t h e   f i r s t   c o a t 

If you are a furniture painter you know that after your first coat of paint you are sort of let down a bit. It is after the first coat of paint that I sometimes think-I hate painting-why am I a furniture painter? 

I know I have the vision of what the piece is going to look like after a few more coats so I must press on and finish the job.

I am on the "first coat" of moving into the new store. I moved most "smalls" in and not many of my big pieces. I need help with those bigger pieces and I am trying to move alone every morning while my kids are at VBS. It is daunting, I feel tired and dirty and sort of let down.

I know the space is going to be beautiful but it needs help. Lighting, rugs, staging. 

I need to get past my "first coat" blues and go back to my vision for the space.

Here is the new store! 

{Holly's space}

{Crystal and Kennesha's space through the double doors}

{Merri's Space}

{Devon and my space, right in front of the front door}

Mine and Devon's space will be cool, it needs some major lighting help though. Chandeliers maybe?

Where the checkout counter will be.

Store window and Merri's space.

We filled the window with my stuff last night because I had moved a bunch of furniture in yesterday. We are planning on redoing the window this week.

Tully's is right across the street! Grab a coffee and come by. 

We are now on "antique row" with dozens of furniture and clothing shops.

We open July 7th, so we have a lot to do!

I hope to be over my "first coat blues" by then.

On another note. I thought I would share a story my husband Saint did on Evening Magazine. 

I don't usually put my personal life info on this blog but it is a really touching story, he did a great job, and it might help someone.

{I make some appearances in the story}

I will keep taking pictures everyday of the new space until opening day!

g o o d  b y e    d i n i n g   r o o m 

A few weeks ago I woke up and decided to get rid of my dining room. We still have an eat in kitchen and we almost never formally entertain, so the dining table in chairs in my living room was just really for show. It was a shame having the table and chairs taking up one of the best rooms in the house. 

I made a good decision by taking out the table and chairs.

 It is great reading area and our cats love sitting on the couch looking out the window.

The white chest above still needs a couple more coats of milk paint-I will get to that sometime this week.

I am still waiting for my Dash and Albert rug to come in the mail to go under my living room coffee table. Did you notice it was a new table? It is a good scale for the space and I love that it is round, no hard corners for kids to bang into.

Last week Merri and Crystal from the show were vendors at Junk Salvation.

I am so proud of them, they really did great for their first show. 

I get the keys to the new shop tomorrow! Get ready for pictures of the move and maybe a few sentimental pictures of the old shop.

Moving is going to be very challenging now that my kids are out of school. I am going to try to move several hours every morning while they are at Vacation Bible School. I hope I can get it all done this week! Our first day open is going to be July 7th-we have our work cut out for us!

t w o    f o r    o n e   

{dresser makeovers}

As you know I love to paint a dresser. It is by far my favorite piece to makeover.

I picked up this matching set a few weeks ago and I knew immediately I was going to paint them all white. White? I know. I am always painting a dresser a funky color but I thought that the lines on these pieces were so beautiful that if I painted them any other color {except maybe grey} that it would actually take away from what makes the pieces special.

I decided to use General Finishes Milk Paint in Snow White.

This is by far my new favorite paint-I ADORE it!

{before}

My friend Devon uses this paint and was raving about so I had to try it. Now, it is hard to find. You either have to order in online or look for a retailer close to you that sells it. I ordered mine online {Amazon}. 

The price is pretty good-around $23 for a quart. Compare that to chalk paint!

Also, you don't need to wax or  poly it to finish. You can if you think you need to {maybe if you were painting a table top that gets heavy use} but I think it is really really durable. One reason it is so durable? The paint is an indoor/outdoor.

Head over to the manufacturer website {as linked above} to find out more information.

One downside of this paint? The colors. They are very colonial. If you like that look-great. 

I like to have a variety. I am excited to play more with this paint. I want to see if I can use Snow White as a base color and add an acrylic to make a different color {maybe grey?}.

I have the prefect project to try this one-another makeover for next week!

linked up
http://missmustardseed.com/2012/06/furniture-feature-friday-link-party-6/

 s h o p   n e w s 

This weekend is the last weekend our shop will be open in it's current location-we are moving just a block away into a more polished space. We are all really excited about the move and I can't wait to show you pictures of the new place in the next few weeks.

We decided on a name for the new store.

Poppy and Co.

Great right? We wanted something memorable and fun.

I think we accomplished that with this name. Don't worry, there is still a Modern Cottage Company-I am now just one of the vendors in Poppy and Co. 

I like this better-now I am not "the boss".
As Poppy and Co, the store vendors maintain their own individual stores but we come together under the Poppy and Co to make decisions about the store as a whole and this will be our business name when we sell new merchandise {more on this later}.

I thought I would show the last pictures of my space as it is today-and will be dismantled next week.

Kind of sad-kind of exciting.

I am spending the next week organizing my books {so fun!} and painting four dressers! At least two are dressers going white {the two wood dressers pictured above are being painted white}.

I want my new space to be white, bright, and summery.

Did I tell you I am sharing my new store space with Devon? We  have some fun plans for our new shop.

I am dying to show you!

And here begins the new era of Poppy and Co.

{again don't worry The Modern Cottage Company is still here}

y o u    a r e   w h e r e   y o u   b e l o n g

{part two}

source

You might have been wondering where I have been lately. So much of my focus has been on the store the last few months, and really it should be-it is my job now.

The last eight months have such a learning experience for me. To find out where I started, go back here.

I have to say, I hadn't gone back and reread this post until just now-wow has my life changed and WOW my journey has totally been guided by a higher power {and I did a little hard work too}.  The last six months in the store was an experiment. Would I open the store on my own and stay there on my own? If I did it on my own what would the store look like after my six month trial? I decided to listen to my heart and invite other women to join me on this journey. It happened organically and the store grew.

At first it was hard to give up control of my little store and have new and different vendors join me. But I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do. The next few months were an adjustment. We really enjoy each other's company, are inspired by each other, and have become true partners.

source

Somewhere in all of it I lost a bit of control in The Modern Cottage Company and focused so much of my energy on the store as a whole {all seven vendors}. We grew so fast that I lost focus on my company. 

So I did a lot of praying again and again things changed organically.

As a group we decided to move out of the building we are in, for a lot of reasons, but I won't go into them now.  We are only moving a block down but we will be in the middle of the action, and we are super excited about it.

The new store is truly going to become a co-op. I am not the sole owner of the store but one of a group. There will be a name change of the store {to be announced this week} but The Modern Cottage Company will stay the same. I will be one of a group of several woman owned brands, selling in a fabulous store downtown Tacoma. 

Taking my name off the store gives us the power to form another company with merchandising opportunities that I just didn't want to take on my own as the sole owner and manager of a store. I am downsizing my space in the store but it is a good thing. I can focus more on my family, my blog, doing more shows, and maybe even shipping across the country!

Change is good. 

s w i t c h i n g   o u t   m y   b u f f e t 

{and shopping in my own shop}

I painted a white buffet as a new media cabinet for my family room. I really loved my old wood buffet cabinet but I wanted to paint and put it somewhere else in my home. The only place that made sense was my dining nook. I dry brushed right over the wood {I used Benjamin Moore Aura paint}, distressed, then sealed with a soft, clear wax. The tear drop knobs are from Anthropologie.

I love it. I loved my old buffet but I was just ready for a change-you know how I get.

I have had fun trading with some of the other girls in the shop for stuff for my own home.

Every time someone brings something really cool into the store I end up staring at it all day while  working and trying to figure out where I could put it my own  home.

I am not the only one that does this.

I can't tell you how many times one of us has brought something to sell at the store and another vendor buys it before a tag is even put on it.

Crystal had this bar cart for a few weeks down at the store and the color was just perfect for my nook.

The flower pot {holder-thingy, I can't think of what its called} Merri had it in her shop.

See the striped frame on my mantel? I might make more of these for the store.

My friend Molly traded me a rocker and train table I had for a Dash and Albert rug similar to this.

It will go under the table and I will share pictures later this week.

Since I am showing Dash and Albert rugs. I might as well show you the one I ordered a few months ago for my entryway {it is on back order}

I have the small version of this rug on my stair landing. The colors could not be more perfect for my home.

Want to know where my old buffet is? Sitting in my entryway.  If you are interested in it I will sell it for $300 if you can pick it up from my house before Thursday morning.

I am sort of dreading hauling it down to the store.

Also, I still don't have a battery for my good camera so all photos were taken with my iphone. This has been the cause of the lack of blogging lately.

Lastly, I thought I would let you all know why I took the Alison's House tab off my blog. I plan on adding it back with paint color, fabric and furniture sources. I was getting overwhelmed with emails asking questions about my home and I just couldn't answer them in a timely manor and I know this isn't fair to you as a blog reader. Plus when I did answer back I hardly ever got a thank you and this bummed me out.

Anyway, a new house tab with be popping up soon so stay tuned!!!

n e w   i n   t h e    s h o p

Hello! I know I haven't been around much this week. The battery on my camera is dead and it takes one that I need to special order so I haven't been able to take great shots of my projects.

Plus there has been so much going on in my personal life. My husband is in Scotland for work, as a co-op of girls that run a shop we are trying to figure out if we are staying in our current space or a new one. We actually put in an application for another store down the street with more foot traffic so it we will see how it goes. 

It is a time for transition and I have a hard time with that. I want to be settled and start roots in the community.

I did snap a few pictures of my space today. I haven't posted the tiffany blue dresser for sale yet {the one I have had in there forever}. I was debating on whether or not to keep it but it is going for sale. It will be around $325 and it would make a great buffet, kitchen island, or even a changing table.

I painted a sofa table to match.

I want to go light and bright in my space for summer.

On another note. I  had a thought pop into my head yesterday. If I actually spent the same amount of time cleaning my house instead of rearranging it I would actually have a clean house.

So I rearranged things this week and then cleaned cleaned cleaned. And stopped rearranging.

But let's face it cleaning is no fun and decorating is.

I have been doing so much buying/trading from the other girls in the shop for my own home.

If my camera works next week I will show you my new acquisitions.