Monday, April 30, 2012

I love Duck Egg Blue, oh yes I do!



In my mind I just made up a whole Dr Seuss-ish rhyme about Duck Egg Blue. I will not subject you to its badness ~ I like you!




After my trip to surprise my friend Alicia (you can read about it here) for her birthday, I was a little out of sorts. I don't know exactly what the problem was but, not much got done for a few days. I finally had to post a picture of this dresser on my Facebook page to motivate myself. Well, it worked, and I got it done later that day. But sheesh! 



It is my favorite Frenchy style. It has great hardware and I love the blonde finish color, it is pretty when distressed through.

I painted the entire piece in Old White and then again in Duck Egg Blue. At one point, two of my boys came in to see me painting over the Old White with Duck Egg and the older one was slightly freaked out! He was pretty sure that I was wasting paint. They know that ASCP is not cheap~like gold in a can! Son #4 to my rescue, he explained to his brother the process of painting a base color and distressing through to show contrast. I love that kid!

I distressed through both layers of paint to the blonde color of the dresser. It is such a nice combination! Very soft, sweet colors. I can see this in a nursery or a child's room. Not mine, but for someone else :-) 





I love the softness of Duck Egg Blue, it is so easy to love!


Linking to these fabulous parties!


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Sunday, April 29, 2012

French Linen and Old White Dresser



The curvy details of this dresser are drool-worthy! 




I have had a lot of Frenchy furniture (which I love) lately, so I was thrilled to see this antique beauty pop up on Craigslist! And only three minutes from my house? That never happens!




Inspired by this dresser by Layla Grace I decided to use ASCP in Old White and French Linen. If you happen to have about 37 days free and lots of drool rags, you should take a look at the Layla Grace website. Bee-you-ti-fullll, but definitely out of my real life budget!



First, I painted the entire dresser in French Linen. I find that when using two colors, it is easier for me to cut in on the flat areas than the raised curvy moulding, so I always do the raised parts first. Then I went back and used a small, crafty brush maybe a 1/4 inch wide to cut in with Old White. This took so much more time than I thought it should have! I had to remind myself numerous times that it was a paintbrush and not a magic wand. If you happen to have a good magic wand source, would you please message me? Thanks!

Next I took a chip brush and dabbed a tiny amount of Old White on the French Linen raised parts. Before this is sanded it looks not so vaguely like 1980's sponge painting. Not too pretty.


Next, I dry brushed some more Old White across all of the sponginess.


Then, I sanded the heck out of it. I sand so much that I think that at some point my right arm will be disproportionate with my body. Not even kidding!


See how the French Linen peeks out from under the Old White? I love it!


The dresser had all of its original hardware, and it is gorgeous! Sometimes I spend a small fortune on hardware so this was a lovely break!




This beauty is at Restoration Emporium for the May sale. Maybe. I kind of love her.

Linking here:


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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Surprising a Friend


Months of planning led to this fantastic weekend! My best friend from high school, turned 40! My sister-in-law and I flew to Virginia to surprise our friend Alicia and whisk her away to Lancaster, PA for the weekend. 


I can not even remember the last time I laughed so hard. These are some funny, funny girls! I speak with confidence when I say I am sure all of our husbands were happy we went without them.


Here we are. In this picture (which was taken several children ago for all of us) Alicia (the birthday girl) is on the left, I am in the center and Ava, with the great hair, is on the right. Ava always, always has great hair. It is the rule. I was lots of months pregnant with #2 and these lovelies were kind enough to cover me with their flowers. They love me and I love them!


We were hiding in Alicia's basement when she came home from work and 
came up singing Happy Birthday. Mostly Ava sang, I was laughing too hard and trying to video at the same time. I can not multi-task, it's a curse. She screamed and cried, and her husband warned us to keep her on a hard surface (those of us who have had babies understand this).


We got in the car and drove to Lancaster, PA which smells faintly of manure. In a good way. Lancaster is so peaceful with the horses and buggies driving down the main roads. It is also apparently still Christmas in Lancaster, these baskets were everywhere! This is not a crack at Lancaster, I love Christmas!
We ate way too much and drove through Starbucks so many times that the boy at the window began to recognize us. We shopped at the fabulous Goodwill where it is obviously ok to leave the dressing room door open while trying on clothes. We tried on shoes that we would never in 10 million years buy. Can you see how high these are? I actually had to hold on to a pole to even stand up! Haha a pole...there may or may not be pictures...
We saw lots of this...

And went to exactly one Antique Shop. Apparently, not everyone appreciates them like I do. I made up for that on Monday with a trip to The Old Lucketts Store in a visit that deserves its own post.

We made up songs that can't be sung in public and have phrases that nobody else will understand. What a fantastic weekend, with friends that made everything more fun. 

Thanks girlies!

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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Going to My Happy Place

Tomorrow is Good Friday and it will be a good Friday as well!


The First Friday weekend sale starts tomorrow and I am beyond excited! Restoration Emporium will be opening "The Cellar" this weekend and adding 15,000 sf to the awesomeness that is already upstairs. There are lots of new fantastic vendors and the excitement is palpable. The spirit of community and building something together is amazing. It is truly our happy place.


Here are a few pictures of the things I have been working on this month, it is hard to blog and paint at the same time and you can tell by my lack of posting this month what I have been up to.Two weeks of Spring Break have made for some fast and furious painting this month!


Here are some pictures, I hope to do have some before and after blog posts soon!




And because my goodies are not nearly the coolest things in this shop, here is some eye candy from my partners in crime!

 This booth is full of some of my favorite doors and happiness!
 These two are from The House of Belonging. She makes the most beautiful and heartfelt signs. I love them and feel compelled to own many of them. If I could only choose...


If I owned this piece it would be worth changing the decor in my house! The Junktique Girls  ROCK!


These are from Gyspy Soup, made from neckties and repurposed happiness!

So now you can see why this is my happy place! 

I didn't even scratch the surface of the amazingness that is at Restoration Emporium. You should check out their Facebook page, there is so much inspiration there! Here is the link...Restoration Emporium.

If you are in the Kansas City area come join me there Friday and Saturday, April 6th and 7th! You can be happy too!





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