Endless Acres Farmtiques – DIY + HANDMADE + VINTAGE

The little table that could.

Published on October 7, 2017March 31, 2019 by Kelly Whitman2 Comments

There once was a sad little table that no one wanted. It was tossed into a dark corner in a garage, waiting and hoping to be rescued. All it wanted was someone who could see it’s potential and possibility that it had underneath all of the scrapes, scuffs and scars.

Full of spider webs, dust and debris, it waited and waited and waited.

One day, the garage door opened. It saw the sunlight for the first time in what seemed liked forever and it thought, ‘What is this!?’

It felt someone pick it up and suddenly the next thing it knew, it saw the garage door disappearing in the distance. ‘Going to the dump I suppose.” The sad little table thought.

Little did it know, it was on it’s way to be rescued. The table was frightened when it noticed that it was placed in what seemed like another dark corner of a building. ‘Here we go again!’ It thought.

The garage door didn’t shut, and the table was set on top of drop cloth. It heard a loud noise suddenly and it felt all of the years of use, abuse, wear and tear slowly fading. All of it’s scars were sanded away. Deep down it could once again sense a little bit of hope and it knew that this time, something was different.

As a new layer of paint was applied, it felt incredible. If tables could smile, this table would have been wearing the biggest smile you’ve ever seen.

You see, once the tables scars were cleaned out, and sealed off, it was able to live again. It was rescued, redeemed and renewed, much like how God uses hard times in our lives, to cleanse us , wash away our scars and make us new in Him. He never loses His vision for us, we can never be too far gone, that our loving Father loses sight of our potential in all that He created us to be.

This is why I do what I do, this is why I rescue things that have been forgotten. Everything deserves a second chance and a new lease on life.

If you have a piece of furniture that you are thinking of tossing, take a second look. Maybe it just needs someone to care enough to look at it with a new set of eyes.

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Counter top makeover with Beyond Paint.

Published on March 12, 2017March 30, 2019 by Kelly Whitman4 Comments

Living in a 1920’s farmhouse requires more than just having a country soul, it means so much more than that. It requires a heart that is able to see potential, possibility and one that will pour love into every single part of the farmhouse, including the ugly not so glorious parts.

Now, fixing up a 1920’s farmhouse, on a budget, requires a different set of eyes. Eyes that are able to look at things a bit offbeat than the crowd does and possibly, a little more creatively with a frugal mind.

I may not have that immaculate dream farmhouse you see grace the cover of a diy magazine, but I have a home, that is filled with love and that we pour our heart and souls into.

We purchased our home 3 years ago and ever since have been working on small, frugal makeover projects. We were blessed with a home, that (in our eyes) didn’t need a full gut job in any room. Remember, the simplest, cheapest thing you can do to update your home or space,is to just add fresh paint! That’s a subject for another blog post though, hopefully coming soon!

The last week I have been plugging away on redoing our kitchen counter tops with a paint kit from Beyond Paint. Typically, one could get this done in a day, but between energy lows from Lyme Disease, dentist emergencies, and coaching my kids in online school, it took me 4 days. Also, being the spontaneous artist that I am, I don’t ‘plan’ my projects on free days, I start when I feel motivated and ready to go, even if that is in the midst of craziness, it’s just how I’m wired, and it works(for me).

Here is what our counter tops and our kitchen looked like, when we moved in, aka before I got my hands on this space. Two years ago, I ripped off the wall paper, painted the walls, and the cabinets and it made an amazing difference and really brightened up the space!

Beyond Paint’s counter top makeover kit comes with everything you need to transform your old, outdated counter tops, without making your family go without groceries for 6 months. Granted, this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and that is fine by me, but it follows along the lines of one of my favorite sayings, ‘do what you can, with what you have, where you are.’ Our budget doesn’t allow for brand new counter tops, because we all know, if you get new counter tops, you will need new cabinets, and if you get new cabinets, you might as well install that dream farmhouse sink you’ve always wanted, and if you are going through all of this trouble to replace all of that, you might as well open up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, while you’re at it. DIY projects and home renovation projects kind of remind me of the children’s book, ‘If you give a mouse a cookie.’ I joke with my kids that one day I will publish one that relates to home projects. Stay tuned on that one.

To prep my counter tops for paint, I made sure to thoroughly was them with a kitchen scrubber and hot water with dish soap, then I dried them with a rag. I taped off my edges (If you are slow and careful, you can skip painters tape, I do it as ‘insurance’ , mostly because I’ve learned the hard way )

These are what our counter tops looked like before. They had endured many many years of hard use before we moved in. I was happy to extend their life for a little while longer with Beyond Paint.

