The Beginning

I've been dabbling in a new creative endeavor for about a year now, so I thought it would be nice to get organized and start documenting my projects.

It all started when I decided to make a wooden sign from an old piece of barn wood to give my mom for her 70th Birthday. It turned out better than I expected and I had so much fun making it, I kept going.

Actually, now that I think about it, that's not true. It started when my husband and I first got married. We bought a pair of unfinished bookshelves and a kitchen table with chairs, which we spent a good part of our first Christmas Week together sanding, staining and shellacking ... And they are still standing, ten years and two kids later!

Here's one of the first signs I made, which I ended up giving to my friend as part of her bridal shower gift...

Then I did this....

The pictures aren't great but I just fell in love with this color and the distressed look of the stain coming through.

Since then, I've moved onto some bigger projects and chalk paint has become my best friend! Here's a before and after of an awesome old chair I found at Goodwill that I refinished in a light gray. I'm turning our spare bedroom into a little shabby chic room with my old white brass bed, which I recently confiscated from my parents' basement...

And I bought an old end table that I'm going to work on next. Probably going to stick to the same color as the chair. I'm waiting for my new Tommy Hilfiger Comforter to be delivered (tomorrow! yay!) so I can make the final decision. The only thing holding me back is this darker gray color (right) that I'm doing on these old picture frames which I love, love, love....