Back to work~gilding and glazing light fixtures!

My little pink swing sitting in the snow~

Well the blizzard of 2013 is officially over, yet the roads remain a mess making it hard to get anywhere.

The city of Boston still has yet to open the schools and life is not as easy as it was just a week ago.

But Maison Decor is back in business~we lost Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  However 

I am happy to report we are back here at work, and it feels great!

Since Justin was staying at our house due to the blizzard we managed to get in 

a day of work yesterday, Monday,  which is a day we are closed.  I had some

custom paint jobs on light fixtures so we decided to tackle the huge brass chandy together.

Justin and I worked together painting all the details of this chandelier as it dangled at

a nice height from a ceiling hook.  This is the best way to paint a chandy. You can rotate

it and get under it and we used a ladder to get up to the higher parts.  There were so many

details that needed to be covered and we used different size brushes to get at them.

Finally we had finished the first coat of French Linen Chalk Paint®.

It would get another coat too~

Then our magic metallic glaze in German Silver was applied.

This is one of the techniques you can learn in our Advanced Workshop.

I have decided to teach this class every other month.

Whenever anyone sees this they love it and want to know how to 

create it!! Even other "professionals" ask me how to get this effect.

Are you interested in learning how?

My first class for glazes and washes is this Sunday  with 3 spots open.

The other light fixture I worked on was this~

You can see the bright brass finish on the left, and the new finish on the right.

This technique is done in the same manner with Chalk Paint and Glazing.

Change out the brass look in a flash!

On my way to work this morning I couldn't resist buying some flowers to 

create a bouquet to counteract the winter dreariness.

Of course I had to buy a few separate stems to create what I wanted,

as I am in love with Hydrangeas and Roses in pink 

(there are roses on the other side)

Pretty isn't it?

  I love a simple bouquet~and need to treat myself more often~!

Hope you are good to yourself this Valentines day and make sure

you tell the ones you love how you feel about them.

I'll be teaching the Advanced Workshop on Glazes and Washes

this Sunday~sign up here.

Read more »

Blizzard Report from Boston!

 Yesterday a blizzard blew into the Northeast~and we were smack dab in the jackpot zone of heavy snow fall predictions of 24"-30" of snow.  So Justin and his GF Madison and their new pup Sylvia planned to weather the storm at our house and leave their apartment behind.  After they arrived Syl got introduced to the dogs of Maison Decor~the snow had begun falling around noon time.  Syl and Tobey in the front yard~Syl was running around and loving the snow, while Tobey was being his bossy pants self and not sure he wanted any company.

 They all posed nicely for a photo~Syl is still trying to win over Tobey.

Dillon is just his cool collected self.  He is recovering from ACL surgery and is not supposed to do anything extreme like running or walking up or down steps. He feels like his old self so we have to work hard to make sure he doesn't take off into a sudden run~and with Syl asking him to play, I was hoping he would refrain from joining in.  Puppies are so full of energy, you forget how bouncy and quick they can be.  Tobey was not being friendly despite Syl's best efforts.  Syl would paw at him and try to get him to play and Tobey would just growl~

finally they settled down and got used to the situation....it was a blizzard after all!

 Of course with dogs, you need to bring them out, and with puppies, that is even more true.  Syl is pretty much house trained and we were happy to report no accidents.  Justin took her out in the yard and at this point you can see just a couple of inches on the ground.  We built that little ramp for Dillon to use during his rehab, but the only one that uses it is Tobey!

 Sniffing~lots of sniffing and checking each other out.

 The view from the side deck. Our house sits sideways on the lot...we have a sideways house. This is the view over to Marthas house, our elderly neighbor who passed away a year ago. But it will always be called Marthas house because she lived there for 90 years!! Anyway here you can see the snow starting to accumulate.  The prediction called for high winds, higher than we had in Hurricane Sandy.  I think wind can be pretty scary~downed powerlines and old trees falling down, and we have plenty of both in our yard.