Horrible right? I wasn’t sure that paint could fix something this far gone. It would be a miracle if those deep scratches and stains were covered up.

After washing my counter tops, the transformation began! I simply, rolled on the base color (Bone) and gave it a good three coats. The paint went on extremely easily and had a nice thick texture. I was surprised how much much area was covered from just a little bit of paint. If you do two thorough coats, that is more than enough, I threw on an extra coat, just because I had enough to do so and it never hurts to have an added layer of protection.

The above photo was after the first two coats of ‘Bone’. I liked the clean look of it so much, that I was tempted to leave it a solid color. Beyond Paint offers a variety of color combos that you can do, which makes it fun and able to fit your style.

After applying the first tone of paint with a roller, I sprinkled on the ‘flakes’, first throwing them onto the vertical back areas of the counters, and then the flat surfaces. I over shook them onto the counters, which I recommend, because after wiping off with tack cloth and sanding down lightly with fine grit sand paper, many will fall off and not stay on. By over applying, it leaves more than enough behind for a nice look!

This is a step that you can end at as well if you prefer the look (of course after adding a top protective clear coat. However, I wanted to go all out and do one more step of color)

After applying the flakes, and lightly sanding them down with fine grit sandpaper, I wiped the counters down extremely well with tack cloth. Tack cloth is a sticky cloth that will pick up any of the loose flakes, dust, dog hair, dirt, and debris from sanding.

I then used a sea sponge to blob on Ash grey paint. I bought a few different sizes of sea sponges, and flipped them from the bottom to the side every now and then, so every smudge of paint didn’t have the same repetitive shape. After the grey had dried, I wanted to soften it up just a tad, so I took a new sea sponge, and dipped it back into the Bone color paint and lightly dabbed over each dark grey spot and it gave it just the look I had wanted!

Next it was time to make that ugly crack in the corner of our counters disappear. I bought white paintable caulk and filled it in as thick as I could. It may not hold forever, but for now it looks better.

After letting the counters cure over night, I rolled on 3 clear coats of clear sealer that was included in the paint kit.

Here are the counters a few days after the had dried! We love the look and are happy that we were able to extend their life a little while longer!

What is a makeover without a little touch of Joanna Gaines? I tore out the Magnolia Manifesto on the last page of their Spring journal and tucked it into a frame, made by ‘Once Abarn a Time’ . It looks beautiful and I absolutely love the words.

Interested in giving your sad counter tops a refreshed look like I did? Head on over to check out Beyond Paint and see what they can do for you and your home!

I am very please with the paint kit from Beyond Paint, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to rescue their old counter tops!

As always, you can follow along with more of my DIY projects and antiquing adventures over on Facebook.

Potato Sack Ottoman

Published on March 6, 2016March 30, 2019 by Kelly WhitmanLeave a comment

“The seeker embarks on a journey to find what he wants, and discovers, along the way, what he needs.”

Two weeks ago I came across a great little ottoman at Hope Gospel Mission Bargain Center in Eau Claire, Wi for $3.00! After my employee discount the total came to around $2.80! What a deal! (p.s. a tip for shopping there, if you are 50+, on Tuesdays you can save 20% off your entire purchase ! )

I just loved the style of this ottoman and knew it was a piece of furniture that I could breathe new life into. Below is what the ottoman looked like as I found it at the Bargain Center, and what was underneath that dirty green fabric!

I let it sit in my living room for a few days, where I could see it, and try to figure out a plan for it. I kept going back and forth between giving it a light beach cottage feel, or a Western rustic style.

As I looked around my home to see what I had for material to cover the top of it, I came across an old potato sack that I found last year at Oronoco Gold Rush Days, where I went on a hunt for anything that had a Western design or feel to it.
The potato sack was dirty and had stains all over it, that discouraged me a bit, but then I discovered that I could simply just wash the stains out!

Below are photos of the potato sack getting a bath. I simply filled the bath tub with warm water and a bit of laundry detergent and gave it a good 10 minute soak, then scrubbed gently with a scrub brush in the areas that it had dirt stains, wrung it out, then hung it out on the clothesline to dry over night!

Once the potato sack was fully dry, I cut it open along the seams on the side and bottom, laid it out on the floor, image side down, set the ottoman upside down on top it it and cut a circle about 4+ inches bigger than the ottoman, so I would have enough material to go over the sides, and underneath the ottoman where I then secured it with staples, using a Staple Gun. After the potato sack was secured, I then painted the legs red and topped them off with Minwax Polyshades stain + poly, and it was finished!

