I tidied up the studio last week, but a weekend shopping trip, two craigslist deliveries from my dad and two deliveries from people who are “picking” for me left the studio in disarray again.  Kriste and I tackled it this morning – unpacking, pricing, scooting and arranging.  I also went around with sticky notes with instructions for each piece, so Katie and Kriste don’t have to read my mind. Once things were sorted and lined up, I declared, “No more furniture!!!” This means I’m going to have to stay off of craigslist and keep blinders on when I’m out shopping for smalls and accessories.  I’m always drawn to furniture, but we really do have enough to work on, enough to fill our tent and certainly enough to have to haul down to Lucketts. So, it’s been said and I need to stick to it! In my post about the mini-dresser makeover,

A few weeks ago, I took a trip out to one of my favorite antique stores (Beaver Creek Antiques in Hagerstown, MD) to pick up an antique pie safe I had been mulling over for a while.  It was perfect.  Chipping, creamy-white old paint, still wearing all of the original tins and she is an old girl who has lived a good life and has gotten even better with age. This post is not about that antique pie safe, though.  This post is about the one that had, shall we say, issues. But, it also had potential. And things with potential are my favorite. So, some obvious issues…the neon green curtains. Well, as Kriste put it, “Someone tried.” The other issue was that this poor antique pie safe was basically in pieces. The bottom was missing and one side had come apart.  Fortunately, the missing tins from that side were in

At some point, someone was possessed with the idea to hack the legs off of this buffet… Perhaps it was an intentional decision to make this piece more practical or perhaps one of the legs was damaged beyond repair and this was a way to save this buffet from the trash. I don’t know how it ended up without legs, but something about it in a grainy craigslist photo appealed to me.  The price was good, that was one thing, but I also think that, despite the fact that it wasn’t designed this way, it was a practical height and size and a unique piece. I love the fact that the drawers and doors were left unpainted.  The body was painted in a sort of faux wood technique, but it had obviously been wearing that paint for a long time.  I didn’t like how the faux painting competed with the natural

The marathon of furniture makeovers continues!  I really do have some other posts up my sleeve, like a series sharing my creative process and a decorating dilemma I am working on for a reader, but I have a huge backlog of pieces I’ve finished that I just have to share!  I spend all day in the studio with them and I can feel the stink eye from the pieces that haven’t had their turn in the limelight. Some of them are such divas. So, today I’m sharing two makeovers, because they made sense to shoot together – a desk and a desk chair… This desk chair is one of the pieces that has been languishing in the to-do stash for months.  I think since last August.  This poor chair was sad, with it’s split pleather seat and cockeyed back, but it was cheap and I knew I could do something with it.

Before I hop into the post, I wanted to share that I listed soaps (Savon de Marseille block & liquid lavender) and brushes (German dish, vegetable and flowerpot brushes) in the online shop as promised! I also have put the Look Book as well as my book, Inspired You, on sale. Sooo, I’ve been on a bit of a roll with the “vintage chalkboard” milk paint recipe.  It really has made me fall in love with chalkboards all over again. When Kriste and I spotted this small antique highboy during a recent shopping trip, I immediately imagined it wearing that vintage chalkboard paint.  It was a similar color to start with, so it was easy to envision. I used the same recipe I used for the two chalkboards I painted –  MMSMP 2 parts Artissimo to 3 parts Boxwood. Kriste lightly sanded the piece and then painted the dresser in