Cottage Chic

Well, we (semi) finished my daughter's new room. Spurred on by my parent's visit, and needing an extra guest bed since my sister-in-law moved in, we kicked it into high gear and went for it. Why people don't use the term "stubborn as wallpaper", I'll never know, but I'm coining it now. I bought this self-adhesive wall paper from Urban Outfitters (I am in no way getting paid to advertise this) and as it turns out I did NOT miss my calling to be a professional wallpaper. In fact, I might venture to say this was harder than giving birth to my daughter! However, with a lot of sweat (darn 98 degree weather) and perseverance, I think the end result was worth it. Here are some before and after shots. I think it hardly looks like the same room.

Outdated wallpaper and wood paneling made this room look dark and scary.

We ended up plastering over the whole wall. Probably would have been just as easy to remove the wallpaper.

If you do decide to wallpaper a room for yourself, I recommend a sharp exacto knife and starting in an inconspicuous spot.  

A fresh coat of primer + paint really lightened up the room.

This was an old baby dresser I redid a while ago. I think I might repaint the white part a vibrant turquoise or yellow. Something that pops against all that white paneling. 

Major Renovations.

Hi there. I thought I'd give you some visuals to show you whats going on with the church we purchased. Here's what a week of demo looks like:

Upstairs

Basement

The demo pile consists of what used to be in the water-logged basement. It's still pretty scary down there, but trust me, it's a LOT better than it was. Helping us with our renovations is a man that also consigns many great pieces of furniture with us. Perhaps I should have had him pose in the picture, and add some scale to how high that demo pile really is. It's gone now, and we're on to more beautifying projects. I can't wait for the day when it looks something like this: 

source

Wouldn't this just be something? To have it look like this...now that's inspiration! 

Don't forget to stop by the shop and see what's new here in the meantime. I literally took a pink marker to half the price tags today. Sale, sale, sale. It's that time. 

The Big M.

Well, folks, I think it's time we start talking about the "m" word. Moving. We finally got the zoning approved after a spectacular performance by our lawyer, Brain Howley. Thanks for doing your homework and chiming in right in the nick of time. For those of you who are new to this blog, please go here for some background info. Long story short, husband and I bought a piece of property that we could share for our businesses. He runs a landscaping company and will be building a garage to work out of, while I restore the church on the property and sell lots of beautiful, re-purposed pieces out of there. We'll continue to have our booth at Miller's Antique Mall in Verona (3rd floor/top of the steps), and I'll keep the blog updated with a description and location of each item on the inventory tab. In addition to refinishing my own selection of furniture, I'll be trying something new- custom refinishing, where you can bring me your worn out furniture, and we'll decide together how best to renew and restore them. The only difference to the business (besides the location) is I won't be taking consignment furniture, and I won't have store hours, it'll be by appointment only.

Most importantly, the move will grant me a little more time with this little girl. 

One more HUGE announcement < I know, this is starting to sound like one big announcement and you're most likely tuning out by now> but my lease in Squirrel Hill is not up till the end of next April, so if you or anyone you know is looking for a great location, with the lowest rent in town, send them my way. We'll talk. Feel free to leave any comments below or email me at shopredesignation@gmail.com. I'll be happy to answer any questions.