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Furniture with a Story

December 21, 2012 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments



Have you ever taken an old piece of furniture (with a story) and given it new life to make it beautiful again?  It’s one of my favorite kind of projects to do.  You might remember seeing these before pics of my chest of drawers from my grandparent’s auction.

I loved the drawers and saw potential in this piece right away!  My cousin grabbed the second one, and I love how he remade his set chest of drawers to turn it into an end table!  I quickly redid that little chair (in the above pic) for my bedroom makeover, but the drawers have set in my car port since the beginning of this summer!?

They looked so sad and forgotten in the middle of all kinds of other projects.  I finally set out to tackle the transformation a little before Thanksgiving, and this is how I did it.

I gave the metal drawer slides a quick coat of silver spray paint to cover up the rust and grim.  I then gave the drawers a really good sanding.  This was the most labor intensive part of this project.

Once the drawers were sanded, I used a gray stain that I received at the Country Living Fair to cover the drawers and the chest itself.  I knew the stain would settle different on the chest (since that was just pure wood) than on the drawers (which were painted white).  I was excited that the drawers and chest would have the same finish, but (since the original base was different) the drawers would stand out a little.

I loved the result.  My son said it looks dirty, just like he said about my Rope Balls’ Planter.

Next, I gave the drawer handles a coat of a bright blue spray paint, and I then gave them a light sanding so they too looked more rustic.  I wanted to add some color to my piece, but let it be pretty timeless as well.  I think I accomplished that.

I decided that this chest of drawers would be a perfect addition to my craft table/area.  My hope was that it would help keep this area organized, so it didn’t always look such a mess.

Once it was set up in my house, I was so excited about it!  I quickly snapped this picture with my iPhone and sent it to a friend.

The desire to have a neat free craft area is good, but it probably isn’t practical, right!?  This is my area now…

It is complete with Legos and toys all over the floor.  Watch your step around here!

Although the table is a mess once again, the drawers have been super helpful, and I love all the drawers and dividers that help keep my favorite craft stuff organized.

I love the way this chest of drawers turned out, but what I love the most is that it use to be my grandpa’s.  I love the story that comes with it.  My grandpa has always been super handy and built amazing toys, clocks, and lamps.  I was just talking to my mom last weekend about how he made the most intricate doll house with furniture for my sister.  It is gorgeous.  With his auction this summer he sold most of his tools, since he is getting older, but I got this drawer set where he used to store his bolts and screws and used it everyday.  It is so special that I now can use it everyday to help my craft.

Do you have a piece of furniture in your home that has a special story?  Thank you so much for stopping by!

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The Auction

July 31, 2012 By Erica Deuel 10 Comments

Here are the long-awaited pictures of my grandparents’ auction!!  It was so hard to cut down my FULL camera card to these 22 pictures, but I did it.

The morning of the auction, my mom did a toast with her sweet parents!

Aren’t they cute!?!  Editing these pictures made me sentimental all over again!  I’m so thankful I got to go to Ohio and see them and be there for this big event in their lives!

There were so many cool things in this auction!  I got to claim one of these old-time cast irons!  It is now a beautiful book end on my shelf!

I could have claimed a lot, but I held myself back!  How gorgeous is this copper bin?!?

There was stuff in three barns and oozing out on the grounds around.  I never knew they had so much stuff crammed into this cute house.

Yes, that was a church bench!  I go “grandma, where did you get a church bench!?” while thinking to myself  “she is the coolest grandma ever to have a church pew (and where has that thing been hiding)!!”.  She said, “I got it at church!  While the church was remodeling, I got it!”  Ha!  Of course you would get a church pew from a church!?!  If I had lived closer, I would have snatched this thing!  It went for $50!!

So, as you can imagine having two small boys around all this was a bit hard.  They LOVED it all, and wanted to touch it all.  Hence why we threw a lot of rocks down by the creek (removed from all this during the actual auction).  It was really cool to let them experience it off and on all day though!  They couldn’t believe how fast the auctioneer talked!

I think they are messing with old coffee grinders in that picture!  So cool!

We estimated about 300 people showed up for the auction.  My grandparents strolled around a little, but they mostly sat on their front porch throughout the auction.  I can’t imagine how hard it would be to see all your stuff go and to know some of it was worth more than what it “sold” for.

I love my grandma!  Isn’t she pretty!?!  It’s so sad that Ohio is so far away!!

The first barn held a lot of household items and decor stuff.  The second barn was all my grandpa’s tools and equipment.

Here they were auctioning off my grandpa’s tractor.  Insert tear, tear.

The boys had a blast!  You can see J was more interested in waving to his family than seeing what the auctioneer was talking about.  After the house was auctioned off to the highest bidder, the auctioneer came and talked to my grandparents to see if they wanted to accept the bid.

It was lower than what they wanted, so it is going on the market for sale.  They were a little disappointed that they didn’t get offered for more for the house, but I was proud of them for not just saying yes and giving it away.

