Move Mountains In Your Home
As I've mentioned a couple of times, there are a lot of new things I'm working on behind the scenes. One of those things is new colors for the milk paint line! Well, Lucketts is the perfect time to test out those colors "in the real world" on a piece of furniture, so I've been doing a lot of "testing"! Here is the first new color I'm introducing... Dried Lavender The names of my paint … [Read more...]
I am in major shopping mode for the Lucketts Antique Market, which is just over two weeks away! Yikes! So, I was cruising craigslist.com last night and found this beauty right in my own back yard. (Well, not literally.) My dad picked it up for me today and she is a beauty. Most pieces I buy are pretty rough, but this one is in perfect condition. It's so beautiful, that I've decided … [Read more...]
I just had an amazing day and most of it took place here... ...at Founders Hall in gorgeous Roswell, Georgia. Doing a lot of this... ...and meeting a lot of lovely, incredible ladies... (Thanks for those two pictures, Mary Anne!) And I got to enjoy some of Roswell and its amazing shops... ...and restaurants … [Read more...]
Before I start, the winners of a $50 shop credit to Copper & Tin are Betsy C and Melissa Boyce. Enjoy shopping! I'm constantly asked about introducing new milk paint colors (and I'm working on that...slowly), but I wanted to explain a bit further why I chose the twelve colors of the original line. First off, these are colors I love and use in my decorating. I also … [Read more...]
At the risk of sounding like a total dork, why is it pronounced Ark-an-SAW instead of Ark-KAN-sas? Just curious. I went on another whirlwind weekend trip to teach some workshops and do a book signing. This time, I went to Fayetteville, Arkansas. I knew nothing about Arkansas, so I asked the ladies in the workshop (and we had one gentleman) to teach me some things about the state. I … [Read more...]
Back in December, I took a whirlwind trip across the continent to the beautiful town of Petaluma, CA. One of my Milk Paint retailers, Genevieve of Gracefully Worn, invited me out and she certainly rolled out the red carpet! It was an amazing trip. It started out with a super early flight from Virginia that got me to San Francisco about 9:00 am their time. We went straight from the airport … [Read more...]
I took some time today to recover a bit from my trip to Houston this weekend. I got a lot of things done around the house, too, and I'll post about that later. Tonight I'll share a bit more about the trip and the workshop. I must start with saying Mandie and her husband were such wonderful hosts. My mom and I stayed in comfortable rooms and ate delicious food. Their shop in LaPorte was … [Read more...]
Next week I am on the move again! I am traveling to the city where the majority of my blog readers and Facebook fans call home - Houston. That's right. Houstonites (Houstoners? Sorry, I've just been told it's Houstonians...) give me a lot of love and blog traffic and it's time that I pay them a visit. I will be there January 11-12 for a milk paint demo, book signing, breakfast and one … [Read more...]
Recently, some of my blog buddies have tried out my milk paint and I just had to share a couple pieces that knocked my socks off (in case you missed them!) The first was by Layla of The Lettered Cottage. Here's the piece before... I found it pretty interesting when she sent me the before picture. See, I had the twin... ...dangling hardware and all. Someone had removed the fretwork in … [Read more...]
A common question I've been getting lately is, "Can you paint milk paint over other painted finishes?" Yes, you can! This little dresser has been hanging around in my basement for a while and, after selling some other pieces, I was forced to work on it. The delay wasn't because I didn't like the piece, but because the drawer bottoms were jacked up and needed to be replaced. … [Read more...]
I got a call a few days ago from Lucketts It's a great call, but an "oh crap" kind of call, too. Both of my large furniture pieces had sold, so I needed to get some furniture into my space ASAP. I decided to sell a little wash stand I've had for a few years and I finally started working on the empire dresser I had in my basement for a while. Here's how it turned out... Here's … [Read more...]
Before I show these chairs, I am letting you know that I am selling them. Yes, they are cane chairs and they are beautifully Frenchy, but I've recently made room for two pairs of French chairs and I just can't make room for a third. Now it's out there and you can hold me to it! (It's tough for me.) This pair of chairs have a beautiful shape, but a finish that wasn't quite right … [Read more...]
