The Quirky Quail

Painting for Baby Oliver

2012-02-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Well the time has arrived. We have another sweet grandchild. Oliver was born on Feb 7. He weighed almost seven pounds and was 19" long. And he came a whole 10 days early! He is beautiful as all babies are and looks just like his daddy. I finally finished the last painting for him so I can take them all with me when I travel to meet the new little guy. This makes grandchild #11.

Cute little owls for the sweet little one. The baby shoe is for sale in my Etsy shop.

For anyone interested in an owl painting for themselves let me know, they were very fun to do. Can't wait to meet this newest little guy, but poor Nanna will have to wait until next month when Poppa and Nanna have time off from work to make the long drive down to LA to meet him. Until then, there is always Skype!

Goodnight Sweet Prince

2012-01-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

I have not had a chance to finish the chair I have started but did want you all to see what I have been working on. I got sidetracked by a project requested by my sweet DIL in LA, who is due to have our sweet grandson next month. These are two of four paintings she requested.

She has decorated the nursery in Owls so she wanted Nanna to paint some for her. I can't wait to meet the new little one. She is not the only DIL who is expecting. We will be having another sweet grandson born to our son in Seattle. The cousins will be born within days of each other. What are the odds? And at different ends of the country too. Poor Nanna won't know which direction to go first.

Good Morning Sweet Prince.

Good Night Sweet Prince.

So what do you think? Will the sweet prince like his new owly pictures?
Sorry for the bad display of said pictures but I was in a hurry to get this up.

Antique French Chair Part 1

2012-01-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

Like everyone I am busy, busy, busy these days. I am not as good a blogger as most, but I am trying to post more often but don't always have a project finished. That is why I thought maybe I would post a half finished project. I have had this French chair in my garage for at least three years awaiting her turn to be made over. Unfortunately the person I bought her from had already removed the fabric so I won't have a pattern. I think I will be able to figure it out though with the help of some great blogs out there.

Pretty huh?

This is one very old chair, no staples anywhere, only tacks. Even though at first glance you may have thought she was ready for sanding and painting. NO not so. Two hours and some very sore fingers later, the tacks were out!

Here are a few of the many tacks I pulled. They were so old and rusty some of them came apart and I couldn't totally remove them.

Already looking better after a good coat of DIY off white chalk paint.

And a coat of DIY teal chalk paint.

Some dry brushing of off white.

And a bit of distressing.

Next up antiquing and recovering. But she already looks so much better. Not sure if I am going to rip off the ugly covering there or just cover it up with more padding and some muslin before I put on her pretty dress. What do you think?

Merry Christmas to All...

2011-12-25T19:27:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all my friends out in blogland!

Here is my favorite Christmas insight of the year.
"The Bible states that the wise men, having found the Christ, went home another way. So should we, after having found the Savior, return to our homes, families, and work another way. We should be different people, forever changed by the experience of turning our lives over to the Savior."

I am so grateful for the blessings of health, love, peace, and prosperity that my family enjoys. Thank you for being part of my life and sharing in the journey I make as I try to make my home a better place.

Little Rocker for the New Little Prince

2011-12-18T20:27:00.000-08:00

My son and his wife are having their first baby and I wanted to make something very special for the new little guy. I found this childs rocker at a yard sale and got the ultimate bargain. Can you believe it? I paid only a quarter for him!! Unbelievable. Here is the before in all his nastieness.

Sorry I got all excited about redoing and took off the rockers before I remembered to take a picture.

Lovely worn vinyl covering. And when I took it apart it was unbelievably dirty. Yuck.

I had to take the entire piece apart and then put it back together. This was much harder than you would think since it was put together with long nails and screws. I couldn't believe how much work it was to recover such a small piece. I am going to redo my wingback chairs so this was a practice run. Now I am rethinking it though until I have about a week off from work to devote to the job.

