Gracefully Chic

2010-03-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

BEFORE & AFTER

Finally, I am posting some before & after pictures of recent projects. Sorry, they are not the best quality. I always forget to take pictures when I get home & my awesome husband used his blackberry to take some for me, which unfortunately means you can not see a lot of the details but oh well.

Buffet Turned Entertainment Console {a.k.a. Peace Annlove}
BEFORE:
AFTER: {the best part is those ball looking things, i don't even know what to call that, but the way those distress is fabulous! } Now, if I can only get my husband to put those electronics in the drawers & drill holes in the back of them, I'm working on it! I still need to distress a bit more as well.

$20 Craig's List Headboard

BEFORE:

AFTER:

{ I added a wood scrolly embelishment from Lowes, sanded, didn't prime, painted white & then distressed it a bit. I really LOVE the way it turned out! Hopefully you will be able to enlarge the photo to see the details. I will take some better photos soon! It looks a lot better with the bed made but my baby is in this pic so I could care less! }

2010-03-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

70's love!
So this might not be from the 70's, although for some reason it makes me think of that era. I have no idea really, but I saw it and had to have it. I paid a LOT more than I would normall pay for something like this but the details just sucked me in!

You can't see it in this picture but the ends have the rounded knobby effect you can see in the center but from top to bottom.

I have her all painted, I just need to finish up the distressing & then I will show you the results.

I shall name her Peace Annlove!

2010-03-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is a story all about how....
I LOVE garage sales! (ok, yes that was a lame Fresh Prince flashback, I don't know why, it just happened!)

There is a really cute boutique by us called Two Friends. Well at one of the hot garage sales of the year I happened upon the owners house! They had ADORABLE things outside & her husband was pricing it to go! If I had a truck that day I would have bought all of it! But, alas, I did not. We stuffed as much as we could into a mini van though!

See that white "thingy"! I don't know what it is called. I think it is really a display she used in the store, but I got it for $15. I knew when I saw it I had no idea where it would go or what I would use it for, but I knew I had to have it! (as you can see, lots of stuff is just piled on right now. Got that tin piece at an antique shop for $15...hmmh that pricing seems off comparatively- I guess that shows you garage sales are better deals!)

I mean look at this detail! Ah, I love it!

And the entire backing is cracking, aged tin. More love!

Any suggestions? I plan to use the bottom half for blanket storage- or baskets of toys. But what in the word do I put on that top section in front of the tin? Can't be too large or it will cover the beauty of the tin. It is around 4 or 5' in length. All I can come up with is pictures but...meh...I want something more unique.

Maybe I will find something in Roundtop next weekend!

2010-03-25T10:10:00.000-07:00

Craigs List Score

I got this headboard on CL for $20! WOOT!
It has a totally new look. I'll give you a hint, I went Holly style on it!
I hope to have the after posted tomorrow!

2010-03-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

A couple of projects

This is one I did for my daughter. I found this little vanity on Craigs List for $20, scooped it up, spray painted it. I had the chair in the garage {prior Goodwill find} and sprayed it to match. I added more padding to the seat & covered it with a satiny pink and brown giraffe print.

This dresser is going to be white soon. I plan to use it as a night stand. It is still sitting in the garage because it is one of the pieces I think will take the most work from me. See that bottom drawer- lots of chips in the wood, which I am thinking will not be flattened by sanding alone. I was going to fill them, but I'm thinking maybe I will just leave it. We have been re-decorating our bedroom from dark brown walls and dark furniture to grey walls with everything else white.

{ Big thanks to my husband who has to deal with me begging him to rush to get these many Craigs List finds for me!}

2010-03-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

Custom framing on the cheap!

Major score! I got these awesome ( I adore baroque style frames!) frames at my favorite place- Homegoods. I needed three - one for each of the kids and Homegoods made my day! They were $19.99 for these detailed 16x20 frames! Can you believe that!

So, here is the frame as I bought it (please note that baby looks very much like it belongs to me, but he doesn't...I had to do a double take! My husband & step-son thought that was Emerson too- ha!)

I did this project before I got my paint sprayer, so I used the mediterranean spray paint I used on the china hutch. Then I dry brushed on a light robins egg color. Followed by glaze tinted with brown craft paint. I just wiped on and off until I got the effect I liked.

This picture shows the frame on the left with just the spray paint & the frame on the right with the robins egg & glaze.

Here is a close up of the final product.

Shot from afar one finished one not.. (with a giant glare-sorry!) I need to take a pic of all three up on the wall. They take up the entire space above the sofa & I LOVE it! Shows the best part of our lives!

2010-02-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

FUN FINDS!
Look at this lovely! She came home with me & will soon have a new look. I also have three others coming soon!

The hubs & I are celebrating our anniversary this weekend & as soon as we come back I will be fired up to use my new air compressor & paint sprayer!

