~*Sneak Peak*~

 Perfectly weathered with little birdies of happiness.

She'll be finished soon.

Happy Weekend!

xoxo

LeAnne

Trash to Treasure. A Console Table.

In its former life, it was this:

Poor thing was living outside and tossed aside on a mound of discarded wood. 

After taking care of all the wasps and spiders, she came home with me.  I rescued her.

{and by the way, did you notice the original butterfly hinges?}

With a little love, she became this:

And one day she will become a sink console complete with furniture feet and a white vessel sink. Until then, she'll stay this perfect little side table.  I love her.


xoxo LeAnne

Found. {But What?}

This chair has me STUMPED!

I have a set of four.  And I really really really adore them with all their weathered leather, aged goodness, brass tacks and detailed carving.

But I'm stumped.  And I am so annoyed that I haven't figured them out yet.  Trust me, I've tried!  Now I don't consider myself a furniture design expert by any stretch of the imagination.  I have, however, mastered the art of google.  And yet my "google-ing" {fun word, huh?} has left me clueless.  I even took the chairs to a local antique appraiser/store owner and even he couldn't give me a solid answer on their history. 

{side note, this guy was personally visited by the kings of picking themselves...The American Pickers! so jealous...}

{2nd side note...my visit with him was still worth it as I thoroughly enjoyed chatting it up about our shared addiction to anything antique...it is a sickness I tell you!}

So back to the point, I've got nothin'.  When I purchased this set, they were advertised as "Arts and Crafts Oak and Leather chairs" but I'm not so sure that I'm convinced on the Arts and Crafts part.  My best guess {based off my google research} is late 19th century.  I have found many similar styles from around that time period, but nothing concrete. 

Part of the fun in finding such an old piece is playing the game of

who, where, when and how.  

I LOVE owning something with so much history.  I like to imagine where it came from and who it belonged to and how many places it has traveled.  Just think about the decades of families that have sat in these chairs at their dinner table!  Or maybe they were used only on special occasions...holidays, parties, or the like. 

Personally, I think these guys belong at a game table, in a "Man Cave" for a little late nite game of poker or whatever else men do in a man cave!  :)

So here's my question.  Can anyone out there offer me any suggestion on their background?   Can you give me your best guess?  This could be fun!  Take a close look....

And as much as I love these guys, I will probably have them up for sale at some point in the near future.  I simply don't have the room for them right now and they are too beautiful to sit in storage for another 10 years. I hate it when that happens....

Can't wait to hear your thoughts!

xoxo LeAnne

Repurposing a Junk Window. Part Two.

For my second window project, I followed all the initial steps as the jewelry organizer, except I left the glass attached this time.  You can read that post here.

I wanted to try something a little different and attempt to make a memo board.  Lately, I have been super obsessed with chalkboard paint, so why not continue?  I also used cork board {which I spray painted and cut to size}, some decorative jute ribbon, and a package of push pins. 

I painted the chalkboard paint directly onto the window panes....three coats.  If you use chalkboard paint, be sure to let the paint completely dry between coats.  I learned the hard way!

I added a few spare buttons in the corners to cover the ends of the jute ribbon.  {who says buttons have to be used for clothes??}

Here is the finished result:

This one is a gift for someone special, but I will definitely be making another one for myself!

Well, that's all for today.  The rainy morning is over so now it's back to work. Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo LeAnne

Repurposing A Junk Window. A quick tutorial.

Several months ago, I saw an ad on Craigslist for 20 old windows.  The price? 

Twenty bucks.

Score!

I often come across old windows for sale in antique stores for around $15 each and I used to think that was a decent price.  Imagine my excitement when I found 20 of these babies for almost the same price as one!  

However, I will admit...

When I arrived to pick up the windows, they were covered in black ants, spider webs, etc.  Ick!  But my deal turned into even more of a steal when I counted the windows and there were close to 30, ten more than advertised.  I could deal with the ants!

Because the windows were so old, I immediately bought a lead checker to test for lead paint.  Lead paint can be a pain to deal with, but its excepted.  And yes, the windows tested positive for lead so I knew I had to tackle the job cautiously.

When working with lead paint, make sure you wear a good face mask and gloves.  I knew I wouldn't be sanding off the paint, which is a huge no-no, but I still wanted to be extra careful.  Every time I work on older piece, I put my gear on first!

You also need to be careful to dispose of the paint correctly to prevent any leftovers from hanging around your house after the project is complete.  {I like to work outside over a drop cloth or paper, so I can easily get rid of the paint flakes once I'm finished.  Just tie all the corners together and you're good to go!}

Now, my goal here is not to fully strip all the old paint off the windows.  I just want to flake off the loose pieces.

