b a b y   d r e s s e r 

My client Devon found me through Blooming Kids, a local kids store in our area where I sell some of my furniture.  She was looking for a dresser to use in her new baby nursery. She explained what she was looking for and the price range. It took me a while to find a dresser for her that fit the description since I have been busy being a mom this summer and doing painting in my spare time {umm, who has spare time with two little kids... I managed to find some}.

 Now this isn't something I normally do, personal shop for clients, but if you give me a good description of something you want and the price range, I will look for you as I look for other items to go in my shop. 

My rules with this are, do you mind waiting a while, sometimes I am lucky and find what you are looking for and other times I just can't find it. The other rule is, I will only personal shop for you if I know I can resell the piece in my shop if it turns out not to be what you really wanted. If you do request this service from me, be patient. I am starting a part time job, I have a household to run, and a shop to fill with hand painted furniture.

If you really are dying for a piece and can't wait, but you don't know how to  paint it, I can give you ideas where to go find things and once you find the piece{s} I will paint them for you. It works out be about the same amount of money.

 Anyway, it is fun to hunt and find things for people. 

Ok back to Devon's baby dresser.

Here is the before

Here is what I did

It looks so fresh in the shop, I think once Devon picks it up I need to replace it with another white piece.

 linked up to.
Primitive & Proper
http://www.perfectlyimperfectblog.com/2011/09/all-things-furniture-features-party-10.html
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/

 h o u n d s t o o t h   -    s e a g r a s s   b e n c h

My set of sea grass benches arrived last week. The quality is great and the price was even better. You never know what you are going to get when you order online.

Thank you to all who helped me to decide what fabric to go with, the blue houndstooth is beautiful.  The scale of the houndstooth design was a lot larger than I had anticipated but I like it even more. It is a bit more graphic in a larger scale and the color is a perfect match.

Did you notice I took my rug out? My house is 101 years old and gets dusty very easily. With my husband and children having dusty allergies, I took all of the rugs out of my downstairs. With the rug out, I still needed some texture around or under the table, it looked a bit bare. I placed the biggest sea grass bench under the table for more storage and it helps add back texture now that the rug is gone.

 More accessories still need to be added in this room. I am not a knick-knacky person, maybe that is the "modern" in me. But the "cottage" knows that accessories can really make a room feel more lived in.

This is my struggle.

Anyway, I adore the new benches.

m y   n e w   d e s k

I took my old peacock blue desk out of my office to put it in the new studio, for sale.

This is a really wonderful desk and I sure hope it goes to a good new home.

I really needed a bigger desk for my office and I had one in my storage waiting for a transformation.

This desk got the same paint, distressing and wax as my old desk {click here for that post}.

This is the last piece of furniture I am painting this color for a while, I need a break from it. Don't get me wrong, it is one of my favorite colors, but I am not going to decorate my whole house in peacock-turquoise  blue. It is good for a fun pop of color in small doses.

Since I am showing pics of my office {which I haven't done in a while} look at my great spindle shelf. This was $5.99 at thrift store, already painted black, for once I didn't have to paint something!

{fun baskets from Target}

My old desk is in the new studio. Now that I am loading finished pieces into the studio I am totally inspired. I have some really fabulous ideas to share with you in the next few weeks as I do the finishing touches on it. It is like a new room in my house to decorate, love it!

j u s t     a     s n e a k    p e e k   

I am halfway done with finishing the new studio. The online shop, and by appointment only for local shoppers, will be ready to open September 14th.

I still need to paint half of the floors, finish my sign and fill the second half of the studio with pieces that are almost done. 

Here is a picture of just a corner of the new studio.

I will slowly start adding pictures on the Shop Modern Cottage tab. I don't have prices or dimensions posted yet.

f a v o r i t e    h o u s e    f r i d a y

I wasn't actually going to do a fhf today. I was perusing through listings earlier this week and I was sort of  uninspired. If I am going to do a fhf for y'all I want it to be good! I got back online this morning and this home came up, not sure what to call it, a farmhouse? Whatever it is I would it looks magical. 

It is beautiful here right now in Western Washington, tonight would be a perfect night to sit on this porch and drink sweet tea.

The listing is

here.

Can't you imagine big family holiday parties here!? Lovely home.

s h e   d i d   w h a t ?

{a tale of three tables and a very long day}

Yesterday was the last day of day camp for my kids. Once or twice a week I have been taking them to day camp, because things are getting a bit boring for them around here. On the other days we do get out and do fun things but it is nice for me to have one day a week to work.

That was my plan for yesterday. 

I was going to fix up a new table for the living room {since I stole the blue table for the family room},  do a little cleaning, paint the studio floors, and get started on a client's dresser.

It did not go as planned. I brought the antique table up from the basement, chopped the legs down to coffee table height and as I was trying to put the newly chopped legs back on the table I found a problem. These legs were wobbly, too wobbly. I went back and forth to the hardware store two times this day getting bigger screws and L brackets. I tried everything, I worked on this table for hours and the legs were still wobbly. I was sweaty and mad at the table. About 30 minutes before I was to pick up the kids I thought...hmmm...what about the pedestal table base I have in the basement {yes, the random things I have stored down there}? I carried the pedestal base up the stairs and plopped the bad brown table on top.

