#sponsored First I'll tell you about this great new product and then I'll share some of our family traditions... TopGreener offered me a couple of (afflink) USB charger receptacles to try out - and I obviously couldn't say "No" since I love techy things. I've wanted these for a long time, so it was a no-brainer to review it for them. You can find them on Amazon at a decent price here. The (afflink) USB charger receptacles would make great stocking stuffers if you're at a loss for an interesting addition to your DH's stocking this year. They were super easy to put in and look very nice in our master bedroom. I have a couple of time-lapse videos for you to show you how my DH put them in. First you turn of the electricity and take out the old Continue reading
Hannah, a Parlor Table Beauty, Lives to Serve Again
#sponsored I'd Never Noticed Parlor Tables Before It's a funny thing. You buy a white car and all of a sudden you notice every white car on the road. That's what has happened to me. I saw a really cool table at an estate auction a while ago and won the bid. After I refinished it, all of a sudden I saw parlor tables everywhere - antique stores, estate sales, online... Today I introduce you to Hannah, named after the man who owned the store that made her - Hannah's Furniture in Kenosha, Wisconsin. She had a tag on her underside: She was quite beat up with gouges on her table top. We decided to pretty her up with Pure & Original Classico in Black Hills (a deep green) and add a bit of glitz with Champagne Metallic accents. Continue reading
Pure & Original Meets HomeRight to Create a Sweet Bedroom Suite
#sponsored NOTE: All affliliate links are in BOLD red. Gathering pieces of furniture all over town and making them all match is a huge project - but it can be fun if you have a plan. Decide what pieces you need and the sizes. Do you want them matching or of the same style? Set a budget Look for garage sales, estate sales, Craig's List postings, etc. Patiently wait to find just right pieces. As you look for your pieces, decide on the look you are going for - search blogs, Pinterest, Facebook forums, etc. for ideas. Choose colors and buy your supplies to repair, prep, paint and protect your pieces. We had a little help HomeRight furnished the Finish Max Extra (now called the Super Finish Max) and a Large Spray Shelter. Pure & Original gave us two quarts of Classico, Silk Continue reading
Mission Beautify Ivy by Saltwash and Pure & Original
#sponsored Have you tried Saltwash yet? While at the General Finishes Conference, we met the Salt Wash originator, Carol Hunter, and she gave us a 10 oz. can of Saltwash to try. Pure & Original had already given me two of their classic colors, Poetic Blue and Steel Blue, so we chose them to combine with the Saltwash. The combination was stellar. The Saltwash gave it a unique look - one that will fit into any home from a classically traditional to Coastal, to Farmhouse. Not many designs can pull that off, but this one can. "The Before" "Ivy" was sitting in an abandoned house amidst piles of trash. We almost missed her. We brought her home, cleaned her up, sanded and got her ready to try out a new look. She had great bones. Continue reading
Jewelry Armoire Update – OFMP & Modern Masters to the Rescue!
#sponsored My Furniture Flipping Blueprint newsletter is featuring a FREE mini course on how to redesign an accent table - just click to join. Mom's Jewelry Armoire I've had my mom's jewelry armoire since she passed nearly 3 years ago in my walk-in closet, holding all of my essential oils and all the accessories. Yes, I have that many. What can I say. I love my oils! It needed a change and I wanted to play with some of the many options we have these days for updating our furniture. So out came the Old Fashioned Milk Paint and an IOD Transfer. Here is the before - Meet Nancy (before she was beautiful) I named her Nancy after my fave aunt and she was the first one I called to let the sisters know my mom had gone on to Continue reading
Essential Oils in the Dryer? Yes, Please. (And a Giveaway!)
#sponsored post We're always looking for new ways to use essential oils. Last year I bought these nifty wool dryer balls for some of my kids but for some reason I didn't end up with any. So when I got the chance to try these out, I jumped! They came in the mail a couple of days ago from Got Oil Supplies and I've been busy trying them out on all different types of laundry. First, my pillows. I have some very nice pillows - we discovered them while on a trip back to Michigan while staying in a hotel. They were so comfy we ordered some for ourselves even though they were very expensive! I was a little leary about washing them because pillows often end up thrown away after washing them, but since these dryer balls got such great reviews both online and in our family, I Continue reading
Oh, Susanna, don’t you cry for me…
#sponsored post Susanna, a Royal Settee Another estate sale - another opportunity to save an old piece of unwanted furniture. This time it was for my granddaughters. I could see my little two-year-old grand daughters sitting in this little chair holding the teddy bear that used to belong to their moms the second I found Susanna. Here she is "before" at the estate sale Before I took her home Before she changed Before she became mine Susanna, "BEFORE" Tired, worn and hoping to serve again... These outdated and worn out pieces of furniture can have another 100 years if we bring the back to life. Most pass them by. Most don't even see them. The estate buyers typically look for Continue reading
When the Low Ballers Come Out to Play
The Two Types of Furniture Artisans There are two types of furniture artisans that you'll find in this furniture flipping business - the soul-invested and the business-directed. The Soul-Invested Artisan The soul-invested artisan, or SIA, leaves a little bit of themselves in each piece and views their creations as an extension of themselves, an expression of their deep-down selves that they must share with the world. The SIA's emotions are painted onto their canvas and seem to speak back to them, "Here I am, I am are part of you, the artist who created me." They view marketing process as tiresome but a necessary evil - it allows them to continue creating. When they sell a piece and watch it go out the door, they feel like a part of themselves is going home with the buyer. If the SIA is asked to change part Continue reading
A Picnic Table Flips for Our Family – OFMP Beautified
Sponsored Post Another Estate Sale Jillian, Isaac, and I went to another estate sale a few weeks ago. I know. Big surprise. Has there ever been a piece of non-descript furniture that you look and look for but just can't settle on one? I've wanted a picnic table every since we moved from Michigan to Wisconsin but never found one I was willing to pay for. They're kinda expensive. Or maybe I'm just cheap. But either way...I FOUND ONE! I walked right past it not even noticing it on the way in. We looked around for a few minutes and then got in line o pay for a few little things we found, an ax for Adam, a jack knife for Isaac, a few this's and thats. Then Jillian said, "Hey, did you see that?" She pointed out a Continue reading
Should We Paint Antiques?
It's time to address the issue. It's 2017 and there is this common thread running through social media: "NO! Don't paint that! It's an antique. You will ruin it!" OR, "Nobody wants antiques any more. Paint it, make it beautiuful again." Who is right? Let's look for a minute at a little bit of history, specifically, Colonial America... At 6:30 this morning, I woke up and said, "Hey, Siri. What time is it?" The lovely British accent came back at me and said, "It's 6:31, way too early." As per usual I grabbed my phone to check my messages on the Forum to see if there were any fires to put out and saw a screenshot from my DH about another debate going on regarding antiques. Oh, boy. Here we go again. One day Continue reading
