how to paint furniture

…Blue Egg Brown Nest Colors: Great Room

March 19, 2013 By christen 8 Comments

When we designed our home we knew we wanted the first floor to have a great room, meaning, a kitchen that expanded into a family room. It’s more open, communal, and I am able to keep track of those kids a bit better.

So, I had to pick a paint color that worked for a white, country kitchen and a cozy family room. Again, I used my Benjamin Moore squares.

I wanted an airy, light space, a color that flowed from the living room and one that I could decorate out from instead of being committed to. Bring in your color and texture in your items.

I actually just added these blue shutters to my wall for some more color. They were up for about 5 days before I decided to whitewash them. That was really fun albeit messy. I’ll post on what whitewashing is soon.

My Duck Egg Blue color plus a little orange.

Books to coordinate. And I always love a bit of green.

KITCHEN & FAMILY ROOM/GREAT ROOM COLOR: BENJAMINE MOORE CEDAR KEY

Wednesday is the Dining Room!

Filed Under: building a room Tagged With: Benjamin Moore, great room color, how to paint furniture, interior design

…Building a Business – Selling

February 19, 2013 By christen 1 Comment

I would say for a creative person wanting to start and maintain a creative business the selling is the most tricky. It would be lovely if we could work at our craft, create, design, display and share. But the hard truth is that in order for your business to have life you have to sell your product.

If I could give any bit of advice on this subject it would be to not start out with the intent to sell anything. Creativity has to be free and moving and not stuck under the pressure of having to pay rent and the water bill. Do your craft because you love doing it. Explore it and develop your own technique. Make it the best you can and feel so proud that you want to keep the piece all to yourself.

I am still debating whether or not I want to keep this piece for my own family room. I do that with every piece I finish.

Don’t quit your day job because you think you have a great idea to paint portraits of children or the can sew the most amazing pillows. Start small and acheive the goal of making those pillows for your own couch. Then give a few away to friends. Then start talking about it to people, make some business cards and see what happens. Sign up for a few fairs. Maybe you will sell out and maybe you will sell a total of two. Ideally you’ll sell enough to pay for the tent you bought for the set up and the entrance fee. But, the last thing you want for yourself is a huge disappointment because you figured you were going to make X amount of dollars. And if you are so low and disappointed the last thing you are going to want to do is to find comfort in the effort of your creativity and the product that disappointed you. At least I wouldn’t.

(Luckett’s Spring Market 2012)

The good news is is that if you love and enjoy the art of creating something you will not be disappointed. For example, I only buy pieces to refinish that I love. I know that I love them because I’m just dying to see how they change when I paint them. I am totally content without selling that piece or not selling it right away because I get to enjoy it in my house. I even have marked items as SOLD because I sometimes decide that I never want to part with it. That is how in love you should be. That no one disappointing experience can take away the joy of creating. This will help you be successful and feel rewarded.

Still a bit sad that this left my home.

Filed Under: building a business Tagged With: annie sloan chalk paint, Building a Business, diy, how to paint furniture, How to Start a Creative Busines, refinished furniture, Selling

…blue egg brown nest tutorials on youtube

November 1, 2012 By christen 4 Comments

I am so new to You Tube so sorry for the delay! All I know about it are the funny cat videos I seen on Ellen. And, yes, they crack me up.

I decided to do a series of 3 tutorials because I have been asked by many of you to walk through the process. I hope the visual is helpful. Yes, there are kids and dogs and hurricanes happening in the background, but c’est la vie FB tells me that I’ve reached just over 5,000 readers this week and I’m thinking it has something to with the tutorials. Thank you so much for watching!

If for some reason you can’t see the video’s here, this is what you can look up and/or click this hyperlink: Blue Egg Brown Nest Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Tutorials