Martha (Before & After)

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!  We enjoyed some fun family time and also attended a wonderful clambake (without the kids)!

Meet Martha:

Martha (After)

You may remember I did my friend's Martha Washington Sewing Table a little while back.  If not, click here to see the post.  I've now become a bit obsessed with these sewing tables.  I think they are so sweet and could easily function as a side table in a living area or be a sweet bedside table.

When I saw Martha at an estate sale in Scituate.  I scooped her right up:

Sewing Table (Before)

She was fine, but looking a bit old school for me.  I washed her down and then did two coats of clear shellac.  I always do this to just prevent any varnish from shining through the paint.  Then I painted her in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old Ochre and Provence.  This is the same combination I did on the last one and love it together.  But this time I knew, this one wanted some dark wax.

Here is the drawer before, I applied the dark wax:

ASCP Provence

Isn't that a lovely color?  I just thought it needed some more depth. I wanted it to look aged.  Here's how much wax I put on:

Applying dark wax

Many have been asking about wax application, which I will do a blog post about, but when you apply the dark wax you want the clear wax to be a little tacky.  If the clear wax has already dried then just go over the piece a tad with clear wax.  Less is more!  Then I allowed it to sit for a minute or so and wiped the access off.  If you want it darker than leave it on longer.  Here's how the drawer came out after:

See how the wax got in the detailing and the grain of the paint?  I just love that.  I got these great glass knobs at Target and thought they add a bit of class to Martha.

Here's a close up of the dark wax on the Old Ochre:

I really love Martha's curved and delicate legs:

I actually love her whole shape:

Martha Washington Sewing Table

See she has an octagonal shape and those sides lift up to allow storage for fabric, but you could also store design magazines and catalogs.  You could event tuck a kindle or kids toys (in a pinch).

What do you think?  Do you think Martha Washington would be proud?  My Martha is looking for a new home, so let me know if you're interested.

Martha (After)

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Every Beautiful Thing

via pinterest

Life at the Finding Silver Pennies household has been quite busy and a little stressful lately.  Between helping friends with custom pieces, getting ready for my first ever boutique (all of which I love) and then hearing a close member of our family has taken ill.  Well, it all has been A LOT to say the least.

With the sickness of our family member (who is on the mend), I'm reminded just how much life is a gift.  It is important to be present for each and every moment. So I'm going to try to be better at balancing life with huge helpings of fun times with my hubby and the kids.

Last week we enjoyed a beautiful night at the carnival in Sciutate Harbor.  

There was a cool breeze off the water and all the bright lights from the ferris wheel and other rides dazzled all attending.  I loved hearing the glee-filled laughter of my 2 year old who absolutely loved the Crazy Bus and the Merry-Go-Round.  This year he was old enough to enjoy it.

These moment in time are such gifts.  We've enjoyed some time splashing in the surf:

We also love taking the truck out for lazy weekend drives around town.  It is the best, to drive with no destination in mind and no time schedule:

Joyrides in the truck!

Running through 'secret' paths in the woods, with the wind in our hair, and finding whole new worlds:

Luke enjoys sailing and I was lucky enough to see what all the fuss was about one Sunday afternoon.  The view from the water is just amazing.  Being close to the sea and all it's beauty really puts things in perspective for me.

When I think of my childhood.  I don't think of the big things.  I always, always think of the little things.  The nature walks with my dad, the joy rides with my mom.  I always think of riding my bike as fast as I could around our neighborhood and exploring the woods for frogs.  I hope my boys will remember these same things and cherish them always.

I'm so enjoying every moment of being with them this summer.  I know it soon will be a fleeting memory when September and school come.  In a way, I feel like I'm on vacation in my own town.

My First Boutique

Hi All!

Hope you're having a lovely week!  On Monday, I did my first ever boutique and I have to admit I was a little nervous.  I had dreams the night before that I was cleaning the furniture with paper towels and the paint was coming off as I wiped.  Thankfully that didn't happen!

