Rusting with Modern Masters Metal Effects

I have a new love!!
Modern Masters Metal Effects! I love the rust!
This product allows you to get an authentic Rust on just about anything! It works on plastic, ceramics, fabric, wood, metals and even WALLS!


I have recently been getting items ready for our customers at University Pickers for Christmas. Since the love of Shabby Chic is still very popular I thought it would be fun to make some items Shabby.





Before: plastic bells from Dollar Tree

I went to the Dollar Tree where I found several items that had great detail at the great price of $1 each and went home and got busy rusting!

This is such an easy process!





Step 1:  PRIME-2 coats works best, I have done 1 thicker coat a few times and had no problems. But directions say 2 coats. Priming protects the base surface. You will be applying paint that has iron in it and the rust is REAL! Rust will eat the base if it is not protected with the primer. If that happens your piece will fall apart eventually and we don't want that!

Step 2:  Paint with Iron Paint. Just apply with a brush of your choice covering the piece entirely. This needs to be at least 2 coats. If you see the primer underneath apply till covered well and let dry between coats (30-60 minutes) I like to use a fan to speed this up and can have items dry in 15-30 minutes.

Step 3: Apply Rust Activator. I suggest getting the spray attachment that is available or put it a spray bottle that will SPRAY and not STREAM! Y Luckily rust is a random event that mostly happens where water would settle and fall. But I love rusting it all! So I just spray it everywhere. Once it's wet with the activator it's good. Wait about 30 minutes and you will see where it may need more. Re-spray as needed. Usually 2-3 times will do just fine, more or less depending on your outcome.

Step 4 (Optional): if you want to seal and protect the finish you will need to apply the Metal Effects topcoat. This will work for interior or exterior applications. 2-3 coats is recommended, but so far I haven't used it because it does give a little sheen to the rust that takes away the "shabby" look. I like the flat natural look you get without it.

DONE!
All products are available at University Pickers.
We ship too! You can contact us on our website or our Facebook Page!
Happy Rusting!!

Lockers..another great find!

LOVE MY LOCKERS!

On the same trip we found our Cotton Mill Cart  we found 2 sets of lockers. They wanted $10 each! I gladly paid that and couldn't wait to get them home and put them to use. When we got them home one of the lockers had a lock on it and we broke the lock...felt like we were treasure hunters..we couldn't wait to see what was inside. We opened it up and found..........RIVETS, a coffee can, a mug and some old packs of crackers..oh well. It was more like Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone's vault than a treasure hunt..:)

Anyway after cleaning one set I painted them Satin Nickle to match the fixtures in the house. It turned out GREAT! It took several months and into the summer to finally tackle the second set, but I finally did! I did the same thing, cleaned and spray painted. 

We then attached them to some extra slats of hardwood (we didn't want to scratch the new floors) and then put some felt on the bottom. We attched them to each other and adjusted the doors. Some are one door tall and others are two doors tall for larger items. 

We use these for so many things!! Our boy's book bags, Scout supplies, Dog/Cat supplies, blankets, pillows, coolers and homework supplies. This weekend I hope to get my cutter out and make some numbers for them so we can make a list of what is in each one...right now we open 3-5 lockers to find what we are looking for and the noise is getting a bit aggravating. ;)

So for a total of less than $50 we have a really neat set of lockers form the historic cotton mill down the street.

BEFORE

After..Blu wanted in the picture too. ;)

Breakfast Room

One Use for an Old Window

 

I had my husband hang an old window on the wall. We had been using an UGLY white board to put our weekly calendar on it so the entire family would know what was planned for the week-not just Mommy!

I looked for a CHEAP or free old window for a while. I really wanted an 8 pane window, but no luck. People are proud of those! So I settled for a 6 pane and just combine Sat/Sun.  I covered a clipboard in scrapbook paper and that is where we will put each child's newsletters or notes from school etc. I haven't finished them yet, still have to put their initial on there and do the other clipboard. I am experiementing as to which color dry erase marker to use..I think BLACK will be best, but of course I don't have one yet! ;)

The shelf I found out Home Goods and it was damaged so I got a good deal on it and brought it home to Sweetie and he fixed it right up for me. I found some cute fall decorations while I was out too. Entire wall including the "pretties" less than $75. :) 

Next step....use vinyl cutter to cut out letters for each day of the week....maybe this week sometime...we'll see.

 

The Curtains

 I found the curtains on Etsy. I debated making them myself, but I don't think I would have had time to do this...So I spent a little more money to have someone else do it for me and it arrived within 3 days!

 As soon as I saw they arrived, I called my husband, who was on his way home from work and told him to run to Home Depot to get the piping for the rods. In the great room I used the same pipping to put up my wall of curtains (see post HERE) He was a little put out that I asked him to put the curtains up that night...He had no idea that HONEY-DO Lists applied to weeknights too.
Next thing I need to do...find the right table!

THE SPOOL CLOCK

Another wonderful idea from Pinterest! The orignial inspiration was from Tiffany Ruda's Blog (Tiffanyruda.com) a link to her tutorial is HERE. 

I found my spool on the side of the road! My husband rolled his eyes when I asked him to "TURN AROUND!!!" Luckily we were in the truck and it wasn't a GIANT spool, it was a smaller one. I had been coveting Tiffany's clock for months and was always on the lookout for a wooden spool. I even asked for one for Christmas last year-but for some reason no one got it for me..Go Figure!

Anyway, to spool sat on the patio for a couple of months.  A couple of weeks ago I sweet talked my hubby into taking it apart for me. Last week I finally decided to tackle it! I pulled out my pressure washer and washed it down..let it dry for a day. 

After pressure washing-before the stain

For staining, I did a test on the back to determine how much/heavy I wanted to stain it. I wanted a darker color, but not too dark :) 

This is the back..you can see my stain testing on the top and right.

I went on a hunt for just the right numbers...I really wanted THESE, but they were too big and I don't have the patience to wait for an online order ;) So I got THESE.

I had my husband (an engineer) map out where the numbers should go. For  mathematically challenged people like me it's like cutting a pie into equal pieces.

The numbers had sticky tape on the back and that worked great on some of the numbers, but since the wood was uneven in places we used hot glue to fill and attach some of them...I made the mistake of letting my husband do that and he had glue everywhere! I had to go back and use the EXACT O blade to clean it up a bit..I didn't want it to look like a messy craft project.

I found the clock parts at Hobby Lobby. Michael's has them too. Bad thing is I forgot to take my coupon!! Oh well, again I'm impatient and just went ahead...the kit was $19.99 and came with the hands and the movement piece. Make sure you get the right size! With mine, I painted and distressed the hands satin nickle to match the numbers and other things in my home. I had my husband :) follow the directions on Tiffany Ruda's site to put the hands and movement onto the spool. Worked like a charm! Thanks Tiffany!

It's FINALLY DONE!...

We hung the clock using THIS. Love the French Cleat hangers for heavy items! It will make changing the battery easy too.

Now time to put the other things on the wall with it! It' won't be lonely for too long!

If you like this project, you may like these:

Old Cotton Mill CART

Old Door Headboard

THE Cart

Well, I have mentioned and posted pictures of my cart I found at Lincoln Mill several months ago. I wanted to share the process with you.

The cart when we first got it!

My husband and I found this old cart from an old cotton mill's warehouse sale last summer. It was apparently used to carry the bundles around in. It has a distinct groove in the boards and I wish I knew what it's specific purpose was..If anyone can tell me, please do! I've been searching the web for pictures, but no luck yet. The owner of the building told us that he thought it had to be as old as the building which was at least 100 years old...we knew it wasn't all original,but the bones sure were old!

It has rusty, gooey wheels and old hardware on it. The 2x4's look fairly new, but we kept them there. I pressure washed the entire thing and actually it was so grimy and old that not much came off.

My husband and I debated all the ways to turn it into a coffee table, Take the 2x4s off, lay a piece of  glass across then we realized we had some great wood to use as a top....

Earlier that summer we had the opportunity to take some boards off an old house in TN. I cleaned, fumigated, and sealed the wood and my husband roughly put them on a 1x2 and placed on top of the cart. Now it had a table top!

