why we are the way we are

I know I have my mother to thank for my love of hunting for, buying and redoing furniture. One of my favorite memories from childhood is the time my mom saved a bright orange upright piano that was landfill bound. She brought it home and painstakingly stripped off layer after layer of paint. She then refinished it in a beautiful dark walnut stain and called for a piano professional to come to the house and tune it. It was so beautiful when it was done and she taught me how to play "Fur Elise" on it. {that is  still the only thing I know how to play} It was a great lesson engrained in me though. She could have never afforded to go out and buy a new piano but for the cost of some paint stripper and stain and many long hours out in the garage she got just what she wanted. 

The hutch below that sits in my kitchen was lovingly salvaged the same way for my mom by her own parents. This is one of my favorite pieces in our home because I know how much love went into restoring it. It's one of the few things I can promise you will never meet a bucket of white paint. 

Have a beautiful Thursday!

living room updates

I realized the other day that I've been so busy "doing" that I haven't done much showing on this blog lately. 

I finished those dining room chairs I mentioned a couple of weeks ago and couldn't be happier with how they turned out.

The wing chair I inherited from my mom had been sitting in the third car garage out of site and out of mind since we moved here. I finally found a slip cover that fit for a reasonable price and added her into the mix. 

My mom took back her corner cabinet {we like to furniture trade back and forth} and I replaced the empty spot with a tall white bookcase from the sunroom. We added baskets to the bottom two shelves for storing coloring books, markers, crayons  etc..

The spool table was sold and replaced with the mirrored side table which also gives us more storage and takes up a lot less space.  

We had needed an ottoman and I found this tufted gray linen guy from a recent Joss and Main sale. 

There are still a few minor tweaks to the space I'd like to make like replacing the the sofa- it was inherited from the previous owner. I'd love to add a few area rugs too but I don't totally trust my dog to not destroy them. 

Hope you have a beautiful day!

My husband is awesome for many reasons but his appreciation for my barn porn obsession has soared to new heights. Recently he's taken it upon himself to pull over and take rouge photos of a couple of my favorites. 

The silo on this guy seals the deal.

Perfect whitewashed patina.

In other goings on I've been making over furniture like a madwoman to prepare for my first ever booth here in September. 

Vintage French Provincial with a fresh coat of paint and waiting for a new upholstered seat- may have to keep this one to myself...

Vintage Drexel Dining Set 

Begging for a makeover....

Hope you have a great Tuesday!

Ready... EXHALE............. what a few weeks we've had around here. We're deep in the midst of a nasty drought here exaggerated by almost daily record breaking heat. It's made this summer no fun. Add to that we lost water for a couple of days the week before last and needed work done on our well. But the real icing on the cake came last Wednesday when we realized our air conditioning had stopped working. The news I knew was probably coming but feared the most was that it needed to be totally replaced- oh and just for an extra kick in the pants so did the furnace. We sweat our way through until the guys could make to us Saturday when everything was ripped out and replaced with shiny new equipment {did I mention very expensive shiny new equipment?}. I don't know about you but I'm already ready to ring in the New Year. How about a little Time's Square ball dropping action in July?

Since I know Ryan Seacrest doing his rocking countdown is highly unlikely for the next several months I'll be content with today just being Monday. We'll start fresh with a new week around here. I'm going to resolve to leave the crappiness of late behind us. So HAPPY MONDAY, may all your dreams come true this week!

*image sources 1, 2, 3

My two-year old just walked over to me, hands me the Ipad and says "Download this please." A little stunned I take it from her and look at the screen. She has pulled up a Tinkerbell game and repeats "download this please." I laugh and smile. It's such a different world than I grew up in. For her all of great technology is at her fingertips. Without getting too philosophical it's exciting to think of the potential of this new tech savvy kid generation.