Totally awesome new ugly duckies

Before we left Provo we couldn't help but making one last trip to our favorite place to thrift-

Star Mill Antiques in America Fork. 

I can't say enough great things about this place!

This is my Pottery Barn desk!

OK it will resemble one in a few days.

Hopefully.  

I couldn't pass up this inlaid top . 

Plus it was a great deal. :)

Did you catch the headboard behing the desk.

I love this style.

Love. Love. Love.

And finally a horrible picture of a gorgeous secretary.

She'll get the full treatment, new legs included.  

P.S. Did you notice the button at the top of the page for the Vintage Market in Scottsdale AZ on September 27th?

 We'll be a vendor there so come by and say HI! Or howdy. Or Hola. Or Bonjour. Or wazz up.  

Or what ever floats your boat. :) 

6 Drawer Plank Top Dresser

One fine day, Jake was at Home Depot picking up some wood glue.

Exciting I know. Don't worry the story gets better. 

While chatting with one of the sales guys, he mentioned what we do and the sales guy said, 

"Well I've got a dresser. It's yours if you come pick it up."

Free. Furniture. 

Yes please!  

She was in bad shape.

She was chippy, but not in a good distressed way. 

So off the top came.

We did it the old fashioned way with a hammer and chisel.   

And oh my goodness she was SO so dirty. 

(Like lots of spider eggs dirty)

Gives me the heebee geebees. 

But here she is now. 

One of my favorite features is the plank top. 

We painted it and then sanded almost all of it back off so it has a slightly weathered look.

The hardware is...well it's rope. 

We tried traditional hardware but it didn't flow with the piece. 

But the rope just WORKS! 

The grain of the wood was too beautiful to paint so we stained it with Minwax Antique Walnut.

The base is painted with Camembert by Behr. 

We took these in Rhett's room and so we used some of his things to stage it.

This is the shifty sailor. His eyes...well they're shifty.

And meet Roy. Rhett carries him around the house by chewing on his nose.  

She's solid wood with 6 deep drawers. 

For more information look under the For Sale tab at the top of the page.

6 Random Thoughts

1. If you looked at our most recent grocery bill, you'd think we had a bunch of teenage boys living in our house. But no, it's just a occasionally crazy pregnant woman who wants to eat every fruit know to man and a lot of french toast sticks.

2. I think I really want to try making these simple, glam dishes.

via

These would make my Cheerios extra fancy. :)

3. With it still being over 100 degrees here, we eat a lot of fruit, veggies and salads for dinner so that we don't have to turn the oven on. This is one of our favorite salad dressings, and we love it on a spinach, fresh strawberry, and grilled chicken salad. (PS if you want to add some mandrin oranges to this salad, it's also amazing.)

4. I'm really in love with white, wide plank floors. 

via

via

5.  Even though we won't find out what we're having till October, my momma's instinct is telling me it's a girl. :) I'm thinking of doing "her" nursery in a simple, glam, chic style. Think white walls, molding, mint green, some gold with a little mid-century twist.  And colors and patterns like this.

via

6.  Lastly I want to thank all of you for being so patient with me and my lack of projects, posting and responding to every single comment.  Please know I am so grateful for your encouragement and well wishes. I wish I could say the morning sickness is totally gone. I had a few amazing days, and now I'm back to lying on the couch for most the morning.  But really, truly, sincerely THANK YOU for sticking around. This is for all you, beautiful people. :)

via

Keep your head up and let your hair down :)

We MOVED!! 

And I think we might never move again.

Seriously, we might raise our future 20 children* in a 2 bedroom apartment. 

We managed to spill paint all over the driver's seat of the car, somehow lose only one knob off my dresser, and move into our second floor apartment during Arizona's record breaking heat wave.

Any tips for removing latex paint from leather?

And despite the chaos we are really happy and grateful to be here. :)

I keep thinking of the song "Keep your Head Up" by Andy Grammer.

I might be listening to it on repeat.

