The Vintage Marketplace

Just Days Away!

Faux Cupcakes!

Vintage Silver

Sachets & Unique pieces of Furniture!

Over 40 Vendors!

Burlap Pillows and Door Hangers!

Re-Dressed Furniture and delicious Pillows!

Looking forward to dusting off the Winter cobwebs and blooming at the first Marketplace of 2012!

We will be re-loading  the BRC website just after the Marketplace with LOTS of goodies!

Come visit us! With over 40 Vendors, you will be sure to find something!

Next post: Pictures of The Vintage Marketplace plus a yummy recipe that is sooo good and sooo easy and quick to make!

XO! Amber



A New Dining Experience, and then some...

The furniture painting is done!

Is it perfect?

No, not by a professionals standards.

Is it perfect to us?

Absolutely!

I really, really love the difference it has made.

 Hubbs is picking up the table glass today (yay!).

You can see some before pictures in the previous post.

I just like this picture.

Smart thinking: Chippy paint is idyllic with boys!
You can't tell if it's damaged or supposed to be that way!

It really, really brightened the room

Love the worn look

I used the same fabric as before, they're just cleaner now. :)

I so love this fabric. I saw it on a bench in a magazine a long time ago
and contacted the writer of the story so I could get it... Calico Corners!

This end table was a bleached wood in it's previous life.
It went with NOTHING in our house but my Hubbs was attached to it for some reason.

Wall of babes. We salvaged the archy piece from an old headboard that was trashed.
I did the same treatment to it as everything else.
I am now on the hunt for Vintage, Ornate, chunky frames to change out the current ones.
(I won't paint them black or white though... well...)

Super fast pillow makeover: Used my existing pillows and just sewed right over them.
I still need to add trim-I was in a hurry, we were having company.

Coffee table. Still debating on painting the top.
 It does match the cabinet that hides the TV and speakers, though.
Any thoughts??
Oh, on the left side of the table where it's brown in the crease... color crayon.
My sweet Trey says to me, "Look what I did for you Mommy!"
Gotta get Mr. Clean magic eraser. I just thank God it wasn't magenta. :)

Super dark picture, sorry. I have to take some tonight.
I replaced the black gingham and made a valance for the
sliding back door.  



I am very happy with the progression. It makes me happier that the Man of the House likes it as well. Hey, I'm saving us time... pre-decorating for our next home!

What's even better is that it was CHEAP!

~ Gallon of flat paint: $5 (we got connections)

~ Sandpaper: free (we had already)

~ Glaze: free (I had a couple of bottles leftover from

 a job I did back in my Home Staging days)

~ Fabric on dining chairs: re-used, just washed

~ Toile fabric for valances and pillows: FREE!

 My sweet friend Missy gave me yards and yards of it.

 Thank you honey!

~Burlap lamp shade: $9 at Walmart (!)

~Lamp shade embellishments: free, I had it already

A new look for the kitchen and family room: Priceless.

I hope this gives someone a boost in re-vamping what they already have.

Always remember: It's only paint! It can be changed if your piece doesn't turn out the way you envisioned it.

Most importantly (this is real advice especially for painting rooms), live with it for 48 hours before you really decide you hate it. When your brain is used to living with something for a long time, it's conditioned. It takes a couple of days for it to "re-align".

Okay, I'll stop now.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Don't forget, Southern California Girls...

The Vintage Marketplace is next weekend!!!

It is going to be FABULOUS!!

Hugs and Love,

~ Amber

Kitchen Table Makeover

Our kitchen table was our dining table in our previous maison.

It matched the hutch I recently stripped of glass and 1990's sophistication and added chicken wire and painted black.

This one:

Our table... what can I say.

It was the ledge that we hung the boys high chairs from. You know, the kind that cantilever off the edge?

It was also the best drum set money didn't have to buy.

It was trashed!

It became one of those things that you were embarrassed about but forgot about because you just got used to living with it.

(I can only imagine what family and friends thought)

Well, I had enough.

I have gone to the other side.

WHITE!

(kinda)

As you know I have posted about the removal of all things red in the house.

I am slowly replacing things with more soothing colors.

Although, yesterday I was blog browsing and found a gorgeous French Country blog where she had lots of red! Hmmm...

Well, I'll keep the reds, just in the closet for any mind changing. :)

I am finishing up the chairs today and re-covering them. Same material as I had before, I just took it all off to wash because they were gross. Now my "Do Not Wash" fabric looks good as new!

I already re-vamped the coffee and end tables (they didn't match anyway, but they do now!) but I won't reveal those till I'm completely done with the whole room.

Here's what I did so far:

Primed and painted with paint my husband got for $5 a gallon at Sherwin Williams

(they were blowing out pure white so he bought ALOT because he could take whatever in and have it tinted-FREE). We tinted it Swiss Coffee.

I did a rough, sloppy paint job because I was going for the "many layers of farmhouse painting" technique.

Sanded down to the black to create the worn, chippy look.

Now, layering paint on thick creates some crazing in areas and stuff, which is perfect for my glaze. Plus it gives it the "Old Age" effect.

I like to use glaze over instead of stain because it is extremely user friendly.



K, enough talking. I will post again soon with the final, final results.

Wait till you see the table! I LOVE it!

