Thank you Cindy and Lisa!

This is a very big Thank You to Cindy and Lisa!

I want to thank Cindy from My Romantic Home blogsite http://myromantichome.blogspot.com/ and Lisa at Coastal Nest blogsite http://coastalnest.blogspot.com/ for giving me words of wisdom and encouragement. If you haven't checked out their sites please do. They are both two of my favorite spots to visit.

Until Next Time

Kathleen

Happy Birthday April

This myself (on the left) and my dearest friend April. This weekend is April's birthday and I wanted to wish her a very special one. April lives in Santa Rosa California so I don't see her as much as I would like. This picture was taken about 15 years ago at a birthday party for myself. April has two adorable girls now and I can't wait to spend some time with the three of them.

Until Next Time

Kathleen

Even More Furniture From the Ashland House

My little corner of the bedroom

My cat Oscar loves to hide under the chair. My mother made the dresser scarf and the cowboy hat was my fathers.

This little chair is another item I wish I had a before picture to show you. It was covered in light pink fabric with white poka dots. The fabrics had many torn areas held together with tape. I knew this would look perfect with my birds-eye maple vanity. I purchased it a swap meet or flea market as some people call it around 10 years ago. I think I paid around $5.00 for it.

Here is a close up view of the back which has these decorative tacks on the upper back side of the chair. I purchased all the materials: decorative tacks, rope trim, fabric and cardboard strip at JoAnn Fabrics about seven years ago.

The gold rope trim. This was sew onto the fabric and then stapled onto the chair.

This is the cardboard strip which I put over the fabric before stapling onto the chair. The cardboard strip allows for a straight edge.

An even closer look at the cardboard strip. This strip is under the skirt on all four sides of the chair. I was a little nervous using it at first until I realised how easy it was to use.

This little blanket chest my husband and I refinished in 1982. I purchased it at an estate sale for $2.00. It was in very bad shape. No fabric covering and practically in pieces. We re-glued and stained the wood pieces and then put the padding and fabric on it. I made the pillows myself out of old bark cloth.

Until Next Time

Kathleen

Light Spring Snow on Ashland

Crazy Weather

Just a quick post to show our crazy weather here in Ashland. It is hard to believe that on Saturday we had temperatures in the 80s. Everyone was in shorts mowing the grass, working in the garden. Southern Oregon usually does this every year. We get a false Spring early April and then the weather turns cold for a couple of weeks. It is so pretty to see Mt. Ashland and the surrounding hills in snow. This picture is taken off of the master bedroom deck. Mt. Ashland is under a cloud so you can't see the top of the mountain. It certainly is pretty in the winter to look at.

Until Next Time

Kathleen

More Furniture From The Ashland House

More Photographs of Refinished Furniture


Here is more furniture I have refinished over the years for my Ashland home.

This dresser I refinished around 1985. It was painted pink when it was given to me. I used a paint stripper and took all the paint off and rubbed layers of Linseed Oil into the wood (sanding between each coat with fine sand paper.) Many hours went into this dresser but I have never regretted all the work. I put milk glass knobs on to finish it off.

This dresser I refinished within the last couple of years. I paid $20.00 for it at the Ashland Goodwill Store. I used white paint from ICI called Swiss Coffee. It has a matt finish and the paint is wonderful. I use it for all my furniture now. I don't remember what type of finish the dresser had on it before I painted it. I don't strip my furniture instead I lightly sandpaper each item to rough up the finish so paint will adhere well. Then I use a flat white paint for a primer. I discovered when I was refinishing furniture as a business that flat paint works well as a primer preventing old coats of paint and varnish from bleeding through. I usually use two coats of flat paint (usually white) and two coats of the ICI Swiss Coffee to finish it off. Another trick I learned was making sure the paint dries well between coats. This will help keep the paint from peeling. I painted the knobs with green acrylic hobby paint. Someday I will replace them with green glass knobs.

