Halloween Decoration

It was a gorgeous day last Sunday, and at 10am I was already sitting on my couch , sipping my home made latte and looking around my Halloween decoration in my living room. It just made me smile.

I am Chinese, and we usually don't celebrate Halloween, the "Ghost" things were kind of scary and we thought it was a bad thing, but since I am in Canada for almost over 14 years, and I am an educator  in the school, for me its more like a fun thing to do, especially I like home decoration, so who cares about "ghost", and "witch"? just have fun! Boo!

Summer Finds and DIY Projects

 Hello, it is such a gorgeous day in Vancouver , and it's been a year i haven't come back to write my blog, time goes by so quick and I am really busy between work and mom with two toddlers. It's fall here, we are so lucky didn't get a hot summer this year, and so far the weather is pretty good, I can't complain too much. I would like to share some DIY Projects and some treasures I found in the summer. ( actually some DIY I just finished this afternoon )

1. Little wooden rocky chair - I paid this one from the garage sale and only paid $5.00, it was originally brown color, I painted with Vintage White chalk paint long time ago, and just added "SIT" with the stencil this afternoon.

  2. Ipad Holder - I spent $2.99 at the value village for the cutting board, and got idea from my friend Katheryn 's sharing information from Facebook, I sanded it and repainted ,then put stencil "Welcome" on it, now it's perfect sitting on my kitchen counter top , its good to check recipes while I am cooking.

3. The French Style wooden frame - I found in a little vintage boutique store, there were lots little cute accessories  there, it took a while to place and glued them inside, then I glued an lace on the outside surface, because the original frame was light brown color, and I am a Vintage White fan, so of course I repaint white as well, and thinking it will be hung on the wall of my girl's bedroom.

4. The Key Holder - same, I picked from the garage sale, and repainted , inside the frame I painted black chalk paint, I like it a lot, will be hung on the wall of our garage .

5. Mason Jar project I also got idea from my friend as well, and I love them, they are in my bathroom now.

here are also some finds I found during the summer, are they cute?!

jewelry holder frame

Mr.Honey's opa passed away in October, so we made a trip to Vernon for the funeral. I found a wooden frame at the thrift store, it was in good shape, my first thought was for Rocky's mom, although I didn't have exactly idea but thought I could make something for her as Birthday gift. I like to find "gift" for someone special, it is not necessary has to be some special event, as long as something makes me to thinking of somebody...

Because life is so busy with work and two young kids, the frame has been sitting in our garage for a long time, I thought about to make chalkboard frame, then the idea of jewelry holder popped in my mind, and probably even better for his mom, because she likes fashion too! I wanted to make it on my own, but after i started to paint, i was getting nervous, especially this  would be a gift to his mom, so i started to "bossy" Mr.Honey to finish my project. I didn't like the original wood color, kind of 'yellowish", we picked the "vintage white", then brush the stencil on it, Mr.Honey bought the hooks from the dollar store, he is a very handy man, he first used the rubber band to put the line on it, make sure where the hooks would be, drilled the hole after, now  you can see what  the final product looks like, I hope his mom will like it!

Antique Rustic Trunk

I have been looking for an Antique Rustic Trunk for a long time, either sometimes the price was too high I couldn't afford to pay or there were no special character on it...I found this little rustic trunk at one of my favorite consignment store in my neighborhood on Saturday, i just love it, although the size was little smaller then I thought it could be used as Nyha's doll collection. I love the fact it was wooden but outside covered by fabric, if I have time in the future, I would like to redo it, use my own fabric with some meaningful graphic on it.So I brought this little treasure piece home.
I first cleaned the inside and outside, it was not too bad, but I don't like the inside sheet , and I remembered months ago I bought some " music sheet" wrapping paper from Home Sense, and it was cream and brown color, it would be perfect for this little trunk!

It didn't take me long to finish the project, and voila! Here is Nyha's little doll treasure trunk! I love it!

French Provincial Dresser

If you ask me what is my favorite color? I would say "White", then is "Black" and "Purple". That's why I am an " Antique French Provincial Furniture" lover, in my dream house, I want all my bath towels are white, and my bedding as well. But unfortunately I have two young babies at home, and two little ones plus Mr.Honey are all sweat a lot, seems like I could never have white bedding in my room. Every time after they wake up, you could find sweat spot on the pillow case! Grr, what can I do ???

Last night I was browsing craiglist on the bed, and one posting caught my eye right away! It was "Antique French Provincial Style Dresser"! I enlarged the picture, and found the condition was pretty good on the photo, also came with a very good deal! ( The seller wanted to get away by the weekend!)  I wanted to change my dresser for a long time, especially after Mr.Honey put up  his photography photos in the white frame weeks ago, I always keep an eye to find the right piece for my room. I immediately responded the seller and hoping I could be the one to have it! I think when you buy things from craiglist, sometimes it is just like "LUCK", if it was meant to be yours, it would be! And yes, I think this is it! Now I am the new owner of this beautiful piece, ( the seller had owned it for 16 years already !)  the next I will try to find two antique look black candle holder to put on the dresser,  finger cross, hope it won't take that long to find it!

Chalk Paint Side Table

I don't know how to call this? Side table? I found this one at the thrift store and grabbed it at $14.00.  I didn't have any specific plan how I was going to do with it, but I like the style although the condition was just ok, and it was only $14.00. As a beginner to learn how to redo furniture transformation, at least it worth to try.
I followed the usual step, sanded it first, then painted the first coat, and sanded the corner again the get some distressed looking, then went for the second coat until dry, I found the stencil from "Martha Stewart" I bought from Michael when it was on sale. I didn't shake well the paint before I paint the stencil on it, I think because I was still lack of experiences and also didn't have enough "patient", so the result was not too happy, the top stencil was shown a little bubble. I was thinking to re-sand it again, and repaint it. When it was dry, I sanded it right away , actually it looked better, the pattern was just shown more faded which was more "antique look", so I decided to leave it like that.

Now this side table is sitting on the front deck, I think it will be nice to have a cup of coffee with  newspaper in the morning some day , especially have my beautiful flower garden at the front! Just like the words I painted on the table " sweet home"!