Mom's First Piece

I am so proud of my mama!  She took an old table that was my gramma's and re-did it.  She had never done anything like this before (I can relate) but I think that it turned out great!

She ended up painting the table black and then we went to Lowe's and scoured through their "oops" paint and found this really pretty light green color.  She hit the edges lightly after the top coat dried and came up with this.  I think that it looks great personally!

So... Here is my mama!!!  She puts the "Mar" in "MarValUs."  And... she's probably gonna kill me for posting this but I had to.  I think that it looks great and I am so proud of her.

The Dusty Bunny Logo

Just messin' around with my little bunny signature... It may change several times before I actually get it the way I like it, but... what do you think of this one?

To Tha Moon Alice... To Tha Moon!!!

Remember The Honeymooners?  I loved that show.  Everything was so basic and it was a no frills kind of show.  Jackie Gleason in the character of Ralph Kramden just cracks me up.  Alice was his wife and he used to tell her "To da moon Alice to da moon!"  I wish that comedy was still like that.  Clean and downright pants-wetting funny.  They don't make em like that anymore.

I just can't help but to think of the Honeymooners every time I say "The Moon."  I guess I am just crazy like that.  So... The Moon...  My mom and I talked about doing this for a while and finally, one day, we just did it.  I mean, life is short and I, for one, am not one for looking back and having regrets in life.  At least I tried, right?  So, one day, my mom and I just decided to get us a little 10x10 spot at The Blue Moon Antique Mall... which is not really an "antique" mall at all.  I mean, there are lots of antiques in this place, but it's mainly an indoor flea market with some really neat stuff in there for sale.  I have bought several things from there and the people there are really nice, so I figured, why not?

So there it is... The Blue Moon.  We call it "going to the Moon."  So, when I reference "The Moon" this is the place that I am talking about.  :-)  It's been some hard work, but fun work.  I have really enjoyed working with my mom on these projects, goin' junkin' on the weekends, and just spending some good quality mother/daughter time together.  We are both new to this whole refinishing, repurposing, reusing thing, but I have to say that there are SO MANY inspiring blogs and "how to's" out there on the web.  I have put a few of my favs over there on the right side of the page so you can check them out.  

My mom and I go to "The Moon" and do what we needed to get us a spot and they told us that we had to come up with a name. "A name???"  My mom and I just looked at each other.  We didn't think about that.  So, we are standing there throwing out ideas and we came up with "Simply MarValUs."  

Why MarValUs???  Well, My mom's name is Martha, my name is Valerie, together we are "us" and we make things just Simply MarValUs.  Lol!  We thought that it was catchy, and actually, quite genius!

So there it is.... Well, this was about a week ago so it looks kinda bare right now.  We are working on some kind of carpet to go down and we have more in there now.  Guess I need to update it.  ;-)  You get the gist though.

The Sad Little Ugly Dresser: Part 2

Just to recap what happened in part one, you can find the story here.

The next morning mama woke up with much soreness in her bones.  After all, there is a lot of manual labor involved in all that preppin' for paint.  But, the best thing to do in that kind of sore situation is just work it out.  So, off mama went to finish up with the transformation.  The day was sunny, bright, and warm.  Perfect for painting!  Once the base was finished, it was time for the drawers.  Mama painted the drawers along with the insides of the drawers.  Mama's OCD kicked in and couldn't "not" paint the inside of the drawers... She sure is glad she did!  They turned out great!

I actually really love the way that turned out.  I noticed that some people don't do the inside of the drawers, I can't stand that!  I feel like it's only 1/2 done!  I am glad that I opted to do that.  Looks better.

Now, mama was finally done with the sad little ugly dresser, and now it was time for the final touch... The knobs.  Mama had a picture in her head of what she wanted and it didn't matter where she had to go to get them, but they had to be those particular knobs...

I decided to paint it teal (because I just LOVE teal right now!) and I did the top black.  You can't even tell that the top was so messed up!  All that sanding really paid off!  Looks great!

My Mika likes it too... well, actually, she wouldn't move, so I went ahead and just snapped the pic.  The only thing missing now is the knobs!!!

Off to Hobby Lobby!  The fam decided that they wanted to come along, which was good.  We had a good time!  Well, except my son... he's always so serious!