This was a really fun and easy project and the great part is that if I decide I want a different style, it is simple to removed the potato sack and recover the ottoman! But for now, it looks right at home in our old farmhouse.

I hope this blog post has inspired you to see beyond what something IS and to see what it’s potential can be!

Have a beautiful Sunday, get outside and enjoy the sunshine!

Remember, you can follow along with my DIY adventures over on Facebook as well!

Travel inspired desk.

Published on September 17, 2015March 30, 2019 by Kelly WhitmanLeave a comment

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

If you are a regular follower of Anchored Way Trading Co, you by now know that I am a lover of travel, adventure, wandering back roads and the outdoors. I find myself often day-dreaming of driving the car, down an old back road in the mountains of Montana, windows down, radio on, the wind blowing through my hair… (okay let’s be realistic, … * the wind blowing my hair into my face…) , and nowhere to go, ..but everywhere.

I’m a dreamer. A day dreamer, yes. A night dreamer, of course, but most importantly, I believe in the dreams that God has instilled into this heart of mine. Progress, no matter how slow, is progress. A step forward, is still a step, no matter if it’s a running step or a walking step. Little by little, we get closer to becoming who God created us to be.

With each piece of furniture I create, I feel more like me & I feel my wings opening further. This, an artist, is who I am. I am here, to create and inspire you.

I came across this lonely desk while I was working at Hope Gospel Mission Bargain Center in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and knew it needed to come home with me to my workshop. I knew, it had potential, I could see it.

I was originally planning on giving the desk a new life and selling it at my favorite little local coffee shop, The Living Room Coffee House in Eau Claire, but once finished and placed in a corner of my living room, it was like the desk looked at me and said ‘Let me stay right here,’ and there, it still sits. Now it has a new life, a new home and is once again loved and provides my kids and my family with a little school / home work station and organization for all of the papers they bring home from school every day.

There it is friends! Completely perfect for our family! I used an old Montana map, that shows two of the towns where my kids first saw the mountains a few years ago on a road trip. I was blessed to have been given my late Grandfathers chair that he used in his basement workshop at his desk, every time I look at it, my heart smiles, and every time I sit in it, like I am now, writing this blog post, I know my Grandfather would be proud of the work I do.

If you are interested in a custom furniture piece, like this for your home, or place of business, feel free to contact me with any questions; endlessacres@live.com

You can also follow Anchored Way Trading Co. on Facebook.

Have a blessed day- get out there and unleash your inner artist! Dream, Create, Believe in yourself!

Products used in this transformation;

Arrow Drawer Pulls – Junk Gypsy at Gypsyville.com
Paint – Sherwin Williams- Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Stain- Minwax

Mini truck-garden tutorial.

Published on June 11, 2015March 30, 2019 by Kelly Whitman2 Comments

I remember it like it was yesterday. Dad would park the van in their driveway in Minnesota, us 3 kids would jump out as fast as we could, and run down the sidewalk on the hill that was graced with beautiful flower and rock gardens all the way to Grandma and Grandpas door.

Grandma and Grandpa always kept a neat and tidy yard. It always made me so happy as a child to run around their yard and to follow the gorgeous garden paths, which at a young age felt like secret paths winding around the back of their house. Whenever we would go to visit their house on the lake, we spent lots of time fishing in the boat, jumping off the end of the dock, and always always helping Grandma with some sort of chore. She made sure her gardens were always kept up, and on occasion she would have me and maybe a few others, take all of the small rocks that lined the border of one garden alongside of the deck, remove them from their place, and hand wash them one by one and put them back in place. I loved it.

Grandma and Grandpas gardens have inspired me in life in so many ways. I have taken my own kids to pick out flat rocks from Lake Superior, so they can paint on them, to put in our flower gardens- just like Grandma used to let me pick out a rock from her garden to paint on.

After owning our little hobby farm for 2 years now, I am finally putting in the time, and effort to create that sort of a space that I know Grandma would have loved. That space that you can walk through and feel peace, sit and watch the birds in, look at and feel inspired. I however, will not be taking my rocks out and washing them on occasion.

This time around, I decided to make several small gardens, inside of rusty trucks that I have had laying around for a long time. This was a fun project that was perfect for my 2 kids to help me with! Read below to see how I turned rusty old trucks into art in the garden!

