Cottage Studio Layout and Color

So far, I'm very pleased with what's been happening in the studio the last couple of weekends. Though I wish work could go a little faster, I guess I'll have to work on being content with slow and steady instead. The ceiling is 99% complete with just a little touch up work and fan and light installation to go. On Saturday, hubs was finally able to find my Krylon brown camouflage paint (which looks just like oil rubbed bronze when topcoated with a matte sealer) and the fans and lights will be complete as soon as I seal them.

I've been working on my chairs. I *thought* I took a good before shot of them but I can't find the photos anywhere on the computer. I have one chair left that I haven't worked on so I'll be sure to photograph it beside one of the "new" madeover chairs for comparisons sake. Here is a snapshot that I was able to find, along with some old table legs I'm planning on using for my desk. These chairs where probably pretty back in the 70's, don't you think? Now, though, they're just...Ugh! I have four of them and they came with a small dining room set that I bought at Goodwill quite a while ago. The table and four chairs were just $20, I do believe! I cut the table legs down and it became my coffee table for the living room, but I wasn't quite sure where I'd use those chairs. The studio will be the perfect place! I just can't believe what paint can do for outdated furniture.

I thought you might be interested in knowing what the layout of my new space will be. My studio space is small and just about every square inch will be utilized. In the middle of the room will be a rolling work table (with leaves that fold down). I decided that since we never use one of the big sliding doors and because I have so little wall space to begin with, a work table and shelving unit will completely cover it up. I'm just going to add white light blocking roller blinds to the glass doors (for a cohesive view from the exterior) and treat it as a wall. It will completely disappear once the units are in place. I get plenty of light from the other sliding door on the opposite side of the room and there are three small windows (six total) near the ceiling on both sides of the room as well.



I said I would wait until the room was painted before I'd reveal the new room color, but that probably won't be until this weekend and I just don't want to wait! I've painted the corners of the room and several large "samples" on all the walls. Did anyone guess Robin's Egg Blue? Yummmm! This photo doesn't do the color justice, but I'm absolutely thrilled with it. I designed a new banner for my future shop and my walls will coordinate with it:)


On the business front, I've been far too busy working on the studio to create much - and most of my supplies are boxed up. But I did finally make something I've been wanting to try for a while now. They are custom cupcake wrappers.I call them Cupcake Hugs! I'm going to have a lot of fun making these:)





I hope everyone is having a good week so far!

A Guessing Contest!

It's Saturday evening and hubs and I just wrapped up another afternoon of working on my studio. We've finished putting in the rest of the trim work (baseboards, trim around the stairs) with the exception of the skylight window trim. He did cut the pieces for me but I want to paint them before he installs them to avoid getting paint on my "sky" mural. Hubs also removed the ugly ceiling fan and the other two ceiling lights so that I can paint them a dark chocolate brown! I've painted one already and it looks a thousand times better. How I wish I could have prettier ceiling lighting altogether but this is a budget makeover and if I can't change the lighting style, I can surely change the color! And as much as I hate ceiling fans (see in the photo how much dust mine has collected!), in this room, one is absolutely necessary. I do have additional lighting that I will be adding to the space, and maybe even a little chandelier above my desk if hubs can make the cord longer. It's been boxed up forever and I'd love to use it).

Now about that contest! I have lots of furniture pieces that I'm making over or building for my new space. I will somehow be using this antique headboard. I bought it quite a while ago for $5 or $10 dollars. Can you believe that!

To the person that correctly guesses what I will be using this antique headboard for in my studio, I will send to them some of my faux candies as a prize:) If more than one person guesses correctly, I'll put their names in a hat and draw a winner. To make it fun, try not looking at the other guesses when you post your guess. I'd love to see what you all come up with! Only one guess per person, please, and you must include a way for me to contact you if you are the winner.

I'm keeping this contest open until I am finished revamping the headboard and probably after it is in it's place in my completed studio...that may be a month or so from now. But the more guesses, the better!

