Paint Party Friday #29

It's paint party Friday again!  I look forward to it every week, traveling around to all the fascinating blogs to see what everyone is working on is so much fun!

 Here's an older painting I plan on reworking... the males face needs some work.I don't care for his nose, eyes, or skin tone... the whole thing needs more work!

This week I've had a few lunches with different friends. One friend I see annually, but there was a time we were besties. Family obligations pulled us apart, but the love's still there! We make sure to meet around our birthdays.But for the first time in twenty five years the time got away on us!! Funny how no matter how much time goes by we take up where we left off. We chatted for four hours and I had such a loving feeling for my friend when we parted!  I even  had a few tears too, for all the memories we shared in our twenties and thirties, and how fleeting life is. We worked hard, laughed hard and played hard too! We shared many secrets and no matter how little we see each other the love is still there! I had my camera out but some how it didn't seem appropriate to take a photo! Wish I did though. 

Check out this HUGE transformation. I've carted my grandfathers table around to three different homes  for the past thirty five years and never painted it. Mostly it had a cloth over top of it or it was in a garage! Recently I decided it needed new life instead of being a dust collector. See how ugly it was!!!

 

Before The ugly side table

  I had  silver knobs laying around the house and threw them on after it was painted.  Then Dear Daughter came home with these awesome rose knobs that were the perfect match. What a difference they made. Then she went back and bought me enough for my bedroom suite. So that will soon be on the agenda to revamp. Also thirty five years old and in much need of sprucing up!

Which do you prefer, the rose knobs or the silver ones! Be honest I won't be offended!

Paint Party #28 Blue Table

My Brave Blue Table

It's paint Party Friday #28 make sure to check out all the other artists and join yourself if you wish!!   I'm sharing my new blue table.
You can see the before photo without a table cloth at the bottom.  
I could only find one  ugly photo  taken during our floor renos. 

Before revamp

Much like I love purple, my  mom loved turquoise.  Except for her wedding ring, the only two pieces of Jewelry dad ever bought mom was a turquoise ring, years later a bracelet to match. Her first  kitchen  had red arborite counters, and her second one had turquoise walls. Painted  every few years to mask  the embedded cigarette smoke stains. She had wall to wall turquoise rugs, a turquoise floral couch which she amalgamated with  royal blue. Needless to say there was blue everywhere.  I must confess, unlike most people I never liked blue. Not  only do I look terrible in the color, I just never decorate with it. I think my mom overdosed me... Just as I have done with purple for my daughter!

Lo and behold, my blue eyed daughter came along, much like my mother, loves blue. So when she was a teen, we converted her all pink bedroom, to  azure  blue, paired with purple. I liked it very much! She kept it that way through the teen years. It’s now painted  charcoal which she enjoys  with her hubby.

I’ve  always avoided blue like the plague. Then a couple of years ago my daughter wanted us to paint our  main powder room turquoise. I loved it orange, and was reluctant, but agreed as long as I didn’t have to paint it.  I figured  I  could probably  live with it  thirty five years after leaving moms kitchen.  Once I added a  few of my paintings  with purple and green  to off set the turquoise I began to like it.

So it was a real surprise a few months back when I bought two azure lamps to flank my family room couch. I liked their shape. Surprisingly after all my chairs were painted I decided to paint my kitchen table Blue….. I really like it. I have no idea what possessed me to bring blue into my life! I must have finally made peace with it!!! Blue, oh blue, lately I’m lovin you! Only certain shades though….

 A little side note about the table, when my daughter was fourteen instead of buying secret Santa gifts for her friends, she suggested they help some needy kids.  I drove her around we gathered the money, she bought the kids toys and a little tikes plastic picnic table. We gathered food from different sources and I took it to the single mom with two little girls. The kids were so happy and lit right up, the mom was so  thrilled and grateful. It made what  was to be a dismal Christmas eve for us, really wonderful! I mentioned that I loved her table. She told me she hated it and had a line on another one. She said  I was welcome to have it in the new year. I was also on a very tight budget, the top of the table was severely scratched and there were pen marks everywhere, the legs had chipped white paint. So  I sanded the top, stained the oak and varnished, then I painted the legs purple.  It was beautiful for a good ten years. Plus it was free. Couple of years ago I painted the legs black to match the kitchen. I still love the shape but found it a bit large for the space. I think I'm in love with it again, plus  you can't beat free!!!

Paint Party Friday #27 Cup cake chair

Taking part in Shabby Nest frugal friday project!

And  My repurposed life

 

Cupcake chair for my daughter the cupcake queen

So glad to be back participating in Paint Party Friday #27 this week!!

Life has been too hectic to blog lately. My hip has been a hindrance too. Everything I do takes twice as long as usual. So I have been sitting down to paint furniture. During the painting process everything is a schmaze around here. We finally got some of it back in order, but it was quite a feat. I inspired the whole family to get involved. My daughter did her burrow, and a shelf, sil helped too!  While I did a table, rocking chair and varnished  the table below. Which was a nightmare needing a million coats, well so it seemed...rrrr

My friend was over for dinner last night and said she'd never have the patience to paint furniture. Funny it's what I learned as a kid. If you wanted to spruce something up, you painted instead of buying something new. Oh sure I love new things, but it's a strain on the budget.  Besides it's  really  rewarding when you revamp old things to make them new again.

I was glad to see on the Nate Berkus show he's dedicating time  teaching  his audience how to decorate   on a dime. By thrift store shopping for quality pieces to revamp. I'm not exactly in that category because I'm rather quirky in what I surround myself with. I love whimsy and need it around me. If I can't find it, I'll create it!  I also revamp and  keep certain old pieces of furniture because I've had a lot of loss in my life. It's a way of hanging on to  the memories of those I've loved.  However I do need one peaceful room that has only small splashes of whimsy to keep me grounded. I've also been warned that my house mates don't want to live in the cat in the hat house!

After my funky  chairs were completed, as much as I am enjoying them  I realized I really do want black chairs in my dining room.  For that calm feeling while entertaining. The whimsical chairs will reside around my kitchen table as my personal eye candy,  once I find chairs to suit the dining room.  For now we'll make due. They're renewed and fun!