A Cinderella Story

Welcome visitors from Miss Mustard Seed! I sure need y'alls help today! Keep reading and see where I need your input!!

I introduced you all to this "lovely" lady last week:

and I issued a challenge to guess the name.

Only 3 of you took me up on it. Nana Diana guessed Veronica. Nope, sorry Nana D.

Robin went with "Swan." Nice try and a good guess but still nope!

The winner was Andrea with Cinderella!

Complete disclosure makes me tell you all that I know Andrea IRL. We actually go to church together, but she has never laid eyes on the future Cinderella, nor did I talk to her about her. She is just super smart and figured out my clues! (Happily Ever After, the shoes??)

Anyway, due to a REALLY bad storm last night resulting in much of the town being without power and no school for anyone (even the university) I was able to get started acting as Cinderella's fairy godmother.

Because she is in such bad shape, I decided to prime her and opt out of the "distressed" look.

The primer is done and I think Cinderella resembles more of herself in her "mouse dress."

You know, better but really not all that great.

Actually, she looks more like Cinderella in the mouse dress AFTER the step-sisters got hold of her.

You know, better but in pieces all over the floor.

"Cindy" is going to have to stay in her primer/mouse dress for a little bit longer, because I'm just not sure what color dress to make her.

White seems the obvious choice, but I want to think about some other options too.

Ya'll have any ideas?

Nana D? Robin? Andrea? Anyone else?

I linked up with Miss Mustard Seed and her Furniture Friday and hopefully some of the talent there can give me some ideas.

(I did have an interesting thought from a reader to try a bold blue-I'm considering it, just a little skeered!!)

As soon as I work some magic of my own, I'll show you her happily ever after!
By the way, Andrea, I'm getting together some goodies for you. If you have any preferences of colors let me know!!

Impatiently Working Towards Happily Ever After

I'm impatient.

I'm quite sure I have revealed that before though.

Because of that fact, this little diamond in the rough is kind of making me cranky.

Before you read any further you probably also know that I personify a lot of my furniture. Meaning that I name them.

Scarlett? Bluebell?? Well in true psycho-decorator fashion I already have name for this little beast. But I'm not going to tell you yet.

In fact, I am going to make it a competition. Read on... She has lots of issues. Chipped veneer. Moldy drawers. Missing details.

But I see so much potential! Plus she was $15.

Surely for that price I can afford to invest some sweat equity. I started by trying to glue the veneer back on. Epic fail. So I just started chipping it off where it was lose.

I am hoping that paint will cover a multitude of sins. Next step was cleaning it. I started by cleaning it with TSP. Then I pulled the drawers out--YUCK!!!

I'm not a germ-a-phobe but man they were kind of disgusting. I broke out the bleach and cleaned the drawers and the innerds of the dresser. But as I was grossing out, gagging and bleaching the fire out of my hands

(all while wearing heels-no joke. I staying in my church clothes while I did this)

I saw what drew me to dear ____________(ha! you thought I would slip and reveal the name) in the first place.

I'm a sucker for some cute shoes and she is wearing some cute shoes. Now, for the competition part.

Comment me what you think I am naming this dresser (1 guess per person).

I am putting together a little treat bag for the correct response. I don't have it together yet, but I am thinking about a painted dishtowel, a spring button design, and maybe a few other goodies. If more than one person gets it right, I will put your names in a hat and draw the winner.

I'll leave this little contest open until Sunday at 9pm and announce the winner Monday morning.

Let the guessing begin!

Going Once, Going Twice...

If you've been around Toile in the Family for very long, you know how much I love a good auction. Since my recent "blued" dining room, I thought I share with you the things in there that I got from various auctions.
First up, Scarlett.

You've all met her. She's lovely and she was super cheap...$2. Really, that's not a typo. Now when I first met her she looked like she had a rough life in the fields of Tara, but you can read about her transformation here. Now she is as gorgeous as her namesake in her red garb.

Next is something that was a little more expensive. My curio cabinet, but I bought it exactly as you see it now (minus the stuff). It replaced my antique secretary which just didn't fill the long wall like I wanted. The curio was $190. But I think that is a pretty good deal.


On top of the curio is a huge red transferware platter. It was $25. I saw it online (which I will tell you about later) and went to the auction specifically for it.


I use alot of silver in my dining room. I pick up pieces at flea markets and auctions. Recently I got this silver tray and pitcher for about $25 total. I love the tray and the pitcher shined up beautifully!


