The Handsome Twins.

Please welcome the newest edition to the Redesignation family, the Twins. These guys have been in our sun room for the longest time (yes, I stock pile old furniture!). I've been itching to get to them, but haven't been able to till now. And what a glorious day to be painting outside! These two are solid wood and have fabulous Colonial details, like the skeleton key hole! They've been sanded, repainted a nice shade of blue-grey, waxed, buffed and shined up good as new. Actually I think they're better than new, but perhaps I'm a bit biased. You can be the judge. I just love the exposed wood drawer look. It's the touch of masculine on this, otherwise, feminine piece. So versatile. They'll be at the shop this afternoon, but I might move them to our booth in Miller's Antique Mall to spice it up a bit. Our space is looking a bit sparse since the oak farm table sold.

Expanding Your Pallet.

Why, oh why did I not think of this when we were looking for platform beds earlier last year?

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Especially since we (literally) have a pile of them on our brick patio, just begging to be creatively used. Don't be surprised if they wind up in the store. If I can't use them, maybe somebody else will enjoy them. And doesn't this room look so francaise with that low profile headboard, that moody wall color, and that little bike on the side? I just want to crawl right into that bed and sleep forever.
Also, the shop's expanding its palate by adding vintage jewelry to the mix. Soon the back room will be filled with all sorts of treasures (brought to you by a woman named Dev Meyers). Here's a sneak peak at some of her fun copper necklaces. I'll be posting more pics of her inventory soon so stay tuned.

Rug in the Kitchen?

I've been thinking about switching out the rug in our kitchen. We have this beautiful rug in a back sun room that rarely gets used anymore that I think will do the trick. Then I got to thinking is it normal to have a rug in your kitchen? So I googled it, and found this gorgeous modern kitchen with an awesome persian carpet, and immediately felt better about my decision.

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Come to think of it, this kitchen is almost exactly like ours in space and layout, aside from the placement of the fridge and stove. I'm really into the exposed shelves, too. Especially since we're habitual door leaver-openers in my family.
Left is a picture of our existing, boring rug. It gets the job done, but takes a beating since the back door is really the only door we use. The previous owner didn't even leave us a key to the front door! Back door it is. To the right is a picture of the sun room rug. It's much prettier and I think it'll spice up the monotonous shades of brown in the kitchen.
How bout you? Do you use area rugs in your kitchen? Feel free to send pictures of inspiration.
We have a number a new 5 x 8 wool rugs in the shop, perfect for high traffic areas.
 

I've mentioned to some of you that we have a booth at Miller's Antique Mall in Verona. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's a great place to spend a Sunday afternoon. Here are some recent pics of the booth. Right now all the vendors are having sales of 10-30% off. And on Sat. April 28th each vendor will choose something for a Chinese Auction, where you'll get tickets to try and win your favorite items for free. All you have to do is show up! 

Enjoy an extra 15% off our booth

Awesome Oak Farm Table $350
Set of Vintage Chairs $125

Dirty Fellowship

A family at our church recently moved out to a mini farm and a huge group of us decided to go out and do a service day for them. Their dream is to have a farm that can provide food for other people in need. We wanted to come behind them and support them in this. There's something profound about working in the dirt outside in the fresh air with other people. It was really quite bonding and rewarding.
I bring all this up because I don't want to lose sight of why I began this business in the first place- to serve as a resource to help others. I want this business to be a blessing to my customers, to my community, and beyond, to other nations.
Saturday April 28th there's a 6th Annual Homewood/East End Clean-Up. This was started by a kid 6 yrs ago that clearly had a vision and desire to serve his community. We're going to help him do that. If you'd like to be a part of it, too, we’ll begin at Rapha Ministries Church, 6942 Upland Street, Pgh. 15208  at 8:30. Supplies will be provided. Let me know if you need more info.

Lots of mulching, seeding, and building a fence

One-armed Scott managed to build a chicken coop

We wrangled some trees! 

Pillow Power: a before & after story.

