When I was in college I had a fabulous porch at my apartment.  My mom, being the wonderful woman she is, bought me two chairs and a little table.  After about a week the little table broke.  I was pretty sad about it but I knew my mom could fix it.  Enter, zip ties and pretty rope.  Viola my little table was fixed and a little more colorful!  Yes that pinkish rope used to be red!

This year we decided we wanted to spend more time on the patio of our townhouse.  We went to Lowes and bought two black chairs.  I set them up on the patio with the beige table and it was so bland!  Back to Lowe’s I went to purchase Spray paint!  I could fix that bland table with a few sprays from a can!

I sprayed the table with the metal primer

I decided to put a cute red design on the glass top with glass paint. That was somewhat of a disaster and did not stick so I will not hurt your eyes with that!

After scraping the red disaster off the top I decided to see what the finished product would look like in its new setting.

I think its a pretty cute place to enjoy a sunny day! Too bad today it is 55 and cloudy! So I guess the point of all this is: When Lowe’s gives you beige, they also give you blue spray paint!

My name is Natalie and I run a little blog called Our Old Southern House. And if there is one thing you need to know about me, it is this: I am an antiques junkie.

It’s an addiction I’ve had for the last 18 years.

What that that meant is that my grandmother’s basement was so crammed full of stored antiques that it looked like a furniture store before we finally moved into our 135-year old house a few years ago. Thankfully our new old place has five bedrooms and lots of extra space. Living room? Check. Parlor? Check. Sleeping Porch? Check. Extra kitchen upstairs? Check. Which translates into us having a lot of antiques.

I digress.

What I’m getting to is this: we are always on the hunt for a great antiques market. Growing up we went to Lakewood {if you’re local you might remember it} every month for years. And then they closed it so they could do movies there. So, we settled on Scotts, but since I’m a cheap skate, we only do its outside market {though we do sneak in for the Greek food…yum!}. Five years ago though my life was changed when we discovered the Metrolina in Charlotte, NC. It’s a monthly antiques market that holds a Spectacular every April and October. It’s the highlight of my spring.

Yep, no chifferobe. But the other treasures? Fabulous.

Six perfect pearl duck buttons for the new baby.

A 1950s ironing board for my favorite two year old.

A printers drawer to act as a shelf in the nursery.

An alabaster lamp for there too {I LOVE alabaster lamps and have a huge collection of them. This one was only $20.}

A 1960s hard hat for a certain man in my life who wears hard hats on a daily basis. I guess this makes him a hard hat connoisseur?

A 60+ year old dress for my vintage frock-loving girl.

And the piece de resistance–this beautiful, though worn, Victorian leather settee.

It needs work I know–I mean, who wants to sit on horse hair? But after some TLC from our favorite re-upholsterer and some new funky fabric for the seat {I’m leaving the back and all that great leather}, I think it’s going to be perfect for our parlor. I can just picture taking it out the backyard and having our family portrait made with it next year.

And all for less than $200. Not bad at all.

That’s the beauty of an antique market: there is something for everyone and their budget as long as you’re willing to hunt for it.

BEY, thanks so much for letting me stop by and chat. I had a blast.

Get your crafting gloves on, we’ve got a fun DIY today. Chelsea, one of the most creative and crafty people I know, runs the adorable blog The Dainty Woods and recently took the plunge and started selling her hand-crafted goodies full time. Her creations and beautiful free spirit always make my heart smile. I just know you’ll love her too! Without further ado, I’ll let Miss Chelsea take it away!

Well hello, BEY readers! I was so flattered when Krista asked me share a guest post with you guys. It took me while to make up my mind on what exactly I wanted to share with you. Then it hit me!

Among many things, Krista and I share a love for this delicious smelling candle. It’s from Anthropologie (you sold already?) and it’s called Volcano. This year, they started making it in a pretty mercury glass jar. That mercury glass seems to be everywhere right now, but it’s usually a little more than I want to spend. Here’s a little DIY on making your own mercury glass- a project with pretty results and practically no costs.

Things you’ll need:

1. A jar, vase, or glass that you want to make purdy. I started with a smoky colored glass that I bought at the thrift store for 95 cents, but you can always use any clear glass/ vase/ jar you have around the house.
2. A spray bottle filled with water. This is free if you already have one for your naughty-couch-clawin-kitty
3. Metallic spray paint in the color of your choice. I used Rust-oleum’s Specialty Metallic spray paint in gold. Martha says to use Krylon’s Looking Glass/ Mirror spray paint. I’m sure either one’s just fine.
4. Old newspaper or magazine pages. Thank you Urban Outfitters for your lovely catalogs.
5. Masking tape.
6. Drying rack.
7. Good music. You can’t start a project without music to keep you company. I chose Iron + Wine and Lisa Hannigan.

  

Immediately, spray the inside of your glass with your metallic spray paint.

Now that you’ve finished with the spray paint, place your glass upside down on a drying rack. This is so that the air circulates inside the glass.

Now go waste some time on Pinterest or watch a movie while it dries.

Once it’s completely dry, remove the tape and paper from the glass. You did it!

Now you can put a little votive candle in the glass and enjoy your new ambiance! [You could take this project even further and make your own candle by following this tutorial.]

* If you realize that you didn’t spray enough water and your droplets were too small, you can always do the following:

Before it’s completely dry, take your finger and lightly rub it inside against the little bubbles. You’ll be rubbing some of the spray paint off and making those bubbles [now splotches] a little bigger.

hello! my name is lesley, you can also find me here. i am so honored to be guest posting for krista today as we all send her a big, collective bon voyage! i love reading this beautiful blog as i’m sure you do too! i thought and thought about what to share with you all and i know that krista is a lover of flea markets and all things old so i thought i would tell to you all about my hunt for the perfect botanicals! get excited. i’ve searched ebay and etsy high and low to find the perfect vintage prints. i have this long hall way with a lovely fuse box at the end that i’m wanting to cover up with either a triptych of botanical prints (like the beautiful image above) or a big pull down botanical chart. sadly, this beauty was already snatched up. i’m also cool with reproductions (read: what i can afford) and new art like these light and airy illustrations i found here. the only problem is that these are a bit too small.