Ok, someone has to keep my out of the garden section at Home Depot! We went from barren wasteland to bordering on tropical jungle in little over a week now. Every time I have to make a stop (which is like twice a week, minimum!) they have added even cuter plants to the clearance stand. When I was there yesterday they had a HUGE pile of orchids on it. I actually have managed to keep another orchid alive for over 2 years now, so I know they will manage to make it at least longer than fresh cut flowers!

I have longed for a cluster of orchids on the dining room table for a few months, but when each orchid is priced around $30 that gets pricey. But at $8 it seems much more reasonable.


The reason they were clearance? Some had lost a bloom or two and had to have their stems cut back until they re-bloom. No biggie, I can wait! They thrive near southern exporsure windows which is what the dining room has so I will patiently await the fresh buds.

But in the meantime, the blooms it still has will hold me over.

And who can resist mini roses?? They were $1.50 each so I picked up 3 for this urn that has been empty since last summer.

And remember to keep your receipts if you pick up any plants! They guarantee them for 1 year, no matter how challenged you are when it comes to keeping them alive.

When I am making my rounds during my weekly treasure hunts I constantly stumble across cute, interesting things. I usually bring home one or two little gems along with my furniture, mainly for staging or they may have been on my "looking for" list for a special spot I have been waiting to fill. Other than that I really try hard to keep my knick-knacking to a minimum. But it can be a challenge!

Specially when I see something with a lot of character, like this little hand stitched winter scene.

I have slowly collected a few little pieces of art like this for Wren's room. They are so fun and original that they just have to be for children.

for a grand total of $2.50 it really was just too cute to pass by.

Another reason items may come home with me is that they make the perfect gift for someone. These paint by numbers horses are the perfect mix of fun and cheesy, and with a touch of paint on the frame they will look adorable at my sister's place. Plus, the $1 price tag makes it a cheap way to tell loved ones you were thinking of them.

Looks like Wren wants these guys too!

The one thing I always have a hard time leaving is Milk Glass. I think the most I have ever paid for a piece is $3.99. This one in particular was only $1 and was the partner to one I had waiting at home.

I always like to collect pairs (it is my inner geek trying to create perfect symetry I think). This cabinet has been paid for and is just awaiting pick up from out of town, but it is the perfect display piece for an all white collection. Perhaps the next cabinet will be just for me~

Hope you are finding some treasures and creating some treasured memories this weekend too!

Yesterday I had to make a stop at Anthropologie for a client (I know, my life totally sucks!). She had picked out 2 really beautiful handles for an armoire I am finishing for her and during my stop I took a look through all their other gorgeous hardware. I often see one or two sale knobs, but it is so rare that I only use one or two that I usually just leave them, but yesterday they had quite an assortment, all at $2.95!!! I basically took everything I could envision using in the near future.

These green crystal knobs have been on my wishlist forever! So happy I was able to scoop up 9.

I think these mercury glass knobs are right at the top of my list of favorite hardware EVER. They are still full price, but they are perfect for the blue armoire I am finishing up so I splurged!

Whew, this week has truly been crazy! I haven't even been able to update WhiteBerry with my new items, but what's more important is that I haven't been able to update it to show that everything is sold or spoken for with deposits (even the new stuff that hasn't been added!!). That is really great, but at the same time I also now have a wait list of people wanting dressers, and all the dressers in the garage already have homes. I have had to juggle treasure hunting as well as painting nearly everyday, and usually I only do one day a week of each. I totally never expected January to be a big month for dressers, but apparently it is (must be all those "White Sales" getting people into a white state of mind). So I may be kind of a sketchy blogger this week, but by the weekend I hope to have some cool stuff to share.

One of them being a blue armoire! I have had an armoire sitting in my pile for about 3 weeks now and everytime I look at it I think blue. Once I had it all primed, in white of course, I knew that it definitely needed to be a soft sea-form/robin's egg blue. When I do all my work I go ALL OUT and take up the whole garage so Sean moved my car outside, but afterwards he decided to bring it back and when he came into the house all he had to say was "wow, that's alot of blue!". I hope that isn't going to be the general concensus~

Well, here's to hoping that it looks as good as these lovelies by the time I work a little more magic on it.

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This weekend I am trying to get caught up on photographing some of the many painted items I have been piling up around the house. It has been getting a little crowded, and until they are photographed they are not likely to go too far...