Enjoy and I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

*We probably, most definitely, will not have 20 children, but I felt like exaggerating.  

Hello Vintage Herringbone!

I love herringbone. 

It's classic. It's timeless. It's utterly unique.  

I also love Martha Stewart.

OK I love pre financial scandal Martha. 

Did you know that she has a fantastic paint tool kit? 

Seriously this thing is worth every penny of the $16 dollars it's priced at. 

With it's help we created this. 

A vintage herringbone table.

OK being 100% honest, it was not the easiest technique. 

But after 3 tries, lots of frog tape, and some bad words almost being said, I LOVE it.

She's painted in Frost by Behr and Pencil Point, also by Behr.

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

2 new chairs for the new house

Pretty much since I was in 5th grade I have loved watching HGTV and dreamt of having a home to design and decorate one day. 

And now that we are in the market to buy a home, my decorating desire in in hyperactive overdrive. 

We've found a house that we LOVE, a house we could grown into with lots of possibilites and potential, but it's at the very top end of our budget we we're pondering in for a week and then we'll decide if we want to procede with it. 

(I'll keep you updated :))

Anyway, I've been wanting to have my grandma's chair reupholstered for a long time now, and we just had it redone in preparation for our future new home. 

The before:

And the after:

I still need to refinish the legs, and I'm going between a couple of options. 

1. Lacquered in black

2. Lacquered in white

3. A lighter stain

4. Or a fun color like a mustard yellow

Thoughts?

And the other new chair was a an amazing thrift store find. 

A tufted leather chair for $75.

The seat was a little dry, but I've been using some leather conditioner and it's working like a charm. 

I almost offered more for the chair, but then I came to my senses and counted it as an amazing blessing from the thrifting gods. :)

Some very cool cardboard

We are moving in 2 days.

And I'm pleased to say that we have finally packed our last box!

Usually I don't find cardboard very inspiring.

And have you ever gotten a cardboard cut?

SO much worse than a paper cut.

But did you know that some people have an AMAZING talent of making furniture out of it?!

Here is some cardboard at its finest.

This is a reception desk at an architectural firm. Yes, they have my business.

via

And can you imagine the math it must have taken to configure this? Blows my mind.

via

 This puts a new twist on the phrase "working out of box."

via

 OK I think this one is simply just adorable.

via

And apparently this one can support thousands of pounds.

via

This is my personal favorite. :)

via

 And if cardboard could ever be called elegant it would be because of this desk.

via

Amazing right?! 

Here are some links with how-tos if you want to try this yourself!

www.instructables.com

www.andrewsenior.com

www.foldschool.com

www.lowimpactliving.com

Vintage Blue and Purple Girls bedroom

Hello friends, happy Monday I hope you had a pleasant weekend. Recently I received a comment from a viewer on a post I did on Vintage Style Teen Girls Bedroom Ideas this viewer was quite interested in a design for her 12 year old daughters room in the colors lavender and baby blue so in a effort to answer her question I thought how cool will it be if I did a mocked room in those very colors with a twist of green since green is my favorite color. Here's the deal this viewer wanted the room to be vintage style with lavender and baby blue and she also mention her daughter loves makeup as well. Now let’s keep in mind that I have no room sizes, no room shape so I couldn’t possibly in no way give this viewer an exact look of her daughter’s room but here is what the comment was and what I came up with for vintage teen girly room.

Comment from Viewer- Anonymous said...

Any ideas for a lavender and baby blue bedroom for a 12 year old girl who's into makeup and fashion?

This is my comment back to this viewer

Hi Anonymous, I wish I knew your name and then I can call you by it but anyhow thanks for your comment. Lavender and baby blue bedroom sounds absolutely beautiful together and for a 12 year old no less is all the more. First taking her age in to consideration I would make sure to give her more of a teen room because if we know anything about kids or they don’t stay youngsters forever. Furthermore I would maybe bring in one of the color on to the wall and built around it with some of her favorite things and if you’re going vintage don’t forget to use some things that are period pieces like old dresser or nightstands, throw pillows with perhaps some writing on them and you can’t forget a makeup table of some kind. Whatever you do just make certain your daughter is happy with it and you can’t go wrong. 

