Recent Fun Finds

 The people of East Texas are opening up their garages and homes and the finds are abundant these days.  I mostly post my recent finds on my facebook page and instagram but I thought I'd give my blog readers some eye candy with my recent finds. 

 

 Above you see 3 vintage Television Antennas and a fun pair of bouncy spring shoes.  I also found that orange thermos that goes great with my accidental thermos collection seen below.

 I love good retro stuff and that snack set is the bees knees.

 Some kitchen kitsch

 Old sign letters are always a fun find

You know I love Vintage office goodies

 And some architectural table legs, and that red thing is an old pogo stick.

Can't wait for next weekend to find more goodies.

Look for these items and more in my Etsy store soon.

Dressing up an old side table with spray paint

This lovely table started out life in the mid 60's or 70's most likely. Made mostly of particle board, I really had to look past what it WAS to see what it could BECOME. But I liked it's lines.

 

   You can see it in the photo below on the work bench, along with a couple of other tables I picked up for projects.

First I took the table apart. The center spindles just unscrewed from both levels and the legs screw off easily as well.

I sanded and sanded the tops, and after masking the edges with blue tape, I spray painted them several times with white spray paint, sanding between coats.

As for the legs, I wanted to give them a dipped look. To keep the legs standing for their painting, I used the screws that were already there and screwed them into a piece of scrap wood.  This allows me to spin them around etc without touching them.

 I masked them off with tape. this is a bit tricky because they are tapered.

Step one is getting a strait line.

I used old plastic bags to protect the parts I did not want to paint.

After that I oiled the wood parts of the legs with some Howard's and painted the edges of the table tops,  by hand with  brown paint and a small artist brush.

I'm having trouble deciding whether to keep this one or sell it. I love how it turned out.

Now on to the next table project.

Barkcloth projects

 I love vintage Barkcloth and I especially love the retro designs.

 Used mostly for curtains, you can still find large panels of barkcloth at estate sales and antique stores. I recently picked up 3 nice sized panels and began looking for projects for this lovely pattern.  Here are a few, common and unusual projects I tried, or found on line.

 Dress up an old dress form, with some groovy barkcloth scraps.

Laminate   an old school chair that has seen better days. 

See before and after photos at the end of this post.

Use mod podge to decoupage some old trays. For instructions look here.

 

Dress up an old stool base

Cover some shoes, See here for instructions



I keep my collection on display using vintage wooden hangers



My friend Karla makes some fun Flea Market Aprons out of vintage fabrics, including barkcloth. You can view her store here.

 found on Etsy are some amazing and beautiful pillows and pillow covers.

See store here 

And a lot of totes and bags using old barkcloth. See more here

I saw this pillow in Minnesota at Hunt & Gather.

Of course you can always make curtains, cover chairs etc.

 So keep your eye out for this nubby fabric with fun designs for your next project. And if the price is good, don't hesitate to purchase.

Chair Project

This old chair was in poor shape. first I used wood glue to secure the layers of plywood as much as possible.

I sprayed it with spray adhesive, pressed the fabric down. Painted with several layers of Mod Podge, Using the same technique I use with my trays. See details here

Fun Fabric Tray project

 

One of the items on my do not buy list is trays, but when I saw these old fiberglass trays I knew I had found what I've been looking for and  at just $3 each I had to get them. One of my first projects once home was the one in the back of my mind, just waiting for the right trays. It came out so nice I had to share it.

Start by painting the top of the tray white with spray paint, and let dry.

I put masking tape around the edge, to keep the paint only on the top of the tray. The reason for this is so the color(s) on the tray do not show through the fabric.

Once Dry, remove the tape and either apply spray adhesive or mod podge to the tray. Then align your fabric, and starting from the center begin to press it down moving outward,  avoid air bubbles as you go. Pay special attention to the curving edges, and pressing down on the top lip to get good contact. Paint over it again with mod podge on top of the fabric this time.  Allow the excess fabric to simply spill over and set aside to dry overnight.

Once Dry, use a sharp knife or razor to carefully cut away the excess fabric aligning it with the edge of the tray. Get as close as you can. Use an up and down motion to break the threads.

Then apply a second coat of mod podge, You can do this as many times as you'd like. I stopped at the 2nd coat. Allow it to dry overnight.

Note: The tray will probably not feel smooth to the touch. Fabric fibers tend to stand up when wet and they dry this way.  The tray will have a rough feel, but I don't mind this.  I was afraid to try and sand paper for fear of making it dirty.  Different fabrics may react differently.

The last step is to apply a coat of clear acrylic spray paint.  I do this because the mod podge will remain sticky and items you set on the tray will tend to stick to it.  The spray acrylic helps with this problem.

This process can be used for many projects.  How about clip boards, or luggage etc?  Use any fabric you like, old scarves, tea towels, clothing etc all work great.

I know I've been neglecting my blog, here's what you've been missing.

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 I know I've been neglecting my blog, but I have not been neglecting my facebook or instagram accounts. click buttons above to link up with my adventures via those web sites.  Here's a little of what you've been missing.  Fun collections (above) Fab Finds (below).

 Groovy

 Nostalgic

 Childhood revisited

 Quirky

 Fun

 and a project or two

Join me on Facebook and Instagram for more junking fun.

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Some Summer Fun from My Etsy Shop

I have lots of fun new items in my etsy store. Click any thumbnail to take a look.

From Retro to Rust I try to have a little bit of everything.

Be sure to check out my facebook page for more frequent updates.

Have a great Summer

Inspiration Office Decor thrifting

I must admit, that a huge part of the inspiration for my new office re-do goes to Orla Kiely. If you read my blog at all you know I LOOOOOVE Orla. I'm not a fashionista by any stretch, but I love her bags like nothing else.  

 After seeing her set, for the recent London Fashion week, I was truly energized to get going.

Here you see Orla's set and later with the models.  I love what she did with touches of color, just a touch, so as not to distract from the clothing.

I used a bit more in my decor because I don't have the beautiful clothing or models running around.

  I wanted to share, how much of my office redecorating was done with thrifted and used items. Hopefully this will inspire you to take the time to hunt and find those things you need to redo your space, save money and the planet at the same time.

Below you can see  how much of my office was thrifted. All the circles show items that I found used, at thrift stores, used furniture stores, and garage sales.

 All of my  "in" baskets, and desk top file holders.  The lateral file that holds my printer, the desk and chair, the bulletin boards, clock, globe  and vintage office  accessories,

The map, the organizer on the white shelf, the bulletin boards below, The book shelf everything on top of the filing cabinets including the lamp and scale (hard to see the scale),  The larger file cabinet, And even the carpet (which had never been used),  were all found second hand.

And I do love my retro clock that I spiced up with some spray paint.

Out of the camera view is a credenza which was also a used office furniture store purchase from several years back.  Of course I have the usual office fodder, copier, credit card machines, phone, printer, computer, calculator fax etc.  Those things are usually beige or gray and nothing can really be done about that.  But now they have some fun retro pieces to brighten them up, which I am loving.

If you are looking for office furniture I highly encourage you to find the used office furniture stores in your area, and take a look. Old furniture is made so much better than the new stuff. It's more durable and has great lines and styles.

You can almost always find exactly what you are looking for and maybe something you weren't  ;)

check out my Etsy store for more vintage office and organizing items.