Love this combination...

rustic wood

burlap

white pumpkins

pine cones

fall flowers

mason jars

So Excited to Announce...

You can now find our products including painted furniture and accessories at Lavender Fields...

a beautiful lifestyle boutique located on Main Street in the Historic Village of Port Jefferson, NY.

Lori creates such a relaxing shopping experience in her shop from the music playing to the scented candles, lotions, gorgeous bedding and cozy pj's you will find in her store. We are very excited about working with her to offer one of a kind pieces. We made our first delivery this weekend!

She also hosts some fun events in her store.
Visit Saturday November 5th for her first ever Vintage Flea Market ~ As she empties her barn filled with vintage finds.

So stop in to see Lori - she is such a sweetie!

A Corner Hutch...

A heavily distressed corner hutch.
My arms are aching today! I stained, painted, dry brushed, waxed, sanded, waxed and buffed this piece inside and out. I thought this one was a good candidate for a lot of distressing.  Shades of Versailles, Old White and a little Graphite finished with clear and dark wax. Will be selling this one. Wish I had a little corner for it but I can't keep them all!

Pine cones and white pumpkins - simple fall decor.

Linking this post up to Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

Pumpkin - Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Spotted this yummy recipe in the October edition of Country Living magazine.

If you like pumpkin - try it! The kids loved it too. I don't usually make tomato sauce for a pumpkin pasta but the recipe called for it and it was great.  I made a couple of changes to their recipe - I made my own sauce (I just can't use jar sauce) and I omitted sage (only because I didn't have any). Served it with some grilled sausage. Delicious!

Look for the magazine in stores - it's a good one!

A Beachy Affair

This past weekend I was hired to decorate a Bat Mitvah at our local Atlantis Aquarium- such a cool place for a party. My girlfriend and our teenage daughters came with me to decorate the space. I wish I had taken more pics but the photographer was taking family pics in the room so I didn't want to get in their way.

Linens were aqua and cream. The host collected all of the decor over the last year. There were oversized hurricanes in 3 different shapes on the adult tables filled with sand, shells, starfish and colorful beach glass.  We included many shells that the family had collected during their summer vacations on Nantucket Island. A little fishnet went on the center of the tables and were topped with more shells and votives.  I used a paint pen on the large clam shells for the table names - which were various island vacation spots - cute idea!

The place cards were printed on colorful card stock and tied to sand dollars which we placed in a large table top sandbox.

Such a beautiful backdrop of built-in fish tanks. The kids' tables surrounded the shark tank. I'm sure they loved that!

Another very cute idea - the mom had a photo book printed and included photos of almost every guest in attendance. Every other page was left blank for signing. Such a nice keepsake for her daughter's special day!

And I just loved the sign - Friends...are like seashells we collect along the way.

Goodbye Summer

Montauk, Long Island, NY

Sad to see you go...

The kids started school this week and we already had fall - like weather. Which I don't mind too much - because I love fall cooking. This week we made Lentil Vegetable Soup - a quick and easy recipe from Lucinda Scala Quinn - Mad Hungry. Great for busy school nights - and easy for the kids to eat in a thermos on the way to dance, soccer, etc.

photo credit:  Martha Stewart - Mad Hungry Show

Painted Pieces and Irene...

I'm a little nervous about the storm heading our way.

Do we have enough food?
My kids eat. a lot.

Will any of the many trees on our property fall on our house?
We will be sleeping in the basement.

Will we lose power?
Probably, but how many days?

Thinking about everyone in the path of the storm.
Wishing you all safety.

I have shipped out all orders placed this week.

And spent some time working on what I enjoy the most.
Painting.

All newly listed in my Etsy Shop.

But if I don't return your messages,

or ship your orders out in the next few days,

I will have to blame Irene.

Be safe.

This post is linked up to:
Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

Local Food Artisans - Dinner on the beach

So happy to have such great local foods on Long Island - I have to share my latest finds. After a date with my husband at the delicious Besito's in Huntington Village, NY we walked around and found this great shop - The Crushed Olive - an amazing tasting shop of olive oils and vinegars. Check out there site - they have some amazing pairing suggestions as well. The dark chocolate balsamic and black cherry balsamic were insane. For now we went with a bottle of the Tuscan Herb olive oil. But we will definitely be back for more!

