EASY MONOGRAM WITH PAINT: CUSTOM JEWELRY BOX MAKEOVER

DISCLOSURE: ThriftyLittleThings.com is a personal blog written and edited by Wendy Kohn. The majority of what I post is based on my own ideas, thoughts and projects, for the sole purpose of sharing my passion. However, there are times that I do accept various forms of compensations such as cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions and/or products, coupons and other forms of compensation and incentives from companies and organizations that I feel compliment the blog, and offer value to my readers. Compensation will never influence the content or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. As the owner of this blog, I am sometimes compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though I may receive compensation for posts or advertisements, I always give my honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own and will NEVER be influenced by any form of compensation.

I recently had the pleasure of giving new life to a super unique but worn jewelry box and customizing for a client. They wanted their initial
monogram on top in the typical fancy style.

I'm the first to tell you that I am NO free hand painter or artist by any means. So I'm gonna share my cheat method with you!

What a unique piece this was! Lots of drawers and folding doors, quite tall for hanging necklaces and such and even a little mirror on the inside.

My client happened upon it at a yard sale and scooped it up for a steal. It was factory white all over (worn & dirty too!) and the pink ribbons on the pull handles were worn and fraying.

I decided to give it a fresh new look! They asked for a pink and green color combination. I custom mixed 2 Annie Sloan Chalk Paint colors, Versailles and Antibes Green to make a beautiful pale lime shade. I then mixed up a tad bit of Emperor's Silk and Old White to get this perfect pale pink.

BEFORE I painted, I applied vinyl adhesive lettering directly to the clean original surface on top to create the monogram. Doesn't matter what color the letters are, as you will see.

I mixed and matched different areas contrasting with the pink and the green, inside and out. I sanded all over, not to distress, but to create that baby smooth finish that you only get with Chalk Paint!

Now it's time to reveal the monogram! Simply peel off those vinyl letters! That leaves you with the contrasting original surface lettering on that painted surface!

The entire piece got a nice coat of
Staples Clear Wax and then I cut new ribbons for the
drawer pulls and door handles.

I think it turned out great! A quick & easy makeover of a yard sale jewelry box, customized with the monogram!



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DIY SHUTTER SHELF WINDOW TOPPER INSTEAD OF CURTAINS

Since my downsizing I've had to get creative with extra storage and display spaces for decor. I love all my vintage kitchen goodies, but didn't have enough wall space for a lot of shelving or a hutch. So I came up with this easy DIY Shutter Shelf Window Topper to use in place of curtains or a valance for the large 3 window wall in my kitchen.

I distressed this old shutter style Bi-fold closet door with
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Gray. The length was a perfect for the look I wanted above the 3 windows. You can find these at yard sales, thrift stores and the like, usually under $10!

I then got 2 wood shelf brackets (you could go with any style or material of bracket) and attached them at each end of the shelf. Your cost for the brackets could be anywhere from $1-2 for plain
metal shelf brackets at Lowe's and up, depending on what type and style you choose. I hung them upside down so it could be used as a topper shelf versus underneath as a regular shelf (windows would have been in the way!) I painted them to match.

I secured the center, for weight with another small
L angle metal bracket that you cannot see - one end screwed into the shelf, the other to the wall.

Once I had the shutter shelf hung above the window, I proceded to add some of my favorite things to display. You could display a full set of plates, collections or whatever you like. Mine is a mixture of things I have collected over the years that I love to see often and make me smile.

What do you think? It was really simple to do and I'm so glad I found space to display some of my pretties. It added a whole new look to that window wall, as well!



Linking up this post over at:

Weekend Wind Down Party
and
Remodelaholic

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ThriftyLittleThings.com is a personal blog written and edited by Wendy Kohn. The majority of what I post is based on my own ideas, thoughts and projects, for the sole purpose of sharing my passion. However, as a full time Blogger, there are times that I do selectively accept various forms of compensations such as cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions and/or products and other forms of compensation and incentives from companies and organizations that I feel compliment the blog, and offer value to my readers. Compensation will never influence the content or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. As the owner of this blog, I am sometimes compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though I may receive compensation for posts or advertisements, I always give my honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own and will NEVER be influenced by any form of compensation.

THRIFTY LITTLE MAKEOVER: YARD SALE JEWELRY BOX GIVEN NEW LIFE WITH ANNIE SLOAN

Thought I'd share one of my most recent Thrifty Little Things - an old jewelry box given new life with Annie Sloan, of course!

Jewelry boxes are a necessity for us girly girls, but the really pretty ones can be quite pricey and the other ones..like the BEFORE pic of this one, well they leave much to be desired.

You can find old worn out ones at most any yard sale or thrift store...and I bet you've passed them up many times! So I'm giving you a glance at what giving them a new life can do!

I chose to paint this one in Annie Sloan Versailles. Allowed to dry a couple hours and then lightly sanded areas that I felt would normally wear. I followed up with a coat of clear wax and that's it! This beauty has an entirely new look and charm that will fit into most any decor!