We are going to have glass cut for the top so it'll stay nice.

I have to say, I am really happy with the results.

What makes it even better is that Husband likes it too. ALOT!

K, off to do more sanding, glazing and stapling!

XO, Amber



One little, two little....

Something fun is in that box!

Someone hears squeaky toys... NOT!

Not one, not two, not three, but four little balls of fluff!

(I would've bought more, but these girls will suffice for now!)

When I say balls of fluff, I do mean that literally.

The Cochin breed is a fancy bird with lots of fluffy feathers,

 including on their feet.

We chose two White and two Buff chicks.

Here are their names:

Brock named his Chickie-Poo

Trey named his Birdie

Karli named hers Annabelle

and mine is named Mabel.

Husband didn't want a chick, he just wants EGGS.

:)

I added a dot of food coloring to the tops of the boys chicks,

just to make it easier for us to decipher (no rivalries!).

So, in about 6 months, we'll be getting our first eggs! Yippee!

Now the fun part... designing a coop.

xo, Amber

p.s. I will be releasing our E-Newsletter tomorrow on the website!

Just in time for a yummy Valentine recipe.



My Patriotic Duty!

In keeping with my Namesake, I thought I'd share this with you because the words Urban Chicken seem to be used quite a bit these days.

 Towns and Cities have prohibited backyard Chicken keeping, for whatever reason.

Mine included, which is Temecula, CA.

Huff!

I admit- we were, at one time, Outlaws.

Law breakers, to be honest.

We bootlegged chickens at our previous home.

We never got caught, thankfully.

I know if they came a-knocking,

it would have been because of a busy body neighbor.

In the poster below,

 Uncle Sam thought it was an American's

duty to have 2 hens (I say 3 or 4) in their backyard.

So, my question is, when did it become "illegal" to have backyard chickens?

Well, luckily, we moved into an area that is "unincorporated" so we are allowed to have them. I know there are others in our HOA governed tract that have them too.

I hear them in the morning giving their "laying cackle" (I miss that sound).

According to a friend that lives in the same development, someone has a Roo and the HOA can't do anything about it.

That's a little rude in my opinion.

 Especially when our houses are literally 10 feet apart.

Hens are no louder than the black crows that fly overhead and are waaaay quieter than the dogs that bark around here. Lets not talk about the sirens, traffic, noisy kids (oh wait, those are mine playing karate chop in the trampoline), etc.

In other words, LIFE is noisy.

Chickens are not stinky either unless you have a ranch with hundreds or are a poor chicken keeper and allow poop to pile up. I fertilized my entire garden (veggies and flowers) in the previous home with composted chicken givings. My yard was gorgeous.

Waste Not!

PLUS, they are the best garbage disposals! Leftover fruit and veggies, grass clippings, old bread and other little treats are better for them than the garbage can or septic system!

As many of you can attest, there is no greater taste than your OWN home grown eggs! And if you're lucky, you have an "Easter Egger" that lays such serene hues of colored eggs.

Here's that poster...

As a Patriotic Girl that loves her Country,

I am printing this and mailing it to our City Officials on a regular basis.

Maybe one day they'll get it.

As noted in my previous post, we're living in the Here and Now!

I cannot wait till Saturday!

To be continued....

Have a wonderful end of the week.

See ya here on Sunday! ;)

xo, Amber

Fate vs. Desire

Sounds Romantic, doesn't it?

If only life could be so accommodating to our desires, all the time.

I just have to trust in Fate (this time).

Our "dream" house... SOLD to someone else but that's okay.
I looked it up this morning and the taxes were OMG! Phew!

Where am I going with this?

As Fate has it, the job potential in Boise is a no-go for my Man (bummer).

I am a bit sad, but,

there must be a reason why.

"Everything always happens (or doesn't) for a reason", right?

So, instead of wishing and dreaming about my

idyllic life that I would like to have, I am going to

 Bloom Where I'm Planted.

Thank you, Mary Engelbreit, for coining that phrase.

I am going to make it happen, right here, where we are, right now!

How?

My very accommodating raised beds vs. an acre parcel of plowing and daily weeding

My 3 or 4 hens vs. two separate coops. One for layers and one for fryers

(yes, we will be having some babies soon!)

My future black HEN vs. my black Rooster (sigh)

Taking the kids on pony rides vs. the cost of owning and upkeep

(that ones a toughie, I love the smell of horses)

Planting English Roses in Pots vs. Sticking them in the ground

Revamping the home to a Cottage feel vs. Waiting till we live in a Cottage

(that'll be a fun one to blog about)

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

My business is flourishing,

and although I am usually restricted with my "alone" time to work,

I manage just fine... especially when there's a deadline (thanks to coffee)!

HM. I don't think I'm sad anymore.

I have set some goals and I am achieving them.

That's the most important thing.

The website is up (well, my generic one for the time being), and though it's not full of my wares as of yet, I am working on it. :)

I guess my reasoning for this post is to say, out loud, more so for myself, but if it applies to you, yay!, that I am happy for what I have, in the now.

I still have the dream (desire) to have our Cottage on acreage, by a lake,

and I know we will one day have that.

Today though, we are exactly where we are meant to be.

So, come see me here in a few weeks!

XO, Amber

available on the website!