2010-01-21T07:17:00.000-08:00

BOY IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME!
I have been M.I.A. for quite some time! Some changes are in store for Gracefully Chic!
I decided to close down my shop at Hearts & Hands. I just feel their fees are too much. When you put so much time & effort into your work to have it eaten up by fees is just discouraging! Right now I am back to creating for myself and my loved ones & I hope soon to be back to doing chairs & furniture for others.

So.....my awesome sister Sarah & I are getting back to the fun part of what I was doing, and we are doing it together! So now you will see posts from her & I. She's crafty! (oddly the Beastie Boys came into my head as soon as I typed that, showing what generation I am for sure!) Sarah is much better at sewing than I am! She also has a new house with LOTS of projects on her plate, I can't wait to see what she does.

We have lots of posts coming up.

2009-11-13T06:51:00.000-08:00

MY CRAIGS LIST BEFORE & AFTER....The Finale
Here is the big finale of my craigs list Elvis hutch!

I LOVE this piece so much I could NOT get rid of it, all of the detailing just makes me giddy every time I walk past it!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

2009-11-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

I WAS FEATURED
A big thanks to Lindsey for featuring my re-do, I have to say, you just have to go over and read what she wrote- so cute!

MAKEOVER COMING SOON!

2009-11-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

2009-11-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

Not a Whoopy Pie, A Whippy Cake!

Check out the giveaway for these beauties!!! Go sign up to win! Go, Go now! They are so adorable!

Doesn't Becki remind you of Cameron Diaz?

2009-11-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

Update: I got some advice from Life in the Fun Lane & The Magic Brush... made some changes & filled this baby up! Here is the final product (without the knobs, whoops!)

My Craig's List Before & After

(I am not satisifed with my after, I have sought wise help on blending, so hopefully I will fix it soon, but Holly @ Life in the Fun Lane did point out that I wont notice my blending much once the shelves are filled- oh yeah! So I may or may not fix it, I'll probably decide once my stuff is in there & I can see how well it hides, laziness for sure!)

(and yes, I am letting it all hang out there- messy table & all!)

And here she was before, remember her? blech!

Be kind, but honest, what do you think?

2009-10-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Attention Bargain Hunters!
Keep your eye out at HomeGoods! Halloween is almost here & I found these signs marked down from 9.99 to 2.50! WHAT??? Yes, I said 2.50, so I scooped up 3 of them. I think they were mistakenly marked down because none of the other Halloween stuff has been discounted but it will be soon, right?
Apologies for the cell phone pic again, if you cant tell it is on a hard wood and the background is almost like antiquey journal pages. I think it needs some glitter or something.

2009-10-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

Coming to my house soon......

So, Amanda @ Imperfectly Beautiful inspired me..... not the first time she has of course, but I have wanted a zebra rug, can never find them in store, the Lobster is the closest thing I have found at a decent price and it was leopard. Well Amanda found great deal on Overstock, I went hunting to see if I could find it in brown so thought I would check ebay, I did find it in brown but for wwwaaayyyy too much $ but look what I found in black!

Only $49.99 (6ft diameter) can you believe it- yay ebay!

2009-10-27T13:04:00.001-07:00

Look What I Found on Craig's List!!!

A big thanks to my fabulous husband for picking this up for me!!!

Makeover is already underway for this baby! Do you see that detailing (and Im not talking about the previous owners affinity for Elvis) , I wanted to pick out a perfectly perfect color but with all that detailing and no spray gun I opted for spray pain, frankly because I knew I would lose my mind trying to get paint into all of that detailing!

So.....she is going to be aqua, I got inspiration from Life in the Fun Lane, I love her work! (Inspiration photo at bottom from her blog)

This is the awesome piece by Life in the Fun Lane !

2009-10-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

HOMEGOODS BABY! HOMEGOODS!!!!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THAT PLACE!!!
Shhh don't tell my hubs but I have been there a LOT the last few weeks....did you know they have vintage, yes vintage type decor? I have been stockpiling and plan to post pics soon .....I wanted to tell you this because today I saw that Bella Casa is in on the Homegoods wave across blogland and she will be giving away a gift certificate - WOOHOO!!! Go check out her blog & try to when! http://bella1104.blogspot.com/2009/10/homegoods-before-after-and-giveaway.html

They already have their Christmas stuff out too & its fabulous! If you go to the one in Katy, their toy/kid section is better than any of the others I have seen- very impressive & a great place to get gifts!

I will continue my hunt today for our new dinner plates - only need 2 more!

2009-10-01T13:00:00.001-07:00

ADORABLE PILLOWS!

Want a chance to spice up your house for Halloween with some SUPER CUTE pillows?????
Hop on over to see Katie @ http://saseaboutique.blogspot.com/- she is having a great giveaway of some of her super cute pillows!

Check them out!

See, they are cute!

