Lil' Painted French Sign - Before & After

Hello!

We recently took down those ugly 80's Hollywood lights that wrapped around our kitchen above the cupboards...You know them - those nasty fluorescent lights.  With a blank slate I decided I'd like something to hang over the bulkhead. 

I had an interesting piece that sat atop an old dresser which I wasn't using.  I loved the details and the scale was just right. So I went to work on it.  Here is the after

This was how it started out....not bad right?

I first gave it a few coats of "Bon Voyage" (a really pretty blue)

I sanded inbetween, roughed it up and placed packing tape randomly along the entire piece and pulled it off while the paint was still tacky which gave a nice weathered, chippy, peeling effect. 

I decided on "Cafe de Provence" for the lettering since I love anything French :)

I spaced it out on my computer and printed it out.  I did the old trick of penciling out the back and tracing over the letters to transfer it to the wood.  Finished it up by painting the letters with.....

Don't laugh...

A SHARPIE MARKER!  The horror (lol).  There is no way my steadiness, let alone my patience would have allowed me to use a fine brush.

xoxo

Linked up to:

www.funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

http://www.shabbynest.blogspot.com/

Crazy Cool Wordle for Shabby Chic Love

 Thank you all for the nice comments about my soon to be grand-baby.  I've missed posting here but we had a great time in New Jersey.  It seemed like just yesterday that I had lived there...not muched has changed - with the landscape that is.  My daughter, well she looks great and is now showing ...too fun. Since I haven't really prepared a post I thought I'd give a neat little app you may not have heard of.  All you "wordies" should love it.  It's called Wordle.  What you may not know about me is that I own a Home Staging company, and I came across this site when trying to make an interesting sign for a trade show I did. Here is one I created for my love of shabby chic...

 

Isn't that crazy cool?

Here are some tips when creating your wordle:

1.  The more times you type a word - the larger the word prints

2.  You can have it run in different directions - this one was 1/2 horizontal and 1/2 vertical

3.  You can change fonts, colours and background colours (of course I love the black & white)

4.  If you also love numbers 123 (for example) go into language and check "show numbers"

5.  If you want more than one word to stay grouped together use this symbol ~ between the words as in Shabby~Whites

6.  You can also input your blog addy or any other website address and it will pull the words directly from it

Here are some examples from the gallery (not mine)

~Obama speech~

~create one for Mother's Day using words that describe your Mom...I framed one as a thank you gift to my business coach using words that described her and she loved it~

~plain initials~

~earth day~

Have fun with it, and let me know how yours turns out.

  

 

It's A Girl !

:::

♫ ♫  I'm leaving on a jet plane...don't know when I'll be back again. ♫

Well that's not true, I'll be back.  I'm off to New Jersey to visit my beautiful daughter Gina.  She has just had her second ultrasound and they have found out IT'S A GIRL!  We are off to spend 4 wonderful days together.

I thought I would leave you with a few pictures of some gorgeous nurseries. 

...adorable

This was a vintage crib turned into a daybed

Jennifer Lopez - Twins Nursery

 

And of course, what well deserving new mother wouldn't want to have this delish room to retire to after a long day?

 Sources:  PeopleFrench LuxuryCountry LivingApartment Therapy  Have a beautiful weekend everyone!

Interview with the fabulous City.Cottage Store

:::
I'm so excited to feature and share with you all, the most gorgeous little shop about 10 minutes from my home and how it changed my life.  The awesome Jenny Smith, owner of City.Cottage was so kind to let me do a mini interview. 

I recently found her gorgeous store and fell in love with the charm and beauty of everything there. From the second I walked through the door something inside me changed.  You see, for some time I had been feeling a little blue.  Maybe it was the empty nest syndrome I had been so miserably dealing with...heck, maybe the 45 year old hormones were in overdrive, all I know is as much as I wanted to snap out of it a year and a half of feeling this way was starting to feel like this was the new me and trust me, I wasn't happy about it.

Like I said, from the moment I walked into the sun filled City.Cottage I have felt uplifted and inspired to revisit my love of all things white, casual, cottage and shabby.  I can't explain how inspired and purposeful I felt looking at every square inch of shabby chic goodness.  I finally did leave her store with a handful of adorable robins eggs.  What Jenny doesn't know - is on that day she not only handed me my perfectly wrapped little bag of goodies, she gave me inspiration, purpose and a happiness I hadn't felt in some time. It was that very same week I started my blog.  I'm so grateful...Thank you Jenny.

Ok I digress ;-) enough about me, here we go:

When and what inspired you to open your store?

Other lovely stores.  I fell in love along time ago with a beautiful shop called White On White and everything changed from that second on, I went home painted EVERYTHING white and have not looked back.  People used to come into my home and say you should do this for a living, interior design isn't really where my heart is, it's creating a shop that inspires others to fill there home with beautiful finds, and NOT breaking the bank.

Photo:  City.Cottage

What advice would you give to someone wanting to open a shop?

Do it, dont give up and be patient and if its in the stars for you, it will happen. Also I believe it is a wonderful thing to do something different, that no one has in your town or city, that is what sets you apart and keeps the people coming back.

What is your favourite room in your home?

Well, I just moved into a great loft, with exposed brick, high ceilings and wood floors. It has been super fun finding unique stuff for my own home, and it's a work in progress.  I plan to post it all when I'm done. Recently I found the shabby-est old cubby on Kijij for $60 - dragged it home,  took 5 hours peeling, scraping , cleaning and painting it. Now I am in love with her.  I think you should love every room in your home and make it a place to retreat to.  I think that's why I love Cottage/farmhouse style so much.

When not running your business how do you like to spend your time?

Running my business, lol
Its a labor of love, when you own your own anything in life, it makes it hard to put it on the back burner. But it's all worth it in the end. I do not order anything for the shop, I find it all , paint it all and pull it all together. Thats the fun part for me, seeing it all together at the end of the day, and then seeing someone love it as much as I do in there own home.

Photo: City.Cottage

 

Photo:  City.Cottage

Photo: By Me

44 King Street East, Bowmanville, Ontario

Pillow Talk

Happy Friday bloggers!

For as long as I remember, I've loved words and fonts.  I think that almost anything can be made more beautiful if adorned with these charming characters.  Pillows, artwork, furniture, mirrors - you name it.  The possibilities are infinite and the creativity is endless.

I have always searched out items that "speak" to me...pun intended ;-)  So while looking at my perfectly simple little Ikea bolster pillow, I decided to try an iron on transfer.

I headed to the nearest Staples and picked up a package of Avery transfer sheets for light fabric.  Then the hard part.  What did I want the pillow to say.  After playing with different fonts and placements I decided on ~You are what you believe~  ran it through the printer, ironed it on the pillow and voila.

I have to say I like the overall look but I wasn't expecting the background of the transfer to leave a square patch...I suppose I was foolish to think it would only transfer the letters (lol).  If anyone knows a way of transfering only the letters (the same was as vinyl wall words transfer) please, please let me know.

::: Stay tuned for next post showing how I turned my kitchen cabinet end into a chalkboard :::

So The Journey Begins

I have always loved the look of white.  Although Shabby Chic is a simple style, I never felt I could fully commit...until now.

So my journey begins.  I felt I needed to have a test space to try out my new sanctuary, so the guest bedroom was my guinea pig so to speak.  The tiny room was drab and lifeless before and so it all started with a coat of white paint.  Once the walls were painted I knew I was on my way to creating my "white on white" room.

The best part of the transformation was that everything in the space was a true bar-goon.  This little beach picture was picked up at a yard sale for $2.00.  It so reminded me of my kids when they were young - I had to make it mine

This great little mirrored shelf was found on Kijiji for ten dollars and the best part was I only had to drive 3 blocks to pick it up

The huge frame was purchased at my favourite little consignment store in New Jersey called "Time and Again".  It had the most hideous painting inside it (I must admit - it needs a paint do-over)

Here is how it all turned out...

...and now - well I'm hooked!

The best part for me is treasure hunt.  Finding those great little thrifty pieces that you know will look amazing once cleaned up, painted and given a new life.  I've always loved a bargain and transforming something blah into something gorgeous is just the icing on the cake.

Now that my "white on white" room is comple (is it ever really completed) I'm going to take on the rest of my house and make it a house that feels like home.

~Marina~

Shabby Whites New Blog

All things lovely coming soon.

Until then here is a list of 25 things about me or things that I love...

1. I was born in the 60's
2. I love my 2 kids...Gina & Frankie
3. My husband and I live in Toronto, Canada
4. Hydrangeas are my favourite flower
5. My first car was a 1969 Mustang
6. I'm going to be a grandmother
7. As a kid, one summer I found 9 four leaf clovers
8. I've been married twice. My husband now for 9 years
9. My husband is American...born in Brooklyn, NY
10. Shabby Chic makes me happy
11. Favourite scent is anything orange
12. On my daughters 20th birthday I had my nose pierced...a tiny little diamond and I still love it
13. Empty nesters and not happy about it
14. I love the sound of water
15. My favourite item in my home is a huge galvanized rooster
16. I've been a real estate agent, bartender, legal secretary and now a home stager
17. I love spring and summer
18. Travelled to Italy when I was 19 years old
19. I love old subway signs
20. I'm the oldest in my family
21. I have always made my kids birthday cakes
22. Sunshine makes me happy
23. I love anything with fonts or words on it
24. I married my husband in New Jersey and lived there for 5 years with my kids
25. I'm excited to post all things lovely, shabby and white. I hope you enjoy "Shabby Whites" and please comment - I would love to hear from you.

                                                                         ~Marina