Shabby Headboard Bench

Happy Weekend!!! I don't know about anyone else but I am so excited for this long weekend. The weather is supposed to be nice, I'm going check out a new junk store down the road, and who knows what else is in store!

I've been meaning to share this furniture makeover for some time now- I've been to busy and to much of a procrastinator to get around to it though. Until today!

Total Randomness

Blog Silence- that's where I've been lately. I have an awesome furniture makeover to share but haven't even blogged about it yet! But it's for good reason. When it rains it pours, feast of famine, and all those cliches have been my life lately. 

After a long dry spell I have been fortunate enough to score some design jobs as of late and of course they have tight deadlines. Looking forward to sharing those soon!

Candle Holders Made from an Antique Beam

I hope everyone has had time to recover from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. I know for one am ready to get back into a routine. And I think even the kids are ready to be back in school since Con-Man has been asking me every morning if it was school day. Maybe he's just tired of seeing me all day everyday. :)

One of the ways I'm getting back in the swing of things is finishing a few projects that I've had hanging over my head. The first up is this old beam:

I found it being thrown out during heavy trash pick up a few weeks ago. I thought even though it was in rough shape I could still make something out of it. 

First up was chopping it up into manageable pieces with the circular saw:

After some prep work- mainly sanding and smoothing out, it was time to paint. I've had this Modern Masters Bronze paint and Patina that I have been dying to use for ages! It's paint with real copper and zinc bits in it that react to the Blue Patina and give it an aged look.

My first attempt was not so impressive. One coat of paint covered very well so I went a head and sprayed the Patina on with lackluster results. 

Vintage Book Letters

Hey All! Is everyone gearing up for Christmas? We are but aren't. I'm so ready for the holiday but I still have shopping to do! Ack!!

In the meantime instead of getting things done around the house... I've been trying to get some items into the shop for last minute Christmas shoppers. You have most likely seen these before:

Similar ones were sold at Anthropologie and other specialty stores this season. They are super cool but were super expensive (to me at least). I knew it was a project I could tackle myself. 

MCM Chair Rescue

Hey Blog Friends! I have a fun makeover to share today but wanted to talk a little bit about what has been going on over here lately. My lack of blogging has to do with the fact that I have been fortunate enough to pick up some design work recently- Yay!! 

Unfortunately the kind of work I have is not "pretty" as in I don't have any fun pictures to share. I was lucky enough to win a bid to help with a master suite/ kitchen addition to a home in Texas. So it's all construction document/ CAD work for now. We're just at the beginning stages of the design- maybe towards the end I may have some more to share and maybe when the project is complete the owners and architect will let me share some pics with you all. But that is why the ole blog has been quiet lately.

Now- onward to chair makeover madness!

Remember me asking about these chairs last week? 

A little bit about them: A friend was getting rid of them because the seats were missing. For most people- yes I can understand tossing the chairs. But for me new seats are an easy fix! 

I loved the back and the frames were in great shape. And thank you for the comments on what to do with them. If I were keeping them for myself I would have definitely kept the wood as is. But because I'm putting them in the shop and because the wood was chipped and needed fixing in some places- matching the stain would have been tough. So in the end I painted them white.

And went away from the traditional fabric (as many of you suggested) and choose a more structured pattern:

To fix the seats I used some scrap plywood and made a template:

Which I cut and out and upholstered. Then was all finished!

Chair Christmas Tree Cat Action

I love the detailing on the back and legs- simple but still interesting. 

I'm so glad I was able to rescue these chairs from the garbage! I think they turned out awesome.

And another quickie- I had found some old window frames being tossed out the other day. One I painted red (and already sold) but was able to snap a picture of this one:

These are a quick fix if you happen upon some in your town. Just cut out some hardboard, paint with chalkboard paint, wood glue and staple into place and Voila! New chalkboard. :) 

If your curious I have a Facebook Page promoting my shop. Check it out if you want at

C. & S. Finds

Antique Princess Bed Makeover

So right now it's snowing outside. Which some people probably love but being a southern girl growing up in warm weather this is no fun to me! But given that my birthday is 2 days away it will be cool to have a white birthday- you know since my birthday is in December and all. 

Anyway- today I wanted share with you a bed makeover I recently completed. I found the bed at the Salvation Army a few weeks ago. 

I loved it so much I really wanted to keep it for myself  (like a lot of my recent finds) but I don't need a bed frame and its kind of girly as my world is full of boys. And once again I was having an internal struggle as to paint or not to paint. The wood was gorgeous but was marred needed fixing in several places.

I went the paint route as this bed is going in the shop. Where we live painted furniture is all the rage so I kind of go along with it. After fixing all the problems the bed had (including screwing the top of the headboard back on and adding new decorative moldings) I sanded and began painting it with my homemade chalk paint.

After some distressing I finally got my hands on some furniture wax (MInwax Brand) and gave it a few coats. I love how it made the surface feels smooth and glass like!

I found myself wishing I had a little girl or space for this bed once it was finished but oh well! Can't keep them all I guess. Hopefully a little girl will have a new Princess Bed for Christmas!

DIY Marble Jewelry Hanger

Ooooohh!! A marble jewelry holder? Must be super fancy and expensive right? Well... not necessarily. If you have the right left over parts it can actually be pretty cheap. 

I had this old soccer trophy my mom made me take home with me when they were cleaning stuff out of their house. One of those- "take this old high school junk out of your room or I'm throwing it away!" moments. (Yes I was in high school in 1998- please don't do to much math here ok?)

Twin Nursery Reveal!!

Hello All! Today I am super excited to share with you the finished Twin Nursery!!! The twins aren't officially due until the end of December but with Mom put on bed rest a few weeks ago it was time to put this redesign into high gear. (Nothing like the prescription of bed rest to put a fire under your behind.) Babies don't wait for anyone!