Finally finished. I covered it with Miss Mustard Seed's go to fabric, drop cloth from Lowes. Then went to the Graphics Fairy and found this cute crown to put on the back. Sorry it is a bit off to one side, but I discovered that after it was all put together and I didn't have the energy to take it all back apart to fix it.

I had some vintage decorative tacks to finish off the sides and back. Not sure how old they are, but the package was originally 19 cents so that dates it a bit. Got them from my mom several years back when she was moving and knew they would come in handy eventually. Didn't have enough to put them real close together but like the look.

I painted the rockers with DIY chalk paint in ivory and slightly distressed them and then waxed them with Minwax. Like to use what I already have on hand.

Cute little guy under our tree ready to go to the baby shower.

A chair fit for a sweet little Prince.

Here is the sweet mom to be with the chair. She loved it and it is going to look so cute in her son's nursery.

There were the most amazing cupcakes at the party, not only were they cute, they tasted amazing!

And here I am with my sweet DIL. Can't wait to see our sweet little prince. He is due February 18. My birthday is the 21 so maybe she can hold out and have him on Nanna's birthday. That would be an awesome birthday gift.

Christmas Around the House

2011-12-13T19:23:00.000-08:00

I finally got my decorations up and will be posting some of what I have done. I have had so many projects going on this month I haven't been able to post, but the projects are getting finally done. I am hoping to be able to rest the week before Christmas and just bake cookies. I will post some of the finished projects later. I know I should have posted my trees and my mantle separately but since this is my one shot before Christmas to get this posted I did it all in one, so please forgive me.

My mantle is dressed mostly in silver and white although I did leave my clocks up so there is a bit of gold thrown in as well. I made my husbands stocking from old blue jeans with a fleece cuff, made that the first year we were married. My stocking was obtained from a crafts faire and was made from a vintage coat with mink trim and tails. One big splurg three years ago. The Peace stocking holders are from Hobby Lobby bought at clearance last year. There is no Hobby Lobby here so my sweet sister sent them to me. She is always helping me out that way.

The Santa is one that our dear DIL sent us from Germany three years ago when our son was stationed there in the army. The reindeer is from Pier 1 two years ago. Not sure where the silver trees came from, but probably from Michaels last year on clearance and the clocks are all gifts or yard sale finds. If you know anything about me you will know I love clocks and have collected them for years. I also love antique mirrors and there are two of them on my mantle. The white one was found in an old barn.

This is my Santa tree that I set up in my atrium. It is full of vintage and handmade Santas. The small sleigh is full of vintage ornaments bought a few at a time at the exellent yard sales we have around here.

This little guy is about 50 years old and I am the only owner. My sister bought him for me when we were children and he has always been one of my treasures. He lives in a display case most of the year, but at Christmas he gets to hang on the tree. One year one of my sons threw a football through the tree and broke him, but I managed to fix him and he is no less for the wear.

This little guy was purchased at a yard sale and I was told he was a German Santa and was at least 50 years old as well. There were three of them and I kick myself for not buying all three, what was I thinking?

My main tree all decked out in silver and white, for the most part anyway. I have silver fabric draped beneath for the skirt.

I found this cute idea on Pinterest and made about a dozen of them to hang on the tree. Very fun to make.

I tucked vintage postcards between the branches.

Also an old baby shoe I had made into a pincushion and I thought it might look cute hanging out on the tree.

My chandy lighted and unlighted. I hung more of my vintage ornaments from it.

This is a puzzle my sister gave me one year that I framed and hang up every year. Love it, I never tire of seeing it, in fact if I could get away with it, I would leave him hanging there all year. You will have to excuse the reflection of the lights from the tree in the picture, but I am too lazy to go back and take another picture.

Last but not least in my elf on a shelf, he never really goes anywhere since there are no small children here, but I do love him. Also my snowman I bought at a crafts faire several years ago and the sign that says it all. I hope all of you will build those memories this wonderful Christmas season that will have us all "still believing." Merry Christmas my friends.

