Life Uncluttered

Hey there! I am guest blogging over at Life Uncluttered today. Come visit me and check out my top ten cleaning items. :-) There are a whole bunch of other top ten lists that are fabulous as well!

Come on over!

The Life and Times of a Frenchy Dresser

Boy do I have a treat for you today. :-) The long awaited reveal of the frenchy dresser that I affectionately dubbed "Franchute" (Fran - choo - tay). Meet Franchute.



Ok, first up, you need to hear how I acquired said dresser. Last year I was trolling Craigslist for a new coffee table. I knew I wanted something fancy looking, sturdy and substantial. I found a few potentials, including this one and emailed them all. I never heard back about this little frenchy dresser. Or so I thought. Over a week later, I got a call - are you still interested in this dresser? Am I interested? You betcha. So Lover drove me forty minutes out of town to get this little dresser that I had my heart set on. We hauled it home and I set it up in the place of the table that Lover made, and I loved it. And then we started using it. And this happened.



Rings! Spots! Water marks! EVERY single time we dropped a single drop of water on this table, it would leave a mark. Needless to say, it drove me bonkers in two seconds flat. Add to this problem the fact that I felt the table was a smidge too high, and bulky looking in the center of the room, and it wasn't long before the idea of making this our new coffee table was scrapped. Plus, call me sentimental, but I missed the table that Lover made me in our first year of marriage.



About the same time, we were finishing up the loveseat, and had gotten rid of the old behemoth one that took up half of the right side of the living room. And then fate smiled on me and I found a perfect match to the blue chair we already had, and I knew that I wanted to replace this



with the blue chairs and Franchute, once he had a makeover. So I hauled that guy down to the basement and started in.

The top was stained, and the bottom and drawers were painted. My plan was to simply refinish the top in a very deep dark stain, and then choose a fun color to repaint the bottom and drawers. So I started sanding.

And lo and behold, the wood that was under that horrible stain job was freaking AMAZING! It is seriously some of the most beautiful grain I've ever seen. :-)

I saw no reason to cover that up, so I did one quick coat of Dark Walnut from Minwax and let it dry.

See that awesome grain? My goodness. So pretty. Then I applied four coats of Wipe On Poly in a Satin finish. This is the same finish I used on our coffee table, and it has held up perfectly for almost five years with daily abuse (read no coasters, crayon drawings, etc) I finished this in January, and we've been using the dresser since then, and it looks perfect.

So then I had to decide on a paint color. I thought about blue or a light coffee color, but decide to break out of my safe zone and paint it a deep purplish red. I hemmed and hawed about two different color choices - Perfect Plum and Royal Garnet by Valspar for quite a while. I even put it on Facebook for a poll. Royal Garnet won overwhelmingly, which was great, because that was the one I wanted anyways. (Hey, it had a cooler name! :-) And I painted the base the next day. This is the pic you saw in February.

I ended up doing three coats on the base, and then wiping a quick coat of stain (again, the dark walnut) over the top. It deepened the color a bit, brought out all the details, and helped the paint relate to the stained top. Then I started on the drawers. Kill me now. My plan was to strip the paint out of the middle insets, stain them and then paint around them. This process took me four more months. :-)

After much work, sweat, and tears, here's how they ended up.

Lovely. But it took a while. The paint on those drawers was STUBBORN and I actually had to repeat the whole process twice. The first time the drawers looked disastrous. Now they look lovely. :-) I also stripped the paint off the little gold handles by boiling them in a pot of hot water with baking soda. Worked like a charm. Yay!

Ready to see the whole ensemble? Here's the before again to remind you:

And the lovely afters:

I love it. It has drama and va-va-voom. :-) It's incredibly functional, but still so pretty and sassy. And isn't that bowlful of peonies on top just to die for? All my peony plants bloomed this year, and they are gorgeous.

The ruffles! The tiny pink petals! The drama! :-) Ok, I am done. Oh, and isn't it freaky how well the new blue chair matches the one that came with the house? :-) I love when that happens. And when chairs are five dollars at garage sales. :-)

I am currently making some new art to go above the chairs and dresser, and it's coming out great. :-) I'll show you as soon as it's done. Or four months after. Whatever. :-) Have a great day!

All you get is random...

My brain has been too scattered lately to put together a proper post, and we are currently three hundred miles from home... so today all you get from me is scattered. :-)  Here are a series of completely random things rolling around in my brain. :-) (Both times I typed brain, I first typed brian. See what I mean about scattered?) ;-)



First up, I finally finished Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. :-) Which means that I am right on track for my goal to read a classic a month, if this month were February. :-) But it's shaping up to be a wicked hot summer, so me thinks I will have lots of time to sit and read while avoiding the heat. (and any other responsibilities that may come my way) :-) I struggled with Oliver Twist, because Dickens wrote the majority of the book in the colloquial language of Londoners many years ago, and it was a little hard to follow. But I managed to get the gist of the story, and enjoyed the suspense that he built from the very beginning. Boy could that guy tell a story! :-)



When I am feeling scattered, I make lists. This week's list of choice was yet another house list, things to complete, replace, repair, etc. broken down by room. It was therapeutic. My goal is to have it all done in the next five months. (This is one of three pages) Ha! :-) That would be awesome, but it's so not happening. :-) Seriously, though, making a list makes me feel like I have a plan, and that makes me happy. I like plans. When we bought Wendhurst Castle, we talked about how long it would take us to fix it up and Lover threw out "five years" very casually, with no commitment to actually being done in five years. I strongly disagreed, stating that I couldn't see it possibly taking us this long. Ha. We're in year four, and still haven't tackled the big stuff like kitchen and bath renos (although we ARE renovating an entire basement) so me thinks Lover's estimation of five years was generous. :-) He's so much better at predicting how much time things will take than I am. Darn math geek. :-)