Some of you might already know about the wonderful salon going in next store. And if you don't, well considered yourself informed. I really heart these girls, and they're going all out on this place. I've had the pleasure of watching their space transform before my very eyes. They've chosen to {re}purpose items and give them new life-- bleachers and old doors have been made into the reception desk, tree trunks are now end tables and a coffee table, and lots of love was put into some old metal cabinets which now function as their stations. The only thing they were slightly unsure about was their sofa. Behold exhibit a). A classic, mid-century modern piece, with beautiful lines, perfectly placed buttons, and exposed wood on the arms and feet. I can see what they originally saw in this. In attempt to freshen it up a bit, they reupholstered the cushions in a dark-green velvet, yet it still wasn't the look they were going for. I was more than willing to sell it for them, but I wanted to try sprucing it up with some pillows first.

Exhibit b) Funky pillows galore. Now instead of a very stark couch, we have a warm and inviting place to sit. So next time you feel like starting completely over, remember pillows can add a dramatic finishing touch that will give you that finished look you're going for.  

 Tips: Mix and match patterns and textures to avoid a cookie-cutter look. The giraffe pillows are velour and really serve as an anchor to this couch. I chose brown to tie into the wood colors. The floral pillows add that pop of color, pulling from both the mustard behind and the green cushions below. The material on the single pillow in the middle is almost like a burlap sack (which I've been slightly obsessing over lately). It has strings of green stitched on the vertical giving us another pattern that's elegant, yet simple.

Spac-tacular

There are two reasons why I rarely show you pictures of my home, one being it's usually a mess, seriously, a mess, and two, because it's an ongoing project. We just had our carpets and stairs cleaned thanks to a groupon, and I guess that inspired me to tackle this room upstairs, which in turn made me say "what the heck, let's show 'em the room". The "em" in that sentence is you. Just in case you missed that.

Here it is as Tony's man cave. This is how we initially used it, since my brother occupied the room downstairs. Now that he moved out, we moved Tony's office downstairs, and I 'm preparing this room for when T no longer needs a crib.  

So here's the beginning of project toddler room. T's nursery is so small I don't believe it'll hold an actual bed at the same time as a dresser. Here's an old picture from way before she was born. I don't know why I don't have a finished picture of her nursery, but it's a little bit more put together than this. I just wanted to give you an idea of the space, it's actually like a 5'x12' space, with a cute little nook in which her crib fits perfectly.

Back to my plans for the new room. I'm a huge picker, I love to pick off loose paint, wallpaper, my daughter's boogers, you name it and I'll pick it. When we moved into this house, I immediately started getting this 70's grass wallpaper off, only to find this beauty standing strong underneath. 

 

 

 My husband went out and bought me all the tools to get it off, but as I started to peel it, pieces of plaster decided to come off as well. So instead of scoring it and bringing the entire wall down, I've decided to plaster in the cracks and just wallpaper over it. I know, probably not the best way to go, but really, who wants to re-plaster an entire wall? I used this handy, dandy premixed plaster-patcher and went to town. See all those white marks on the wall and down by the floor molding? Those are where actual holes existed in the wall from me pulling away wall paper.

My next step will be sanding all the little groves out, and then once I repaint all the molding and wood paneling with my "Dove Tail" white paint/primer, I'm going to wallpaper with this beauty:

I'm slightly having second thoughts about having such a monochromatic color scheme in my daughter's room, but I figured I'll accent with some bold colors. I'm thinking about painting her wood frame bed in a turquoise, and definitely throwing in some bright yellows in the pillows or bedding. I'll be sure to update you with the progress. Whenever that might be...

In reference to the store, we just got a beautiful matching buffet and server in. The wood grain on this piece is pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself.

Back To Tuesdays

 Is it just me or do you feel like we skipped winter this year? Either way, March is here, and that means we're open again on Tuesday. So come on by and see what's new. I'll probably be sitting outside on our new Cypress Tree Outdoor furniture enjoying the sun with the babe. Here are some pictures highlighting the newbies.

Wicker Seat or Floor Cushions
$15 each or 3 for $38