Reviving A Sad Curbside Coffee Table

I found this French-style coffee table frame a few months ago on the curb. It had no top, which made it look pretty sad, but I figured I could do something interesting with it at some point in the future.

When my brother broke his upholstered bedroom bench a couple days ago I realized the coffee table's time had come. My brother's style is modern so I didn't think I'd be able to refurbish any of his furniture at any point, but the fake leather bench top didn't look half bad with the French-style look. It actually looked pretty darn nice. I got lucky that the top fit the coffee table frame (it's a tiny bit shorter but my brother said he wouldn't mind if some of the wood stuck out further than the bench top).

I've already painted the coffee table frame a nice light grey and I'll be working with my husband over the long weekend to make it more structurally sound. For now, you can imagine what it will look like from this picture.

And you may have noticed my blog background has gone through a few changes. I finally found one with the right colors and look. Yippee! Hope you didn't suffer to much from my temporary madness!

Love the Beasts,
Emily

Finally On The Bandwagon: DIY Silver Display Stand

Annie's in the middle of her nap so I need to make this post short and sweet because I have a million things on my to-do list. I know it's been a little over a month since I've posted any furniture redos, but that will be changing in the next few weeks. After taking a little break and trying to avoid working in the 100+ degree weather, I'm going to be back at the furniture game. I have a few projects up my sleeve that may not be easy or quick, but they should be fun!

And yes, I finally jumped on the DIY Cake Stand bandwagon although I'm calling it my DIY Display Stand. You know the ones you see everywhere of candlesticks glued to plates? I found a great silverplated tray with a nice detailed frame and glued it to a short silverplated candlestick. Both were purchases from thrift stores for prices that even I consider low! And I'm pretty cheap!

I was going to buy gorilla glue like everyone else to attach the pieces together, but in an effort to save money I looked through all my different glues and noticed that my Loctite super glue works on metals. There was my moneysaver! After tracing around the candlestick on the bottom of the tray (using a eyeliner pencil because I couldn't find anything else), I put a small amount of glue around the rim of the candlestick and held it against the plate for 10 seconds. A half hour later they were bonded properly and I ended up with this!

You probably know where the items in the stand came from if you read my last post :). How easy was all that for something so cute? It's the perfect thing to display my custom gift tags one day when I have a booth at a fair or a shop!

Oh no. She's waking up. I guess it'll be another late night!

Love the Beasts!
Emily

Grainsacks and The Most Generous Blogger: Andrea at Town and Prairie

I know already dedicated a post to Andrea at Town and Prairie a couple weeks ago, but I have to do it again. I don't know what else I can do to say "thank you." I was almost in shock when I opened the package she sent to me. She is ridiculously generous. You forget that people out there like her exist. They do crazy things for people they've never met out of pure kindness. So Andrea, my new BBFF, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Here it is everyone. The most amazing package I've ever received in the mail.

Such a pretty handmade card. Look at all those details. An aged recipe for crust top apple pie and beautiful gold embellishments. "LB" for Lovely Beasts and "TP" for Town and Prairie. I think she's not too fond of her initials, but I think they're hilarious! And memorable! 

Anyways, the card and sack are lovely right? That's just a very small portion of the actual package. I'm serious. Are you ready?

Um. What? WHAT? I saw her post a picture of one grainsack from her neighbor's farm and I emailed her to go back and get it for herself. And then I mentioned if there were more, get me one and I'd buy it from her and pay shipping. She responded happily that she'd go get them and send them to me, no charge. I was already blown away by her generosity at this point. So I was expecting one really cool grainsack. Then she emailed me again and used the word "grainsacks." So I figured, maybe she'll send me two. No, not two. Not three. Not even close. She sent me twelve. 12!!!!!!!!!

I know, I know. I don't know how or why I deserve this either.

And here are some close-ups of the sacks. Andrea warned me that they were a little beastly with stains and holes, but I was expecting much worse. These were and are amazing. The Funk Farms and Ful-O-Pep are my absolute favorites.

UNREAL. I've been wanting grainsacks forever, and now I have 12. Andrea even washed them for me. I'm guessing they almost destroyed her machines, but when I opened each sack they smelled like fresh laundry detergent. Again, I don't think I deserve this. But I'm very thankful to have met someone as kind as Andrea.

Please PLEASE go visit Andrea's blog Town and Prairie. Leave her a comment about these amazing grainsacks, the fact that her blog's initials are "TP", or really just say anything! She has a great blog with gorgeous furniture, and is a wonderful new friend to have.

