Some Projects Take a Little Longer Than Others.....

Seriously, I am working on that procrastination thing! Remember this? I think I first posted it somewhere around last November! Then I posted stages of it! Then it got stuck in the back of my priority list. But at last.....

 

...it is done, done, done!

 

 

I am not quite sure why it took this long except that I get distracted by the next wonderful thing to come along. But the Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan transformation is amazing. To cover up the awful vinyl contact paper at the back of the cabinet, we wall papered old music to the back. Then we used Annie Sloan two-part Craqueleur to crack the surface and used a wash of King Gold Gilding Wax over the surface to give it glimmer. The cabinet is lighted and features two glass shelves, one with a plate groove.

The doors are charming with the original metal grid in the original deep brass color. Below is a cabinet to tuck away linens and a silverware box. I just wonder what took me so long! I hope you are charmed by it!

Who Lives Here Anyway???

Funny thing happened last Tuesday. A group of junking friends were together and one said to me, "I'd love to see all the cool painted stuff at your house." Another one laughed...."There's no cool painted stuff at her house!" Hello!?!?! Why not?

               My Boring Living Room -- Best Feature Picture Window looking out to the woods!

Then, next day a new customer comes into the shop. "Oh, I just love this place. Your house must be amazing!" Dan looked at me; I looked at him and we burst out laughing!

                                  Standard 1999 development area kitchen....yawwwwnnnn!

                                                Most exciting thing is the dated wall color!

So why isn't my house as cool as my shop? The answer is: lack of passion. The shop has been a work of love and totally unfettered self-consciousness. This has happened only once in my home -- when I first moved in, and missing my 12 years in Europe, I decorated my dining room to reflect my Swiss years.

                      Typography and postmarked walls, art from Europe, sleek table and chairs.

It is in a bit of disarray at moment because of a beautiful screen I purchased from the talented Jeanene Dean of Serendipity House and it doesn't quite fit the space. But we are just talking a need to rearrange things.

So now I am on a new mission. Releasing my true self in decorating my home to be as cool as the shop. Truly at the moment, I prefer the look of the shop and love every aspect of it except for the parts where we haven't redone the floors and walls (powder room and workshop transformations yet to come). But I need to have some chandeliers at home and enjoy my new found skills at painting in the kitchen and living room. I've already started scouting cool new pieces to incorporate in our home. I'm looking at things with a new eye! Not what is practical, but that which impassions me. 

The first quick fix was the entrannce to our home. Hello, Aubusson Blue and Pure White! Chalk Paint® decorative paint is going to make this easy! Welcome home, Annie Sloan! Thank you for all the inspiration and release from my humdrum old ways! Stay tuned as we progress! 

New Products and New Classes!

TLC Vintage Collection went on a little trip to Saint Louie to visit Rose Wilde at Wood Icing! I am always so amazed when I look at a product thinking, "I could never do that!" Then you take the class and it is so easy, you wonder why you didn't try it sooner!

Wood Icing arrives in the shop today, and I can't wait to share it with everyone. Embelish every little thing you want -- cigar boxes, kitchen cabinet doors, jewelry boxes, furniture!

So with that in mind, and with Memorial Day behind me and undertaking about 800 SF of walls and floors in the shop -- I finally have the summer schedule of classes up and posted. There should be something for everyone! Chalk Paint® 101 is offered each month, a session of Refunk your Junk, a two parter due to dry time for Wood Icing, and a Crackle and Shine session. And don't forget Studio Time can be scheduled at your convenience.

For a full schedule, please visit my website at http://www.tlcvintagecollection.com/Take-a-Workshop.html

Thanks for reading and have an awesome day!

Balancing Act in a Busy World

Here at TLC Vintage Collection, central Iowa's headquarters for Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan, the days just fly by. They are filled with decorating the shop, completing custom painted pieces, hunting out new pieces, keeping inventories up to meet demand and searching out new products to bring into the store!

Oh, did I mention that I still have insurance clients, two children, their spouses and four growing grandchildren, a house, a garden and, and, and.

Sounds familiar doesn't it? Change the details but your list goes on and on too! So it is a balancing act and sometimes it gets out of equilibrium -- not just for a day or two but for months on end. Welcome to starting a new business!

So honestly, I am trying to get the house and garden back under control -- a stolen hour or two at a time. Welcome to what I now affectionately call, The Jungle!

I was a Master Gardener up to two years ago, but they may have dropped me from the files as I haven't kept my certification up to date with classes and volunteer hours. So for two falls, the garden has been abandoned. Enter me with a machete and hubs with loads of mulch. I have some Roundup to back me up! Fortunately the garden had good bones and most of the beds are just weedy -- not dead! Can't wait to get the herbs planted! I can't wait for the humming birds to return! Meanwhile, the Jays and Cardinals are loving the leftover thistle seeds! LOL.

The house -- never mind. Those who fall in love with my shop would be amazed at the lack of theme at home, but we will get there!

And then there is the most important thing to remember -- family! Poor hubs retired from his career of 45 plus years and immediately got pressed into two 7-day weeks! Seriously! A Sunday class followed by Junk Jubilee, then a six day week with the Just For Her Expo.....But we did manage to take off last Sunday and have someone very special over for dinner and birthday cake!

Eisley turned three so everything was pink and lavender! And then there was trying to get four kids from one to eight years old to pose for a photo!

Well, close. But I just need to stop and smell the roses, errrrr bleeding hearts, maybe? And remember that all things do grow with love -- and that is the true balance we need!