Thursday, May 30, 2013

Updating Furniture w/ Pottery Barn White

Hi everyone! I'm still continuing on my quest to make a good dent in my custom projects so that I can devote a good chunk of time to my kitchen next week. I cannot wait! My husband, probably like most, isn't super into decorating and all that, (he is always busy at work and has his own interests), so I actually had to tell him the other day that if he wants to see what is going to happen in our kitchen he had better read my blog post!
 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

[Project Notebook] Kitchen Inspiration & Plans

I have been trying to get caught up on all of my custom furniture painting orders this week so that I can tackle a project that I have been itching to do for years now...paint my kitchen cabinets! I have spent so much time pouring over decorating magazines and pinning my favorite kitchens and I am so ready to get this thing going. And, I know there has been more than one [Project Notebook] posts devoted to this topic!
 
Like the rest of my house, I want it to be eclectic and collected, with a mix of modern country and vintage styles. And, we've been doing bits here and there...we added in the stainless island and reworked the light with a drum shade last year.  This year I painted the back splash with chalkboard paint and bought that country cupboard a couple of weeks ago.
 
Here is my plan...cannot wait!
 
1 Source  2 Source  3 Source  4 Source  5 Source 
6 Source  7 Source  8 Source

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Easy, Painted Canning Jars

I love an easy craft project! I have been seeing these painted canning jars on Etsy and Pinterest lately and have been really wanting to make some.
 
 

Monday, May 27, 2013

Colonial Blue Dresser

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great long weekend.  Ours was really relaxed. We just all hung out together, I worked on a couple of projects, went to some tag sales and watched the Memorial Day parade right from my front yard!
 
 


Friday, May 24, 2013

Things I'm Loving This Week...

Happy Memorial Day weekend!
 
In between the major bouts of rain we've been having I managed to hang up our flag bunting in front of our house.  There's still some planting to do (although it looks like everything we put in last year when we removed our old and overgrown landscaping is coming in beautifully)! I always try to get, at least the front yard, done by Memorial Day because the parade goes right down our street!
 
Other than that, I've been painting, painting, painting custom furniture orders and my house is beginning to look like a storage area!
 
Here are my favorite things I've found online this week. Which one do you like best?
  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Thursday, May 23, 2013

Farmhouse Potting Bench

One of the things I love most about my little furniture painting business is the hunt for new pieces. A lot of the time I am looking for something specific that a client has requested, but sometimes I'm out there buying pieces that I think are worthy of a makeover.




Wednesday, May 22, 2013

[Project Notebook] Plants & Interesting Containers

I always get a teensy bit excited when it's time to head to the garden store to buy plants and flowers for our yard. 
 
We just made it there earlier this week and I  picked a pretty good assortment of herbs, perennials and annuals to dress up our space. Hopefully, this weekend I will get everything sorted, planted and displayed. 
 
I'm trying to go for a really cottage look this year and to me that means lots of chippy and interesting containers.  Here are some that I find really inspiring...
 
 
 
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Monday, May 20, 2013

Vintage Aqua Dresser

I can' believe it's the start to another week! This month is flying by and I've been super busy with all kinds of custom painting orders.
 
 
Remember that cottage, yellow dresser that I shared last week, here? Well, I got a second dresser the same day and it sold immediately to the next person that had been on my waiting list.
 
 

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Vintage Kitchen Cupboard

So, I'm pretty sure that I have one of the slowest kitchen updates on record. Seriously, it was like a year in a half ago that we updated the light, by removing the old (and ugly) stained glass chandelier and replacing it with a drum shade. We also stored away our kitchen table (it wasn't really necessary since our dining room is just steps away) in lieu of a stainless steel kitchen island to have more prep space.
 

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

[Project Notebook] Inspired Furniture

I just love painted furniture (obviously)! The possibilities are truly endless when you are reinventing an old piece. One of my favorite things is to do is to add a bit of a bold or unexpected touch to vintage furniture.
 
Here are some pieces that I find particularly inspiring (and that I would like to try)!
 
