Reminding myself

When Rhett goes to sleep at night, we sneak into his room and watch him sleep. 

It is by far one of my favorite times of the day.

That little boy- he is mine. 

He is my ball of energy. He is my favorite dance partner. He is my laundry helper and my rock collector. He is my introduction to every stranger with his smiles and kisses for everyone. My little Mr. Man with so much personality and stubbornness that it can melt my heart and drive me batty at the same time. 

We've entered the "terrible two's" and most days I am at my witt's end at least once. 

But then I try (so hard sometimes!) to remember that he is innocent and perfect and learning and some how I was blessed with the opportunity to teach him to be a good person and to let him grow to his full potential. 

And that responsibility can overwhelm me...you know what I mean?  

I watched some of our home videos yesterday and they reminded me off how quickly he's growing up.

And that sometimes I need to slow down and love every aspect of being a mom to my little man.

Even the tantrums.

All 29 of them yesterday. :)

Farmhouse Desk and Chair

Have I ever told you about my happy place?

It's usually the place I think about before I fall asleep.

It's a cottage with large windows, lots of fresh flowers, homemade French bread every morning for breakfast and a brand new white fitted T-shirt to wear everyday.

(It doesn't take much to make me happy :)) 

I would put this desk in my happy place.  

The desk is painted in Jargon Jade by Sherwin Williams and the chair is Ballet White by Behr.

Both pieces are heavily distressed and chippy, aged with Minwax Golden Oak stain and sealed with Annie Sloan clear wax. 

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

If I lived in my Pinterest account...

If I lived in my Pinterest account... 

my home would have around 140 rooms 

with

10 kitchens

7 staircases

20 master bedrooms

lots of fireplaces

and some pretty awesome furniture. 

If I lived in my Pinterest account,

my child would have awesome snacks everyday

and new educational games daily.

If I lived in my Pinterest account, 

I would wear a beautiful dress everyday.

(And as a result my legs would always be shaved.)

If I lived in my Pinterest account I would always have words of wisdom.

And I would be super crafty. 

If you lived in your Pinterest account, what would it be like? :) 

{all images via}

Rustic Orange Dresser

I've been working on this dresser for a client for about a month. 

That's way longer than I normally take to finish a piece, but the first redo didn't go quite the way we planned so the redo ended up being redone. 

Here's the before.

The redo.

(Cringe)

And the redo, redone. 

So much better!

The major problem I ran into was finding the right orange paint. 

The original color was Masada by Benjamin Moore, a very rustic orange. 

The problem with it was that since the paint already had a lot of brown in it, the dark wax and stain I used over the distressing just made it look dirty. 

So we chose a new orange, Marquis Orange, by Sherwin Williams.

At first I was concerned that it would be a little to bright, but once the stain and dark wax were put on it darkened it enough to give it the rustic look we wanted. 

Third times a charm right? :)

PS The stuffed animals used to stage the dresser where donated by Rhett. Meet Bruce the moose, Bear the bear and Tornado the horse.  They are beloved toys around our home. :)

I love being a mom

The good, the bad and the ugly of having a vendor space

In January, my friend Mckell and I found out that we had been accepted to be vendors at Merchant Square, a local antique shop.

It has been a great experience, but oh my goodness was I naive going into it.

I (naively) thought that everything would sell in a week, two weeks tops. 

But obviously that wasn't the case. 

So I wanted to share the good, the bad and the ugly of having a vendor space. 

(At least according to me. :))

The Good

1. Becoming a vendor has been a lot of fun. I love the people who work at Merchant Square, I love the other vendors I've met and the relationships I'm building. Being a stay at home mom, I really love getting out being a "business woman". I love having a hobby that is self sustaining and that can help supplement our income. 

2. I can sell a greater variety of items at the store. Being in a vendor space allows me to sell small items which honestly, brings in the largest part of what I earn. Buying a piece of furniture is a large purchase, but buying a small decorative item is less committal so they sell faster.  

3. I get a paycheck. I kind of covered this already, but it really has been a blessing to have a place to sell a large variety of items and the extra income it provides for us. 

4. I have a place to store my finished pieces. This might be the one of the greatest perks. Instead of having a garage full of pieces and limited work space, as soon as a piece is ready I can take it into the store.

5. People see your items everyday. Craigslist can be hit or miss with how many people see your items for sale, but with a vendor space, I know that my work will be getting traffic all day. 

The Bad

1. Opening/closing times. Occasionally I have people who contact me through my blog or through Craigslist who want to see a piece, but the store is closed for the day. There have been a handful of times where I probably lost a sale because they couldn't see the piece that day. 

2. Rent. Rent is kind of a necessarily evil. Since I share a booth with Mckell we split the rent which is great. When we were looking for a place to sell, we did a lot of research on cost and benefits. We found a few places that were a little cheaper to rent, but they didn't advertise or they were off the beaten path and didn't get a lot of traffic. Sometimes it is a little hard to see some of my profit go to rent, but over all the benefit of being in the space makes it worth it.   

3. Being busier. Again, this really isn't a bad thing. Sometimes it can be a little stressful knowing that I am paying for a space, and the pressure to keep it stocked keeps me awake sometimes. But again sharing a booth makes it a lot easier to keep it stocked.

The Ugly

Really, nothing! The whole experience has been great, but we did our research and new the conditions of our contract with the store. If you're thinking of doing it make sure you look into all the details so that you don't get surprised with anything. 

Chalk Board from a Table Top

Six months ago I found a table top in a pile of junk.

It had no legs and no actual "table" but it was solid wood, with great details, plus it was almost free so I grabbed it. 

I've sat on it for a long time wondering what color to paint it, and when I couldn't decide I chose to restain it. 

Best decision ever.

The wood grain is stunning. 

Love love love.

 The base is stained with Minwax Antique Walnut and the top is stained with Minwax Cherry. 

Available in The Shop. 

PS The little birds are my first attempt at drawing with chalk. 

Jake says the birds look like they're pooping on each other. 

Thoughts?

Vintage Polkadot Dresser

Pokkadots are one of my favorite things. 

They're playful and feminine and cute and sophisticated, all at the same time.

Just like this little lady. 

I knew a stencil would have been impractical for the spacing and layout I wanted for the polka dots, so I used my secret trick. 

Needle point hoops!

They're super cheap and if you remove the middle hoop you get two stencils for the price of one. 

This little lady is painted in Antique White by General Finishes with dots painted in Bon Voyage, Forbidden Red by Behr and Ballet Slipper by Martha Stewart. 

For more info look in "The Shop" at the top of the page.