Finally my favorite auction find(s) are these leaded glass windows.

I saw these online too and went on the prowl for them. I got the skinny one for $12.50 and the gigantic one for $32. I couldn't believe people didn't give me more of a run for my money. I didn't know what I was going to do with them, I just knew I had to have them. I love the big one hanging by the garage door. It always felt like you just "fell" into the room before. Now the window acts as a wall or divider of some kind.

I used to always just look in the paper for auction listings then show up hoping for something great (that was the case with Scarlett). But the discovery of a magical website opened up a whole new world for me. Many of you probably already know about this, but http://www.auctionzip.com/

You enter in a mile radius (I always go for 50 miles because I'm in a small town) then your zip code and wait for the magic!!

For example, here are some things that are going to be at an auction this weekend:

Wouldn't this be amazing painted white and distressed, then recovered with some great fabric??

I don't know what this is, but I love the legs on it!

I'm not sure how big this is, but I can image it holding blankets, pillows, magazines, firewood. The possibilities are endless!

Because I want to share the love, I'm going to link up with Crazy Domestic and share my secret. (Only because I think most of you are not from around here and won't be competition!!)

Go check out what kind of treasures you can find close by!

C is for Cardboard

Call me crazy, but I never knew the "card" is card table would actually mean "cardboard." I just thought it was because you played cards on them.

Yeah, I'm a natural blonde-or at least I used to be. It was awhile before I caught onto the purpose for speedbumps too. I thought they had radars in them-what good is that if you have to slow down to go over them, you don't catch the speeders!

If you have been following Decorating A-Z, you saw my last auction revamp. If not, check it out here. Now for my next victim, er I mean project....

I bought about 4 cardboard tables (let's call a spade a spade, are you made of cardboard or not??) at the same auction I got Scarlett in and they cost me $3 a piece. They cost more then Scarlett because I had to fight some people off for them. Anyway, here is one of them before:

They sat in my garage for a couple months until I could get the nerve to try to cutify them. My plan was to Mod-Podge some cute scrapbook paper on them, but I wasn't sure how the messed up tops would handle all the glue and such.

When I finally got up the nerve, I hauled one into the downstairs den and decided to try to tear off the top layer of paper (that was when it dawned on me that it was made of cardboard). Huge mess, but kind of cathartic.

Another side note about me: I am a little OCD about peeling paint and paper. It is all I can do not to peel it when I come across it. If you ever invite me to your home, check the seams on all your wallpaper, it's an illness I tell you. You've been warned.

Here is the during: (yeah I started getting nervous...)

But notice the wooden legs, that is what made me want to pay $3 per table. I love the gams on this thing.

After I ripped all the paper off (which took a little while), I primed the top 2-3 times to seal the rest of the paper. I found several papers that coordinated and starting cutting 4 inch squares to use for the top.

I marked off the diagonals on the table because I wanted to lay the papers on a 45 degree angle. I placed the papers on the table in the pattern I wanted then tried to pick them up in an organized a fashion as possible. I got nervous about using Mod-Podge because I struggle with the decoupage bubble blues, so I opted for spray adhesive. I sprayed the table then began laying the pieces where I wanted them.



I had to work on the "tiles" for the edges and my fingers were a sticky mess, but it turned out pretty good. I painted the sides of the table in a coordinating color (a light aqua blue) then covered over the whole table with a couple coats of Mod-Podge to help seal it. Then the bubbles began to appear--BLIMEY! I let the glue "cure" overnight and I gave the table about 3 coats of polyurethane and trimmed out the paper edges in coordinating ribbon. Aside from the bubbles she is pretty cute.





I did another table later in the week. This time I cut the paper into 6 inch squares and I used Mod-Podge. I thought the 4 inch tiles looked a little "quilty."

Here is the best tip I can give you about decoupaging: use a tool to help you smooth the paper down. I used to just use my fingers to work all the bubbles out, but this time I used a "Pampered Chef" scraper and IT. WORKED. BEAUTIFULLY!!!! You could use a credit card or a tool like the kind you use to put those vinyl words up, just use something other than your hands. I got ZERO bubbles on the second table. I didn't change any of the other steps. It turned out so much better. Here are a few shots of it.




My plan is to sell these two, then make one or two for me to keep. I already have the black and red papers that I want to use. (Any bets on if some of it is toile???)

I'm linking up to the following (make sure you drop by and see all the cuteness!!)

I've also link up to Reinvented's Trash to Treasure Tuesday and Kimba over at A Soft Place to Land: