From Trash to Treasure

'While working at our property, Chris, my hubby, unearthed these old bottles...

I was so excited to bring them home and clean them up! Someone buried them decades ago, along with other pieces of their trash. And here I am cleaning them up and finding a place for them in my home. Like the saying goes, one mans trash is another's treasure. Finding these bottles inspired me to share with you a project I finished a few months ago. Awhile ago my good friend Noelle found this beat up sideboard on a curb free! Here it is the day she picked it up...

Noelle is a girl after my own heart she loves to hunt for things for her home and she can see potential in a piece like this, very beat up but still has such great lines. Noelle brought it to my house and I refinished it for her. Here are some more before pictures...

And here's what it looked like when I was done...

It was so much fun to refinish! I started by sanding down the drawers and that's when I discovered the awesome diamond inlays on each drawer. It was so cool to find the inlays they were like a hidden treasure that had been hiding behind a bad black paint job. I painted a herringbone pattern on the middle cabinet doors in an aqua color which matches the legs that are "dipped" in aqua. Here is how the sideboard looks now in Noelle's house...

I love how it looks in her family room and it makes the perfect tv console sandwiched between her beautifully styled bookcases! Those cool old bottles weren't the only "treasures" I found this past weekend ;) so stay tuned for more...

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It's all in the name

So in my last (aka my first ever post) I mentioned a lot has been happening recently. If you know me and my family this is no surprise to you we tend to keep pretty busy. In 6 years of being married, my hubby and I have started a business (Lucky Dog Pet Resort), bought property (and when I say property I mean dirt, literally 2 acres of dirt with nothing on it), built our business, had two kids, bought a home, and not to mention all of the life stuff that goes along with all of that. We have been blessed tremendously and we have also had some extremely difficult times. But God is so good and faithful to us! More recently, I think in attempt to reclaim some of his garage back, my hubby built me a shop! Well I wouldn't really call it a shop it's more like a tent :) but I'm so excited to have a designated space to call my own to paint in! And my little tent just so happens to be nestled amongst some willows, hence the name, The Painted Willows! Now all I need is some furniture... I haven't had the best of luck lately finding any pieces I like (that are actually in my price range) if you have any wood furniture you would like to sell I'm your gal ;) That being said I do have a few projects to bring over to my tent to finish so it won't be empty for long. More to come on those later...

You should start a hobby...

So here goes nothing... My first blog post! A lot has happened in the last few months and years that have led me to this moment. But I think it all started with four little words "you should start a hobby" (I guess that's actually five little words) but anyway when I first had my son and decided I was going to stay home with him it was a HUGE change for me. Don't get me wrong I think it's an amazing blessing to be a stay at home mom and I know there are so many women out there that would love to stay home with their little ones but I was so used to going to work. I was used to feeling "productive" and one day as I was discussing my feelings with my hubby he suggested to me " you should find a hobby". I'm pretty sure he regrets that little sentence sometimes because before long I started painting basically every piece of furniture we owned! Painting furniture was not necessarily new to me I have been drawn to it ever since I was little, probably since I watched my mom decorate and then redecorate our house over and over. I guess it's in our blood! My mom gave me freedom to decorate my room in any way I liked and I had this sweet little wicker chair that I spray painted who knows how many times! In college my roommates thought I was crazy when I painted a dining room set my dad found for me at goodwill. I'm not sure what it is exactly about painting I love so much. It's the whole process of transformation that I think I'm drawn too. Seeing new possibilities in something it just gets me excited! I'm definitely drawn to older pieces and I love to go treasure hunting for furniture and pretty much any and everything else at thrift stores, estates sales, and garage sales. I'm hoping this blog will be a place where I can share what I'm working on and get inspired by others.