a   w i n n e r   a n d   a   r e v e a l

I am on a roll this week, three dressers done and it is only Wednesday! 

I finished this bow front dresser yesterday and I am not sure if I want to sell it! I really adore it and it would look great in my family room. But who knows, I might paint another piece next week and want to keep that one instead.

I sanded with my palm sander, primed with a stain blocker, sanded again with a fine grit sand paper, then added three coats of this kelley green paint. This paint was an oops paint that I bought years ago, I don't know the color of it, but I love it. Then I distressed the edges. I haven't sealed this piece yet because I am debating on whether to add a dark wax to really bring out the age and character of the piece. For my own home I don't have a whole lot of distressed and aged pieces so it might look nice to have something different. 

Now for the winner of the stencil giveaway! 

I had my kids pick a number  between 1 and 17 and that would be the winner of the givaway.

And the winner is Kat from Pretty in Pink and Green!

http://prettynpinkngreen.blogspot.com/

So Kat email me your stencil choice and your address. Congrats!

I hope you all have a wonderful day, so far this day has been great for me. I am totally in the holiday spirit and feel so blessed.

linked up.
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://restoreinteriors.blogspot.com/
http://akadesign.ca/
http://mommahenscoop.blogspot.com/
http://missmustardseed.com/2011/12/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-a-link-party-2/

s o    m o l l y

Let me start off with this post by saying, I know my friend Molly is reading this thinking, "What! Oh, no Alison what are you going to write about me." 

Don't worry miss Molly, I just finished this piece and thought it looked like something that would belong in your home.

I have had this piece in storage for at least two months. I have been so busy with Junk Salvation, then custom pieces, then vacation. Now I am in "stock the store" mode. For those of you who don't know, I am moving into a space next month. It was going to be the middle of December but the store isn't ready for use yet, so it looks like we will move in the beginning of January. I am going on vacation the beginning of January, so I won't be opening my area of the store until mid-January. I am relieved that things have been pushed back because I have a ton of work to do before I move into the new space.

Speaking of the new space, Erin from Clementine and Olive is going to be in there with me! I am so excited. The space is so big I didn't want to be in there by myself and I adore Erin's style.

visit her here

We will be offering classes too! 

Anyway, back to my newest makeover. 

I didn't prime this piece, I sanded but painted right over a chocolate brown that it was previously painted. 

Three coats of paint {sorry I didn't check the color, will do and get back to ya'll}. Then I distressed and added these oversized knobs. I have had these knobs for a while, I knew they would be perfect for something!

Since this pieces is "So Molly" I thought I would put a Bible verse above it that Molly texted me a few months back. We were trying to do Bible verse memory for a while, I haven't been good at this. Ok, so maybe I will start with this verse as my memory verse for the week. Since we walk {um, almost- we have been skipping a lot lately} every morning, Molly gets to hear my worry and fret over my business, life, money, etc. 

I love this verse. I really do need to memorize this one. Every time worry sneaks in I need to recite it.

Hope you guys like this one, it will be in the new shop!

linked up
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://restoreinteriors.blogspot.com/
http://missmustardseed.com/2011/12/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-a-link-party-2/

i f   i   h a d   t i m e   t o  s e w 

You would think I would want to sew pillows, slipcovers, duvets...right! Well yes, I would love have the time to learn how to sew these things-the right way. I learned my sewing skills in 7th grade home economics class {do they still have this?}.  I remember I made myself a pair of floral leggings, yikes! Actually, I might have made myself a couple pairs of floral leggings.

 I have pretty basic sewing skills. I make a lot of my decorative pillows because I am pretty picky about patterns, colors, and textures all working together. And I get bored with a pattern on my pillows, so I sew another one to replace it {way cheaper than buying new pillows all of the time}. I have to say I don't know how to sew piping or even a zipper. I know I can learn, I just need to find the time! 

What I have been thinking about lately is making some of my own clothes. Why? Because the only things I have going on right now is....the holiday season and all of it's craziness,  painting enough furniture for my store opening {like 10 pieces of large furniture, lamps, picture frames and 6-10 chalkboards}, getting the house ready for a magazine shoot {more on this later}, several custom furniture pieces for clients, and the small task of taking care of my family! Yes, I have so much time on my hands right now, so I should learn to make my own clothes. What am I thinking!

