My 'Little' Furniture Addiction

It was bought on  a whim. 

I had plans for it: fix it up and sell it. 

I posted a before photo and teased my facebook followers about it being for sale soon. 

Then even while I was painting it I teased a little more. 

I was excited! This was my first official piece to sell since the official launch of Peacock Door Designs!

So maybe you can understand why I'm blushing as I write this post - I'm NOT selling this piece. 

I can't. 

I really believe it would cause me physical pain to do so. 

So for all of you that were excited to see my first "for sale" piece, I'm so sorry. I do feel slight guilt about it. But, even my husband loves this piece! Mr. Manly-Man Deer Hunter even says it's fantastic. To me that was a seal of approval. Then I knew for sure it was mine when he offered to give up space in his shed to store the old family table that has such great sentimental value.

He doesn't share the shed, I actually think he resents sharing half of the garage with me (though he's never said that)

So here's a tiny peek.

Just a little look see at what is to come next week.

I cannot wait to have it all set up in my dining room. 

Just use this as an idea of what I can do for you if you like it ;)

Oh, and thank you for understanding that my 'little' addiction to awesome 

furniture just couldn't let this one go.

Jade's New Desk

Yes yes, I know! I've already done a desk for my daughter. The only problem was, as much as I loved that table with the most fabulous legs ever: it was just a table not an actual desk with storage. We've also established that I have super messy children. A desk without storage is actually a really silly thing to have in Jade's room - she is the messiest of them all!

Enter a HUGE blessing. An offering of furniture and among it all was this desk. I HAD to have it for Jade.

So cute and it had storage. It wasn't objectionable in it's current state, but it wasn't really Jade enough either. I got this piece right before Christmas and knew I wouldn't have any time to work on it until after the New Year so I just moved it into place to see how all the furniture arranging would go.

Last weekend I pulled out the paints and got busy!

Purple is Jade's favorite color. I also decided to leave the hardware as is. I think it works well with this piece and her room.

She has a slight obsession with Selena Gomez right now...

...and her new guitar that she got for Christmas.

I also decided to paint her chair again. I thought I loved this chair purple until I saw it blue.

Oh so pretty it makes my heart beat fast :) I now LOVE this chair!

On to the next project...

*the table with the fabulous legs is still in her room. I will NEVER let that piece go!

Lampshade Embellishment

We all make mistakes from time to time. I tend to make large ones and even when I'm doing them and feel a tad iffy, I tend to power through and see what it looks like in the end. Sometimes I surprise myself and other times I have regret. This lampshade was one such regretful moment.

I love the burlap I used and I do love the chocolate burlap ribbon as well...just not on the lampshade. I even told myself it wasn't so bad and would grow on me. It did not. 

So one day when I couldn't stand to look at it anymore, I decided to rip off the chocolate burlap ribbon. I crossed my fingers and my toes and hoped that it wouldn't ruin the burlap I had already put on the plain white shade or the shade itself. 

It worked! Then I got sick. Then the day I was going to pick up supplies to make the new ruffles, my mother passed away...The lamp sat unfinished for a while. I finally got up my courage to go back to the fabric store and then mustered up more to use my mothers sewing machine to make them. The ruffles weren't all that 'fun' to me anymore. It was just something to check off a list of things to do - to keep busy.

But now, I look at them and smile. The new makeover is fabulous and I loved it the minute they were in place. 

The texture makes me happy. 

This little dude is the reason the TV is on and visible in the mirrors and why there are toys under the couch. He makes me smile a bit too ;)

Inspiration and Ideas

We all know I adore Sarah Richardson. I believe my husband would call it something more like "sick obsession" - but I like to think I'm not that weird. Back in 2010 when she was doing Sarah's House 3 (her farmhouse) I decided she was the best designer on the planet. She was doing everything I liked style wise, pulling it together beautifully, and opening my eyes to new ideas. I could live in her farmhouse quite happily forever! But there were a few things that struck me more than others, and the chandelier she used in the dining room was one of those things. I HAD to have one of those suckers!!!

It was wooden and completely perfect. Here in West Texas though I couldn't find one. Looked everywhere and nothing. Started looking online and found some in the $1000+ range and knew I should probably set myself a new goal. I would always pine for it, but I needed to find something else.

Then walking through our local Parade of Homes that summer what did I see? Beautiful wood chandeliers everywhere!!!

Horrible pictures taken very quickly with my phone...sorry. But, I had to have one. 

Come to find out those cost just as much. So, I went back to my other plan of trying to find a vintage one that was more in my budget. Did I mention this was in 2010?

