If you were looking really close when I shared my Memorial Day Table, you might have noticed that I have a new dining room table – again!

This is table number 3 since we moved in last October.

No, I do not have a table addiction!

When we moved in I knew I needed a different one, I just hadn’t found one that I loved so I used our old formal dining room table.

And then, in January, I found this one.

And I loved it.

Still do.

However, every time one of the men in my family sat in these dainty chairs and leaned back, they chair made a horrible noise like it was going to fall apart any minute.

Which made me realize that even though I loved it, they just wouldn’t work for us.

My BFF Roxanne was having an estate sale and had this wonderful Pottery Barn farmhouse table and chairs.

And even though they didn’t have the curvy french lines of my last one, they super sturdy and cute..

The only negative about them was that I didn’t care for the  color of the pine table.

However, I loved the style and color of the chairs.

So I set out to transform the table to match the chairs!

I sanded the table with an orbital sander and belt sander for a good 5 hours.

Thankfully, The Hubs helped!

Once it was down to the raw wood it was time for the magic to happen.

I started this table transformation with the top first.

I used Minwax pre-stain to make sure that the wood took the stain evenly.

Once that was dry, I stained the top with three coats of Walnut.

I wanted a medium dark finish, so this was perfect.

The next day, after the stain had thoroughly dried, I gave it three coats of Varathane polyurethane in a satin water base formula.

This was my first time to use this product and I am in LOVE with it.

It went on super smooth, no brush marks and dried quickly.

When the top was finished, I started on the table apron and legs.

Step 1, rub it down with liquid sandpaper!

I hate sanding chair and table legs, mainly because it’s HARD!

Since I didn’t need to repair anything, this was the perfect solution.

After a lot of sleuthing and stalking the Pottery Barn Pinterest boards I finally found the color of paint used on the chairs.

Since I wasn’t entirely sure that it was right, I purchased a sample quart of the color in Satin.

It went on so smoothly and was the perfect color, so I just used the sample quart to paint my table apron and legs!

Two coats, a little distressing, followed by an antiquing coat of the Walnut stain and my bottom half o the table was ready for a couple of coats of the Varathane!

And while the lighting isn’t the best in this picture, trust me when I say that it matches perfectly!

We love it!

The best part?

No more screaming chairs.

The Worst part?

Now the neutral rug and curtains don’t really go with the table and chairs.

Yep, if you’ve followed me for long you know that I subscribe to the “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” form of decorating whether I intend to or not!

So here’s the color pallet that I’m thinking of using.

Number 1 is Emmie Blue and would make the prettiest curtains.

Number 2, of course would be the rug.

Now , the next two are a toss up for the chairs to be recovered in.

Do I stick with the blue tones of number 3, or do I boldly go where I’ve never gone before with the crips white and green of number 4?

Decisions, decisions….

What do you think?

If you are like certain members of my family and are thinking “she’s got an new table and chairs – again? The girl has lost her mind!”

I promise, this is the last time!!!!!

I think.

Until next time..

Don’t forget, if you love it, PIN it!

I can’t believe it. I finally found a way to do it – use my blue dining room colors in my Thanksgiving decor. I have a blue and brown Thanksgiving table!

I know! It’s not your traditional Thanksgiving table decor. It’s not even your popular decor. But it works in my dining room. Which is HUGE for me. I always loved my Thanksgiving table, but I hated that it looked like I just plopped fall colors in the middle of all of my blue.

I’m not sure when it hit me that I could just incorporate the browns, golds and a touch of orange with my blues and it would work. I’ve been trying for years to figure this out. Lightbulb moment people!!! And my Momma didn’t even drop me on my head when I was little, so I have no idea what took me so long.

Other than the leaves on the table, I added a few tiny pumpkins  around the room. See a tiny bit of fall color…

I wanted to add a “mink” coat to this crazy lady but I restrained myself!  It was really, really hard not to.

I did get in a little bling with these gold leaves… you can’t see it, but it has killer awesome sparkles on them!

AND I got to use my grandmothers china!

While I’ve had some really pretty tables in the past, I have to admit that I love the natural look with a little bling that this table has.

My grandma’s china, my blue decor and glassware, a little fall color and some gold bling – I do believe I am ready for Thanksgiving!. It’s on like donkey kong!

Until next time….

                        Tammy

Don’t forget to Pin anything you liked!

My fall table is probably one of my favorites that I have decorated of all time. Really. Well, maybe I say that every year, but I really mean it this time! It has everything that I love.  A little color, a little whimsy, fresh flowers or plants and most importantly, it makes me happy.

