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Home Décor Mistake

Home Décor Mistake

Home décor mistake. What was I thinking?

I bought this vase at an estate sale. I loved the shape, I loved the appealing texture and I loved that it was green.

Then I got it home.

Wait. What? I don’t love the green! It was kind of pea green meets sea foam green mishmash. Maybe that is why it was for sale on the last day of a three day estate sale, marked down 50% and still no one had bought it. Maybe I had a weak moment and felt bad for the vase. Maybe I just felt like I wanted to buy something because I needed to justify driving 45 minutes to an estate sale and coming home with nothing. MAYBE…..I made a mistake. A home décor mistake, I should’ve known better.

So the vase sat here and there and I tried to fall in love with it. It never found a home, in my home. When that happens it needs to go to someone else’s home.

However, the philosophy behind  items I create or purchase for resale is that I need to love them also. That isn’t to say that everything I love is what everyone else should love. But, I have found that sticking with this concept keeps a cohesive vibe in the shop.

Summarizing those last words of wisdom means that this vase needed to change.

As soon as I received the sample of Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint named Typewriter, I knew it was meant for this home decor mistake vase makeover. This entire 30g sample package covers approximately 10 square feet, it is environmentally friendly and contains no VOC’s. (Volatile organic compounds are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary room temperature)

Miss Mustard Seed milk paint comes in powder form and is easy to mix. Measure equal parts powder and water and stir. For darker paints such as Typewriter (black) let the mixture sit for about 10-15 minutes giving the pigments time to develop. I then used the Miss Mustard Seed paint brush – which I love – and applied 3 even coats letting them dry for about 30 minutes between each coat.

I took a chance and didn’t add a bonding agent to the powder/water mixture, nor did I lightly sand the vase before starting to paint. I wouldn’t suggest doing this but I like to bend the rules sometimes to see what would happen. 🙂

Now what started as a home décor mistake has become an elegant nod to home décor take me home delight. Don’t you love how the gold texture peeks through and the rumpled texture remained?

I left the inside of the vase as the original color. For whatever reason, the inside color didn’t translate to a not so wonderful color. It is a pleasant light spring green.

On Friday I will be sharing with you the newest items listed in the Old Lake George Shop. This typewriter black vase will be one of the new listings!

I hope to see you on Friday!

Wendy

THE APPLE DOESN’T FALL FAR FROM THE TREE (28)

Happy Birthday to my best friend in the entire world. I love you Lizzy. Have a great day!

 

Meeting in The Alley

Meeting in The Alley

There will be a few times in your life when all of your instincts will tell you to do something, something that defies logic, upsets your plans, and may seem crazy to others. When that happens, you do it. Listen to your instincts and ignore everything else. Ignore logic, ignore the odds, ignore the complications and just go for it.  – Judith McNaught

This quote came screaming at me.

For whatever reason, I have been hesitant to approach local boutiques and gift shops to create a relationship and sell my items in their stores. Maybe it’s my brains logic that my online shop is a safe place to sell without having to stick my neck out too far and potentially face rejection.

Honestly, who likes to be rejected? Not this girl.

Recently so many little signs kept telling me to take a chance and go for it. Then a gentle push came when a good friend and I  reconnected.

She, Amy, and I originally met through Mary Kay Cosmetics. We hit it off immediately and through the years of raising children and changing careers, the opportunities to get together became less.

That is until Amy purchased some items from my Etsy shop and then a few more items from my Old Lake George shop.

I told you she was a good friend. 🙂

Late last week she sent me a text asking if I would meet her at a local boutique named The Alley. Amy mentioned that the shop owner Linda and I had very similar tastes in home decor and Linda was looking for new artisans.

So on Saturday the three of us met at the store.

Amy and I HAD TO walk around and shop while Linda helped other customers. The struggles of life, right?

We spent about an hour in the store looking…

and looking….

and then we met with Linda.

Linda is on the left which only makes sense because that would’ve been a little awkward if Amy was behind the cash register. :)Linda’s personality is the type that you instantly want to be her friend. She is warm, bubbly, naturally happy, easy going and makes everyone around her feel welcome.

After discussing the details and swapping ideas about things she would like to see and things I would like to sell we made plans to meet again next week to place some of my items in her store.

I am just going to go for it! So exciting to add another element to Old Lake George.

Thanks Amy for the gentle nudge. 🙂

This week I have painting and a photo shoot with Spencer and sewing on the agenda.

I hope you can stop by.

Wendy

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From Bubblegum to Pure Gold

From Bubblegum to Pure Gold

Does any one else besides me watch the Today Show every morning?

I try to convince myself that I watch to catch up on what is happening and what happened in the world while I was sleeping.

But…that’s not entirely true. You see, my celebrity crush is Matt Lauer. He seems so kind and generous, not to mention fit and those dreamy brown eyes, don’t even get me started about his dreamy eyes. 🙂

When I saw that the Today Show was at West End Salvage one week after Sam and I where there, I was so disappointed. So close to meeting my crush and yet so far. 🙂

Stores like West End Salvage are great places to find an unexpected item to repurpose into something fabulous. But you don’t always have to go to salvage stores to find that certain something.

