My friend Annie, over at The House That Jade Built, graciously awarded me with the...

Ok, ok...I know I keep going on...and on...and on...about that slightly-oversized Opera House cabinet I have been working on for my living room, so thought I would give you a little sneak-peek.

It is in the home-stretch...I have to do a little distressing...install new glass shelving...and put the sliding glass doors on the front. But I could not wait to show you a little peek.

I am soooo happy I decided to leave the areas that were raw pine natural!

 It is such a beautiful contrast to my white ironstone collection that will be on display inside.

I am in love with that bowl in the center. I have never...ever...seen another one like it. It is a rather large size and has a metal rim...so cool! Anyone out there know what it was for? Maybe it had a lid??

Now, did I happen to mention that my beloved cabinet seems a bit too large for my room??

Yeah. Just a little snag in my plan.

It is just so massive, it makes everything else look a little small. I had a feeling that would happen when I bought it, but had to take the chance anyway. My room is 33ftx16 ft...so rather bowling-alley-ish. The scale of the cabinet really needs a much larger room...but it is what it is.

And I love it. So it is staying.

For now.

I'm off for another day with the paintbrush. I have a coffee table, 3-drawer bombay chest and a full-length mirror to get done today.

This is a piece I delivered yesterday. Let me tell you, there is nothing like a girly white dresser to make a little girl soooo happy!

 Oh, and Happy St. Patty's Day, girls!

You girls are the best, you know that??

Thanks for all the "where have you been?" emails...I really didn't think anyone would miss me if I was gone from blogland for a week! You sure know how to make a girl feel good!

I have had a lot going on around here...some small things...and some really big things. I am trying to tie up loose ends on something super-exciting so I can make a little announcement to you all next week.

It is something fabulous but scary all at the same time. Aren't those kind of things just the best??...ok, for me only when I look back on them, NOT when they are happening! 

I've been trying to get a few new projects projects started...and finished...around the house...

I've been painting furniture for clients like a crazy woman...I just finished piece #13 this morning...I need a break. And some Girl Scount cookies.

On top of house projects and furniture painting...spring is right around the corner and I am trying to figure out a landscape plan. Lets just say I am much better at painting furniture than designing a landscape. I decided today to hire someone. I just don't have time to do it all. I do need sleep, afterall!

Note to self: Next time I buy a house, I will NOT rip out every plant, every bush and every weed until I have a plan on paper for how to replace it. My poor old house was being swallowed by bushes when I bought it, and I got a little happy with my girl-sized chainsaw.

Its good to be back.

Today I get to spend the day with a few of my favorite things...

a fresh gallon of paint in my favorite shade...'cloud white'

a brand new paintbrush

and a radio playing my very favorite tunes

I don't have much of a post today...

 because I have a dresser

one gorgeous frenchy armoire

a changing table

 grandma's beautiful old rocking chair

and a side table

waiting for a makeover

oh, and a chandelier I have to remove all the crystals from before I can paint it white, too...

I think I have stumbled on my very favorite client...

of all the clients I have worked with in the last 10 years

a wonderful husband who is having me paint all the furntiure for a very important nursery...

a nursery for his very first little girl

~ a nursery full of girlie delights ~

I have a feeling the 3 of them are going to have a happy life together.

That is one sweet man.

But then again...when isn't it around here?

I make it that way.
I am a change junkie.

My husband comes home from work and finds a new coffee table in front of the sofa about once a month. A few weeks ago we went to bed...he turned his lamp off...and about 30 seconds later says "I see I have a new nightstand." It doesn't even phase him anymore. Although he does think I should donate some of my extra time to being a case-study for a college Psychology class somewhere. He thinks I have some yet-unknown metal disorder that make a person constantly change their surroundings.

Thank goodness he so easy-going...because I need that constant change. That is one of the pit-falls of painting furniture for a living. Few things stay in the same place in my house for more than a couple weeks. But it feeds my craziness that I can do something different each and every day. Lets just say I am not a girl that can sit behind a desk in an office 8 hours a day. I have tried. Trust me on this one. Oh how I yearn to...I want to wear the cute clothes and killer shoes. It would be much better than the hoodies with paint all over them you would normally catch me in. I miss seeing people at work, the gossip, the day-to-day chat. It is just me, a radio and a paintbrush most days.

This year alone I have painted and sold over 500 pieces of furniture. Maybe doing this is what has made me a change-junkie. I am always needing to do something different...and better than the time before. Is this how extreme-sports get started? Mountain biking becomes boring after a while until you are doing it at high speeds next to a cliff? Will I soon be seen on a reality show for Extreme-Dining-Room-Set-Painting?

By now I am sure you are asking where the heck I am going with this long winded chat about change...so let me just say there are new things going on in my life right now. Professionally, that is. Exciting things...things that are keeping me up at night. And once I do fall asleep I wake up thinking about them as soon as I open my eyes. I'm plotting and planning. I can't tell just yet, but I want to soooo badly. I am busting to let it all out. I work so hard, it is such a wonderful thing with life rewards you with opportunity you didn't even see coming.

I am definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants girl, but ironically, new things make me nervous.