Here it is... This is the piece I've been walking you through as I paint and finish it. You can check out the first post about painting it HERE and the second post about distressing and waxing it HERE. I purchased this wardrobe from an antique furniture store and it was beautiful to begin with, but it felt very dark and heavy. The wood was also not in the greatest condition, so … [Read more...]
Sorry for the suspense, but I didn't show the reveal of the wardrobe in yesterday's post about working with Milk Paint because it wasn't finished, yet. I worked on it more today and I'll take reveal pictures tomorrow before I haul it down to Lucketts. Since you last saw it, I applied a second coat of Shutter Gray Milk Paint and painted the door panels and side panels in Grain Sack. It … [Read more...]
...this post may help prevent that. Hopefully. Let me start by saying that I love Milk Paint and I'm currently selling Milk Paint under my own brand. That doesn't mean that I think everyone else will love Milk Paint as much as I do or that I think it's perfect for every painting situation. I love it, but I can love it realistically. So, when people tell me they are scared to try it, I … [Read more...]
I show in my latest "Boxwood Dresser" how Milk Paint can look when the bonding agent is added and it's not distressed. As you can see, a beautiful finish can be achieved (without using a separate primer coat!) Here's how... More videos to come... … [Read more...]
It's now time to introduce the 12th and final color in my line of milk paint. Say hello to "Boxwood." Here's what the piece looked like before... My inspiration for the color was a boxwood bush (obviously.) I love the rich, green color of the leaves... ...and it looks striking on a piece of furniture. It's a bold … [Read more...]
First of all, thank you so much to all of those who left comments on my post yesterday. For those who said it! I hope you all pursue those dreams and check in now and then to let us know how things are going. I'll have to put up post to give those an opportunity who want to share. I was working on some packaging yesterday and a quote from the movie Megamind came into my head. There's a … [Read more...]
For years I have been making glittered letters to sell in my space, first at the Lucketts Fair, then at Wild Rose and finally in my space at Lucketts. They always sell well, but they are tedious to make and are pretty messy. My move to the lobby left me without a great place to hang my over-sized magnet board, so I decided it was a good time to switch gears. Instead of selling the … [Read more...]
This week seems to be all about me being in front of the camera. I'm making video tutorials for my milk paint line, videos for the enhanced e-book version of my book (coming out in November), AND I have a camera crew coming to my house tomorrow to do some filming for a special project. I'm still sporting the curly hair and it's been a little unruly on camera, but I'm going with it! (Actually, … [Read more...]
I'm still working on all of my video tutorials for the Milk Paint website. Actually, this will be an ongoing project as I share new techniques and creative ways to use Milk Paint and the companion products, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Today I'm sharing about Hemp Oil, the top coat sold with my line as an alternative to wax. So, what is Hemp Oil? It's an all natural oil … [Read more...]
It's time to introduce another one of my Milk Paint colors. Whew! Painting twelve dressers in all twelve of my colors has taken longer than I thought it would. I want all of my pieces to be special, but especially these pieces that will act as the "online swatch" for each color. After this piece, I only have one more left to do - "Boxwood." So, without further delay, here's … [Read more...]
On Thursday, I drove down to Lucketts with Faith and my husband and we worked on getting my space in the lobby looking great and filled with milk paint. I've been in the lobby for a couple of months, but it's been hard for me to get settled there. With the milk paint finally in transit from Canada, I asked two design gurus, Suzanne and Amy of Design House fame, to help me with the layout of … [Read more...]
I didn't have the time to pick favorites today because... ...I was moving all of my Milk Paint into my space at Lucketts. I was so busy trying to get it all done that I didn't get to have a teary moment until I looked at this picture. God has really blessed this endeavor. Wow. ...and I'm late because... I was working on the new MMS Milk Paint website! I still have a lot of … [Read more...]
I don't know why I left this piece sitting in my basement for so long! It was finished a couple of weeks ago and I finally hauled it up today for a photo shoot. I knew I would have fun with it and I did. It's definitely a favorite. Say hello to the MMS Milk Paint color "Grain Sack"... Here's the piece before... ...and this piece gets better when you … [Read more...]