After all the loose pieces are scraped off, I seal the window with Sanding Sealer to make sure that no remaining lead paint is exposed.  I don't go lightly with the stuff either!  Literally, I slap it on thick, just to be extra careful.

Once the sealer dries completely, the window is ready for paint.  For this project I used my go-to white, Valspar's Woodrow Wilson Putty.  I wanted the window to be simple, so I didn't go crazy with colors on this one.

I lightly distressed the edges and antiqued it using a dry brush technique.  Dry brushing is so simple and hard to mess up.  Dip the tip of your brush into a dark stain {I like to use Walnut}, shake most of the stain off the brush, and LIGHTLY use the tip of the brush on your piece.  Immediately after brushing, take a cloth and rub the stain to blend it.  Work in small areas so you don't allow the stain to dry before you are able to wipe it.

 

 

Here is a before and after of the dry brushing technique:

Now I seal the window one more time.  I used clear spray acrylic for this project. {this is the back side of the window, which I didn't bother painting since it will be hanging on a wall}

There are so many great uses for an old window.   This time I wanted to make a jewelry organizer.  I think that jewelry can make such a beautiful and unique piece of "art" if it is displayed in a creative way.  And typically, my jewelry gets super tangled in a jewelry box.  This is a great solution.  I wasn't really sure how I wanted to hang everything, so I stocked up on some hardware and played around with some ideas until I figured it out.  I ended up using lace ribbon, cotton cord, hooks and upholstery tacks.

 

 And that's it!  

Here is a shot of the window before I covered it in jewelry {as usual, taken on a camera phone, so the photo quality is lacking}:

And here she is all complete:

 

As you can probably tell, I did not keep the glass in the window for this project.  

I did, however, keep the glass in for a second project which I will share with you next time.

One window down, 29 more to go!  I have my work cut out for me. :)

xoxo LeAnne

Halltree Makeover

Happy Friday everyone! I am so glad the weekend is almost here.  Go Clemson Tigers! 

So, today I am flashing back just a little.  This was one of my first big projects several months ago.  It's also one of my favorites. I found this adorable hall tree from a local vendor, The Old House Salvage in Piedmont.  If you haven't checked him out, you should! {visit him here} His property is slap FULL of rescued material from old buildings around our area and it's one of my favorite places to visit.

This hall tree was hanging out on his front porch and when he offered it to me for a really awesome price, I decided to take her home with me.  I wasn't in love with her yet, but I saw her potential.  I had been searching for a hall tree...and I really wanted a new project!

 

I debated for a while over what to do with her.  Refinish or paint?  I went with paint.  I primed her really good with Kiltz spray primer {and primed the driveway a little in the process...oops!}  Then I picked out a few sample colors and went to town.  BTW, I love sample paint sizes.  Super cheap and perfect for smaller projects! 

I didn't sand her because she really didn't need it.  I just covered her first with an off white {2 coats} and then filled in the details with a baby blue and light gray.  I love how the color brings out the carved detail!  

After allowing the paint to dry, I distressed her around the edges and raised areas and then finished her off with a coat of poly.  Looking back, I would have used polycrylic instead of polyurethane, but I didn't know any better then.  The white has yellowed just a touch, but I'm okay with that.  You live and you learn.  I think the tint adds to her character!

 

Right now she is hanging out in our laundry room.  I like to use her hardware as a drying rack :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  Thanks for stopping by.

  

xoxo LeAnne

Autumn Curb Appeal

As of yesterday, our house is back on the market! We're keeping our fingers crossed that the right buyer comes along, as we are super eager to sell the place and start building. We have lived in this house for over four years and love it. But we also love our family property and are itching to be there full time.

The family property is actually where the name "Mossy Rock Interiors" comes from. My husband's grandparents had over 100 acres at the foothills of the Blue Ridge as a summer getaway years and years ago. There is a large area of rock on the property that gets just enough moisture to stay mossy year-round. Hence the name, Mossy Rock! Well, the property is still in the family and our dream of building there is on hold, until we can sell our house.

So, we have our first showing this afternoon and our front porch was slightly lacking in curb appeal. Curb appeal is so important and I want our prospective buyers to have a great first impression when they step to our front door. Plus, I LOVE fall, it's my favorite season and fall decor is spectacular! A great reason to re-do the porch.

I purchased three mums, a bale of wheat straw, a few pumpkins, and kale and pansies for the pots. I already had the asparagus fern which is still going strong from the summer. I mixed everything in with my existing succulents and rearranged just a bit.

{Please don't judge the quality of these photos...they were taken on a camera phone...you know how that goes sometimes} :)

I think it turned out festive enough! Hopefully the "potential buyers" will agree :)

Does anyone out there have any tips they'd like to share?

xoxo LeAnne