Keeping busy...

This strike time has been interesting to say the least.  I have been given a glimpse into what life may look like when Travis retires, and all I can say is that we are going to need a Reader's Digest sized calender and a clock.  We go to bed when we are tired and wake up when the light comes into our room each morning.  We yawn, kiss good morning and then inevitably one of us asks the other what day/date it is.  It's very surreal not living on a real work schedule.  It's also weird not keeping track of what time it is as the day goes on.  We eat when we are hungry, not when our "lunch" time is, and the result is that we have both lost weight.

Travis and I are keeping busy with a steady stream of handyman and woodworking projects.  I do the design consult/painting and then Travis does his woodworking magic.  It's not our usual paycheck, but it's enough for us to get by.  We are very lucky to have some skills to fall back on, not everyone affected by this strike can say the same.

This is one of our neighbor's kitchens- they had a HUGE microwave over the stove, but wanted a shelf for spices...

Painted this piece for a client in ASCP Coco...

Client piece painted in ASCP Paris Grey and Graphite...

Stair rails in ASCP Graphite- I love these painted!

 Travis is also working on our laundry room build.  He finished up all of the trim this morning, so now it's time to pooky, sand and paint...

It is nice having Travis around to work on math with Hunter.  He is neck deep into fractions and Travis is using his woodworking projects to let Hunter use his fraction knowledge in a real life way...

We live in home improvement stores...

Hunter is doing okay- if he's worried about his upcoming GI tests he doesn't let on.  He will turn 14 next Thursday and I keep thinking that at any moment he will outgrow the "I love you mom"'s and the "Your the best mom ever"'s, but he's not.  This guy is such a love bug...

 Gets it from his dad...

Yes, that is a five week strike beard.  I am married to a mountain man.  Or a Yeti...

This is one of his best friends, Dustin.  Also sporting the strike beard...

My older sister, Beverly, and her husband Mike came down from NJ to visit.   They brought their 7 month old puppy, Millie.  I fell in love with that dog on my last trip to NJ.  She is such a sweet heart...

We also had a lengthy discussion about the science behind this dress...

I'm kidding.  We all pretty much agreed it was ugly.


SO proud of our Anne, she was hired on by a high end salon and is headed to State Cosmetology competition at the end of the month.  Goal driven and very passionate about what she does...

So that has been our past few weeks.  Staying busy and trying to stay positive.  It is so true about the "when it rains it pours" saying.  My bank account was hacked into and Travis' truck is having issues- but we are going to be okay.  The sun is going to peek out soon and we will be better for it.

Have a great weekend!

Country Chic Paint- a review...

A few months ago I was contacted by Country Chic Paint to give their new paint a try.  I am not one to turn down paint.  In fact, I'm the kind of girl who will chose paint over new clothes.  #paintlove

My paint arrived, but it was too cold outside to actually open it up and play, so I spent some time just photographing the pretty cans.  This stuff was packaged so well- each individual wax and paint was bubble wrapped and taped.  And how cute are those labels?

I chose the colours Hurricane, Vintage Cupcake, Elegance, and Vanilla Frosting.  I know, yummy names.  I'm just thankful they didn't smell like those buttercream candles. I remember being pregnant and burning one, only to find myself debating whether or not the candle might actually taste like buttercream...

Finally the weather warmed up and I was able to go out to the workshop and play with my new paint!  I started with the Vintage Cupcake, because anything with the word cupcake in it has to be good.

I had an old dresser that was in need of some refinishing and paint love.   If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw the number of drawers strewed about my workshop floor!

First, I applied two coats of the lovely pink Vintage Cupcake.   This paint lives up to it's confectioner's names- it goes on like butter.  No lumps or bumps- just consistent smooth and even coverage.   This is a chalk type paint and goes on very flat.  It's the wax that gives it a smooth to the touch finish.

Then I hit the edges with a 150 grit block.  I went back and applied some dark wax, using a rag and rubbing it in as I went for an all over subdued pink look.

Once the dark wax had lost it's tacky feel I went back and distressed the entire piece with my hand sander and 220 grit paper.  I focused mainly on the edges of the piece for distressing.  I love how the dark wax softened the pink a bit and added a bit of an aged look.

This piece had a lovely scalloped top which I decided to highlight by staining it instead of painting it.

I love to save old hardware and knobs.  This piece was missing one of the center pulls, and I had two of my bedroom dresser pulls laying out in my workshop- it was perfect on this piece and I love the mix of wood and the aged patina of the brass pulls.