My boys were such great sports!  I was so proud of them!!

I love that picture and how it shows info on the auction and also my sweet grandparents taking it all in.  So, do you want to see something my mom and I bid on!?!  We bid on these two beauties.  (They were in the third barn.)

They are old rustic drawers that my grandpa kept screws and bolts in.  We only wanted one, which is good because my cousin wanted the other!!  We got these for $5.  I’m not even kidding.  I guess no one else saw the potential here!!!

My cousin has amazing taste, and  he already has transformed his into a masterpiece!  Amazing job Corbin!!

Did he not do an incredible job!?!  They hadn’t put the hardware back on yet, when I got these pictures, but he said they would.  My little beauty is still sitting out in my garage with most of my other finds.  Check out everything I walked away…

I do love old wood, but I gave those two boards to my wood working brother.  The old window, I’m going to make into a masterpiece to help me homeschool my boys!  I can’t decide what I want to do with the little chair.  I’m pretty excited about it!  I can’t decide if I want to paint the wood or the metal.  One of the two I want to leave alone, but I can’t decide which way to go with it.  What do you think!?!

My old drawers I plan on using for craft supplies.  I can’t decide what I want to do with it either!  There are so many options that keep my head turning and wont let it land on an idea!  Oh decisions!  I love how Corbin added legs to his drawer box, so maybe I will do that too!  I’m going to start by washing the thing and go from there!

Thank you so much for reading about my grandparents’ auction!  I love that I have some pieces of my grandparents’ past to enjoy!  Do you have some old items that are special to you!  I’d love to hear what they are!?!

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Where The Wild Things Are

July 20, 2012 By Erica Deuel 3 Comments

Did you grow up loving the book “Where The Wild Things Are”?  I did not.  I didn’t get it.  To me , it was just a lot of pictures of monsters.  Now that I am a mom, I adore the book!  I love the imagination and can relate as I see my boys create places and pretend daily!  I tell my boys “I’ll eat you up-I love you so”  all the time now.  It’s a daily quote used around here.  In honor of this book and our love for it, I thought I’d paint another famous line.

“Let the Wild Rumpus Start!” is a line I often think of when I think of my little family.  Having a five, three, and one year old makes life a little crazy!  You know life with young kids normally is crazy, but it is so so good too!  I want to embrace our craziness because to me it means we are so so blessed!  I can’t imagine life without my three kids.  Yes, I might get to craft or blog more, but my life would be nowhere near as rich and rewarding.  I love my life, so I choose to say “bring on the crazy” which is what “let the wild rumpus start” means to me.

I started this little sign with an old piece of tongue and groove wood, and you know I love old wood!  I then stenciled my words on with the technique I showed you on my burlap sign.

I probably worked on this sign for 1-2 hours everyday this week to complete it.  My five-year old sat right next to me during most of my painting spells.  Thanks to him there is actually a picture of me here crafting. 🙂

Isn’t he a cute little sidekick?!  One day he painted this big rock.

Another day he wanted to paint the same picture as me 🙂

After I got the words down, I added the trees.

I dream of having an art studio with a huge gorgeous room decorated right off of pinterest.  There is just not a place for that in our little 60+ year old ranch house, so for now…this is where I created this piece.

It works though.  Until I get that studio/craft room, I will just enjoy the creative spot I have!  I slowly added monsters, until I had one on each of my trees!

I was getting close to being finished!  I love to create and craft, but I get “tired” of doing one thing for too long.  Haha! That’s probably why I do a little of it all!!  I can’t master one piece in my store like I wish I could.  I love to make and try new things.  After five days of painting this thing, I was excited for it to be done.  Although I LOVE love painting…and paint bottles and paint brushes.  They just make me feel like creating.  Do you have materials that you just love like this?

I painted some leaves on my trees and outlined them with a small sharpie, and my sign was done!  I love the finished product!

I’m not exactly sure where we will put this sign.  Maybe close to my kids art wall (that’s not yet complete), or above our engagement pictures.

It is not exact, but you can see the picture I was going for and used to model my design.  That fourth monster was the hardest to paint.  I mean, he’s like two colors yet shows contrast and depth!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my sign as the project for my Friday Project Spotlight this week!!  Thank you so much for checking in!  If you haven’t entered my hair bow giveaway yet-be sure to!

This weekend I am heading north to Farmersville, Ohio to help my grandparents auction off their big log/loft house and acreage.  They are down sizing into a retirement neighborhood where the houses are small and they get their grass cut for them.  It makes sense for an older couple, but this place has so many childhood memories for me!  It’s an amazing house that I grew up loving to go to.  I am sad to see it go, but I am also excited to see an auction!  I have never been to one!  I will post about it when I get back!

I hope you have a great weekend!

Let’s Party at One Creative Mommy,

At The Picket Fence,

I Heart Nap Time,

Stuff and Nonsense,

Romantic Home.

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