Week of Transformations

Since this is my last week in the shop on Main Street and before I spend the entire week next week cleaning, painting and moving, I decided to work strictly on custom work instead of pieces for the shop.  I'll have the next 2 weeks to make up for the shop floor.  With a storage, trailer and a garage full of pieces, I don't think I should have a problem with stock!  My husband has been my picker thus far believe it or not.  He is addicted to skimming upcoming estate sales and is a regular on Craigslist as well!  It's cracking me up, because he would get on me about being addicted furniture and now HE is, haha!  But, it does make my life a little easier as that is just one less thing I need to do, so thank you honey for that.  He's is also my biggest blogger fan, so I know he's reading this right now!
So I thought I would share 4 of the 6 custom pieces I did this week.  I would have shared all six, but because I jump right into a project, it's hard for me to remember to take before shots and on these 2, even forgot to take after shots, but I want to mention them so..... I painted a large 1970's rocking chair for an expecting mom in ASCP, Pure White.  This chair was used by the expecting father when he was a baby, love it, so sweet!  Then there was the "metal" bank file cabinet.  Yes, I said metal and yes I painted it in chalk paint and yes it took as if it were wood.  The client on this wanted to use it as a jewelry cabinet, so I added porcelain knobs and hand painted whimsies on the front of the drawers! It was so CUTE, I may have to request a few shot from these clients!

Custom Work #1

Back to the week of custom work, I started the week with a client's antique wardrobe that had been "attempted" to be stripped, but was left in just a mess.
My client wanted the top of this wardrobe refinished in a dark walnut as seen on several pieces in my shop.  I thought this was a clever and beautiful idea.  I did need to strip not only the top, but the majority of the piece so that when I distressed, the wood grain could be seen.  I knew I was going to paint it in ASCP Old White, and then put a mix of clear and dark wax to give it a nice worn appearance, so I didn't need to get down to the bare wood all over, thank goodness!  After sanding for quite some time on top with 180 grit and then finished it off with 220 grit, I applied the dark walnut stain. There is something about applying stain that I still get giddy over.  I just love it!  When the stain dried I didn't think it needed to be sanded down again, so I went ahead and put a a few coats of wipe on Polyurethane which gave it a matte luster look. The body, I painted in Old White.  I really wanted to make sure the stunning filigree in the doors and atop would come through, so I distressed pretty heavily on those areas. Although it took time and patience, it exceeded my expectations and turned out just gorgeous!

Love those doors!

Again, my apologies for the lack of staging,
but I wasn't about to haul this big guy inside for a few shots

Top Refinished in Dark Walnut, gave it that special touch! 

And this is what we started with, not so pretty,
but had great potential

Custom work #2

One of my favorite looks for furniture right now is using large buffets or sideboards as T.V. or entertianement centers.  So, when a client asked to help locate and refurbish some kind of piece that would work for her 48" T.V., I knew just what to look for.  After showing her a couple different sizes  of sideboards and buffet, she chose the biggest one I had, which I thought was just perfect for the large wall she was putting it up against.

Sorry about picture, again I forgot to take a before, so here it is on
Craigslist where I originally found it.

The client gave me her swatch of all the colors in the furniture and walls in the room, which I just love when they do that as it kind of make color choice a lot easier for me!  In this particular swatach was a a couple colors that could very well have been ASCP Duck Egg or Provence or MMS Kitchen Scale.  I decided to mix Duck Egg and a bit of Provence on this piece.  After a little distressing, a then used a clear and dark wax to maninpulate the differnet colors coming through as in the swatch.  The hardware was the standard French Provencial ones, and that worked for the client, but they did need to be sprayed with good old rubbed bronze which gave them a completley new life!

And the reveal...... again to heavy to carry in for a prettier shot,
this will have to do:)

I'm in love with the color mix on this piece, very soft, yet will stand out in any room decor.  Last night, we delivered it to the client and in my opinion it made itself right at home with her other furnishings, just lovely!


Custom work #3

Like with furniture,  other home decor items need loving too!  A repeat client brought in more of his antique sugar crocks, I think there called Gherkin, but could be wrong.  He also brought 2 old metal watering cans for makeover.  He, and yes, some of my clients are men with good taste, haha, wanted these to look aged with the layered paint technique.  For the crocks, I used ASCP Napoleonic and dark wax and on the other primer red with dark wax.  Both very simple to do, but made such a difference in appearance.

On the 1 watering can, I painted one coat of Primer Red followed by Antibes (green) then distress and dark wax.  This was my favorite of the bunch!

On watering can #2, first coat rubbed bronze followed by Primer Red, distressed and dark wax.  Dark wax can be tricky to use alone, but on these colors, it looked amazing!

Custom Work #4

Have you ever seen the cool idea of using old shutters for a headboard? LOVE THAT!!

Source,  indulgy.com

The same client that I did the above buffet for, wanted a pair of shutters painted for a head board.  My inspiration swatch was a wash cloth in what I thought looked like a coral color.  Now what color do I know in either Chalk Paint or Milk Paint is similar? Scandinavian Pink by ASCP was almost right on.  She wanted it under a navy blue so in came ASCP Napoleonic.  I distressed pretty heavily until Scandinavian Pink came through and sealed it with clear wax.   The 2 colors compliment each other very well!

ASCP Scandinavian Pink and Napoleonic, NICE

So there you have it, my busy week of custom work!  Today is my last day in the store on Main Street. It's kind of a bitter sweet day for us but I am so excited to get started on the NEW store and NEW pieces:)

Have a blessed day everyone!