Rockin...

2011-11-12T21:58:00.000-08:00

I got this sweet little rocking chair on Freecycle. When I got it, it was in about ten different pieces. I was able to put it back together and replace the two missing spindles with dowels I already owned. If you look closely you can see that the two dowels I replaced are a bit smaller than the originals, but I am in to using what I have, luckily they aren't that much off. Unfortunately I have no picture of the rocker before I glued her back together, that was preblog. Here is what she looked like after she was put back together. I am not sure how old this is, but sure it is at least 30-40 years old. If anyone knows please let me know, you just don't see little rockers like this any more.

Everywhere there looks like there is a split, that is where it was apart. The lady who gave it to me was going to throw it away, but I told her I thought I could put it back together.

I painted her with DIY Chalkpaint in an off white, then lightly distressed her and rubbed her with Minwax brand clear pastewax.

I made a pad with drop cloth fabric and used a cute transfer from Graphics Fairy using the Citrisolve method. She is so lovely now, you would never believe she started out as a pile of almost junk.

Now she is quite BEE utiful.

Great Find

2011-11-10T21:07:00.000-08:00

I was checking out Craig's List like I do on occation and ran across these cute benches. They came from an old church that was putting in new ones. Mr. Quirky has been wanting a church bench forever so we went to check them out. When we got there the man in charge told us if we would take a second one he would just give it to us. OK great deal but what am I going to do with two? Mr. Quirky said great and loaded up the second one. I know you are dying to know how much I paid for these two. Well do you think $25 is too much for two very old church pews? As you can see, Zeus has decided that they were brought home just for him. He can sun himself in total comfort.

Now where to put them until I can start painting and recovering... Any suggestions as to fabric or paint color? We did finally put them on the back deck so the neighbors wouldn't have to look at them forever until I get around to painting. Love the challenge, but now with the cooler weather I think it will be spring before I get a round tuit, but will love the challenge. The plan is to put one on the deck for extra seating and cut one down for in the house. Hopefully I am up for this plan of action. I will keep you informed.

Table for the Grandkids

2011-10-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

We are heading off to Seattle this next weekend to see three of our sweet grandkids. Probably won't get to see them for Christmas so we are packing up Christmas to take with us. The biggest gift will be this sweet table I redid for the kiddos. I found it on the side of the road, my one and only freebie. I painted it antique white with a chalkboard top. Used DIY chalkboard paint and it worked great. The only suggestion I would give to those doing it is to make sure all the lumps are mixed in. I painted the top three times since there were little bumps of powder all over the top. Had to sand down and redo the final coat. Works well though and the kids will love it.

This is what they looked like when I started. This table is solid and when I flipped it over it was stamped Lane. Score! Lane makes good furniture so this should stand up to a lot of abuse by three (soon to be four) little people. And the chairs have survived all these years in a classroom so they will be great as well. Love to find these older items, they were built to last in those days, back when dirt was new and I was young!! Smiles.

I picked up the two chairs at a yard sale about three years ago and they have been on my deck all this time. I am glad to finish something and put it to good use.

I painted the top of the chair with chalkboard paint as well, thought they could label the chairs with their names if they wanted to. Not sure if I shouldn't have painted both top pieces, what do you think?

So fun to make something useful for not much cash and to see the delight on my grandchildren's faces will be the biggest thrill.

Enough said.

Linking up here:

Last Of The Roses

2011-10-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

It is supposed to rain here for the next week, so I thought I would go out and bring in the last of my roses so they wouldn't get all ruined in the rain. Here they are in a tarnished silver pitcher, sitting in a neat old wooden bowl. I snagged the cute tray today from my friend Ester. She told me it is made from an old table top and she added the handles. I LOVE it. Added some acorns and candles to a couple of goblets and walah, I have a center piece. It needs a bit more fluffing, but I am liking it for now. What do you think?

