I left it in my garage for a long time because it had a leather top and I wasn’t really sure how to work with that. The answer: chalk paint. The miracle paint can cover almost any kind of surface – wood, plastic and leather!

I decided that with all the flower carvings I should just embrace the girlieness and go 100% shabby chic which I believe usually includes cream paint, distressing and flowers! Check, check, check.

I am already totally in love with Matty. She still spends most of the day sleeping but she is gorgeous and I just want to snuggle her and kiss her fat cheeks!

Matty’s first photo shoot!

I know this isn’t a real smile but look how cute it’s going to be!

My best friends daughter is in love with Matilda (her baby!)

Jasper and Emerson have been so sweet with her. They give her kisses everyday.

Then I put a stencil on top in a dark gray. Jasper, my five year old, said I should have used white because you couldn’t see the gray very well, but that was the look I was going for. Then I painted the whole thing with an antiquing glaze.

I am super pregnant right now, my due date was yesterday. I hadn’t painted any furniture in a couple weeks but I was getting so antsy! This little table was the perfect small project to keep me going!

The students had three fabric choices and the class voted on which to use. Then we picked the paint color and the glaze. Everyone took turns sanding and painting and using the electric staple gun to reupholster the seat. I love watching people use power tools for the first time!

I am always surprised how well these chairs turn out, with 8 people deciding the fate of the furniture.

I am teaching the class again in July, if anyone is interested. Go to Visarts.org and search under “three dimensions”.

The chair before:

And after:

I took off the desk top and spray painted the legs a dark red. Then I painted the wood table top with chalk paint and added the number 24. I distressed it, waxed it and put it all back together. Don’t ask me what the number 24 means, I just wanted to add some vintage numbers.

I love exploring towns I have never been to before and this one is seriously cute. Lots of antiques stores, little art galleries and restaurants. All in a very walkable downtown area. Staunton has a focus on the arts and a free trolley that loops around town. And it’s only about a half hour past Charlottesville.

There were two stores that I kind of fell in love with. Pufferbellies, which is a kids toy store that stocks the best toys ever! So much fun stuff – tons of Playmobile and cool art supply stuff and fun magnet blocks. There were also lots of  play stations so the kids were entertained while I shopped.

The last day that we were day I stumbled upon rule42 which is basically the store I dream of having one day. The woman who runs it sells the furniture she paints, as well as gifts and home decor items. She runs furniture painting, and other crafty workshops, out of the store and stocks a type of paint I had never heard of before!

Ce Ce Caldwell Paints are similar to Annie Sloan (which is a chalk paint)except that they are a chalk and clay combo. It is also less expensive, comes in tons of pretty colors and is totally non-toxic with no bad fumes. The other exciting thing is that the paint line includes light and dark wax and a polyurethane type finish that is all non-toxic with no bad chemicals or fumes.

I’ve tried the paint out (of course I had to buy some to try!) and it I’m liking it so far. Similar to chalk paint you don’t have to do as much prep work, and it dries fast. It has sort of an irregular finish but I kind of like that look. I will show you when I am done with it – a table and two chair set.

Aside from shopping and eating there is a train track that runs through town that was a big hit with my boys. You can peek in the old train station and there are several old train cars you can climb on. Also Gypsy Hill Park is a nice place to run around. You can get there on the free trolley and they have a lake with the biggest mutant swans I have ever seen!

Anyway, if you live in Richmond and are looking for an easy drive day trip you should check out Staunton.

Oh well, it’s going to be super cool and hopefully it will be done before the baby arrives. You’ve got 7 weeks Steve!

Our attic was completely unfinished and really only the front third is usable people space. The roof slowly slopes down so by the time you get to the back of the house there is only about one foot of space. So we are turning the very front into a play room, it has two windows and a not super tall adult can stand at the peak of the ceiling. Then next sloping 1/3 of attic space will be for storage and the very back will be walled off with an access door.

Here is the attic before we got started:

So far we have put in plywood floors, fixed up the windows, added insulation, run electricity and added lighting and put in some sliding doors to separate the kid space from the storage space.

A friend who builds custom wine cellars (Classic Cellar Design) hooked us up with some cool old barn wood he had left over from a job and we are using it to panel the walls.

I thought we could build a loft type ladder to get up to the attic but I didn’t really take into account how tall our ceilings are – the ladder is super steep. So we ordered a spiral staircase. I kind of can’t believe I’m going to live in a house with a spiral stair case – I thought they were so cool when I was kid!

I decided to paint the whole thing white. I used Benjamin Moore’s Advance paint – it was developed for trim and doors and has a really hard finish. I wanted the paint on the trays to not get chipped when they are pulled in and out. I cut some fabric for the bottom of each tray and then cut plexi-glass to fit on top. That way, when you get bored, you can pop out the fabric and replace it with different fabric or paper.

I have been admiring a lot of bar carts on Pinterest lately. Here are some of my favorites:

From cupcakesandcashmere.com/apartment-therapy/

from smallshopstudio.com/blog/page/3/

Here is a detailed tutorial – good luck!

I had just enough fabric form this chair redo so I removed the cats, painted the feet and sewed some trim. Here is how she turned out: