A LOoOoOonG overdue post!


So it has been a really longtime since my last post. So much has changed over the past couple years and while my life has shifted in so many ways to something new I still have this passion for home decor and DIY projects!

I struggled for a while trying to make this business successful and support my family at the same time. The truth is this business is tough! While I have many loyal customers that refer me and hire me to give new life to their furniture it just wasn't enough to keep me afloat. I worked day after day in my dusty garage and I MADE BEAUTIFUL things! My wardrobe consisted of paint covered t shirts and leggings and paint splattered Toms in many colors....LOL hair up in a ponytail and rarely makeup! I loved this little business, but life changed! One day we woke up to a world without my children's father, this started a different journey for us. Although my ex-husband and I had been divorced for several years my babies needed me.  My teenage babies that is.... we set out to a new home separate from Mike and his kids....it was scary moving into a home without the man I loved. My kids needed me and this was the best thing for them..a space to grieve and be alone with mom. I am so blessed to have this guy that continually supports me and there was a huge sigh of relief that came when he rented a little apartment on the same street as me. For 2 years we lived in separate homes as neighbors and partners. I finished Real Estate school and started training at our local realty office. I discovered I am a great realtor! The satisfaction of helping people find their home and begin new chapters in the new home and also my curiosity of homes and home decor make this business a WIN!

The time came when we where a little better, truth be told you are never the same when there is loss. You learn to live without a loved one but there is still that empty spot in your soul. Mike had 2 children start their own life adventures and my oldest began her journey in the United States Air Force. Mike and I and the three youngest boys, took a leap of faith that we could pick back up where we left off, and purchase a fixer upper! I will be posting some before and after photos soon!

From here moving forward I get to enjoy this little venture as a hobby it doesn't have to pay for bills and groceries anymore. I now get to get dolled up everyday and tour homes and meet the most amazing people and hear their stories! So what I am trying to say is.... expect more from me. A mix of real estate, as well as DIY and tips for decorating your home creatively and without breaking the bank!


I will see you around.

XOXO
Kelly

Vintage Chic Upholstery Project

Today I tackled an upholstery project. This is my 4th and largest try at reupholstering. I didn't take any classes I just jumped right in and figured it out. The biggest tip I can give is to keep the old upholstery pieces as patterns for your new pieces and pay attention as you disassemble, so you will know how it was put together when you reupholster it.

Here is my $5 yard sale chair:

As I removed the old fabric I found that the foam padding had dissolved to a fine powder. Yuck! I needed a mask for this one.

After removing the fabric, she got a paint job. I used Country Gray from Chalk Paint (TM) and applied the dark wax. I sifted through my piles of random fabric that I have bought at various estate sales or from JoAnns remnant shelf. At first I chose a canvas material for the front section but later changed my mind because it was to stiff and wasn't cooperating with me. I found a heavy cotton fabric from an estate sale purchase it was much easier to work with. I reused the original buttons I loved the colors of the old fabric.

I did the seat portion next using a really nice upholstery I picked up at JoAnns Fabrics. The last section I tackled was the back of the chair, I knew from the beginning I wanted to use this coffee sack I bought at the local swap meet.

As I was working on the burlap sack I realized that the nail detail was amazing so I decided not to cover it up! Sometimes flying by the seat of yer pants works out! ;)

Lastly I need to add some trim to the front area of the chair. I had this amazing jute trim I bought at The Gypsy Chic Vintage Market and I was waiting for the perfect project to come along to use it. Wow! It is gorgeous!

After all my hardwork I thought a styled photo shoot in the street would be the most obvious thing I should do, since I was thrilled with my chair! (My neighbors surely think I am nuts!) 

Yup I am in love with my own work! 

-Kelly

Okay quick update....

I had to make a cute pillow for chair

Okay now we are complete!!

Random Junk turned into Vanity

So as many of you junk enthusiasts know it is hard to walk away from those "random pieces" of furniture that are either being thrown out or sold super cheap at a yard sale. I have all kinds of "pieces" stashed away in the garage, Mike says "what are you going to do with this?" And I shrug my shoulders and say " I don't know." But this week I made a vanity to redeem myself from hoarder to brilliant!

Here are my "Random Pieces" 

So what I did was removed "free dresser top" and attached to "topless sewing table" and then had a mirror installed into old mirror piece and then I gave it a fabulous paint job! - Oh I mean Shabulous paint job! Also I painted a cute chair to match. 

Here she is

Cute huh? 

Totally original and one of a kind piece all it took was some vision and paint. 

What kinda stuff have you built with random junk?

I would love to see pics!

