Paper.... who'd a thunk!

Found a piece of furniture with great bones but in desperate need of some TLC?   Why not add a pop of pizzazz with paper.  Comic books, maps, wrapping paper, napkins, all are great for decoupage and will add a unique and personal touch to any piece of furniture in your home.  

A Refreshing Change

From hgtv.com

From Apartment Therapy

From Crazy Wonderful

From etcetorize.blogspot.com

Next time grab that package of napkins, don't pass on that adorable wrapping paper.... come on in to The Chirping Frog and find you a piece of furniture that needs some love, possibilities abound.

10 Mosaic Projects Using a Variety of Ordinary Everyday Items

I'm a big fan of mosaic tile work and am always on the lookout for furniture pieces that will work for my purposes.  A quick Pinterest search revealed many more applications.  Take a look at ten fabulous projects I found that use a variety of base materials.

1.  Wood furniture pieces are ideal and top my list of things to look for.  You could mosaic the top, drawer fronts or go for the gusto and cover the whole piece.  A great way to update a piece of furniture and give it new life.

countryliving.com

12 Creative Crafts that Take Broken China from Trash to Treasure

2.  I love beautiful metal trays and have bought quite a few over the years but never thought to mosaic them.  What a cute project. 

From Reclaimed Designs on Etsy

3.  Chairs make wonderful mosaic projects.  I've seen them covered in marbles, buttons, paper mosaic and the like.  All are fabulous.  

from mosaicodelsole

  Check out her site, lots of great glass mosaic project ideas.

4.  Wood is a wonderful base.  Look for trays, boxes, lengths of any kind.  Love how they added hooks to these.  

Found on Pinterst

5.  I can't help but love these.  Always plenty of tools lying around, we break a multitude of shovels with all the projects we take on... glue them babies back together and give them a mosaic treatment. 

Don't mind me, I'm just raiding the shed for broken shovels!

from Pinterest

6.  Never would of thought to do this but I love the end result.  Such a cute piece.

Adorable Mosaic Teapot found on  Pinterest

7.  This is fabulous.  Take a wood or metal box, drawer, trough... whatever and give it a mosaic treatment with teacups added for extra storage.  What a cute idea!

 From Pinterest

8.  Doors and windows make great mediums for mosaic.  You can get as creative as you'd like and personalize a piece in a variety of ways.  Just beautiful.

Gorgeous Mosaic Window by LeAnn Christian... on Flickr

9.  I bought a guitar (a couple years ago mind you... it's a sickness) for this purpose and have yet to get started.  It's on my "someday" list.  Right next to about 100 other things that I may or may not get to "someday". 

Isn't that adorable?

From ehow.com with a tutorial

10.  Lots of glass bottles and jars are just waiting to become unique works of art... what are you waiting for? 

 From Inspiration Sandwich

Mosaic is an easy project anyone can do that'll transform simple, everyday items into unique, creative art pieces for your home.  With a quick "how to" search using google or Pinterest you'll find everything you ever wanted to know, and then some, about mosaic work.

 I've got plans for a variety of projects here at the shop.... "someday"!  Here's a peek at a couple of the things I'd like to do here at #TheFrog:

ptlincolnproject

I bought a wicker couch and chair at Goodwill years ago that I would like to turn into concrete sculpture.  Big plans, now I just need the time to work on a new project.

midwestliving.com

I'm hoping to work on the landscaping out front this fall and am planning to add a little personality and funk with the yard art.   

Have you done any mosaic work?  I have dabbled a bit and love it.  Would love to see some of your work, feel free to share.

10 Unique and Frugal Ways to Decorate Your Home for Less

I don't know about you but I am completely in love with thrift shops and antique malls.  So many bargains and such amazing variety, its unbelievable.  I thought today I'd share with you some of my favorite finds and some ideas for what you should be looking for and how you can incorporate these items into your home.

