Grandma's Wooden Chest

I get a lot of my belongings as hand-me-downs which I either treasure as heirlooms or fix up to make my own. My grandmother's wooden chest is an example of one that I fixed up to make my own. The original color was a baby blue which matched my grandmother's bedroom. My grandfather had painted it with oil paint to match. It was a real shame because the wood underneath was absolutely beautiful (you could see it at the edges. In fact, you can see the original blue of the chest in the background of my original Chii costume post here:

http://ginger710.blogspot.com/2008/11/halloween-2005.html

Anyhoo, most of my furniture is a dark cherry color. Since it was painted with oil paint, stripping it would have been a VERY daunting task since it is carved wood. I decided to repaint it with oil paint that matched the wood stain. Let me tell you how hard it is to find ANYONE who sells oil paint anymore! God Bless Ace Hardware!!

Once the chest was painted, I added a bit of copper and gold painting detail to the carved wood on top of the chest to make it stand out a little bit - just because the carving is absolutely beautiful. I topped the chest with a custom cut piece of glass I bought from a glass and mirror wholesaler in Warren and it became a beautiful coffee table to treasure!

Halloween Pumpkin

Every year it's the same jack-o-lantern - triangle eyes, triangle nose, cruved mouth with some teeth cut in. *sigh* This year after seeing so much inspiration online I decided to attempt a different type of pumpkin - a haunted castle scene.

I tried this once before (tinkerbell, which failed miserably and Stitch which looked kinda funny all lit up), but this one seemed simple enough.

I broke out my pumpkin carving tools, which I lovingly keep in a black tin just for the holiday, and carved my pumpkin.

Once I was done, I painted the castle and bat to make it stand out even when it wasn't lit. Actually I was quite pleased with it - lit or not!

Paisley Painting

In my new house, thee bathroom is designed with tan and teal tiles with a teal sink and bathtub. It's really difficult to find accessories and ensembles to match! Instead of matching, I decided to find a neutral accent color. Since it was already tan in the bathroom, my original thought of bamboo would have blended right in and looked very plain. I found a fantastic set from Bed Bath and Beyond that was black and had little rhinestone crystals in it. Just the neutral with a pop of color I was looking for!


The walls were also very bare. So - knowing me and how I do art - I made a painting to fit the space! I used the black, teal and tan colors that were already incorporated into the bathroom. I also added little rhinestone crystals to the painting to incorporate that element, too and tie everything together!

Since I didn't really have a theme like pinup girls, shoes or the seashore like past bathrooms, I wanted to make sure the painting didn't really have a subject. Instead, I utilized a really ornate paisley design that brought out all the colors and sparkle that the bathroom already had. I am so happy with the way it turned out! I think this may even rival my mother's tigerlily as my favorite painting now!!