a magical day :: creating with the best

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of collaborating with some really amazing people! Rachel Faucett of Handmade Charlotte contacted me about a new paint line making its debut and wanted to know if I would paint and create with her! Would I EVER! Rachel is one of the most creative, energetic, hilarious, and generous people that I am privileged to know....and any chance I can get to spend time with her is A ok with me!You can read all about our day together here, and if you want the full scoop on the new paint line visit here for the tutorial and the deets!Head to your local Walmart to pick up some paint, and know that I painted this entire dresser with ONE bottle....which will cost you all of eight bucks! The clear wax is amazing too.....probably on of my favorite new products. It pours out and applies very much like a polyurethane! How cool is that!?Thank you Waverly, Plaid, Walmart, and Rachel Faucett for a super fun time.....and thank you Paige French for the amazing photography! (as always!)Have a great weekend!xo,Barb 

Etcetera

Can you all even believe the lush, colorful beauty of my mountains?! I had to post a few more photos from our trip to the mountains last weekend for a couple reasons:1. The color and beauty just get my juices flowin'2. this weekend will be the polar opposite of complete relaxation in the mountains! hah!For starters, I get the keys to my new studio today, and that will begin the moving madness {yipee!}.... my cousin is getting married on Saturday, family is in town for the wedding, and my guest bathroom is being demolished and gutted as we speak! Woot!I am so very excited about the bathroom redo...it has been a long time coming, and I have lived with a huge hole in the hallway for about 6 months due to a leak that brought on this redo! The bathroom is going from seventies avocado green everything......to white subway tiles with gray grout, recycled wood, and penny tile goodness. I will be sure to photograph along the way and show it off when it is complete.I hope you all have a great weekend!xo,Barb

FYI

I was catching up on some blog reading last week and I came across this project idea through Lindsey's blog which then led me to the original post on a beautiful mess blog. I thought it was the coolest idea! I love paint by number paintings, I love paint, and I love letters and typography so this was a win win in my book of ideas!I pinned the project on Pinterest so that I could remember it, and also remember where I saw it.....and I thought "I'll do that some day soon ". I had two paint by number prints in the studio that I bought a few months back and I have been waiting to frame them. I thought about using them for this project.....but then an idea hit me one night as I was drifting off to sleep. I had a picture that was given to me and it came out of  my husband's granny's house. It would totally work! It was not a paint by number...but it had the look of a paint by number. It was your typical mountain, stream, and tree print with lots of blues and greens.I already had completed my Father's day gift buying but I was so excited about making this gift for my husband! I could hardly wait to get to the studio the next day and create it. When I took the picture out of the frame, I found that it was a thin sheet of paper so I wanted to make it a bit more sturdy. I used Mod Podge to attach the print to the piece of thick poster board that had been behind it, and once that was dry I started figuring out the placement of my stickers. Once the stickers were applied {it is harder than you think!} I applied two coats of white paint, and BOOM dynamite!I know some of you are wondering what in the world "I Suwannee" means?! I chose to use this old southern slang phrase which means "I Swear" because it is a phrase that my husband's Granny is well known for. I remember the first time I heard her say it......I could hardly keep from laughing. I did not grow up in the south so I was not accustomed to such "verbage"...but I thought it was a hoot! I would try to think of funny things to say just to get her to say it over and over. My husband could always get her to say it......and then I think she caught on to my giggles and would just say it for my pure enjoyment. Granny is so sweet, and this was my way of keeping a piece of her with us at all times.My husband loves it....and thought it was the coolest gift.....and I have to say that I only pretend I made it for him....it is really for me! Hah!xo,Barb

Introductions

This piece of handsome came with "tilly", and they are from the same set of goodness. I call this guy "ferguson", and he is just so fantastic in his new graphite skin and black and gold ceramic hardware. I really loved working on this piece and bringing back the swagger that had been hiding for years. What do ya think of him now?...check him out in the etsy shop.

...that's right.

xo,

Barb

FYI

pinterest

You all know that I love paint, and color, and wood, and wooden sticks....and the such. So, when I saw this super simple, yet super fantastic display of color and awesomeness I had to share.

Check it.

xo

Introductions

Well my friends....these past few weeks in the studio have been just plain nutty, in a good way, but nutty nonetheless! Hattie and I have been working, working away on many custom projects... trying to cut down on the waiting list. We have not had a lot of time to work on pieces for the Knack inventory, but we did make some headway on a set of six different mirrors that incorporate a few shades of blue and different papers. Hope to have them finished up this week and in the Etsy shop.

  Today however, I would like to introduce you to Erma! This is piece number three for my client Jori and this little lovely will live in the master bedroom. Erma was a mess, and needed the most repairs out of all of the pieces, so it is extra joyful for me to see this shining little beauty with a whole new lease on life. I glued, clamped, sanded, nailed and glued some more until I felt like this old girl was in the best shape possible, and then I went to town on her finish. I picked up these gorgeous glass knobs on sale at Anthropologie, and they were absolutely without a doubt intended for this piece! Love it!

Have a great Monday!

xo,

Barb

Introductions

First of all, I hope you all had a great weekend! I had a fantastic trip to Lucketts and also managed to squeeze in a midnight tour of the monuments in DC....it was fantastic! 

I will be showing you my Lucketts finds on Thursday! It was so fun to meet some of my blog friends even though it was crazy busy for them at the sale.....I think they had little left to sell on Sunday! I have never seen such buying frenzy! Stuff that I planned to go back for was gone before I could get back! Oh, well...I managed to find some neat momentos.......And....

......today I would like to introduce you all to "Gertie". I bought this piece at a yard sale, and it turned out to be the perfect size and shape that I needed for my daughters room redo! I love this little piece, and it has the perfect amount of storage for all of B's little treasures! 

I may still decide to add some sort of feet to this piece, but have not decided yet....so, until it hits me....this little Gertie is perfecto for now!

xo,

Barb

Roomage

Today's roomage is an extra special one....because it is the newly "freshened" room of my 12 year old "B"! This past weekend B was away on her spring retreat and we went to town transforming her room from top to bottom. A few things stayed the same, but we changed the walls from blue to gray, added a chalkboard wall, new artwork {two of them are B originals: glasses, and three birdies}, new curtains, a new dresser, a new nightstand {transformed by Knack}, new light, new shelf above the dresser, and new sheets for the bed.

It was no small task...especially since we had about 48 hours to do it all. The hardest part was going through all of "B's" collections and piles of special"junk". B is a creative, and on top of being creative she is a pack rat....so getting lots of new storage  in order to organize her possessions was key for this redo. We are still going through the last three piles, but we have come so very far and it feels beyond good for everything to be fresh and new....and in its place.
 If you would like to see a few more shots, and the room before the freshen....visit Knack's facebook page.

How did she respond to the new look?

A picture's worth a thousand words right?

xo,
Barb