As I mentioned, last weekend Wade and I, along with our neighbor Nikki went to Becker Furniture World in Becker Minnesota to check out the furniture collections. Nikki is in the process of searching for a new couch and she had not been to Becker Furniture World. We walked every square foot of the self proclaimed, Minnesota’s Largest Furniture store. It was glorious. This store is so big that they actually have a three bedroom model home inside the store. And let me tell you, it is amazing!

The final section we walked thru was the home décor Clearance section.

That is where I found these metal beauties.

Each one of them had paint chipping off of them somewhere which earned them a spot on the Clearance table.

The color was a very happy bubblegum pink. Not a bad color, just not a very common color used when decorating a home.

Instead of painting over them, I decided to try my hand at paint removal.

With the help of the staff from Hirschfeld Design Center, they guided me towards this paint removal product.

After creating a good ventilation stream in my studio, putting on eye protection and rubber gloves, I dumped about half of a cup of the remover into a cleaned out green bean can.

Within seconds of dabbing the remover onto the candlesticks the paint was falling off. Truth be told, it was sort of scary how quickly this product started bubbling the paint. Per the directions, I let it sit for 15 minutes before taking a paper towel and wiping off the majority of the old paint.

From there on out it was dab, dry, wipe, repeat. It was a little tedious towards the end trying to get every speck of pink, but the final result was so worth it.

After giving each stick a final soap and water wash, I let them air dry once again before painting them a new color.

The first stick I spray painted a Pure Gold color from Rustoleum. Three light coats of spray from about 8 inches away with 10 minutes between each coat for it to dry and it was finished.

I decided that I am going to paint each stick a different color. My intentions are that they be used as something to add to your existing décor not necessarily as dining table candlesticks.

Something like this.

I was reading Miss Mustard Seeds post the other day and she painted a metal stool with her in line of paint. I had no idea that milk paint could be applied to metal. Double checking my brochures about her product, sure enough it can!

I ordered sample sizes of the Linen, Typewriter, Schloss and Trophy.

Be prepared for an Epic or Fail blog about how they turn out. 🙂

See you on Friday,

Wendy

Speaking of Epic or Fail, I have added an Epic metal sign to the shop. Click here and check it out!

 

Sidenote Saturday: A Girl Can Always Dream

Sidenote Saturday: A Girl Can Always Dream

Hello Saturday!

Wade and I are driving over to a furniture store this morning with our neighbor Nikki. Nikki has asked me for my opinion with a couple of home decorating ideas. She likes how I decorate my house although she has a completely different style.

And that got me thinking.

What exactly is my style?

Pretty heavy question for a Saturday, right? 🙂

One of the no-no’s of blogging is that you do not copy other peoples photos without permission.

Boo.

But I understand.

Fortunately there is a way around that. If I had all of the time and money in the world, this is what each of these rooms in my house would look like.

Click on the colored word or link to pop around my dream house tour.

Kitchen:

Living room:

Bedroom

Office

Outdoor Space:

Don’t think that I am not very grateful for what I do have.  I am. But I also enjoy dreaming.

Wondering what your style might be? Go to Houzz.com and click pictures from different areas of a home. When you find the one that takes your breath away, see which category it falls under. Do you see that the same category keeps popping up? Bingo, that’s your style.

And by the way, my style is Traditional with a Rustic Farmhouse twist. 🙂

I have super exciting news to share with you next week. Life changing news.

I hope you can stop by.

Have a great weekend,

Wendy

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So Many Questions

So Many Questions

Have you ever been in a check out line and it takes forever?

When Sam and I were shopping in Des Moines we got stuck in the slowest line known to man. Finally it was our turn and she started putting her things on the conveyor belt.

It didn’t take long to figure out why this process was so slow.

The clerk was a nice 17 year old young man who was very chatty and full of wisdom. He was similar to the game 20 questions but his questions were always centered around what you were buying.

Sam found some great sales so she had several pieces of clothing, a couple new pair of boots and some other odds and ends. She shared with Clerk 20 questions that she had an interview next week for Occupational Therapist Grad School.

His response, “Ohhhhh, you look like an Occupational Therapist!”

Okay then, good to know.  🙂

Now it was my turn and I was so dreading where these questions were going to end up.

I was buying a bra, 9 pair of underwear and frozen chicken wings.

Mr. 20 Questions Smirk Face had only one question for me.

“So what are your plans for the evening?”

To say that moment was a little awkward, would be an understatement. I burst out laughing, but Sam jumped in trying to break the awkwardness and quickly told him that later on we were going to work on my blog.

The young man back peddled a little bit and restarted his game.

Mr. 20: “What kind of blog do you write?”

Me: “A home décor based blog.”

Mr. 20: “Are you an expert in that field?”

Me: “In my own mind.”  🙂

Mr. 20: “Well, it’s not how good you are that matters, but how others perceive you.”

I told you he was full of wisdom. 🙂

So collecting all of my expertise, I finished my vision for the piece that I picked up at the salvage yard.

Using my chop saw, I cut this into four pieces. Here are three of the four sections.

I love the architectural difference between the three pieces but I wanted them to look a little sharper.

I painted them with varying coverage using a white chalk paint.

After letting them dry for about 30 minutes, I then sanded them until I thought they looked like they were related in a second cousin once removed sort of way.

The rest of the afternoon I staged them in different spots until they found a home.

I picked the mantel by the bird cage cloche as their new home. The area needed a little more depth and these did the trick.

I’d ask you what you think, but I am tired of questions.  🙂

See you on Friday,

Wendy