A huge Thank You to my amazing friends who think of me when they have furniture they want to move out of their homes. Sometimes I'm amazed at the furniture pieces they pass along, but I also understand the need for a refresh in your home. I'm actually going through a refresh phase myself right now too and have plans to paint almost every wall in my house! More on that later. Today, I want to show you the new pre-owned table I now have in stock and my plan to refinish ...
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Latest from the Blog
The Best Paint for Chairs, Benches, and Table Bases
When you paint as many chairs as I have, you get to know which water-based paints work best and which do not. There are some paints that do not adhere well and some that are more work to apply than others. After all the trial and error over the past several years, I've been able to find, in my opinion, the best water-based paint for chairs.
Maybe this post should be titled, The Second Best Paint For Chairs. Oil-based paint is actually the most durable and probably the very best choice ...
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Cauliflower Fried Rice
I'm sort of a rice addict and often add way too much rice to my chicken dishes. Jasmine, Basmati, or brown rice. It doesn't matter, I love them all. But too much rice, makes me gain weight :-(. So to cut down on the carbs, I make cauliflower fried rice. It's delicious!
Did you know that cauliflower takes on the taste of other foods and sauces you cook with it? Yup, it does, which makes it super versatile to adapt to your own taste.
I learned to make cauliflower fried rice a few ...
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Today’s (& Yesterday’s) Wood Cane Accent Chairs
Vintage wood cane chairs are classic. The mid-century ones, like most mid-century furniture with its clean lines, are timeless. But did you know there's a modern take on those older classics? Today, I'd like to show you a high-low wood cane chair makeover and few modern wood cane accent chairs that I'm absolutely loving.
Yesterday's Wood Cane Chair
Let's start with the vintage high-low makeover. A client found a black painted cane chair online that she absolutely loved. I ...
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How to Use One Curtain Panel to Make a Curtain, a Valance, and a Pillow Cover
Whenever I purchase new curtain panels for a room, I always buy one or two of the panels in a longer length so I have extra fabric . This extra fabric is used to make valances and pillow covers. Last week I made a both with the extra fabric from our bedroom curtains. Even if you're not skilled at sewing curtains, these are some of the easiest valances you can make.
1. Curtain Panel
Our bedroom curtains rods are mounted for a standard 84-inch curtain panel. I realize now that ...
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How to Create the Charcoal Gray Wood Finish Using Paint
You may have seen the charcoal gray wood finish when searching for furniture on Wayfair, Amazon, or any of the furniture stores. These pieces have the grain of real wood and look like they've been stained with a dark gray stain. Well, today I'm going to show you how to re-create that look on any piece of furniture using paint and glaze.
Let's say you have a table or a dresser that you would like to refinish in a modern gray but the thought of sanding it all down in order to stain it is ...
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Our Home Project List & the Sticker Shock!
In the last post I showed you our home project list and let you know that I was going to start pricing out and prioritizing the projects. If you missed that one, you can see it HERE. As I explained, we haven't needed to do any major home repairs until now and they're all starting to pile up. The problem is that since I haven't needed to shop for items or services in a very long time, I'm having severe sticker shock. Keep reading to see what I mean...
STEP 2: Make the Spreadsheet ...
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It’s Time For a Plan – Creating a Home Project List & Pricing it All Out
Do you know the sayings... "a carpenter's house always needs work" or "an architect's house is always leaking"? Sometimes it gets to be that way in our house. We're so busy doing work for others that we put off work in our own home. Well, it's time to stop putting off projects and make a plan for some major repairs.
My husband and I built our house 19 years ago. Other than paint and basic upkeep, we've done very few major repairs or renovations to the house since then. The problem is ...
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Favorite Finds on Amazon
Welcome back! Has anyone else been watching movies and doing some online shopping waiting for these winter months to pass? Well, join the club. Here are a few of my favorite finds on Amazon this month. A laptop bag, my favorite black work pants, a blender we use every day, and more.
Has anyone else felt overwhelmed by the political news? I know I have; and yet, I've been completely captivated by the process - listening to every bit of news (from all sides) that I can take in and ...
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Refinishing a Butcher Block Table & Set of Chairs
Back in early November before the weather here in New England turned too cold to paint and stain, a client (and now friend) ask me to refinish her butcher block table and set of chairs. I've refinished a few of these tables and chairs and while they are time-consuming, removing the clear-coat finish from the tabletop is pretty predictable.
Butcher block tables appear to have a very heavy clear-coat on the surface. And the finish is very durable. But in comparison to antique ...
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2020 Year in Review: The Paint and Finishes I Used Most
Year-end is the perfect time to review the projects you’ve completed throughout the year. Doing so, you're able to see trends in your projects and determine which ones you'd like to do more of and the future direction of where you could go. So here's my 2020 Year in Review, the paints and finishes I used used most, and the direction I think 2021 will take me.
Looking back at the past year allows me to see which paint and stain techniques I’ve used most, the types of furniture pieces ...
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The Best Pot Roast You Will Ever Eat
My husband makes the BEST pot roast I have ever had and today I'm going to share this super simple recipe with you. It's a one-pot meal that you place in the over and cook low and slow for 5 hours. The result is a super soft beef with flavorful carrots, potatoes, and onions. It's absolutely mouth-watering and gluten-free!
Ingredients
The amounts in this recipe are for a family of 5 adults like ours. We usually use about 4-1/2 lbs of beef. This can consist of one ...
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