What’s new at Shiny Sisters?
Well, I need to do a little backtracking and play catch up here (see December 2016 below)
January 17, 2017
So, the weather, overall, has been halfway decent in this New Year. We’ve had some cold days, to be sure, like highs of 16 degrees ?!?!?! but we also had a couple days last week where the temps were in the 40’s. Well, that was way too tempting for me to pass up, especially since the front porch with plastic on 3 sides was about 75 degrees, SO, out of the barn and onto the porch comes a project – a green dresser salvaged from the dump. An oak dresser. Really. And in pretty good shape and with what looks like a lot of original hardware, too. This will be my dresser (I need one), but also a learning project. I wouldn’t necessarily strip it, but I really can’t stand the shade of green, and with all that beautiful oak, well, I wanted to strip the top and the drawer fronts and restore them, and paint the rest of the dresser a soft grey. What do you think?
As of today, I’ve got the top and drawers mostly stripped – just a few little patches to finish taking the paint off of, then a little light sanding maybe, then probably a light honey oak stain. I’m REALLY excited about this! I’m doing this as weather/temperature permit, since on cloudy days the front porch still stays chilly.
Oh, and let me just put in a SAFETY NOTE:
When working with strippers or solvents or paint or anything, even “safe” ones (I’m using the orange citrus stripper), BE SURE to have adequate ventilation !!! I was stripping the dresser on the porch with the storm door closed and darn near asphyxiated myself. I came into the office to work for a bit, and started getting lightheaded, dizzy and nauseated. THIS IS NOT GOOD! I’d gotten some stripper on my overalls (I’m messy, ask my husband – or Sara!), so in addition to working with it on the porch, I also had it right under my nose on my overalls. So, I went outside for awhile to clear my head. And opened the storm door when I was working. And when I was done, I hung my overalls on the back fence to air out. So, BE SAFE !!!
I’m hoping to finish the dresser in the next week or two – weather permitting. Stay tuned!
I’ll post some progress pictures now, though, so you can see what it looks like.
December 2016
Cliff and I went to CA to spend Christmas with the other side of the family (mine) and while there we did a little Shiny business (no, not monkey business, Shiny business! Ok, maybe a little monkey business, too. 🙂 ). We went to a few local shops in Historic Cottonwood, CA, that are upcyclers and recyclers, like we are. They were cute stores and had a lot of nice stuff. And yes, we shopped and got some great treasures – an enameled strainer, white with blue flowers on the sides, an old cracker tin with a top that has crystals in a glass part that you heat in the oven and then put the crackers in the tin, put the top on and the top crystals absorb the moisture to keep the crackers fresh (this was super cute! I’ve never seen one before!). Some old, rusty, crusty, vintage/antique stuff. We also bought some small metal claw feet and some new-ish brass furniture hardware. Lots of chalk paint (admittedly not my favorite), but many nice things. It’s always nice to see what others are doing, what the trends are.
My sister told us about a local place that everyone in her area is talking about, “The Blingy Barn” (www.TheBlingyBarn.com), so we went and checked it out. It’s a great shop, in an industrial complex, with tons of stuff. Kind of like right out of American Pickers. We met Rick and Janelle, the owners, who are great folks. Rick apologized for it being pretty bare and picked over – it sure didn’t look that way to us! I can’t even imagine what it must have looked like before Christmas! We got a great wire basket, a thank you gift for my sister. CUTE! She’ll be putting petunias in it this spring. I hope she sends pictures!
Rick then told us about a couple other places, one of which was “Eighth and Main” (www.EighthandMain.com), in Chico, about an hour away. So, the day after Christmas we piled into the car and off we went! My sister, niece, Cliff and myself, on the hunt for we-don’t-know-what. And we had a great time searching for it. Eighth and Main is a huge, and I’m talking HUGE, building (I don’t know what it used to be) with a lot of different vendors. Two stories. And a huge metal building out back with even more vendors. And Cliff found my long-awaited-for draw knife there! Whooo !!! Ever since we’ve been watching Barnwood Builders, I’ve wanted a draw knife and he found the perfect one at Eighth and Main. They had everything there!!! And if you couldn’t find it there, well, you probably didn’t need it anyway!
The only downside about shopping so far away from home is having to scale back our shopping to what we could easily carry in our suitcases or send through the U.S. Mail. It just wouldn’t have been cost effective to have things shipped back.
While we were in the Chico area, we also stopped at Lucero Olive Oil Company (www.LuceroOliveOil.com). This wasn’t a Shiny thing, but we love their olive oil – pressed from their own naturally grown trees and their balsamic vinegars. Soooooo……..
Needless to say, we had quite the time fitting everything in our suitcases. My sister had to lend us one of hers (thanks, Shar!), which seems to happen every time we go west.