Knott So Shabby's TV Debut!

I wouldn't call my self an actress by any means.  Besides being in musicals and a few plays in High School, my acting skills are well pretty amateure.  So, you can imagine my anxiety when I received a call a few weeks ago from St. Louis Channel 4 host Virginia Kerr wanting to know if  I, with my shop, would be interested in being on Great Day St. Louis. Oh and also wants to know if they can come the next day at 2 p.m.!   Sure, I guess I'm ok under pressure.  In college I did ok in presenting a speech.  In mass on Sunday's I read the scriptures with no problem, but this is TV we're talking about people! How many eyes are going to be on me?!  Of course I say yes, because well frankly, who would miss this opportunity?   Ok, panic set in a bit I'll admit.  So I run home that evening and could hardly get it out to my family about my fabulous news!  They couldn't believe that their mom was going be on TV!  My husband asks, so is the French Dining Room Set ready to go to the shop?  Um, NO!  The shop was actually looking s little bare at that time.  Several pieces sold that week and I was just finishing up on the French Dining Set. Off to my workshop I went and for the next 3 hours, I worked frantically on the the set, giving it it's finishing touches.  It had to be just perfect.  After all it was going to be on TV the NEXT day!  Of course my amazing supportive husband helps me load the set that night and haul it to the shop in 9 degree weather. Yes, I was literally doing jumping jacks to stay warm as he tied it all down!  We get it the store around 9 and by 10 o'clock the shop is looking beautifully full again.
The next morning I couldn't get anything right; my hair, my make up, my clothes, ack! I give up and make it to the shop for opening at 12:30.  I do a little last minute sprucing up when the phone rings.  It was Channel 4 calling to inform me that Virginia has called in sick and couldn't make it that day.  I'm not going to lie, I almost cried, but didn't.  The woman was very apologetic, and wanted to reschedule.  We arranged to meet the following week which I think was a blessing in disguise.  I really wanted to have more of my work in the shop and maybe even make an appointment for someone else to do my hair, yikes....

That's me getting prepped with my mic by
Virginia Kerr of Great Day St. Louis!
Click HERE to see the show!

On February 13th 2013, I made my TV debut.  The day was sunny, the shop was full of treasures, and by golly I got my hair done, haha!  Yes, my nerves had the best of me until the hour of their arrival.  But I  have to say that no sooner than when I met Virginia Kerr, I felt a sense of calmness.  She introduced herself and made me feel confident and self assured as she walked around the shop in awe of my work!  She was very kind and really down to earth, like me.  I think that's why I felt at ease when taping began.  When the camera rolled, I did my thing hoping for the best and received better.  The showed aired on February 19th. With my family and best friend, we watched the show and my heart was filled with pride.  Not so much because it was me and my store, but because of all the love and support I receive from my husband who helps me load and unload and load again and again. For my children, who have had to give up a little of their time with mommy so that she can pursue her passion for painting and design. And finally for my best friend Jen, who has been my biggest cheerleader and go to girl for just about anything and everything. And last but not least to my cousin Natascha, who without her heart felt letter that was sent to Channel 4, I wouldn't have had this amazing experience.  Thank you all!

Me with my amazing supportive family at Knott So Shabby's ribbon cutting!

Inspirational Colors

It's February and with that comes cloudy skies and blistery cold winds.  I bundle our little ones tightly with coats and mittens just to run to the car.  It's crazy how just being out in this weather for a few seconds can sting your cheeks and turn your fingers numb!  Somehow,  after living in the Midwest for almost all of  my life, I forget these horrible sensations after living in the warm climate of California for 6 years!  Regardless, we must carry on with our daily lives and try to put a little bit sunshine per say into our days and for me it's through my paint.   A few post back, I told you about the antique wash stand that was left in a dark dirty basement somewhere that nobody wanted to pay any attention to...until I rescued it!  For that washstand, I chose happy colors that make you feel warm like sunshine inside when you look at it.  Provence and Old White by Annie Sloan are those two colors.  I thought this color combination looked gorgeous together and with that dark walnut refinished top, it screamed such beauty and warmth!

Well,  I wasn't alone on this thought I suppose because not only did it sell quickly at the shop, it also caught the eye of a young couple who was looking for a dresser set with a vibrant pop!  This customer had contacted me by text to see if one of dresser I had in the shop was still available.  Sadly for her, it was sold, but 10 minutes later, she called me directly excited and wanting to know if I could paint a dresser for her in the colors of the wash stand she had just discovered on my website.  She didn't have the dresser yet, but when she found one, she'd like it painted in Provence and Old White just like the wash stand, even wanting the top refinished as well.  So, I told her yes of course I could and gave her my custom work information and tell her to contact me when she finds a dresser. Much to my surprise and delight, she called the very next morning! Not only did she find one but a matching dresser set consisting of the chest and dresser with mirror, but she wanted to bring them to me right away! So,  I agree to take it in the next day.  It was her birthday soon and her boyfriend was such a sweetie, he bought her the set and was paying me to have it painted for her, how romantic!  Now, as we are unloading it I notice that although it is a beautiful French Provencial set, it was a bit damaged here and there. Why anyone would try to hot glue drawers and trim back onto a dresser is beyond me, good grief!  

Good and solid, yes, but hot glue, really?