{I thougth it was funny so I took a picture of it}

I thought, "This might just work!". The only problem was that the table was a bit higher that I originally wanted for this room, but perfect for the family room with chairs under it.

So back went the blue table into the living room, and the new table into the family room.

Today I painted it, it took six coats of paint. I am not joking.

I think it turned out adorable. Now I am not so mad at this table.

linked up to these fun parties-
http://www.perfectlyimperfectblog.com/2011/08/all-things-furniture-9.html
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

a r o u n d   m y   h o u s e 

I didn't get anything painted this weekend, nada. My husband just got back from China and my kids are in the end of the summer frenzies. 

The kids are bored of being home all the time, so my "go to" distractions to keep them happy and busy aren't working. I am not getting much done around here for the business.

On another subject. Do you do this? I am sitting in my family room yesterday, totally uninspired by the space. The colors, the arrangement, everything...I needed a change. I have moved coffee table/end tables in and out of this room but the basic layout has always been the same.
 Late yesterday afternoon, I switched where my loveseat and couch were, so now the big couch is along the wall of windows. Much, much better. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner, I mean really I am the queen of moving things around. This blog should be called thisladycrazymovesherfurniturearounddailyneedshelp.blogspot.com

{before}

{after}

I have to add, I  am not a "leather" person. The couches are purely for the fact that I have two little kids that basically live in this room- snacks, art, eveything. If I had my way I would have a nice fluffy down filled, white slip covered sectional. Maybe in ten years.

After the couch moving, I was only left with two problems. The proportion of the old kids/art/coffee table didn't work now and I hated my pillows, I needed to add cooler colors in to balance the brown of the couches and the yellow walls. I moved the big blue coffee table from the living room into this room {the new pillows have the same blue as the coffee table!}, and I think it is great {don't worry I have another great table for the living room to move into there, I do have furniture from my studio and basement waiting to be worked on that sometimes I snag for myself}

The pillows are from TJ Maxx. I returned some stuff that wasn't the right size and got new pillows! I almost never buy pillows, I always make them. It was nice to buy them for once, instant gratification without sewing.

Lastly, I hate my camera. I am smiling in the picture- but look at my lame camera! I am claiming this to be the reason my pictures are always a bit off. I usually photo edit them before posting but they still don't always work.

Someday I want a new camera, but it isn't in the budget right now.

i   c a n ' t   f a l l   b a c k   a s l e e p

This never happens to me. I just woke up, it is 430a in the morning and I can't go back to sleep. There is nothing on tv so I might as well do a blog post. 

I have a thing for seagrass, you might, or might not have noticed. Mostly in the form of baskets, but I do have seagrass dining chairs that I adore. To me seagrass has a casual, beachy, cottage feel and it adds texture to a room. 

I have been searching for a seagrass bench for my livingroom, I need it for extra seating and maybe even storage.

I wanted a long bench or trunk to run a long the side of my coffee table {sorry not a great picture to describe where I will put the bench, I would take a picture specifically for this post but it is 430am!}

Here are some of the bench/trunks I looked at buying.

via

Great bench, good quality, wrong color seagrass and too expensive

via
This bench is perfect, I would paint the legs black though. But this bench is only available in 20 inch square right now, and that won't work

via

I actually love this, not a bench but a coffee table. But it was a little out of my budget and I was concerned that the color might be too dark, hard to tell from the picture.

So, what did I buy? Something I will have to redo and mess with of course! The price is right, I get two for one, but they need work to be fabulous.





via

I am going to paint the legs of the big guy black, and the brown tops have to go. So, now I need to shop for fabric. I have a lot of fabric already going on in this room, I will have to pick something out that will coordinate well. That is what I am doing now, at 430a in the morning.
Here are some options.


Too yellow with the seagrass, not enough contrast, nah.





via
hmm..I do like this one. I am wondering about the texture on this, could be all wrong.




I do love houndstooth, and the proportion of the print is good, but maybe in blue instead.

via

I am leaning toward the chevron, what do you think? Maybe I should go back and try to get another hour of sleep and make the decision in the morning.

f a v o r i t e   h o u s e    f r i d a y

I am not going to do a neighborhood tour today like I had planned. I found out from the neighborhood watch that someone has been taking pictures of people's homes while walking their dogs, to share with potential thieves {do I really have to clarify the crazy dog walker- picture takers are not Molly and me!}. Molly and I saw posters up with pictures of the dog walker thieves, saying "We know who you are". We thought this is weird but now we know what the posters are about, catching the thieves. Anyway, we don't want any trouble on our daily mommy walks, so no more pictures.  

Sorry, boo, I had a lot more fun homes to show you.

Anyway, I found this home on the MLS and it is super cute, not fancy but sweet {still kind of pricey though}.

My favorite things about this house-

* The living room, everything about it, love love*

*The dining room. I like how they mixed up the style of chairs*

*The grey wall color of the walls in the bedroom*

*Striped walls in bathroom. Unexpected and fun, cheery to wake up to*

*The mirrored buffet and yellow velvet chairs*

*THE WINE ROOM, I am crazy for that. I love wine, doesn't matter if it is white or red. Yumm*