My love of chalk painted started when I stumbled upon a home decor boutique in Monument, CO. The store displayed their decor items on furniture that had been treated to look “worn” and had that “chipped paint” look I liked. The shop owner showed me the Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan that was used to create these timeless pieces. Then, he showed me the classroom where he offered Chalk Paint classes. Of course, I took the classes and I was hooked. This was the answer I had been looking for for many years. I had many pieces of furniture I had collected from garage sales and thrift stores that just needed to be refinished and brought back to life. My first project, my dining room Louis chairs that I have for over 10 years. I used layers upon layers of paint to emulate old world French furniture. I utilized the techniques I had learned from class and discovered a few techniques of my own. The Interior Door Project A Wish Come True I searched through many resources to find the right interior doors. But it took longer than I expected. Of course, if the budget had been unlimited, it would have been a “bit” easier and faster to accomplish. But I wasn’t part of unlimited budget decor club so I needed to search for ideas that were within my realm of spending. However, when it came right down to it, I kept saving the exact same dark distressed door, over… read more
Wow! What a whirl wind of travel this Spring and Summer this year is going to be! But first, PARIS. Like most of us, Paris is on most people’s travel bucket list. It’s just a very unique and romantic culture filled with recognizable land marks full of history. On this girls trip to Paris, we had about seven full days in Paris the first week of May. Usually it is getting warm in France by this time of year according to our contact in Paris, but this year it was a bit unseasonable cooler. So we were well prepared for the cool weather and set out to have a great time with or without an umbrella and our puffer coats. On our first night at Le Grand Hotel we were greeted with someone else’s birthday dessert. For a moment we thought it was for us. But I notified room service and they had made a mistake. When they came to pick up the birthday cake they arrived with a beautiful tray of macarons for our “troubles!” Im glad I called in to room serve, but the other two wants to eat the cake! – – Karma girls, karma! But the treats in our hotel didn’t stop us from having a second dessert after dinner with our friend and guide who took us all over Paris! I couldn’t stop taking pictures of these doors. I loved the architecture! Paris building and storefronts – took tons of photos of them, too! Here… read more
Abstract Easter Sugar Cookies Easter always seems to be the kick-off to creating new designs of sugar cookies. This year however, I didn’t have much time think about Easter sugar cookies designs due to Fur Ball, a charity event that I help organize, was just a week apart. So I needed a quick but fun sugar cookie design that didn’t have too many details yet was still cute and festive. Here is the recipe for the sugar cookies: Perfect Sugar Cookie
Let the Demo Begin! I decided to save a “little” money and demo the floors myself. I pulled out every staple from the linoleum! They say you can hammer them into the sub floor, but I wanted a solid smooth base. Linoleum Floors – no so easy to remove! I didn’t think that the old linoleum floors were going to give me such trouble. I definitely need a breaker bar in some areas. Boy were my hands sore! Wow! What a difference a 10 days makes. We love the new look of the “wood” tiles. The heating system is simply a wonderful thing. It makes the tiles and the room warm. Perfect for cold Colorado winter days!
