But the charm I believe, comes from the unspoken history of a well used burlap scrap.


I had an awesome large frame and this burlap bag made the perfect fixins for a stylin' memo cork board.

And functional?! Don't ya just wanna drool all over this mattress and those pillows?

I just HAD to keep one of these bags for ME, ME, ME! I love it like I love my SaWeet Screen Door!! Check out the screen door post HERE.

What ways have you found to repurpose grain sacks, or coffee sacks?

The ugly truth...

You know how everybody in blogland is cleaning out, organizing & tackling those first projects of 2011? Count me in! I'm not proud of the pictures you're about to see. In fact, "embarrassed" doesn't even come close to describing how I feel about the world seeing what I've done. Make that haven't done.




These images are of my sewing/craft/create room. The disarray you are seeing is not because of my mad & wild creating methods. No. This is the result of a lack of functional storage and...well, downright laziness. Like I had to tell you that. Please....don't judge.

My motive for showing you the ugly truth is to light a fire under my ahem and give me something to work towards. I wouldn't have had to share this with the world, but if I didn't, I just might not take myself seriously and get it done. Now that you've seen the before, I can't wait to share the after. I just hope I can get it done in 2011!

Stay tuned...

Chippy White fireplace mantel

One of my goals for the coming year is to spend more time creating....to nurture my artistic/creative/diy self. This includes everything from paper goods to the blood, sweat, and tears projects for JunkFest. What better way to nudge myself than to join the gals over at CSI (Create Something Inspiring)? Each week they choose a theme and select a winner from tons of entries. My intentions are to be inspired by the upcoming themes and create something new.....either for my home, or for JunkFest. Since I just jumped on the bandwagon today, I chose a project that I had already done, which you may remember seeing here. This week's theme is "white" and the first thing that came to my mind was time-worn, chippy, cottage style. This style might not be for everyone, but it is definitely my favorite and white is the perfect color for it. One consistent color, even in a mix of styles, can create a coherent look. On to the project.

What do you get when you mix 2 old chippy white square columns, some weathered corral boards and a fleur de lis? A fireplace!

Here are the two columns I started with. Don't they just scream "fireplace!" to you? After taking apart the columns, only to discover that 2 of the 4 sides on each had a one inch lip sticking out, I sawed off the lip so that the boards would lay flush side by side.

Next, I layed the boards out flat to determine the width of the mantel....and hope like heck I had enough to make this work! Sketches, rough drafts......even measuring were not part of my plan at this point. I was working purely from the vision in my head...and eyeballing as I went along.
I don't really recommend this, it's just how I roll sometimes.

Next, I flipped the boards over and secured them with some horizontal planks. So far, so good.

After adding the sides, I trimmed the top & bottom and added a thick piece of plywood for the back. Then (this time I measured) I cut the opening in the front. It appears as though the opening is a bit small, but I still had a decorative element to add above it.

Dry fit the mantel, eyeballed some more....looking pretty good. Attached the mantel and a beefy corral board for the bottom. After darkening the top & bottom with a "secret" stain/paint formula, I added the metal fleur de lis to the front to "French" her up a bit.

And there you have it! A chippy-white, faux fireplace mantel.

If you're looking for more "white" inspiration, head over to CSI this week! Just click on the button below. Thanks for stopping by!

Clock themed New Year's party!

Happy New Year! Just thought I'd share a few pictures from my New Year's party, featuring clocks, clocks and more clocks!

The dessert area began with greenery and this decorative door which was a "save" from a piece of disgarded furniture. (Just goes to show a junk girl shouldn't throw anything away as a good "use" for an item usually presents itself later on...!)

A no-longer working clock was taken apart and the face was the perfect platter for the main dessert...sitting on a silver base for some height.


Here she is! It was pretty yummy!

A while back when my junk sisters and I were out junkin', I found these old round Bristol Recorder charts. They worked just right as placemats.






These old, totally "cool" metal clock faces were used as drink coasters...

I just love 'em!

This recently found two-piece silver dish was used to hold the ice cubes for drinks -

it worked great!

Have a fabulous junk-filled 2011!