It's Themed Furniture Makeover time again and this month our assignment was something rustic.

I don't know about you, but summer is always the hardest time of the year for me as a work-at-home mom. The hours kids are usually at school is when I can focus on my furniture projects, blogging and anything else that needs to get done at home.

Well, none of that happens when kids are home all day every day during the summer months. I feel like my attention should be on my son rather than going off and painting furniture or writing a blog about it.

Thus begins the summer struggle of trying to maintain a balance between working and being a mom. Anyone else understand how hard it is to do both well?

So back to how that relates to my rustic furniture makeover. A friend of mine brought me her vintage candy machine wanting a fun, colorful makeover to fit the style of her house better.

It's kind of rustic, right? Stay with me...I think the BEFORE is actually more rustic than the AFTER so that should count, right? Since it was a small project, could be finished quickly and had rustic wood, I figured it was the perfect candidate for a this makeover.

This painting hanging in her entry served as inspiration for the color palate of the candy machine base. Aren't the letters spelling HI the cutest?!

I started with a base of General Finishes Patina Green. I love layering colors to give dimension and I found a mermaid glaze I had completely forgotten about in my trove of paint goodies. I wish the pictures did justice to all the green, purple and gold accents it added to the base color.

To help pull out the bubblegum blue of the candy jars, I dry brushed General Finishes Corinth Blue over the entire base.

I finished up by adding some subtle distressing and sealing with Arm R Seal since it needs to stand up to kiddos (and adults) helping themselves to all that yummy candy.