Fun find and white wash..!

At a yard sale a summer or two ago I found this funky piece of wood. I think it was once the ornamental back piece of a sideboard. I paid $30 for it and brought it home. I loved it, but wasn't sure what in the world I would do with it. Recently, after re-arranging a lot of furniture, I found the perfect spot. However, the piece needed some adaptations... I wanted a shelf added to it, and since the wood had been stripped and left bare, I had to decide some sort of finish for it. My talented and kind friend Philip generously made me a wonderful shelf. That left me with only the decision of how to finish the piece.

If you've read my blog before you might remember that I am rather fond of... WHITE. My husband calls this "the decorating color of the uninspired." But I just like that absence of color thing! I got a wild idea and looked up on line how to whitewash. The site I found told me to merely mix 1 part water with 2 parts of white paint. I gave it a whirl, working on the back of the piece first to see how it looked. I liked it. A lot.

My sweet husband helped me hang my wonderful new treasure. It was no easy feat, the wall was made of some funky old plaster mix and it took us more than one try before we acheived sweet success!

Now this lovely white washed find hangs in the front room, a unique and funky thing. It holds wonderful crystal votives and when I look at I am infused with delight. Part of the fun in decorating the way I do is that each unique piece holds the memory of the hunt, the fun of creating something out of not much, and the pride in the finished product.