Get out, you Boob...light that is!

A couple of weeks ago my mom flew in from New York for a short visit. I don't get to see her much so I was super duper excited. We always work on a craft/home decor project or two while we are together. This go-round we whipped her up 3 roman shades. I didn't get pics but they turned out gorgeous. I am thinking of whipping up a shade for my patio doors though. Maybe I will even do a tutorial. Who knows?

Anyway, while she was here we stopped into the local habitat for Humanity store and found this monstrosity for $5! Thanks, Mom!

Can you believe that we agreed that we should buy this thing? The finish was ugly and it was rusty on the bottom. Those shades! Ugghh! Her bones were good though. She just needed a little love. So I nicknamed her Chandy. Chandy was going to replace this thing...Boob light alert!

To prep my new {to me} fixture I gave her a good bath with some soap water. Dried her off with a microfiber cloth, and dismantled her. I stuck cotton balls in the sockets and wrapped the cords in duck tape to keep these areas protected. Why duct tape? I couldn't find my painters tape that I had already gotten out and hid from myself in plain sight. Kind of like when you are looking for your glasses and they are on you face...Yeah, I did that. 

To paint her I laced her on an old bent closet rod and threaded that through a ladder. And here she is in all her oil rubbed bronze gloriousness!

Once the hubster hung her I touched up any little nicks that occurred with some paint that I sprayed into the top of an old food container. I used a q-tip to apply. I love the way she turned out!

See the shutter to the left of the door? One of my besties found that at a thrift store for $2 and it made her think of me. Gotta love friends!

Has a friend ever surprised you with an unconventional gift that you are madly in love with?

XOXO ~Jaime 

Builder Grade to Old World Shelving

The laundry shelf is finished!!!! It was so much fun to design, watch my hubster build, and perform experiments on. I am so in love! What do you think?

This shelf was very inexpensive to make. It cost under $10! We used a 2"x10" that we already had laying around, a 1"x4" @ 8' and a 2"x2" @8'. That is it! I wanted it super chunky, simple, and most importantly to look old.

I decided I was going to try the vinegar, steel wool, and tea staining process that you see all over the blogosphere and pinterest. I started out brewing some super duper strong tea and brushing it on the entire shelf.

Next up was making the vinegar solution. I dumped a handful of steel nails and screws into the bottom of a mason jar and poured in plain cheapo white vinegar. Now for the hard part. Waiting. Waiting. And more waiting. I had to wait for a whole 24 hours! Can you believe that???? Bah! I am so impatient. Anyway, that is how long it takes for the nails to oxidize. This is what my jar looked like. You can almost see the bubbles that started forming immediately.

Today, I did it. It is all stained. It took a little experimenting along the way and I was happy to do it. The top board aged immediately. It was amazing and sooo very exciting to watch it age before my eyes. The front board, however, was very stubborn. It just did not want to cooperate. I decided to added another coat of tea after the first coat of the vinegar oxidizing solution was dry. Then tried again. A little better. Not quite what I was going for, but I noticed that my tea was turning black from the vinegar oxidizing solution. Hmmmm. What did I do? I dumped the tea straight into the vinegar solution eliminating a step and dry time. I told you I was impatient. :) I brushed on a coat of the new streamlined mixture. It was better but we just weren't quite there yet. I sat and I thunk, and I thunk some more. What could deepen the stain? Coffee grounds! I dumped some previously used coffee grounds into the mix. Perfection! Just what I was looking for! Instasmile! :D Waiting again. Ugghhh. It has to dry before I can wipe off the grounds. If you try this at home use an old stained up rag that you can toss in the garbage. It stains.

Here is a little shot to show you the difference from new lumber to aged.  BIG difference!

Are you ready for the before and afters?

 Before

After

And here is a look at the inspiration room.

Source

What do you think? I love my own little spin on an already pretty design.

What has inspired you lately?

Till next time, 

XOXO ~Jaime

I am linking up to:

Momnivore's Delemma
From My Front Porch to Yours
52 Mantels
Beyond The Picket Fence
Shabby Creek Cottage
Tatertots and Jello