This morning I stopped at the King's Park Farmer's Market for more of my favorites.

Ciabatta Loaves from the blue duck bakery cafe

Fresh Mozzarella and Mini Rice Balls (so good!) from Papa Pasquale's-Brooklyn - next week I'm going to try their ravioli

Tomatoes from Finks Farm

Everything we need to make some nice chicken cutlet heros for dinner on the beach.

If you live local and haven't visited the market - please do! There are also some great wine, beer and coffee vendors. I will let you know when I try some.

Chalk Paint and an easy DIY centerpiece

I received my shipment of Annie Sloan's chalk paint about a month ago - I LOVE IT! I had this chair in my garage for 5 years - I'm such a procrastinator. It was another curbside find.  When I discovered this new paint I knew this was the perfect piece to experiment on. It distresses beautifully and makes that country french worn finish very easy to obtain. I did prime this piece last summer but that was as far as I got. Priming isn't even necessary with this paint. I gave it a coat of Old White and then a coat of Duck Egg Blue, a coat of clear wax, distressed with a sanding sponge, coat of dark wax and then finished with the clear. I gave it a new seat covered in some leftover painters drop cloth.

Here is what it looked like before - it had a really nasty cushion which I ripped off before I took the pic.

So, I have a garage full of furniture that will receive some special chalk paint treatment.  I hope I will be able to part with them. The chair above is a keeper - my new desk chair.

I also used ASCP on some new boxes my husband put together. When we make these, they are new pine which we hand distress, and apply the finishes to make them look like they've been around for years. If you are handy, these make a great DIY centerpiece for your rustic-chic wedding or event.  So pretty with mason jars, a bundle of dried flowers or you can place a plastic liner inside and arrange fresh flowers in them. They are so useful after the event. They are a really nice seasonal display for your table, or mantle - filled with moss, spring eggs, punpkins or winter sprigs, pine cones and berries. You can even use these in the bathroom to hold soaps or hand towels.

Easily distressed with Annie's chalk paint in Old White and Paris Grey.

These cast iron handles are available in my shop. They add such a nice touch to the rustic box.

Simple burlap and ribbon wrapped mason jars with hydrangeas.

We also sell these boxes on our website and in our etsy shop.  Any size/color/quantity can be done.

Want some more project inspiration?

This post is linked up to the following blog events:

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Project Parade at DIY Showoff
Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Cool Cucumber Salad

The temps were over 100 degrees here plus humidity this weekend.  We cooled off in the pool and with this simple cucumber salad and iced green tea.  Sorry, I don't usually measure salads like this - so you can make it to your own taste.

long island cucumbers
red onion
kalamata olives (from Astoria)
greek feta (from Astoria)
extra virgin olive oil (just a little)
fresh squeezed lemon
oregano
fresh pepper

So good! and refreshing!

Where Bloggers Create

Looking for some inspiration for your creative studio? Take a peak into the spaces Where Bloggers Create. Thanks so much to Karen at My Desert Cottage for hosting this party for the 3rd year in a row!

Click here to see my creative studio. They are pics from last year's tour - a few things have changed but because I am in the middle of a number of orders - I can't show you my mess of a room right now! I promise to update the photos when it's all cleaned up!!

Wedding Details

One of my customers was married this past weekend and celebrated at the beautiful Fox Hollow Country Club. Here are some of the products I created for her special day...

Framed seating chart instead of traditional place cards.

Oversized table numbers decoupaged in a matching damask paper.

An embellished birdcage including a hand painted monogram to hold the couple's wedding cards. The watermelon pink ribbons match the bridesmaids' dresses.

A wish card box antiqued, decoupaged and monogrammed with coordinating cards, and pens.

And finally, I designed the menus - her food choices were amazing.

I am designing a whole new line of event decor which you will find on our website and etsy shop in the coming weeks. If you are looking for custom details for your wedding or special event, just let me know, I would love to create something for you!

