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
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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Updating our upstairs We’re in the process of another remodeling project and are going to be replacing the blinds in my son’s room with plantation shutters. But there’s this cute little window above the window seat, that probably should have never been placed where it was. That’s because it’s directly facing the west and lets in all sorts of sunshine and heat during the summer months, especially in the late afternoon. We looked into having it professionally removed, replacing the window with wall, but that came with the pretty high price tag! So, Budget Barb has struck again! (when my…
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