Some furniture re-do's and a farmhouse update.

Christmas is right around the corner.  In a festive spirit, I refinished this beautiful bowed-front French Provincial buffet in a lovely dark green.

Selling Our House

We have big news.  We've been looking for a while for property that has a bit more space.  One came up on the market, and after thinking on it for a week, we decided to go take a look at it.  By that time, it already had a registered offer.  We spent the month saying to ourselves, "Ah man!  We should have moved on it faster".  Then the real estate agent called us; the offer fell through, were we interested?  We set up a showing, and put an offer in the next day.

Refinished Finds

This week was a good week of finds.  On Thursday, Mark found 6 antique pieces for me to refinish in one morning.  I have a garage full of work that needs to be done now, which is a good problem.  But let me pause on work and share some things that I have gotten done!

White French Provincial Dresser + all my freebie finds!

Ah... free furniture.  It doesn't take too much to make this girl happy.  Here's a piece I found in Burlington last week.  It had a horrid paint job on it, so I freshened it up with some lovely white paint.

Anthopologie Knock-Off Dresser

I have been searching for a small dresser for my front entryway for a few months now.  And, lucky for me, Mark found the perfect piece the other day on the side of the road.  I once saw this Anthropologie dresser that I absolutely adored so I decided to create my own version of it.

 

Back to school... back to work.

A few weeks ago, everyone went back to school, back to their regular routines. Even though schedules didn't change in our house, it's nice that the rest of the world is back on a routine, and we can plan our days a little better.  I.e. get errands done before 3 pm!

An old record player cabinet, an antique bed, and a retro dresser.

I have quite a few photos to share this week.  After a glorious summer, 'back to normal' started for us this week, and I'm in full swing refinishing some lovely pieces.

Ah, it's been a little while since my last update.  Summer is such a busy time - we've taken a few vacations, been busy with scrap, the girls are busy little energy balls and sales are never very good in the summer.  So I took a bit of a break, but am excited to get some pieces ready for fall.

Scrapping Season

Spring is the best time of the year for scrap metal.  I know I've mentioned that my husband Mark does scrap, so I thought I'd write a blog post in ode to scrap season.

A custom dresser, a hutch, and a business update.

It has been over 2 months since my last post.  I have received a few e-maila from my regular readers, wondering if I am still alive.  The answer is Yes, I am, and I will give an update as to why I have not blogged in some time.

Loyalist Hutch + Awesome finds at Mr. Used

I have a few pieces left from an auction we did a few months ago.  This was one of the last pieces to be done.  A beautiful little antique hutch in Loyalist Milk Paint.

Union Jack Dresser

I've been so inspired by painters lately refinishing dressers with the London England flag.  I decided it was time I do one myself.  The other night, Mark went scraping and came back with this find.  Sometimes his furniture finds are better than his metal finds.

New Curtains for Hannah and Caroline

 Our church, New Hope, has a free sewing class every Thursday night.  I've been learning so much.  Every night we have a different project to work on.  Last night, we did curtains.  I saw this idea on Pinterest to buy a tablecloth from Target to make curtains out of.

Sarah's Hutch

As you can imagine, I often get calls / texts / e-mails from people asking me if I want their furniture.  Lately, I would say almost half of my pieces I get from people I know.  This hutch came from my sisters sister-in-law.

Vending at the Priceless Hamilton Event

 Last weekend was busy.  We had the big Priceless fundraiser on Saturday evening.  The whole week I spent preparing for it.  I thought I'd just share a few photos from the evening.

Creating the Pottery Barn Finish

 I love to shop at furniture stores to get inspired.  One store that I absolutely love is Pottery Barn.  However, I've never purchased anything from their store, simply because I can't afford it.  I've been trying to replicate their finish for a while now, without luck.

Cleaning Tile Grout

You know how it's late at night, and you're on Pinterest, and you see a pin about an amazing cleaning remedy, you decide to try it the next day, and it doesn't work?  Well, let me tell you about my latest breakthrough.

Brad's Coffee Table

This post is about our friend Brad's coffee table.  He used some of my leftover milk paint to create a beautiful creation on an old table he found in his barn when he was a kid.

Renfrew Dresser

Renfrew is my absolutely favourite colour of milk paint.  This colour is perfection - not too blue, not too green, not too dull - just a perfect pop of teal.

Antique Sofa Table

How much do I love gel stain?  Let me count the ways.  I don't have to sand the bijeebers out of the piece.  But it makes it look like I do.  The finish doesn't come out blotchy.  It's perfect, even, and gorgeous.

Antique Harvest Table

 This is a harvest table that I scored at the Flamborough auction.  I'm absolutely in love with it.  It has 5 legs, and 4 leaves, so it can expand like crazy.  It's also on casters, so super versatile.  It would make a perfect crafting table!

White Typography Dresser

I love French typography.  I would do it on every piece, if I had the time.  The other day Mark and I placed some absentee bids at an auction in Flamborough.  To our great delight, the morning of the auction a great snow storm hit.  We got a ton of pieces for a song.  They are all in the garage, calling out to me, begging to be finished.

Homestead House Midnight Blue

 I got this lovely little hutch in Brantford.  It had been passed down in the family for 2 generations, and it had been originally purchased at an auction.  I haven't tried Midnight Blue yet, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Soldier Blue Buffet

 My husband is still laid-off, which has given me complete project freedom.  I do so love working on projects.  He loves helping me with them.  For each piece, I have the vision on my mind, and we worked together until it all comes together.

Gatineau Hutch

One of the fun things about being a retailer for milk paint is experimenting with the different colours.  Gatineau was a colour I've never tried before, but I'm so thankful I gave it a whirl.  It may make an appearance more often.

Retro Waterfall Dresser

 The other night Mark and I went to an auction.  Auctions use to be awesome.  I was able to score such good deals.  This night, I came home with one lousy dresser.  Just one.  The furniture was going for way too much!  I was wondering why, when a guy leaned over and said, "Wouldn't that piece look great with some chalk paint on it?"  Turns out there's a crowd of store owners who have discovered auctions.  Boo.

White Corner Hutch

A little while ago, I did a white corner hutch that I landed up keeping.  I found this little corner hutch, and decided to refinish it in a similar style.

Raw Silk Antique Hutch

 This was yesterday's project.  This beautiful buffet & hutch comes in two pieces, and is quite a unique piece.  I love it because it's on casters.  How easy it is to roll it into another spot in the room, or to clean underneath it.

Homestead Blue Buffet & Hutch

 I knew January would be a busy year.  After we were done our kitchen, I got right back to work with furniture.  This was the first piece of the new year.  I scored this massive piece off Kijiji, for just $50.  These big pieces are more work, but they can be found for a song.

Our Kitchen

 It's done.  It's finally, finally done.  After two full weeks of plowing through heavy renovations, we finished our beautiful kitchen.  I'm excited to share the final results with you all!

Our Kitchen Reno, so-far

Most people ring in the new year at a party.  Surrounded by their loved ones and a glass of wine.  Watching the ball drop.  How did I spend New Year's Eve?  With suds up to my elbows as I washed away layers of renovation dust off of every single dish I own.