 Hubs got called out to work a long 16 hour shift with the onset of the blizzard. He says goodbye and leaves us to take care of the city!   He would be traveling around in a 4 wheel drive vehicle for the first eight hours~then at midnight be manning the desk for the next eight.  There was a state of emergency called and the Governor of Massachusetts called for a driving ban! The first one we have had since 1978!! No cars would be allowed on the roads in the state after 4 pm.

 It called for us to sit tight and stay at home~sounded like the perfect plan to me!  I had made some homemade sauce and big meatballs and while they simmered on the stove I hung out with the dogs in the TV room watching the endless weather reports and updates.

iphone pic~the cutest moment of the day was this!!

 After meatballs and spaghetti, it was time for a little fun!  Justin, Madison and I played some Trivial Pursuit.  We are a competitive bunch and it got down to the wire with all of us having our full pies and one step away from the winning answer!! And the winner was.....ME!!! hahaha! I couldn't believe I won because the newer version of Trivial Pursuit has lots of contemporary questions in music and arts that I have no clue about....but I prevailed!

 That game lasted about two hours, now it was 10 PM~time to check on the snowfall.  It was really adding up now!  Justin shoveled a path out for the dogs to do their thing one last time before bedtime.  The mounds in the front is the snow on top of my iron urns. You can barely see edge of the ramp~and the mound of snow on the roof of the bird feeder was growing.

Ramp gets cleared for the dogs~

Tobey first!  

 After the dogs were done, round two of runner up Trivial Pursuit started!!

Ha! I opted out~and checked out Facebook and texted with Colin and Brandon for updates on what was happening.

 Brandon sent me this pic of him in the streets of Boston.  He lives in Chinatown and clearly was enjoying the snow.  He has always loved the snow from when he was a little tyke.  He was a nut on skis! I got him a bright neon yellow hat to wear so I could track him on the mountain when he would ski. So I really got a kick out of seeing him in bright yellow with a very similar hat!!

 He sent this darling photo of a mini snowman he came across in Chinatown.  Someone had made him on top of a city trash barrel and used Chopsticks for the arms!  The streets were eerily vacant of pedestrians and cars.

I looked out the front door and snapped one last pic 

and headed up to bed wondering what it would all look like in

the morning.  We live on the steepest hill in our city and the city 

plows could not get up the hill.  Thats kind of scary to think about emergencies

and no one can get to you.  Hubs called and said they were sending out a 

Jeep with a plow!! A regular Jeep in 4 wheel drive was able to steadily work side to side and get the first pass done on the street a little after midnight.

 By the morning I looked out for my first view of the street from my third floor window and this was what I saw~snow stuck to the screens and the cars left on the street were entrenched in snow.

I opened my front door and this is the wall of snow that was built up against it.

All the birds were enjoying the feeder.  I would wait for Justin to do the shoveling once again!

The wind pushes the snow around and creates drifting leaving some places 3 feet high and others almost bare. This is our side porch view~

 And looking over to the right towards our driveway you could see the cars just buried under the snow!! We never lost our power and I was so thankful for that.  Hubby came home safe and sound and is tucked in bed to get ready for his next shift. Our two stores are closed all weekend for sure...no one will be going anywhere soon.

So that was the Boston Blizzard of 2013~its still snowing and another 6 inches or so are on their way.  Hoping all my neighbors in the wake of the storm made out OK like we did.

Read more »

Pretty toile in fun colorways

Lovely toile~

I love it all the more when it is in unexpected colorways

like this pink and grey. This is  toile wallpaper in Lorrie's kitchen. 

She came in the shop today and walked out with

 a darling cabinet I painted.  Its Paris Grey 

on the outside and on the inside it had Antoinette Pink and the doors were

decoupaged with Annie Sloan's Charocoal Pastoral Toile.

She told me she had just wallpapered her kitchen with pink toile.