This little dresser I use as a bedside nightstand. It was stained dark brown when I purchased it. I first painted it black to match an old bedroom theme I had years ago. It has been given the ICI Swiss Coffee treatment. The knobs are clear acrylic shaped like flowers.

This little dresser is also being used as a bedside nightstand. I wish I had a before picture as you wouldn't believe what it looked like. It had a split top and painted bright orange. It was perfect for the type of challenge I like in furniture. Very ugly and cheap. I paid $4.00 for it at the Goodwill "As Is Store" in Medford, Oregon. I filled the cracked top with paint able bathroom sealant. The type you purchase in a tube to seal off the edge around the tub. I've also used car bondo to fill in cracks in furniture. I layer the sealant a little at a time letting it dry between layers. I use a wet cloth to smooth the finish. Then I apply the paint. This little dresser was also painted black for years before it received the ICI Swiss Coffee paint treatment. I put what my mother-in-law calls my signature style of clear glass knobs to finish it off. This is on my side of the bed and I store books and magazines in the drawers to read before falling asleep.

This nightstand was one of the first Shabby Chic finishes I ever painted. I purchase it at a garage sales in the mid 1990's for $5.00. It has a clear glass knob for the drawer pull.

I purchased this little nightstand at St. Vincent de Pauls after I moved to Oregon. I paid $20.00 for it and at the time I couldn't believe I was willing to pay so much. I fell in love with the shape. This was painted before I discovered the ICI Swiss Coffee. I don't remember what brand I used but it is painted with cream or off-white matt paint. It looks very similar to the Swiss Coffee. I put green glass knobs for drawer pulls.

I now take before photos so the items I am refinishing for Bandon will have the before and after photos. I still have a few more pieces to share with you later this week from my Ashland home. I have even done a few fabric items.

Until Next Time

Kathleen

Furniture

Time to Think About Furniture

We are down to the last bits and pieces inside the Bandon cottage Painting a bit of trim, installing shelving, the crown molding in the kitchen, and restoring the claw foot tub. So I have been collecting furnture to paint for the furnishings. I thought I would share with you of some of the furniture I painted for my Ashland home. When we first moved to Oregon I had a couple of antique stalls which I sold furniture I had purchased and repainted. I'm a little partial to the Shabby Chic look. Lots of white paint. I tend to not distress the pieces I keep for myself but I found that the pieces I sold would sell faster if I distressed the piece before taking them to the antique mall.

This is my desk and one of my favorite pieces. The knobs are green glass

A closer look at the top

A black and white photograph taken in France during one of my trips

A reduced copy of a calendar with French photographs

Color photograph from one of my trips to Paris copied as a black and white on a color copier

A ticket stub to the house in Ambroise, France where Leonardo Da Vinci lived out his last days. The ticket stub was in color and I copied it using the black and white setting on a color copier

Color photograph I shot of a stall at the Ambroise open market. This was also copied as a black and white photo on a color copier.

The chair I refinished to go with the desk. The chair pad is recovered in antique bark cloth

This desk and chair is one of my favorite pieces of furniture. My computer sits on this desk so I spend many hours here. I found the desk at the Goodwill store in Ashland in 2002. I paid $99.00 for it. I painted the whole desk semi-gloss white. At first even the top was just white. The top of the desk had been in pretty bad shape. I wasn't happy with the way the top turned out and wanted to hide some of the flaws that the paint couldn't hide. I took a Calendar with French photographs, photographs I took from trips to France along with ticket stubs from French tourist sites and French postcards and I copied them on a color copier on the black and white setting. I reduced the pictures if they were larger than 4x6 inches. I then glued the photographs onto the desk with thinned Elmer's glue. Once the glue dried I put a couple of coats of clear matt acrylic finish. The chair I spray painted semi-gloss white.

I'll share more with you next time and promise not to wait so long to make a posting.

Until Next Time

Kathleen