Country Grey Bench with Chevron Burlap Cushion (Part II)

In Part I of the "bench series" I refinished a church pew with Annie Sloan Graphite Chalk Paint and Clear Wax.

church pew in ASCP Graphite

This week I'm going to show you how I spruced up a bench my husband made for me using some rough sawn timber he found in the cellar after we first moved into our home. Herb and Valerine, the previous owners, had been using the wood for shelves to store their canned goods. Don didn't use any nails when he built the bench. The whole thing is doweled together and incredibly sturdy. He's made me lots of things over the years but this piece is truly one of my favorites. I consider it a keepsake and will always have a place for it in my home.

To begin with I painted the under coat with ASCP Paris Grey.

Then I topped that with ASCP Country Grey and Clear Wax.

It was my first time using Country Grey chalk Paint.
It's a nice neutral hue that can be paired with other colors
if you're ever in the market for a two tone piece.

The next step was to make a seat cushion.
Geometric patterns are very popular right now
so I decided to look for patterned fabric. 

I found this blue chevron burlap at Walmart for less than $5 a yard.

I was a little leery to work with burlap because of it's loose weave
but it really wasn't that hard to sew.

I just double stitched the edges so I wouldn't have to worry about it 

unraveling while I was working with it.

The cushion? I made it several years ago. 

I was a stay at home mom when my children were young 

so I was always trying to save money and decorate on a budget. 

Here's the thing:  I love-love-love feather pillows.
It's like....Burger King or McDonalds, Coke or Pepsi.
People always have a strong preference and I am 100% feather/down filled pillows.

I used to pick them up on clearance all the time just to get the feather insert. 

Then when I found the perfect fabric or polyester throw pillow, 

I would make the insert from my stash of feather pillows.

 WHAT A MESS trying to sew and stuff those feathers into the cases!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good gravy I must have been crazy!!! LOL! I can't believe I did that. No matter how hard I tried to contain the feathers, it always looked like
a chicken had exploded in my kitchen....
and have you ever tried to sweep feathers???

Oh well, I'm still reaping the benefits of my early days of sewing "enthusiasm". 

Last month I bought half a dozen pillow covers on clearance at Pottery Barn for $10 each.

Good deal, right? 

Unfortunately, their inserts are sold separately for an additional 20 bucks apiece 

so I ended up coming home with just the pillow covers. 

Low and behold I found six 20 x 20 feather inserts stock piled in my storage room. Six! Insane. 

I tell you this story, not because I want you to think I'm a feather pillow hoarder, 

but because it's good to laugh at ourselves sometimes. 

Sadly, I probably have enough material to keep you laughing for a very long time.

Anyways...here's the final product.

What do you think?

I love it.

I love how the rough sawn wood and

Paris Grey show through.

I opted to add a couple buttons for closure.

 

The Country Grey is more of the bone color rather than off white or creamy.

 

It will look great behind my denim sofa downstairs.

 

As always, thanks for reading! Be sure to visit 13CCF next week to check out  

PART III of the bench series!

~Wendy

Church Pew in GRAPHITE (PART I)

I have several benches in my home. Most of them could all use a little TLC so I've decided to do a 3-part makeover series starting with this church pew. I bought it several years ago at an auction. I think I paid $35 dollars for it. I'm sure the price had to do with its size. The pew was 8 to 10 foot long when I purchased it. Most people just don't have a space big enough for a bench that big....including myself so I had to think out of the box.

My solution? I simply had my husband cut it down. Yeah...it was that easy. Go figure?!? He cut the pew in half, used a mallet to pop off the end, and then pounded the shortened seat back into the grooves of the end cap. It didn't fit perfect but pretty darn close;)

I loved the aged wood of the pew and kept its natural patina all these years...until this week when I decided to paint the piece with Graphite chalk paint. Why Graphite? I wanted something to carry the deep blue of the tufted ottoman to other parts of the room. Why now? I'm a symmetry and balance girl. The room wasn't in sync anymore. I'm serious! If you ever find yourself trying to pull a room together just think about symmetry and balance. For me it's all about the juxtaposition of the 5 repeating elements:  wood, metal, glass, color, and texture. 