Have fun!

Oh, I forgot to tell you - I decorated my first real cake on Tuesday in my cake decorating class. Hop on over to my other blog to take a look!

Cottage Studio Before Photos

I know everyone has probably seen photos of my sunroom / office / future craft studio a million times, but for the sake of comparison later, I wanted to share some photos of my "studio in progress". We're coming up on the second weekend of work in here and I was able to get a head start on it last night and today.

By the way, if you'd like to see the *BEFORE* before photos (that is, what the space looked like months ago when I was just dreaming of a studio), just click here.

I took out the banister and carpet on the steps quite a while back, but last weekend we patched the walls as well as insulated the ceiling where the old sky lights use to be. We removed the poorly installed skylights years ago when we replaced the roof and will someday even remove the current old ceiling. The beadboard is ok (I love beadboard!) but it's the thin imitation beadboard and wasn't exactly installed with the greatest of care. So for now, we are left with recessed "patches" on the ceiling, as I call them. My solution to the eyesores was to paint a sky mural within each of the square holes to give the effect of skylights. I painted the murals today but will show them to you later:) I still have one sweet detail to add, plus this weekend hubs will be adding a nice wide moulding around the perimeter of each skylight. When the moulding is up, caulked, and painted, I'll take some photos. But I will tell you that I LOVE how the murals have turned out so far. I didn't know what I was going to do with those big ugly plywood holes, but I really think the murals were just the right solution.

So this is what the studio looked like last night. I apologize for the dark photos - I rarely photograph at night for this reason. It is a small space for sure, but I think the tall ceilings and lots of natural light will make the studio feel less cramped.





(Has anyone seen my ladder?)





What is really exciting for me is that I've finally figured out a color scheme! The walls are *not* going to be the same as kitchen and living room as I thought I would probably choose. I'm going to keep it a little secret until after they are painted, but if you have any good guesses or opinions, I'd love to hear them! I will say that the accent colors I'll be using are white, off-white, and chocolate brown (neutrals that go with just about any color, I think). Choosing paint colors is soooo hard - there are too many options!

So what colors would you choose for this space?

Studio Work Begins!

We started on my studio last weekend, and boy, what a lot of work! I'll be sure to post photos when there is something interesting to photograph:) For now, we've mainly been working on patching the walls and insulating the parts of the ceiling that weren't completely insulated. Work continues this weekend:) There were once sky lights in the studio room...and now there are just plywood "patches" that are quite the eyesores! We removed the skylights when we added a new roof a few years back and have been waiting to deal with the interior holes when we redo the ceiling. We're not ready for that, so I've had to come up with a creative way to make those square patches look like they belong. I finally decided that I would (try to) paint a pretty cloudy sky mural within each of the four squares and trim it out in a nice crisp white moulding. Hopefully the effect will realistic - we shall see! I hope to tackle that soon (this weekend or next) so I'll be sure to post some before and afters! I'm so anxious to have the studio finished because my materials and creations are taking over the rest of the house!

Hubs was also able to get around to mudding the seams of the new drywall in the hallway. Still lots of sanding, reapplying mud, sanding, etc., to go, but it looks sooo much better already! I can't believe we can walk down the hall now without seeing a single stud!

I've been experimenting with my faux creations and wanted to share one of them - a chocolate cupcake - with you...You can read more about it on my faux dessert blog if you like.











Thanks for dropping in! I hope everyone is doing well!

A Cupcake Laboratory

That's what my kitchen has become over the last few days - half bakery / half science lab! You see, I'm kicking it into high gear to really start producing my faux desserts for the opening of Lollishops toward the end of the year. More on that in a moment...

Well, I'm all better and up and at'em again! Unfortunately, after I recovered, two of my kidlets once again were sick. One (who had a fever for a day or so) complained once late at night that her ear bothered her...then her ear drum ruptured early the next morning! It was an ear infection we didn't even know she had - her first one ever in seven and a half years. The other one had a fever for several days - once up to 104.3, followed by bronchitis. She missed a week and half of school:( So it's been a tough month but we are ALL well now, thank goodness! Thank you to all those that stopped by and left well wishes - I really appreciate your kind words!