Mini truck-garden tutorial

What you need;
-Rusty toy trucks (if you can’t find trucks- that’s okay! Other items will work too, like rusty buckets, wheelbarrows, etc)
-Potting soil
-Small gravel or rocks
-Window screening -if desired
– Plants of choice (Succulents make perfect contenders for truck gardens)
-Fairy garden supplies -available at most local garden centers & stores

What to do;
1.) Gather all of your supplies. If your truck has small holes, or rusted out areas in the part of the truck that you will be placing the plants, that is perfect! If they have too big of holes, you can choose to cut window screening and lay it across the hole, but if the truck has no holes in it, you will have to get out the drill and drill a few small drainage holes in the area you will be planting.

2.) Take the gravel you scooped from your driveway , like I did. Or small rocks and place them in the bottom area of the truck in a thin layer.

3.) Take a few handfuls of potting soil and place it in the truck and mix it together well with the gravel.

4.) Carefully place your plants where you would like them. You may have to shake off some of the dirt that came with the plant in order to get it to fit right. Feel free to mix some of that in with the potting soil already in the truck too. Succulents work great for mini truck gardens and are very low maintenance.

5.) If you found some net fairy garden items, place one or two in each truck for added charm. (P.S. No trucks were harmed in the making of these gardens. They all returned to their normal truck state after summer)

6.) Enjoy your new mini truck garden!

Red license plate dresser.

Published on May 27, 2014March 30, 2019 by Kelly Whitman1 Comment

“Go and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make. Good. Art.” ~Neil Gaiman

I love being an artist. It is my passion. I love the feelings that come along with creating and transforming a piece of furniture. It gives me such satisfaction to take something old, worn, and broken and restoring it and giving it a brand new life and a new purpose.

Last week I got an idea for this brown dresser and marched forward with the vision and the details came to me as I went along. Here is the before image of the dresser;

Before. Red license plate dresser by Endless Acres Farmtiques

How I transformed this dresser:

Sanded and painted red.
Applied a thin layer of Minwax stain + poly.
Removed drawer pulls and filled in holes with wood filler.
Attached rusty license plates to each drawer, for character.

Dresser after:

I hope you enjoyed this transformation!

TV Stand dresser.

Published on March 18, 2014March 30, 2019 by Kelly WhitmanLeave a comment

‘ The art of living is always to make a good thing out of a bad thing.’

~ E.F. Schmacher

Art to me is about vision. It is about seeing potential in something that others may not see. It is about taking something and changing it, making it unique , making it your own. It is about expanding your eyes to see beyond the norm and the usual. Today’s project is just that.
It is about how I took a normal little white dresser and made it into something different, and gave it a new life as a TV stand.

Here is the dresser as it was before:

Here is a list of what I did to the dresser to make it into a tv stand;

Sanded, and painted entire piece, including sides and insides of the drawers in Sherwin Williams ‘Light French Grey’ paint.
Removed the top drawer and added in old cedar fence boards using small finishing nails, to make a shelf.
Drilled small hole into back wall of dresser to allow cords to go through if used as a TV stand.
Replaced original hardware with yardsticks for drawer pulls. The yard sticks have been stained lightly.

Here is the dresser after;

Thanks for viewing my latest project! If you like what you see here on the blog, you can follow along with me on Facebook!

~Kelly

Tranquil Dresser.

Published on February 12, 2014March 30, 2019 by Kelly WhitmanLeave a comment

“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.” ~ James Allen

I love being by the waters edge. If you know me well, you know that I am always going, always working on something, driving the back roads, or getting my hands dirty on some project. There are a few things in life that will slow me down, and bring a sense of peace to my mind, and water is one of them. I could waste an entire day laying by a lake, or walking beside a creek. There is something so serene and calming to my heart when I am around water in nature, in some ways it makes me feel so connected to God , and I love that feeling of contentment and tranquility in my heart.

My love for water, especially Lake Superior, has formed my love for shades of blues and greens, whether its on vintage cars, or in decor in my home, like this tranquil dresser transformation I worked on yesterday.

The color is called ‘Dinner Mint’ but I really think it deserves a better name, like ‘Beach Glass’ or ‘By the Sea’ , but unfortunately I don’t name paints, I just use them. 😉

For this project, I did the following:

Sanded, primed and painted the dresser
Lightly stained the dresser
Added a coat of polyurethane
Spray painted the original dresser pulls in a hammered oil rubbed bronze spray paint from Rust-Oleum.

Dresser before:

Dresser After:

I hope you enjoyed my latest furniture revival project! To see more of my creations and keep up with my latest DIY Adventures, you can also follow me on Facebook!

Thanks for reading,

~Kelly