In the past few months I’ve been drawn more and more to go more natural with less fuss. For you minimalists  out there you are looking at this table thinking: “That’s minimal?” Well, it is for me. Hey! You can see the table top can’t you? Instead of fresh flowers I used kale, or as my Granny used to call them – cabbage. I made a small floral arrangement for each place setting. These were so easy. Just grab a bowl, plop in your plant and add some “fluff” to fill up the bowl. (Fluff is all of the surrounding elements like spanish moss, leaves, berries and acorns.) Nobody wants to see ugly holes!

I think these are so pretty and when it comes time to eat, they can become part of your centerpiece. These would also be great as gifts for guests to take home too!

If you follow me at all, you know that I like to make some of my decor and this fall table was no exception. You can see how to make your own napkin rings here and if you look closely you will see my latest project. Painted silverware.

I know that you probably have the same look on your face as my hubs did right now and YES I am crazy, but I wanted more color than regular silverware gave me. I found these inexpensive ones at Walmart for a whopping 62 cents each.  So these are almost disposable! Would I use them at a fancy get together? NO. But for fun? Why not?

Again this is a super easy project. Just tape off the silver and spray paint them the color you want. It doesn’t get any easier than that!

My centerpiece is an old soup tureen that I have had forever. More “fluff” is sprinkled around the bottom edges for some fun and color.

This table makes me so happy every time I look at it. It was certainly a lesson to me – you can have the natural elements with your everyday decor! It just takes a little creative thinking.

Until next time….

               Tammy

You Can find me having fun at these fabulous Link parties!

Stone Gable The Scoop #191

I am the mother of two adult boys, so I guess you could say I have a soft spot for little boys. I love all the things that go with little boys. The toys, the mess, the pets, the hugs – I even miss the crazy science experiments that I used to find in the refrigerator freezer. ( think swamp monster action figure frozen in red and green water in a cup OR whatever bug they wanted to preserve for another day.)  I never knew what I was going to find. Crazy, I know.

When my friend Siana gave me a couple of old end tables I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them, so I put them in the to do pile in the castle’s shop and went on to other projects. And then I saw an end table on Pinterest, much like those she gave me, made into a children’s play table and I knew that one of those old end tables needed to be made into a Lego table.

The tables were made of solid wood and in great shape structurally, but the finish needed to be redone. One problem was that there were leather inserts that needed help but that was way out of my experience level. So painting them was okay with me.

The Hubs is sidelined for awhile due to injury, so I asked my oldest if he would like to collaborate with me on this one.  He took the bin I wanted to put in the top and made a template of the hole he needed to cut into the top of the table.

Using the template he drew where he wanted to cut on the top of the table.

Then using a hole saw he drilled a hole in all four corners.

After drilling all four holes, he used a jig saw and cut the straight lines between the holes.

I gave it a couple of coats of Waverly chalk paint in red. Then a couple of coats of spray poly.

After that it was just a matter of dropping in the  bin on the top and attaching the Lego plate. This plate was 10″ X 10″.  I really wanted to use the 15″ X 15″ plates  however, the leather insert area is slightly raised in the middle, so that larger plate didn’t fit flush.

Here is the finished Lego table complete with Legos that I dragged out of storage. ( yeah, I’m the mom who is still storing all of the little boy toys! Some day they will come and pick them up, right?) Even with the 10″ X 10″  plate there is plenty of room to build!

The bin is perfect for Lego storage. I think that the easy access may make putting them away a breeze for little ones. Better stored here than food for the vacuum cleaner, right?

I loved working on this project, it’s fun and useful. But I really loved working on this project with my son! Brings back so many wonderful memories…even the crazy ones.

Until next time….

                         Tammy

OK… before I get started let me just say that if it rains here anymore I am gonna need some serious light therapy. Oh, and an arc… M’kay, maybe not an arc, but a really big boat!  And don’t even get me started on how hard it is to get a good picture! Thanks. Rambling at y’all is way cheaper than therapy.

Remember when I went to wash my car and instead I went to the neighborhood garage sale? Yeah… I am a lot little ADD.. Not only did I pick up the cute small chairs that you see here but I also scored a couple of chests of drawers. One of which I made into the cutest small blue chest!

This is my three drawer chest. Before everyone starts yelling at me for painting this piece, it had a lot of scratches and needed a ton of repair on the drawers. It would never have been worth the time it would require to refinish it. But painting this small chest blue? It came to life.

For the past couple of years I have had this piece in my entry hall. Originally I wanted to paint it a bright color like a bright, shiny orange or red and put shelving above it to make a bar . Very eclectic, very cool. Before I could get started on that, my ADD kicked in again and I painted it Annie Sloan Napoleonic Blue and put it in my entry hall. I liked it – a lot.

Then I saw this small chest and knew that it would also be great in my entry. What’s a girl to do?