Dining Room Hutch Gets A New Look

I fell in love with this great dining room hutch as soon as I saw it.  I used it for years at my home and then it served as a storage and display piece in my booth at a local antique mall.  I always thought it would look great painted but never took the plunge.  Unfortunately we had a little mishap while moving last time and the upper portion, well, it bit the dust.  Perfect time to jump in and make some changes.  Here's what it looks like now: 

The base didn't go on the same roller coaster ride the top did so it's still in great shape.  I took the doors off, cleaned it up a little, gave it a quick sanding and its ready for paint. 

The upper portion, well, it's been sitting outside soaking up the rain for months.  Looking good!

I was hoping I could salvage the majority of it but that was not the case.  Lots of particle board and signs of its troubles were too numerous to count .

I ended up building a simple box with open shelving to replace it.  

I salvaged the columns from the front and tacked them on at the outer edges.

Gave the whole thing a coat of my favorite color:  green.  It's bold and fabulous!

I will need to add a support in the middle and I'm debating on what to do for the backing.  I've got corrugated metal that I could use but I've also considered wood boards that have been decoupaged to match the top of the base piece.   I'll probably do metal, easier and quicker, but we'll see!

The base had some awful, deep scratches on the top so I opted to decoupage it with some great napkins I found at The Dollar Tree.  I've never used napkins before but my research tells me they are 2-ply and that I'll need to separate the layers.... well, couldn't get anything to separate so figured they were cheap and didn't have two layers.  Yeah, I was terribly wrong!  So they separated partially when I applied them.  Yes, I had a mess.  I'm one of those "go with it" type of gals so that's what I did.  I've sanded it down and am going to "make it work".

The hutch is now sitting in the basement and hasn't been touched for over a month.  With the building project in full swing I just can't seem to get anything else accomplished.  Hoping to finish it up within the next couple weeks and show you a finished product.  I'm loving how it's turning out so far.

What are you working on this week?

Adorable Decoupaged Girls Desk

I have been playing with decoupage, a lot, lately.  I really love the technique and the finished result, definitely a learning process and not as "smooth" as I thought going in, but I really loving how things are turning out.

This little desk belonged to my grandmother.  It's in really good shape (except for a few knicks here and there) but had begun to yellow in weird ways.  I decided to give it a fresh coat of paint and add some interest with paper.

I primed it and added two coats of white paint.



 I plan to decoupage the inner portion of the drawers, leaving the outer edge white and change out the drawer pulls.

Here's the paper I chose.  I love the colors and the large floral print is gorgeous.  At first I was only going to cover the drawer fronts but then I thought, why not add a punch of color from the side as well.  Wow!  I really love the result.

I had a little help changing out the knobs, as always.  At least she let me get it done.  Usually she's tearing the tool or sandpaper right out of my hand.  I'm not allowed to work when she is present.

 New knobs, what a huge difference they make. 

Love the finished result. 

 Have you done any decoupage projects?  Would love to see what you've done.

How to Mosaic A Table-Top

While thrifting with mom a couple months ago I found this fabulous coffee table that just needed a little pick me up.  I love finding pieces that already have the framework to do a decorative finish on top so I grabbed it and we found a way to get it in my car which was quickly filling up.

I have been working on a bathroom project and have lots of leftover pieces of mosaic tile, just enough with some piecing, to cover the top of this table.  Perfect!

A Table Re-Thunk

Do you have an old table just sitting around?  How about making it a DIY project. I recently took one apart, basically into two halves, and made a desk out of it. The finished product is so multi-functional. I could use it for a desk, a potting bench, an entryway table, etc. It could be skirted and have storage underneath as well. I am very happy with how it turned out. A stack of wood sitting in the basement and a beat-up table is now a great, functional piece.

My First Attempt At Decoupage!

I found this piece of furniture at a garage sale last summer and it's been waiting, ever so patiently, for me to get to it ever since.  I am finally done and I am so incredibly happy with the results.  Here's a reminder of where I started:

The finish needed some refreshing and there are some bad spots on top where the veneer is peeling, other than that is seems to be in great shape.  I love the lines and feel of the piece.

First things first, I painted the frame white.  I love the look of two-tone furniture so I am leaving the drawer fronts wood.  Now, what to do with the bad veneer on top.  I know, decoupage!

