Art Addict

I come from a family of art collectors. More specifically, collectors of antique oil paintings. Well, not so much a family as from a Dad. He has recently taken his love of paintings to a new level since he discovered eBay a few years ago. He stalks, waits, updates and buys pretty much daily, the older the painting the better. His collection has grown so rapidly that they no longer have any walls remaining to hang his new finds and they are starting to pile up in the basement. He is so dedicated that I have even been employed to watch and bid on his eBay auctions while he was golfing, as well as spending an entire day at a live auction and bidding based on his directions via cell phone. I will definitely have to share some of the highlights soon, because there are some really beautiful pieces around their house.

Some of this has definitely rubbed off on me. I prefer original art, whether it is photos or paintings to store bought. This obviously is usually much more expensive and time consuming since you just have to wait until you find those special pieces. My plan for our foyer/stair way has always been to cover the walls in nautical themed antique oil paintings. Since we have a 2 storey area to cover I am obviously going to need a lot of paintings! I am very excited that my collection has grown by 2 over the last few weeks thanks to the reopening of my beloved antique mall.

I saw this little guy when I went with my best thrifting buddy, Rebecca. I hummed and hawed over it the whole day since it was a little pricey, but when it came time to check out I just didn't think I could leave it. So home it came! It is not nearly as old as my Dad's paintings, but is signed 1933.


I found this one on another trip with my Mom and just LOVED it. I thought it had loads of charm. This one looks much older, but I cannot make out the signiture enough to do much digging on it's history.

This one isn't for my giant wall, but I think I will reframe it and give it to Wren. It isn't all that old (1985) but it is original and has some info about the gallery that sold it on the backside so I will do a little digging on this and find out about the artist. Isn't it cute? And at $2 I think it was quite a find!

My grand total is now at 6 paintings for the wall, some huge some small. But I have determined that I need to wait until my collection is at least at 12 until anything is hung.

So stay tuned?

If Wren knew you were coming...

She would have baked a bigger cake! Or at least she would ask her mommy too. But she was a very good helper.

not much interest in cake baking to start with... more interest in snacking.


Ooooh, these wooden spoons are kinda fun!

hmmmmm, what's this stuff I keep seeing mommy eatting while we are working?

I think I'll just stick to waving this spoon around.

Too bad she is a little young to enjoy the fruits of our labor hehe~

Dennise's Teal Cabinet

I am sooooo very excited to share one of my latest projects! It was the brainchild of my client, Dennise, who is one of the sweetest people I have met. She is very passionate about decorating (like all of us!!) and has an absolutely amazing home. Her kitchen has recently been completely renovated with gorgeous new cabinetry and granite countertops, however one wall remained empty. She envisioned a lovely, large, farmhouse cabinet.... with one quirky twist: it would be teal!

She already had this cabinet
and recently acquired this hutch online for a song. I am sure the previous owner will be letting out a loooong sigh when Dennise shares pictures of her new and improved hutch!

We had not yet centered the hutch in it's new resting place, but other than that this is the final product. The farmhouse-style hardware was definitely a splurge, but Dennise and I both think that it was well worth it and totally brought it all to the next level!

Without flash you get a much better idea of the color. It is a deep, rich teal called subzero from General Paint. It was looking bright at first, but after aging it all over with a brownish-black glaze it really turned out perfectly.

Enjoy it Dennise! It was hard to take this guy back home...