Shabby up some accessories

  

    Here's a couple of items that I have prettied up. I don't have "before" pics for some of them, but the "after" is much more fun to look at anyway. 😊

This sweet little basket was just that regular basket color that we all know. I used a creamy white paint and then distressed it with some water on a wash cloth. I like the way the distressing looks when water is used. The scratches from sandpaper are sometimes just too much, or inappropriate on the piece. Gently rubbing the basket with a damp washcloth gives it a softer aged look.

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 My lovely tiger! Isn't he adorable?? He used to be brown with stripes. Typical tiger stuff. But now he's this soft baby pink. I'm going to paint him for a more aged look when I get around to it.

I love him so much because of the ridiculousness of him. He's going to sit at the foot of the master bed and have blankets thrown on him. I really love the idea of having something as stiff and pretentious as a full size tiger statue and treating it like just another thing in the house. Something that is over the top, and treasured, but everyone has just gotten used to having around, and it now is sort of invisible and just... there, ya know?

With my tiger I'm reminded of that famous photo of Edie Sedgewick posing on top of her Omersa rhino? It's the familiar, unspecial treatment of a very special object that is so appealing to me.

I mean, come on now. Have you ever seen anything as fabulous as this?

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These little reliefs are made from resin. They were painted in full color originally. I whitewashed them both. On one I added some very light pastels back in, in order to highlight the flower blossoms. The ribbon on that one was painted with gold liquid leaf. I like the decadent look of it now, but not how much the bright gold contrasts with the softness of the colors. I whitewashed it again, and it looks much better. I haven't taken a picture of it yet, so I can't show you, but take my word for it. I'll post a picture when I take more photos.

For the other one I left it with the one creamy white color. Using watered down brown paint, it now has an antiqued look. I made the wash using just a dab of Craftsmart brown paint and mixed it into a plastic watercolor palette (Dollar Tree for a pack of six). Using just a regular paintbrush and a heavy hand, I drenched the piece with the mixture and then give it a quick pat dry. Just paint and wipe it down. I kept on doing this until I was pleased with the final look of it. I wasn't too worried about getting it wrong since, as with anything else, if I feel like I overdid it, or just don't like the way it finished, I can always go back and start over again. Remember, anything can be re-sanded, repainted or redone again, so don't be afraid that you're going to do it wrong.

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Lastly, for now, I have an old pot belly stove. It's made of wood, but the feet are metal and were glued to the base. One of the feet was already damaged and then again, even more so, when I removed it to paint the stove. I'm not sure if I'm going to try to put them back on or not. It looks okay on the floor, so maybe I won't bother with it. 

 



The stove was painted with a washed out light gray. I think the color will blend in with the colors of the house nicely. It was distressed using both sanding and a damp cloth, and the "metal" parts were painted using the gold leaf paint. Again, the paint feels too bright and I'm going to try to tone it down some.

I'll see you soon!