Enough preaching....

  here's the piece refinished with Annie Sloan's Graphite Chalk Paint and Clear Wax.

Well, whatcha think? 

I love it....but then I always say that.

Lol! It's true though.

I wanted the church pew to maintain its aged appearance... 

so I let the wood grain show through as much as possible. 

Yeah, it was probably the best 35 dollars I've spent;)

 Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully next week I'll have another bench to show you!

~Wendy

Demi-Lune Double Swing-Leg Table in GRAPHITE

My sister, Deanna, and her family spent this past week visiting from Colorado. It was a full week of late nights, pumpkin carving, and Halloween candy. We enjoyed meals of pheasant, spoonbill, cheesecake, and homemade soups plus a trip to Lincoln to celebrate our niece Abby's 15th birthday. Somehow we managed to find the time to work on my sister's antique demi-lune double swing-leg table, too.

The piece has actually been sitting in my garage since late August when my parents transported it to Nebraska. The table has sentimental value as it belonged to Skuli and Effi, my brother-in-law’s Icelandic grandparents. It was made of a beautiful hard wood...possibly mahogany or walnut. The inset brass hinges suggest the table was once a high end piece of furniture. I wish I would have taken a picture of it with the table top opened to a full circle! (Probably too much sugar in my system to think straight.) Oh well, if you can't envision it here's an example of what it looked like with the swing-leg extended.

After years of use the table's wobbly legs were willed back to life with glue and screws and the top moon-shaped leaf had become noticeably warped. It was unusable in its current state so we made the decision to remove the warped portion and give the piece new life with Annie Sloan Paint and Waxes.

Here is an image of the final product. 

 

My sister chose to paint the piece with Graphite chalk paint.

 

We purposely top coated with clear wax ONLY in order to maintain the smokey grey hue and steer away from the midnight black shade you create when applying dark wax to Graphite.

I'm absolutely smitten with the color. What do you think???

The Graphite's darker hue probably helped to hide some of the table's imperfections. 

My sister plans to use the table in their music room. 

We both think an over-sized mirror like the

Eagan Multipanel Mirror by Pottery Barn 

would go great with the piece.

 

Hopefully I can talk her into letting me post a picture

once she gets it back to Colorado.

I'm sure it'll be beautiful!

~Wendy

Fall Decor

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year in Nebraska. With autumn comes cooler temperatures, changing colors, denim and fleece, bountiful harvests, Husker football, and the anticipation of the holiday season. This week I'll show you a few of the things I've done to warm up our home this fall.

I found this idea on Pinterest. I just drew a wreath on my chalk board...

how easy is that???

 These grapevine spheres and moss balls came from WalMart.
They're such simple objects of nature but when group together

they add a pop of color and texture to my kitchen.

Not into moss? What about mercury glass?

 These faux mercury glass pumpkins came from Hobby Lobby.
They practically jumped into my cart. How could I say no?

 

Obviously, two pumpkins just weren't going to cut it
so I bought a few more inexpensive ones at Wally World.

Now, don't get me wrong...I love, love, love fall colors,
but I wanted the pumpkins to blend in with my existing decor.

To do that I gave them a custom look using
Old White Chalk Paint and Gold Leaf Rub'n Buff.
What do you think?

 

I always hang a wreath on our armoire during the holidays.

This year I picked up a pair of boxwood wreaths from the Threshold collection at Target.

I love the versatility of boxwood wreaths.

They'll work for ALL seasons...not just the holidays.

Finally, I came across a pair of $5 deer antlers on an online garage sale site.

I painted the tips of the antlers with gold and silver Rub'n Buff.

I like them...but I'm not sure if they're 'done' yet.
I think I might experiment with some rope or twine to see
if I can tweak them just a little bit more....or not???

As always thanks for reading everyone! I hope you've found a little inspiration here today. Have a great week;)

~Wendy