Craigslist, Goodwill & Flea Markets ; Vintage Finds Ready for Some TLC

Hello,

I have had so much fun getting ready for the opening of the SHM Designs Studio. In between the cleaning and painting, I have actually been able to squeeze in some "Picking". Picking basically means looking for great old pieces that can be restored, refinished or re purposed. One of my favorite things to do. It is amazingly satisfying to take something and give it a whole new life. I love it.

Here are a view of my latest finds:

Craigslist

Goodwill

Estate Sale

Estate Sale

Craigslist

Flea Market

Estate Sale

Estate Sale

Antique Sale

( 2 twin beds that are amazing)

footboards for the twin beds

Antique Sale

( this would make a great top for a table)

All of the furniture pieces I plan to reupholster and refinish either with paint or stain. They will be available to see and purchase at SHM Designs Studio on Main Street in Reisterstown. If you see any pieces that you would like to customize or buy as is for a DIY project, just email me at stacy@shm-designs.com. 

Take Care,

Stacy

Before and After Accent Chairs

I know I promised a post on my finished family room but I haven't gotten my before pictures ( I never found my pictures so my mother-in -law is emailing me some of hers).  I promise You will get to see it as soon as I get the pictures!


BUT ...........

I have something just as exciting.... Well almost.. I am pretty excited about my new family room. 

Remember the 2 dining chairs I got from Goodwill.....

Here are the steps I took to give them a much needed update:


Unscrewed the seat and back cushions from the chair and sent them off to Susan for her upholstery magic.



Lightly sanded the wood so that my paint would  have something to adhere to.

Painted chairs with a Sherwin Williams latex primer. ( didn't take a picture of that sorry) and allowed that to dry... I know you think I am going to say overnight like I should .....but..... I am much to impatient for that. As soon as it is dry to touch I move on to the next step. I would never get anything painted if a strictly followed the directions. Everything is wait 24 hours in the written rules of painting.

 

So where was I...

As soon as they felt dry, I did a very light sanding just to make sure it was smooth to touch and then painted them with a high gloss Sherwin Williams black paint.

Love the little details of this piece. Having these little details really allows for a mixture of old and new.

Then all I had to do was wait for the seats and backs to be done...........................

Actually it didn't take long at all. So here are the finished products:

I really love how these turned out. Can you believe these chairs came from Goodwill.  The fabric used on these chairs is a Greenhouse fabric which retails for $60/yd. The black geometric design  is actually a black velvet. Unbelievably Pretty!!! I will be selling both Greenhouse Fabric and Duralee Fabrics from my studio space on Main Street in Reisterstown, so call and make an appointment to look at fabric or just stop on by ( by the way, I made a mistake on store hours. They are Wed -Sat 10-5 and Sunday 12-5). I have tons and tons of sample fabric books for you to browse to find that perfect fabric. You will find my prices to be below retail price.

These chairs will be for sale at my studio SHM Designs on Main Street when I open in February. Their cost will be $250 per chair. These would be great flanking a buffet in a dining room or a table in a foyer. They would also be magnificent in front of a desk in an office. Really anywhere you want to make a statement.

I found some comparable chairs to compare prices:



Ballard Design $481

Crate and Barrel $349

Sneak peek at two more pieces I gave some TLC to:

Can't wait to share their reveal!



Take Care,
Stacy

Say Goodbye to Yellow

My husband and I built our house 9 1/2 years ago. It was such an exciting but also challenging time in our lives. MY husband's buisness was busier then ever and I had three children under the age of 5 with my youngest being just a year old. My builder would give me deadline dates for all the items I needed to have picked out and I would attempt to meet them. Taking 3 children to pick out tile or counter tops was not only crazy but at times down right histerical. I can only imagine what those salespeople talked about after I left. One of the last decisions I had to make was paint color. Lets just say by that point they could of graffitied the walls and I wouldn't of cared. I was maxed out on making decisions. So I decided to paint most of the house a yellow gold. We were planing on using our old furniture for a while and that color seemed to match everything and I thought it was neutral enough that it would go with anything I added.


Fast Forward nine years and I am ready for big changes. Not only are we ready to buy new furntiure for our family room but I am completely tired of yellow, red and green ( my current three main colors). I want something fresh, crisp, warm but clean looking.  I also want to draw the atttention away from the fact that I have three two story rooms on my first floor. I am hoping to do that by painting the walls a dark color to draw the eye down.

Saying Goodbye to Yellow

This color is by Sherwin Williams. It is called Sanderling and I absolutely LOVE it. By the way The person on the ladder is Josh. He is an amazing painter and I would recomend him to anyone!!! If you are local his website is http://ludwigpainting.com/index.html.

I am desperately looking for my before pictures so that you can really appriciate the transformation. I think my kids deleted them from my camera. Hopefully not, but either way I will reveal the room next post.

Take care,

Stacy

Back On Main Street

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

I know, I know, WHERE HAVE I BEEN!  Better Time Management I swear is my New Years Resolution. ( Lets keep our fingers crossed) But really, I have been planning and doing alot of things and I am REALLY excited about this new year. Since opening SHM Designs, things are just moving so fast and in a million directions and I am not good at saying no to anything. But, I think I actually have a good, easily managed plan (are there really such things?).

SO.......

First on the agenda

Get a Studio .....DONE

Yes, Can you believe it. I am so excited!!!!

