hubby's piece

As you know there is always one pet project that my hubby works on for the sale.
This truly is the "Pièce de résistance"

This is quite possibly the most amazing cupboard we have ever seen!
It did not start out that way.  
We actually bought it in pieces, not knowing if it was all there, and painstakingly put it back together piece by piece.

 Put it back together and painted her up.

Needless to say my husband outdid himself on this one.
The bottom would be an amazing island, but the top piece is absolutely beautiful!
I hope it goes to a lucky home!

new years organization and file cabinet redo!

I had been looking forever for a small set of file cabinets to fit into my office space.
Over the Holidays I began my massive reorganization and filing a years worth of paper.
I needed something fast to put my piles away in.
After not finding anything, I came across these bright colored files at my favorite Hobby Lobby store.  

They would not work in my home in their current state….however...
I thought I could possibly make these work.

I took some black paint and a stencil and now they work much better in my home than in their red, green and blue color way!

Always look at the Hobby Lobby sale section.  You can find some great deals!

laundry room redo

This past fall we decided it was time to redo our laundry room cabinets.  
Time to get rid of the ugly laminate cabinets. yuk….
...junk collectors!

After shopping around, I came across another unfinished cabinet similar to the one we did for the adjacent bathroom last january. 
See http://frenchhenfarm.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-bath-room-vanity.html
This time I bought this one from Menards.

Again, I did the same treatment - coat of wax, then dark wax.  added some handles from my favorite Hobby Lobby to compliment the bathroom cabinet from last year.

Added remnant piece of marble...

….the finished product!….much nicer!
...and i don't want to clutter it with all the junk we did before!

New Years Redo

As I mentioned earlier, I want to share some of our family room "redo".
I wish I took some before pictures.  It was very dark and dreary. 

And it was very cluttered!  
First step was de cluttering (New Years Resolution!)- getting rid of all the stuff I had that had piled up over the past few months and clearing out and starting with a clean slate.  

I decided to do the room redo via outlet stores.  Trying to save money where ever we can.
...It proved to be a bit difficult because you have to curate a collection that works together with the bits and pieces of returned and discontinued items that they have on hand on that particular day.  
And you have to check it over real good to see if it was returned or just a discontinued item.  Always ask the sales associate, they usually know the reason.  
Sometimes it is a minor flaw that doesn't matter when you look at the price you are getting it for and what you can do with it.

We started with my favorite store - that I can't ever afford at retail, but at the outlet it was much more reasonable.  
Arhaus Loft outlet in Cleveland.
I knew that they have very high quality furniture so even if it was returned it would still be of high quality.

Here we scored a new table and chairs and a great sleeper sofa (didn't need a sleeper, but what an added bonus!), two chairs and a leather ottoman.  Great deals! 

We were there all day moving things together and back and forth.  (thanks to my little sister for helping me do it!)
While we were there (all day), they dropped the price of this table by several hundred dollars!

We couldn't pass it up, and now its one of my favorite thing we got.
The table had a tiny little chip in it on the underside that didn't matter because it is a very rustic wood table. I put some dark Old English on the spot and you would never know.

The chair had a really ugly yellow slipcover and the couch didn't have any slipcover at all.  We threw a blanket over them to start with and then we had to order the new slipcovers from Arhaus and we were told that it would take 14 WEEKS and they were very expensive...

So, I got online and started researching.  
I came across a wonderful blog while researching http://evolutionofstyleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/slipcovers-arhaus-vs-ballard.html 
that mentioned that Ballard Design slipcovers fit Arhaus furniture.  
And, that they have Outlets where you can get them very cheap!
So I googled again... and low and behold.. there is a Ballard Outlet down in Cincinatti where I was headed later that week to hit the Ikea (another of my favorite stores, where I get all my curtains from... so cheap!)  It was literally right across the street and I never knew!
So I headed down and I couldn't believe it.  

They had slipcovers and they were 75% off the SALE price! 
So, I got slipcovers for the chair and the sofa for less than $100!
Again, you had to chose from what they had, which was slim pickings, but I managed to make two mismatched covers work together with pillows (40% off sale price) and other accessories, all at a very discounted price!

Then we had to choose a paint color.  For me, that is soooo hard.  
Even though I am a designer by trade, I find it very difficult to choose paint colors for my home that I like once the whole room is painted and in the many different lights through out the day.
I spend more money in samples than I do on actual paint.  
We chose Rockport Gray from Benjamin Moore.  And so far I really like it!
Here are some pictures of the finished room.
It is a much lighter and a more colorful room than we have ever had.

Now to keep the resolution... of NO CLUTTER!
I have to get the whole family on board for that!

hubby's creation

Every sale, my husband has a pet project that he works on.
This beautiful piece is this shows "special project."
She is equally beautiful on both sides.  

So it  can be used as an island or a buffet.

Here is how it started...

Its top was layers and layers of green paint....  

He sanded it forever, but the top is beautiful now.  
I think the top is one solid piece of wood.

He added some much needed woodwork on the body.
I painted it and waxed it.  He cleaned the hardware.
I wish I had room for her, because I think she is beautiful!

french classics

Wish I had a before picture of this beauty.  She started out painted all black...  all of her.  
You couldn't even see the beautiful details she had.
Now that she is painted you can see all the beautiful detailed wood carving.  I love her!
Then I painted this pretty dresser/buffet to match her.

Both will be available at the sale this coming Friday and Saturday!

warm metallics

I found this picture on the site Joss & Main. I fell in love with this dresser....

I became obsessed with trying to find nice metallic paints.  I have tried quite a few.  
Krylon, Martha Stewart, Modern Masters... to name a few.
So far my favorite it Modern Masters.  
It is a very nice coverage and the colors are warmer than some of the others.
I took this little empire drawer piece (sorry it is upside down in this picture, but you get the idea...)

and made this out of it.

I used Modern Masters on this one.

Here are a couple others that we painted.

Knobs from Hobby Lobby -they have the best and every other week they go half off!
(Yes I still need to find my last knob for this one!)

We used Martha Stewart on this pretty dresser.
We will have these pieces at our Holiday OpenHouse, Dec 7 & 8.

before and after

Here are a few pictures of some things I have been working on for the Fall Barn Sale.

I love reupholstering things. Here is a set of chairs I have been working on. I love the new script fabric.

Another thing I collect through out the year is wonderful ephemera. I love old handwriting, quirky vintage papers, old school paperwork and vintage photographs.

I love to use them in my collage work. Here is

a sample of a screen I have been working on. Come to the Fall Barn Sale to see more!