French Accent Table

SOLD

Lovely classic french provincial accent table, painted with ASCP Pure white, distressed and sealed with a clear wax.  

It measures 27.5w x 18"d x 22" h. 

Alphabet Stool

SOLD

Cute light grey alphabet script fabric stool.  Painted with ASCP Pure white and French Linen, distressed and sealed with a clear wax. 

It measurements are 22"w x 15"d x 18" h.

AT THE END OF MY FINGERTIPS

SOLD

Here is is the moment you've all been waiting for.... Drum roll please.... lol. 

Holy moly, I posted this picture last week on my facebook page and wozers there were a lot of comments on this fabulous color!  

And I still have no idea why it keeps flipping sideways? 

Anyone notice the shocking similarity between this desk and my phone? lol

After a long break and or brief hiatus I finally started working again last week.  On the list of many bits and pieces was this super yummy desk for a client's daughter.  

Her daughter picked the color and I immediately fell in love with my first few brush strokes. 

I almost felt like I was inside a swimming pool when I was painting under this piece:)

It's refreshing to be back doing what I love and to start with something new and fresh.

Thank you for the inspiration Ava:)  I'm not sure you follow my blog because you are only 7. lol

Funny, this inspiration has been at the end of my finger tips for months, but has just finally came to be!

White Shabby Chic Coffee Table

SOLD

I'm finally back at work and I have to say, 

"The break was needed, but it also made me realize how much work is needed."

I bought this piece originally for my home.  I was going to convert it into a bench for our living room but plans changed and I ended up with an old trunk there. 

It has been painted white with ASCP, distressed and finished with a clear wax.  

There is a large drawer in the center, great for hiding...

It measures 20" d x 16' h x 58" w. 

Burlap, lace, tule, & one very cute 3 year old:)!!!

Last week, my baby, my little one, my peanut, my dolly, my squirt, my sunshine

turned 3!  

On her actual BIRTHDAY, we went for a bike ride to the park to play!

 But, we just had to make a quick little stop before we hit the park... 

Mommy just needed a picture or two or three or 20...

Now, I'm no photographer and I think my camera sucks.  It could be me and or my lack of photography skills, but I am actually happy with these!

It definitely helps that this child is almost always happy and goes with the flow quite easily.  So it didn't take much to convince her to pick some flowers, smile and look cute:)

We finished the evening with swimming and ice cream!  Perfect day!

This past weekend we celebrated with our family.  

I set up this table during the week.  I didn't want to spend much and came up with this theme thanks to good ole PINTEREST.  I knew I had all of these items already so it was easy peasy. 

  

  The pink lace table cloth is actually a curtain thrift store find, the table is an old wood folding table that my mom passed down to me.  The shutters were a road side find that I used at my last vintage market, the cake stand another vintage find, along with the milk glass vase and dish.  And I made the tule pom poms with the extra fabric I cut from my curtains in my showroom, and the burlap pom poms were also from my remnant pieces of fabric.  

Voila! 

The cake, well that's another story.  lol.  You see this whole natural path restricted diet thing has kind of made me a little crazy.  or a lot crazy. I decided that I wanted to serve something a bit healthier than the store bought cake mix, so I would bake something from scratch.  How hard could it be, right? 

Well, I guess if I went with the white flour, 2 cups of sugar, 5 eggs recipes it would have probably looked like a real birthday cake but no, I decided to go for the healthier... version.  Which left me with cake #1 looking a bit like a pancake. lol

Despite being a pancake, I spread some cream cheese icing on it (yes, I know not so healthy but we have to live a little!), topped it with some organic toasted coconut, walnuts and sprinkled cinnamon.  A piece of fresh mint from my garden, a borrowed cake plate from my lovely neighbor, my thrift store cake dome and voila again!

It's like magic.

So, cake #2 is a carrot cake (as seen here below), which ended up a bit taller and I could manage to trim it with the burlap like I had planned.  So that was that, and hopefully it didn't taste like cardboard.:)

The birthday girl wore a lovely "vintage" dress:)

She was elated with her new "baby."

And she even had seconds of the cake:)

Searching for peace in chaos

Enough is enough.  I have been searching and thinking and every day is passing and I feel so out of sorts these days!  

Without going into great detail, there are various reasons for me searching for peace in chaos.  

One being the constant state of renos going on in our home.  Yes, very grateful for these updates.  But, it sometimes (and by this I mean for the last few months) seems like an invasion of my privacy, sharing my space with all these workers and men watching my coming and going.  lol.  

For example, this was the view I had last week from my office windows. 

I literally feel like I'm looking for a light at the end of the tunnel some days!

To add to my lack of sanity, I went to see a natural-path at the beginning of the month for some health concerns that I'd been dealing with and she has put me on a very strict restricted diet, which does not allow for anything one would like to indulge in, like say coffee, wine, chips or chocolate:) 

This alone, never mind the renos and 3 children, a husband and 2 gerbals, could drive anyone crazy! lol

But, today I said enough is enough.  I'm putting off my "chores", I'm skipping my workout at the gym and I'm gonna get back to work!

So, I sanded. And I sanded some more.  2 desks.  Nearly an hour and a half.  One, took nearly no time, but this....

