SOPHIA BAKING COOKIES FOR SANTA & FRIENDS

SOPHIA BAKING COOKIES FOR SANTA & FRIENDS

My beautiful little friend Sophia was baking cookies for Santa and baked extra for her friends.  I was on that list!  She has flour on her nose.

Isn't she adorable!!

"PLEASE DON'T THROW MY LEAVES AWAY"

"PLEASE DON'T THROW MY LEAVES AWAY"

Your trees are begging you not to throw their leaves away.

Their roots are deep and bring up the minerals and good things in the earth for nourishment.

FOR MORE ABOUT THE VALUE OF FALLEN LEAVES,

VISIT MY NATURE BLOG:

BIRDS & DAFFODILS

PAINTING METALLIC GOLD ON 27 PICTURE FRAMES & PAINTING ANOTHER PIECE OF FURNITURE TO A BLACK DISTRESSED FINISH

PAINTING METALLIC GOLD ON 27 PICTURE FRAMES & PAINTING ANOTHER PIECE OF FURNITURE A BLACK DISTRESSED FINISH 

Look at allll of these picture frames!

My client is going to put family pictures in them and I think she is going to hang them on one wall in the bedroom with the CHOCOLATE BROWN CHEST OF DRAWERS that I painted.  Or, maybe in the hallway, I forgot what she told me.

We were meeting for another project and she asked if I could paint these for her, too.

  She and her decorator wanted me to dress them up a bit with metallic paint.

All 27 of them!

Thank goodness I already had some metallic paint with me! 

 I didn't want to work on her white/off white carpeting, so I piled them on the bathroom floor and just sat there on her floor and painted them.

All I did was swipe the edges with a brush, a rag and metallic gold paint.

It really dressed up those frames. 

As you can see, this is an old frame and I think she's going to put baby pictures in it.

She and the decorator chose this turquoise color.  I did bring this one home to paint.  I just sanded those edges lightly and then painted the turquoise on the edges and wiped with a rag to distress them a little bit.  Then, I put some sealer on the turquoise edges only.

Another black piece of furniture!

My client wanted me to paint this old dresser, too.  I think it had been her mother's dresser.  They wanted it to be mostly black, so I rubbed/distressed around the top edge, the leg posts and the feet.  It was mostly black.  She wanted to keep the original handles and they looked so good.

When this dresser was delivered, my client just loved the new look.  She especially like the distressing, so asked me to distress the edges of the top three drawers and I had to bring them back home for that.  They were picked up, so I have not gotten to see how the dresser looks, now.

But, I know it looks so nice and it was a good idea to do more distressing.

This is the old finish of the dresser.  There was a chip and a deep scratch, so I filled them in with this Elmer's Wood Filler.  I love this stuff.  It dries quickly and it's soft when it dries, so it's easy to sand.

See that wide edge around that top drawer?  All three top drawers had that edge and that's what I re-painted.  I couldn't just sand those edges, I had to start over with the paint layering process.  That's why I brought them home.

When I was there painting the frames, I got to see it (before I repainted the drawers)

and it looked really beautiful and smart in her room.  Her decor was mostly beiges, off white and brown.

PAINTING AN OLD MAHOGANY CHEST OF DRAWERS MAKING IT NEW AGAIN

PAINTING AN OLD MAHOGANY CHEST OF DRAWERS MAKING IT NEW AGAIN

My client had this beautifully shaped old chest of drawers. 

 It had a reddish mahogany finish on it and a few scratches and chips.  She wanted me to paint it to match a really neat iron bed in her bedroom.
Her decorator chose the colors.

I primed and then painted a tan tone undercoat.  

After that coat of paint cured, I painted this dark brown over the tan base coat.  I used sandpaper and a rag to wipe off the brown and expose the tan undercoat on the edges.

(I have a mirror in this room.  That long stripe is a reflection of the mirror from the camera flash.)

They wanted just a little bit of distressing, so I sanded and rubbed a few areas.

They are going to use the old brass handles.  The brass will look so good with the new brown and tan paint colors.

I really love the shape of this old chest of drawers.  And, look at the shape of those feet!

  Now, it's new again!

PAINTING WHITE & DISTRESSING ASHLEY'S BEDROOM DRESSER

PAINTING WHITE & DISTRESSING ASHLEY'S BEDROOM DRESSER

Ashley and Austin are redecorating their master bedroom and asked me to paint and distress this chest for them. 

 It was brown and gold, before.

After I painted the white, I rubbed and distressed the edges.

They're adding beiges, white and silver to their new decor. 

I love that color combination.  It's soft and soothing.

They wanted some metallic silver on the top edge of the dresser.  So, I swiped it on with my finger and a rag to make it look a bit distressed and uneven.

These silver knobs were on their chest before it was painted white and Austin was testing to see how they would look.  Those knobs looked so good on the brown and gold furniture.

But, Patti is helping them with the decorating and I think she is going to add some glass or crystal knobs.

Ashley said she would send a picture and I'll share it with you.

Patti is such a good decorator that I know she'll make it funky and wonderful!

Here's that sweet family!

As I was leaving, they were telling me bye.

You can't tell in this picture, but beautiful little Caroline has very red hair and a beautiful complexion to go with it.  She favors her grandmother.

And, wonderful little Baylor.  He has such a cute feisty personality.

They named him that because Ashley and Austin went to Baylor.

This is how the chest looked "before".

Patti painted this a long time ago and it was really cool looking.

But, time for a change.

If you're tired of your old furniture, don't throw it away.  

Paint it, change the knobs and handles and it will be wonderful again!

ROBIN'S OLD & DISTRESSED KITCHEN CABINETS & BLACK KITCHEN ISLAND THAT I PAINTED

ROBIN'S OLD & DISTRESSED KITCHEN CABINETS & BLACK KITCHEN ISLAND THAT I PAINTED

And, when I was finishing the dining room painting, Robin said
"oh, I forgot!  I got a new microwave and I need you to touch up the cabinets".
That's three in one month's time!
 I guess they were all getting their kitchens ready for heavy Thanksgiving and holiday cooking.

This is a picture of "after" I touched up around the edges.  

Several years ago, Robin asked me to paint her kitchen cabinets a special distressed old finish.

Of course, that's my favorite thing to do.

Here is the finish I painted on her cabinets.  

She chose all of her tile and granite and it looks just wonderful with the cabinets.

She asked me to paint her island black and it looks sooo good in the middle of her lighter cabinets and granite.  The black island and black backsplash tiles are wonderful!!

The pictures I took of the whole kitchen turned out really yellowy.  I guess I needed new batteries in my camera.  Robin just had the whole downstairs repainted and wants me to come back to see her new colors.  I'll try to take better pictures of her kitchen.