My Fall Mantel & A Little Glitter

Fall is here!

I'm not the type to decorate for every season. I will stick a wreath on my front door and carve a pumpkin or two. 

I've been inspired by some pretty mantels lately so I wanted to decorate mine this year.

We are also planning on redoing our kitchen soon and 

I think the kitchen updates and hosting during the holidays has inspired me to add some fall decor to my mantel. 

 Look at all that glitter! It looks so Hollywood up close.

 You can't really tell in this picture, but our living room has a single vaulted ceiling and it's so hard to decorate. Well, it's hard for me because I like things to be even....my OCD kicks in!

I found some decorative string in the scrapbook section of JoAnn's. You can't tell that the sting is striped until you get up close. It's all in the little details. 

 The bowl belonged to my grandmother. It's something I usually only bring out around the holidays because of how special it is to me. 

We grew an accidental pumpkin garden this year. 

Last year I threw all of the rotten pumpkins in the compost. 

This year we noticed something growing. At first we thought is was squash and then watermelon. Once the whole area under our deck was covered with vines we realized we had pumpkins.

Since my fall sign is so big I decided to keep the mantel a little more simple. I wanted to add color with the leaves and use the pumpkins from our garden. I love how it came out. 

 Do you like to decorate for the seasons or just for the big holidays?

Happy fall!!!

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Vintage Market Days: St. Louis

Vintage Market Days was in St. Louis this weekend and I got to spend a few hours checking it out with Patty from P.W. Designs and my girlfriend Megan. 

 I wanna share some of the pretty things I saw and I wanted to take more pictures but my hungry and crying baby had other plans!

 I was able to get a few pictures.....

 

The market was in the country at an old barn. The barn was huge! To give you an idea, this picture was taken standing in the middle of the barn. 

The booth to the right belongs to Nicole from Rescued Furnishings. Super cute stuff!!

I wanted to say hi to a few other blogger's that I follow but Baby Millie had me a little frazzled so I didn't get to make all the rounds. I did make sure to say hi to Rachel from Shades of Blue Interiors. She had the best spot in the barn. When you walked in she was the first booth you saw. 

All she had left was this set of chairs and table and Union Jack bed.

Here are a few more pretty things she had in her space.

 

I asked Rachel if I could take a picture of her for this blog post and she said we should take one together. Note to self: wear a little eye make-up for possible photo op's! Perhaps some lip gloss.

Millie is in awe of her work too!

 Here are some other pretty things at the market.  

Anne from Vintage Goods made this cute burlap bunting. I missed the middle booths and apparently she was hiding in there. Hi Anne!!

When I saw this old table I loved the aging of the paint. I was taking pictures from the side and I saw a barrel underneath it. 

It's an old flour table. See the built-in cutting board above the drawer?
The tag says Possum Belly Dough Table.

The weather was perfect and the crowds weren't bad since we went on the last day. 

Who knows, I might be sharing photos of my booth with you guys....next year!

Should I Paint That Part......

Have you ever wanted to paint a piece of furniture but had no idea where to start?

Have you painted a dresser and put the drawers back in only to notice there is still unpainted wood? 

Yeah, I've done that!

 

I thought I would write a post that helps answer the question.....Should I paint that part?

There aren't rules as to what you should and shouldn't paint. That's purely a judgement call. 

Some people paint the back of a dresser and other's don't.

My rule is: If you aren't going to see it, then don't paint it. Just my personal rule though, not right or wrong.

BUT there are parts of a dresser you won't really see that should be painted. 

 You don't see the inside of the dresser but parts of it need to be painted. Old dresser drawers get pushed in and they aren't flush with the front frame which can expose the "unseen" parts. (see 1st picture). 

How much should you paint? 

 Certainly not the whole inside but just enough so when the drawers are closed and pushed all the way in you don't see wood.

I taped off the sides so I would have straight paint lines. Normally, I don't tape but this piece is being sold and it needs to look nice... even if it isn't being seen. 

 I can get away with two coats of paint on the inside. Keep in mind, it doesn't need to be perfect except for along the edges. 

It looks so clean and pretty. 

What about the back? 

I do not paint the back but I do paint the back frame. 

I asked some of my painting girlfriends and they gave me their input on painting the back. Jessica from Dear Emmeline, Cassie from Primitive & Proper and Allison from The Golden Sycamore are all amazing blogger/furniture painters who don't paint the back of pieces either. 

The only exception would be a desk or something where the back is exposed and will be seen. If it won't be seen, save your paint. 

 

I usually paint the top of the frame but since this top was stained I left it natural.

Drawers fall in the category of not being seen but parts of them need painting too.

There is nothing worse than having a pretty painted piece of furniture only to see over-spray or paint on the side of the drawer when it's opened. If you get paint on the side of a drawer make sure to sand it off! 

I paint the very edge of the drawers and the top of the drawer.

 

There you have it! 

That's how I do it and a little attention to detail goes a long way. 

Make sure to protect the paint finish with a couple coats of poly or wax. 

Opening and closing drawers can wear the paint off so you want to make sure to protect it. 

Do you have any tips? 

Pre-K Bound

School is back in session.

Woo-Hoo! 

Elise started Pre-K two weeks ago and I am just now sharing that momentous occasion with family and friends. I blame my computer for not getting pictures up sooner. 

The USB drive on  my computer disappeared and it took me weeks to take the time to fix it.

She was so excited to start school. We were both excited!

She is such an independent little girl and there were no tears from either one of us. We had to remind her to tell us goodbye.

Daddy went in late to work so he could be there on her first day.

Every day when I pick her up she says, "I don't want to leave". 

I'm hoping she will feel that way when middle school rolls around.

Dresser: Moss Point Green

I hope you had a good Labor Day weekend! 

We spent ours around the house. Elise watched Ghostbusters for the first time, I worked on furniture and my hubby built me stuff. 

Notice the old wooden "thing" on the wall. I'm drawing a blank on the name...a wooden plank??

Any way, it's super sweet and I'm hoping to use it in many more photo staging op's.

 The old ladder came from my mother-in-laws house when she moved. It's been living in our garage for a while now and I finally found something to do with it. I didn't realize it was 12 foot tall until

 I put it against the wall. YAY, for vaulted ceilings!

 

These shades of green and orange make me ready for fall.

 Are you tired of my bunting? If you are, I have bad news because I am really hooked on it.  I do try to make a new color each time I use one for staging. Maybe a new pattern soon?

 This shade of green is perfect. 

It's moss point green in satin by Olympic One (found at Lowe's).

The original top had that hazy white film on the top and iron marks. I stripped the top and added a dark walnut minwax stain and protected the whole piece with wax. 

I kept the original pulls and sprayed them in oil rubbed bronze. 

I wanted the grooves in the legs to pop so I distressed the legs and lightly along the edges.

I mentioned this green makes me think of fall. Here's hoping it will bring the change of the season!


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