Valentine's Day on My Pine Hutch

I have had two weeks straight of grey skies.  Getting images of my Valentine Decor on my Pine Hutch has been next to impossible.  Since Valentine's Day is Tuesday, I thought I would take the best images that I can right now and show you how cute it looks.

I love my vintage skates...but I gotta say, the jar with the vintage dice is quickly becoming one of my favorite new finds. The heavy felt garland was a recent purchase at Pier One for about 7 bucks.

Just wanted to pop in today and share a few images.

-The End-
Linking to:
Metamorphosis Monday - BNOTP

My 25 Things

I have really enjoyed reading all the great 25 Things Blog Posts this week and decided to participate.  For those who have no idea what I am talking about...a blogger named Shaunna over at Perfectly Imperfect is hosting a linky party that requires bloggers to list 25 random things about themselves.  So here goes...

1.  I have a very difficult life outside my blog world raising two teenagers that often makes it hard to produce work and keep my blog going.  I purposely hide this from my readers because my blog is a refuge away from my daily struggles.  Here they are at their "best."

2.  I am often conflicted about what to write about because what I like to do, doesn't always jive with what the blog world wants.  I painted a Console Table last year and was so excited about it.  Not only did it get very little attention, I got a few borderline negative comments about it like, "Well...I guess this is nice, but it's not my taste."  Here is the table...

3.  I shave my eyebrows.  I don't pluck.

4.  I am a serious political junkie and am a roll-your-sleeves-up political activist in my community.  I hide this from my blog community so not to annoy anyone who doesn't agree with my politics!!

5.  I have three dogs, all Shih Tzus...Coco, Ruby and Sasha.  Coco never leaves my side and is sleeping right next to me as I type this. Here is a image of Sasha...

6.  My hubby is an avid golfer and for some reason it annoys me.  There is something about the elitist nature of it that turns me off.

7.  I am not good at taking care of myself.  This past November I had to give myself a challenge to get up to date on all my routine yearly tests.  I hadn't had any of them in over 5 years.  I completed the challenge by year's end only to find out that I have high blood pressure, 22 bi-nine cysts on my breasts and a cholesterol level that was out of control!  Can't stress it enough.....Go get your self checked out!

8.  I have a sister whom I adore.  We are both loud and opinionated and seriously close. She is an amazing fourth grade school teacher.  Together....we are The Power of Two!  Here is a picture of us at a younger time... (gotta love the 80s)

9.  I have two brothers whom I am estranged from because of drugs and alcohol.  I understand that it is their problem and not mine.  It has taken many years to come to this place.  I am at complete peace with it.

10.  Bullies have played an active role in my life and the life of my kids in making life harder.  I don't like bullies.  I think there is a real problem in our country with bullies that is not effectively being addressed.

11.  If I could live anywhere it would be Southern California.  I love it there and would move in a heartbeat if I could.  Image of our family on our last visit...

12.  I love wearing junk.  Right now I am wearing a neat necklace that is filled with vintage Cracker Jack charms.  It's like a hug.  I got it from French Hen Farm on Etsy.

13.  I was a jock in high school and played on a girls basketball team that placed second in the state.

14.  I was married young and divorced.   He was a loser and an abuser.  I got out.  Good thing because I have an amazing hubby now.

15.  We watched Rain Man last night as a family.  I love every movie Tom Cruise ever did.  Well, except for that vampire one.

16.  I loved Michael Jackson and never believed any of the allegation against him.

17.  I have a hot tub in my backyard and I love sitting in it.  Here is a shot of my daughter and a few of her friends having fun in the hot tub.

18.  My legs are hairy a lot.  I think this goes back to my point that I don't take great care of myself.

19.  I used to avidly ride my bike.  I miss it, but just don't have the time in the day.  I don't.  So don't tell me to make the time.  Because if I did make the time, there would be no blog!!

20.  My favorite part in making whole chicken dishes is sneaking the heart and the liver of the chicken.  I love them and I know they are bad for my health, but I just don't care.

21. If I have an empty water bottle or drink can in my car, I toss it out into the landscaped island in my yard.  My hubby picks it up and throws it away.  It's a fun joke between us.

22.  I am stunned when someone gives me a compliment or thanks me for something I have done.  Those things just don't come my way often.  I am a confident women. Perhaps they don't think I need those things.

23.  I love to travel and have spent a significant amount of time and money doing so.  My kids have seen more places than I had ever seen at their ages.  They took their first trip to Europe this past summer.  I plan on taking them back again soon.  I don't view travel as an option, or something someone should get around to affording.  To me, it's as vital as water.  One life, one earth.

Paris, Rome, Grand Canyon,Niagara Falls, Key West, Boston,
San Francisco, Sedona,  San Diego.
Not pictured...Alaska, Los Angeles, NYC, Tuscon,
Arizona, Blue Ridge-NC, Jamaica,
St. Thomas, Cancun, Cozumel, Cayman Islands, Haiti. 

24.  My closet is pitiful. I don't buy myself enough clothing, partly because I am cheap about that.  My husband' side of the closet is filled with stuff.  Perhaps I should do something about that.

25.  I live on a canal ten minutes from the ocean.  We have a boat that we never take out.  I prefer to go out on the dingy for rides on a sunny afternoon.  Here is an image I took on a recent dingy cruise...

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
Gonna go link it up over at Perfectly Imperfect.

