Me and SJP

My mom and I are big antique shoppers and recently we've have added estate sales to the mix. McKinley enjoys it too. He just hopes there will be trucks for sale and he's been on the receiving end of quite a few! 

On a recent antique shopping spree, my mom and I stumbled on this beauty! So what if it's covered in rust and has chipped paint throughout most of the surface? I knew it would be something gorgeous in the end! And I was right! It took some elbow grease to achieve, but it was totally worth all the work!

I used fine steel wool and scrubbed for hours! After that, I went over it with Clorox wipes and a clean rag.

   

This is the shelf from inside the cabinet. Yes, it's covered in rust and what I assume are paint can rings. This took some work!

I covered all the areas I didn't want painted in blue tape. The cabinet top is stainless steel and in excellent condition. The handles are stainless steel as well, but not in as great condition. There was a little rust here and there, but they buffed up nicely.

It was finally time to paint. I used Rust-Oleum in Eden. I wanted to give a nod to the era and Avocado green was the perfect choice. I also used a new tool This is a little nozzle that fits over the sprayer of the paint can and makes your live so much easier! And, I didn't walk around with a green paint finger for days.

   

And here is the final result! It is the perfect fit in my kitchen and the color is amazing! I am in love!

 

Now, this isn't what sold me on the piece, I loved it from the minute I spotted it, but there was a little sign was attached to the cabinet. It showed that Sarah Jessica Parker has the exact same cabinet in her bathroom! That's right, SJP and I have the same piece in our house. I love mine more, but they are equally beautiful. 

What do you think? To me, it's a little treasure! And it totally fits my interior style. Can't wait to see what my next piece might be! 

My DIY - Aluminum Rolling Cart

  So my elegant chair is still sitting in my parents foyer, but we have all the materials needed to begin re-upholstering it. It's just taking the plunge. I think my mom and I are nervous as hell to get started. Maybe we will be calling the professionals....

In the meantime, I'm excited to introduce you all to my newest estate find. My vintage 1950s aluminum rolling cart! Ain't she a beaut!?! There is a little rust here and there, but I'm going to get that all taken care of with a little light scrubbing. And, it needs a lot of cleaning. But I see so much potential!

 

Here's what I'm thinking. I'm going to paint the cart red! That's right, glossy red! And instead of leaving the legs and arm silver, I'm going to paint them glossy black. I need to replace the casters, it's in need of new ones, and I'm going to remove the plug-in. I love that it came with one! Nothing like keeping the appetizers warm during your dinner party! 

    

As Joel and I analyzed the cart, we've decided that it would be best to try and remove the legs and paint them first. I can't remove the handle, or the legs from the top shelf, but I can always cover the shelf while painting. Then I will move on to the shelves. I think it's going to look so sleek and chic when I'm done. 

Here are some of the materials I think I'm going to need. Fine steel wool to try and remove some of the rust and flaking paint. Clorox wipes to simply clean the whole thing. And of course paint! I'm going the spray paint route this time. I think it will cover better. If I went with a paint brush, I'm thinking you will see all the brush marks that it will leave behind. 

Lastly, I want to try and add a back to the cart. What do you think of a mirrored back? This way, you can display really pretty pieces that will reflect off the back of the cart. Now, it's time to figure out how to make that happen. I'm going to rely on my dad for that one!

I can't wait to get started on this one! Join me on the journey! I am loving this vintage recycling/upcycling! I think I need to find another estate sale and soon!

My DIY - The Elegant Chair Journey Continues

As of last week, I had sanded the whole chair in hopes of removing any protectant coat that existed and to get the sheen off the whole chair. I also wanted to try and remove a little of the paint but not take it down to the bare wood. After everything was sanded, I ran tack cloth over the whole chair to remove any dust particles and other remnants from the dusting. Now it's time to start removing all staples and tacks from the chair. This took two days!!

I didn't have the appropriate tools for the job so I used a screwdriver and a pair of pliers. They worked, but I could have really used the correct tools. On a beautiful afternoon, I took the chair outside to our back patio and started prying staples loose with the screwdriver and pulling them out with the pliers as McKinley played in the garden. I pulled screws out for about an hour and a half, making sure to keep the fabric free of rips. You need to keep all pieces of the chair as you remove them. They will be your template when re-upholstering later. I even took pictures during every step so I could reference them as well. Eventually, McKinley grew weary of my work. I decided to call it quits for the day. In that time, I had removed the entire bottom of the chairs upholstery and all the staples and tacks. I felt good about the progress.

    

This is the bottom of the chair. 

These are the original springs. Each one is wrapped in muslin and in perfect condition. (Even McKinley wanted to get in on the action!)

I then took the chair over to my parents house a couple of days later to continue the process. Turns out, my mom had all the right tools for me to use, but because the staples were so small, it didn't really work all that well. I really needed a smaller head screwdriver, but I continued to plug along. On that day, I pulled all the staples and tacks from the remainder of the chair, but I had the entire interior of the seat of staples to pull. I sweet talked my dad into assisting me and he spent the rest of the evening finishing the dirty work! My finger pads were raw and my hands were cramping. It's really hard work. And, I worked up a lather of sweat both days. It doesn't appear like hard work, but let me tell you, it is! 

So now I have a bare chair that's in need of color! Time to start painting. The chair has now made it's way back to my house and has taken up shop in my garage. After the first coat of paint, I was in love! And I got wise. No more crawling around on the garage floor trying to get all the angles of the chair. I decided to put it on a table. A wise move let me tell ya! After the second coat of paint, I realized it was definitely going to need a third. But, I decided not to apply the third coat to the entire chair. Just the arms and legs since they would be the ones visible post re-upholstery. And it's gorgeous! Glossy, jet black, and totally renewed! I am in love!

Now it's time to start the upholstery and I'm terrified! My mom is the expert here, so I'm going to lean on her for guidance! We have the fabric, this amazing floral print that's unbelievably stunning (in my personal opinion), and we have plenty to play around with. It was pretty cut up when we took it to the cutting counter so we decided to just buy what they had. It was 50% off that day, and I had an additional coupon, so we got a great deal! We just need to lay out the fabric and decide where we want to place it on the chair and cut for optimal floral placement. This could take a while!

I will keep you posted on how things are going and take pics along the way of the upholstery. Not sure how this will go, but so excited to get started. My husband had no idea that I was going to tackle the actual upholstery work myself. He figured I would have it sent off. And I might, if this thing gets too big for us. But, I'm hoping that I can finish what I've started. And I hope it looks as professional as possible. Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, I'm now the proud owner of a vintage aluminum rolling cart. It's bright yellow and in awesome shape. I'm thinking bar cart! Can't wait to get started on that too and share it all with you.

Are you guys working on anything this summer? If so, let's chat. I love hearing about your DIY projects!!