Monday, March 19, 2018

Winter Furniture Makeovers and Spring Shows!


Ever since we started this journey of antique shopping and junking, we constantly find ourselves on the look out for sad, old pieces of furniture (or anything for that matter) that we can take and give it a make-over.  A chance for a new life! 
Otherwise, these pieces would end up in the garbage somewhere.  
Which is about where these two nightstands ended up.

Last fall my mom come upon a yard sale with tons of furniture pieces just sitting out, so for $25 and whatever she could fit in her Yukon, she came back with 2 nightstands, a bookshelf, an old, green cabinet of some kind, another brown handmade table (that now sits happily on her front porch) and several other odds and ends.
The poor nightstands looked like a long, tiresome project.  
This was after their baths and a lot of
scrubbing with soap and a spray gun on
my water hose!

They had a poor paint job that was chipping and they were filthy!




Removed hardware and sanded the fronts and tops.  Usually with chalk paint, I don't sand before painting, but these needed it.


I decided to leave the white, do touch ups to all the chippy areas, then put on an entirely new coat of Waverly Chalk Paint in White. 


The drawers received 3 coats of General Finishes Milk Paint in Coastal Blue (after lots of sanding) and the tops received several layers of General Finishes Gel Stain in Dark Walnut. 
(It took about 4 layers of the gel stain to really completely cover up the white)


This is 3 layers of gel stain, and you can tell it needed another coat. 
(Sometimes the best way to tell if you need to do touch  ups or add another coat, is take the piece out into the sun.  That will really tell you the spots you missed!)


I am so excited how they turned out!  There wasn't as much work that needed to be done on them like I originally thought, even though it did take several weeks to finish them little by little.

Here are the other items picked up that day for a steal!


Old chippy bookcase in a baby blue color.  My sister wanted to try her hand at refinishing a piece.  Now it looks great in their craft room to store craft supplies!

Refinished in Waverly Chalk Paint in Crimson

Then there was this neat looking, old cabinet that came with a removable marble top.  They weren't sure what to do with it, but I didn't think it needed refinishing at all and looks great as an accent piece in their kitchen.

One more piece I was working on was a drop leaf table I found at a yard sale.  I originally finished it in General Finishes Driftwood, but even after giving it several coats of topcoat, it was chipping like crazy, which did not make me too happy with their paint.  (To be totally honest, I will probably just stick to chalk paints when painting pieces that are going to be used frequently like tables or chairs. The chalk paint adheres better and does not chip!)


After easily sanding off the grey paint, and the white coat that the previous owner had put on, I noticed a really pretty baby blue color underneath.  I'm really excited how this one might turn out, so stay tuned!


The nightstands and this refinished table will be available at our spring barn sale events in May!

Our first one will be back at H & H Homestead in Jefferson the weekend of May 4-6.  I do love this barn and the sales she puts on.  We loved being a vendor in November, although we are praying for much better weather for this sale!  Food trucks and live music throughout the weekend as well. 
So fun!

Then we have wanted to do a vendor sale in the Chattanooga area, and just had not found the right one.  Then my husband had the great idea of just hosting our own!  Brilliant idea, but he's gotta help I told him, since it was his idea, ha!

Our first annual vintage pop up sale will be in the Chickamauga/Chattanooga area the following weekend, May 11-12!  We have had so much fun planning so far and have started collecting items specifically for that sale!  So, if you're in the north Georgia area that weekend, please come see us!
It is mother's day weekend, so what a perfect time for shopping, right?!
My favorite part, is that my boys have decided to set up their own booth too :)  Of course that will be so cute and I'm excited to see what they come up with.

Also, keep following us on Facebook and Instagram for updates closer to the shows for items that will be available!  Can't wait to see you there!

Friday, January 12, 2018

A DIY kind of Christmas and EXCITING things for 2018!

I absolutely love Christmas time, but as the holiday season nears, I always seem to stress about gifts and what to get everyone.  (I know I'm not the only one!)  This year I decided to go the DIY/homemade gift route and I was pretty pleased with what I came up with!  

For my mom:


A fun photo frame built from an old pallet and a cute sign for her kitchen, 
because, well, she loves wine!

For my sister:


She saw a shirt in an antique store while we were shopping after Thanksgiving, 
but couldn't find the right size, so I thought 
"I can probably make that!"  
Such a neat, newfound way to make t-shirts using freezer paper and fabric paint.

For my mother in law:


Another pallet photo frame as she adores pictures of all of her grandchildren :)


And a fun piece of Christmas decor as well!

We even got so creative as to make our own Christmas shirts!  Totally fun and easy and I'm sure there will be more to be made as our spring show in May rolls around too :)


And my boys thought up their own designs too, I thought Noah's was pretty creative!


Tate, having named his reindeer "The Grinch", wore his for 4 days in a row.  
(Surprised it held up well with washing!)


Sweet Bennie even got his very first Christmas ornament:


My sister made shirts for her friends too :)


And my aunt loves snowmen, so of course we came up with a shirt for her too:


I was also able to do a couple of custom orders as well over the holidays!


This was my first very large sign that I did for a very sweet, long time, family friend that I knew during my years on the swim team.

I had a great tip given to me by a friend to keep these larger signs (4 ft x 12 in ) sturdier by using "furrowing strips" along the back.  These also keeps the wood from warping.  This is something I had never heard of, but was SO happy to have the tip for future projects!


And I just loved this one too :)

Also, since our beloved Bulldawgs had such an amazing year, we came up with some shirt ideas for our spring show:





We had such a neat first year with our little start up company and I'm SO EXCITED to announce that starting February 1st, we will have a booth at my favorite antique stores in downtown Monroe!  Vintage Revival Antiques!  You can check them out on Instagram and Facebook too.

https://www.facebook.com/vintagerevivalantiques/

https://www.instagram.com/vintagerevivalantiques/

My favorite marketing manager has moved back home to help us this year too, and we are all SO thrilled!  Noah is most of all I believe as he has his sidekick back.


We will also be taking custom sign and shirt orders too, so please email us and we will be happy to see what we can come up with for you:

southernsistersapothecary@gmail.com

Make sure to follow us this year to see what we will have in store!


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