It's been too long!

SOOOOO....since the last time I have written a lot of things have changed, well mostly just my location. I moved from Jacksonville in sunny Florida to Indianapolis, IN. I am officially a Hoosier! (...whatever that means ) The decision to move was pretty sudden and a little outrageous! But it has been an amazing adventure! After living here for about 2 weeks I got a job as an art teacher at an elementary school! I absolutely love it! My aunt has graciously allowed my boyfriend and I (ohh, and I should also mention our dog and cat as well!) to take over her basement for the last 6 months. We have been on the hunt for the perfect "us" home! I think we found it, but I am trying not to get too invested because all of the financing mumbo-jumbo (Yes, I know this is the important stuff...) is taking a while to develop. So this is me being patient (or not so patient)! Pinterest makes this oh so difficult with all of their diy/home decor ideas!!! I am ready to get my hands dirty! I want to start creating again! So if you are reading this be prepared to get some serious DIY post in the months to come!! Enjoy! Vicky

Where to sit??

As mentioned in my last post, the semester is over! For my final project in my screen printing class I designed and printed my own fabric. With this fabric I reupholstered a few chairs. And here they are...Drumroll....

Here is a hideous $7 chair straight out of the 70's

And the after

Bit of a close up

Now the $2 rocking chair that needed some major love

And the transformation to fabulous

I don't have a before picture of this chair...I bought the frame for the low low price of 1 dollar!

Though this chair is my least favorite of the 3, Teghan seems to think differently!

No Printing Pro

As many of you know, our blog was featured on Better After!! &hearts (can I just tell you how excited I was, I called my mom right away and said GET TO A COMPUTER NOOOOW Someone is actually reading our blog!!!)

Anyway, I have received tons of questions about the process in which I used to make the lace design.

Okay, so I am no expert in screen printing, in fact I just learned how to actually use this process about 4 months ago in the screen printing class I am currently enrolled in. (well I guess not currently since the semester is over!) woo-hoo! I could sit here and explain it in long boring details or I could just link you to this fantastic video I found that shows you just how to do it....so the first step is...I'm just kidding, here you go--

Screen Printing Guru

Check out the video, these guys really know what they are talking about, but if you are still a bit unclear on the process contact me and I'll help you out :)

Sunday, Sanding Sunday!

Okay, so am I the only one who really enjoys using a sander!? I honestly love using mine. Sometimes I find myself sanding things that could probably be manipulated without sanding but I do it anyway :)

Yesterday my boyfriend(Shawn)'s family used our yard for a garage sale. Needless to say, it didn't go well. BUT the upside of that is I got to go through all of the leftovers and keep a bunch of goodies! One of the items I scored was this little shelf.

I had some major plans for this little guy!

I woke this morning ready to work! Alright so let's be honest, it's Sunday, I'll be home alone I wanted to stay in bed all day...but I knew I shouldn't. So after a nutritious breakfast (Lucky charms and soy milk, YUM) I managed to pulled myself and Teghan (my bulldog) out of bed.

This is where all the sanding excitement comes in! POWER TOOLS, WOOHOO! ::self high-five:: Anyway, after it was sanded I painted the shelf high glossy black. Of course I was anxious for the paint to dry (like always)! After the paint was dry, I did something unexpected....(oh the suspense)..... I screen printed the shelf pieces! (I have been dying to use the lace pattern I burned into my screen Thursday in class) Being fairly new to the screen print world I was unsure if the ink two would "stick" to the painted surface... and to my surprise it did! The result was absolutely gorgeous!!

Whatcha think??

Rain rain go away

The continuous downfall outside makes it hard to think about anything other than curling up in bed with a good book. ::YAWN:: Anyway, in my screen print 2 class I am designing and printing our own fabric. With this fabric I am reupholstering a chaise lounger and a rocking chair (I am super excited about doing the rocking chair, not so much the chaise...seems like it is going to be a pain in the butt). I got the rocking chair at a thrift store for $2 ( I almost wet my pants I was so excited!) The rocking chair has these fantastic curvy art deco arms I absolutely love! I purchased the chaise from a nice woman off craigslist for a bit more ($30, I believe). It's a bit larger than I thought it was going to be but I still think it is going to be beautiful. Here they are and all their glory:

The chaise before it was stripped

Down to the bare bones

The pieces won't be done for a few weeks but they will be well worth the wait :) Get excited!

Good morning readers

I bought this armoire at a garage sale for 5 DOLLARS! Great deal, but as you can see it needed some serious love. Most of the wood needed to be glue back on, one of the legs was missing half of the decorative feature, and the warped door needed some glass!

 

After fixing the troubled wood areas and sanding the piece down I painted it a glossy black. I then used the crackle glaze from Valspar (bought @ Lowes). After letting the glaze dry (I was very antsy. I kept checking the time to see if it had been an hour yet!) I add that blue color (Olympic- Blue Blood). I was ehh about the results. I didn't see much crackle, I was a bit disappointed.  Then had a brilliant idea to get my sander out and give this baby some age spots myself! I worked wonders for this piece! I then applied a black glaze all over the armoire to give it that washed out feel. The end result was just what I envisioned!

This piece has been sold and I am sure it's making someone as happy as it made me!


Ohhh yes the hardware is original. I just used a little elbow grease to remove the rust and clear coated them.

First time blogger!

I am constantly looking at blogs about furniture, design, and DIY ideas-- so I figured "why not start one for myself?" Well, not just for myself, but I wanted to include my mom as well (though as of right now she has no idea I'm doing this).

We have started a little venture called Rescued and Rehabbed. What we do it take used and disgarded items (mostly furniture and fabric) and make something new and desirable out of it. We are fairly new to this DIY craze, but so far we are loving it!

Here are some pictures of our booth from the French Market in Daytona Beach, Fl.