transformation

Let Your Light Shine

March 16, 2013 by theburlapcottage · Leave a Comment

Hi Friends,

Hope you all are having a great spring break. We sure are. We’ve been doing fun things with the family and having some down time.

There is one project we have managed to get done around the house. We changed out our pendant light above the kitchen sink. We started out with this beauty:

My husband needed to get a visa for some work he is doing in China and could only get that at the consulate in Houston. So I went with him on this trip and we stopped into a lighting store I have seen on some blogs. It’s called Brown Lighting. It is filled with antique lighting that has been refurbished, or antique light reproductions. We chose a farm house light in white to go above the sink. Here it is:

It even has the fabric cording. We bought two different types of bulbs, an antique Edison style, and a retro white globe. It turns out the white globe bulb puts out the best light by far, so even though I prefer the look of the Edison bulbs, we went with the white globe.

It is a tiny part of the kitchen reno we will be doing. One day.

Enjoy your time with your family,

Leanne

Filed Under: Before and After, My Home · Tagged With: before and after, cottage, DIY, farmhouse, home decor, Lighting, my home, transformation, vintage, white

The Burlap Cottage needs your vote…….

October 1, 2012 by theburlapcottage · 1 Comment

Hi Friends,

Today is World Habitat Day.

As you may know, One Project Closer and The Better Half have sponsored a Before and After contest this summer. Each weekly winner received a $50 gift card, and One Project Closer donates $100 to Habitat for Humanity each week. I was surprised and honored my Baby Changing Table To Kitchen Hutch was chosen by Myra @ My Blessed Life as a weekly winner for the One Project Closer/Habitat for Humanity Before and After contest. One Project closer donated $100 in my honor to Habitat for Humanity! Yay! I will be blogging about what I did with the $50 gift card I won in a future post.

Today starts the finals, and here is where you come in. The winner of the grand finale is chosen by you – the friends, family and readers of each blog. Since I am such a newbie, I could use all the help I can get from you. The winner receives a $150 gift card and more importantly, so does Habitat for Humanity. Simply click here and vote for my Baby Changing Table To Kitchen Hutch, I would greatly appreciate it. Check out all of the other weekly winners for some amazing before and after projects as well. It sure was great fun and benefits such a great cause. Voting is only open for this week.

Thank you to all of my followers,

Filed Under: ASCP, Before and After, DIY, Furniture, I've Been Featured, My Home · Tagged With: annie sloan, before and after, DIY, Featured, french linen, furniture, furniture refinishing, home decor, my home, paint, refinishing, transformation

Wall Stencil

July 17, 2012 by theburlapcottage · 21 Comments

I could envision exactly what I wanted to do on my dd’s wall. The wallpaper I have seen that was almost exactly what I wanted. The color and price was what was holding me back (like $250/roll!…..eeek).

Soooo, when budget and or design is not exactly right, that is when some of my most creative projects are born. A while back I had purchased a damask stencil. I initially tried this with traditional wall paint, and it was too thin, and would require more than one coat….no good. I got out my Annie Sloan Provence chalk paint (which was the exact color I was going for) and stenciled the walls. The nice thing about the ASCP is that it is thick and the coverage is good. It was quite a long process, but worth it. Here’s the before:

And here are the afters with the fabric I will be using in her room:

Will have more to share on her room reno complete with tutorial on a wall mural I painted very soon!

Thanks for dropping by.

Linking up to:

Hubby Made Me

Filed Under: ASCP, Before and After, Wall Stencil · Tagged With: annie sloan, before and after, DIY, home decor, paint, provence, transformation, wall stencil, wallpaper

Kitchen Hutch Transformation

June 30, 2012 by theburlapcottage · 42 Comments

Here is one of my before and after’s. This kitchen hutch started out as nursery furniture that served us well for two babies. It was a changing table with the hutch on top.

It was very good furniture, so I was reluctant to just donate it or even consign it and get next to nothing. So I decided to refinish it. If it came out the way I envisioned it would, I would use it as a kitchen hutch in our eating area. Our home has so little storage, that I thought a storage piece could help.

Here’s the after:

I was going for a “just found this in a barn somewhere in a Provence farmhouse sort of look”.

Here’s how I did this:

Annie Sloan chalk paint!

For those of you who haven’t heard of this miracle paint, it is created by Annie Sloan a decorative painter who has perfected the french patina and other looks. You can only get this from a stockist, and we have an amazing one here in San Antonio, Jennifer at Woodley Cottage in Bracken Village. If you are in the San Antonio area, you must stop by. Her cottage is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Check it out sometime.

The first thing I did was added beadboard wallpaper to the back of the hutch – yes wallpaper! I ordered a roll of Grahm and Brown wallpaper off the internet. I applied it per the instructions and it adhered great. I used calking on all of the edges, as well as on any areas of the hutch where it meets the dresser so it will all look like one piece when I’m done.

Then I took one drawer out and practiced, practiced, practiced until I got the finish I was going for. The colors of paint I used were French Linen for the beadboard and inside of the hutch, and pure white for everything else. I did 3 coats of pure white, but in retrospect probably only needed two. Then I waxed everything with clear wax. Something you should know about Annie Sloan paint, is that you can put it over almost anything without priming or sanding, however, it will leave a texture or brush strokes. But that was the look I was going for on this piece. The rest of my kitchen will be a clean white (one day when I finally get my kitchen reno), so I wanted this piece to look a bit rustic and antique for some character. After I buffed the clear wax, I added just a little bit of dark wax with a very dry brush and just worked it into any lines in the furniture. What I did next is what I think made all of the difference: I tinted some clear wax with a very small amount of French Linen and then worked it into all of the grooves, texture and brush strokes all over the piece. Then I put another coat of clear wax and buffed. This process took the better part of a week, and lots of elbow grease, but I do think the end result came out even better than I had imaginged.

Another think I should mention is the hardware. I changed that by getting these copper bin pulls and library pulls at Anthropologie. They have an artisan that designs these pulls and I just love everything she does. They carry a book on all of her creations, but her name escapes me at the moment. Will update her name next time I run across it. Anywho, it required me to fill the center holes on each pull and drill two new holes for each new pull, but that was no problem my hubby has taught me how to use the power drill and screwdriver and now I am dangerous! hehehe!

Here’s another before: