Mustard Yellow Dresser

I had more fun playing with Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint!

I actually came across two of these dressers through an online garage sale page.  I brought them both home along with a few other pieces.  It actually had all the drawers, but I got a little excited about painting (as usual) and forgot to snap a before pic.

I didn't do a great job of taking pictures throughout.  But here is the finished product.  I sealed it with clear wax and found these awesome carved wood knobs at Hobby Lobby.

Now available at Twisted Vine in Papillion!

Spring Mantle

Now that spring is about over, I finally finished up my mantle.  Did you catch the sarcasm in my voice?  It's been 95% done for a month or so, but I keep messing with it.  I'm done and ready to share, finally ;) 

Unfortunately, the weather is cloudy and rainy today, so my pictures are not the best.  Sorry.  Hopefully I can take better ones on a brighter day, soon. 

I tried to keep the color story simple and bright.  I love the pops of yellow for spring!

I found the lemons and the wood pedestal at my local goodwill for 99 cents each!  Score!

The boxwood topiaries are from save-on-crafts.com.  The boxwood wreath is from decorsteals.com.

I made the bunting last year.  It is sheet moss from the craft store and I just glued paper letters on to spell "Spring" and glued it to some jute twine. 

 I think I will do a separate post about the window, but I found it at the Habitat Home Store for $10.  It was a pinterest project gone awry. It took many hours of scraping and cleaning, but I will use it for many years, so it was worth it!

Since it is a faux fireplace, I put a hydrangea arrangement in an antique powder crate to fill in the space at the bottom.  I would show you a less cropped picture, but at the moment, it's covered in legos.  It is a rainy day, after all. 

 There you have it...

Do you decorate any part of you house seasonally?

Blue-Gray Milk Paint Dresser

I've been throwing around the idea of becoming a certified Miss Mustard Seed retailer and teaching classes at Twisted Vine.  I ordered a kit that allows you to try all of the products before you dive into such a business venture.  I ordered my kit and and stalked the UPS man until it showed up.  Hehehe.  I was a kid in a candy store opening the box.  My kids seriously thought something was wrong with me. 

My kids were like "oh, just paint?  That's boring."  I do know that I have had some impact however...  My 3 yr old daughter, Rory, asked me the other day (while I was painting) "Is that milk paint or chalk paint Mommy?" I was sooo proud.

So, getting to the dresser...  I got so excited to paint that I neglected to take a before picture of it.  Gah!  It was in great shape, but it was very orange.  It was very large and had a matching bedside table. It had these neat, wooden, architectural pulls on it that it's previous owner thought were awful.   I thought that they could be amazing, if they were painted.  I could seriously just kick myself for not taking a before.

Anyway... I had ordered "French Enamel" Milk Paint and I had some "Trophy" Milk Paint from a desk I had done a few months ago.  I mixed them 3:1 and got this color.

With Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint, I would suggest mixing it up, then stir some more, let it sit for 10 minutes and stir again.  I also stir throughout the painting process to keep the pigments suspended in the liquid.  I've found that stirring every few minutes keeps the color more consistent. 

If the piece will allow (meaning if the doors will still function well) I like to paint the insides of the drawers.  I think it makes pieces look more finished.  So I painted the insides white and then got to work on the fronts of the drawers.  It hadn't gotten warm here yet, so I was stuck painting in my entryway.

Once dry, the drawers naturally chipped beautifully!  I LOVE it when that happens!  Waiting for Milk Paint to dry is so hard for me to do because I am one of the most impatient people on the planet.  I usually paint and let things dry overnight so I don't stand there pacing and watching the paint dry. 

I then did the body of the dresser and nightstand and then painted all of the knobs white and distressed them.

I was very excited to use Miss Mustard Seeds Furniture Wax.  I had heard wonderful things, but had only ever used Annie Sloan brand.  It was FANTASTIC!!!  Beyond excited how easy it was to use and the finish it provided.  I was literally giddy, just ask my husband.  So, a waxing I went...

Here's how she came out!  Seriously folks, this one had to go to the shop immediately because I almost hauled it up to Eli's bed room.  I would have had to repaint his walls, but ya know, no biggie, right?  This is for sale now at Twisted Vine in Papillion. 

Who out there has had any experience with Milk Paint?  Have you used the Miss Mustard Seed brand and do you have a favorite color? 

Linking up at Miss Mustard Seed - Furniture Feature Friday

The Longest Blogging Hiatus Ever...

Well... I'm pretty sure that I have just taken the longest blog writing hiatus ever.  There's really no excuse other than I've been busy.  Lots of changes happened over the holiday season.  The shop that I was selling furniture at, Unique Boutique, closed and is currently selling at craft shows and online.  If you haven't checked them out yet, take a minute and head over to their facebook page. They make the cutest wood signs.  Such nice, wonderful, and very talented people. 

During their closing process, I got asked to sell at a new collective called Twisted Vine that would be opening up just after Christmas.  It's a vintage shop/wine shop/canvas painting studio.  They've got a little of everything. They have a website (where you can sign up for a class) and a facebook page.  Please check them out.  It's a little different concept on the generic "corky canvas" places that are popping up all over.

Some pics of the shop...

It really is a neat space.  It's an old hardware store in downtown Papillion.  They kept as much of the original architecture as they could. 



Now that the weather is nice (ish), I have also been able to dive into the list of custom orders that had piled up over the winter.  Yay!  More details and pics on what I've been up to.  I promise it won't be another 6 months before I blog.

Decorating for Fall!

I finally caved and pulled out some fall decor.  We've had some crazy high heat indexes this week in Nebraska and finally the heat wave broke, a little.  So... Here's what I've got going on for my mantle.  More pics & details to come once this crazy week is over.

I LOVE FALL!!!

Shutter Cabinet - My 1st Attempt Using MMS Milk Paint

I took the plunge and ordered some Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint (MMS) in four colors.  I ordered Linen, Kitchen Scale, Lucketts Green, and Artissimo. I ended up using 3 of them on this cabinet to obtain an old, chippy, painted and repainted antique look.  This cabinet turned out better than I'd hoped.  In fact, I think my hubby actually wanted to keep it ;)

I found this Shutter Cabinet at Goodwill. I thought it would lend itself well to the chippy distressed look of milk paint. I'm also kind of a sucker for the stained top, painted bottom look on furniture at the moment.  Gel Stripper time!  

The top was particularly yucky. I wasn't sure if it would take stain once prepped, but figured it was worth a shot. 

It was probably the fastest stripping job so far. The old clear coat & stain came up in less than 15 minutes!  

Here it is all stripped, sanded, & ready for stain...

I used Minwax "Special Oak" (I think it's a new color). Painted it on with a chip brush, waited 5 minutes, & wiped it off with a clean dry rag in the direction of the wood grain.   Once dry, I sealed the wood top with 2 coats of Polycrylic spray so it's good an durable. 

I use old, but clean, t-shirts (the ones that get yellow in the armpits or have stains or small holes)  cotton t-shirts are great for staining! It's kind of recycling, right?

The top all stained and drying.

Then I removed the shutter doors & hardware and got to painting.  I brushed on Lucketts Green and Linen here and there (hoping they would just peek through).  I also did the same for the front and outside of the cabinet.  Then I let them dry and covered everything with 2 coats of Kitchen Scale.

I let it set overnight to do it's "chippy thing."  I was so excited the next morning an almost couldn't contain myself.  I'm certain I skipped breakfast and even coffee to get out to the garage as fast a possible (with 2 toddlers in tow).  No worries, I did feed the kids, though then may have been in their pj's roaming the back yard that morning ;)

Before attempting this new paint I watched A LOT of tutorials online.  Miss Mustard Seed's website has some great ones.  They show you how to mix & apply the paint and also what to do if you do or do not want a chippy look.  Check them out here if you are interested. 

I took a putty knife/scraper and lightly scraped all over and let the paint chip where it wanted to.  If you are a type A control freak, milk paint chippy finish is NOT going to be your friend.  You really have to let go and hope for the best.

Here is one of the shutter doors.  I was Super-Duper excited by this point!

I finished the inside using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in "Paris Gray"  I thought it would be a nice neutral accent to the teal & green colors coming through the paint. 

Once I was done "chipping" I very, very lightly sanded everything with 220 grit sandpaper, mostly just to make sure everything had a nice finish.  Then I waxed it with clear Annie Sloan Wax and buffed to get that lovely sheen that AS wax gives you.  LOVE IT!

I've been working on this post for a week or so, in the time it took me to finally get a blog post done (it has been a crazy busy summer) this cute little cabinet sold at my shop.  If you'd like to see what else I have available, check out my Facebook page or head down to Unique Boutique in Fremont. 

A better shot of the stained top.

Some chippy goodness!

The knobs are from Hobby Lobby.

I'm considering my first milk paint attempt a success.  We will see what my milk paint future holds.  I am much more comfortable with Annie Sloan, but I think back to when I first started using Annie Sloan and was nervous about that too.  Just dive in, right?

Have you tried out any of the brands of Milk Paint out there?  I'd love to hear your opinions of them.

Linking up at:
Liz Marie Blog Inspire Me Linky Party
Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Feature Friday Link Party

Late Summer Mantle

I wracked my brain looking for inspiration for my post Red, White, & Blue Mantle. I needed something easy to get me to fall. I LOVE decorating for fall!!!  

The shutters were in the works, getting painted. I had planned on just photographing them on my mantle before taking them to the shop to sell... and then, I kinda liked them. 

So I found these yellow hydrangea pots at an estate sale for $5.  Yes, you read that right... $5.  I love a deal!  

Then I added a few darker elements...

 A birdcage... This one is from Hobby Lobby. 

My iron/glass star that I've had FOREVER.  It's from Target. It's over 7 years old. I still love it.  It moves all over my house. 

This pedestal candle holder was a wedding gift from a family friend, the Thalkens  they have a flower shop back home & have the most amazing taste. This piece also migrates around my house, but is always out. 

My hubby recently brought home a Wood Wick Candle. He told me they crackle. I was like "oh great, more noise in the house... Wonderful."  It actually is pretty wonderful!  The noise doesn't bother me unless the kids are in bed, I'm home alone, & the TV is off.  Then it makeshift jumpy (I'm a HUGE chicken when home alone).  What he didnt tell me was that along with a lovely vanilla spice scent, it also has a hint of burning wood (think fireplace in winter).  It's WONDERFUL!  So... Big fan of this candle.  

Do you seasonally decorate?  Do you have accessory pieces that are out all year, but migrate around?