So...lately I've been dreaming about what kinds of things I want to make for my Lollishops store, and OH what fun! I went to Hobby Lobby last Saturday and had to keep reminding myself to focus on one or two products at a time...there are so many ideas spinning around in my head and it would be easy to leave a place like Hobby Lobby with a buggy load:) I picked up paint, pastel chalk, and three pretty glass cake plates of different sizes, from cake size down to cupcake size. They were half off and I couldn't resist!

I've been focusing for now on my cookies, candies, and cupcakes. I *wanted* to also be working on some sugared lollipops and sugared gumballs because they are so much fun, but there's only so much time in one weekend...*sigh*

I've used various recipes in the past for my faux cookies but haven't been completely thrilled with the cookies unless they were painted a yummy chocolatey color, which is fine - but not all cookies are chocolate. I basically needed a recipe that produced a cookie that looked delicious and natural right out of the oven and that only needed a clear coat sealer. I finally found it! I had some of my cookies on a cooling sheet the other day when my oldest daughter came home from school and she saw them and asked if she could have one, lol. (That's the tough thing about being a faux dessert maker and having kids...you do feel a *twinge* of guilt when you have to tell your kids that what they hoped was real was indeed fake, hehe. I do make plenty of real cookies, too, or else there would be a small uprising here!)

With my cupcakes, I've been trying to figure out how to make a realistic looking cupcake base - the actual cake portion of the cupcake. In the past I've used plaster and while it's easy to use and looks great piled high with yummy faux icing, I wanted something lighter weight and that wasn't flat on top - I wanted a bit of a rise like an actual cupcake. I experimented this weekend and am so excited that I think I've found it! Hubs was amazed (and it takes a lot to get a "Wow!" out of him!). I can't help but to think back to all the times I've spent pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to achieve a certain look or effect, using every product under the moon, and almost giving up. (And there will be many more times like that in the future!) I'm sure with many crafts, it's half art, half science experiment. You just never know if something will work until you try! My next "science experiment" will have to do with making faux fondant. I have my "ingredients" and tools but will have to see how it works out!

I'm also working on a new color palette. Chocolate is divine and I want to offer plenty of it, but in a place like Lollishops, there must be plenty of candy coated sweetness, don't you think? I've tested quite a few colors on some candy pieces and it looks like they are going to work! My girls especially loved the more "frou frou" looking candies. The same colors will be used on cupcakes, cookies, lollipops, etc. I've mostly only ever used red, white, cream, pink, and brown for my desserts, so I'm really excited about adding to my color palette!

On the home front, today a friend is coming to help hubs hang drywall in the hallway. Yay! One less area in our home with visible studs (and there are many!!)!!

But the most exciting news this week is that hubs gave me the go ahead last night to design my work studio! At this moment, the kitchen is slowly being overtaken by cupcakes and cookies as I work more on my desserts, and I have to have a place for all of it so that we can continue to function in there. BUT...here is the twist...

Ninety-five percent of my materials needed to create my studio will come from what we already have on hand in the garage. I need lots of shelving, a work table, seating, storage, and so on...and I want it to be pretty, of course:) So there will be a lot of trash to treasure projects to complete this makeover. I have some preliminary ideas already and hubs told me to give the plans to him when I'm done and we'll work on it together. When I'm able, I'll take a photo of the all the stuff I plan on using...from old woodend table legs to the bifold doors we removed from the dining room (you will probably think that I've lost my mind, hehe...but hopefully it will work out and also free up some space in our garage in the process!)

What I know I will have to buy is paint, some decorative trim for dressing up the shelving, and window treatments. The walls will probably be Malted Milk like the rest of our house so far and the furniture will all be white. For color, I've been dreaming about pretty long flowy curtains in a vintage or robin's egg blue. and the rest of the color will come from faux dessert displays. Ahhhh....

