Little Prairie Stool

The Habitat for Humanity ReStore never fails to reward my treasure-hunting soul.

Some little trinket always comes home with me,

and I can assure you, it's probably the cheapest shopping trip I make.

During a recent excursion there

where I discovered a sweet little hobnail light fixture

(which you can read about here),

I came across this sad looking stool

with a misconstrued, mangled, faux leather, and just plain ugly attempt at a cushion stapled on top.

It was lacking a price tag.

I offered $5.00.

They counter offered $8.

I shoved dollar bills at them as fast as I could and danced out of the building.

This poor stool was so nasty that I felt it needed a bit of dressing up for its first photo shoot

with some newly dyed cheesecloth.

It had a ridiculous number of staples holding the (p)leather to the seat...

which I pulled out 

one by one

using a flat-head screwdriver and pliers.

After a quick sanding session,
I mixed up a container of Annie Sloan Chalkpaint
using 1:1 ratio of Old White and Pure White
and slapped two coats on her.





A little distressing on her legs to add a time-worn look,
and she was ready for her shabby chic debut.

A little prairie stool 

perfect for sitting and doing intricate work at my workbench

under the warmth of a vintage light.

Oh, and I received a sweet email this past week from a friend in Australia.
It was such a blessing!
I had the recent honor of being included in the "Blogroll Spotlight" among many talented and creative women featured in Kerryanne's new e-zine called Simply Shabbilicious.

It holds pages and pages of everything that we love all in one place.
Shabby, French, and vintage inspired gorgeousness, beautiful homes, inspiring creative spaces,
amazing people, lovely blogs, and special events.
It is just one beautifully published piece of art!

Kerryanne is the author of a wonderful shabby chic inspired blog
entitled Shabby Art Boutique by Woodberry Designs.
You can visit her here
and congratulate her on her new adventure!

And you can subscribe to her amazing new e-zine here!

Thank you so much, Kerryanne!

~  Blessings  ~

Linking to the linky parties at the lower right of my sidebar!

Serving It Up French Style

First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you for your heartfelt comments
on my last post.
It was truly an emotional Mother's Day for all of us ~
and your comments made it that much more special.
Thank you for sending so much love.

~  ♥  ~

One of the treasures I took home from the ReStore this winter

was this lonely, non-descript drawer ~

complete with some type of peeling faux wood grain contact paper

that would not give up it's grip.

Sometimes, you've just got to work around what you have.
So, I did.

I also picked up a baggie full of these handles

for $1 each at ReStore, too.

I painted the entire drawer with a watered down layer of ASCP in French Linen,

and had the husband help me attach a handle to each side.

I wanted this tray to have an old French country feel to it,

so I stenciled on a flourish design in Paris Grey,

and then stenciled 'Champs Elysees' on the side.

Enamel sucre container:  Shabby French for Me

A light dry brushing of Old White was applied over the entire tray

including the handles,

followed by a coat of clear wax.

I was so delighted with this one,

that I immediately dove into making a second one

(allowing the dust bunnies in the house to party on for another day).

With this one,

I applied a graphic from The Graphic Fairy with Mod Podge,
and allowed it to wrinkle a bit to give it an even more vintage look.

and once again,

dry brushed it lightly with Old White
followed by a coat of clear wax. 

Serving trays ~ French ReStore style!

Both trays are currently for sale in my booth at Doster Emporium.

~ Blessings ~

Linking to the parties on the lower right of my sidebar.

Just click on the buttons.

Open for Business!

Two SUVs full of Heaven's Walk treasures

+

  

3 days of pricing and tagging,

hammering and hanging,

and floofing and fluffing...

=

OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

I am so excited!

Heaven's Walk is now officially a booth at Doster Emporium!

The Emporium is located in an old grain & lumber mill in the small, quaint, rural town of Doster.

The Emporium is quite an historical building in the area.  Georgina, who owns it with her husband, has books filled with original orders from grain and lumber customers handwritten in their beautiful, old script.

Old photos of past owners and family members are framed and hung on the walls.

There's even some of the original mechanisms located in the center of the shop where you can see where the grain was poured from.

 







You can take a walk around the beautiful property on a path Georgina created and lined with wildflowers and vintage railroad memorabilia.





There's even a cute little outhouse on the property that Georgina remodeled all by herself.
She's very smart like that, and is such a dear heart!

Georgina said I was "in my element" as I transformed my little white room

into a sweet, cozy, and welcoming French-Nordic atmosphere for this season's customers.

It actually gave me the same feeling of contentment that fluffing my house does.

Unpacking boxes and boxes of goodies,

moving things around (more than once),

tucking things here and there,

and then standing back and sighing contentedly.

Now I understand why all of you gals out there who have had booths for so long

love it so!

I'm praying that this new venture will be profitable,

and most importantly ~

fun!

{It definitely gives me an excuse to hit the yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores more often,

doesn't it?}

Here are quite a few some

photos of my booth.

  
{Grab yourself cup of coffee,

or if it's after 12 noon -
a glass of wine...}

Update on the Heaven's Walk sign:  It's now up on the wall!

I love making these topiaries!

This rocker was my first attempt at upholstering (with a handmade faux grain sack). The end table is a ReStore transformation.

The French lamp was another ReStore transformation.