Have you given new life to something small lately? It really is the Little Things that make the biggest difference!



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THRIFT STORE LAMP MAKEOVER: CHALKPAINT + METAL GLAZE

I'm so excited to finally reveal my AFTER of this weeks
Thrift Store
Lamp Makeover! I posted the BEFORE pic on our Facebook page the other day and I have been finishing up tiny details and it's finally done and ready to take it's place on my nightstand!

I don't dare show you it's intended spot in my master bedroom as it's my work-in-progress room and unfortunately seems to be the last room I'll ever get finished. However, the one thing I'm sure of in the room is my color scheme, which is a blend of flat and charcoal gray's with a bold splash of what I call "plum" - a purple hue that I'm in love with.

I loved the shape of this lamp, but the antique gold just wouldn't do at all for this room. So I had to put my thinking cap on....

I gave it a full coat of
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Graphite as you see here.



I then dry brushed Valspar Metal and Patina Glaze in Silver onto the detailed areas I wanted to bring out. The result reminds me of pewter and I adore the intricate crevices and detail.



Then to break up the monotony of the grays, I mixed up my own combination (I do this when I'm too impatient to go buy a color) of black
latex paint I had on hand with some lilac and plum acrylic paints that I had and came up with a beautiful color that I think blends well with my color scheme in the room.

Once I had all the painting done, I let it dry for 24 hours and then sprayed the painted area (originally milk glass) very well with Bullseye Clear Satin to seal it.

The comforter I have on our bed is gray and plum with a bold white design and so I went with a white lamp shade to top it off.



What do you think? I love the transformation and now it totally fits with the decor of our master bedroom.(Which I'll share at a much later date when it's worthy :D )


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KRYLON OIL RUBBED BRONZE TEST: QUICK CEILING FAN MAKEOVER

Ok, so I'd been reading and seeing all the buzz about Krylon Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint and I decided to test it out for myself and for any of you that have seen it and wondered about it.

Walmart stocks it for just $3.27 and Amazon has it starting around $3.34, making it perfect to use for a Thrifty Little project :D

I hunted the house for something to use it on and decided to do a quick ceiling fan makeover that was long overdue...please tell me I'm not the only person that has ignored an ugly ceiling fan in their home. I should have replaced it long ago and it's been one of those things I kept saying I would do "soon"...

The BIG PLUS ? I bet these things haven't been this clean since they day they were hung... :D
So, my ugly, extremely out of date, abnormally shiny white ceiling fan got a $3.27 makeover.
Well, it's a partial makeover - as I was just testing out the paint, so I only took the blades off and sprayed them (2 coats) to make sure I liked the color and effect for a ceiling fan. Next I'll take the whole fan down and spray the remainder of it's out of date white and gold to bring it into 2013.
What do you think?
I really like the Krylon Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint and see lots of Thrifty Little projects with it coming soon!

Have you used Krylon Oil Rubbed Bronze yet? I'd love to hear what you've used it on with a comment below!



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DIY CHALK WALL BEFORE & AFTER - KITCHEN STATEMENT WALL

So, I wanted to do a statement wall in my kitchen and dining area to break up the blandness and lack of color. And I'd been wanting to do a full wall to jot my grocery list items as we run out of them or a to-do' list of the moment.

I decided on the wall that wraps around behind the counter nearest the kitchen sink into the hallway area that leads to the bathroom.

I did a really quick coat of Annie Sloan Graphite and TA DA !!! I love my new wall!

One coat of Annie Sloan Chalkpaint in Graphite, allowed to dry fully - usually only a couple hours. Then I rubbed my chalk all over and wiped away which gives it that vintage "chalk board" look and I was ready to get going.

I'm thinking about writing some quotes, or a love letter to my kids or something across the top portion...

Below is the extremely BLAH Before .
What do you think?



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DIY OLD FLORAL PLANTER MAKEOVER - HEAD TO GRANDMAS!

Today I did a really quick and easy transformation on a run of the mill, piled in boxes at flea markets and overflowing in your grandmas attic item....Old Floral Planter.

Yes, Just an average ceramic floral planter - your grandma likely has tons of them that still have the green floral block inside them. There are in abundance everywhere I go and I always comb through them to find more unique shapes or textures. I scored this one for .25 cent at a local thrift store!

I couldn't wait to get it home and give it a new life! The awesome thing about Annie Sloan Chalkpaint is that it adheres to any surface with no sanding or prep work - this includes plastic, glass and ceramic, making it perfect to give new life to old vases and planters pieces.

I did a quick coat of Old Ochre (dries in less than 2 hours too!) on the planter and a coat of Graphite on this little wood embellishment. I might dry brush it or dark wax a bit to bring more depth out of it later...still undecided.

Then I grabbed my hot glue gun, attached...and voila! New life for an outdated avocado green ceramic planter.

I had this moss covered topiary leftover from another project and it seemed the perfect size for this planter.

Another "Little Thing" that does not require the crafty gene :D

What do you think?



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