I painted the piece and gave it a couple of coats a clear and dark wax. To make the details stand out I distressed them and then added some gold painted accents.

My small blue chest is so pretty….

I love adding color to the exterior sides of drawers.  Every time you open the drawer it is like getting a really cool surprise. This time I painted the sides AS Pure White. Then stenciled and animal print in AS Napoleonic Blue. I liked it, but it seemed unfinished.

Since I had put gold on the exterior, it just made sense to put it on the interior. I just outlined the stenciling. I loved that it gave it a more finished look.

Once that was done it was time to add the handles. To me the silver ones that were on it when I bought it were too modern and I am positive that they were not original to the chest. I had these pulls, that you see above, that came off of a chest of drawers that my sister repurposed. I gave them a coat of gold paint and they were perfect.

This small blue chest really fits this space perfectly. Of course y’all know I love navy – it is my favorite color! The fact that it has storage is a big bonus too. I mean, can we ever have enough storage?

I love changing things up. It always makes me feel like I have a brand new space. Hmm… what can I change up next?

Until next time….

                      Tammy

Nothing like being iced in for days to get it in gear and finish up projects that you have had forever. I decided instead of light therapy I needed to let out my creative side and “let it go, let it go…” Yeah, I went there!

I have had this table awhile… a friend gave it to me many years ago so that when my now 13 year old nieces came over they would have something to play with. Well, the castle is getting full and the nieces have grown up so this little table needed a new identity and a new home.

This is the BEFORE… SO in need of a facelift!

Here is the after…. black and gold with white and a little pink…

Table top..

The apron is a black and white stripe with a little gold pin stripe…

Gold feet…

I love how this black and gold kids table turned out! Y’all know that I live in manland. This table made me want to run out and purchase a girly tea set, put my tiara and hot pink boa on and have me a tea party!

Unfortunately, I have to part with all this sweetness. If you have a Princess that would love this table, check out my SHOP  page for more info.

Until next time…

                Tammy

I post a lot of projects that I have done to my house, but the fact of the matter is I DO have a business where I paint just about darn near everything!  Problem is you may not know it because I don’t post all of my painting adventures. Not all clients want their furniture, walls, etc. posted on line for the world to see. I get that.

I started this blog as a way to let people know that you can hire me to paint for you AND that I have items available for sale here at the castle. I’ll bet if you polled my readers they would tell you that my blog is about home decor. And it is. But it didn’t start that way. I have been so busy working for others and working on my home that I haven’t had time to focus on sharing what I do in my painting business.  My goal for this year is to share with you more of what I paint.  Today I want to share with you the sweetest drop leaf table and chairs!

This is one of my first trash diving finds. It was at the curb and had a burn hole in the middle of the table about six inches around and half an inch deep! Makes you wonder how it got there, right?

Anyway after a couple of containers of wood filler, I faux finished it to look like wood and painted a leaf design around the top edge.  With the leaves folded down, it worked great as a sofa table.  This past year I decided to spice it up a little and painted it Miss Mustard Seed’s Tricycle.  I liked it, but with new furniture in the living room, it just hasn’t worked as well as it had in the past.  So I decided to sell it and find something that works a little better. I had a few chairs to pair with it, I just needed to make them match.

I am having to work inside due to weather…ugh! Here is my little table all extended, painted Annie Sloan’s Graphite over the Tricycle red.  A little distressing with fine sandpaper ,  a coat of clear wax and two coats of dark wax,  add a tiny bit of gold accent paint, a little cleaning on the brass legs, a TON of rubbing to make the wax shine and this is my final result….

She is a beauty! All that work was so worth it!

Here is another angle. Please ignore the rug. I moved the table and chairs into my kitchen dining room to get better pics. Lighting can be a challenge here at the castle! Also, for some reason the chair color looks way different from the table in this picture, but they really aren’t.

Details from the side. One of the things I like best about chalk paint is that a finished piece can look a hundred years old. Woo Hoo!

Such pretty legs. Isn’t the detail pretty on this piece?

The chairs are super comfy… I had eight of them given to me last year. The Hubs made three into a bench. I painted them black and upholstered with this material… it worked so well I decided to go with it again. It is such a happy material! Again, I painted these chairs red, then painted graphite on top. Love how the red pops through.

The details on this chair are awesome!

My sweet dog Sadie. Why is it when I am taking photos she is always trying to photo bomb?

When this table is all folded up, it would be perfect in a small breakfast nook or apartment. When the leaves are extended it is  a great full size table that you could add four more chairs to. Two on each side allows you to seat six, which in my book almost makes it the perfect table! Plus, I love the mix and match look. No matchy, matchy here at the castle!

This set is for sale on my website, if you are interested take a look on my shopping page.

until next time….

                          Tammy