The boutique was at the Scituate Harbor Yacht Club - a private yacht club right on the water.  The views were spectacular. I'm sorry I didn't think to get one of the harbor...

Scituate Harbor Yacht Club

The clouds rolled in and started to rain on all my stuff as we loaded the truck.  Thankfully, we had a tarp.  The wet weather also meant that the boutique moved indoors.  Despite the poor weather I had so much fun!

I grabbed a corner table and here is how it looked set up:

Hand-Made Pillows

I brought down lots of pillows which were a big hit, fabric scrap garlands and painted pieces.

There were so many lovely and creative people selling.  Some who made jewelry, some custom signs, some did handmade bags and some specialized in food.  It was so much fun to meet members of the yacht club and also catch up with friends who stopped by.  People flipped through my portfolio, grabbed Silver Pennies cards and wanted to know where my shop was located.  Some of the attendees weren't familiar with Etsy.

more pillows and garlands

I'm so excited for next week because it is my 1 year blogiversary and I'll be doing a little giveaway.  I can't believe I've been blogging for nearly a year and I've met so many fabulous people through it. 

I also wanted to check in with you all.  I've been getting TONS of emails regarding chalk paint.  How do I apply it?  What about waxing?  Do I have some color advice?  How can graphics be applied?  I'm happy to answer any and all questions so if you have a question just send me an email to the one listed on the contact page.  But I wondered if it would be helpful for me to do more detailed posts on chalk paint, like helpful tips I've learned while painting.  If your interested in this please let me know!

French Memories (Before & After)

Parisian Piano Bench (After)

There is a wonderful French patisserie in Cohasset Village called French Memories.  I love going there and I thought of it while working on my latest furniture before and after.  With thoughts of buttery croisants, fruit tarts, cappuccinos and petit fours swirling around in my head, I began to paint with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in French Linen.

You may want to see what the little piano bench looked like before:

Piano Bench (Before)

Nothing wrong with the bench, but she just didn't make any statement.

I found this fantastic Paris postal graphic at my friend Heather's Etsy shop - Antique Graphique.  She has so many great vintage graphics.  My good friend, Fiona, over at Just Paint it White told me about a transfer technique using carbon paper.

Carbon Paper and Antique Graphique graphic

I picked some carbon paper up at Staples.  It was really quite an easy method.  I placed the carbon paper under the graphic (graphic facing up) and traced the image with a pen.  This is what it looked like after:

Transfer outline

I painted over the graphic outline with ASCP in Graphite to get this:

Paris Postal Graphic

Then I distressed the entire piece and did two coats of wax and some dark wax to highlight the details.  Like on the carved legs:

But that isn't all.  There is a little surprise inside:

Parisian Sheet Music

Carrying out the French theme I included, some antique French sheet music and an old post card.  I found all of these at The Graphic's Fairy.  Annie Sloan suggested making the paper damp in her book, Quick and Easy Paint Transformations, so I did that. Then I put a coat of mod podge on the area I wanted to place the sheet music down and smoothed it and then did one coat of mod podge on top. Then another once it was dry.

Inside Piano Bench

The sheet music was affixed in quite a haphazard way.  I wanted it to look like it was just thrown in:

I smoothed down there paper, but there was some bubbling (despite my efforts), but it dried flat.

What do you think of my Parisian Piano Bench? Are you enjoying some French Memories?  I'll be taking this little lovely down to the boutique today along with some of the other items I shared with you on Friday.  I think it would look fantastic as a piano bench but also as a small coffee table.  Keep your fingers crossed that my first boutique goes well.  I'll share all the photos with you later this week!

Parisian Piano Bench (After)

I also wanted to let you know that my good friend, Nancy, at the Sea Rose Cottage will be carrying Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in August.  Isn't that exciting?  In celebration I will be doing a special giveway with her to make it twice as fun.  Stay tuned for the Giveaway and more news!  I know how much you all are dying to get your hands on some MMS Milk Paint (I know I am!)

Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint Giveaway Coming Soon!

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