2009-09-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

The Shop...Sorry for the cell phone pics!

2009-08-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

2009-08-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

2009-08-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

2009-08-20T12:15:00.001-07:00

It has been a VERY long time, and my only excuse is that I have opened up a space in a local shop here to put all my fun stuff & findings for sale.

I promise pictures soon.

2009-07-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

LAMP RE-DO
Remember this lamp from Goodwill, $5.99 plus I changed out the wiring for safety...

Here is the new look...

2009-07-21T12:29:00.001-07:00

MIRROR TO BOW HOLDER
Remember this mirror....

Well, here it is now.....

2009-07-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

CHAIR TRANSFORMATION
2 $4.99 Ethan Allen chairs from Goodwill.....I LOVE the fabric i got at Hob Lob...I also have some wood embellishments that are drying as I type that I will be adding on. I used heirloom white paint and then antiqued them a bit with glaze, brown paint, and sandpaper.

2009-07-09T06:01:00.000-07:00

I decided to link this post to Kimba's Party

Beauty & The Beast
I get excited just typing about what happened when I got this piece! (these are cell phone pics again, sorry, I couldn't bring it home because it was this or the kids - ha).
So, I have been periodically checking a thrift store by my parents house. A LOT of the furniture is overpriced in my opinion, ugly 1980's dressers with not a lot of hope for $40, a plant stand (which is on my list of "to find" ) was $20, they did recently have 50% off everything in the store except furniture, ok I digress....in I walk and saw this beauty!
There are signs all over the walls that say "No price, No sale", and of course, there was no price.
The drawers were a mess, wouldn't close, and it is in need of a good painting but I thought to myself, now this one I might pay more than $20 for let me ask just to see what they say. I was not expecting much & prepared myself to walk out without it because there were much less worthy pieces for $39. They were about to close and the woman walked back with me to see how much it would price for and she said "how about $15", I ABOUT FELL DOWN! Ill take it I said. THEN the manager walked out and said "How much do you want to pay for it" & I thought oh great, she wants $40, and the original lady said "I told her $15 with tax included" and the manager said "How about $10 with tax included" - OH MY GOSH!!!!
I smiled probably bigger than I should have & paid my $10.
Because I like to make life difficult I ended up having to move around LOTS of stuff to get it to fit in my vehicle, including car seats, thus the reason I had to leave this beauty in my mom & dad's backyard until Daniel can put it in his truck for me. The manager was SO nice, helping me rearrange stuff in the car, pushing and pulling this beast (yes now it is a beast instead of beauty- i was hot, sweaty, and annoyed at the thought of re-installing car seats)

So, there she is beauty & beast, my $10 glory, waiting for me to sand her and put some cutsie knobs on her from Hob Lob
Oh yeah, and the drawers were all numbered inside, when I rearranged them they fit perfectly!

2009-07-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

FABULOUS FINDS:
Got this little birdhouse for $1.99. You cant really see it here but edges are rubbed off in just the right places to shabby it up.
Milk glass, fake milk glass, whatevs, I love it and all three of these pieces cost me $4.50 total

2009-07-07T20:10:00.000-07:00

UPCOMING PROJECTS:

2009-07-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:
Found a picture of the drawer with the fan, re-do pic coming soon

Garage Sale Find
Dresser- $30

So you already know the mistakes I made, but hey, it was my first dresser redo & it is hiding in my closet as you see above (pardon the mess). I went to Hob Lob and got some fluer de lis knobs for the top three drawers & some black pull handles for the others. So now I have to fill in all of the extra holes (created extra work for myself but should not be too bad)

UGH unfortunately I did not take a picture but the drawer in the top middle has an ugly fan carved into it so Daniel helped me wood puddy it & soon that will be sanded down and you will never know it was there. Big shout out to the hubs for helping me sand when I just couldn't do it anymore in the 100+ heat

2009-07-06T07:09:00.000-07:00

Fabulous Finds
No pics right this minute but I do have LOTS to come of some great stuff I found.
* Lime Green lamp at Goodwill $5 (soon to be rewired and recovered for Amelia's room)
* more readers digest books for .50 (woot woot)
* DANIEL GOT ME THE CHAIRS!!! (I am so excited & cant wait to show you what I do with those!)
* some milk glass trinkets & vase for only 1.50 a piece!
* a gumball machine for my sis for only $3 so she can make a gumball fish tank like Thrifty Decor Chick
* a few baskets for $1, some of which were from Hob Lob on 80% off clearance
* my 3rd flower print
* a ride on pony for Emerson for $8, a ride in car for the kids for $14, little play kitchen for Amelia $4
* another hangy thingy like I sprayed with chalkboard paint but this one is open in the front & I plan to spray it and fill it with flowers to hang on the front door

