Painted Vanity Nightstand | Pretty Handy Girl

Painted Bedside Vanity | Pretty Handy Girl

In the quest to makeover our master bedroom and save money, I’ve been painting several pieces of furniture to coordinate with the new bed I built.

One of the pieces I painted was this small desk that doubles as a nightstand. Our bedroom isn’t very large and our master bathroom is even smaller than what can be described as a “master” anything! Doing my hair and makeup in our bathroom isn’t a viable option, especially when both Pretty Handsome Guy and I wake up at the same time. When I saw this little desk at a local thrift store, I grabbed it. Especially because she was only $20!

Painted Bedside Vanity | Pretty Handy Girl

She had lots of age, but not much character.

top-of-wood-vanity

However, she was the perfect size and had just enough storage for a makeup vanity.

With a light sanding, primer and a coat of Benjamin Moore Advance paint, she is now showing her more glamorous side. Read more

Spigot Faucet Drawer Knobs Tutorial | Pretty Handy Girl

Spigot Faucet Drawer Knobs Tutorial | Pretty Handy Girl

Remember my son’s dresser that I gave a pop of color? As promised I’m back today to show you how I made the spigot handle drawer knobs. I purchased my vintage spigot handles from Etsy seller, Anything Goes Here. She has some other vintage handles available, so snatch them up quick. The only other materials you need can easily be picked up from the hardware store.

Materials:

Spigot Faucet Drawer Knobs Tutorial | Pretty Handy Girl

  • Spigot faucet handles
  • #8 – 32 Machine screw nuts
  • #8 – 32 x 2″ Threaded machine screws
  • Washers
  • Needle-nosed pliers
  • Phillips head screwdriver

Optional: Clear sealer spray to protect knobs

Instructions:

Making these adorable vintage spigot knobs is an easy project. Line up your parts per handle. You’ll need 1 machine screw, 4 washers, and 3 nuts per handle. Start by threading one washer onto the machine screw. Thread the spigot handle onto the screw. Read more

Breeze Inn Cottage - Tybee Island | Pretty Handy Girl

Breeze Inn Cottage - Tybee Island | Pretty Handy Girl

I can’t wait to invite you in to tour this adorable Mermaid Cottage on Tybee Island, GA. Breeze Inn is full of charm, color and antiques. This beach cottage is owned by the fabulous fiction author, Mary Kay Andrews. Decorating and furnishing this cottage was a labor of love for Mary Kay. In fact, she told me that many of the things that you see in the cottage were collected for years before she owned Breeze Inn! Check out this Breeze Inn Cottage Tour – we love it!

Mary Kay was sweet enough to let me tour and photograph her cottage. Won’t you come on in and join me?!

Right inside the door is a one-of-a-kind decoupaged dresser with fun fish decorating the drawers! And I am crushing on the amazing shell framed mirror over it. The plank walls add that perfect relaxed coastal feel to this little house.

Breeze Inn Cottage - Tybee Island | Pretty Handy Girl

You enter directly into the cozy and comfortable living room. The dining room is part of the open front room of the cottage. I can imagine playing games at the table with the kids, while keeping up with conversations happening on the couch.

Breeze Inn Cottage - Tybee Island | Pretty Handy Girl

Just off the dining room is the kitchen. The sherbet green walls are fun and funky… Read more

Screened Inn - Mermaid Cottages Tours | Pretty Handy Girl

Who’s still digging out from yet another snow storm? Who’s had enough of snow days? Yup, me too! I’d love to whisk you away with me to a little island off the coast of Georgia. It’s a destination that is brimming with charm and history. Today I have an all access tour to Screened Inn for you. This little cottage was previously a mess hall for the military stationed at Fort Screven back in the 1920’s.

The trees on the property drip with spanish moss and beacon you to slow down and take a big sea air breath.

Screened Inn - Mermaid Cottages Tours | Pretty Handy Girl

The cottage is a stone’s throw from the Tybee Island lighthouse and the beach.

Screened Inn - Mermaid Cottages Tours | Pretty Handy Girl

Step up onto the screened porch and kick off your shoes.

Screened Inn - Mermaid Cottages Tours | Pretty Handy Girl

The door opens and you are transformed back in time with all the antiques that decorate the cottage.

Read more

DIY Aged Chippy Paint Technique | Pretty Handy Girl

DIY Aged Chippy Paint Technique | Pretty Handy Girl

This is another one of those tutorials that I’ve been dying to share with you! Like sitting on my hands and anxiously waiting to type it out. But after taking 2 weeks off from blogging, I’m back and ready to give you this fabulous tutorial for achieving the aged chippy paint look on your next project.

DIY Aged Chippy Paint Technique | Pretty Handy Girl

Before I give you the chippy gritty, I want to give you the background story on those gorgeous corbels.

If you’ve been following along, I finally completed my 13 month kitchen renovation. The last task was installing two open shelves on the full tile wall. Finding the perfect corbels to use as shelf brackets was not an easy task. I scoured eBay, Craig’s List and salvage shops. I was really getting discouraged. That was when I met Garlan from Southern Accents Architectural Antiques at Haven. We talked for a few minutes and he showed me some of the corbels he had in his store. There were some wonderful old ones, but I felt a bit like Goldilocks. One was too tall. The other not big enough, but the biggest problem was that I needed four of them. Garlan showed me some new corbels that he had. He told me he has a guy that can duplicate any corbel design and can customize them to meet any size requirements. It was as if the heavens parted and angels sang! I was elated and couldn’t wait to find an image of a design I liked. But, again, the Goldilocks in me couldn’t find the “perfect” corbels. So, I opened up Adobe Illustrator and started to design my own unique corbels.

Chippy Paint Technique

PHG Corbel Design for Sa1969.com

 

I designed a scroll pattern based off of one corbel I saw, but also added some relief portions inside the corbel. I sent the image to Garlan and a week later he sent me a picture of one of the corbels. It was love at first sight! I quickly approved the initial one and waited anxiously for the corbels to arrive. When I opened the box, they were beautiful and exactly as I had pictured them in my head.

Southern Accents Architectural Antiques corbels

I set forth to give them an appropriate aged chippy paint look to fool people into thinking they were actually antique salvage. Here’s how I did it. Read more