Make Me Pretty Chests…

After a week in the kitchen, cooking for the extended family, I’m beginning to feel like a stuffed turkey! So its out of the kitchen and back in the garage to make some uglies, well, pretty!


I’m in the middle of a some very cool projects at the moment, but in the meantime, I wanted to post a few pictures of pieces that I’ve done but forgotten to blog about! Sometimes there are just too many to keep track of and some unfortunately get lost in the picture files!


Here they are for a little makeover inspiration!


This little antique chest was all scratched up when I got her, but nonetheless, she cleaned up nicely in a new coat of Robin’s Egg Blue. She sold quickly but I can definitely mimic this finish on another dresser with your name on it!




This little chest was a sentimental piece that used to be in my client’s room when she was a little girl. She wanted to give it a new look for her new daughter’s nursery in shades of pink and gray.


Before


After


This little beauty was another find for a client’s nursery. After a new coat of paint and some glass knobs, she is a functional, well-built piece that will last for years!

DIY: Seahorse Wall Art

So remember how much I fell head over heels in love with the Aidan Gray Seahorse Wall Art?


Seahorse Wall Art: $306



Well….here’s my version I finished last night. Costing me a whopping $8.00 in printer ink to make.





I already had the MDF Planked Board that I cut to size. Then using an editing program on my computer, I made the seahorse graphic and filled it in with the names of beaches my family and I have vacationed at, along with that great saying, “Follow the River and You Will Find the Sea.”





I painted the board in a weathered gray and then dry brushed it in cream. Then I cut out my seahorse and Mod Podged him to the board. This morning I hung him up and love how he has become the focal point of my dining room!


I found the Driftwood Runner at T.J. Maxx last week. I had been wanting one from Crate and Barrel, but they were so expensive. I paid $15 for the T.J. Maxx version.





Happy Monday!!!

A Great Loss & A Sunny New Perspective

Life has a way of turning things upside down on you....just when everything seems to be going your way, out of no where you get blind sided by a big, fat curve ball.

My dad passed away on February 1st, the day of the big ice storm here in Dallas. It was a heart attack after falling on the ice. It happened so suddenly that it took me a month before I stopped feeling numb from it. I've never lost someone close to me like that and in such a sudden and final manner. It was like being punched in the gut.

I'm an only child and my parents are divorced, so I didn't realize how much was to come in the months following, dealing with an estate. It became my new day (and night) job, leaving little time for Urban Farmhouse.

I was hurting so badly that I had no desire to think about design or be creative. I truly wanted to curl up under the covers and stay there indefinately.

We had planned a family vacation to Destin, Florida the first week of May.  I knew I needed to take a break and get out of town. I've been to Florida several times, but never to the Gulf Shores before...and I've gotta tell ya, this was exactly what I needed to get my spirit back.

We found a great little house called "My Margaritaville" in SanDestin. It was a stones throw from the beach situated in a small, quiet pocket of vacation homes.

The view from our porch

The cheery and quirky design was a breath of fresh air at
My Margaritaville

The house was colorful, quirky, and beachy with a huge wrap around deck where we hung out everyday.

Being by the water was just the therapy I needed to start feeling like myself again. I have a strong connection to the sea and always tend to incorporate coastal undertones when working on a design project.

               My boys playing on the shore

Thank you so much for all of the amazing emails and calls!  I was so touched by the overwhelming amount of support and prayers over the last five months. It's helping my heart to heal...