Liebster Award

Just when I was thinking about how bad I need to work on the blog I received an email from Jodie and Paige from Sypsie Designs. They recently received a really cool award called the Liebster Award which is for smaller/new blogs that have yet to be discovered. As part of them receiving this award, they nominated other blogs, such as this one!!! So awesome, thank you ladies, this is just what we needed to get back into things!

How it works is fun and simple:

Award Rules

1. Thank the blogger who presented you with the Liebster Award, and link back to his or her blog.
2. Answer the questions from the nominator; list 10 random facts about yourself, and create 10 questions for your nominees.
3. Present the Liebster Award to several other bloggers, who have blogs with 200 followers or less, whom you feel deserve to be noticed. Leave a comment on the blogs letting the owners know they have been chosen.
4. Upload the Liebster Award image to your blog.


So to start - Our Answers to Jodie and Paige's questions:

1. Why did you decide to start a blog?
K- Initially it was a way to promote my business of painting furniture, which turned into an outlet for all my decorating, thrifiting, style and life thoughts as well


2. What is your greatest influence/inspiration for your posts? (Pinterest, a specific blog, family, random objects… anything!)
K- My greatest inspiration is my work. Whether it's a client project, merchandising at Casabella or new items at A Classy Flea, I love what I do so I love to share it!


3. If you could be any animal, what would it be and why?
K- A bird. I would be free, have the ability to create pretty music, have beautiful feathers and the obvious, have the ability to fly.


4. What is your favorite post you’ve completed to date?
K- Probably my first "styling my own painted furniture" post because it has become my favorite re-occurring theme


5. Your favorite store to shop at is…
K- The stores I work at have amazing things (Classy Flea and Casabella) but I'm a huge thrifter so I always go to Good Will. Also Anthropolgie, it inspires me.


6. If your life were a movie, what actress or actor would play your character?
K- I love Jennifer Lawrence, so if she wanted to go blonde it could work, ha!


7.  What is your top blogging goal for 2014?
K- Better Photography, hands down.


 8. What’s your favorite town/city in the world?
K- Based on the ones I've been to.. NYC is amazing.


9. What’s your favorite room in your house and why?
K- Probably my Living Room or Dining Room. They have some of my favorite furnishings.


10. If you were a fabric pattern, what would you be and why?
K- Stripes. Classic but can be bold and make a statement



And for the 10 random Facts:

1.
K- I'm a coffee addict, and I have no intention of changing that

2.
K- I love to be around funny people (Shannon is hilarious)

3.
K- I'd take a beer over any other alcoholic beverage.

4.
K- I've been a single mom for over a year, but I still feel weird referring to myself that way.

5.
K- I didn't start wearing make up or doing my hair until the end of high school. Yikes.

6.
K- I trust that Gods plans are always better than mine.

7.
K- I often get compliments for dressing my daughter like me, but it's never intentional!

8.
K-I'm the youngest of 4 and we're all 4yrs apart.

9.
K- I'm tall. 5' 9" I used to hate it! I don't anymore.

10.
K- I lived in Georgia for 8yrs but still refer to myself as a New Yorker



So the next step? - Our Nominees:

1. Giraffe Legs
2. Lets Drink Coffee Darling
3. Buttons and Paint


And 10 Questions for them:

1.Why do you blog?
2.What is your biggest guilty pleasure?
3.What have you learned from blogging?
4.How do you describe your style?
5.What inspires you?
6.Favorite Food?
7.Favorite place to go clothes shopping?
8.What is your favorite occasion to decorate for?
9.What are three items that are always in your purse? (money and phone don't count)
10. Where is your favorite vacation destination?


We're so glad we could be apart of this award process!!

Christmas Living Room 2013

Clearly my Living Room is my favorite room to share. 

So here is the 2013 Christmas time addition. 

New for this year are my pretty, soft, white stockings. $7.99 each at Marshalls.

Also the buffalo head I got a couple months ago from another dealer at A Classy Flea.

I love fresh flowers, so I was all about purchasing this pretty white poinsetta to benefit a friend's daughters 4H group.
A silver ice bucket I had on hand makes a perfect "flower pot"

 My faux ikea sheep skin found a new home across my coffee table for the season.

And the most exciting change is my mirrored dresser!! I just found it at GW.
It was black and screamed 1980s. My brother told me I just needed a panther statue to go with it HA!

 All it took was some white paint to make it an amazing TV console. 

If you are familiar with my blog, the gray dresser that was there has already sold the day I brought it a A Classy Flea.
So thankful for that!

I'll have to stock up on Windex ;)

I refinished this stool a while back and the Santa pillow I made 2 years ago.

I'm really happy with the progress this Room has made.
Here it is in the MLS listing nearly 3yrs ago.

BEFORE

AFTER

There are just three things left for me to feel like this room is complete.
You can call it my Christmas list.

1. An Area Rug - likely Jute

2. A New Couch - Casabella has some great ones!!

In a different color this one would be my favorite.. come on people I have dogs and a 4yr old

This might make me want to re-design the whole room to make the color work, probably not a good idea :)

Safest option?

3. A new Ceiling Light Fixture
Really don't know what I want for this one..

 

 I really like this one from by Ralph Lauren via Happyroost

maybe something like this by Phillips

linking to:

OPEN HOUSE

Way late in announcing this but this past weekend was A Classy Flea's 18th Annual Open House.

 Everything in the shop was 20%off plus live music, food and giveaways. 

Here are some shots from the weekend of my spot as well as some of the other talented dealers.. enjoy!

And in Casabella News:

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!

. 

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

linking to:

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