I hope you’ll join me on my never-ending search for beautiful pieces, with history, for your home. Find my curated treasures, in Booth #154, at the Antique Trove, in Roseville, CA. ~ Barbara
Every now and then, one has to put the paint brush down and have some fun! So, I tagged along with my dear friend, Joaquin, to the big city! On our way home from San Francisco, we stopped in Berkeley and checked out the action on 4th Street, a favorite shopping destination. Our first stop was at Rejuvenation, Classic American Lighting & House Parts. The store, which only opened 3 weeks ago is a wonderful spot, especially for home lighting! I saw this window, at Z Gallery, and am going to try to do something similar, in my store window.…
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Greetings, Blog Sister!, Since I am painting a fair amount of furniture these days, it was time to do a latex paint-off! Sprayer vs. Roller. Well you all saw last week’s fun, hot pink masterpiece, painted by Mr. Wonderful, with his manly HVLP paint sprayer. It turned out beautifully, with a smooth, shiny surface, using an interior semi gloss paint. The contender for a roller brush paint job, was a very simple dresser from the 60’s. The surface was in great shape, but it was an awful color. I’m sorry I can’t show you a complete package, drawers included, but…
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Happy beginning of a new week, to you! We’ve all heard about being open to opportunities, to “open doors” that lead to new adventure. I feel like I am at that place, right now. Let me give you an example. Like everyone else, I had heard about the soon-to-be-released, milk paint line, by Marian, aka Miss Mustard Seed. (Now there’s a woman finding lots of “open doors” these days!). But, it wasn’t until I attended her painting class, at the Haven conference, that I learned she was choosing retailers, to represent the line around the country. Then, as happens when…
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How much thriftier than free can you possibly get? True confessions time. I picked a table out of the garbage dumpster once, when we had our San Francisco condo. One darling little table, came home to be saved by the master of furniture repair projects. We have a half-house, giving these pieces new life…another chance at being…beautiful. Isn’t that all any of us ask? Seriously, this little, once-upon-a-time, dark cherry wood desk, was being shuffled to the side of the road, when we just happened to be at the right place, at the right time! I showed off one of…
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Months ago, I went to an estate sale at a beautiful home in Sierra Oaks, one of Sacramento’s nicer neighborhoods. I found a number of things to buy, including two small scale, dark cherry chairs, that were in the master bedroom. Do you remember when dark cherry wood furniture was so popular in the 80s? It was the “cat’s meow”! Later, Lora, the fearless leader at Veranda Antiques, was ready to leave a small-scale, dark cherry desk, on the curbside for free! This was our lucky day! It didn’t take us 30 seconds to say “we’ll take that!”. Well, tonight…
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Warning! If you stand still, in one place, for too long, I just might paint you! It’s a furniture painting marathon over at my workshop, this week! What else are you supposed to do, when it’s a hundred zillion degrees outside? I repainted these two pieces because the lattice piece got banged up, when it fell off the wall (long, sad, boring story!) and the piece in front, because it was chipping. Both pieces were originally painted in latex, but I hadn’t followed the important rules. First, wipe the piece down with TSP, followed by an oil based primer and…
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Hello again!, Yes, I know, you’ve heard me say several times now, how great the Haven conference was! Not only did I learn tons of wonderful tips to grow my blog, DIY tips and thriftiness secrets, I met some really lovely women! Now, I added some pictures of new friends at the end, you’ll see, but if you didn’t attend Haven, but want all the scoop, just review the following notes. I took at least six different classes and took pretty copious notes. It’s a shorthand version, but if you write a blog, they should make sense. It’s a very…
Read the rest >>Hello dear friend!, I just had the most fun, on Friday afternoon, at a design consultation, here in town! While I don’t have those fancy letters after my name, designating a design degree, I have years of hands on experience and truly love helping people love their homes! Mary Clare just moved into a smaller home and was trying to create a game plan. Without oodles of surplus cash, we prioritized projects, selected paint colors to try, and talked about all things “Home”. We covered a lot in 2 hours. I was so pleased, to get her letter!: Hello Barbara,…
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Well, after all the planning and anticipation, our neighborhood 4th of July party went on without a hitch! Mr. Wonderful and I had a lot of fun, which is a good thing, because happy hosts make for happy guests. Hostess Rule #1: Nothing’s worth getting all stressed out about! Trust me, I’ve been there! Guests pick up on your stress and no one relaxes. Hostess Rule #2: Have plenty of seating! I brought this bench home from the shop…love the color! And we even spread a painters drop cloth with a table cloth on the lawn, which lots of people…
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Greetings!, My “15 minutes of fame” continues! The feature article, about our home is now in print! I said it before, and I’ll say it again, this is not “Traditional Home or any other great national publication, but it sure was fun and it gets lots of attention on a local level. Tyler, the Wonder Dog, was pictured in the article and has gotten lots of fan mail, from girl dogs, asking for dates. I told him to be particular! Read the article here Do you have a local publication like this? Our’s invites readers to submit emails, if interested…
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