Recent Transformations

I have been so busy getting ready for the Luckett's Spring Antique Market, busting my butt to get tons of projects done. These are a few of the ones I have completed this past week. And to top it off, I was really good about taking before shots! :)
First off is a favorite of mine! A local dealer called me about this cedar chest, and I wasn't too excited to go see it, but I like to support our local shops so I thought, "Why not?"

And upon seeing it, I still wasn't thrilled, but I bought it anyhow because it was a great coffee table size trunk. It had really cool alligator-skin like top to it, just from old finish drying up. It also had hideous wooden handles on the side, which were removed and patched. I gave it a good sanding, careful to keep the alligator look on the top, and primed and painted it white, then gave it a good sanding with the electric sander again, as I wanted a very rustic look. I love the numbered look that is so popular right now, and decided to add numbers to the face, but with no stencil on hand, I free-handed it, and then dry-brushed the base white over it to make it appear more distressed, and hide my hand painted flaws! I also added "new" hardware to the sides. Here it is now!


Second, this table I purchased from the same local dealer who told me it was an antique child's table.

I am not sure if it was a work table or play table. At one time it had a drawer, but at time of purchase, the drawer was missing, and the top was coming off. With my Dad's help, we built a faux drawer to fill the hole, and sturdied it up. Now, with its new paint treatment antique glass knob, it's perfect as a cottage coffee table.


This vanity I would not have even looked twice at, but a friend gave it to me, so how could I say no to free? It was very 1980's with its dark pine finish, shiny bass hardware. See for yourself!

I removed all the old hardware and filled holes, sanded it, primed and painted it with a lovely linen white oops paint. I distressed it and added these awesome Anthropologie shell-like knobs. It's now very beachy and cottage chic! And I apologize for the bad picture, but this piece is an absolute beast and I couldn't move it myself to better lighting and staging for a picture.


My last transformation today is this (again vintage 1980's) French Provincial style dresser.

This one was also a freebie, so I decided to bring on the funk! As I said in one of my recent posts, I am not a fan of this cream and gold finish anyhow! I decided to paint it a canary yellow (another oops paint!) as I have been seeing lots of bold yellows out there lately in the design blogosphere. I am not a yellow person, but I have to admit, I love the pops of bright yellow. I also painted the pulls a dark gray. I left it undistressed for a fresh look. Feel free to leave your opinions on this one, as I am currently not sure if I like it! :)

I am linking up to.... (A huge thank you to Julie, who emailed me and helped me with my links! You can visit her here and check out her adorable newly finished cabinet!)
The Thrifty Home Penny Pinching Party
Trash To Treasure at Reinvented
DIY Day with A soft Place to Land
The Shabby Chic Cottage Transformation Thursday
Somewhat Simple Strut Your Stuff
Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Feature Friday
The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday
Poppies at Play's Creative Cats

I Heart West Elm!

Every time I go to westelm.com or shop on the store, I find so many things I am in LOVE with! I have $175 to spend there from a credit we earned when purchasing our couch and am trying to decide how to spend it. My ever so practical husband says we need curtains.... and we do, but I don't know that I want to spend the credit on curtains when these beauties abound in the store!!!
Check out these pictures and tell me what you like....
Gorgeous Organic Bedding (Yes, I already have a duvet cover I love from Pine Cone Hill, but isn't this so dreamy!)

Look at this beautiful Starfish pillow cover... lovely!

And this deconstructed rose pillow cover.... even lovelier!

Yes, I have bit of a pillow fetish.... look at these beauties from Patch & West Elm!

This light, I am just drooling over.... It would be perfect for my dining room! I am pretty sure I can't convince my hubby on this one though. boo hoo.

This lamp is gorgeous as well, but even with credit I can't bring myself to spend more than 30 bucks on a lamp!

Now these.... surely I could sneak a few of these in with a more pracitical purchase! Awesome recycled glass vases- so pretty!

And now for the more practical side of me.... and to appease my husband, check out these curtains. They are pretty fabulous, don't you think?

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Pardon the lovely phrase I learned a time ago from my also lovely husband! The giveaway has ended, and the number has been picked using random.org. The lucky winner of the cool vintage floral painting is the very person who was the 50th follower...."Blackwidow"! Please contact me at primitiveandproper@gmail.com to claim your prize! Thanks for entering and taking the time to read my blog.
And now, here is a sneak peek at what is coming later this week....

French Blue Lingerie Chest

I picked up a lingerie chest earlier this week; it was your standard run of the mill cream colored with gold trim.... (insert gagging sound). I love French lines, and French hardware, but I do not love this look. (Please note that I am awful about remembering to take before pics, so this chest is not actually mine, but you get the idea.)


I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, though my son suggested red, as he does with everything. "Red, it's my favorite color!" he says. I am not really a red person, so I thought a nice French blue would look lovely, with the pulls painted white as well since they had thay yellowish paint on them as well. I sanded it down, primed, it, painted it. Because it was a such a gorgeous day outside, I hauled it outside (dragging it up the stairs- don't tell my husband!), and distressed it out there while my kids played on their swingset and in the sandbox. I had also spray painted the pulls outside in the morning, so they were ready to be distressed a little and added. And here she is now, in her French blue loveliness. It's up for sale on the website now!

