Wow I can’t believe that my last post was a few months ago. I’ve been so busy with projects that I haven’t had the time to gather up pics for a post or two. I hope to do that soon.
I wanted to wish everyone a happy summer! Hopefully your days are sunny and your toes are sandy!
Be back soon,
Laurena
Today is one of my favourite days of the year. Anyone who knows me, knows I love to enjoy a good drink, listen to music and have fun. St Paddy’s day was made for people like me!
It’s also a day to celebrate for other reasons. A close friend’s birthday is today and it was always fun celebrating with her in university. A few years ago, I had invited my brother to a St Paddy’s day party and he hit it off with a friend who is now my sister in law!!! Ten years ago, I met my guy at a party and I also found out I got my dream job. So needless to say, I love St Paddy’s day!
I also love the colour green. Here’s a few pieces of furniture I’ve redone.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Laurena
Its been awhile since I’ve had a chance to post anything. I’ve been sporadically working on furniture and projects but haven’t had time to finish any of them! Oh well, once January comes and the holidays are over I’ll get some things done.
I wanted to share a few things I’ve seen via Pinterest that I love this Christmas…..
This simple & sweet tree. Love the basket tree stand.
These painted pallet art pieces.
via The White Birch Studio (etsy shop)
Scrabble tree art.
Love this entry way.
via Back Road Sign (and anything else from her instagram!)
And this one. That garland!!
via Just a Girl
And love this simple and cozy home. I imagine sitting on the couch, drinking wine, reading a book. Enjoying Christmas!
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Thanks for spending 2016 with me. And see you in the New Year!
Laurena
I love working on furniture but I love to enjoy the summer weather more! And boy, did we have a great summer in Nova Scotia!! I spent the summertime in Cape Breton, Mahone Bay and around Halifax. Great beach weather and family time! If you haven’t been to Nova Scotia, the South Shore and Cape Breton are worth a visit!
I haven’t worked on much furniture since July, so I have quite a bit of work to catch up on. I still have so many pieces of furniture that I’d like to get finished in the next couple months. I started a few projects the past week and will be posting them soon.
Now that Fall is here, I will get to work on more furniture. I have a small pine chest and two side tables to redo for a client. The transformations will be simple but will make such a huge difference once they are done! A little paint and stain does wonders!
Now, I must plan a visit to a winery and apple picking! I love Fall!
I received another furniture donation! My lovely cousin was getting rid of a couple items from her house and she sent me a message asking if I wanted them. There was a desk that had great potential, so of course I couldn’t refuse! Luckily they live just a stone’s throw from my workshop so her husband dropped it off. Side note: I can’t wait to trade in my Corolla for a hatchback car. Sigh. Next year for sure!
The desk needed a little bit of repair. There was some veneer missing on the bottom and I had to fix up the joints to make it more stable. After a bit of wood filling and sanding the table was ready to paint!
I knew I wanted to use General Finishes Milk Paint, but what colour? I hadn’t used Lamp Black or Costal Blue in awhile, so I hummed and hawed over the choices. I chose Coastal Blue. Love this colour. One coat of general finishes milk paint does amazing things. I only needed to do a quick second coat and it was looking good.
I painted two coats of the blue and painted inside the drawers. I stopped there. Something was missing. I loved the navy colour, but the desk needed something else. Maybe I’m used to doing two toned style with a wood top. The desk needed something to make it pop. I looked for inspiration on Pinterest. Looked around for stencils I could use. And finally thought, painting a union jack on the top would be perfect. Penny and I painted a coffee table long ago and it turned out lovely!
Since I had the paint colours on hand, I was going with the traditional union jack colours. Red, white and blue. After looking at a picture of the union jack flag on my phone, I planned what stripe width would work on the desk top. Using a measuring tape and ruler square I found the center of the desk, and I taped out the middle and diagonal stripes. I painted the inside of the tape white (after removing some of the tape). Once dry, I taped out the areas for the red stripes and painted those.
Once everything was painted and dry, I distressed the desk to make it look more of a weathered flag. Then sealed with varathane.
The knob choice was difficult. I didn’t have many matching knobs (lots of pairs but not 3 of them). I chose three knobs that were creamy white, similar to the Antique white used in the stripes. Love how they look against the navy blue.
Here is the final product!
I love how it looks now! I decided to go with the imperfections of the desk by distressing it. The desk is perfectly imperfect now! 😉
Hopefully it will find a new home soon.
Laurena
It has been over 3 months since my last post! Yikes! I hadn’t painted anything since December and it was weird. I love to paint, but I needed a little down time. Christmas came around and I just wanted to enjoy the holidays, some good wine and food, and hang around family.
The break extended into the new year and now it’s March! I really needed some quiet the past 3 months. For over a year I’ve had some minor health issues. I wanted to get that under control before I focused on anything.