Wow, I wrote a novel! Thanks for popping in!

P.S

I may be having another much smaller online yard sale here in the next couple of weeks...probably less than 10 items:) Just a heads up!

P.S.S If you have haven't yet submitted your application to Lollishops, please do!

Charming Glass Jar Bank + Goodwill Treasures

If you're like me, you're always discovering spare change in the couch cushions, under furniture, or in pockets while doing laundry. I've never really been quite organized enough to collect and save found coins in a sensible fashion like most folks do, I'm sure, but a couple of months ago I thought it would be fun to have a special place to "bank" any change that we find lying about the house. So with a glass jar, some scrapbooking paper, buttons, and little bit of decorative trim, I made a sweet little coin jar to keep in the kitchen. The kids love depositing money into it and I like feeling a little more organized!

It is that time of year again - "going back to school" time. This past week we were busy doing all of our school shopping and now I'm in the process of getting the house ready for the new school year...things like cleaning out the kids' dresser drawers and closets, culling old clothes, and cleaning out the laundry room and fridge and other areas that will stay quite "hopping" throughout the busy school year. With all the activity that homework, projects, and school events adds to our schedule, I like to get the school year off to a fresh start here at home. Also, (and many of you have been asking me), I do still plan to get my faux dessert business off the ground before December and feel like I am so close to being ready here. But home and family have always come first so I've been waiting until I feel like I can in good conscience move forward with the business without neglecting other duties...and I'm almost there. I have a lot of fun ideas that I'm really looking forward to trying...stay tuned!

I will probably be scarce here for the next couple of weeks as we get ready for the new school year and as we get accustomed to a new routine all over again. We've also all been sick here and I think between cleaning and organizaing, I'm going to try and rest up so I can fully recover. Poor hubs has a coughing fit every time he moves...but fortunately, the kids were the first to get sick and the first to recover, so they are now enjoying what's left of their summer break.

Before I sign off, I thought I'd post a few photos of some Goodwill finds... Goodwill hunting is SO much fun!

Mostly vintage cookbooks....



Baskets...(you can't tell from the photo, but the largest basket is BIG!)


Metal plant containers with text about gardening...


An oil painting (I'm not sure if I like the frame or not, but the painting itself is sweet!)



Thank you for your kind comments about the painted trivets and the chocolate chip cookies! I'm glad you enjoyed the photos! Until next time... Have a great rest of the summer!

Fun with ( Faux ) Cake + More Blue Inspiration

Back in May, I finally got up the nerve to try my hand at making my first "faux" cake. I will at some point (when things settle down around here a bit) take cake decorating classes and honestly, I didn't plan on trying a cake until after I had several classes under my belt. But I got the itch and decided to give it a go.

So here are the results. Though it's far from perfect, I'm really, really pleased with how my first attempt turned out. I'm sorry that I can't give out the secret fake cake recipe, but I hope you enjoy looking at the photos:) I keep this cake on a plate stand in my kitchen.










I couldn't resist also making some coordinating yummies like baby cupcakes and some fancy cookies...





I'm going to love coming up with new designs and creations...it's so much fun making these inedible treats!

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Here are a few more "bleu" inspiration photos that I've had on file for a while. Don't you just love this color?!

I love the idea of covering books with colorful paper and writing or painting words on the spine...



Doesn't red look pretty with this shade of blue?


Do you see the old blue bench in the background? Fabulous!


And more beautiful blue...

Faux Your Information

I wanted to let you all know that I've updated my shop blog and have a request for other cottage type shop owners. Check it out and email me if you would like to participate. Looking forward to hearing from you! In the meantime, I'm keeping myself busy with everything, but sadly non-renovation related. We are going to have one big yard sale this spring because I'm majorly up to my neck in attic "stuff". I've been washing all the clothing that was stored up there and can finally see my laundry room floor again! Now...where is that sofa? Hmmm...

