Thrifty Tuesday!

Yes, I realize today is Wednesday but this is the first time I've had a chance to post about my treasures from yesterday!  So please, just humor me and roll with it!


Tuesdays are one of my favorite days for several reasons right now...
*  I work with Sugar Bug's class on Tuesday mornings
*  My favorite thrift store changes their sales tags and things are 50% off
*  We currently have no evening activities!
I love Tuesdays!


After leaving Kindergarten where I was able to listen to some fabulous new readers,  I started making the rounds to some of my favorite places.  Some days I score and some days I come home with little or nothing but, I have to tell you, yesterday I had a GREAT day!  I didn't find any furniture treasures but, I did find quite a few other "necessary" purchases.

I  got 4 gallons of Ooops! paint.  All in colors I have been thinking about like cotton candy blue, rasberry red, fresh grass green, sunshiny yellow and all at only $5 each!

I found a boat load of awesome things on the 66% off aisle at Hobby Lobby including a slew of knobs!


Hancock's had some awesome fabric on clearance and their trim was all on sale too!  I I need fabric like I need another few dimples in  my lower half however, I still came out of there with two great patterns and 8 yards of trim.  Does it get any better?!


Well, yes it does....once again, my favorite thrift store came through with two sets of curtain panels for less than $5 each.  There must be at least 7 yards of fabric in each set which will be beautiful on future upholstery projects!  I also found a fabulous etched glass bowl, some hanging candle holders, a lamp, a feather throw pillow, and a few other little odds and ends.  


It was a fantastic day ending with a custom order for a coffee table and end table!  With all that, I have been a BUSY BUSY girl today!  Hopefully completed projects will soon follow.


We are supposed to have snow again tonight which could really put a kink in my painting plans so we'll just have to see how the rest of the week pans out!  Wish us luck!


Have a great night.
Lisa

Stepping Stools

A little paint, some Mod-Podge, and wa-la....beautiful and functional too!

One of our neighbors was having some work done on a new garage.  The workman threw together these little stools to help them while they worked but, when the garage was complete, they set them at the curb for the trashmen....gasp, can you believe that?!

Quickly, I stopped, threw them in back and drove away without a word being said.  I think my kids have just decided that is easier to just not ask questions sometimes!

With a quick sanding, some happy colored paint, a little more sanding, and some Mod-Podged wrapping paper and they were as cute as they could be!

I love it when something old becomes beautiful and useful again!

Happy thrifty Tuesday!

Lisa

Partying with these....please see our Partying tab for where else we might be seen!

Projects

This week is going to be a crazy one filled with school activities, book reports, evening meetings, Bunco, and projects!  I started sanding like a crazy woman this morning and plan on priming in just a little bit.  Hopefully painting will start tomorrow!!


Here are the projects on the table:

I may also pick a chair or two out of the garage to work on to go with these desks/vanities but, can't decide on which ones right now! 

For now I'm trying to decide on colors!!  Hhhhmmm...I'd really love to swing into a few of my favorite hardware stores and check out their Ooops! paints but, I should probably use up some of the zillion I have here!  What can I say, I'm just a girl that likes choices!

Have a great day!

Lisa

French blue

This is my new favorite project...for today anyway!


I've had this chair out in the garage for a while but was intimidated to start on the upholstery.  The seat didn't seem like it would be too very hard but the back!?!?  The curve, the circle, the front and back both having to look great.....

It's been rainy, snowy, cold, and not very conducive to painting so it was time to just bite the bullet and get on with it.


I debated on going funky/modern but ultimately I kept coming back to traditional/classy and just very Miss Mustard Seed.


I started by painting it with a dark turquoise Oops paint.  I have to say, I did get a little scared at this point because it was startlingly bright but, I just kept going in hopes that it would be more subdued once it was finished.  Next, I dry brush a lighter turquoise/gray mix of leftovers on it.  When all the paint was dry, I sanded and roughed it up a bit.  At dinner that night,  as the chair sat in the corner of the dining room, my son and husband both asked when I was going to get started on fixing that "old, dirty looking chair"?  Hhhmph!  Little did they know just gorgeous it would turn out!