Black Dresser

2011-09-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted in almost three weeks. I have had so much to share, but haven't gotten around to taking pictures so I could. I finished a dresser that has been in dire need of a paint job for at least two years as well as a table I have had even longer. I am really pleased with how they both turned out. I will post about the dresser now and save the table for a later post.

Here she is getting ready to be repainted. She was a dark brown. You can't see how bad the paint job is from the pictures, but believe me it is not good. I picked her up at a yard sale for $35 a couple of years ago. She came with a beautiful mirror attached that I did repaint right away and it now hangs in my guest room. I guess I will have to share that one too one day. She also had no knobs at all.

Here comes Zeus, he always needs to be in on the action.

Pretty dismal picture, sorry the sun was a bit bright that morning. Can you believe this has been in place for several years with me only dreaming of paint. Now she is finally ready to start the transformation.

And here she is all finished, isn't she beautiful?

I painted her with Behr Black Suede semi gloss. I was going to distress her, but decided against it. I may in the future, but for now I like her the way she is. My sweet sister who lives near a Hobby Lobby got me the clock knobs. I have been wanting some and of course there are no Hobby Lobbys in the whole state of Oregon. I do wonder why, love that place. Whenever I visit my sister I want to take the whole store back with me. Unfortunately what I want to take won't fit into my suitcase!!

Another view. I love the black against the red walls. I know a lot of you are doing away with the red and leaning towards lighter colors, but I do love my red walls. Took me a long time to convince my husband it was OK to paint a wall red. Also love the richness of it.

Close up of the knobs. I love clocks so this is perfect for me. My grandson Marcus and I went on a hunt and found 38 clocks in my house. I really thought I might have more, but that is all. Need a few more, don't you think?

Check out those sexy legs!

Loving the new look. Let me know what you think.

Linking up at:
Savvy Southern Style
Funky Junk Interiors
http://restoreinteriors.blogspot.com/2011/09/restored-it-wednesday
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/2011/09/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-link_22.html

Finally Finished...

2011-09-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

I am posting this as my favorite redo of 2011. It was hard to decide since most of my redos were pretty well drastic makeovers. But this one is dear to my heart since it is a family heirloom. So here it goes:

Well I finally finished something that I have been going to do for years now. I blogged about it here:

http://quirkyquail.blogspot.com/2011/07/should-i-paint.html

My father was given this piece in 1948, soon after my parents were married. He used it as a shaving mirror. Interesting, eh? Since this was so old, I wasn't exactly sure what to do with it. My siblings said to restain it, but it was in such poor condition that wasn't an option. So I forged ahead. Now have I peaked your interest? Here it is before I started.

Pretty beat up and with water stains in the shelf area. At one point in its life it held pots of plants.

As you can see the poor thing is missing a few finials. I am on the look out for some replacements, but until then I thought I would start this long over due project. I sanded it until it was smoothed out a bit.

Looking much better but still has a long way to go. I then painted it with antique white paint and heavily distressed it and waxed it with Minwax clear wax. Then I used a stain in dark walnut. It was a bit dark so I went over it again with the Minwax and it took some of the darkness out of the finish. I am new to all of this so I am just experimenting with what I have on hand. So far so good.

Finished product hung up in our guest room finally the day my mother came to visit. I wanted her to see how nice it had turned out.

Detail.

And of course I had to include my family, I am the baby in the picture. Too cute for words if I may say so myself!

Well now this is one project almost finished, if I can find the missing pieces then I will be happy, but until then this piece is happy hanging in my guestroom so all the generations can enjoy her.

Linking up with:
Funky Junk Interiors SNS
Commonground Vintage Inspiration Friday
Romantic Homes Show and Tell Fridays

http://knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com/2011/09/introducingknick-of-time-tuesday-party.html
http://romantichome.blogspot.com/
http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com/2011/09/white-wednesday-116.html
http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/2011/09/fall-decorating-fun-funky-guest-room.html

Antique Table Redo...

