Monday, November 11, 2013

~ White Pumpkins - Soft & Light Fall Decorating

The Decorated House ~ White Pumpkins Decorating for Thanksgiving

Happy ThanksGiving!


 White Pumpkins for Fall Decorating

The objective was to use as much of the elements of the Halloween
decor for Fall decorating as possible. So all the things associated
 with just Halloween were put away, but anything that could still
be used for Fall is still here of course.
The Mercury glass and silver are still hard at work 
showing off the white pumpkins in a
 very simple and soft arrangement.

The soft white velvet pumpkins
and painted pumpkins,
 using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint
in Old White & Pure White.

The Decorated House ~ White Pumpkins Decorating for Thanksgiving
Autumn leaves and a rusty antique key along with the antique
books give a sweet nod to the season of beautiful warm colors.

A velvet pumpkin is adorned with a vintage rhinestone brooch,
and sits in a vintage silver sugar bowl
on top of antique books 
The old skeleton keys make appearance
throughout the year as well.

~ See Y'All Soon ~

Friday, November 8, 2013

~ How -To: Black Glaze on Kitchen Cabinets or Wood Furniture Update

The Decorated House - How To Black Glaze on Kitchen Cabinets or Wood Furniturehow-to-black-glaze-on-kitchen-cabinets.html

Over the years some posts on blogs get a lot more views than others. And some of those posts will continue to get quite a bit of interest year over year. How to do a  Black Glaze on your wood Kitchen Cabinets has been one of those posts here at The Decorated House, both on this blog and on the original site over 13 years ago.


Before doing the Faux Bois finish, we added the moldings and painted the cabinets all white. The cabinets are all solid wood, and in good condition and back then it didn't make sense to me to get cabinets that were not all wood to replace them. After 10 years I was tired of white and really would have liked some nice upscale solid wood cabinets, but that was a lot more expensive than what I was willing to do.

Instead, I found books (this was before all the diy stuff hit the internet) and decided to try my hand at faux bois paint technique. That was about 13 years ago. The finish has held up extremely well.

The kitchen mini-update was supposed to be quick and easy. You know how little projects can take a lot more time than you thought. And although the cabinets still look pretty good, I wanted to give them a freshening up. The doors were all removed again, and I redid all the black glaze. The insides of the cabinets got a coat of paint, and new storage organization was anywhere I could fit it into the odd and sometimes small spaces. The mini update is still going on, but I think an end may finally be in sight.

As I was writing the post,  I showed this before and after picture to Sweet Hubby and he wasn't skeptical for a moment that it was really the original kitchen until he realized the same size window is still there. The picture is not that good, but I think you can get the idea. They were built in 1959 and they looked the same although a bit worse for wear in 1986.
How -To: Black Glaze on Kitchen Cabinets or Wood Furniture - The Decorated House
If you have wood cabinets