Lighten Up!

The weather finally cooperated and I'm finishing some projects!  I found this set on Craigslist.  I love the legs and the detailing, and they are solid mahogany.  However, they were totally scratched up on the tops and would need a major refinishing.

Since I already have an unfinished dining table in my garage that needs to be stripped, I didn't want to take on another refinishing job. Plus the fact that I'm teaching myself how to refinish as I go along and have already made mucho mistakes that I've had to fix on the dining table. I had visions of sweating over these little tables for months! 

I've been painting furniture for a number of years now, but the dining table is my first refinishing project. And until I get that figured out I'm not trying another one!  Of course if I would have read all of the directions in the first place ... but that's another issue.

So I patched and sanded the deep scratches and decided to paint the tables with "Old White" caulk paint.

I then distressed them a bit to bring out some of the detail.

I think they look much fresher now.

I can see them in a room like this:

via Pinterest

I love this look!

Or this:

Love and Lilac

But since I don't have a place to put them, I think I'll be selling the set (Mr. P not included!).

On another note, I know people are looking at my blog because I see the page counts, but I'm getting an inferiority complex about my number of followers.  I know that some of my friends have subscribed via email, but that's not becoming a follower.  So please consider following me!  I'm going to be doing a give-away next week as a bribe!

They Take the Cake -- and a Lot More

I love cake stands.  I started collecting them for my wedding; instead of one traditional big cake I set up a variety of different cakes for our guests to chose from. Now, even though I already have a collection of different sizes and styles of cake stands, if I see one at a great price I can't pass it up.  They are just so versatile ... as long as you think outside of the (cake)box!

I recently picked these beauties up from a garage sale and one of my favorite thrift stores.  New and vintage cake stands can cost you any where from around $20 up. 

This blue china stand is so sweet.

The crystal one is pretty classic.

And I love the edge on this large milk glass stand.

In addition to looking great on a buffet table ...

Design Sponge

They make great candle holders.  I love this idea!

Pinterest

Look at this centerpiece idea from wedding and event designer Preston Bailey:

Preston Bailey

Or this one holding a beautiful flower arrangement.

Tie the Knot

I like to use a cake stand as a holiday centerpiece.  I put a large fat pillar candle in the middle of it and surround the candle with some of my vintage holiday ornaments.  I've also used them to hold hand towels in the bathroom and a collection of bracelets in my bedroom.

Wouldn't you feel elegant with a dressing table set up like this?

Apartment Therapy

Use one in the bathroom to corral toiletries.

Of course they make great candy, cookie or appetizer servers.

Pottery Barn

And this is a great idea for the kitchen! You could also use one to hold your spice containers near your stove.

Apartment Therapy

So if you have a few cake stands around try one of these ideas! 

(If you'd like to start your own collection, the three vintage stands shown above will be available in my Etsy store!)

The Princess Effect?

We live in an area with lots of trees and wildlife.  And since we feed the birds -- and by default the squirrels, chipmunks and raccoons -- we have a lot of critters that have made their homes close to the free food court. 

Today I spent most of the day outside by myself painting and sanding quietly, and discovered that apparently I’m a source of entertainment for the outside crowd.

Feeling I was being watched, I looked up at one point to find a squirrel staring at me intently.  I said hello, and the squirrel scurried off.  But a bit later two squirrels were nonchalantly walking across the driveway when they both stopped to stare at my work. Then a Blue Jay landed fairly close by and squawked at me. When the chipmunk showed up I started feeling like Cinderella.

Or was it Snow White?

Whichever … one of those Disney princesses who we all wanted to dress up like on Halloween when we were little girls (and probably some little boys), and who may or may not have screwed up a generation of women depending on which psychologist you listen to. They always had little animals hanging around them to help them sew a dress or something.

Anyway I felt like I should be trilling opera or at least humming.  Not that I looked or felt like a princess, especially covered in sweat, paint and dust from sanding.  But I did feel for just a moment that I was somehow communing with nature and that my new little friends were admiring my work … And I can’t even claim heatstroke or paint fumes because a cloud cover and a slight breeze kept the day from getting too hot, and I was using chalk paint which doesn’t have any noxious fumes.

In any case, I got a lot done and I’m sure the side tables I was working on are the talk of the animal kingdom! That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

The "P" in Mr. P's

It's been a busy few days for me:  I'm finishing up a couple of painting projects that I'll be sharing in the next week, making some home accessories that I'll be selling at the tag sale, talking to some stores about space or consigning, interviewing for a consulting job, and of course shopping!

In the meantime I've been asked a couple of times who is the Mr. P of my Etsy store Mr. P's Emporium.  Here he is.

Yep, that's the P-ster. No great thought went into the name -- Mr.P's Emporium just sounded better than Deborah's Emporium, and a percentage of the money earned through Mr. P's goes to the animal rescue organization we got him from.  Mr. P is  the smallest member of our rescue menagerie. His name is actually Pepper, but we have nicknames for all our pets and one of his is Mr. P. 

And if I ever decide to use a "personality" to promote the store he's way cuter than I am!