 I am slowly creating an incredible collection of wrapping papers to be used for decoupage.  I have found some great stuff.  This is one of my favorites.  The colors are wonderful!  I have never decoupaged before, this is my first attempt.  It seems I have a tendency to "go big or go home" when it comes to projects such as this.  I probably should have practiced a little first to get the hang of it. 

I did some research, so many conflicting thoughts on the best practices so I just jumped in and did it.  It was pretty thick paper, it stuck great, but wanted to wrinkle.  Now, with wallpaper, most all that wrinkling dries out (at least I've come to tell the difference between those that dry out and those that don't).  Not really the case with decoupage.  I used the roller to squish out the air bubbles but no matter what that paper wanted to wrinkle up in an interesting way.  Not all haphazard like you'd expect, but linear, straight lines.  How weird is that?  Maybe it's not weird and I'm just inexperienced.  That could also be true.  Anyhow, I got the top and sides done and left it to dry.

Even with the slight wrinkling I am completely in love with it.  It's bright and extremely bold.  Even better than I imagined.  The way it wrinkled in such a linear fashion really adds to the design (this is a reversible paper, the back is a check type pattern, I'm wondering if that has something to the do with the linear appearance of the wrinkles?)

I plan to sell the piece (maybe, I LOVE it) so I thought I'd tone it down a little bit with a good sanding.  Worked like a charm.

 You can see what I mean about the wrinkling. 

I also "refreshed" the wood.  Simple process where I give them a quick sanding and add some stain.  Amazing how much better they look (the pictures really don't do it justice).  What a simple fix to get a rich, new finish.

Before refreshing



After Refreshing

Here it is all put back together.  I am still selling it but gotta say, it gets a short period of time and if it hasn't sold its coming back home with me.  I LOVE it!

How To Use Paper In Unique and Creative Furniture Projects

Have you ever walked through a Home Decorating shop and found a single roll of wallpaper (wrapping paper works too) and passed because you just didn't know how you'd use it?  I know I have.  More often than not, these days, I grab it and figure out how I'll use it later.  

As you can imagine my paper stash is growing fast.  I really can't help myself, I just love paper and there's so many creative ways to use it.  

How To Decoupage a Piece of Furniture with Memories

I find myself becoming more and more sentimental as the boys are getting older.  One is a Senior now at Western Kentucky, recently engaged while the other is a Junior at SIUE and lives at home.  It won't be long and they'll be raising families of their own.  Amazing!

I have been throwing around multiple ideas for what to do with my coffee table in the living room, that I hate, and finally made a decision, my sentimentality won out!


I am well underway with the project and am really, really happy with my choice.  I'm thinking I'll be spending more time in the living room now.  Here's a picture from when we moved in (it's changed a little since then but this is the best before picture of the table).

One of my favorite thrift store finds are furniture pieces that have great bones but need a little personalization and TLC. 

Mosaic Table

When my boys were little they had an excellent art class at school.  They brought home some really great projects.  I found a coffee table at a garage sale with good bones and it already had the "inlay" top ready for tile.  My oldest son drew out the pattern on the top and I added the mosaic.  I still love the results (we made this table nearly 13 years ago). I'll never be able to part with it. Right now its in desperate need of a paint job- that'd make a good winter project!

 

I love his design, kind of an abstract "owl" "elephant".... something!                                

 

It's easy to add a mosaic to any tabletop especially if it already has an "inlay" area with raised edges. If not, simply add some trimwork around the edges and you're ready to go.

 

I mixed mortar (I always have bags of it laying around) but it'd be easier to simply buy a small container of pre-mixed. I also don't spread it on the table as if I'm tiling a wall. I simply butter each piece individually. Otherwise, you loose your design.

I broke the tile and used "nippers" to form them a little more if needed.

 

Every time I see this table I smile. I see two eyes looking up at me.

 

I chose a neutral, light grout. Again, you can mix your own or buy premixed. I also sealed the grout to keep it from staining too badly. It does have a few spots but it has held up very well.

 

It was a great project and a fun way to involve the kids (the one willing participant anyhow). He calls it "his" table. In a sense, it really is!

 

Have you done any mosaic projects?  I love the look but have only done a couple other projects.  Feel free to share your projects.  I'd love to see your work.