- Kelly

Industrial Chair Makeover

 

So I bought this chair at a Barn sale for $5..... Actually let me rephrase that, I had a lady retrieve this chair from her dumpster while I was shopping at a barn sale. Lol! Am I the only one that can see the potential? 

It needed a washing. I took it apart and scrubbed it and hosed it off in my front yard. The next step was to preserve that fabulous rusty patina, so I just painted polyurethane right on the metal frame. 

It darkened the rust but it actually turned out better than expected! Then I had to remove the nasty ol' upholstery that I am guessing was from 1930s? So that's about 84 years of dust.... Eewwww! I had some great fabric I found in the remnant section at Joann's fabric store for 50% off, Ya! So I got my staple gun and went to work. 

When it was time to add the trim I wasn't thrilled with my selection on hand. But I noticed that by flipping over this trim it had just the look I was going for on the back side. Less refined, and totally backwards works for me! 

I totally love the way it turned out, especially when you consider where we started. It didn't last long in my space over at the shop. It was only on the floor for a few days before it was snatched up by an interior designer. I hope I find another one of these someday.

Balance

So here it is.....

MY BIG AMAZING WORD THAT WILL INSPIRE ME IN 2014

BALANCE

I wanted to choose something really cool like SOAR or FLY or  RULE (as in rule the world.) But ya know I really dont feel like I am there yet. I am definitly on my way but I still have some lessons to learn and skills to aquire before I can Rule the world. So for 2014 my inspiration will come from being balanced. I have so many different directions that I am pulled in as a mother to the most AWESOME kids, partner to the most AMAZING man, artist, business owner, junk scavenger, homemaker, coupon clipper, grandaughter, daughter, sister, friend, and I am sure I have forgotten a few others. Sometimes I get so caught up in what needs to be done or what I want to do, that I forget what is most important. Like saying thank you to a relative that did some thing nice for me, or spending time with my mom, or doing something fun with my kids, I might even say yes to a friend when she asks me to get together. 

So this may mean that I say no to a few projects, I might skip a few junk shops or estate sales, I might even check in on Facebook less. Learning to balance my time and responsibilities may not be the most glamorous way to feel inspired this year but it is honestly something that I am lacking right now and if I can stay balanced then guess what? ......

RULING THE WORLD COULD BE IN MY FUTURE.

Happy New Year to all of you and thank you for reading my posts and supporting me. I pray that 2014  will be a BALANCED and BLESSED year for everyone.

                                                                       - Kelly          

Old Fashioned Milk Paint Workshop

So I hosted my very first Milk Painting workshop and it turned out better than expected!!!

First I had to find a location for my class. Stacy, the owner over at Fabulous Finds (where I have the Shabulous room) rented me a little office space that wasn't being used. It needed a little cleaning and some cuteness! 

My son Will helped me clean 

HE WORKED SO HARD! HAHA

There was a giant white wall in there I wasn't quite sure how I was going to fill up that space on my teensy budget. But as always I had one of those LIGHTBULB moments.

What if I just bought some dresser backing for $10.95 and made it a HUGE chalkboard???

It turned out so DARN cute! 

here is a look at some other things in the space

The ladies came and we had a FANTASTIC time.

I gave my "History of Milk Paint" lesson.

Then we mixed that paint up and had at it with the projects.

Kara painted a rocking chair for her daughter.

Barbra and Jenny transformed their projects!

Ann Marie's chair, cant wait to see it after new upholstery!

Afterwards everyone talked about their next "Old Fashioned Milk Paint" projects. Now they know what I know, Milk Paint is AWESOME.

New Adventures

My life is moving so fast right now I can barely make time to write in my blog! I do have some new adventures I would like to share with y'all.

Adventure #1 ~ Blackbird Vintage Market

My friend Emili Robles and I have teamed up with our creative energy and we are hitting Antique and Vintage Shows this summer. We had GREAT SUCESS at our first show, The Farmer's Wife Vintage Barn Sale. Here are some pictures of our booth.

I am very excited about this partnership! Emili and I have similar taste and sometimes I feel like our brains are connected because we share the same ideas and thoughts. We are different too though and that's great, Emili can sew (I cannot) and I am getting pretty darn good with a measuring tape, saw, and drill. So we will accomplish wonderful things together.

Are you wondering about SHABULOUS?

No worries! Em and I are just teaming up for shows for now. I will still be getting SHABULOUS in my shabby shop all week and doing custom makeovers for clients and of course I have all my stuff over at Fabulous Finds. My room even got a little makeover a couple months ago. 

We put up this giant door shelf....

and made this sign out of old pizza pans....