Ok, so this is not the month to learn to sew. But if it was these are the patterns I would start out with.

link

link

link

link

link

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link






link

Oh, one day I will have the time to sew. Maybe I  can make it a goal to make a few skirts for summer.

Don't forget Wednesday I announce the winner of the stencil giveaway!

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

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday yesterday! We have had a low key Friday. Since Wednesday was my birthday and yesterday was Thanksgiving, today has been a day of rest. I am in my sweats and making paper roses. I am love with these little roses and I can't wait to do a whole blog post on them next week.

I found a sweet little house for fhf, I adore all of the black and white.

 What are you all up to this weekend? Are you going to put your tree up? 

s t e n c i l   g i v a w a y

{from cutting edge design, hello! so fantastic!}

Hi friends. I have a giveaway for one of you lucky readers. First of all I have to say I haven't stenciled in a long time, I didn't even know that fun modern stencils were out there! 

{not sure where I have been}

Pop over to http://www.cuttingedgestencils.com/, get ready, you will be amazed by the selection.

I should start off by saying I am going to pick the zinnia stencil. I have a flat front dresser that I think will be perfect for this design.



find here


Here are some of my favorite "all over" stencils from Cutting Edge.
{let me say, I actually love them all. Really, it was hard for me to decide on five favorites}

















For smaller projects {like the zinnia I am going to do on a piece of furniture} they have a really big selection.
Again, here are a few of my favorites.












If you are nervous about trying to stencil, Cutting Edge put together an easy how to video.



Aren't you excited about stencils!

The giveaway is one stencil up to a value of $50! Choose from http://www.cuttingedgestencils.com/
and it will be shipped to you for free!

Here is how to enter the givaway.

*You must be a member of The Modern Cottage Company blog
*Like MCC on Facebook
MCC Facebook page
*Like Cutting Edge Stencils on Facebook
Cutting Edge Facebook

Then come back to the blog and leave a comment on what project you would use a stencil on if you won it.

I will randomly selection one winner next week!

m y  f a i r   l a d y

{and a fun chair with anthropologie fabric}

I adore Audrey Hepburn, she is so strong, feminine, stylish, and quirky. My favorite Hepburn movie is My Fair Lady, so I 

used her as my inspiration.  

source

I had this dresser on "claim it before i paint it" and again no one claimed it and I was glad.

{before}

I wanted to do something fun with this lady. Her shape is so simple and elegant and I knew stripes would be perfect. My family thinks it looks more like a zebra than Audrey but, oh well.

She will go in the new shop! 

Another piece to go into the shop is this craftsman armchair with Anthropologie fabric. I almost painted this piece, but I am so glad I didn't. 

Starting this week all of my makeovers from here on out will be for the new shop opening mid-December. I will have details soon.

Come back tomorrow for a stencil GIVAWAY!

{I was going to do it today but my blog is being funky}

linked up
http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://missmustardseed.com/2011/12/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-a-link-party-2/

h e l l o   y e l l o w 

This weekend I spent some time working on little projects around my own home. I love color and I found myself the last few months living with more muted colors in my home, especially in my living room. It is so dark and grey in Washington this time of year I wanted to bring more color back into my home. 

I chose the color yellow as my new accent color.

I painted this sweet chest of drawers in my family room.

{paint color same as walls- Dutch Boy, Willows Gold}

I sewed some fun new pillows for my couches. The fabric is from a local gift store. When I asked  the clerk the manufacturer, she did know....sorry! This fabric was perfect for me. It had all of the colors of my living room.

I painted a new black and white dresser for my entry, look at the black feet {if you can see them in this picture}!

How cute are the little yellow baskets under it?!

It is hard for me to switch focus on painting things for the shop and painting things for my home. I don't want to forget about my home! I have decided that the weekends are for me and not painting for The Modern Cottage Company. I want fun furniture too!

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

I have had a hard time finding good houses for FHF. I know I search real estate listings, but so many houses are overly staged these days, that they don't look lived in or interesting to me. Maybe I am just being picky.

I thought I should take us to Nantucket today. And while we are talking Nantucket real estate, let's just show a 10 million dollar home!

I wish this home had more pictures than the listing shows, but what they do show is beautiful.

Here is the listing.

Here.

My favorite room in this house is the kitchen.

Oh, we can dream right!

Feel free to send me listings you want me to feature on FHF, I would totally do it, and link it back to your blog.