Amy Howard

Have you heard of her?

via

If not, let me tell you a little about her.

 Amy Howard started as an artist and transitioned into designing and building her own high end furniture line out of Memphis, TN more than 20 years ago.

So besides her amazing designs and talent,

in the last year Amy Howard has launched her way to go green in design with a line of paint products and specialty finishes. 

I've also been making lots of fun chalkboard signs for the store too

I've been learning all there is to know about her products for my new role as Casabella's "Amy Howard's" specialist :)

I will be teaching classes for those who have never picked up a paint brush, to those who want to learn a new technique, such as mirror antiquing, gilding or aging metal.

 

Above I painted 4 samples using Amy's "One Step" paint with various finishes

This table that I just brought into the flea was also painted with One Step paint.

 

 And though this coffee table wasn't painted with one step, it is now available at the flea.

I'm really excited about this next chapter of my career and all the new products as a whole!

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Kitchen Island Make-Over / Styling my own Painted Furniture

Yesterday I searched, purchased, sanded, stripped, painted, re-placed knobs, added fabric, photographed, transported, priced and staged this Kitchen Island. Can you tell I was excited about it? 

 

I can only hope this piece was used in a garage. Preferably a dimly lit one at that.

Here is how it looks today:

I added burlap to the front panels with a jute rope trim. 

The classy football knobs were replaced with glass ones.

The top was a labor of love.

 I used minwax's gray stain once I had all the orange removed.

This piece is full of great features. Room for bar stools, pegs for hanging pot holders, a towel bar and the obvious drawers and cabinet (the interior even has a shelf) for storage.

It would look great in my Kitchen, so someone better run to the flea to purchase it before I change my mind about selling it..  The metal bar stools are available too

And in the event that I don't keep it, I found some fun accessories that would be cute with it.. 

better known as:

 "styling my own painted furniture" 

I've limited my Kitchen finds to products on etsy this time-

because there's nothing better than supporting small business and creative artists!

1. branchhandmade 

2.1100treasures 

3.juliapaulpottery 

4.premiumolivewood 

5. susannewberrydesigns

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Cliff Notes: My Week in Review

I've had so many new projects happening this week that I didn't have time to keep it updated well on here. So here is another one of my "cliff notes" posts

- I brought the one "x" bench that I finished so far into "the flea"

If you are local you can purchase them both and the second one will be finished this week

 

-This guy didn't let my projects stand in his way

- I have a lot of painted, open-back frames available right now, including a set on etsy (click the picture below for details)

 

-I brought in more new furniture that I'll (hopefully) go into better detail about later in the week

 - I painted with a giant boxer in my lap 

-I helped merchandise Christmas decor with an amazingly talented friend

This shop has gorgeous Christmas decor! More about that later in the week as well..

-Then took my favorite person pumpkin picking the next day

Kitchen Updates

As usual I've changed some things around in my house. The Kitchen changes all started when I got this ikat fabric that made me want to re-cover my Kitchen chairs

The rest of the changes are suttle. Some leaves from outside came in (hello FREE decor)

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And I put up this white shelf. I have a bunch of vintage brass pieces from my Aunt, so I added some to warm up the area for Fall.

The table and chairs have also been moved out of the center of the room. Here is where it was, with the old burlap seats.

BEFORE

I'm so much happier with these "small" changes in the room.

AFTER

Living Room Updates

I've been needing some throw pillows for my couch for a long time now, and finally settled on some. The pink I already had, but a spontaneous stop into Kirkland's led me to the other two.

I really love the emerald green, I don't think the picture does it justice.

I also took out some warm, faux fur throws I've had, to give a more cozy, Fall feeling.

The pillows and throws are dog approved.

Another change I made was adding this vintage book shelf that I previously had for sale in my shop. It works a lot better in my space than the other piece I had there, so I swapped them out and sold the other one.

I'm not sure if I will leave it blue, but it works right now.

 

My Aunt gave me the vintage brass pine cone candle holder. I think it's so cute and can stay out for months.

Another shot of (one of) my dogs enjoying the ever-so-popular IKEA faux sheepskin

Anndddd here is a sneak peak of one of the two "x benches" I told you about last time.

The second one will be done this week, so I'll have final pictures to share. I also made a few updates to my Kitchen that I'll share :)