Home Stretch

Where do I actually begin with this post? Wow! The last week has been a whirlwind of events, productivity and success! Surprisingly, I'm sitting here typing this entry, not too tired. Considering my last 48 hours, I'm surprised I'm not passed out in a corner, with a paintbrush in my hand. All I've done is paint, sand, paint, sand, paint, sand. Did I mention paint and sand? I also have moved furniture around a million times and made countless trips to Home Depot. 4 trips, alone, yesterday. Let's just say, the Home Depot team knows me very well and I can now navigate my way around the place like a pro. The most incredible part about this whole process is, I'm actually on schedule with my projected timeline. This amazes me, considering that when I hoped to walk out the door last night, lights off, staring at a completed studio, minus the last minute touches, furniture knob changes, wall hangings, etc., this week, I was instead, staring at two very ugly tables, furniture that just didn't fit and dealing with a mom that came in with more constructive criticism that a person really cares to hear. There's really, only so much a person can take on that particular subject. Sad to say, she was right about it all.

I have to give alot of credit to a dear friend, Joya, for helping me complete the studio the past two days. One assistant is overloaded with school this week and the other had a family situation. So, my lovely friend stepped in and helped me knock it out. She broke my vintage lamp, though. Ha! She's still apologizing about it. Apparently, I didn't care that much for it, because I haven't even given it much thought. We began Friday morning, sanding furniture. Let me just say this. I don't ever want to see sandpaper again. Ever. My hands are in major need of therapy. It seriously tears your skin up. That stuff should be illegal. Anyways, back to the subject at hand. My assistant gave me a cabinet that was perfect for distressing and turning into a beautiful piece of shabby chic. I was going to paint it white, with a distressed shabby chic look. But, I changed my mind Thursday night and decided I needed a vintage blue piece of furniture. So, Friday we traipsed to Home Depot, bought the perfect shade of blue and painted the cabinet blue. Bad idea. When I began sanding it, the light oak didn't look good with the blue. So, I was back to square one. I decided to try something. I painted a square of it white, let it dry, painted over it blue, let that dry and then sanded. Genius!

Notice, I'm using an electric sander, by now. Thanks to a dear man in my church. God bless his heart! The cabinet couldn't have turned out better, in my opinion.

I was thrilled when she started shelving the bolts. 

Perfect! This setup no longer exists. We switched everything to the pink wall, which will be posted later in the week.

So, this darling little cabinet, unfortunately is not big enough to store all of my fabric. I have a cabinet at home I was using when I worked from home, but sadly, it's just not shabby chic. I didn't want to go buy another cabinet and search craigslist 506 times a day anymore, so I had to use my creativity. I guess I'm kinda good at that. Ha! When I purchased my shabby chic round table, it came with two chairs and a leaf. The table, with the leaf seats 8. With only two chairs. Haha! This cracks me up for some reason. Obviously, I wasn't going to use the leaf on the table (defeats the purpose), but it was this huge piece of shabby chic wood and I hated to see it just stored. Too big for a shelf, so I used it for a storage shelf, for the rest of my bolted fabric...

A painted, distressed sawhorse, fixed the problem and voila! 

I called my mom last night, as we were finishing up and wanted her to come by and take a look at everything, before we headed for dinner. Before I proceed with this little story, let me tell you followers, a little bit about my mom. She's very open minded, blunt, to the point and isn't afraid to tell you "you look ridiculous", if need be. This has saved me alot of embarrassment in life. She is the sweetest, most kind hearted individual I know, which makes her extraordinary, with her feisty little attitude. She's a jewel. That being said, she was not afraid to tell me what she thought, even if I hadn't asked her. She walked in the room and the first words out of her mouth were, "Those tables are disgusting. Why did you actually think they were shabby chic?", proceeded with alot of other "opinions" on what she thought. I was so upset. I had been working my butt off for the last week, especially the last two days and the only compliment she had given was the upholstered chairs were beautiful and she loved my desk. What nerve! The sad part about this whole thing. She was so right. The tables were horrible...

Yep, horrible. See, there is a very good excuse with these tables. The green I picked out was the worst choice. The first coat looked like this...

I'm cringing as I look at this. Yuck! I'm a big fan of green. One of my favorite colors, in fact, but this green will make you sick to your stomach. This was all a big mistake. Very big mistake. I tried to fix it (above picture) but it just wasn't happening. The "fix", honestly wouldn't have been bad in a different setting, but my mom was absolutely right. It clashed with everything else and was completely wrong. So, my dear friend and I (we even got a couple of the guys from church to come help), along with my mom, headed back to the studio this evening and fixed the problem...

There were two of these! It's amazing how much better I feel about these tables. 

And the end of my blog for tonight brings me to my most favorite piece in the entire studio. It's very hard to say favorite, because I love everything in there. I can truthfully say that, now that the ugly green monster tables are fixed. Remember the door? Well, one of my best friends, along with a couple of you followers, suggested a "desk". I loved the idea, but was a little baffled as to what kind of legs I would need to go with. My brother-in-law is great with this sort of thing, so I asked his opinion. We discussed some options and came up with this idea...

Sawhorses. I found these at Home Depot. We painted them that nasty green color, then went over them with white paint. It was super easy because the wood is raw and already distressed. Unfortunately, they were still a little short for a desk, so I had 2x8 cut down as a platform for the sawhorses. I say "I", because this was my idea and I happened to go to Home Depot and have this all done. Measured, cut, everything. I'm very proud about this little adventure. This was the outcome...

My desk

My brother-in-law was shocked when he saw this. I think he's very surprised, I made it, myself. I am too, to be  honest with you. It's so sturdy. This thing isn't going anywhere! And last, but not least, my lovely re-upholstered chairs that I did, myself, as well.

Re-upholstery may not seem that big of a deal to some, but for me, it was. I had no clue what I was doing, until I actually started doing it. 

I can happily say we're in the home stretch of this Grand Opening prep. I have never been as happy as I am, right now. To see this all come together, is amazing. I'm excited to post more later in the week, as the final touches are done, walls are complete and my search for the perfect vintage mirror for that pretty green dresser is complete. And until then, I have a few orders to get out tomorrow, a Spring Line to finish and Ladies Day Landmark to prepare for. 

Hope everybody's Monday is great and be sure and check in for the Grand Opening Giveaway Week beginning tomorrow morning!

Charity @ Dainty Button

~xoxo