Introductions
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, and a fantastic long weekend! I enjoyed my break ....and therefore am ready to hit it this week! I'm starting things off with a big photo shoot for the book tomorrow, and I will also get cranking on some new furniture pieces as well. I have been painting a lot.....and hope to get more done that I can actually show you, over the next week or so.
To tide you over though, I want to introduce you to my new shoes! I haven't bought a new pair of shoes since my 14.99 sandals at the beginning of the Summer....and I am not a big purchaser of shoes usually....but the craziest thing happened this weekend that I must tell you about. When I find myself in Virginia, I do not miss a chance to head over to the Jcrew clearance store, and this trip was no different.....that is until we drove up to the store and there were cars everywhere! You could hardly find a place to park....and I immediately knew that I had happened upon the sample sale that they hold only a couple of times a year. It. Was. Crazy.
I only had about 40 minutes before I had to meet a friend for lunch, so I thought I would just pop in....but let me tell you...from the moment they handed me my humongo plastic bag, and price sheet I knew I was in trouble. It was a bit overwhelming to walk into the warehouse and see box after box of clothes, jewelry, accessories, shoes......so I went for what I was most interested in, {and that which I usually can't even come close to affording}, which is the shoes. It took me about 10 minutes to find these beauties, in a soft brown Italian leather
.... I knew by the time I went to the sorting table, had my paper marked, and then waited in line to pay, they were the only thing I would be walking out with. I loved them, and decided to make them my one find....but secretly hoped i would be able to go back and shop with no time limit. Well, I did get to go back....and I headed straight for the shoes again! This time I found one...yes, one.... of these gray suede beauties
...but after searching, and searching....and searching for the mate....I told one of the workers {who had been helping me look} that I hated to give up, but I just was tired of looking. He was so very nice and told me to leave my number, and he would try to find it for me. I thought...."hmmm, I don't know how you are going to do that, but sure!"..... you know what? He called me the next day, and said that he had found the mate, and they were waiting for me at the register! Is that not the coolest thing? If you could have seen this warehouse..... all the people, boxes, clothes and craziness....I mean, I don't even know how he found that shoe...but he did, and I think he is awesome for going that extra mile for me.
You know the other cool thing about all this shoe nonsense? Each pair was only 40.00...yeah, that's right.....and at this very moment, the boots are on the Madewell website for 178.00 , and the heels are on sale for 79.99 {original price 228.00!}
Gotta love it!
xo,
Barb
Introductions
This past week was full of Open Studios, a speaking engagement, and an art show at Knack. All went very well, but kept me super busy. Since the studio had to stay set up in "pretty mode", there wasn't a whole lot of painting that went on. I am anxious to get back to the work that I love this week, and be covered in paint!
For today though, I want to introduce you to my newly filled and styled booth at Antiques on Augusta! I spent most of the day on Friday loading and unloading from studio to the booth.....and then trying to arrange and rearrange. I swear that sometimes I lose my brain, and cannot style the way that I want to....but thankfully my friends Barry and Sam stepped in and saved the day! They helped me move one piece, and then it all just clicked and came together magically after that. Thank goodness for fresh eyes!
This week I will be busily getting ready for the first big styled shoot for the Knack book! The photo shoot will take place on November 29th. I have much work to do, and many supplies and styling accessories to pull together, but I am going to enjoy every minute of it. I will also be working on a couple new furniture pieces for Knack. From here on out, the book will fill my plate....and I plan to devote all of my creative time and energy into producing something really special. It is important to me to create this work, not only for others, but for my children...and their children.....and hopefully many generations of creatives to come.
Have a dandy Monday!
xo,
Barb
Introductions
Meet "Evenrue".
She's a gem of a gal, and these knobs were made for her.
Stoked.
xo,
Barb
Introductions
Meet Lunella.
I have not sent out an upholstery project in a while, but I am getting ready for Open Studios this weekend, so I am pulling out all the stops. I just had to....{was compelled to}...... unearth this tired old gal, and make her spiffy! This chair, in her before state, has collected dust in my studio for a while. I was so uninspired by how awful and ugly she was. Shame on me.....I had so little faith and vision for what she could become....even though deep down I knew it..... I doubted this one.
