Cage craft

I've found another fantastic application for my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint....the dog's cage!  As our English Lab has grown, so has his cage.  Both are absolutely huge now and that cage became a horrible eyesore.  

Not only is it unattractive but, without a top, it's completely useless except for containing our dog Vader (yes, as in Darth!).

So, I came up with a "table top", basically a piece of plywood slightly larger than the cage, added decorative trim, not only to finish off the sides, but it drops down slightly and keeps the top in place.

A quick coat of AS Chalk Paint on both the top and the bars makes the cage seem smaller and blend in with the room.  And the large top gives us plenty of space to display or store things!

The Ten-Foot Table

We've all got a story like this:  found a GREAT deal that couldn't be passed up....now how to make it work in my home...

I tagged along with a friend when the local Borders Books had their store closing sale.  Everything except the building was being pulled out and sold...on the cheap!  I walked in the door and in front of me stood a 10' x 4' display table marked $100.  Solid wood for that price, incredible!

I immediately grabbed the tag and made it mine.  It was low-profile, so customers could easily peruse the books displayed, but I planned to scrap those short, chunky legs and make it into my dining table.

So, already long story short, we managed to get it home (the weight of this table is ridiculous!), had a friend strip it down, found some new legs and eventually (like 2 years later) I painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

It turned out exactly as I'd planned and I couldn't be more pleased.  It sits 8 people with room to spare and we lucked out by finding some cushioned parson's dining chairs.  

*I failed to mention that we did indeed have to remove a wall between our front room and kitchen to accommodate this massive table.  We'd always wanted to open it up and so our new table gave me the perfect excuse!