Thursday, August 30, 2012

*Holly's Life*

If you follow me on Pinterest you would notice that I have been pinning a lot of ideas for my son's room.  He is now 8 years old and is ready for a more grown-up room.  
We (or I should say I persuaded him) decided on gray, orange and navy for the colors.  My inspiration came from this room from It All Started with Paint.  I am using navy instead of black. 

He is dying to have a bunk bed so he can sleep on a top bunk.  We have decided to make a loft bed in the style of this one.  This will allow for a dresser to go underneath and he can still have his top bunk.  As some of you may know we are hoping to adopt a child/ren so my husband is going to make the bed so that, if needed, we can add a bed underneath to make a L-shape bunk bed.   
My son's room has a boring white ceiling fan so I am hoping to do something like this with gray chevron stripes.
Source:  Design Sponge
And finally, I have been eyeing these shelves made from pipe and plank wood... so I definitely will be putting these in his room too.  
The room has already been painted now it is time to get to  work on the fun part...decorating!!
Source:  Brick House


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

*Holly Paint*

I've been having fun painting a lot of different pieces these past few weeks. Here is a few more completed pieces....

 This Waterfall style nightstand was on the side of the road ready for a trip to the dump when my husband stopped and picked it up for me!  Better than flowers any day...he knows me well!
I painted it antique off-white, distressed and sealed with wax.  The handle is from Anthropologie.

This chair has been stored in my garage for awhile now and I finally pulled it out and gave it a coat of black paint.  I distressed it lightly and sealed with polyacrylic.  
I then rummaged through my fabric stash and came up with the
 Ruffle Pillow for the chair.

I found these matching End Tables at a garage sale this summer.  Once again a coat of black paint and poly acrylic for protection.  
I had a client ask me to keep my eyes open for a headboard and dresser for her bedroom.  
She wanted something that would be painted white and shabby.
When I came across this headboard on Craiglist I was so excited because it had amazing potential.  It also was a part of a whole set: Armoire, Dresser and 2 Nightstands.  
I was hoping the dresser would work for my client but it is too big...but I'm going to use it in my bedroom (So Excited!!).  

Here it is all painted white and distressed. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the carving detail.  Can't wait to get my hands on the dresser...I'm thinking I might go turquoise!!
I just love old furniture!  I think the lady who was selling this set thought I was crazy to like this old bedroom set...if only she could see it now!


Primitive and Proper

Thursday, July 26, 2012

*Holly Paint*

I've been working on a few smaller pieces of furniture these past couple of weeks. 

I found this table awhile ago and knew I wanted to add some character to it.  So I went with turquoise and a chevron stripe.  

This nightstand was so ugly when I found it a thrift store.  I painted it a light turquoise and added the pink flowered paper on the back. 
This set of french provincial nightstands are a rare find!  They are painted a pearl white and lightly distressed.  This set is going home with client who bought the matching dresser awhile back.
This cabinet is going to make a great new nightstand for a young client who is going away to college.
She wanted something modern and fun.  
So I kept the outside simple, classic white...
but added "fun" with a pop of color inside the cabinet and drawer. 
Now, I'm off for a full day of painting!  
On my to-do list:
Black matching end tables
Black chair 
Shabby Chic Headboard
and who knows what else I will pull out to paint!
Primitive and Proper

Monday, July 9, 2012

*Holly Paint*

When I found this vanity I knew that I would need to find some fun handles to give this piece some character.  
While out shopping one day I found some greenish-blue knobs that were perfect for this pieces. 
I painted the vanity pearl white, lightly distressed it and then sealed it with wax. 
Here is a close-up of the greenish-blue knobs. 
I paired the vanity with a stool and mirror that I had in my collection of stuff!  I painted the mirror and stool a greenish-blue first so it would show through when it was distressed.  I wanted to pull in the color of the knobs...so this did the trick.



Monday, June 18, 2012

*Wedding*

What a fun day we had yesterday as we celebrated the marriage of our good friends. 
My husband and I got to spend Father's Day together doing our favorite things...
bar-b-que and desserts!
A fun sign....inspiration from Love Is... blog








This cute little cake top was made by the couple!

 The Bride and Groom each choose their own cupcake flavor and a favorite cookie.  The Bride wanted Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting and Russian Tea Cakes.  The Groom asked for Haystack cookies and a Coffee Flavored Cupcake.  I was having a hard time coming up with an idea for the coffee cupcake without using chocolate.  After some research I found a Brown Sugar Cupcake recipe and made a Coffee Buttercream.  But to make it just a little bit better I filled the  middle with homemade Caramel Sauce...so good!

 P.S.  Thank you to my brother who made the caramel sauce...he is a dessert chef so he knows what he is doing!
 
My husband made this amazing cupcake tower for me.  I came to him with this idea and he made it even better.  The cupcake stand can have tiers removed/added to make any size of stand needed for my dessert buffets.  The couple wanted the poles to be purple but I wanted to be able to re-use this stand so I didn't want to paint them.  Then I thought to myself "Why not sew fabric tubes that can be interchangeable for all color schemes?"  Worked Perfectly!!



The Dessert Buffet
Gotta love my husband who was willing to pack up my kitchen table!

 The only thing I would like to do differently is have a back drop so you don't see all the "extra" stuff in the background.

Oh...I also would have had a little less wind I was so scared the tower was going to tumble over...scary!





My husbands huge b-b-q.
 He designed and made that thing himself!  
And in honor of Father's Day let me tell you a little bit about this guy. 
 He can make, fix, build and do just about anything that my crazy mind thinks up.  He has a degree in engineering and a general's contractors licenses and a mind that goes a mile a minute.  Because of these abilities (and great patients with me and my picky-ness) he is able to put up with me and my ever changing design ideas.
He also is a great Dad...who I think has officially inspired my 8 year old son to want to be a b-b-q chef! 

 Without him Holly Do. would not be possible. 


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

*Holly Paint*

A client asked me to keep my eyes open for a wardrobe for her new house. Her and her finance have recently moved into an older home that doesn't have any closets so she need someplace to hang her clothes. We both were looking for at least 2 months and finally found this one.  The flower details on the top and the drawers were perfect.  It had a crown molding trim on it when I picked it up but it had been cut so it could fit in a room...so my husband put on a new molding.
I painted it a pearl white and distressed lightly. 
 But my favorite part is the drawers inside.  The client was wanting some color but since she knows her colors will change over time she didn't want to commit to the whole piece being a color.  So we decided to put the color on the inside for only her to see!  I mixed a custom light turquoise and then painted on the chalkboard paint for the labels. 
I painted dots around the chalkboard rectangles for some fun.   Just Perfect!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

*Holly Paint*

A client asked me to re-do this cabinet that was her husbands from his old home. As you can see it was really basic and plain. She wanted to use it as a bar so some major 
reconstructing had to be done!
My husband removed the bottom 2 drawers and put in shelves.  I painted the cabinet a shabby black with light distressing. Then painted the shelves a dark red for a pop of color. The cabinet door was trimmed with molding for an added detail.


The cabinet use to be a place to hang clothes.  So my husband took out the closet rod and put in a shelf and a
 wine rack for wine glasses.
  
Now this piece is ready for Entertaining!