We have now stayed at this hotel twice, in two different rooms, and they have the same print in both bathrooms. I love it. (Sorry for the crappy pic, its in a hotel bathroom with no natural light) I love the vivid green, and the way the little rain drops look like watery ladybugs. I think I need to recreate a pic like this and hang it somewhere in my house. :-) Maybe in MY bathroom? :-)



Living in a hotel for a week while Lover is at training means that I have a lot of free time. Which, of course,  I use productively for things like business work, reading etc. Or possibly playing SIMS. Please tell me I am not the only person over 20 years old that still plays this game... hello? It's just so gosh darn fun.



And finally, because I told you this post was completely random, this is my all time favorite mascara. Maybelline's Classic Volume Express in Brownish Black and Waterproof. It's the only one that doesn't end up all over my eyes by the end of the day, washes off fairly easily, and goes on thick and non-clumpy.  I've tried other Maybelline mascaras, CoverGirl, Clinique and even that new Physician's Formula Organic stuff. All terrible. Maybelline took this off the shelves for a few months while they redesigned the packaging, and I nearly had a heart attack. I feel like maybe I should stock up on this for the next fifty years. Will I still wear mascara when I am 77? I feel like it is a strong possibility. Does anyone know how long mascara keeps unopened and in its original packaging? :-)

 

So that wraps up Random Thoughts on A Thursday. Bet you're glad you spent this time reading my crazy thoughts, hmm? I thought so. :-) Check back next week when I will hopefully not be so scattered. No promises though. :-)

 

Jen & Dave

I did a maternity session a few weeks ago for a friend. She is married to a great guy (who puts up with pictures!) and is expecting her first baby in just a few months. And she is having a little girl! She is creating just the cutest nursery, I'll have to see if she will let me share some pics when it is all done. :-)

It was a cold, rainy day in April, and Jen and Dave are West Coasters, so we headed out to the conservatory where it was warm and toasty for pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

Aren't those blocks just adorable? I love them.

Jen has a great sense of humor, so we had a blast during our session.

I love this shot. So pretty.

And this one is my very favorite from the whole shoot. :-)

Dave put up with us for a long time - he was a great sport!

Isn't Jen a beautiful momma to be? I love those eyes. :-) We went downtown too, and braved the cold for a few fun shots.

So pretty. Thanks for braving the cold with me and having so much fun Jen and Dave!

A microphone and a gallery wall

 

*Tap tap*

Is this thing still on? :-)

I know it's been a while since I came round the old blog. My photography business kind of exploded over night, and I was totally unprepared for that! I've been busy with a bunch of new shoots and some other stuff coming down the pipes. Sorry to have left you all hanging! :-) I'll be posting some of the shoots over the next few weeks, there's a fun baby shower, and maternity pics, some families, some beautiful little girls and LOTS of babies. :-) My very favorite!

In house related projects, we're working on the basement bathroom. We've nearly got the shower innards all done, so I'll be showing you all those horribly boring fascinating details very soon. Hehe. I'm also working on a gallery wall up our stairwell, and so far I am loving it. I just ordered a bunch more pictures today to continue its progress up the stairs. Here's a sneak peek.

That was just the first two sets of pictures. There are lots and lots more!

I got all perfectionista about the frenchy table, so I have ONE more coat of stain to put on and then I will style it all up and show it off to you. Sorry to make you wait a little longer, I know you were on the edge of your seat with that one. :-)

The weather has finally warmed up and I am spending some time outside whipping our gardens into shape. I'm thinking about giving you an outdoor tour of the yard and gardens - what do you think about that?

So, lots to come in the coming days. :-) Or weeks. You know. And Lover, see? I told you I would blog again someday. :-)

 

Baby Elijah

Bellisima Photography's shoot schedule is all booked up for spring. I pretty much shut the business down from Christmas to April, as our weather here is yucky and any shoots I do schedule always get canceled due to weather/sickness. So I enjoy a few months off until the flowers come back out and people start thinking pretty pictures again.

My newest little newphew, Elijah, kicked off our spring shoot schedule. My sister and brother in law seriously make the cutest kids ever. I definitely vote for them continuing to produce tiny adorable creatures like this guy.



Elijah was such a unique baby. Most babies love the little basket I bring to bundle them into, he hated it. :-) But hanging out on his tummy at four days old? Loved it. So funny.



Once I settled him into this furry blanket, he was dead to the world. Seriously, the little dude slept like a champ for the remainder of the session. Little cutie pie. :-)



So there you have it. The newest little guy on the block, and he is adorable. :-) Lots more shoots in the next few weeks, so hopefully I will have lots to show you!

P.S. If you live in my area, and would like to schedule a session for your cute little ones, just shoot me an email. I'll fit you in as soon as I can! :-)

Fun in the Snow

Back in February I  did a fun shoot out in the snow with little Makayla. We thought it would be fun to do a snow shoot, with some snowmen and fun hats and mittens. Makayla was a trooper and we ended up having the "perfect" cold day with lots of sun to make for great pictures. It was cold though, so it was one of those fast and furious shoots. :-)

These are such cute pictures, but I am glad that the snow is gone! :-)