He also removed the handle because it was long and just wouldn't work for a coffee table (It was NEW too.) We had to find a way to stabilize it, my first idea was to use old yarn spools as legs since it was from the cotton mill. My husband couldn't see how that would work and sent me on a treasure hunt..I found an old plant hanger and he tried to use that..then I showed him what I was thinking with the spools. DING DING!! It worked (but I refrained from saying I told him so). We had to place some wedges to level it out, but it worked perfectly. We then placed some felt pieces on the wheels so it wouldn't harm the hardwood and voila! Our primitive cart coffee table. Total cost for us Less than $75!!

Finished Primitive Cart Coffee Table

***Whenever you salvage wood from a location please be sure to fumigate it! You don't want bugs to emerge once you get it in the house! I will post my process soon!****

I Can't Get NO....Satisfaction!!!

I love the hunt for new treasures. Going to Antique stores, Goodwill, Thrift stores and then taking those treasures and using them in my home in expected and unexpected ways is so much fun. I have even found many treasures in my own home that I already had, but have refinished, painted, or repurposed them. I even enjoy the satisfaction of refurbishing an item myself. As I was working on some projects this past weekend I realized that I could pay someone to do this part for me (sanding, painting, cleaning), but why would I want to away the satisfaction to someone else?  "I can't get no satisfaction"....from that can I? I would not have as much pride in my treasures if someone else did all the work. They wouldn't be as much fun to show off if I just had someone else do all the work. So here I go again showing off some of my treasures I've utilized in my new home.   Thanks to the world of Pinterest, which is where I've gotten many of the ideas.

The old spool and cheese molds were found at local antique stores, the sign was a gift from my sister and her husband. He made if for us and I just love it!



I love colored glass. I love the blue and the orange and greens all together. The black one will probably move to a new home. I found the blue ones and orange ones at antique malls for under $15 ea. I found the green one at Goodwill for $2. :)



This wasn't a find I made. My sister gave it to me as a gift.
A local artist outside of Mempis made this and again I LOVE IT!

This is our famous headboard. We haven't completed it yet. We are adding a couple of boards and built in lanterns for night reading. Hopefully this will be done in the next few weeks. This door was from an old house next to my parent's property in TN. We took it down this fall and I cleaned it up, fumigated it and oiled it. Once we complete it and my bedding comes in I'll post more pictures and my process of using old barn/house wood.

These pictures are from my boys' room. We inherited my husbnd's old bedroom set from the 70's. It looked like it was from the 70s too. But I couldn't afford to go and buy a whole new set and couldn't see why I should. So my mom and I painted the set a medium gray using techniques I found on Pinterest. I then spray painted the knobs RED. (Both boys' favorite color is red).  Just this weekend I bout them new bed covers and curtains. I will post pictures of the completed room later tool

This is one of my favorite repurposing idea I found on Pinterest. We use them as towel holders in the boys' bathroom. I have 2 more that I can't find in the moving boxes, but as soon as I do it will make a neat usable display. :)

The FORK and SPOON!!! My grandmother had a set in her kitchen when I was growing up. My sister inherited that set, so I just had to go out and get my own set! Found at an antique store for under $15...a gift from my mom! LOVE IT~

UNFINISHED PROJECTS



These are my sewing machine drawers I found for $15 each at an antique store. I plan on painting them, changing the knobs and using them in my craft room. :)



This past weekend I found myself working on 3 projects at once! Cleaning and sanding the old lockers we found at Lincoln Mills Warehouse sale, painting frames to use on my refrigerator (to frame kids work in-another Pinterest idea), and painting frames and matts for pictures in the boys' room. Luckily the weather was beautiful and I really had a lot of fun!

These are future projects hiding in the corner of the garage. I have 4 shutters I can't wait to do something with and an old wooden window frame that I will probably turn into a picture frame, but I'm not sure yet. :)

Here is the famous CART! I'm turning this into a coffee table for our living room. Using old wood from the house near my parents house we are going to make a top for it. This is an original cart used in Lincoln Mill in Huntsville.

The LOCKERS!! I can't wait to finish these! we have 2 of them. Using them for storing supplies and bookbags. I worked on this this weekend and it wasn't too bad. Hopefully I will finish sanding and start priming them this weekend. So more pictures to come!