Anyway now I need to tell you about

Adventure #2

I am now proud to be a dealer for Old Fashioned Milk Paint Company!!!!! This was a long time in the coming! With the amount of paint I purchase in a month it only made sense for me to become invested as a dealer, not only that I want to share this passion I have with others. I get quite a few messages and emails asking if I will teach people to paint, I really wanted to be able to stand by a product I love and teach others how have fun with it too. I have toyed around with many different Milk and Chalk style paints and even inquired with a few companies about becoming a dealer. There were quite a few ups and downs during the process and just when I was ready to give up on my mission, I noticed that Dumpster Diva was posting pictures of lovely furniture painted in Old Fashioned Milk Paint. I sent her a message asking her about the paint and she said she LOVED it! I quickly ordered some product to test and I also LOVED it! Another thing I love is that the company has been in business since 1974, all of their products are NO VOC, Chemical Free, and their recipe is authentic to the old age milk paint recipe used in colonial times and even further back than that. There is also a gorgeous historic color palette, and another great bonus is the folks over at OFMP are the nicest people. 

Here are a couple pieces I have done with the Milk Paint....

So now that you are all caught up with what I am doing, I am going to get back to work! I have 2 shows coming up! 

~Kelly

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Just a quick note to all of my friends and Fans out there. My blogging seems to have taken a backseat to my busy schedule! From refinishing, creating, and hunting down awesome treasures to being a mother and taxi-ing kids to this practice or event to the next one I have neglected my blog! Don't give up on me yet though! I have some great projects to share this next week. If you are curious about what I have been up to check out my Facebook I always post my creations there.

See you soon and HAPPY SPRING!

Word Of The Year

Last year, I read an inspiring post from The Lettered Cottage. The article was about choosing a word of the year, the instructions were

"choose one word that has the potential to inspire you and create intention in your life, all year long"

For 2012 my word was EXPERIENCE and it was a perfect word for me in my both my personal life and my business life. In my personal life I really did choose to experience every moment as it came I laughed, cried, and enjoyed every moment of my family. In my business I gained experience, I learned so much and I have grown to new heights.

For 2013 I have chosen my word; STRIDE.

Google defines stride as:

stride  

Verb Walk with long, decisive steps in a specified direction: "he strode across the road".

Noun A long, decisive step.

To me this word defines what my business goals are for 2013. I will continue to grow my business in STRIDE. I will walk with purpose and thought, I will achieve a steady effective pace, and when I hit a setback I will take that in STRIDE too. 

This past year, thanks to Facebook and Blogging, I have been inspired by many of you fellow; furniture painting, junk repurposing, crafting, fearless, brilliant, and amazing divas across this big world. I am proud to be a woman with a dream and I think it's a wonderful thing to see so many other women that share the same dream. So I am sure many of you will hit your STRIDE as well and achieve awesome things! 

What will your word be? I challenge you to choose a word to inspire you this year and share it with others. 

I have BIG DREAMS and I expect to reach them one day, for now I will catch my STRIDE and continue to move in a positive direction. 

HERE'S TO A HAPPY 2013!

Chippy Wonderfulness!

I know most DIY folks are really excited about Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint, I am too! My first project with the Milk Paint turned out great I followed Marion's tutorials and got to work. This was my project....

I wanted to paint the dresser above in the Milk Paint but I was worried that it might not get the CHIPPY look I was after because the the finish on the dresser was very flat. I asked some friends of mine, what their experiences were with the paint. I was told that the shinier the surface the more CHIPPY effect I would get.  I was also told I could use vaseline under the paint in the spots I was trying to achieve CHIPPINESS. I decided to do an experiment to see what Pre-Finished surface gets you that CHIPPY look!

These are the treatments I experimented with:

Raw Wood

Satin Poly

Semi-Gloss Latex Paint

Stain with Gloss Poly

MMS Clear Furniture Wax

Chalk Paint

Metallic Spray Paint

Vaseline

I then painted 1 coat of Milk Paint over the top the experiment.

Here are the results:

I will be doing some more experiments soon on the Vaseline...It gets REAL CHIPPY but I need to decide how I will control that a bit. 

I decided to go use the Clear Furniture Wax on my dresser first, then I used Kitchen Scale MMS Milk Paint  and Linen MMS Milk Paint on top of the wax.....I obviously waxed again to finish off the dresser. 

I think I am in love with all this CHIPPY WONDERFULNESS! 

THANK YOU Miss Mustard Seed for making such a great Milk Paint!!!

To find out more information on MMS Milk Paint check out her website: www.missmustardseedsmilkpaint.com