Before and After: Peg Shelf and Side Table

Are you sick of before and afters yet? Sorry, but there are more today, and more to come later. Hang with me, okay?

This shelf was pretty nondescript when I picked it up at Idaho's Largest Garage Sale back in May. The finish was peeling and it just looked dated and tired.

After quite a bit of sanding, painting, more sanding and some new hooks, it looks totally different now.

I discovered the pretty hand painted ceramic hooks at my local Cost Plus World Market.

Aren't they pretty?



I found this table at the Garage Sale, too. It's your average, run-of-the-mill, honey oak side table with turned legs and a little drawer. Reminds me a lot of this one.

A lot of times when I'm doing furniture, I have a plan for it right away. It speaks to me right off the bat and tells me just what it wants to become. But sometimes it doesn't, and I have to wait for something to inspire me before I can work on it. This time, as has happened before, my inspiration was a can of spray paint.

This is RustOleum's "Oregano".

This table waited patiently for over four months, collecting dust in my garage. It's time finally came and it's much happier now.

Here's a closer look at my little vignette on top of the happy green table. Like my mini apothecary jar? I found it at the Bargain Center last week and was just dying to fill it with something cute.



All of these things look like they came from my back yard, but it's actually store-bought potpourri. I love that big hunk of wood in there!

Have you guys seen this stuff? It's at Michael's in the candle section and costs $7.99 per bag (unless you bring a coupon!). This is not your grandma's potpourri.

It still smells nice like traditional potpourri, but it's a lot more interesting than just a bunch of dried leaves and petals. Check this out.

Dried slices of fruit, seed pods, nuts, berries, little gourds, pine cones, raffia balls, big leaves- even an itty bitty dried pumpkin!
I counted about 8 different scented varieties of this stuff at my local Michael's. Some of them have a color scheme to go along with the scent, like the apple scented one is mostly red. There's even a blue-toned one that has seashells and drift wood in it! So if you need some interesting fillers for bowls, baskets or jars this autumn, take a trip to the craft store and see what you can find in the candle aisle.