27 July 2012

Treasure Huntin' find... Uranium glass lamp!!!

The last coupla Treasure Hunts have been bountiful!

This chandelier begged me to take it home on four separate occasions, but each time I passed it by. I love the nautical look it has, but I just could not think of anything I could use it for. 
Well on this trip I decided that since it was still there after 2 weeks it was OBVIOUSLY meant for me to take home.
AND I have a fabulous plan for it...

 
  A little something for Chad or at least that is what I told him.  I picked this one up for him because he always says I never get him anything. It is really so he can build me more stuff. But we ain't gonna tell him that. :)
 Just a few small random things that will be put to good use. 
I love collecting little unique glass and silver kitchen items. The salt shaker has already found it's home in a glass front cabinet... Which will hopefully soon have chicken wire instead of glass. :)
 This adorable little lamp was a must have as soon as I saw it. I love the jade color. My camera does not do this lamp justice at all. For some reason the colors are off in every photo I take. It has no wire and no makers mark, but I knew it was definitely special.
 I just didn't know how SPECIAL until I got it home... And realized I had actually found a real Treasure.
From my research I have found out that this is a Houze Uranium lamp. The uranium gives it this fabulous glow.
 This is what it looks like under a black light.
 
And here it is all cleaned up with a new cord. Just need to find the PERFECT shade... Because you can't use just anything on something this Amazing.
 Another great trip this week... Lots of great finds.
 I'm pretty sure I have a frame addiction :) But each one will be used to make something fun and unique. The little tea jar with the wire clasp will be added to my collection in the laundry room, turned around so the words don't show, of course.
 How cute is this little stool. I see a coat of paint and some fun fabric in it's future.
 Love the design and colors on this spread, that will be used as fabric. And of course more frames.
 I just can't help myself they are all so pretty.
 And how great is it when you find a matching set. Well I found these pieces about a year ago... 5 bowls and this beautiful platter. They were perfect for my dining room and look great with the sunflower fabric and black ticking. Well.....
 Look what I found this week :) 5 matching plates. OH MY!!! How is that even possible? Not a REAL Treasure, but I am pretty excited about it.

02 July 2012

Dining Room & Table Redo

Remember my big gorgeous hand-made farm house table that I just had to have because it matched my fabulous buffet...


(If you click on a pic, most of them come up in a larger view)
 WELL... it does not fit in the new house at all :( 
So I had to Redo a Redone trash shopping find from about 9 yrs ago. I don't have any photos of it when I got it, but it was painted half cream with an ivy stencil around the table top edge and the rest was a brown stain. This is what it looked like after I did a temporary redo on it.
This has been in my garage for about 3yrs now housing spiders and collecting saw dust.
 


I sanded the whole thing down to the original wood color.


  I started to paint the table with an Antique white, but decided the ebony was a better choice for my house. Plus I would have had to repaint the chairs and they were not easy to sand and stain the first time I did it. They took me about 2 weeks to complete and I really didn't want to change them. 
Also... I started this table because we had family coming and we needed a place for everybody to sit and eat. I started working on it with a week to get it finished before they would be here. 
 Finished two days before they arrived.
 I used ebony stain, but wanted it to be more solid than it was coming out... so I painted it on and left it thick to dry. It took about 4 coats to get the color I wanted on the pedestal.   
 
 
My husband wanted a more wood look, no matter how much I said no I want black. Well the top of the table was on his side. The stain wouldn't cooperate for some reason. Every time we put on a new coat it just looked clumpy or very uneven in places. So after 5 coats, a light rubbing with steel wool between each, and two coats of poly... This is the finished result. I do have to say I like it better this way than the solid black on top.

The scrolled edge around the top doesn't really fit with the clean look I wanted. So I did it in a deeper shade than the top and lighter than the pedestal to make it blend into both.
Now I just need to put a couple coats of poly on the chairs. They didn't need it with the old table, but look weird sitting with this one now.  

 
My dining room was going to have red, white, and cast iron to go with the kitchen, but "I changed my mind" :) I had redone the chairs with this gorgeous sunflower fabric and black ticking about a year ago so I decided to work with it.

When we moved in I had Chad replace the chandelier in here with my Treasure Huntin' find that I had painted white... Well I now want it in my laundry room... That is my next Redo :) 
So what to do...
I thought about doing a drum shade from embroidery hoops, but that would be too many circles in one space... So I started digging in my "crap room" (that is what Chad calls my mess of a craft room) and right now it is a good description.
I found these two wall hangings that had Christmas paintings in them, but the frames were perfect. Added picture hanging hooks to the inside.
 
A few pieces of chain used to make hanging lamps.
And we have a frame.
 
I then wrapped it with a off white linen fabric, stapled into place, and hot glued a jute rope trim around the top and bottom.
And we have a finished dining room. And just in time... The lamp was hung just 3 hours before the family arrived from out of town. :)