This desk was painted a hideous brown but in great shape! No dents or scratches so I decided to do one of my rare un-distressed pieces. A glossy cream paint really brought it to life and shiny new chrome pulls add some glamour. The added touch of 2 label frames really make it functional and easy for kids to keep their stuff organized.

This would be the perfect crafting corner for anyone short on space but big on ideas~

This little was the little brother of this dresser. A few people have asked where I even find such damaged and dirty furniture, and the answer is through online classifieds. For older people who don't have the means to lift and dispose of old furniture that would most likely be turned down as donations it is a win-win situation. We come by and remove it for free, and in return we get potential filled furniture! Another bonus to having a truck~

Finished to match his brother, I am hoping they find a home together.

Yup, I did it! Team Brunette baby!

If you didn't know it already, I loathe taking pictures inside, at night, with the flash. Hate it! But I decided to share tonight as I am sitting here by myself on a Friday night, while Wren is napping and I am getting caught up with all my emails.

Kind of feels strange to see such a big change, but it am really loving it.

Besides snapping some pictures of unpainted furniture for clients, dropping of a few items at to be shipped to new customers down south and hitting some of my hot spots to pick up new inventory I also decided I wanted to give myself eyelash extensions.

Naturally I was blessed with really thick and long lashes, but I thought I would try a little added drama. Plus it really makes it easy to wake up in the morning, throw on a little blush and walk out the door (I am really clueless when it comes to makeup). No muss or fuss! I went with just 4 individual flares on the outter edges of each eye which only took 5 minutes but will last for 5 weeks! I am not sure what the salons even charge for this nowadays, but it was easily the best $5 I've spent all week!

Have a great Friday night!

Since it is a new year and a new decade I am going to give the plant thing another shot. I am dedicated to keeping my plants alive for longer than a couple months, and so this was my first attempt back at it. Did you know that Home Depot has a 1 year warranty on all their house plants, even if you kill it? Neither did I, but when I was chatting with their garden centre manager she give me some great tips and that piece of advice to fall back on in case my green thumb takes some time to perfect.
But even if I lose my receipt I am not too worried because these cute little speckly guys were on clearance for $0.50. So I grabbed 6 of them, picked up a cement pot at HomeSense for $5.99 and voila! An instant Spring-like vibe for the coffee table (I could use a HUGE dose of Spring right about now) all for under $10.

So here's to a new chapter, and hopefully a good life for these little plants...



And speaking of new chapters I think I may take the plunge this week and go back to brunette (excuse the horrible attempt at correcting red-eye, I told you I am not computer literate at all).

While I like being a blonde, I am kind of digging darker hair these days.

Mish Mash

I apologize in advance for the roaming and rambling this post may take. Instead of dividing it up into 2 or 3 seperate entries I think it will be easier (and faster) to combine it all here.

Our journey starts at HomeSense (aka Canadian HomeGoods), looking for a cement planter. Of course that means you have to perceptively browse every other aisle as well, and as usual I strike gold (reason #180034 I try and avoid that place unless absolutely necessary, it is a black hole for my money). I am usually underwhelmed with their mirror selection, not to mention I truly have no immediate need for yet another mirror but I saw this clearance cutie and my heart started pounding! It is perfection in so many ways.

So long story short, I found a planter but the mirror also came home with Wren and I. I think I may hang it over the mantle temporarily because I love the shape, but I have a feeling it's destiny is to be the mirror over the vanity in Wren's bathroom in the not too distant future.


Which brings us to the second chapter of this post.

I have been working on this dresser, along with it's matching nightstand, for about 2 weeks now. It just kind of kept getting put to the side after each step as client orders take priority. The first step actually being the longest: cleaning!


Ewww, right? Yes, there was an expertly applied layer of 7UP over the ENTIRE thing. Many hours of patching holes, scrubbing crevices multiple times and vaccuuming hair balls out of the insides were the brunt of the work. But even afterwards this was not what I would call a "showroom" piece. The drawer tracks are old and worn, some drawer corners have been chipped right off and you have really appreciate shabby chic to accomodate the fact that it will never feel "new" again.


But since I am one of those people that quite honestly loves furniture more for it's looks than functionality I will happily hold on to her until someone else sees it too~



And now the final chapter: My marine plates!