Laundry Room Details for all of my DIY Friends

I'm still overwhelmed by the response I have received from this makeover. You've blogged, facebooked and tweeted about my laundry room. I know I love it, but I'm so happy to hear so many of you love it too!

So, I have had many questions about sources, materials, colors, etc. First off, the room dimensions are about 8 1/2' x 9 1/2' with one window and one door to the patio, one door to the mud room/back entrance.

I had researched cabinets but the costs were about $2000 and they weren't the style or height that I wanted (42" high). So, my husband built the boxes. And we purchased the doors. My husband is working on a technical how-to post for his blog, The Honey-do Chronicles.

• Wood for cabinets and trim - $250
• Stain-grade wood panels (find them here) for countertops and wood for legs - $188
• Stain for countertop - Minwax English Chestnut
• Tile floor, glue and grout $150
• All of the above from Lowe's Home Improvement 
• Electric radiant heat for tile floor from Electric Supplier $238 (but sooo worth it!)
• Cabinet paint color - Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray HC-170
• Wall paint color Benjamin Moore White Dove 
• MDF Cabinet Doors (including european hinges and shipping costs) -                                                                                                      Naked Kitchen Cabinet Doors - $266 
• Light fixture - home made for under $10 - see this post
• Sink and faucet from Lowe's $200
• Cast Iron Handles from my shop $3.50 each

• Bird tub for holding cleaning rags from Christmas Tree Shop $5.99
• Basket on shelf from Joann's $12.00

My favorite trick - concealing the "dirty laundry". I have 6 tall laundry bins from Target for all of my sorting under the long counter. And to hide everything - a simple painter's drop cloth curtain for about $20!

I put in a tension rod with a support in the middle to prevent sagging. Then, I bought a couple of packages of ring clips. Here is a closer pic (sorry it's a little blurry). The rings are great because they just slide so easy. I didn't do any sewing for this - just folded over the top till I got the length I wanted. Although there is a raw edge (which I know I will have to sew before it goes in the wash) at one end because I did cut off a piece to make a separate curtain under the sink.

We didn't replace the window (although I wanted to!) but we did purchase a new door painted in a fun new color.

• Door and hardware from Lowes - $200
• Paint color Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue HC-144

Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue HC-144

I was so happy to get the huge calendar off the fridge and out of my kitchen! Notice the dish of lavender (keeps me calm while I look at the crazy schedule).

• Mammoth Grid Calendar (necessary for a family of 6) from Calendars.com $15.99
• Burlap lampshade from Target $9.99
• Bird Box for mail from Michaels Craft Stores $11.99
• Rusty Enamel clips holding up the calendar from my shop $3.50 each

• Stone Flower Pot holding pens - from my shop - $7.50
• Cast Iron dish from my shop $13.00

My dog food pail was a big hit. I purchased the pail at Ikea for $25. Lettering is vinyl and was cut from one of those craft cutters by a friend of mine. You can find custom letters on Etsy if you don't know anyone with one of those machines. Or if you don't want to make it yourself - Ballard has the dog and cat food pails here.

• File basket from TJ Maxx $14.99

The machines are what triggered this project. My old ones died, boohoo, I swear I never overstuffed them! So, we had to shop for new ones and had to wait 4 weeks for delivery. We though this was the perfect time to start gutting the room.

• LG washer and dryer from Sears $1,254
• Nestled in the Branches Ironing Board Cover from this shop on Etsy $24
• Dog Treat jar from Homegoods $5.99
• Embossed planter from my shop $23.00
• Bird plate from Christmas Tree Shops $1.99
• Drying rack over ironing board from Ikea $30

Leftover drop cloth from another project made the perfect swag curtain.

• Iron grill over window from an Antique Shop in Cape May, NJ $20
• French Ticking ribbon tie back from my etsy shop $3/yard

Ok, so I think I covered just about everything. We have spent about $3,000 total on this whole room renovation, not bad. Of course that's doing all of the labor ourselves. So, if you have any other questions just let me know and I will do my best to answer them. Many of you told me you want to or have already begun a laundry room renovation. I hope you will let us know when you are ready to share it!

Good luck and have fun!

See PART 1 of the laundry room.