The seat went pretty easily and then I started on the back.  Getting the back straight took a little time and A LOT of staples but finally, late into the night when the rest of the house was very quite, I got it to a point I was satisfied with and called it a night.

I started on the front cushion and arms the next morning and had it done before the kids got up for school!  That went MUCH more smoothly than the back!  I think this type of upholstery will get easier with a little more practice!  Anyway, the only thing left was to add some gorgeous trim and hide all the staples.  

 

Lovin it!  If I didn't have dogs, little kids, and a few too many chairs already, this little one would be staying here!!  But alas, she has made her way to our new booth in hopes of finding a fabulous new home.

Thanks again Miss Mustard Seed (aka Marian) for the inspiration!

Lisa

I will be linking these to the parties on our Parties tab!

Curvy Bedroom Set

I'm in the garage, just not quite finished.  I'm well on my way to being BEAUTIFUL!  Please contact us at artichokealley@hotmail.com to get this customized just for you!



Dimensions -
Bed: 57"W x 54"T
Armoire: 38"W x 59.5"T x 19"D
Nightstand: 16"W x 28.5"T x 14"D



Our new sign

As most of you know, we recently moved to a new booth however, we will also still be in our old booth for the rest of February.  This really posed a problem because I believe every little shop should have their own sign  and there needed to be one in each place for the month.


I have a cousin that says "Everything boils down to time and money, Lisa..."  Well, as always, I was very short on both I had to get the creative juices flowing but, for some reason, they seemed to be clogged!  The night before the big move, I was reading to the kids at bedtime when it suddenly hit me...I could use and extra window I've been storing for my dream greenhouse.  Woo-hoo!!

I was so excited I forgot the before but, it looked just like this one!

I had already decided to use 4 of the windows on the front of the "store" to make it look more friendly and disguise the framing 2 x 4's so that left me with one just like the one above.

Meg, my sister, printed our name on four 8 1/2" x 11" pieces of paper while I got everyone settled in bed.  I taped the papers so that I could read them through the glass and them I just traced them with paint.   When I was finished, I pull the paper off and had the fantastic beginnings of a sign.

I really was diggin' it but, it still needed more so, we enlarged and printed the artichoke from our business cards, again on regular old printer paper.  After cutting that joker out, I used spray adhesive to stick it to the mirror and then covered the whole this in a quick coat of polycrylic (because it happened to be open and on the counter at the time....from multitasking on another project!  I supposed you could use clear spray or any number of other projects, but the polycrylic worked just fine for me.

It was still missing a little something and I had about 2 spray's of Looking Glass spray paint left from a previous project (see here)  so I took it to the frigid garage and used every last drop.   I was really worried it wasn't going to have enough of a mirrored effect but really, I think it makes it look just aged enough to have character (and provide a glimpse into the messiness of my kitchen counters-ugh)!!

This certainly met my time and money issues just perfectly!

And now hanging in our new booth!

Okay, another disclaimer about the picture taking....it was the lighting, really! 

Have a great day!

Lisa

Our new booth...Before and After!

We are finally moved in and  I LOVE our new location!  


There was nothing I didn't like about our other booth but, we just needed more space.  When we started looking for something new the choices were a larger booth in a wide open room or a separate room off to the side.  We debated, weighed the pros and cons, stopped customers and asked for opinions, and ultimately chose to go with the room.  The biggest challenge, we think, will be to get people to come through the door to even look!  We immediately set out trying to make it look more appealing and like our own little store front without spending too much time or money up front.  Quite a challenge based on what we had to work with!

After the first day of moving, it was amazing how much room we had and how naked it looked!!

We went back with more the next day and then again the next!


This is what we look like right now.  There are still changes we would like to make and more we would like to add but, we are very happy with how far we have come!

We hung some old windows (roadside finds) and shutters (Habitat for Humanity Restore) to try to hide the ugly two-by-four framing.


We also hung some curtains inside to disguise the multi-colored/paneled walls.  

 

Anytime you're in Huntsville, please come see us!

Lisa