My Favorite Giraffe

So a little over a year ago, my sister had a sweet baby boy.  BUT the story gets better.  When Abbe found out that she was preggers, she decided that she wanted to wait until she delivered to find out the gender of the baby.  This is where the fun begins. Abbe had her nurse write down the sex of the baby on a card and gave it to me.  I got to be the only person to know if Avery was Avery Blake or Avery Kate before he was born.  It was really fun.  I was in charge of getting the nursery together for Abbe.  She wanted to be in the loop with what things were going to look like, but did not want to know whether she was having a boy or girl.  This gave me the idea to do a giraffe nursery.  Khaki and cream could be the main colors and gender nuetral.  This way Abbe could be involved in the bulk of what was going on in her nursery, and watch the progress of things .   I selected fabric for a girl and boy and then told her I would either add pink and orange accents for a girl, or lime green and blue accents for a boy.  The plan was for me to finish everything but the accent colors about a month before her due date, and then to add in the final, gender determining, touches right before her due date.  Since she delivered a month early, we didn't get quite that far along in the process ahead of time, but we did get a finished product eventually:)

This dresser belonged to my Papa who passed away a couple of Christmas' ago.  It is so fun to have a special heirloom treasure to incorporate.  Some of our very favorite memories are with Papa!

Abbe loves her some monograming!  This is a fun idea.  After Avery outgrows his room and is way too cool to have his name on the wall, Abbe can take the "A" from his name and put it in a shadow box in the hall to remember his first room.  I think this will be really sweet one day to have a wall of shadow boxes with all your baby's first room momentos.

And a sweet picture of my very favorite giraffe:)  Such a cutie!  If this boy ever turns up missing, don't check Aunt Linde's house!  There is no way I would ever snatch this kid, nope not even a chance;)

Happy Wednesday (AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBE!!)

Black is Back

I am so thrilled that the color black is making a come back! While a sweet baby girl in pink and brown will always be adorable, I am glad to have something with a little "kick" reappear. The color black adds great accents to any space.

I have talked to several frustrated clients when they go to a paint store to grab some black paint and see the sea of "black" swatches. They walk away so annoyed, and with a greenish/blueish/blackish quart of paint. I thought I would share my favorite black with you. I have used this for client's cabinetry, moldings, and furniture. I have also used this color to help all of my personal mis match furniture coordinate.

So there you have it! Here is my favorite black in action. Tricorn Black SW 6285

Denim N' Diamonds

I have a former client, Holly, who asked me to donate to her kids' school district fund raiser. With a name like "Denim N' Diamonds" how can you resist? My hubby is not from Texas and said that "Denim N' Diamonds" is the perfect fund raiser name for Texas women. I think he is picturing some Texas Mommas:)

One of my very favorite things to do is to bring new life into something old. Of course refinishing heirloom pieces is most special to me when I know their story, but regardless it is a treat. I love to hit the Canton Trade Days and McKinney Trade Days to search for old treasures with potential.

I found this beaut in McKinney. My good friend Rachel braved the TERRIBLE weather with me to find this piece (gotta love a fine mist in the air...feels just like a sneeze!)

When painting for auctions I try to think of something fairly neutral so that it will fit the current style and color scheme of a wide variety of clients. Denim N' Diamonds is supporting children's education, so I painted a piece that could easily go in a child's room. I think the piece will fit in a bath or entry area as well.

I did a subtle tone on tone giraffe print with gold leaf detailing.

Gotta love some good old giraffe print. I mean, animal print is sooo cute! I had a killer leopard vest in 6th grade (it was even fuzzy when you touched it), and I bought a leopard print gift bag for my mom's birthday this year. I think the prints, in some way or another, are going the distance!

Good luck to Holly and everyone associated with the auction!