Linda @ Painted Whyte July 30, 2010

Well i'm off on my two week road trip/treasure hunt with Vegas, Disneyland and lots of beaches in between (i'm not too crazy about being in a bathing suite but i'm sure i'll live - next year i'll be skinny - hmmm didn't i say that last year lol). 

I am praying to the salvage gods tonight to bring me tons of awesome finds to bring home!!!  I would love to find something on the side of the road - that would be way too cool!  Hope all of my treasure hunting friends find some amazing things too.  I am so excited to see the difference between Canadian Thrift stores & Salvage shops vs the U.S.

I hope you have an awesome two weeks and can't wait to read what you guys have all been up to when i get back.

Linda @ Painted Whyte July 27, 2010

Since we are leaving on holidays on Friday these will probably be the last before and afters until after holidays. My best friend told me the other day that i needed to post some B & A's other than mirrors all the time but i have two clients that live in small houses and love mirrors to open up the space so they are keeping me pretty busy lately.  So today, for you Melanie,  i have another dresser makeover.... and a mirror ha ha.

This afternoon i installed the hardware on this lovely white dresser and was only able to get one picture before my camera died. I hate when that happens.  It's already gone to a new home where she will be very happy i'm sure. I've had her for a while but was finally able to get to it - she was oh so very sad with mint green and a very grimy white and many ugly layers of paint underneath - I practically sanded her right down to the wood. She was requested to be pure white.... no distressing.... it was not easy for me to just leave it alone after painting - i wanted to distress her so badly! Any other distress lovers out there have the same problem??? Anyway, with some glass knobs purchased from Lee Valley she turned out beautifully!

Before:








After:






Mirror Mirror on the .... nope, this time its a stand up mirror!  A client of mine found this mirror on kijiji and wanted it painted cream so cream is what she got with some distressing of coarse.  In the after pictures it actually looks white but in person it is very clearly cream.  It turned out really pretty.

Before:




After:





If my tomorrow is productive (???) i might have one last before and after to post before we leave, but that is a big maybe - why is there so much to do before you can go on vacation? 

 

Linda @ Painted Whyte July 25, 2010

I am leaving for my treasure hunting/Vegas/California holidays on Friday so i am working on getting a couple of pieces done before i leave to make room for some new, hopefully awesome, US treasures.  We are driving to Vegas and staying for a couple of days than driving to Anaheim - Disneyland then to Huntington beach than back to Vegas for a couple of days and then back home to Alberta, so if any one of my blogger friends has any suggestions on places i should check out i would totally love it.  Angie from Treasures has already started a list for me - thanks Angie your the best!!!  You have to check out her blog she is such an awesome person and finds the most amazing treasures.... i am always so very jealous!!!!  She is right now trying to balance Treasures, Mr. Treasures, her children with a new full time job.  I know she will figure it out because that's how awesome she is and once she does i hope she will share that information with me because eventually i am going to have to go back to a "real" job and i really don't want to let go of Painted Whyte because i love love love it!  Painted Whyte is what i am meant to do and i am not willing to give it up so i'm gonna have to figure it out!!

A while ago a client of mine gave me this dresser that was sitting in her garage that was in really bad shape - it definitely did not age gracefully that's for sure lol  Oh boy and the hardware those had to be replaced immediately!  So with alot of band aids (wood filler), a ton of sanding, some white paint, distressing, some sparkly glass knobs and a couple McGyver moves and this dresser looked almost brand new.  It turned out better than brand new because this guy earned its new shabby chic title!  It was alot of blood, sweat and tears but it was so worth it (well there weren't any tears i don't think but you know what i mean).  This re-born dresser is already loving its new home with such a sweet lady... hi Beverly if you are reading this!