New Location

Wow,  what a crazy week!  Being a mother of five, I'm pretty used to craziness and I mean CRAZY! From taking our oldest driving for the first time last week to our daughter's constant begging to take them here and there, and how can I forget our 2 rambunctious toddlers running back and forth from the house to my workshop, with bare feet, which drives me crazy because you never know what's on my workshop floor!  These are just a few crazies I deal with on a daily basis.  Now, let's put running my business into the equation and things just went from crazy to completely insane, lol!  Yes, it's alot of hard work, but if you know me at all, that's just how I've always rolled, busy, busy.  Case in point, a couple of weeks ago, I ran to the storage facility near our house to see if I could rent a unit for all of the "treasures" I've been finding and stock piling for the store.  After finishing the paper work, the owner and I small talked about what I was putting in the unit which led to what I do, which led to my store on Main Street,  which led to him mentioning his building right around the corner from my store which just happened to have a warehouse and loading dock, and stop right there, you had me at loading dock!  Now being the busy-can't sit still girl that I am, I had to immediately, right then check out his space and when I did, I fell in LOVE!

Yes, I know it was only 4 short months ago, I fell in love with my current shop, and along with my oh so helpful husband and friend Jen, we cleaned, painted, rewired and put on the new hand crafted black and white awning which btw, I love and would take with me if it weren't bolted to the building!

Sigh, yep going to miss this front...

But, like all things in life, needs and goals change so is the case with my store.  Because I was a one girl show in opening my store,  it was quite difficult to refurbish my pieces at my home work shop from Sunday to Wednesday so that I could have fresh treasures on the floor come Thursday at opening time.  In addition to refurbishing pieces for the store,  I am fortunate to receive a lot of custom work, write my blog, stage, photograph, edit and list all of my work on my website.  Now, as I mentioned above I WAS a one women show, but because of the wonderful growth of my business and it's  overwhelming job duties, my amazing family and friend Jen have now taken some of the load off by helping me load, unload and paint, paint, paint!  Being in the new shop with the "attached" workshop will allow me to be open now 5 days a week, where I can refurbish my pieces on site and not be pressured and rushed for Thursday's when I would usually start the week.
I believe everything happens for a reason.  Had I not taken that initial leap and called the number on the for rent sign last October, I wouldn't be where I am today.  And, if I hadn't needed more storage for my found treasures, the opportunity to move into my new space wouldn't have presented itself to me that day.
The rest of March will of course be CRAZY with the moving and opening of the new location, but I believe it was meant to be and am completely beside myself with excitement of this yet another new adventure!

Knott So Shabby's new home, ( shop on the left)!
First day of business will be April 2nd, 2013:)
New Address is 117 W. Locust, Columbia IL

Going Green!

Happy Friday once again and welcome March!  I'm not even going to go on about how fast March snuck up on us, because you all know exactly what I'm talking about, super fast.  With March brings more rain and more snow. It also just happens to be my Birthday month, yippee, which I've always really disliked, even as a child, because my parties always had to be indoors.  I know poor me right?! But on a brighter side,  it's the  gateway to spring month and music to my ears!  Of course, March is also the month that hosts St. Patrick's Day, a fun holiday for those of Irish decent which I am not, but still the same I do enjoy decorating for it whether it be with green food coloring in my kids pancakes or a gorgeous boxwood wreath on my front door.  And of course with all these fabulous shades of green milk and chalk paint floating around waiting for me to let them loose on a piece just for this special day, I could hardly decide!  On one hand you have the ever so lively color Antibes by Annie Sloan which looked amazing on a harp table I had in the shop a few months back.  If you ever need the wow pop of color in your home, this is the winner, love it.

Harp Table painted in ASCP Antibes and Old White

Then on the other hand you have Lucketts Green and Boxwood by Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint, which a am coo coo for right now.  I've refurbished several pieces using Lucketts Green which is such a pretty soft shade, it really does look amazing in just about any home decor.

Antique Curio Cabinet in MMSMP Lucketts Green and ASCP Louis Blue

Vintage Cedar Dresser/Chest in MMS Lucketts Green

My latest green paint to try was Miss Mustard Seed's Boxwood.  This shade is a rich warm green which resemble the beautiful foliage of the boxwood shrub, which by the way is seen more more home decor right now with everything from wreaths to topiaries made from this gorgeous shrub.  Sprays of it  can been seen around my shop and home in either old wooden milk crates or cascading down a galvanize water pitcher which sits atop my dining room sets.

Boxwood Spray cascading down a galvanized water pitcher

I could hardly wait for our mail carrier to drop off my latest shipment of milk paints last week.  With this order came the last of the 12 milk paint colors to try; Boxwood, Kitchen Scale and Shutter Gray. With it being St. Patrick day soon, I just  had to use it on an adorable cabinet I picked up from my last estate sale.

Cabinet before Boxwood!

 I wanted the inserts of the doors and top drawer to stand out, so I used ASCP Old White on them. After painting the whole piece, I distressed a bit here and there and then used a mix of clear and dark wax all over to give it a time worn appearance. I chose to use the bonding agent this time because I wanted full coverage and to be able to control where I wanted it distressed.  The hardware was in perfect condition, so they just got a coat of rubbed bronze to complete the look!  I am just in love with this color.  Don't get me wrong, I love all of the shade of green I use, but with Boxwood, I'm smitten.

Cabinet painted in MMSMP Boxwood and ASCP Old White

LOVE this rich warm shade, so versatile!

And there you have it, my 2 cents on Going Green!  I hope you've been inspired to today. If you've tried any shade of green that you're just in love with, go ahead and comment or link away, I'd love to see:)