Yeah, he's probably going to be mad when he sees that I put this pic on here... both my kids grew up in front of a camera.  They hate that I am a professional photographer because I always have a camera handy... they are totally sick of it, lol!  Oh well!  I say, get over it and move on with life!  As you can see, my daughter loves being goofy with the camera.  The only one missing is hubbs!  Yeah, well, He likes to hide from the camera, lol!

It was the only place that she hadn't been yet, and in retro-spec, this should have been the first and only place that she should have gone to.  FOUND EM'!  And they were JUST what she had envisioned.   Perfect!

I just LOVE LOVE LOVE these knobs... and let me tell you, Hobby Lobby has GOBS AND GOBS OF KNOBS!!!!  I was impressed, seriously. 

By this time, it appeared that the hubbs, daughter, and son had started to change their minds about the sad little ugly dresser. Now hubbs, daughter, and son all wanted to keep the not-so-sad little ugly dresser.  They finally saw what mama was seein' that whole time!  Just because it's ugly to you, doesn't mean that you can't get a little creative and transform that ugly duckling into a beautiful swan!  Wouldn't you agree?

Yeah... didn't realize that this was such a crappy pic... (need a image stabilizer on my iphone!  Lol!  Rent-a-wreck!)  As you can see, we are still in the process of getting stuff in there.  I have some stuff to put up there on that peg board that I will be posting later on.  :-)  I had 4 people rubber-necking as I brought it in to the Moon and was putting the drawers in it.  I don't think that this one will last long at all.  ;-)  

So now it was time... although the fam wanted to now keep the beautiful new old dresser, it's fate had already been planned.  It was being transported to The Moon!  The Moon?  Yes, The Moon...   My mom and I have a little spot in a local indoor antique/flea market type place called The Blue Moon Antique Mall.  Our little 10x10 booth is named, "Simply MarValUs."  So, the awesome not-so-little dresser is now at it's new home, The Blue Moon, until someone falls in love with it and gives it a permanent home.  :-)  It's sturdy and well built, so it will last another 40 years, that's for sure!

So... if you are interested in it and are local (or surrounding area), you can find the revived sad little ugly dresser at:
The Blue Moon Antique Mall
3721 N. Navy Blvd.
Pensacola, Fl. 32507
Just ask for "MarVal's booth!"  They will be happy to show you the way.

Now... for the next project... hummm, what will it be this time?  Guess you will have to check back to see what dust has been blown off some old tired furniture that we have discovered!

Ribbon Lamp Shade Project

I finally finished it!  My ribbon lampshade!!!  I think that it is funky and turned out better than I expected.  I think that it's very chic!  I don't have a pic of the base before, (duh!) but I did manage to pull off a pic of the ugly shade that was on it before I started.

The one that was on my small lamp was almost like this one.  Mine did not have the design on the shade.

It took me about 3 days to do this, but it's not like I was all "dedicated" or anything when I was working on this.  I would watch the tele as I was working on it and just work on it here and there.  I need to make a trip to "The Moon" so, I decided that I needed to get that one.  After all, I think that it would look cute displayed on my not so sad ugly little dresser.  (Which I have not forgotten, the outcome will be revealed in the next day or so.)  In the meantime... Drum roll please.... lol!  Just kiddin'!

This is what the bare bones of the shade looked like once I cut, ripped, and struggled to get the shade off of it.

Uh yeah... not really sure what to say about this, but this was the part that took the longest... tying all these variations of ribbon onto the top of the shade ring.  I double tied them to make sure that it would stay together.

Duh!  I forgot to take a shot of the base before, oh well... it was beige and I sprayed it with a black semi-gloss with glitter mixed in with the paint.  I don't think that you can see the glitter in it though.  I put 3 coats on it because the paint really didn't want to stick to the base, even though I cleaned it good before I sprayed it.

All finished!  It's very cute!  If you are interested, it will be at The Moon tomorrow afternoon.  :-)

This was a fun little project.  I think that I could have finished it sooner, but that's okay.  My mom and I have been busy pickin' for some more projects that we are planning to start on next week to put up at The Moon!  I'll keep you posted!