Have a great day!

Life Comes at You Fast

Isn't that the truth?! I have to admit, I've been pretty bummed as of late because this year (so far) hasn't gone at all as I had planned. Our 13 year old van finally died. We knew it could happen at any time at this point, but we were hoping it wouldn't be this year. Afterall, we had big plans for this years tax refund - lots of home renovation projects to complete! Instead, we ended up purchasing a (new to us) van to replace our old one...there was just no getting around it. So I've had to spend a little time readjusting my attitude and reminding myself that all good things are worth the wait:).

One thing that I've noticed about myself, and I suppose this is a good thing, is that when things get tough, after the initial "Wow, this really, really stinks", I somehow manage to pull myself up by the bootstraps and try to figure out what step to take next. If I can't do anything about A, what can I do about B, C, or D? Now, sometimes it takes me a while - days or even weeks - to come to the realization that I haven't actually lost control of every single aspect of my life (as my overly dramatic inner self leads me to believe sometimes). But eventually I do come to the sensible conclusion that I've only hit a bump in the road and that I can either pull over and bemoan the bump or I can just keep driving and see where the road leads me. Or I slap myself silly while yelling "Pull yourself together, Woman!!! That works, too.

So we've been working on B, C, and D. We still had a few of our pine doors to install and so that is what we've been working on over the last couple of weekends. Oh how I love a solid wood door! There is nothing in the world like it (there goes my overly dramatic side again). The sound of a wooden door closing shut, to me anyway, is just melodious. One thing you don't know about me is that when no one is watching, I'll stand in the hallway and just open and close doors just to hear them shut. Ahhh...Does anyone know what I'm talking about? We have one more door to install and a couple more to order, and in the meantime we can be adding the little wood appliques to the door like we did in the door above.

One non-remodeling project that I've been wanting to get around to for a couple of years now is cleaning out our "attic" space. It's not actually an attic, it's really an unfinished bonus space above the garage, but either way, it's crammed to capacity with S T U F F. Clothes, toys, yard sale finds, old games, junk...you name it. There is so much up there and I've just been overwelmed by it all and have tried to ignore it, but it's just getting worse. So in my campaign against excess, I'll be tackling the bonus space (and the sunroom where lots of stuff seems to land) and having a yard sale this spring. I feel like these spaces have been holding me back in other areas of my life - when we're in the middle of a big renovation project or I'm thinking about pulling out my crafts, I can't help but to think about what I *should* be working on instead, namely, the junk spaces. I would love to just go ahead and get those areas cleaned out so I don't have to worry them anymore. I'm really trying to just get rid of things that I either don't have the room for or don't love as much as I once did. Why not pass them along for someone else to enjoy for a while? I sold the antique and vintage collection pictured above on Ebay last week and will be shipping it to it's new home tomorrow. Ahhhh - feels nice! I'm not impressed, though, with Ebay's fee increase and think I'll keep things local from now on with Craigslist or post a few things on my blog if I think I have something cottage lovers would be interested in.

I've also been really busy working on trying to get things in order for my little "Sweetest Treats You'll Never Eat" (faux desserts) business . I know, I was suppose to be on the ball with this last fall, but I'm realizing how I just don't function well without all my ducks in a row first. Clearing out space in our bonus area is part of the process because I'm quickly running out of space to store materials and products. But ohhhhh...I have so much planned that I can hardly sleep! I'm in the process now of taking photos of all the treats I've been working on over the last couple of months and I'll soon post them here and on my shop blog and make them available for purchase for those that are interested. I keep bouncing back and forth between using Etsy or my own website (even though my own website is 98% complete at this point!). I really need to move some of my inventory to make room for more - and let's face it, reclaim our kitchen island and use it for it's intended purpose, namely *real* (not faux) food preparation! I'm so pleased with what I've put together so far and my head is spinning with more ideas --- I can't wait to see them come to fruition!

How are your spring projects coming along? Hope you all are doing well!