Starting in February, I will be back on Main Street in Reisterstown renting a one room space at a great antique and gift store called Things You Love Antiques and Gifts, owned by Maggie Herman. For those of you who started with me at Little Luxuries your in for something totally different
but just as great. This will be a second floor space which will allow me to not only meet with design clients but also sell some great home decor pieces and furniture. Most of my pieces will be vintage finds that I have either refinished, restored or re purposed...

SO MUCH FUN

Not only have I been loving designing but I have had the best time reworking and updating old pieces of furniture and accessories.  So much so that I have decided I need to stop just storing them for a potential client and get them out there for everyone to see. I am going to take this slow( I know that's hard to believe) and see where it leads me. If its a hit, then who knows where I will end up. But for now its going to be at

243 Main Street in Reisterstown

The shop is Open:

Wed.&Thurs.11-6
Fri.11-5
Sat. 10:30-5
Sun. 12-5

Beads You Love co-owned by Mary Dansicker and Maggie Herman also shares a space at Things You Love Antiques and Gifts. Beads You Love is a Chamilia Jewelry retailer offering a line of Chamilia products, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, Murano glass beads, sterling silver, gold and Disney beads.  Customers can create personalized bracelets and gifts. Things You Love Antiques and Gifts  takes up most of this adorable house. Owner, Maggie, has a great eye for antiques and other home decor items. She also restores and updates furniture to sell,  makes custom slipcovers and sells vintage jewelry.

Since a huge part of my business is working with clients in their homes, I will be in and out of the store. My hours are by appointment only. However, Maggie and Mary will be at the shop whenever it is open and will be able to sell any of my items that you may want to purchase.

At SHM Designs you will see FOR SALE:

• Refinished, Restored and Reupholstered Pieces
• Vintage Pieces ready to be reworked
• Greenhouse and Duralee Fabric Samples(for ordering fabric)
• New Home Decor Accessories
• Custom Made Pillows

You can make an appointment by either emailing me at stacy@shm-designs.com or calling my cell; 410-409-1830.

Hope to see you there.

Stacy

Makeover Reveal

I am so excited to finally show you these chairs. They have been done for awhile but I didn't want to reveal them before my client got to see them and then Thanksgiving came and well you know how it is.. I was so wrapped up in taking a picture of them that I forgot to get a picture of the whole room. I really have to get better at this whole photography thing. Any way back to the chairs. I used Annie Sloan Pure White chalk paint and Annie Sloan clear wax.  I didn't distress the chairs because I wanted a more clean look ( but ithis paint makes distressing a piece of cake) If you are not familiar with this paint it is ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!!!! It goes on so easy and adheres to anything. You don't have to sand or prime either. It is a must try. A little pricey but with the time you save and the fact that you don't have to prime (saving you the price of the primer) I totally think it is worth it.

Well ready for the reveal;

A before picture of the chairs:

In the process of painting. It was amazing how good they looked just after a fresh coat of paint.

After new paint and some really cute Greenhouse fabric, here is how they look now:

Aren't they unbelievable! I just love them. I didn't realize how old these chairs were until I took them apart. I thought I was just going to be applying new foam and staple gunning the fabric to a board, but when I discovered it had tied springs and webbing, off they went to my good friend Susan for her wonderful upholstery skills. I am so lucky to have her.  The pillows are done in another great Greenhouse fabric. You can purchase both of these fabrics and pillows though the SHM Designs Website.

These chairs were placed in the same room with the reupholstered couch I showed you a couple of weeks ago. Here is a reminder picture of what the couch looks like. Again it would have been nice had I taken a picture of the whole room. So Sorry!

Now time for some teasers:

This picture is the top section of an old desk that I picked up at a consignment store. The whole desk was painted a pea green and the doors were a metal mesh with a rust colored velvet behind it .Can you say outdated? Take a guess where its new home will be?

And one more piece that has left for Susan:

There are so many wonderful pieces out there ready to be redone. I am constantly learning new techniques to give them new life. If you are considering getting red of an old piece because you don't know what to do with it, please stop and give me a call. I will be happy to show you how you can change its look to something you will love.

Take Care,

Stacy

Say Hi to Piper!

You know what they say Good Things Come In Small Packages. Well my GREAT surprise package this year for my birthday was;

PIPER

She is so unbelievably cute I just can't stand it.  Her breed is a toy Morkie and as of right now she only weighs 1 lb 4oz. She is already at full size, which is about the size of 2 soda cans put together but should get to a weight of about 5lbs. We need to fatten her up a bit. Are last dog was an incredible dog and I swore I wouldn't get another because no dog could be so good; but then I started  missing a dog around the house and my youngest REALLY missed having one. Are life is crazy and my family thinks we a nuts but you only live once so you might as well add as much CRAZY as possible.

Besides how hard can something this little be..........

Stay tuned to find out.


Take Care,
Stacy

Grand Opening of THE BARN

I wanted to quickly send you a post of a great new shop opening in Fredrick called :

The Barn

The barn is run by Kelly and Yvette, who I met (not in person) through reading their blog Stylish Patina. I thoroughly enjoy their blog and am sure any venture they take on will be just as fantastic. You can visit their blog and get more info on The Barn at stylishpatina.com. Their Grand Opening is this weekend NOV 18,19,20 or DEC 2.3.4 from 10-5pm. The Barn will be filled with home decor pieces from several vendors so plan to make a day of it. Other great shopping stops near by are:

Old Lucketts Store & On a Whim: 11 miles away
Chartreuse & Company 3 miles  away
Silk & Burlap and downtown Fredrick: 8 miles away
Repurposed & Refind: 25 miles away  in Hagerstown, MD