By the way, this made me really laugh and then gag. Here's a close up of the ingredients printed on the Lay-A-Lot sack.

Blood Meal? Hahaha...ew.

Love the Beasts...and Town and Prairie,
Emily

Industrial Pentagon Glass Box

Remember this thrift store purchase I showed you earlier this week?

These types of glass and brass boxes are my favorite things to work with. I used to think they were so ugly! Back in the day a lot of people used to use them in their bathrooms to hold cotton balls, etc. But they're the perfect thing to transform! With some help from modpodge, vintage dictionary illustrations, and twine the sad-looking beast turned into this.

The illustrations on top are of a siphon-bottle, stereoscope, printing press, stocks, and a torturing rack. On the bottom is a beautiful drawing of a four-masted schooner. It might seem odd to put all these pictures together, but I like putting the industrial together with the whimsical!

You may have noticed that when I bought the box, part of the knob was missing. So I did what I usually do with my salvaged creations! I wrapped it up in twine. 

This box is now for sale in the Lovely Beasts Etsy shop!

And if you're wondering how the shop is doing, I've already had 7 sales which is better than I had hoped! What I'm finding out is that vintage finds do better than my little recycled or salvaged creations. This is great news for me though! The whole purpose of my Etsy venture was to see what would sell best anyway. This process has helped reaffirm the fact that I do have an eye for vintage objects and what people want in that department. And I do enjoy making my little creations, but now I know where I can focus my time if I want to sell more successfully on Etsy. Estate sales here I come!!!

Love the Beasts,

Emily

Recent Thrifty Finds

I wanted to share with you some of my little thrift store finds from last week.

A New Century Dictionary from 1952 and a beautiful edition of The Favorite Works of Mark Twain  from 1939.

A small rectangular wood frame with an art deco style border and a gilt frame mirror tray (both in the back).

And finally a silverplated tray and a big brass-framed pentagon glass box. I had a smaller version of this box that I made lovely with an old print and modpodge, but I still can't show you the "after" because it's a gift that I still haven't shipped yet. I had been looking for another box for the longest time though. Can you believe 20 trips to thrift stores and yard sales came up empty? Finally last week, probably on my 21st thrift shopping trip, I got this big box for a great price. It has ugly flowers carved out of the glass on top, but that's okay because I've already covered them up. I'll show you what I did with it later this week!

Until then, Love the Beasts!

Emily

Bicycle Tricycle Love

I wanted to share a little bicycle painting I made for my new Lovely Beasts Etsy shop. My husband loves bikes and somehow he's convinced me that we need 10 bikes between the 2 of us. I guess we need different bikes for different terrains and different occasions. And that doesn't even count the one we have stored away for Annie, a rusty radio flyer tricycle that he picked up off the curb before she was born and hopes to fix up soon. My husband's relationship with our daughter and his relationship with bicycles helped me come up with this:

The heart is from a recycled bicycle tire that my husband wore thin on the streets of Boston. It's a mini 4x4 canvas which has become my favorite size to paint.

Hope you all like it as much as I do!

Love the Beasts,

Emily

Grainsacks Brought Us Together: Town and Prairie

After checking out each other's blogs, Andrea and I knew we were meant to be best blog friends! Her blog, Town and Prairie, is chock-full of amazing photographs and beautiful furniture transformations. What I call beasts, she calls prairie doves! Here's a recent prarie dove she rescued off the curb for FREE and repainted. I absolutely love this dresser!

But this was the first entry I read: Farm Tour. She was lucky enough to be invited to tour her neighbor's farm, and to top it off he encouraged her to take his rusty junky things about to be sent to the burn pile! I saw this picture and immediately emailed her.

Grainsacks?!?! I told her she had to go back and grab the sacks if she hadn't already. And, if she wouldn't mind, could she grab me one too? I'd pay her. I'd pay shipping! I'd swap her for them! I'd pretty much do anything! I'd been looking for vintage grainsacks for awhile now but you just don't stumble upon them here in Houston. So Andrea, being the kind and generous blogger that she is, happily agreed to get them for me and send them my way.

Fast forward to now, Andrea has them and even laundered them for me. Eee! I think we were destined to find each other in this crazy blog world :). Thanks again Andrea. You are my Grainsack Blogging Fairy Godmother!

So check out Andrea's blog when you get a chance! Town and Prairie. I'll post pics of these awesome grainsacks once they are in my possession. Can't wait!

Love the Beasts,
Emily