Good Morning Sunshine! Before & After Sunflower Adirondack Chairs..

I could not even start this post without including this adorable photo I snapped on Sunday morning.....Good Morning Sunshine!

Its my little marshmallow, my neighbors little boy I just love to death, woke up early Sunday morning to find that lil marshmallow escaped out of his house and was perched at mine. Just chillin and relaxin, he looked so guilty and so adorable I couldnt help but snag a pic.

Not complete but I had spent the entire day working on these adirondack chairs, damaged by hail, there were these little indentations all over the wood. There is also a tiny little table that came with the set, totally worn and weathered.  A quick look at the before...

Lots of filling in the holes ( you can see that part now), and a bit of sanding, and a whole lot of sunshine and these chairs went from blah to wow, with a few strokes of paint.

Just a simple color change and the chairs already looked amazing...completely different!

Add in a little sunshine....

No two the same, coordinating but never exactly alike..

Add some highlights...

Now for a little change, slanted the second flower a bit, never like a different point of view

Now for a little personalization...

And the result is a recipe for adding a little sunshine to your yard....complete transformation...

whoala, super fun and bright newly refurbished sunflower adirondack set!

Russian Dolls Changing Table: Part 1

It all starts with a simple idea, and this adorable little idea came from a simple swatch of fabric. A customed designed little baby girls nursery set with tiny matroyschkas painted on them. I love when parents think outside of the box when it comes to nursery themes and this is by far one of the most creative. Im not completely finished with it, but it certainly has come along way...

In the beginning there was a dark wooden changing table that simply did not work for a little girls nursery set...

And it all began with my customer finding this lovely handmade blanket:

It is handmade from Sewbrookstone on Etsy and has this adorable littl russian doll pattern, super cute! My customers husband proposed to her with one of the dolls, and now they are having their first daughter, I love it when theirs a story to the theme... and this is a great one...

Now back to the changing table, the room has been painted a bright yellow with white trim, but I wanted to create a custom designed set, and what better way than to create from this great pallette of color!

So I did a nice bright bubblegum pink trim, with bright white as a base...

Then for the details...
I made some lovely daisy appliques and added them to the center of the piece...

Added some lovely scrolls to the sides...

Now not completely finished but my plan is to create (2) large russian dolls and place them on the front drawers. Im going to add a lovely scroll and flower vine around the border of cabinets and paint the hardware white. ( Thats part 2)

But already the piece has completely transformed itself...stay tuned for part 2.

The Never Ending Aqua China Cabinet

The Never Ending Aqua China Cabinet
This is one of those pieces that just simply wouldnt end...I had been working on this for over a month.  This was a dark mahogany china cabinet that my clients had picked up at a garage sale in Santa Fe. The owners of this are a young modern family and wanted a fresh new look for the cabinet. One of my friends, an architect, was redoing their kitchen and suggested that instead of ditching it, he knew someone who could give it a new update. ( Thanks Mark). 

I have been working on this cabinet no joke for over a month. Thankfully Mark has not finished the kitchen yet, so apparantly my procrastination was over looked. 

The only thing they said to me was we "want to keep it crisp and clean, we want it to be a focal point but not so bold that it doesnt blend in"

I used their fabric choice for their curtains as my inspiration. Heres a little closeup:

It's always important for me to constantly remind myself, (its not for me) but for the client. " The Parker family" was a young hip family that just wanted a "crisp clean look". About 90% of the time I remove and replace the hardware. In this case,  I removed all the original hardware ( knobs, drawer pulls) and replaced them with a combination of modern drawer pulls, and then added vintage glass knobs. The combination is something I dont normally do but I think in this case it works well.

I created a custom color from mixing two different eco friendly latex paints together. Recently I have been using a line of paint from Benjamin Moore, called the Natura Line.

I have really enjoyed using this brand and do recommend it, its gets great coverage!

I gave the cabinet a good 2 coats of paint. I then got out my trusty sandpaper and scuffed away. I wanted to add just a little something pretty to it, so I decided to add a simple floral stencil to the bottom portion of the hutch. I didnt necessarily want it to be a bold statement, more understated. So I did it in a flat white, so it shows up, but sort of a little suprise.

I think in the end, it came out beautifully.....what do you think?