In other news- this weekend (with help of the hubs) we refinished the dresser I got for $30
It was very exciting and very exhausting! I did take pics & plan to post them soon but before I forget some things let me jot them down here so you dont make some mistakes I made!
1. do NOT forget to primer the dresser before you spray paint it!!!! Horrible mistake, thankfully this first reconstruction job is being squeezed into our closet and no one will be able to tell since the I primed the drawers before spraying them.
2. The rustoleum spray paint can attachment for easy spraying does not work well with valspar paint cans, in fact after the first can it would not work, so then I checked another brand with an old fashioned nozel and it worked fine
3. you will need a lot of sandpaper if you are sanding off varnish, so in my case for the palm sander it was wise to buy the 25 pack of 60 grit for $5 the second time rather than another 6 pack for $1.48
4. better measure the dresser from the WIDEST part & don't guess the what part is the widest or you might end up like me & it won't fit in the closet! Thankfully we just changed up the plans a bit and it still fit another way.

Thats all I can think of for now, the good stuff will be coming soon & by good stuff I mean the pics!

2009-07-01T06:09:00.001-07:00

Goodwill, Goodfun!
I know it is new to me, but I am super addicted to Goodwill right now!
I got some super steals!!!
Here's the scoop...pictures to come soon:
6 plain white napkins I plan on personalizing with something cool. (49c each)
1 long red tuscan table cloth with lemons around the edge (2.99)
1 pampered chef round baking dish that didnt even look like it had been used (3.49)
1 big giant picnic basket for our fishing outings (5.59)
1 big topiary with two balls in need of love (5.99- kind of pricey now that i think of it)
1 easter egg wreath , i should have gotten the other and taken the eggs off for a cloche (2.09)

Now if there is one thing I have learned in my short time (ok 4 trips total) to Goodwill, if you see it & want it, buy it, when you go back it wont be there!
I of course saw a set of 4 chairs yesterday & I only wanted one so I thought no that wont work- mind you the set of 4 was only $29....so when I could not stop thinking about how perfect they would be after I worked on them I begged my husband to go by Goodwill today in hopes that they are still there, they are in pretty bad shape but THANKFULLY I have a carpenter for a husband!! I am going to make one of them for Amelia and maybe one for our room & the other two likely gifts or maybe if I am really good I can start to sell stuff like this.

I truly truly enjoy making things, I always have. I just don't make the time because I figure I need to take care of other priorities. I have decided that since it truly puts joy into my heart that God must have put that joy there right? I LOVE it.

We are having our own garage sale Friday, I have come to the realization that garage sales is where I will find some major steals. I think back to our twice a year neighborhood sales when I was carusing around for ride-ons for our daughter & there was a LOT of furniture I can refurbish, make modern, make fun!

2009-06-30T06:25:00.000-07:00

GREAT FINDS & RECENT PROJECTS

Hobby Lobby had a bunch of frames in bins for super duper cheap- this was originally $49.99 marked down to $10, I am not a big fan of gold so I changed it up a bit...

BEFORE:

AFTER:
COMPARISON:

I found this little hanging thingy (technical term there) at Hob Lob on clearance for $3, it was creme colored with the words "sweet home" in red....I painted it with chalkboard paint and voila.

This is a little trick from Thrify Decor Chick , it is a wooden ruler chalkboard spray painted (bad picture, I know, but it really does make the pantry look organized)

NOW FOR MY GREAT FINDS!!!! I can not tell you how excited I am about these two! (I also got a BUNCH of other books for only .50 & .25!!!)

A classic ......

THE BEST PART....check out that date!!!!!!!
Found this on the first page- wow! So I got a timeless classic from 1937 for .50!!!

On my second trip past the frames I spotted this!!! I LOVE it, I just know I have seen this somewhere before but even if I havent, I still love it & check out that price!

2009-06-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

RECENT PROJECTS

So I have seen this keep calm and carry on everywhere...i googled it under images, found one i like, print it and framed...the frame was a gold which i am not too fond of so I got some metallic taupe craft paint and voila.
Here is a tutu I made for a baby shower gift this weekend. The mommy loves pink & brown combo so I added a pink & brown ribbon.
The tutu & the cross sign below are not too great of pics, I totally forgot to take pics of what I made until I saw her holding them up at the shower & I was like OH NO, so I quickly took pics wth my phone for blogging purposes of course :)

I made this sign for her room as well, also pink and brown, the circles are pink glittter and there is pink glitter on top of the cross as well, you cant see it, but the sign has a maribou handle to hang from, I did this one in brown maribou. Mommy & shower guests seemed to love it.

2009-06-29T06:44:00.000-07:00

My name is Suesan & I am addicted to crafting & "projects" as my 3 yr old calls them.
I have recently re-caught the crafting bug & I am so excited about it. I have been inspired by many others out there in blogger land and just HAVE to document what I am doing, frankly because my husband does not get as enthustastic as I would like- ha!