Don't forget to enter for a chance to win an awesome vintage floral painting.... see my post from Tuesday, March 23!
I am linking up today to....
The Shabby Chic Cottage Transformation Thursday at http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/2010/03/transformation-thursday-spring-fling.html
Somewhat Simple's Strut Your Stuff Thursday at http://www.somewhatsimple.com/2010/03/strut-your-stuff-with-madison-reece.html
The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday at http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2010/03/frugal-friday-linky-party-and-project.html
Poppies at Play Creative Cats at http://poppiesatplay.blogspot.com/2010/03/creative-cats_26.html

Under $5 Easter/Spring Decoration Contest at Living with Lindsay

Inspired by Sara aka "The Thriftress" who can be found at http://thethriftress.blogspot.com/, I decided to enter the annual Living with Lindsay Five Dollar Challenge. Basically, you can only spend $5 on items purchased from the Dollar Store, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and the like. We have a Dollar Tree in town, so that was where I went shopping. I wasn't sure what I was going to make but was thinking of a ribbon-wrapped wreath. Unfortunately, I found no ribbon that would work, so I nixed that idea and started spinning my wheels again, strolling down the craft aisle. I found a woven wreath in an unfinished condition, and then headed to the Easter decor, where I found a little bag of sparkly pastel eggs meant to be ornaments. I wanted a nest, but none to be found, so I purchaed an Easter favorite- fake bright green grass! Here are all of my purchases before:

When I got home, I took the wreath outside to spraypaint it white. I had plenty of spray paint on hand so that was not an issue. It would look cute natural, too, but you know me and white paint.... I waited for that side to dry, flipped the wreath, and sprayed the other side. After that dried, we brough the project inside. At this point, my 3 and 4 yr old were very excited about it and wanted to help. They helped place glue on the wreath and we cut some green grass and glued it on. Once that seemed to be in place, we cut the strings off the egg ornaments, and glued them on top of the grass. And here is the final product! It isn't toally dry (Since my kids were helping the glue-gun was a no-no) so I am waiting to hang it in my foyer. Oh, and I only spent $3! What do you think?

Want to enter? Check out the rules here: http://livingwithlindsay.com/2010/02/are-you-up-for-the-challenge-again-3.html
Best of Luck- Contest is TOMORROW! And don't forget about my own giveaway from the previous post- your chance to win a cool vintage painting!

Fifty Never Looked So Good!

I have finally hit 50 followers! Woo-Hoo! As promised, time for a give-away! I would love to guve away a piece of furniture, but since shipping has to be consired, I had to opt for something on the more compact size. So with spring flowers in mind, I am giving away this gorgeous vintage painting. I bought it at the auction, then found a frame that fit it, painted the frame, and voila- here she is!

Bring a little Spring color into your home with this picture.
Here is how to enter....
You must be a follower of this blog, or join, to be eligible.
Leave a comment on this post, and to make it a bit more fun, tell us what your favorite spring flower is. My personal favorite is the Hydrangea. I just love the fullness of their blooms and the pretty colors they come in- the blues and pinks and whites, and I love that even when they dry up for the season, they maintain a neat shape and hold onto their color for a while. Your turn! Contest closes Sunday, March 28th at 7 pm EST.

Spring Flowers!

It is official- Spring has sprung! And I am in the spirit, ready for the warmer weather, ready for my flip-flops to come out of hibernation, and ready to Spring-ify my house and yard! Even the tulips that I planted upside-down (that's another story) are coming up! I celebrated Spring Friday night with a group of girlfriends. We had our first ever Friday Night Wine & Design, which is exactly what it claims to be. It is a night to get together, and get creative together as we enjoy some glasses, er bottles, of wine. This past Friday night we planned to paint flower pots. And as luck would have it, last week at the flea market I found this adorable flower cart for $5 that I knew needed to be in my yard. So I measured and found some cheapo terracotta pots to fit it. I purchased six 6" pots and spray painted them with a dark gray. Then Friday night, I painted my house numbers on 3 of the pots with white craft paint.

On the 2 of the other pots, I painted little frame outlines, and then painted chalkboard paint in the frames so that I could label what is in the pot, or perhaps predict its future in my hands with a simple "R.I.P.". The last pot got a simple "Bloom" written on it.

Here is phase 1 of the project after the Friday Night Wine & Design.....

My kids also wanted in on the pot-painting action, so I took my son with me to Home Depot to get some smaller pots to fill in the gaps, and also some plants to put in our pots. Today the kids and I each painted a little pot, filled them all, and here it is now!

All in all, this was a very inexpensive project, and makes a huge Spring welcome by my front door. Happy Spring!
Oh, and if you want to see my friend Renee's pots as well as my mom's hydrangea pot, visit Renee's blog at http://wherethegrassisgreener-rz.blogspot.com/
linking to....
Funky Junk Interiors

Ugly Retro Record Cabinet to SHabby Chic French Gray Buffet!

