Still Working Away, This Time With Wood

Every once in a while I get this desire to work with wood; definitely not my forte, I have a hard time cutting anything straight (which is why I like the Tudor period!). This week, off and on, I've been making small, mostly shabby chic, wooden accessory pieces. The raw wood ones were today's effort. It snowed overnight, the wind has been blowing, and it was not at all pleasant outside, a good day to work by the window downstairs.

Anyway, I've finished two small shabby chic utility shelves; things can sit on the top, and towels etc. can hang from the rail. The bucket bench has been getting messed up - that's the blue shelving unit in the back - with water rings and similar stains. There is also a small garden trug, another little shelf unit that needs some towel hooks in it, a small utility bench and a paper towel holder. The last four need painting, but I want everything to dry overnight before I do the seal coat. Then I'll paint a basic white coat, and when that's dry, I'll add the pastel top coat. That will be sanded back for wear before the matte varnish or beeswax finish coat goes on. These small pieces finish fairly quickly, and allow me to use pieces of "left-over" wood from my building supply stash.

Last fall, I picked up some paint colours that are atypical for me; the pale green is one. There is also pink and mauve, as well as pale turquoise. I'm kind of having fun experimenting with them. In small doses, pastels do work.

One bigger piece I'd like to spend some extra time on is a very old Christina Dierckx vanity table; it dates back a dozen years or more, from my first Camp MiniHaHa visit, I think. Over the years it has had a number of paint colours, but currently it is the blue-gray of the larger shelf unit in the foreground of the photo. This colour really works, so I've accented it a bit here and there with gold wax, and hope to "dress" the top of it to give a really nice, shabby chic impression. And maybe someone at one of the shows I'm attending in the next couple of months would be willing to give me some money for it....

I am finishing some small UFO's, at least!