If you recall, these 1857 book plates were an exceptional deal at only $45 for 16. My hunt for the frames really focused on much heavier and chunkier looking frames, but fate dealt me a wonderful hand because due to the sheer quantity of plates I think a chunkier look would have detracted from the real art. I was also unsure of using white frames on a creamy-white wall.
Would the just blend in? Would it not make a statement?

So I decided to use a greyish-blue matte behind each plate to create a little interest. I also decided that I liked the look of 3 rows of 5 frames over 4 rows of 4 frames so I do have one poor plate left over that didn't join his old friends. Maybe I will do a giveaway or something with it in the future~



I chose to use the books title page in the very center to show the theme of the prints, date of printing and author. I like that it kind of fans out from that point.


For a close up of all the plates look here.



The End.

Remember my antique book plates? Now that the BIG hutch is out of the dining room I have had a blank wall staring back at me for the last few weeks and I decided it was time to make a plan. Over the last 2 weeks I had found 3 or 4 frame styles I liked, but was unable to wrangle up enough to do my wall (yeah, apparently 16 is a large number in the framing world). After stopping at Michael's to return the 9 $30 frames I already had accumulated I found these perfect white frames on clearance for $4.99!

and they had enough so I cleared them out~


Today it was time to set the plan in action.
In between installing the new knobs on a few items and working on a couple custom client pieces I managed to mount 16 book plates on grey matting, as well as measure out and hang them. But by the time they were up the sun was down so I will have to leave you hanging until tomorrow~


Currently Wren's Grandma and Grandpa are out of town, enjoying some desert sunshine (and a little rain) as well as organizing a huge renovation on their new house. Today we went and submitted all Wren's documents to get her first passport so we can spend some time in California helping out with all the decorating once the dust settles. As usual, when Grandma is away in Palm Springs she makes lots of requests for pictures.... so these are to hold her over until Monday when we will be at the airport waving Hello!

Wren's two best friends are always by her side these days. She usually shows them love with food~

and apparently camera lens covers.



Our favorite evening past time, lighting a fire, is a constant source of excitement.

Talk to you guys tomorrow!

I have been avoiding this post like crazy, but I think it is time to be honest with myself and you. It's time to face the music. At this point in time I am sooooo busy painting, working with clients, writing for Domestic Ease, and finding time to blog that I am growing further and further behind in responding to emails. The majority of your emails are questions about painting and distressing furniture, and while I would LOVE to help each and everyone of you with your projects I am simply not able to right now. I will be leaving my contact email up for now, but will only be able to respond to WhiteBerry furniture requests, sponsors and clients.

To help all of you along in your projects I will be updating the FAQ section over the next week with your most asked questions. So if you have anything you would specifically like me to address that is not already discussed in that section please leave me a comment right here! Any future emails will receive a link back to my FAQ just incase you didn't know about it already~

Thank you all SOOOOO much for all your lovely emails and comments. I truly wish I could chat with each of you (and hopefully I will somehow, someday).

I was hoping to share a desk, dresser and nightstand today, but a rare thing has occured: I was not happy with my handles! I am going to fix it and hopefully have something for you guys tomorrow, but in the meantime here is an antique dresser I finished last week~

The before is the guy right behind the propane tank


This was a dresser in GREAT shape! No major dents, scratches, the drawers are in impecible shape and it still has it's charming castor feet.


This is actually the second dresser I have done like this. I did one about 3 months ago for a nursery and it was stunning so I was thrilled to stumble onto a second one that is virtually identical.

The knobs are off another antique dresser I redid, but were not original to this one. They are really charming poppy shaped pulls.






I can't believe I had forgotten about this little painting I found while thrifting about a year before Wren was born. It is a hand painted Little Bo-Peep and a knitted lamb. I think I may have to hang it permanently in Wren's room~

I found this queen headboard earlier this week, sadly missing it's rails and footboard. But I am not really a footboard kind of girl anyways, so it didn't bother me. For it's size it is surprisingly heavy, solid hardwood planks make up the back.



A little new detailing adds a soft touch of elegance.



I decided to go with a two-tone finish in white and a soft dove gray on the detailing and posts. Afterwards I wiped a charcoal paint over the entire thing to age it more without detracting from the gray tones.


The new centerpiece of the headboard.

I really like it's gothic vibe!

Happy Friday~