Before: 

You can hardly see them in the picture but it has casters - love them!!
After:





Linda @ Painted Whyte July 22, 2010

Oh boy what a story.  I haven't written a post in a while, i didnt have much to post about because .... ok so what happened was ... over a week ago it was raining and i was walking down my front steps at my house (the shop) to go home - and anyone that knows me knows i pretty much live in flip flops and had my purse and slurpee in hand and i slipped and landed on my right hip (i now know that when unpainted wood gets wet it is extremely slippery especially with flip flops).  OMG i have never been in so much pain in my life!  Honestly i almost couldn't get up from the bottom of the steps - oh and sitting in a big puddle with my luck - oh and slurpee still in hand - of coarse i wouldn't drop my slurpee lol.  Just picture what it looking like, i'm sure it looked pretty funny but i definitely wasn't laughing.

After some time i finally got into my car but not without a few choice curse words - good thing there weren't any kids around.  I honestly screamed the entire way home because of the pain when stepping on the gas, clutch or break and had to call Kevin to come home to help me out of my car - that was not an easy task because i could hardly move - it was so painful even to sit oh boy and the stairs were a challenge lol poor Kevin he didn't know what to do because he would try to help me and i would just yell in tears no no no no ! 

Kevin took me to the medicentre because the ER was about a 6 hour wait and there was no way i was going to sit & wait that long.  It wasn't broken thank god but i think i dis-located my hip and when Kevin tried to help me get into the car for the last time with a bag full of pain killers from the pharmacy i heard and felt a pop.  It hurt but it was a good pop because after that i was able to move more than just an inch without screaming.  The doctor told me that i was to go to get xrays in about 4 days when i was mobile and haven't heard back so i'm guessing no news is good news but i will call tomorrow maybe just to make sure its not a fracture. 

Of coarse last week i had 3 clients pieces to finish by Friday but thank god they were all really sweet and so understanding and told me to not even try until i was feeling better.  What sweet clients i have right?  Well yesterday i decided it was time to finally get back to work - it still hurts a bit but not a big deal compared to what i felt last week that's for sure.  So then i stop and park in a parking lot to run across the street to the bakery (its not like i needed anymore junk food in the house) and i trip over something and it hurt like hell, i look down and sticking out of the parking lot are rusty pieces of rebar and one stabbed me in the side of the foot and i was bleeding - and i didn't just get back into my car and drive home, no way, i was determined to get to that stupid bakery and as i'm crossing the street it starts poring rain - boy, did i break a mirror or something?  And to top it all off it tasted horrible! 

Then..... today i am back working in the shop and i decide to cut some boxes apart to lay on the floor and i slipped some how and sliced through my finger, once again blood, ah geez!  I didn't even have band aids so i was forced to wrap my finger with a clean rag and wrap up with masking tape so than i had a finger the size of a hand practically and trying to clear coat all my furniture i was working on.  Ok so this is it!  That's 3 bad things in a row - no more, i am done!  I better be or i am not leaving the house until we leave for holidays on the 30th!!!! 

So this past couple weeks i learned to hang on for dear life when walking down my steps in the rain and flip flops (actually the next day Kevin came home with anti slip strips to put on the steps), to watch where i am walking when in my flip flops, that the Bakery isn't worth it and to always carry lots of band aids in my purse, oh and i purchased travellers medical insurance for our holidays because we are driving to Vegas and California for some treasure hunting and Disneyland and who knows what could happen to me in another country right? lol

I should have a couple before and afters to post about in the next few days  FINALLY right?

Linda @ Painted Whyte July 8, 2010

Do you remember those red chairs i painted a while back?   Well this client is not afraid of colour that's for sure, which i really enjoy actually, a change from white for a bit never killed anyone right lol.  Poor Cheryl who was oh so sick today couldn't come to pick them up because she has that nasty cold that's going around (and i'm determined not to get it because i do NOT want to be sick on my holidays).  I just knew that seeing the reveal of her awesome finds would cheer her up, even if it was just for a little while so i decided to play hooky from sanding today to deliver them to her and pick up some much needed primer from the Home Depot in her area (since someone very rudely, lol cleaned out every single can of the primer i like to use from the Home Depot by my house).  I hope they made you feel better Cheryl :)

She found these two ugly shabby pieces on kijiji and told her husband they would be her birthday present - happy belated birthday Cheryl!  Its a good thing she can look past what they originally looked like and saw the potential they had.  It was the worst stained glass imitation i have EVER seen! 