2011-09-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

I have this beautiful old table in my garage that has to be painted and sold ASAP. So this weekend, since it is a long one, I will be hard at work painting and staining.

It was a steal at $15 and very sturdy. I think I will stain the top if possible and paint the legs antique white. I will post later to show you all how it turns out. Now aren't you in love with those legs? I love the fact that there are eight of them. I am like Miss Mustard Seed when it comes to legs.

Time With the Zs and some Upcycling

2011-08-20T19:27:00.000-07:00

I have had a house full of company for the past two weeks. Two of which are my sweet little granddaughters, Zoey and Zaphren. They are so cute and full of sweet mischief.

My Mom is also visiting and the Zs love her. Granny Jo.

I took everyone yardsaling today and we bought some clothes for me to upcycle for Zoey since we found lots of clothes for Zaphren and not much for Zoey. Of course I got too excited and cut up the dress before I thought to take a before picture. Darn. But this was a ladies denim dress that we paid $2 for. See how cute it turned out with a bit of new fabric!

Then I went to my closet and pulled out a sweater I had never worn. Just didn't like it after buying it. I know that never happens to you, right?

Now the finished product, it is a bit big so she can wear it for awhile.

Isn't she just the sweetest little model. She was so excited to have two new dresses in one day! Now for one more.

This is the before.

Now the after. She is set for some cold weather now. Not the 90+ it has been here. I am missing the girls now, they have all gone.

Linking to:
http://moderncountrystyle.blogspot.com/2011/08/summer-loving-link-partyits-here.html

Thanks Baby Kitty

2011-08-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

Wow Zeus was so surprised and happy to receive this package from Baby Kitty and Debbie at Confessions of a Plate Addict. He wanted to jump right in and grab all the goodies.

Granddaughter Zoey Kitty held him back.

Wow what is that? A mouse, give it to me!!

Another little kitty has come to live at our house for the past two weeks. We will be sorry to see her go.
If you want to see the party head over to this site:
http://confessionsofaplateaddict.blogspot.com/2011/07/thank-you-and-some-winners.html
Thanks again Baby Kitty.

He's Home!!

2011-08-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

My son Arick just returned last night from a two year church mission in South Africa. He looks so good, can't believe how much he has changed in two years time. My boy is now a man. I know I am such a mom.

Coming off the plane.

Lots of hugs from Mom and Dad. Neice Zoey there to greet him too.

I wore the traditional outfit he sent me, including the hat. He says all the Mas wear these to church on Sundays.

Checking Durban time. He said he was traveling for 47 hours! Wow, I want to go visit Africa, but not sure I want to travel that long. He looked tired.

We made signs for him.

Lots of friends came to say welcome back.

Welcome home son, you served the Lord well. What more can be said, we love you son.

Time With Zoey

2011-08-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

This is my granddaughter Zoey, she inspires me. See that sweet smile.

My Sweet Granddaughter Zoey is spending two weeks with us. What a blessing she is. We love to have her and she wanted to help me today. In fact she really did help me. This is one of those projects that I have been meaning to do for years. In fact I am ashamed to say I meant to fix it up for my own daughter, her mother, years ago. Anyway Zoey came to me and asked me if she could play with the doll highchair that was in the garage. Now I got that highchair for Christmas when I was about five. It is very old and very ugly and very wobbly. And missing two supports. With her helping out I went to the garage and found a dowel and glued in the two missing supports. Then glued the whole thing back together. She dusted it off and started sanding.

And sanding.

And Sanding.

Isn't she just the cutest little helper?

Then I let her paint the chair while I painted one of my own projects. I didn't even supervise which is amazing for me since I always want to over supervise, but totally working on it.

Hard at work.

I will have to post finished pictures when we are all done with it. But thought this was just too cute for words. She really did a great job for a seven year old. Nanna is teaching her right!