Then in 2011 I started following an awesome blog Little Green Notebook by Jenny Komenda. She's completely awesome. She has more contemporary design style than I do, but everything about her blog and work makes me happy.

She did this to a bargain find chandelier

...yeah, pretty awesome. I love the little round bulbs and the simplicity of this in her contemporary space. It's perfection. For my space I was thinking to "fancify" things a bit. So I hit google up and typed in chandelier makeovers and came up with a bunch of great inspiration.

Lots of fun ideas! All I needed now was a chandelier.

Then a friend called and wanted to go to a couple of estate sales together. 

We found this:

So I snatched that baby up fast! Can't wait to show it off soon - here's to many more inspirations and ideas.

Dylan's Bed

This was a project that happened because I did other projects for Dylan's room and it just popped into my head. Luckily this project only cost me the price of some construction adhesive, some brad nails, and some finials...all in all it was about $30 and I had a gift card so really it cost ME nothing. I had the v-groove paneling left over from the kids bathroom renovation and thought, why not?

This is the best picture I could find of his bed before. The design was mine and my father built it for Dylan when he was 2. It's a nice bed, but I wanted something a little bit more.

Enter furniture finials. This just makes me smile, the idea that even something out of solid wood that is so masculine has "accessories". That's how I see all wood trim - it's jewelry for the wood.

I found these super cheap at Home Depot and purchased them with my gift card (thank you Brooke) and then it was time to get to work. Measuring and drilling and then adding the finials.

I had to take all of my paneling to my fathers shop to cut it down to fit. (There was enough left over to do another whole project, and it's already planned) Then I put the boards on one by one.

It was cold that day and I had to leave the door to the garage open for my air compressor cord. That meant I looked ridiculous...pajama pants and Uggs baby! I'm classy like that.

After everything was installed it was time to paint. I broke out the Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Old White and got right to it. 

I love the knots and imperfections. They make my heart happy.

I think it looks great! It's exactly what I had in mind and it also made this guy smile. He was even happy enough to let me take his picture. 

More to come as always. Hope you have a fantastic week.

My Grandmothers Chair

I LOVE this chair. This chair was in the middle bedroom of my Grandmothers house during my childhood. That bedroom was my favorite. I loved the log cabin quilt that she had made that covered the bed. I loved all of the beautiful wood furniture that was in that room. I loved that the room always had a specific smell from the eucalyptus she had in a wash basin pitcher. But, when it came time for my grandmother to move into assisted living, I was still young and didn't realize I could ask for things like furniture. I asked for all of her clocks instead...and milk glass. I love those things for sure - especially the milk glass, but I'm so super jealous that my sister got the front bedroom furniture and the chair from the middle bedroom.

This chair was first reupholstered by my grandmother. Then when my sister got it she put a mauve fabric on it. I couldn't find a picture of that phase. Then she decided to recover it again. 

Umm...it really just didn't turn out so good.

In her defense, she hadn't ever had to replace webbing and foam before. The webbing had been shot for a while and she didn't replace it. Then instead of using foam she tried to make the cushion out of batting. The wood is crazy old and somewhat brittle so she also had trouble with the nail head trim. This really isn't a chair you should start learning how to do upholstery on. It takes a little knowledge. I had not seen the chair in this condition until Thanksgiving when she brought it down for me to redo.

Shot webbing for sure.

My grandmother had used old tweed fabric cut into strips to make the webbing. She was a genius at using what she could and getting the most out of everything. She had to because they really didn't have much. But, it was time to replace all of that now. Time to get to work!

Yes, I usually work in full jewelry while wearing suede loafers...it's either that or pajamas. One extreme to the other, but that's how I am.

Re-webbed seat. Oh so much better! 

Now this is where my sister and I differ quite a bit. I probably would have painted this in some beautiful creamy milk paint like Miss Mustard Seed's Ironstone and then covered it in a grain sack. But, that's my style not hers and it is her chair...yep still jealous! 

Her fabric choice matches other things in her bedroom in Colorado so it looks beautiful where it is. 

Don't you love all the Christmas mess in the background?

The finished chair.

I even had difficulty with the nail heads. The wood kept breaking loose. I'm so sad, this is the last time this chair can be reupholstered. It's done. When it craters this time it will be time to bid it farewell. It is now super comfortable and looks so much more appealing than before. I love that you can see the lines of the chair now. The lines are fabulous.

My sister adores it and was so impressed by the difference in comfort. I'm glad she loves her Christmas present - that makes me happy.

Now, it's on to the next project!