Well, that's all that I'm working on right now. :) I love sharing, so hopefully you will get some ideas and start your own treasure hunting and take pride and satisfaction in  knowing how hard you worked to make your home as unique as you are!

Happy Treasure Hunting!
Trish

The Story of the Pinterest Curtains

Well, Pinterest has been a great inspiration for me these days. A couple of weeks ago we moved into our new home. I've pinned so many things on Pinterest that I couldn't wait to do in the new house I was overwhelmed. (I still am.)
My first order of business were the Great Room curtains/rod. In our home we have industrial style light fixtures in the kitchen/great room area. My sweetie helped pick them out and they are so neat. I was trying to find a way to work the decorating around the fixtures so I could embrace the industrial, but still keep things soft and traditional at the same time. Well, I came across a PIN on Pinterest that showed someone using galvanized pipes for curtain rods. YES!!! I said GALVANIZED PIPES! You know the silver colored pipes they use between your walls? It was so cool and I showed my hubby and he liked it too.
So off we went to the local home improvement store with both our moms in tow. (They were all in town visiting and seeing the new home.) My mom was a hoot trying to explain to hubby what kind of materials we would need. She was using her hands and talking loud. (She thinks if you say it louder a second time maybe he will understand) hehe. And his mom thinks we're crazy! ;) Well after being there for about an hour I think we had what we needed. So the next weekend we finally had time to put it together. It went together real well and turned out EXACTLY like I wanted.

Screws we used

Anchors we used...sorry for the upside down picture..

  

Above is the CENTER BRACKET using the galvanized pipe parts. We were able to find studs in the walls for all but one of the brackets. We used anchors in those.

Above are the left and right brackets. We made the mistake of putting them both up first, we realized you need to put the rod in one side FIRST, add the rings for the curtians THEN cap it off with the other side and screw it into the wall at that point.

NOW THE RESULTS!! There are so many ways to position them and I have my favorite, but won't tell which it is. :)
They ended up being a bit lower than we planned, but I like them anyway.

Well, that's the story of the Pinterest Curtains. Maybe there's hope for me yet! :)

Can Pinterest Help a Mom like Me?

I've always wanted to be that mom you see at amusement parks or with their kids at the park who looks like they have it all together. Their hair is perfect. They have on adorable clothes with the matching bag and cute shoes. I am one of those moms who wishes they could be organized and neat and tidy and have the time to do it all. BUT I AM NOT!!I'm the mom with the roots showing in my hair because I work full time and just don't find the time, my clothes are thrown on because the kids were fussing all morning and I was lucky to get any makeup on-but didn't have time for the 'smokey eyeshadow.' (don't think it would look right with the t-shirt and jeans anyway) I wear tennis shoes because my feet hurt if I don't, BUT I do manage to carry my cute Thirty-One bag with my name on it. ;).

My sister and I realized a few years ago that I'm OCD, but if I don't have the time to do it the way I THINK it should be done then I don't do ANYTHING at all, or I get overwhelmed and shut down completely. Many times I try to execute the ideas I have, but they don't turn out cute like I envisioned. My Dad always said " if you can't do it right then don't do it at all," well I guess I took that  the wrong way.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas I discovered http://www.pinterest.com/  I wasn't sure what the hype was all about but WOW! There are so many ideas to help a mom like me get it together. Organization, decorating, gifts, crafts, recipes...and so much more.  I'm addicted and in need of a support group. Honestly it's an addiction that I don't want to stop. I am finding so many things on Pinterest to add to my TO DO LIST that my head is spinning. Especially with the new house there are so many things I find on there that will make my life easier and more organized.  But more importantly be cute at the same time! There are so many ideas that I think that even I could do them and make them look cute. Maybe there is hope I can turn into the mom with it all together (or at least look like I do :)
So last week I posted on FB that I was thinking of starting a PINTERST CRAFT GROUP.  Maybe if I have a set aside time I will be able to start checking things off my list. Lots of my friends responded, so I think we are going to give it a try. Maybe Pinterest can help a mom like me....we'll see.....I'll keep you posted.

picture from: infarrantlycreative.net

picture from: http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com/