 So, to escape all this stress of these big changes...I am making a pact to finish all the reno projects I have started during these winter months. To tie up loose ends, to vow to keep a piece of furniture in one spot for a long time. (Don't tell my husband just in case I relapse on this one.) I am going to finish my home rather than always work on other people's spaces. And I promise to take photos and post my projects as I go.

Whew, I was soooo good to let that all out. Sorry it was such a long one. That happens when I don't get much sleep.

Off to finish project #1. The hallway. How hard could that be?? Wish me luck. I am painting it the fourth color since I have lived here. Yikes!

(photo found here...)

Just thought I would show you a little of what is going on in my house this week...its just another week full of building and painting...but I am super excited about this project!

You see, I fell in love with this desk from Pottery Barn...it is a simple, uncomplicated style and it was my favorite color...white. It was love at first sight....

...but I did not love the price tag. So, what's a girl to do???...build one herself, of course! (Or cook a week full of fabulous meals for her husband and ask in her most persuasive voice for him to build one for her. I went with that plan.)

So this week, after my sweet hubby gets home from his super-stressful, manly-man job...he gets to unwind and relax by spending a little quiet time with his tape measure and table saw. I am forever grateful he loves to do these things for me, and even more grateful one of us took math class seriously in high-school. I think there would be a few frustrated freak-outs if I was really the one that had to build it. Hopefully, by the weekend I will be painting my gorgeous Pottery Barn inspired...but waaaaay less expesive desk for my newly renovated home office.

Oh, and just in case he gets my desk done a day early...I have drawn out the plans for one of these, too!

 I have a wall in my kitchen just waiting for this. Each night, about 5:30, my husband hears me complaining about my train-wreck of a spice cabinet and how I can't find a freakin' thing in it! So I am sure he will be happy to accomodate.

I thank you all for your emails, you are just so sweet and I am feelin' the painted furniture love over here, thats for sure! I am slooooly loading things up on Etsy, so bear with me.

A sincere THANK YOU to all you fabulous ladies that are patiently waiting for me to get my act together.

You see, with doing shows May-October, I don't have much of a life during that time. I work 7 days a week almost ever week of the summer. So, once that last show wraps in October, I relish in being able to do 'normal' things like...clean my house...cook...finsh off reno projects that are loooong overdue, do a little shopping now and then. Things I should always be able to do, but I have a little problem with the phrase "sure, I can get that done for you by next week" popping out of my mouth waaaaaay too often. I have been busy with custom orders, but with only 2 left to finish that I promised for this month, I have a little time to try to get some things posted before I start in on Decembers load. I am so lucky I love what I do!

So, heres a little preview. (sorry my pics are not the best, my camera had a little "accident" so I have to use my old one for a while.)

I have loads of frames to post...so if you want enough to fill a wall, email me! I think I have 18 vintage ornate frames ready to go...

Did I ever tell you ABC came to town this summer? They were here for a week to film an episode of "Extreme Home Makeover"  and it is going to air THIS SUNDAY!

This episode features a family that lives on a farm outside Lena, IL. My parents live in Galena, IL so I have been passing by this old farmstead on the way to their house for 15 years...never dreaming I would be there when it got such an incredible makeover!

I was lucky enough to be able to sign up to work on the set. I was hoping to get to see Ty running around like this all day...

I don't want to give away too much about the house so I am not going to post photos of it. For those of you that are going to watch this Sunday, I figure it would be like telling the end of a movie. I will say the house isn't as "grand" as they usually are, but still wonderful. Which I think is a good thing, there is always so much wasted space. The family wanted a comfortable home, but a more conservative size than they usually are. They were worried about taxes, etc. I have heard there are several families that have lost their homes to forclosure after mismanaging their new found equity, so I thought that was a good thing.

I will say this...some in that family better love the color yellow...a LOT! I don't mean a soft, butter yellow. I mean yellow-yellow...as in Big Bird from Sesame Street. I guess it is just not my thing. I was a little shocked at their use...or should I say over-use...of this shade of yellow. They said it was because it was special to the family. I sure hope so.

But there is a fabulous butler's pantry...I have always wanted one. And watch closely for the furniture. A friend of mine worked alongside Pauly all week building most of the pieces. And dare I say....look real, real close for a few pieces of white painted furniture, too! Don't they look like they were plucked straight out of my booth the Kane County Flea Market?! Hmmmm...could they be??! I'm not telling...wink..wink..but I really need to get my Etsy store loaded up, don't I??

Don't forget to tune in. I want to hear what you have to say about it on Monday! I need reassurance I am not the only person out there that is not a fan of Big Bird Yellow on a gorgeous farmhouse!

I love a good before and after...so here we go!

This is a buffet I started yesterday for a client...and I just finished it up so thought I would snap a few pics. Sorry they are not the best. The sun was going down, so it was a 'now or never' scenario...as it usually is for me.

It needed more than a little love when I came across it. When I saw the picture I wasn't quite sure about this one...but it was solid oak, from the 1930s...deep down I knew it had potential. A little fixing and a few coats of paint later...viola! One mighty fine piece of furniture!