Projects and More Projects, Painting and More Painting

We've had lots of rain in our part of the country, and the yard and gardens look like rice paddies--and that's here on the hill. I cannot imagine how wet it must be in the bottomgrounds where the water doesn't run off as fast as it does here.

We've still managed to get a few things done. Larry transplanted blackberries that were threatening to take over the garage and cleaned up the raspberry patch.His lettuce bed is coming along just fine and the green onions he planted with the lettuce are coming up too. He's itching to plant more seeds but unless it's seaweed (or rice) there will be no planting for a while/

We use this time for furniture projects. There are plenty going on:

I'm almost finished this china cabinet. All that is left to do is wax, put the shelves and drawer in and the door on. It's more distressed than I usually do, and the teal is a gamble. This is done with Annie Sloan (c) chalk paint.

Today I sanded on this little guy--a LOT of sanding. I had hoped to leave the top with a distressed look but when I started sanding the underneath paint was some kind of faux woodgrain over white and looked awful. I may finish cleaning all the paint off the top and staining it, then paint the rest. What color? That's the 90-dollar question, always.

Larry's ongoing project, when he isn't working on something else, is restoring this Hoosier-style cabinet. He's almost finished with it, just the drawers to repair. This evening he was rummaging in the cellar top and found one of those metal bread drawers which he thinks might fit in the base. We'll see. By the time he's done it will look almost new.

This one has been a real booger. It was pretty ugly, dinged-up white. Larry sanded it and I tried a light gray (General Finishes Seagull Gray) but it did not look good at all. So this is GF's Driftwood. I'm still debating what to do with the drawers but I think I hit on a solution tonight.

I've also been working on some small items. These sell well and can add a nice punch to the monthly checks.
I found this mirror at a yard sale last summer and pulled it out last night to work on it. It's a Homco brand from the 80's, I guess, plastic frame but those flowers cried out for something special.

Here it is in progress. I used a bright pink paint that I toned down with coats of white, added before the pink dried. Then I touched the leaves and ribbons here and there with a sage green.

 Here it is, all finished except for cleaning the glass.

And a little closer look. The roses are a little darker pink than they look in the photos. I guess it was a lot of effort into an inexpensive piece, but I have to admit I loved doing it.

Some other smalls: chalkpainted picture frames, milk-painted small green mirror, and another mirror given a chalk and milk paint finish.

This had a mirror in it, but it broke in transit to the booth, so I printed out a copy of Home Sweet Home and used it in place of the mirror.

A little of the detail work on the mirror above--I used General Finishes Millstone under Annie Sloan's Old White to give more depth to the details.

And one last mirror, a $2 yard sale find. The photo doesn't show it well but this is painted with Old White, then lightly distressed to show the gold underneath and finished with Miss Mustard Seed's Hemp Oil. This is the first time I've tried the hemp oil and it seemed to go on nicely.

So some bigs and some smalls, and my hands are still splotched with paint even after my shower. But I surely do enjoy being out in the shop messing about with paints and brushes.

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