 
 
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Updated Vintage Desk

This was one of those projects that seemed to drag on forever.  I totally have no idea why, it was just like I would do a step and then put it away for a couple of weeks. Has this ever happened to you?
 

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Cottage Yellow Dresser

Happy Mother's Day!
 
I have the sweetest and prettiest dresser makeover to share with you all today.
 
This was a vintage dresser that I found, but custom painted for a customer and I think her idea was just perfect for the piece!
 
 


Friday, May 10, 2013

Things I'm Loving This Week...

TGIF! This week has flown by for me! I have another busy day today, but hope to just crash and catch up on all sorts of relaxing things this weekend...wine, magazine reading...
 
Here are my favorite things this week. Which do you love best? (Mine is the first!)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



 


Wednesday, May 8, 2013

[Project Notebook] Potting Benches

I've been so busy with painting furniture lately that I haven't even had a chance to begin decorating my back porch. (Which, is probably for the best since the pollen counts have been off the chart and I wouldn't last two minutes out there anyway!)
 
 
I have tons of ideas floating around in my head and one is to add in a small potting bench. I've been hunting for a table to fit that spot, but so far, not a lot of luck. (There is one that I like and have been considering...maybe I should just get it so I can stop thinking about it!) In the meantime, I have found lots of ideas that completely inspire me.
 
 
1 Source  2 Source  3 Source  4 Source  5 Source
 
 
Do you have a potting bench?  If so, stop by my Facebook page here and share a picture.


Have a great day!





 




Monday, May 6, 2013

Entry Tour: Styling with Antique Books

If you recall there is no real separation between our entry and our living room. Kind of unusual for an older home, plus our neighbor's house was built by the same person at the same time and they do, in fact, have a separate, walled off entry space.
 
 

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Rustic Table Addition

I have had so much furniture come in over this past week to paint, you literally cannot even walk in my garage. It is kind of insane. Like, I've had to give my husband warnings to not go in there, insane.
 
So, my Mom has been bugging me to come and get this table from her forever.  She had it on her three season porch and just kind of ran out of room. But, she sort of wanted me to have it rather than sell it, and I totally agreed with her; I just didn't know what to do or where to put it. And I mean permanently put it, because I completely am out of storage here.
 


Friday, May 3, 2013

Things I'm Loving This Week....

Happy Friday!
 
I've had a crazy, crazy busy week. My garage is packed with furniture to be painted (mostly custom) and tomorrow I'll be making another delivery to Village Primitives in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. I'm betting that when I'm driving there I will see the set up beginning for Brimfield. Exciting stuff! Anyone going to the spring show?
 
 
Here are my favorites things that I've found this week. I hope you love them, too!
 
 
 
 


 
Have a great weekend!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Thursday, May 2, 2013

Custom, Painted Dining Set

Happy Thursday everyone! This week has completely flown by for me! I've gotten four SUV loads of furniture in so far so I have been busy, busy, busy.  Plus, both of my boys are actually healthy this week (there has been one virus after the next in this house) so I am easing them back into our homeschool schedule.
 
Yesterday was our social studies day and we are learning about the middle ages. Both boys were in the middle of making coats of arms when I saw a curb alert on craigslist for a free table not too far from us.
 
I yelled for them to stop doing their schoolwork and get in the car (and yes, they were still in their PJ's).  So, we got to the house, I got the table, plus the most amazing Windsor chair, I crammed it all into the car and we started back home.  My 11 year old kept looking back at the furniture to make sure it was in stable and then said to me, "You know what? We do not have a normal family.  Most kids are not told to stop doing schoolwork in the middle of the morning. And, most kids are not out in their pajamas picking up furniture on the side of the road. You get mad because we don't do enough chores, but we always drop what we're doing to go get your furniture. This is pretty awesome!"  Kind of loved this conversation with him.
 
Anyhoo, a couple of weeks ago I did a custom dining set for a customer who had previously bought some furniture from me.  This was her own set and she picked the colors; a black for the table and a egg blue w/ gray undertones for the chairs.