Stain and French Typography make a Lazy Susan pretty

Hello and welcome to Thrifty Southern Pilgrim. I have been wanting to do this project for a while, but have been distracted by larger projects. Well, I am so happy that I finally did it. I don't know why I did not do it sooner, it was so easy....... It looks great and now I can actually use my Lazy Susan.

I bought this basic lazy susan at IKEA about a year ago, because it was solid wood, and was cheap. I knew I wanted to change the color. I don't have anything this light tone of wood, so I decided to stain it. Here it is before stain.

It was very shiny, so I made sure to start by giving it a good sanding using rough sand paper, then working my way up to 220 grit, to really smooth it out. This is what I used as a pre-conditioner and a stain.

After 2 coats of stain and a very light sanding it was much better.........but not done yet!

I wanted to add some old character to it. I love all the french typography (and everything actually) that The Graphics Fairy has on her site. So I browsed her site and decided on this.

To transfer it, I used a technique I have never used before, but found on her site. I rubbed white chalk all over the back of the piece of paper from my printer. Then shook off all the excess chalk dust and centered the paper on the lazy susan. I taped it down to make sure it did not shift and then used a ball point pen to trace everything. This took me the longest, but really only took about 30 minutes. (I did get a killer hand cramp though!!!!)

This is what it looked like when I took the paper off.

I used a sharpie to trace over the chalk!

I had to use several sharpies because the tips would get some chalk on them and it would not work as well. I just kept going over it until I got what I needed. Then I used Miss Mustard Seed's Antiquing Wax over the entire surface and here is the finished result. What do you think?

One more time - because who can resist a Before and After?:

Let me know what you think! Have a good ending to your week and stay cool.....


Linking up to: Bloom Designs, The Dedicated House, Beyond the Picket Fence, Thrifty Decor Chick Beyond the Picket Fence

Thrifty Finds Friday #7

TGIF!!!!!

I know it has been a while since my last TFF and I apologize. I have been so busy moving, unpacking and doing projects and have not been out as much browsing my usual spots for finding goodies. I am going to try to return to doing this once a month.

Today I have two items to share. Since moving in we have been using a little piano stool for our desk chair. Needless to say, we don't spend much time on the laptop because the stool is so uncomfortable after about 5 minutes...... Anyways, I found a really great chair at Habitat for Humanity ReStore for $12.99. It will be very easy to either slipcover, or reupholster. The hardest part will be finding fabric!

My second item was also from the ReStore. It is a chandelier that I plan to spray paint ORB. I have gradually been changing out our light fixtures (we did not upgrade any because I did not like any of the options) and this is next. I bought it for $39.99 and hope to sell the builder's one for $30. I have gotten what I have asked for all light fixtures I have sold, so I think I will get that. That means I will have spent $10 - Whoo Hoo!!!!!

Thank you for checking it out today!

***Update: Click here to see the Chandelier transformed!

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Rub N Buffing a Wooden Frame

I love me some Rub N Buff (but the name makes me giggle....)

When my husband's family moved to the south from Long Island many years ago, they brought a beautiful watercolor of the NYC skyline along. We are lucky enough to have had it in our first apartment, and then our first home, and now this home. It is beautiful and the colors in it work well in our home.

The original frame was a greenish, almost mint color that I did not care for. Because the print, which was cut in half and framed, is so big......a new frame was out of the equation. So I painted the frame about 12 years ago. You can see a close up of the brown stain that I used.

When we brought them to this house, I did not like the frame in the room I was thinking of hanging it in. I almost hung them up in the loft, but my Mom talked me out of it. She said that it was too beautiful to not have downstairs where more people could enjoy it. (Don't you just hate when mother's are still, always right!?!?!). Anyways.........I agreed, so now what to do with the frame?

I love gold accents, and our family room has many gold frames, a gold framed mirror etc. So I planned to paint the frames gold. Then I happened to see a blog post about Rub N Buff, and I thought PERFECT! I have Rub N Buff, and have used it on many things. I don't know why I did not think of this myself....... So I got Rubbing and Buffing!

There was a mess on the glass, no worries.......I used a razor to clean most of it up, however, it took forevah! Since I have only done one frame so far, I will definitely be using painters tape on the other frame to avoid cleaning up the waxy mess.

Here you can see the frames on the wall with the left one not gold, and the right one gold. I LOVE how the gold looks and am so glad I decided to do it. Now I have to get the other one done.

Here are some links to other Family Room posts if you want to see the other gold frames.

Wall Art:

Craigslist Dresser Redo:

Thank you and come back soon. I will have another post about the IKEA Billy built-ins I installed in this room as well.


Linking up here: Green Willow Pond
Savvy Southern Style
DIY by Design

Recap of July 4th Projects

Hello and Happy July! Can you believe July 4th is around the corner? It has come so fast this year that I am not ready. at. all.

We are currently on vacation and so I have not done any patriotic projects at home this year (this vacation involved a 3 day long road trip that I may blog about later because it was such a wonderful trip). Today however, I thought I would share two projects that I did last year, that I just love. If you have never visited my blog before, welcome. If you have seen these posts from last year, sorry for the repeat.

The first was a kids project, that could easily be an adult project. It may come out a bit more polished - but I love mine and proudly displayed it in our home before leaving for vacation.

Painted Shell Flag Art:

Some of the shells fell off in the fall, but 5 minutes with the glue gun and it was good as new! You can read the full post and tutorial HERE.

The second project was easy and cost me no $$$$ (my favorite kind of project!). I LOVE this and enjoy using it around Memorial Day as well as summer and July 4th.

Old Fence Board to Rustic Painted Flag:

You can read the full post and tutorial HERE.

I hope you enjoyed my projects and please share if you make one of your own! Hope you have a very fun and safe July 4th weekend.