For those just joining us this is a nursery design done for a friend. She is pregnant with boy/ girl twins, has 2 boys under the age of 4 and her husband is deployed right now. Can anyone say Super Mom??? 

My friend had an idea of what she wanted the nursery to look like and had most of the accessories we were going incorporate into the room; she just needed help bringing it all together. She has lived in some exotic places and wanted the nursery to have a International or Traveled feel. The room also had to be gender neutral. The challenge was reusing their existing furniture, working with the fact that this is still going to be a guest room as well as nursery, and that they live in base housing- so walls we painted they will have to repaint and the family may move into a larger home in the near future.

Here are some before pictures of the room:

Mini Dresser Makeover

Just a quick redo today- the old blog has taken a back seat lately and I apologize. It's that time of year when 8 million things are going on and sitting down to edit photos and write an interesting post is last on the list.

Plus I have been incredibly fortunate recently to have 2 real paying design jobs that of course take precedence over my usual furniture fun. :D

To The Moon And Back

When you have a friend who is a photographer and takes amazing pictures of your children and family I feel there is no real way to pay that friend back for that gift. Even monetarily. But when said friend said she had been pining away for a moon prop for her photo shoots I knew I could help her out!!

Mia Bella Photography

Now I had no idea prop moons were such a hot commodity in the photography world. But after seeing the awesome photos of babies and their moons I wish I had known about them when Saw and Con were small. It's so cute!!

A New Venture

Happy Wednesday Friends! As I'm writing this it is late Wednesday evening so that means the weekend is just a little bit closer; and that is always a good thing.

For a few weeks now I've been hinting around at something- I mentioned that the yellow chairs I redid are for sale. And if you follow me on Instagram you would have seen this picture:

Those my friends would be price tags for the furniture I'm going to sell!

Dremel Weekends: Colorful Wall Hanger DIY

Today I wanted to share with you a DIY project that could make your kiddo do this:

(This is his surprised face BTW)

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the awesome folks over a Dremel to see if I wanted to take part in one of their Dremel Weekends projects. If you haven't been to the Dremel Website lately they have a lot of cool ideas that can be completed in a weekend. From crafty, to DIY and outdoor projects. The skill level ranges from beginner to expert- so there is something for everyone!

I choose to tackle the Wooden Wall Hanger project. I knew it was something that we could use around our house as Con-Man's backpack and hats (which usually get thrown in the laundry room since we don't have a real mudroom) and I'd be able to try out my new SawMax!!

Source

I found this project pretty easy to complete and won't bore you with a lot of details because the directions they have on the website are straightforward and very easy to follow.

First cuts with the new Saw-Max! I have to say the Saw Max was easy to learn how to use and worked great. It cut through the wood and metal with no problem and the grip/ on off switch was intuitive and easy to get the hang of. This is a great saw- especially handy if like me you don't have a lot of space or money to invest in a large mitre saw.

After all my straight cuts were made I lined them up to see how I wanted the final layout.

Next up was cutting the actual hangers. They rotate in and out so they needed a 45 degree angle at the bottom. I don't have a true mitre guide so I rigged one up:

Again the Saw-Max was great at cutting, even the angle cuts!

After all my wood was cut I painted them all. The directions say to paint/stain at the end but since mine were all different colors I choose to paint them individually first. I used leftover paint from my myriad of paint projects!

Then I started drilling the holes where the support rod would thread through. I pretty much eyeballed this since the slats are supposed to be staggered anyway.

Once that was all finished it was time to glue onto the support beam. I glued all the slats (except the ones that move!) Then added hooks to hang it on. For added support I put wall anchors in the wall since the finished wall hook was somewhat heavy.

And the finished product! 

Hooks closed

Hooks Open

Now Con-Man had his own place to hang his backpack, hat, and soon his sweaters with winter coming soon. He was really excited to see it all finished and that it was just for him.

Both Con and I love how it turned out and we've been using it a lot already. If you're looking for project inspiration the Dremel Weekend website is a great place to start!

*I was offered the opportunity to try out the Dremel SawMax for this project but all opinions are my own.*

A Sunny Chair Makeover

~Before we dive into our makeover today I just want to take a moment to remember those who lost their lives and were affected by the events on 9/11~

So I lost my first Fantasy Football Game. I thought that maybe I could make a come back in Monday night's games but alas it was not to be. Oh well, try again this weekend! And do you know what day it is?

That commercial cracks me up!

Anyway- let's get to the subject at hand here. Today I wanted to share with you a chair makeover that I had finished up last week. Remember these two sad guys? 

I bought them for super cheap because one had a broken leg. (See how I fixed it here)

After that was taken care of it was time for painting. I've been wanting to try chalk paint for a while now and thought this was a good opportunity to see what the fuss is all about. Using a recipe I found online I went the plaster paris route. Which included mixing plaster of paris with water:

Then adding my paint (I used Pantone Chamomeille) 

I love how thick and creamy it is!

Overall my first chalk paint experience was a good one. I can see why everyone loves this type of paint! A little bit of paint goes a long way, it goes on smooth, and not a lot of prep work is required.

Ta-Daaaa!!!

I used some leftover Dwell fabric from my slipcovered chair, I thought the modern grey print worked well to contrast with the traditional shape of the chairs and the soft yellow paint. And the chalk paint was great at getting just the right amount of chippy-ness when I sanded the details.

To seal the paint I didn't go the traditional soft wax method as is used in most chalk paint applications. Instead I went with a non-gloss sealant. The chairs are for sale and I wanted to be sure they are super durable.

I like how they turned out, a far cry from where they started! And I'm a new chalk paint enthusiast.