It is always good to be proven wrong every now and again!
Man, she's a beaut! Crikey!
{Please excuse the lovely cardboard "floor guards"! There is hardly space in the studio for all of the projects I have going on. I am just makin' it work!}
xo,
Barb
Introductions...of sorts
Good morning, you crazy peeps! I have to admit that I am still sore from all the walking we did this weekend. Shawew! We went a little nutty trying to hit all of our favorite Atlanta spots in a day and a half.....and I am definitely too old for those kinds of shenanigans!
We started off with the Country Living Fair, and while we waited for the gates to open, we tried to take pictures of ourselves and got to laughing so hard we cried. I forgot that with my fancy schmancy new phone I no longer have to guess what I am getting a photo of....I can just flip the screen around...and whalla! But, it was fun to do it "wrong" for a bit and laugh until we were sweaty and sick to our stomachs. A few of the people around us said they wanted a little bit of whatever we had, because it looked like fun....and I promised them I was running on chai tea alone.
Anyway, in a nutshell, the CLF was set up in a wooded area of Stone Mountain Park in Georgia. It was a gorgeous day to be outside, and a beautiful area. Each vendor had a tent type set up, where they displayed their lovelies
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We ran into the Nate Berkus film crew, and the Editor of CL a million times it seemed, as they were filming a segment for the Nate show....it was fun to watch them tape for a bit, and watch their faces as they tried to act really excited about making yet another light fixture out of a chicken feeder! { i jest!}
I enjoyed getting to hear Shawna Robinson from Happy Chair chat about who she is, why she does what she does, and watch a demo of her working on one of her chairs. Shawna is a cutie, full of energy, and I enjoyed her.....period.
The booth that I took the most photos in, was Splurge Design, and happened to be a couple from Asheville, NC. I recognized their work from seeing it at the Screen Door. This team is amazing at display, and I would have to give their booth the award for being the best in show! {all of the light fixtures, letters and numbers in photos above} I loved Rebekah Blocher's ceramic jewelry, for the fantastic color combinations that she used, and the way she had everything displayed in her booth. Then there was the Modern June booth, that had lots of colorful oilcloth material for sale by the yard, more great ceramic jewelry, and some really pretty felt wreaths by Hershey is My Baby.
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| photo via hershey is my baby |
These are the booths that stood out to me personally, out of the many booths that were there.....not to say that the other booths were not beautiful and good, just a different aesthetic than what my eye is normally drawn to. There was definitely a lot of country goodness at the Country Living Fair, {imagine that?!}, but it's all good.
Amy and I had a great time exploring and taking in new things.
{all photos shot with my spiffy new iphone camera!}
xo,
Barb
Introductions
Well my friends, today is going to be a conglomeration of pieces that I worked on last week. It turned into crazy week because my booth got absolutely ransacked, and I had to get it looking spiffy for the big antique show that was in town over the weekend. I say all this to preface my "not so pretty shots" in this post. There are pieces everywhere in the studio, and my normal photo wall is occupied with a large piece of pink goodness right now......so without any more rambling here goes:
This little stool and side table {no before shot} needed some punch..... thus the bright colors and the crazy fun with the gold leaf accents.
....and then there is this sweet little red chest of drawers that my dad brought me back from upstate NY. She was so sad, and her drawers were an absolute mess, but that is what makes all of this so fun. Lots of sanding, adjusting, and waxing later she is a beauty.....and her name is "Rovette".
....and there ya have it!
xo,
Barb
Introductions
Hello! I hope you all had a great weekend, and are fresh and ready for a new week! My husband is actually off work today, so we are headed to Asheville for a play day in the mountains. I am excited about a day away to shop, explore, and eat somewhere new and tasty. I hope to do some furniture buying as well......shhhh don't tell the hubs!
While we are talking about furniture, I finished this little beauty last week. This was my last custom job for a while, and I know I said that before but my client "K" talked to me about this piece way before the cut off deadline, and so I squeezed her in when she was ready.
This piece may look a little familiar to you all since she was created after a serious falling in love with "jewel", and I dare say that you will see the resemblance! {wink!} I personally believe that you can never go wrong with this color, and was happy to create some turquoise goodness again.
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| jewel |
Have a great day today peeps!
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