But I Want To Keep Her...

What do you get when you combine an old restaurant table top, a pile of pallet wood, the top to a vintage cook stove, a broken mirror mount from a dresser long gone and some paint?

Something pretty fabulous! Or at least I think so. This is a very unique, one of a kind, and might I add very heavy potting bench that I just finished making for tomorrows garden event at The Wade Creek House.

(Sorry for the horrible before photo. My camera was on video mode and I didn't realize it until it was too late)

It was one of those moments I had when I look at a pile of something and say, "ummm let me see...potting bench".  Weird to some, but totally normal to me. I hope someone falls in love with her and has to have her, but I am not going to 'give' it away. I've been crawling around on the garage floor for three days nailing her together after all.

And...do you want to know a secret? It wouldn't hurt my feelings too terribly if everyone just drooled over her without breaking out their wallets because...

I really want to keep her. Just don't tell my husband.

Letterhead Desk Redo

I just had to share this desk with you. I had been watching it at my local Goodwill waiting and hoping the price would drop. Eventually it hit $14.99 and I decided that was the magic number...it was mine.

It was typically dark and boring like most of the pieces I pick up, but I had a vision that was centered around a decorative letterhead paper I found at last summers Plucky Maiden Junkfest. It's weird how pieces just speak to me sometimes, I look at them and picture them finished. I can't remember my name some days, but if you ask me a furniture or paint question; I probably can remember it verbatim.

I started off by painting it with primer. This was really necessary on this piece because it had some blue ink on the top that just kept wanting to bleed through. I painted the body of the desk in bright white except for the top and the drawer fronts. I have found that the paper sticks better to the primer than the paint.

From the beginning I planned to paint the top with chalkboard paint. I have been using it a lot lately since it seems to be so popular. It looks classy black if someone chooses to just use it that way too. I covered the drawers with the letterhead paper and distressed the edges as well as the edges of the desk itself. When I put the drawers in it still looked too pristine to me, not enough character. I decided to pick up a variety of wooden letters and numbers in different fonts from the craft store and nail them to the drawer fronts. A couple of them had to be cut in half between two drawers to fit.

I finished it off with some dark wax to emphasize the distressed edges. Sorry the pictures didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. It is definitely one of a kind. It turned out even better than I had expected. Now it is time to focus on a few projects for our upcoming garden event this Saturday. I can't wait to share the unusual potting bench with you that I am working on. Have a fabulous week!




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