White Wash Farmer's Market Sign

Happy Monday.  Hope your weekend was great. 

I bought this French Market sign awhile back for the new house.  I was not sure if I would have wall space in the new tiny kitchen but I loved it and thought I will some how make this work.

This is what it looked like when I bought it.


This is not the greatest picture but you can see the market sign.  It was a dirty gray looking sign.  It was screaming making me pretty!!!!



I bought a black frame at Hobby Lobby on the clearance and painted it white.  It fit perfectly around this sign.  Score! 
After I painted the frame white and put it around the sign it was really looking dirty gray to me.
Soooo.......



So what I did was get out my trusty white paint and added water to the paint.  About 1/4 cup paint to 1/4 cup warm water.  Then I took my paint brush wet and dipped it in the paint and painted it over the surface of the sign.  I took a wet rag and  wiped off the paint.  This allowed for the stencil to come through.  I did this 3 times to get this white/gray wash look.


I like the white wash look to this sign so much better than the dirty gray look.  

Working on getting the kitchen done to show you soon.  This sign makes a great addition to the kitchen eating area. 
Have a great week.
xoxo
Kris



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Living Room Reveal

Yeah!!!! finally have the living room put together to show you.  It is still a work in progress with me changing things up in here but you can see how the living room is coming along.



I stayed with my neutral love.  Dove grey, whites and a little cream.  The wallpaper added a little yellow into the cottage style living room.




I am so happy I had a wall big enough in this tiny home for the old farmhouse window I had in the old house.  This is my favorite chippy piece.    Peggy was assisting with this picture!!



I took some old end tables my daughter had in her basement and painted them white and added old chippy door knobs to this door.  You know how I love to recycle old things into new things!





My chippy old arch window fit in this space perfectly.

My bargain armoire I just re loved fits nicely in the living room space.
My old french window found a place.






My great grandmothers old cedar chest is now my coffee table in the new house.  Back in the day when you got engaged to be married you would get a Lane cedar chest.  Then you would use these cedar lined chests to add gifts, new linens etc. to bring into your marriage.  This usually was the first piece of furniture you brought into your home after you were married too. 
So there is a peek at the new living room in Junk Chic Cottage III

Have a great Friday and wonderful weekend.
Hugs,
Kris





Fall


Fall has arrived!

 I have been concentrating on the DIY's and where to put my regular decor in the new house,  I did not do much decorating for fall.  Mostly just the outside as you saw in my last post. 


 I thought I share a few decor pics from my past fall decor.

My favorite decor has always been neutral and peaceful.





Enjoy these few pics from my past fall decor.


  Hoping to get all the DIY's done in this new  home so I can show you the rooms before the holidays hit!  I just have had so much family stuff on the weekends that things are slow to get done.  My handyman is back to long days at work during the week.  This just leaves the weekends for us to get things done.  



































I have these sweet garden boots with fall flowers on my porch at the new house this year.

Cooper last year loved the sun streaming in the windows.  Oh how he loved to bask in the sunshine for long naps.

I miss sweet Cooper but now Peggy is filling that void in our hearts.  Rest in peace sweet Coop.  Miss you buddy.



  I love seeing the cute little witch mouse that Judy from Gold Country Cottage sent me.




Wishing you all a great new week ahead.  Hope you enjoyed going down memory lane with me on some of my past fall decor.

 Fall has finally arrived here in Illinois.
Happy Fall.

Hugs,
Kris


Fall Decor and Neighborhood Charm

Happy Weekend!
Remember Mr. Rogers and the song "These are the people in your neighborhood".

Today I want to show you my charming neighborhood and also share my outdoor fall decor.

The first time I drove down our street I fell in love with the charm of each of the houses in this neighborhood.  Each home is unique and no two are a like.  These homes were built in the late 40's to early 50's.  








Unfortunately we are seeing some of the charming homes torn down and these bigger modern homes going up in this neighborhood.  While they are beautiful homes I feel they take away from the charm of this neighborhood.

This neighborhood reflects a wonderful time in American culture when homes were built to last with families in mind.



 

This is our cottage home dressed for fall.

My sweet harvest angel is hung on my front door to greet any guests.


I love that she has those sweet freckles just below her eyes on her cheeks.





My flower boxes are stuffed with fall pumpkins and gourds.

Welcoming fall at the new house.


Terry and I are busy working on the inside decor to share soon.

It still feels like summer here this week.  It was 82 today and 77 tomorrow.  Next week we are suppose to drop down in the 60's for our normal fall weather.

Have a great weekend.
Hugs,
Kris

Armoire Re Love

Good Sunday to all of you.  Hope the weekend is going great.


Remember this great armoire I scored for $50.

After some heavy duty sanding by my great handy man Terry we got it down to the bare wood.

As you can see my assistant Peggy is checking out the progress!

The next process was to take white paint and water it down.  I did one part paint to one part water. I just used white paint I had.  Nothing fancy like chalk paint etc. just regular paint.   Then I took a wet brush and white washed the paint onto the cabinet.

The next step was to take steel wool and rub off the paint.  This was after the first round with the steel wool.  We did this about 3 more times to get the desired look.  I did not follow any rules just kept putting on another coat of white wash and then used steel wool to take off the paint.  To get it to the desired look I wanted it was about 3 times of doing this process.

Each time the cabinet took on more of the white wash.  If you like the french look of the wood really coming through you would only have to do this process one time.  I wanted more white on this piece so it would live happily with the other white chippy pieces I have in this room.



This is where I ended up after 3 rounds of white wash and using the steel wool.  It lets some of the wood show but I get the gray and white effect I wanted.

I was going to just paint the inside of this cabinet but after playing around with the steel wool on the inside I kind of liked that it looked much like the outside of the armoire.  

Now I have a small armoire to bring in a small TV for the upstairs and also gives me some storage.  I am thinking a cute basket with my throws in that open area next to the drawers.


This piece now fits nicely with all my other chippy pieces in the room.  It has been a rain filled weekend and no sun.  These pictures are a bit drab.  If I try to brighten them too much they get washed out.  Hoping soon to take pictures of the whole living room reveal.  Maybe soon I will have some sunny days to capture this room better.

Have a great new week.
Hugs,
Kris

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