Chalk Paint Giveaway at Robyn Story Designs!

If you like to hand paint furniture, the place to go to is  Robyn story designs.  They are having a fabulous giveaway of every color of Annie Sloan Chalk paint!  Annie Sloan Chalk paint is great for painting furniture  because you don't have such an arduous process of sanding and priming.  I am all for anything that helps to speed up the process of painting projects.

They are also including Annie Sloan work apron...

A set of 6 fantastic, funky knobs...

and Annie Sloan's "Creating The French Look" book

Here are few examples of furniture pieces done with Chalk Paint...

This is some giveaway!!  You should go check it out at robynstorydesigns

Good Luck!!

Beautiful spaces!

Hi, Everyone!  Another week is coming to an end… I can't believe how fast weeks are flying by! Don't you think so?  I shudder to think that these days of relaxation and summer fun is going to be over in a month or so!  Must enjoy every moment!  Because of this philosophy of mine, I have not been very productive all summer!  I have to blame it on the beautiful beach I live steps away from… We pack our beach chairs and cooler and go to the down to the beach almost everyday with family and friends.   Not complaining,  I'll get back into more productive mode when school starts!

So for now,  let me share with you some beautiful rooms I fell in love with!  What do you think?  What style of decorating do you have?  I would love to know…

living room design by portland interior designer Garrison Hullinger Interior Design Inc.

living room design by portland interior designer Garrison Hullinger Interior Design Inc.

living room design by portland interior designer Garrison Hullinger Interior Design Inc.

living room design by new york interior designer James Rixner, Inc.

contemporary home office design by other metros interior designer Atmosphere Interior Design Inc.

contemporary living room design by other metros interior designer Atmosphere Interior Design Inc.

dining room design by photographer Elad Gonen & Zeev Beech

living room design by photographer Elad Gonen & Zeev Beech

traditional living room design by chicago media and blogs Lola B's

contemporary spaces design by new york interior designer Jason Oliver Nixon

contemporary spaces design by new york interior designer Jason Oliver Nixon

Have a great day!

In search of the perfect headboard!

So my next project that I want to tackle is a headboard for my bedroom.  

I haven't had a headboard for a very, very long time and I think now its time!

I want to make a tufted headboard, now its just matter of finding 

the right fabric, which is not going to be an easy task because there are 

so many beautiful fabric out there!  My bedroom furniture is a 

contemporary style, but I may want to mix it up a bit or maybe not… 
For now I am gathering some images to compare and get ideas...

This my sister's new bed from Highland Court… It is just beautiful!

Wow! Very fancy!

Source: prettyworld.tumblr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: sweethomestyle.tumblr.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

Source: shannonjaredwight.blogspot.com via Shannon on Pinterest

Source: catalogliving.net via Nadine on Pinterest

Source: roomservicestore.com via Jaime on Pinterest

Source: hgtv.com via Jhoana Marie on Pinterest

Source: hgtv.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

Source: hgtv.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

eclectic bedroom design by Tricia Rose

contemporary bedroom design by other metros interior designer Tobi Fairley

modern bedroom design by dallas interior designer Beth Dotolo, RID, ASID, LEED AP

So what do you think?  What do you like?

Welcome the Wounded Warriors!

After the celebration of our Independence Day in July, many of the residents of Rockaway open their hearts and homes to a number of wounded warriors.  These men and women were severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan while fighting for us.  It is always a heart-wrenching experience for me to see these young men of 18yrs. old or 19 yrs. old or really at any age with amputations and other severe injuries.

On July 7th, a procession of wounded warriors were escorted by the New York City Police Department and the New York City Fire Department to enjoy a wonderful feast at the Belle Harbor Yacht Club and to meet their host family.  The residents of Rockaway lined the Boulevard with home made banners, flags, cheering and clapping thanking them for their services.   For the next few days their will be celebrations in honor of the warriors and there will be other events for them to enjoy.  They will be able to take the sun on the beautiful beach, go kayaking, sailing, waterskiing, scuba diving and fishing.

 They have sacrificed so much for us, no amount of thank you will ever be enough!

Gifts from the ocean.

One of the great things about living by the sea is you can take a walk on the shore at any time of the day and find wonderful treasure left by the ocean.  This past winter while walking my puppy on the beach I came across this amazing tree trunk that had been weathered by the winds, waves and tumbled through the sandy waters.  It looks like all kinds of little sea creatures bored little holes into it and made it there home.  There are little barnacles all over it,  I love these natural elements.  It weighed about 200 pounds, of course I couldn't carry it home, so I waited for my 12 year old son Kyle "the hercules" to get home from school to help me load it up in our red flyer wagon and pull it home.  I was thinking of putting some shellac on it and turning it into a table, that will be a future project.   All the smaller driftwood we find on the shore, I display in a beautiful wicker basket til I can use it in a project.

Little barnacles and homes of little creatures

Driftwood collected while walking along the shore.

Enjoy you weekend!

Happy 4th of July!

Bench makeover

Well, I did it again! I took so long in between posts, I have to work on that!  Needless to say, I finally finished my antique bench and I love the way it turned out.  I decided to paint it heirloom white instead of sanding and staining it.  The white paint made it brighter, fresher and it looks great with the fabric.  Tell me what you think, I'd love to here from you!

This is now….

This was before...

I love this brocade fabric

So for now this beautiful bench will go in my etsy shop for sale.

I've linked this post to:

theshabbychiccottage.net

thrifty101.blogspot.com

frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

blog.addicted2decorating.com

Sneak peak at my antique bench makeover

A few weeks ago I went to a garage sale and found this sweet dainty bench.  I was lucky the owner was desperate to get rid of it, so I got it for a song!  I finally started working on it yesterday, it was little rickety and need to be tighten with some clamps and wood glue.  Then I removed the seat and took off layers of fabric that it had been covered with over the years right down to the original fabric.  Then I realized that it was a true antique not a reproduction, because it was stuffed with hay which most of it had turned to dust.  Synthetic materials weren't used for upholstery stuffing until 1920's.  Before then upholstery were stuffed with natural material like horse hair or hay.  Being that the wood was in good condition, I am tossed between painting it in a distressed white or sanding it and staining it a dark wood tone to bring it to this century.

I chose this fabric to upholster the bench, it is a beautiful brocade.

I'll be back when I figure out the finish I am going to go with. Meantime, I would love it if  you leave   me a comment on the  finish I should choose.