The "seaside" corner.

Yep, I had an extremely busy and productive winter
with my Annie Sloan chalk paint, paint brushes, Mod Podge, stencils, and a continuing love/hate relationship with my sewing machine.
Ninety percent of everything you see here was transformed in one way or another by the waving of my magic wand ~

and all of the inspiration came from YOU, my beloved blog friends.
YOU fed my creativity.


So, there you have it.
My new little piece of heaven!

 

If you're in the area,

be sure to stop by to see a bit of Heaven's Walk

at Doster Emporium, meet sweet Georgina,
and come do the happy dance with us!  :)

Ok...just ignore the dorky outfit.  I was wearing my work clothes...and freezing!

The Emporium is located at 12915 Doster Road in Plainwell, Michigan.

Hours are: Wednesday, Friday & Saturday from 12-4pm.

You can contact Georgina at 269-664-3231 if you can't make it during business hours.

She's more than willing to open up the shop just for you!

Be sure to check out Doster Emporium on Facebook, too!

[ Blessings ]

Linking to the parties on the lower right of my sidebar.
Just click on the buttons!


I'd love to have you join Heaven's Walk as a Linky Follower and GFC, too!

French Table Love

I was so honored to guest post at Maria's lovely blog on Monday, 
and I shared my recent French table transformation there.
If you haven't visited her yet, run right over there a minute.
I'll wait for you to come back...  :)


I fell into Maria's Rusty Hinge world a while ago,
and found myself swooning over her gorgeous home,
drooling over her stunning vignettes,
and envying her amazing photography.
After discovering how many of the same addictions loves we shared,
we quickly became friends.

(I think we could start a store called "Grain Sacks R Us", 
but I'll save that idea for another time...)

  ~  ♥  ~


My first trip to the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore in late February

was very successful to say the least.

Hubby and I spent hours digging, scrounging, peeking, lifting, moving,

gathering and tagging quite a few treasures there

and then stuffing them all in the back of my vehicle.

{and it was 1/2 off month, too!}

I was giddy.

He was feeling pretty proud of himself, too,

for tagging the find of the day.
(All of the time I've spent training him in seeking out potential French-Nordic decor is paying off!)

Unfortunately, this particular beauty wouldn't fit down the basement stairs

where I planned on working my magic on her.

So, she was relegated to the barn 

until the temps were warmer and I could start painting her.

There she sat, the poor dear,
next to my John Deere tractor
waiting patiently for me amidst the dust, hay, and cobwebs.

With our weather being so summery a few weeks ago,

we rescued her, lovingly placed her into the back of our golf cart carry-all,
and drove her down to Hubby's workroom.

He set me up with his big, honkin' handheld belt sander

saying that my little palm sander would "wear me out".

Really?
 Okay...if you say so...

He left me to blissfully sand to my heart's content.
And sand I did.
I was thrilled to see how quickly that man-eating sander bit through that nasty finish.
Shhhh!  I just may have to confiscate this baby...

Now, don't hate me ~ because in my happy dance anxiousness to begin working on her

I forgot to take "before" photos.

I know.  I know.
Go ahead and call me a bad blogger.
I deserve it.

But just close your eyes and imagine a dark, extremely shiny, scuffed up,

drop leaf table...with metal claw feet.

Dark.

Extremely shiny.

Scuffed up.
An ugly duckling with pretty feet,
but definitely having potential.

Got it?

Ok.

After an hour of sanding with that he-man of a sander,
(great workout for my biceps)

I had most of that ugly shiny-ness removed.

I spent a couple hours painting her with a coat of ASCP in "Paris Grey".

She was looking better,

BUT

the pinky redness of that dark stain beneath started showing through 

even after my second coat of paint.

Agh!

So, I decided to go for more of a rustic-elegance look for this little lady

and dry brushed on some

Kilz.

Yup.

I used Kilz.

I swished it on the areas that the pinky stain was showing through,
then continued dry brushing the rest of it
here and there ~
even between her rusty little toes.

Next, I brushed on a coat of clear wax and let it dry overnight.

The next day, after a good hour of rubbing and buffing,
more rubbing and buffing,
and even more rubbing and buffing,
(another great bicep workout)
she slowly transformed into a beautiful swan.
A wonderfully subtle sheen emerged on her wonderfully Frenchy bleu/grey color.


Would you like to see how she turned out?

*Sigh!*

I adore "Paris Grey".
It's the perfect French bleu-grey.

She's currently residing at Doster Emporium in my sweet, little, white room
where I'll be selling my Heaven's Walk treasures soon...

BUT

I find myself in a dilemma.

I want to keep her.

I want to give her a home at Heaven's Walk.

I haven't the slightest idea where I'd put her.

But I want to keep her.

Badly.

I guess I'll think on it awhile.

She'll be a beautiful place to display items in my booth for now...

(which, I'll have you know, is filled to the brim, floofed, and ready for customers ~
but you'll have to wait for my next post to see what it looks like!)


What?

Ok....Ok....

I'll give you a teeny, tiny, little, sneak peak ~

only because you're so special.
{*wink*}

[ Blessings ]

Participating in the linky parties located at the lower right of my sidebar.
Just click on the buttons!


I'd love for you to be a Linky Follower of Heaven's Walk, too!