I am big on how a paint cleans up as well as goes on, and this paint did not disappoint.   Sometimes chalk additives can gunk up in a brush and make it hard to complete a project without changing/cleaning brushes.  Country Chic Paint didn't gunk up my brush, and it was super easy to clean up with soap and water.

I will be doing a few more posts on projects painted with Country Chic Paint in the next few weeks, including a tutorial on how to wet distress a piece and making a sign.


*all opinions and statements about this product are my own.  I was given product by Country Chic Paint to use for this review.

Linked up at Jennifer Rizzo's

Chalking it up...

I am a huge fan of Melaine over at My Sweet Savannah.  Our colours and decorating styles are similar, and she is just a nice person all the way around.   One of the features of her kitchen that I love is her giant chalk board wall.  When we moved into this house I knew I wanted to do a wall similar to hers, but wasn't sure which wall to paint.

The one wall already has double doors to our extra pantry that have been painted in ASCP Graphite.  Painting that wall in chalkboard would have looked a bit odd to me with the white frame around the door...

So I opted for the wall to the side of it.  It's angled toward the kitchen, but visible from the living room.

So I woke up one morning and just dove into the paint.  It only took me three plus hours to get it all covered and then go back and cut in with the wall paint to create a straight edge.

Instagram photo...

When Travis got home from work it took him less than 1.5 seconds to notice it.  Then being the sweet man that he is, he helped me condition it by running a piece of chalk sideways all over it and then erasing it.  Always do this to new chalk surfaces to ensure that the first thing you write on it doesn't leave a lasting impression.  Like forever.

I hung up Bessie and her wreath along with my Grandfather's class picture.  I am loving the look of the chalky wall, but haven't really wanted to write on it yet.  I just like the look.

Oh, and that lovely frame for my Grandpa's highschool graduation picture?  Melaine made that.

I tend to mull ideas over in my mind for a minute or two and then when the mood strikes I just do it.

What spur of the moment decorating decisions have you made lately?

Dresser revision...

In teaching writing we would spend a lot of time learning how to revise, or "re-vision" our pieces.  I do the same thing with furniture pieces.  

This dresser belonged to my dad when he was a kid. It's maple, and I'm pretty sure I have put at least 50 coats of paint on it over the years.  I kid, sort of...  

The last time it was photographed it looked like this:

This morning I woke up and transformed it into this:

It's a little more distressed than most people like, but I love the overly distressed pieces in our home.
The top was stripped, sanded and stained in a dark walnut. The body of the dresser is Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in Artissimo.  The doors are SW Moderate White with some chalk additive.  The entire piece is clear waxed and buffed.

I love how it looks next to the Blue Artissimo fabric (also used by Miss Mustard Seed)...

It's fun to revision an old piece now and then :)

Best made plans...

When I first meet with a client there is a lot of discussion regarding a "plan" for their piece.  Colours, stain, natural top, glaze, wax, etc.

But like they say,

The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, 

Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
(The best laid schemes of Mice and Men
oft go awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,

For promised joy!)

~Robert Burns To a Mouse

Not that I am left with grief when working on a piece, well, not often am I left with grief ;)  Sometimes I have a plan for something I am working on and then as I dig into the piece and begin sanding, painting, and revealing it's character, the plan has to change.  

Originally this piece came to me yellow.  All of it.  Yellow.  I wish I had a before pic- it was 1970 yellow.  Bad.  So bad that I jumped into painting it and didn't bother to take a before pic.

The plan was to paint it Pencil Tip by Behr and then add dark wax, ebony stain up top and paint the hardware black.  As I was working on it I felt that the ebony stain on top would be too heavy with the black hardware and the sanded exposed wood had a lovely Restoration Hardware wood look to it.

Dark wax mixed with clear wax gave it just enough highlights...

I love that my client was flexible with the plan and welcomed any changes that I was making throughout the process.  

Whitewashed finish...

Last week I did a job for a client who wanted a to take her old yellow pine furniture and repurpose it for her guest room.   She wanted a grey-ish look to it, so we opted to use Behr pencil point grey as a base coat and then whitewash over it.  

This process is pretty simple- but is somewhat slow and methodical- moving too quickly with the whitewash can make the piece look like a white/muddy mess!  

After two coats of the pencil point, I took plain white paint and mixed it with water in a one to three ratio.  Then I brushed on a coat of the white over the grey, waited about ten seconds, and wiped it off with a clean rag.  I did this for the entire piece and the finish is lovely!