The Painted Cottage - A Tour of My Favorite Store at the Beach

We just got back from a very relaxing week at the beach. The weather was perfect and our boys really enjoyed playing in the surf. I think we brought back a bit too much of the beach with us (sandy sheets, hair and toes). But, at least we had fun!

My mom and I spent an afternoon shopping at the outlets in Myrtle Beach, but not before stopping at my favorite location in Ocean Isle Beach, NC.

A place where I can look at lots of this:

Admire plenty of this:

And go ga ga for this:

All these and more can be found at The Painted Cottage.

This eclectic shop is an adorable boutique with sherbert colored walls and oodles of antiques, art and shabby chic finds. I could spend hours browsing this store and still not see everything.

Here is just a sampling of what is inside:

Did you see that white oyster shell mirror on the wall?
How about the same mirror with black oyster shells?

Very chic in black, don't you think?

Precious blue bottles with coral and starfish lids

I just love this summery beach wreath spray painted light blue
and accented with ribbon, coral and shells.

Don't you just love this red floral wingback chair with the starfish throwpillow?

(Realistically I know it would only last 2 minutes in my house before being plucked off
the pillow by my boys or crushed during wrestling matches.
But, I can dream about it, right?!)

A Trio of Starfish on Burlap

Another unique way to decorate with an old window and wine corks!

Whoa! I just found Daisy's twin? She looks fab in red.

Hey, another coincidence! A chair with the same P. Kaufmann fabric
as my daisy chair and bench in my guest room (only in a different colorway.)

Let me tell you, The Painted Cottage has the best decorative chairs.
Like this blue rattan chair.

Or this shabby chic floral detailed chair

I'm crazy about this child size rustic chair with the monkey fist knot ball

And just the aqua color of this chair has me hooked

More aqua color on this vanity and clear glass lamp

Catching my breath as I spot this gorgeous aqua armoire!

I'm only pulled away from the armoire by these glass beauties.
Am I part magpie? Why am I so fixated on shiny shinies?

 

 This dresser pulled me out of my aqua fixation.
Beautiful sea foam green.

Will you look at this lampshade?! Fabric flowers sewn to the shade. Heavenly!
I can't wait for one of you crafty readers to write up a tutorial on this.

or how about this lamp? LOVE IT, right?!

A beautiful hydrangea painting

Upon closer inspection, the flowers are actually cut magazine photos.
How clever!

The store has an abundance of signs with clever sayings.

"Barefoot is Bliss" so true!

"At the Beach we live by the currents and follow the sun"

"Dogs have owners, cats have staff"

That black bench under the throws is another headboard bench.

 This sign just kills me...get it? KILLs me. Okay, sorry, that was corny.

The crab shack

More artwork and accents

So, if you make your way down to the  southernmost beaches of North Carolina’s unique barrier islands, (or even if you are in Myrtle Beach). Take the time to stop by and visit The Painted Cottage at 6692 Beach Drive, Ocean Isle Beach, NC. (Phone ahead for hours and directions: 910-579-5995). Be sure to tell them that I sent you. (I am not paid by the Painted Cottage, I only hope they remember me next year when I go back.)

Best of all, if you haven't had your fill of eye candy from this post, visit the shop's website: thepaintedcottageonline.com or blog: thepaintedcottageonline.blogspot.com

Rebuilding "Daisy" the Discarded Chair

I have a serious problem. I can't bear to see a piece of furniture being thrown away. It could be the ugliest, most broken down chair and I still feel the need to save it from Mt. Trashmore. That was the case with "Daisy" this poor ugly chair that I found on the curb awaiting the trash trucks a few weeks ago. I threw her in the back of my car and brought it home.

Two missing parts

 Only when I got home did I assess her condition. Moldy seat, chipping and peeling paint, structurally falling apart, cobwebs, missing parts...

GROSS! Stained and moldy seat.

 ...and then a dead roach dropped out! Ewwww! I must be insane.  But, I still saw potential through all the disrepair.

This chair had some serious structural issues. I knew it was a case of tear her down and rebuild. This intro kept playing in my head the during the whole process:

I pulled apart the chair (mostly with my bare hands and then with some assistance from a hammer.)

Until I was left with a skeleton of a chair.

I stripped the paint layers off the chair using the same technique as I did for this chair (see details here.) Unfortunately this chair had 5 layers of paint, therefore it took several hours and several re-applications of Citri-strip to get down to the wood.

If you remember, there were several missing parts on this chair. I had a lightbulb moment when I realized that I could used the spindles from the chair back for the missing parts to connect the legs.

I removed the back spindles.

Almost a perfect size and I had two of them!

I cut down the spindles on the miter saw (but these could easily be cut with a hand saw).

And then notched the ends so they would fit into the holes on the legs. (I did have to enlarge the holes on the legs slightly using my drill and a 3/4" spade bit.)

Notching the spindles. Cut around the diameter, then cut from the end in towards the first cut. Repeat on all sides.

After dry fitting all the pieces back together, I used Gorilla glue to glue the chair back together.

I clamped the chair tight by using rope to wrap around the chair.

Daisy had also lost one of her decorative corner finials. So, I bought two new finials at Home Depot for $5.

In order to screw on the new finials in, I had to plug the hole with wood. (As promised: a tutorial on filling holes in wood.)

I also filled the holes where the spindles used to be with wood putty.

Next, I primed Daisy. Just a side note here, one reason the original five coats of paint on Daisy were peeling and flaking is that the proper prep work wasn't done. No sanding to scuff up the glossy polyurethane and no primer. It is so important to sand (rough up your surface) and use a primer. If you cut corners here, you might as well kiss your beautiful finish goodbye in a few years. Especially if the chair is exposed to the elements.)

Finally, I added two coats of white paint (sanding lightly between coats.)

The chair seat was in really bad shape. Therefore I decided to cut a new one out of plywood using my jigsaw.

Trace old seat on plywood, use ruler to make straight lines, cut out seat using jigsaw.

I checked my fit and then re-upholstered my chair. Check out this post to see how to re-upholster a chair seat.

Then for the finishing touches or the frosting on the cake. You can definitely do this step! The inset carving controls your brush for you. Kind of like bowling with bumpers.

And my chair is finished. Isn't she beautiful!

Hard to believe that 48 hours ago this chair was definitely worthy of Mt. Trashmore.

The chair is super solid now, and doesn't move at all thanks to the Gorilla Glue.


How about one last look at the before and after pictures?

Want to see more furniture in my guest room? Take the tour here!

Completed just in time for The CSI project, Roadkill challenge.