Before:




With a little TLC, replace the horrible glass with mirror, some good wood glue, a splash of paint and some distressing..... TA - DAAAAAA!

After:


(I just snapped a quick picture but once they are hung in her dining room, she will send me some better pictures)


I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and good luck with this weekends treasure hunting!!!!


Linda @ Painted Whyte

I need some help from my wonderful followers and blog buddies!  The other day i did the tour of my favorite thrift stores and found a square coffee table for $8 so that went in the back of my car and then i spotted these two beauties.  This is what i need help with - should i paint the antique bronze white or do i leave it???  Are they beauties or was it temporary insanity?  My boyfriend thinks they are butt ugly (but he is the one that thought Ikea blue on the walls in the living room and bright red curtains looked good so i obviously can't go with what he says, right?)







I picked this next treasure up yesterday.  She was actually saved from the garbage.... i can't believe someone would throw this beauty out.... what ever did she do to deserve such a fate?  My boyfriends mom and step dad found her and gave to me to give her a new and better life.  Her original purpose was to hold silverware but i'm thinking she would make a fantastic jewelry box!  What do you think? 








Anyway, please comment and tell me what you think about my new lamps.  In the next couple of days i will have another before and after transformation to show you.  I love before and afters don't you?



Linda @ Painted Whyte July 5, 2010

I've been so excited to post about these treasures today.  They belong to some awesome clients of mine, Denise & her hubby.  I delivered the windows a couple of weeks ago already but forgot to take some pictures before i delivered them..oops.  Today was the day that both Denise and I have been looking forward to and that was desk delivery day!  woo hoo  The windows are old ones that they replaced when they bought there house & the desk found them at an auction. 

Before:






After:




 


Before:



 
After:  I forgot to take an after shot of one window - it was actually my favorite one - i painted it a nice blue grey colour and distressed it to have white peaking through - it looked awesome


I left Denise's place with a truck full - she gave me a dresser that needed some major TLC and sent another project of hers with me to do in a couple of weeks.  Just wait till you see that one... ive actually wanted one of these for a long long time but ended up going with something else instead.... that's all i'm saying cause its going to be a surprise lol.  The two white window frames are going to be used for family pictures (they have a brand new baby)- Denise please take a picture for me when they are in, i would love to see them!

I went on another treasure hunt this afternoon and found some really cool things - i will blog about them tomorrow!!



Linda @ Painted Whyte July 4, 2010

You are going to be so jealous when you see what came home with me this weekend... hee hee  The first find is actually all because of my good friend Tracy - she text me yesterday saying "cream cans on kijiji if interested" - at first i was like, cream cans? huh?  But then i searched for it on kijiji and emailed the guy within seconds, as soon as i saw the picture i had to have them, he was asking $10 each or both for $15 so..... hello... of coarse i took both!  Tracy must have seen the post as soon as he advertised it because i was the first email and yeahhhh i picked them up last night.   Thank you soooooo much Tracy!!!!



Aren't they just perfectly old & rusted?  I love them.

So.... today i was driving to my place to finish a client piece and two block from my house was a garage sale - i've been trying to stay away from them because i always bring home too much stuff and when your unemployed you just can't always do that, but for some reason i swear my car just turned into the back alley and parked in front of this driveway.   Since i was already there i figured i might as well get out and take a quick look... what could be the harm right?  Well instantly i saw them and i'm sure i gracefully ran towards them huh ya right i almost tripped lol.  Take a look at these beauties!!!  They were asking for $5 each and so my new bargaining self offered $7 for both and she said YES!!!!  They are a pretty good size too :)




I can't wait to get some paint on these gals.  I haven't decided if i should put in mirror or maybe Kevin's parents wedding photo in one and my parent's wedding photo in the other.   What do you think?  Or i could put in mirror and sell them because i can't keep everything even though i really really want to.  Hmmm that's a hard decision.  I'll have to sleep on it i think.

Tomorrow i will have an awesome before and after to show you!!!