I just had a light bulb moment as I am typing this. The break from painting has been like it was my turn for being ‘refinished.’ Sounds funny, but it’s true, and it has helped! We always need time for ourselves, get back on track or figure stuff out. Life goes by too fast sometimes!
A couple of years ago, I went through some major life stresses. While I dealt with what was going on, I started having stabbing pains in my gut. I couldn’t eat certain foods and I felt run down. My doctor sent me for tests and she eventually diagnosed me with IBS. The scans and blood work showed I was a healthy lady…which was great! But I struggled with pain, lack of sleep and was unable to find a suitable diet. Nothing seemed to help. I had pain in my gut…all…the…time. I lived with it for awhile, despite it being fairly annoying.
Recently I went for a colonoscopy and I had to do a ‘cleanse’ before the scope. Fun stuff. I figured this would be the best time to find a better way to eat and handle IBS. I stopped taking the prescriptions my doctor gave me (they didn’t work anyway). I chose to go with Metamucil, a probiotic and some vitamins. I finally have reached a good point. For the past two months, I haven’t had much pain and can eat a normal diet. So needless to say, I’m doing much better and am getting back into a normal routine.
It’s amazing what a little hiatus can do. I’m looking forward to focusing on things I love to do. Being active and working on furniture. I felt weird not spending time in my workshop but I needed the break. This weekend I painted two side tables. I’m almost finished and can’t wait to share them.
Here’s a little sneak peek….
Anyway, hope everyone has been doing well! I’m looking forward to getting back to writing on this blog!
Til next time,
Laurena
A couple months ago, my good friend called me up saying she had some things to get rid of. She was emptying out stuff from her garage and kindly gave me two side tables, some cute crystal knobs and wood shutters. At first I wasn’t sure what to do with the shutters…but I had a feeling they would look great painted in milk paint.
There were four sets of shutters. I wanted to use a couple for myself. So I painted two sets in Miss Mustard Seed’s milk paint in Boxwood. I love this colour. Such a great green. I’ve been looking for a green that wasn’t too pale or olive green. Boxwood is just the right green.
Here’s the before of the shutters:
And the after! I’m using them as part of my Christmas decor, but will change out the wreath with something else after the Holidays.
To hang the shutters, I just nailed in the zigzag picture hangers and viola! Perfect for wall decor. I love how there are many options for using old shutters. They can be used for holding postcards and mail, favourite photos, hanging wreaths or anything you want! I may have to look for more shutters, I’d love to make a table with them sometime.
But for now, I must get painting! More shutters to paint!
Thanks for stopping in!
Laurena
For the past 3 years, I’ve rented an unfinished basement and used it as a workshop and storage space. The rent was cheap, when both Penny and I were splitting the costs. It worked out great! We had an area to work on furniture, a spot for storing furniture and even for our winter tires! BUT the worst part of it, it wasn’t pretty. The past few months I was trying to brainstorm how to make it look better. I really needed a spot to take photos of the finished pieces.
There was a cinder block wall that was multi-coloured…and ugly for picture backdrops. The floor had random oil stains, painted areas and just boring.
I started by painting the cinder blocks white. And then painted a faux rug on the floor to cover up the oily stains. Now that everything looks cleaner and by using banners or lights, my furniture pictures will look more enticing! Hopefully now my furniture posts on Kijiji will scream “Buy me! Take me home!!” 😉
My next project is to create a sanding area. I hate how the dust can spread throughout my workshop. I’d like to keep it more contained in one area and not have to sweep the whole joint after sanding. First though, I should finally get some projects done that I’ve delayed. Like start on the million chairs I have in stock. There’s a lot to reupholster! Eeek!
‘Til next time,
Laurena
Hey! Long time no talk! How have you been? Its been way too long since I’ve been able to post anything. The strike is finally over, after 2 months of being out on the picket line. *gulp* Since I’m back on my shift schedule and actually have days off…I get to work on furniture!!! Yippppee!
I still have a few finished pieces to share that I didn’t get a chance to post. So stay tuned….I’ll be back soon! In the meantime….
‘Til next time!
Laurena 🙂
Tomorrow will be 3 weeks on the picket line. I’ve never been on strike before until now. It has been quite the experience! It also has been a busy few weeks and very hard to get time at my workshop. Sadly, I’m no spring chick! Spending most of the day on the picket line, outside, it has wiped me out! I have many projects sooo close to being done, I wish I had just one day off. Seems like that’s always the case, eh?!
I have finished one project, one of the dressers my friends parents gave me. I hope to share that soon!
Anyway, in the meantime…here’s something I’ve lived by the past 21 days…
Thanks for stopping by!
Laurena
Pivot Furniture & Design 