I purchased this piece off Craigslist last week, and despite its plain jane shape and ugly shiny brass pulls, I knew it had potential and would be a great piece for me to get a little more creative. The interior has 2 shelves, and each shelf has dividers built in for record storage. So the first step was to take out some aggression and put my little muscles to use, ripping out all of those dividers. Once that was done I filled holes (allowing plenty of time for wood filler to dry), sanded, primed, and painted the entire piece inside and out with my favorite French Gray. I then taped off the diamonds on the doors with delicate surface paint tape, and dry brushed white paint inside the diamond. After that was dry I distressed it, and antiqued it with my trusty minwax. (I must apologize in advance for the poor picture, but it is still a little tacky) And here it is now....


I am linking of to... (I am going to have my husband help me very soon to figure out how to get links up here properly. In the meantime, I apologize for not being as clever at the computer!)
The Shabby Chic Cottage's Transformation Thursday (theshabbychiccottage.net)! Please visit Gina and check out her lovely blog!
Somewhat Simple's Strut Your Stuff Thursday (http://www.somewhatsimple.com/2010/03/strut-your-stuff-thursday-with-sevi.html)
Poppies At Play: Creative Cats: http://poppiesatplay.blogspot.com/2010/03/creative-cats_19.html
The Shabby Nest- Frugal Friday: http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2010/03/frugal-friday-linky-party_19.html

New Feature: "My Primitive & Proper Pad"

Today I am happy to announce a new feature. I can't tell you how often I will have anything to "feature" as that depends on you all sending me pictures of your homes, complete with an item or more that you have purchased from us. For our first feature, I am so happy to show off the home of Emily, who has purchased meny items from us over the past couple years, and always visits us at the Lucketts Spring Antique Market. I have also done several custom orders for Emily. Her home is amazing, whimsical, and would belong in Cottage Living, if that magazine were still around today!

The first room I want to show you is Emily's daughter Natalie's room. It is so bright and colorful! This vanity I just painted as a custom order. The bookcase in the corner is also a P & P purchase.

She also has a beautiful pair of beds with fun bedding, perfect for sleepovers! The armoire in the middle was the first custom order I ever did for Emily!


Her stepdaughter Lauren also has a fantastic and colorful room. Lauren's a teenager and tends to like the darker, richer feminine colors. I painted the eggplant armoire and raspberry dresser for her, and also made the black and multicolored vintage quilt pillows for her bed. This room is so nice and vibrant, yet the perfect place to relax with friends!



Emily's master bedroom is a great retreat for her and husband Garth. The cream dresser next to the bed was a P & P piece. The palette in this room is nice and soft, a perfect sanctuary with pops of color in the bedding.


The guest room has the same soft palette- a nice place for guests to kick up their feet and read a book before turning out the light! And don't you love that fabulous dresser she purchased from The Old Luckett's Store!

Downstairs, the office also has a fabulous dresser purchased at the Luckett's Spring Antique Market. And the curtains from Anthro are so fabulous, I just had to have them in my own house, too! ;)

The living room has a more neutral palette, a great place to entertain guests with coffee or tea, and a tickling of the ivories!

The family room has a more cottagey feel with its soft blue walls, and again fantastic Anthropologie curtains, and another great vintage dresser from Luckett's.

The family room is right off the kitchen, which continues the same color scheme, and wonderful selection of cabinet hardware. I love how Emily mixed up a variety of glass knobs, funky Anthro knobs in different colors and styles. I also love the openess of the kitchen and the beautiful wall color.



Lastly, this dresser that I painted and Emily purchased was in Natalie's room, but the vanity has since replaced it (necessary for a growing young lady!) and will move to the basement when it is refinished to be a TV stand.

Thanks so much for sharing your home with us, Emily! It is beautiful and suits you and your family perfectly!

Funky Turquoise Dresser- Before & After

Hi guys! I am linking up today to The Shabby Nest (theshabbynest.blogspot.com) for Frugal Friday and Mustard Seed Creations (missmustardseed.blogspot.com) for Furniture Friday.
Today I am sharing a dresser I purchased off Craigslist recently. I won't tell you what I paid because you will be green with envy! It had been painted at one point in its life to look like mahogany with a deep reddish brown paint. (And people, I have to say that I do NOT get painting something to look like wood when it is wood already- I get the whole grain painting, but just painting it the color of wood really confuses me.). Anyhow, here is what it looked like when I bought it (and my apologies for the bad picture that was taken in my storage space)....

I thought with the reddish paint/stain it had, that a turquoise would complement it well and distress nicely. So away I went to work, sanding, priming, and painting with one of my most favorite Sherwin Williams colors. Once it was painted, I distressed it, and antiqued it with stain. I wasn't sure which knobs I was going to use, and going through my stash found these fabulous red glass beaded knobs I had purchased on clearance at Anthropologie. Let's be honest- I love Anthropologie, but I can only afford the clearance bins! These knobs were a mere $2.95 each and really completed the look. And here is the funky ocean blue dresser with its glitzy new knobs!

It is perfect to add that splash of color as Spring is finally making its arrival (as seen in my tulips that are growing despite the fact that I planted the bulbs upside down, but this isn't a gardening blog and for obvious reasons!).