-The End-

Blast from the Past: One Chair, One Day Reveal

Many of you who follow The Homeless Finch found me way after I started blogging.  I remember days gone by when I was working in my studio, blogging about my projects and I only had about 20 followers who were mainly friends from my 'real' world life.  Because of this, I have decided to bring to you from time to time some of my Blasts From the Past Blog Posts.  Ya know...stuff I did before you found me, but stuff I think is worthy to re-visit and highlight.  I am going to be calling these my Blast From The Past posts and on days like today, I will re-introduce them.   For those who missed this stuff....hope you enjoy!  So without further ado...

One Chair, One Day Reveal

This post was featured on three blogs.  I was kinda stunned because, quite frankly, I hated this chair but blogged about it anyway!  In fact, this chair is now sitting upside down atop something in my garage!!

Features: (you can click on the button if you'd like to see the feature.)

             

Yesterday, I gave myself a challenge.  I wanted to finish this chair in one day.  I was packing for a quick trip down to The Florida Keys and had to finish all the laundry in the house as well.  I also needed to get a mani/pedi so that I looked presentable to my husband's business contacts on this trip.  Somewhere in between, I wanted to redo this chair.  I didn't have a clue what I was going to do with this chair.  I had no preconceived notions or hang ups.  It's was a clean slate.  I was winging it......   I started with this chair that I got for 2 bucks at a yard sale last weekend.

"Before"

After dropping my daughter at school, I headed to Joann's Fabrics.  I had rummaged through my fabric piles and nothing inspired me.  I wanted something with some personality.  After grabbing an awesome 40% coupon at the door, I headed back to the decorator fabrics and found this awesome fabric.  I noticed a nice light grey color in the pattern and immediately thought of Annie Sloan's Paris Grey paint.  I happen to have a pint of this paint. The idea of using it on this project excites me because the process of using this paint allows me to skip the priming stage.  Just what I needed for a one day project! Yeah!  I also decided to pick up a new foam cushion.  Before I had left the house I had taken the cover off and found this disgusting chair cover, and was not going to re-use it.

Gross.

On the way home, I stopped back by my daughter's school.  Over half of her class were not in attendance because of some skip school rumor. She had been texting me non-stop.  The guidance counselor confirmed her dilemma, released her and she jumped in the car with me.  I have to admit that it ran through my mind that getting the chair done would be easier without the extra pick up in the mid-afternoon!!  Besides, she is one heck of a laundry captain and I knew she would be helping!!!  I know, bad mommy.....

Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint requires very little prep, so I got right to work painting.  This chair had been neglected for so many years, it devoured the paint.

I was super pleased. It was already worlds better.  Between layers of paint, I push through the laundry and started on the chair cushion.  It really gave me a run for my money.  These little chair covers are the easiest thing to do.  All it takes is a pair of scissors and a staple gun. But, this one was teaching me a lesson!  The thicker foam cushion made the folding at the corners challenging.

I kept eyeing the center slat on the chair knowing that I wanted to add an accent.  I placed the cushion temporarily in place and decided to add a stencil detail in the same deep rich blue in the fabric.  I have a huge selection of stencils that I have collected over the years, I knew that I could find one with a similar 'feel' as the pattern in the fabric. 

Out came my acrylic paints.  (I am always thankful at this point for my art degree. Oh!!! All the hours spent perfecting mixing paint colors does actually pay off!)  I matched the color mixing two shades, taped on the stencil and went to town.

  

 I also decided to add a little detail to the top of the chair legs.

I lightly sanded the chalky, yummy surface of the chair.  I love this paint because it just melts under the sanding block.  All the drippy and gloppy places easily sand away to a smooth surface. I brushed some of the paint dust lightly over the surface of the stenciled areas to soften their intensity. 

So I got to this stage and stopped.  Sorry that the image is a little dark, the sun was going down. Long day.  I just wasn't satisfied with it.  It didn't feel finished, plus there were some super cool markings on this chair and they are just not visible in this state.  I knew I needed to add some dark accents....but what?

I decided to take a huge risk and mix up a wash out of my dark blue acrylics.  I added a ton of water to it, got a junky brush out and a few rags with extra water.  I thought, "What the heck!  I got nothing to lose."  I knew that I would be posting the results on my blog and I decided to let the chips fall where they may. This Annie Sloan's paint has a seriously powdery surface and I didn't know how the wash was going to 'take' to that surface.

 I just liberally brushed the watered down paint onto the chair, working in small sections. 

I let it set up a little bit and came back with a soft wet rag and wiped off the excess, except in the crevices.  I followed with just a damp cloth and buffed the surface.

It was at this point that I started to get excited because all those bubbly, yucky, drippy wonderful paint marks were being showcased! Yeah!  It was definitely changing the overall hue of the chair to blue, but I was okay with it. 

Details of the bubbles, brush strokes highlighted
by the glazing.

I finished up the entire chair, buffing the surface one more time rubbing more blue off in certain areas to let the grey show through.  I think it is done and here are the results with the "before" and "after" images.....



-Before-




-After-


 

-Before-

  

-After-




-Before-

-After-

I am super happy with the results now that I took the risk and used the blue wash.  It was great marriage with the chalk paint.  Here are some more images.

I did get the huge piles of laundry done, with the help of my daughter who was playing hookie.  The packing got done late last night and I probably forgot to include something important in the overnight bag due to my sleepiness.  Oh well....  One thing I didn't accomplish....Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnn.......the seriously needed mani/pedi.  Normally I wouldn't care, but this trip is a husband work related excursion. Yep.  I'm in trouble.  We drive out of here in just a few hours.....  I gotta run and get these tootsies done and get this leftover Paris Grey paint and blue acrylic wash off my skin!  Arg!

-The End-