Holy freaking cockroach

Last night I was digging around in the garage looking for some vintage hardware I bought a few months ago, but that is currently eluding being found. 

Jake was with me doing the heavy lifting and I asked him to hand me a wooden box that usually holds random odds and ends. 

So I opened it and what nasty thing crawled out?! 

Hello cockroach!!!

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my GOSH!!!!! 

The rest went like this-

Me (The screecher): "EEEEE!!!! Ohmycrapohmycrapohmycrap!!!!!!!, Hellllp, hellllllllp! Jaaaaaake!!!!

Jake (Mr. Calm and Collected): "Gross"

The screecher: "Where is it, where is it, save me, whrsit!!!!!!" (I was slurring at this point)

Mr. Calm and Collected: It's by your foot. 

The screecher: "AHHHHHHit'sonme, hollygeeze EEEEEEEE!!!! 

The screecher starts taking her pants off because she is certain that the creature has crawled up them.

Mr Calm and Collected: "Honey, pants stay on. It's a rule"

The screecher: Realizes the garage door is open and that the family across the street probably doesn't appreciate seeing her underpants. She runs away. 

Moral(s) of the story-

1. Cockroaches are nasty

2. Even in an emergency, pants need to stay on. 

Now who wants to come find the little booger and bring it to justice for scaring the crap out of me?

No takers? Yeah, I wouldn't volunteer either. 

PS I didn't include a picture of a cockroach because I didn't want to traumatize you with having to see one.

(You can thank me by linking your donated pieces to Habitat Heros Link Party :))  

A Personal Success

About a  year ago I was really struggling with post partum depression. At my lowest point I really thought my life might need to be over.

I was looking through my journal over the weekend and I realized that a year ago this week the depression started to lessen. I woke up looking forward to getting Rhett from his crib. I honestly felt like the horrible darkness was retreating. I became myself again. 

So especially today I'm going to enjoy being a mom to my little guy. 

We're going to make play-dough and I might let him throw a few random things in the toilet. 

He gets a kick out of that. :) 

A Very Hungry Caterpillar Dresser

Rhett has turned into a little bookworm. 

Which I am SO grateful for because  for awhile I was pretty sure he thought books made better flying projectiles than reading material. 

(Those are the days I lock myself in the bathroom for 2 minutes to regain sanity. Seriously.)

But one of his favorite books is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and that became my inspiration for this dresser. 

It started out as a nasty retro piece. I admit I bit my lip and grimaced when I saw it.

But I went ahead and brought it home. 

I figured that either the retro shape would make it or break it.  

I think it made it. :)

I admit I was REALLY super nervous to try and hand paint the illustrations. 

We made our own stencils and printed them on bond paper. 

Here are a few tips I learned about painting images with a stencil. 

• Dry brushing is so important. Layering the paint helps give it dimension. 
• Use your fingers! It helps with shading. 
• Don't worry about it being perfect. Mostly because you'll drive yourself crazy. :)

Rhett wants me to get off the computer and read to him. 

Any guesses what book he chose? :) 

For more info look under the For Sale tab at the top of the page. 

How to keep your style new and fresh

Friends I'm guest posting this weekend over at The Three O Clock Winds!

I was really excited to write about the prompt Erica gave me - "How to keep producing restored pieces that are fresh and new."

It's so easy to fall into a rut sometimes so I think this is an important topic.

Here's part of my post below and you can read the rest on Erica's blog!

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Erica asked me to write about how to keep your work new and fresh when you are restoring furniture.

This is such an important topic!!

 Let's face it, almost anyone can take some spray paint and paint a piece of furniture.

But just because you put a new coat of paint on a dresser etc doesn't mean it's worth much more than what you paid for it at the thrift store.

You want people to see your work, stop and say "That's what I want! That's what I've been looking for." You want it to speak to them personally and for them to feel that this piece was made just for their home.

It can be SO easy to get into a rut of pumping out piece after piece that look almost identical to each other.

And while there is a time and a place for that, remember that no two people are the same so why should two pieces of furniture so be the same? :)

Here are some tips that I've learned about how to keep your work fresh and new!

# 1 Emotions rule

In order for people to let something into their home (and in order for them to pay good money for it), they need to have an emotional connection to it. And this starts with you...even before the piece is finished. 

When we're out searching yard sales and thrift stores it's so easy to buy something just because it's cheap.  Don't get me wrong, I love cheap....and free is even better :)....but cheap shouldn't be the guiding rule in whether or not you buy something. You need to have an emotional connection to the piece. You need to be excited about all of the possibilites it holds!! You are going to be spending a LOT of time, energy, sweat, and resources restoring it. If you aren't excited about it, chances are you'll bring it home and it will sit in the corner of your garage for a long time. Also, I promise that if you are excited about and connected to the piece your work will be better and people will see that when they come to look at it. 

Read the rest here!