Viewers question

12 year old girl

Lavender and baby blue

Vintage

Love’s makeup

What you think of what I came up with?

Friends I hope you were able to see the vintage in this room. I started off with purple wallpaper on the focal wall and on the two side walls baby blue paint.  For the bed I used an old Iron bed and painted it a baby blue color. Well I like to imagine I found this old era Iron bed that was old and yucky and made it new again and dressed it in some pretty bedding old is what makes vintage, vintage. Furthermore I found a beautiful pillow with some vintage writing on it and included it in with the rest of the bedding. Friends check out the cute vintage dress horse isn’t it just beautiful.  Now remember our reader made mention of her daughter loving makeup? I was sure to include a beautiful makeup vanity to put on makeup when she’s ready. Another thing I like a lot is the two beautiful sconces on either side of the bed. I think it helps bring the room together but even more how about the beautiful sketch of the girl wearing all that makeup above the bed. Just lovely right! Here is the source of this sketch here 

Well my Friends I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I have. It’s nice to imagine on occasion right?

If you would like to check out a load of vintage style for teen girls rooms please check out Vintage Style Teen Girls Bedroom ideas and if you love girly rooms like me check out the Teen Room Gallery

Now to all my viewers who leave a comment Anonymous please leave your name because I really like to know who I’m talking to and then we can develop a better relationship with one another.

So what do you think?
Please let me know in your comment below!

Can I get you a sample?

It is almost impossible for me to make a trip to Home Depot and not spend a significant amount of time looking at all of the paint swatch cards. 

And it is also almost impossible for me not to have them mix up a sample of a new color I found. 

I, personally, am a Behr girl. 

Did you know that they have over 2000 colors?! 

Holy options Batman! 

One reason I love Behr (even though 2000 options can be a little overwhelming), is because I love how most of their swatches show a  spectrum of colors similar to one another. 

This helps me compare similar colors and chose the one that best matches my vision. 

This is about a third of my sample collection. 

Like I said, it's hard for me not to pick up a different one each time I'm there. :)

So I thought I'd share some of my favorites that I've used.

In the white/neutral category:

Ballet White: It's a soft white without being too stark or influenced by undertones of pinks/yellows/browns. 

Camembert: A LOVELY cream. It is tinged with a pale yellow. 

Frost: This is a stark white. Very crisp and clean. 

In the gray category:

Manhattan Mist: A soft gray with a twinge of a subtle subtle blue.

Subtle Touch: A white with a touch of gray; just like the name says.

Sparrow: A rich gray without looking stone-like. 

In the blue category:

Windsor Haze: Almost a stone blue with a navy touch.

Pencil Point: A deep gray with charcoal blue. 

Tropical Breeze: An almost Caribbean sky blue. 

In the jewel tone category:

Peacock Tail: It's just like it sounds. :)

Opulent: A pure golden yellow, almost mustard-like.

Teal Zeal: A modern twist on Tiffany Blue. It looks lovely with Tropical Breeze.

Cranberry Whip: A deep rich red without looking too barn red. Sophisticated. 

Grape Leaves: A saturated green. Almost Mediterranean

Obviously this isn't a comprehensive list but I love all of these colors.
Love love love.    

What are your favorite colors? 

Any suggestions for new ones to try?!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.S. A few things I forgot to mention. :)

1. Samples are non returnable. They're about $3 so not a huge investment, but $$$ is $$$.

2. You can get them with primer mixed in, just ask for it. However they only come flat. They don't come with a gloss mixed in.

3. You can always ask for the color you choose to be mixed with less color pigment than is shown on the swatch. For example, you can ask for it with 50% pigment and then add more as wanted. However, they cannot take pigment out once added. 

4. An 8oz sample covers about 25 sq feet so they are great for small projects.