Linking to: http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/2011/08/70s-disco-party-huge-success-newbie.html

http://www.acreativeprincess.blogspot.com/

"IT'S TIME FOR ANNIE SLOAN GIVEAWAY"

2011-08-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

I am entering a great giveaway today. It is an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint giveaway. Go to this site and find out for yourself, such a great giveaway. I really don't know how to put a button on the post yet so just giving you the site. Go and enter.
http://robynstorydesigns.blogspot.com/2011/08/everything-annie-sloan-giveaway.html

Jungle Room

2011-07-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

I painted this room for a friend' son. Her son drew a picture of what he wanted and I painted it, almost exactly as he drew it. It turned out so cute. I had fun painting it too since I wasn't sure how it would turn out.

Need to do something about that outlet cover though.

Linking toSavvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday:

ttp://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/2011/07/wow-us-wednesdays-24.html

Zeus

2011-07-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

This is our silly cat Zeus. He is quite the character. He is here to say happy birthday to Baby Kitty, at Confessions of a Plate Addict. Unfortunately we do not know his birthday, insert frownie face, he was adopted. But he does brighten our days.

He is quite the hunter, bringing birds into our garage for a light snack. Not fun when you go out to get something and there is a present there for you or a poor bird dive bombs you inside the garage, one that has escaped his claws. Saturday I had a hard time coaxing a robin out of the garage. I will have to put another bell on him, he lost the last one! Poor little birdies.

Watch out, he is not happy with you, did someone take his treat?

I guess he is now tired out from all the party fun. Thanks Debbie.

Linking up with Debbie at Confessions of a Plate Addict.
http://confessionsofaplateaddict.blogspot.com/2011/07/its-time-to-par-tay-with-kitty-cat.html

Should I Paint?

2011-07-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

I am linking up with Modern Country Style Paint Please link party today. I have this mirror that I have had for at least 20 years and I am really tired of it. I am not sure if I should paint it, leave it as is or take it apart and hang it on the wall. Suggestions would be appreciated. I had to turn the mirror to the wall since as you know mirrors show too much of the room, so please ignore the angle. Just think 80s style mirror and just in case you wondered what that funny black thing is between the stand and the mirror itself, it is a rolled up sock. Otherwise the mirror tilts forward. Yes it does have issues other than just being ugly!

I also am working on this antique mirror that hung in my families home since before I was born. It was in really sad shape and I have sanded it down. Now what to do with it? Any suggestions? It is missing a few finials that I will have to try to find replacements for, but not sure of a finish for it.

I think this is the top of an antique organ or something like that. I am 57 and it was old before I was born so it is REALLY old. A really fun piece, one I really want to make look really nice since it does have so many memories attached to it.

I am linking to:
http://moderncountrystyle.blogspot.com/
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/
http://romantichome.blogspot.com/2011/07/painted-furniture-party.html

TV Mantle

2011-07-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

I have had this mantle sitting in my garage for over a year, it is about time it got finished and came into the house. I painted it a soft white and distressed it. I was going to antique it but when I did the top it just looked dirty so I repainted it and left it as is. It is for Mr. Quirky to use for all his TV gadgets so excuse all the cords and such. No chance to decorate this mantle. Or should I say "MAN"tle!

I am going to try to post one project a week, we will see how this goes. Thanks for looking and please leave me a comment if you look.

Linking up with My Romantic Home here:
http://romantichome.blogspot.com/2011/07/painted-furniture-party.html

Upcycled French Caned Chair

2011-07-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Wow finally I am making my first post. We will see how it goes.

I finally have gotten on the bandwagon and finished a project. I have seen these all over blog land and I finally got one finished. Hard to do now with a full time job. So here goes...

I painted the chair a lovely turquoise blue and then heavily distressed it and antiqued it. I used drop cloth fabric to recover it and I made the pillow from an image off of Graphics Fairy using the Citra Solv method. Turned out nice if I may say so myself.

I am linking up with My Romantic Home here:
http://romantichome.blogspot.com/2011/07/painted-furniture-party.html