Top before being stripped and refinished

 Have you every had to dig hot glue out of small crevices? Yeah, not so fun.  But eventually it was all out of the trim and was properly re-glued back onto the drawers with WOOD glue.  The tops of these dressers really amazed me actually. I knew they would look better refinished, but after I stripped and sanded them down, a pretty wood grain came popping through.  I used my favorite dark walnut stain that gives it such rich beauty.  After sealing with a wipe on polyurethane,  which is my newest favorite sealer by the way,  it was ready for the fun stuff....color! I painted the body in Old White with the trim areas of the dresser in the Provence, just like my inspirational wash stand. The inserts of the drawers were also in Provence. The original hardware was in great condition, but needed to be updated with a pretty rubbed bronze finished and tada....

LOVE this color combo, very happy and fun!
Sorry about the staging or lack of, my work shop isn't the prettiest
place for after shots.

The tops were just gorgeous in their new finish!

Another very happy customer went home with inspiration and wonderful Birthday Gift!

The scarce Empire Dresser

TGIF everyone!  Is it me or has time flown? I just looked at my calendar and can not believe it is February 8th already!  Where in the world did January go?  It has been so crazy busy at the new shop, which is an awesome thing, but wow, how time flies when you're having fun I guess.  Next week's Valentine's Day already AND our oldest son who happens to be a big sweetheart, is turning 17, yikes!  I absolutely LOVE Valentines Day and everything that goes with it such as; chocolates, hearts,  flowers, Valentine's, and did I mention chocolates!
Speaking of LOVE, many of you who know me know that I absolutely LOVE Empire Style Furniture. I go gaga with any piece that has those beautiful chunky legs, such as those found on Empire pieces.  If I could find and buy every empire dresser, nightstand or wardrobe in this style, I would!  Here's the sad part, I can not find many of these gorgeous pieces and if I do, they are very expensive and way out of my budget.  Maybe I should give better details about this style. Or better yet, to better explain it, I looked it up on the ever so helpful Wikipedia and this is what it I found:

Photo, unknown source, but LOVE IT

The Empire style, French pronunciation: ​[ɑ̃.piːʁ], the second phase of Neoclassicism, is an early-19th-century design movement inarchitecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts followed in Europe and America until around 1830, although in the U.S. it continued in popularity in conservative regions outside the major metropolitan centers well past the mid-19th century.

The style originated in and takes its name from the rule of Napoleon I in the First French Empire, where it was intended to idealize Napoleon's leadership and the French state. The style corresponds to the Biedermeier style in the German-speaking lands, Federal stylein the United States and to the Regency style in Britain. The previous style was called Louis XVI style, in France.

So now you know all about Empire Furniture, here is where it all started for me.  I had seen these dressers on Miss Mustard Seed's blog.  I do not know where in the world she comes up with all of these beautiful dressers, but she used them to demonstrate her new line of Milk Paint which I love and use as well.  

Miss Mustard Seeds Empire in French Enamel

Maybe the east coast has more of this style than the midwest, but the only one that I was lucky enough to come by was by accident.  When I would search on Craigslist for one, I would  type in "Empire" in the search bar, I never had any luck.  Then one day,  as I was looking through dresser after dresser, I found one!!  Obviously, the owner was not familiar with the style of it or would have asked alot more, but to my advantage, I bought it for a great price. It was big and beautiful and just perfect!

My Craigslist find, sorry this was the actual picture on CL.
I believe it is from the 40's so not as old as some.  I read that it was in the 1940's that
they brought this style back

THEN...

Before painting, I was going to paint the lower half and leave the top as is, but decided
last minute to paint it.

With this being my one and only Empire dresser, it took quite a while to decide what color to use. After much deliberation amongst myself, my husband, my girls and my best friend, (don't laugh this was a big decision, LOL!)

We really like Miss Mustard Seed's Milk paint, but I wanted a lighter blue gray, so I decided to mix my own color of Annie Sloan Louis Blue and Paris Gray.  It turned out to be a very pretty blue gray.  After I painted it I distressed it of course then sealed it in clear soft wax.  

 AND NOW......LOVE!

I added 4 cute mellon shaped white porcelain knobs to top drawers
and larger round ones on top.

And here is my favorite part, lovely chunky legs!
yes, I know I'm  weird,
It's a furniture thing!

There's always hope in furniture!

One of many things I love about what I do is imagining the endless possibilities you can have when restoring furniture.  Case in point, an old wash stand.  I picked up a antique wash stand at an auction,  that not many would give a second glance to. It was very well built for it's age, but to others not pretty at all with its layers of varnish and years of dirt. In my opinion it was just gorgeous! With it's original towel rack and hardware, my hand was up for the first bid. After a couple back and forth with the bidding war, it was mine!
 I took it home and thought and thought about what this old piece needed.  It had been siting in a dirty dark varnish for to long, it needed some spark.  That was it! Nothing says spark more than the color Provence by Annie Sloan!  So, I painted this poor looking wash stand in Provence and Old White, but didn't stop there. No, it needed more but what? Ahh yes, a fresh new refinished top.  After I striped some of old varnish off, I noticed it had more layers of a cherry varnish to it, so I took my handy sander and 120 grit to it for what seemed like forever, but like all things, patience paid off, and I finally sanded down to the original wood work planks.  Finishing it off with the final 220 grit, I applied a dark walnut, and  a high build polyurethane in case it were to be used as a bathroom vanity, it would withstand water.

THEN-

See it over there hiding in this picture, sorry, for some
reason I didn't take a good shot of it before, but you
get the idea right?!

AND NOW!

Sigh, I LOVE this piece, simple yet with SPARK!

The original hardware was in perfect condition, so
I gave it a little boost with and rubbed bronze paint, gorgeous!

This beauty is for sale in my shop in Columbia Illinois for $240. For more pictures check out my for sale page!