This is probably not a good project to start with when just getting back to work.  ugggg  Not fun.  

Thick, thick, sloppy paint.  I actually started scrapping the drawer, rather then sanding it was that bad. 

However, I am excited to finally start something new and I am working on the other desk for a client and her daughter has picked out a great new color that I get to work with!

I have no idea why my picture is turned like this, and I'm too tired to try to fix it.:)

So, this is exciting!  I am not so excited to get back to sanding that other desk but for now I will focus on this.

BUT...  Yes, there is a but.  

Of course. Like Murphys law.  

"If something can go wrong, it will go wrong."

My oldest has come down with something this evening, vommitting and all. Which means, the chances of her attending school tomorrow are slim to none.  Which means, the chances of me working tomorrow are also slim.  

This is my chaos:) 

But, I will remain hopeful that I will somehow figure this out. 

And I will also leave you with an update of my veggie garden which is off to a great start so far.  

This is another paint project in progress... I stained these trellis panels a few weeks ago but still haven't gotten to the top portion!  And I also have a set of stairs, a small wrap around deck and some ceder beams that need to be done in my spare time as well. 

Vacation, Lemonade, & Vegetable Gardens

When I first started this blog, the main purpose was for my furniture.  But, like most things in life, it has slowly changed and is evolving into something a bit more than that.  

I will be thrifting and shabby chicing forever, this I know.  BUT, it seems as of late, I'm finding less time or maybe just making different choices for my time.  This means, less actual "work" as in pieces for sale, but it certainly doesn't mean I'm not always at work:)

I'm a constant thinker and analyzer of thoughts.  It doesn't help when you spend most of your time alone or alone in your head.  Yes, I am with my soon to be 3 year old ALL OF THE TIME:) But, even when she's asking me for cheese strings, snacks, crayons etc, I'm always inside my own head.  

Its just what I do.  Thinking, thinking, thinking.  Thinking about what project I should be working on.  Thinking about how I should just be okay with not always working on a project.  Thinking about how I should play with my kids more.  Thinking about how they are growing up so fast.  Thinking more about those projects in  my garage.  Thinking of whats for dinner.  Thinking of the laundry.  

Think, think, think. 

But, in all this thinking, I "think", that I have somewhat unconsciously made a decision over the last few months to try to be more in the moment.  Even though I'm fairly good at multitasking and doing all these things, painting, cooking, cleaning etc, I'm not sure that I always want to work at that level of crazy.  

Two weeks ago, my husband and I went to Hawaii (alone) to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  

Yes, it was amazing.
And, when I'm away from everything, I am very good at being relaxed and "happy."  

It is these moments,

(rare moments), when I realize how busy I keep myself and how as much as I enjoy being busy, it reminds me that I like being not so busy sometimes too:) 

A couple of these also help to relax a bit as well. lol

And although everyday will not look like this paradise, I am trying to find it among the cleaning, cooking, and sometimes unrewarding parenting:)  I guess that's why I LOVE painting furniture etc, cause it gives me that rewarding feeling just like I had the moment I took this picture.  

Which brings me to the lemonade stand...

So last weekend, I surprised my 7 year old with a lemonade stand.  Like most kids, she has asked me probably at least half a dozen times to have one and I have turned her down every time.  For various reasons, no supplies, I was busy and didn't want to set up a stand at that moment etc.  

Which reminds me, how different times are from when "I was a kid." I'm pretty sure, that my mother NEVER helped with any of the lemonade or koolaide stands I ever had.  I also used to leave the house in the morning with my friends and ride bikes all over the neighborhood, come home at dinner time, and go to the corner store all by myself with pop bottles at her age.  Times have changed but that doesn't mean everything has too.:)

So, I got to work Friday morning while she was at school, gathered various thrifted goodies, mocked up the table plan, and made some signage.   I baked 4 dozen muffins after school.  (Cause I cant' get rid of all the crazy)  And no, she didn't even flinch when I baked all of them. This is how observant my child is. lol

And then Saturday morning I surprised her with the news!  I arranged for her "best friend" from around corner to come over and help her for the day.  This got me out of sitting outside for the entire day.  Although, I pretty much gave up my Saturday regardless.  

But, it was all worth it:)

Her little sister had to be involved somehow, of course. :)

It was a great success.  There was an annual neighborhood garage sale happening in our neighborhood the same day so that definitely increased their earnings:)

And even though, I could have spent the day painting or sanding, it was the perfect day "off." 

And I will add a small disclaimer.
Yes, I "surprised" her for some selfish reasons. I got to make the lemonade stand. 
lol

So this is how I spend my days.  Cleaning, cooking, laundry, chores, groceries, swimming lessons, driving, caring for my little munchkins, and sometimes painting and creating:)

This week I also spent an entire day working on my vegetable garden.  I have no idea why it took almost the entire day.  Perhaps my 3 year old "helper" might have been a bit of the reason.  Hence, the sections I cordoned off.  As she kept "not walking" all over the freshly planted seeds.

So for those of you who have asked or wondered, how I get things done or why am I not getting them done,   this pretty much sums it up.  It's all about how we choose to spend our time.  It can be filled with anything you want it too:)