I imagined it to be pink and white, but when she sent me this photo

I fell in love with the color combo. That moody grey looks so great against

the pink~don't you think?  So when Lori fell for this cabinet I wasn't 

surprised as it seemed a perfect match.

When I first painted this sweet cabinet I did it in pink and black on the exterior~

I used silver instead of gold for highlights on the hardware and details.

Seems like Lorrie and I had Pink and Grey fever at the same time...

I had originally painted the cabinet like this in pink and black.

But the cabinet sat in the shop a little too long and no one took her home.

Today when Lorrie popped in she said it felt like been forever since she had

last been in~and maybe she never got to saw the little bar cabinet in pink.

So now its in Paris Grey with plenty of dark wax but kept its pink interior 

with toile doors.  So I wondered to myself if she would have bought it in its

original state.  But I digress....the topic is lovely toile in cool colors~! 

See her paper on the backsplash? doesn't it just bring a charm to this 

kitchen space like nothing else?  Its feminine charm is undeniable.

See that cute chandy? 

Lorrie bought it from our shop~she also bought my

gigantic white chandelier I used to have over my dining room table that I switched 

out for my blue opaline chandy.  The great thing about having a shop is you can 

do stuff like that...put your things in your store when you get something else!

Anyway, I love how the pink with the charcoal grey works with the black granite 

counter tops.  Lorrie hung an old silver tray on the wall too...someday I will 

get over to her antique house and hopefully I can post on that visit.

This toile is also in an unexpected color combination of dusky lilac and brown.

You don't see brown too often in toile, and that goes the same for lilac...but 

when you do see lilac, it is often with white.  So the brown makes for a more 

interesting toile.  Much like the pastel pink with the charcoal grey, this pastel lilac

gets a nice grounding withe cocoa brown.  

This fabric is Annie Sloan's Normandie Toile.

Pink and Green toile draperies~this was from my home office blogging days.

 I liked the pink toile as it was on a lime green and white striped background.

I sold these curtains in my Etsy shop when I redecorated.

An aqua blue and brown toile is the fabric I used to 

make my sister Susan's custom draperies.

This is such a pretty color combination! I specialized in 

custom window treatments a million years ago

and I flew from Boston to Kansas City MO to install the treatments for Susan.

On a trip to Brimfield with my GF Sue Mickey I was 

on the hunt for purple transferware~

and look what I found! It was a remnant of purple toile~this would 

come home with me and I would

make a cute kitchen valance to go with my transferware collection. 

 I loved that it had dogs and roses

and horses and little cameos~really a fun vintage toile!

My love affair with toile in unexpected colors~

it continues to this day.

Read more »

This and that and Advanced Workshop schedule

 Our Boston store has a new display in the window.  Justin channeled a bit of Ralph Lauren for this one...while I was in the auction house he texted me his idea and so I shopped for a few items to add to his display.  All of these items are for sale of course.  I love coming into the Boston shop to see what's new as I rarely get to spend any time in here.  Last Saturday when the Malden shop closed, Colin and I took a ride into Boston with a few new items to add to Justin's inventory.  I couldn't resist snapping a few pics to share them with you.

 Gothic gilded mirror leaning against a great painted dresser with fab knobs.

                           A low chest perfect for a flat screen console~

 Some hand painted mugs~

Justin makes the coolest little signs and 

he displays them in white piglets.  Love his hand lettered font.

 While I am just snapping away Colin sat with Sylvia, Justin's schnoodle. She is our Boston mascot and is just a little puppy with a darling disposition.  Justin was at the gym next door working out after hours when Colin and I popped into the store late Saturday afternoon.  Little Syl was just sitting on her tiny dog bed and was so sweet! Colin scooped her up while I ran around the store grabbing a few photos.

 

Colin and Sylvia

 When we got back home Colin showered and got ready to go out with his friends~I had never seen his shirt before...it had the breast cancer pink ribbon thing on the button placket. I asked him where he got it~he told me he ordered it from a fancy shirt company and said that 20% went to breast cancer research. His friends thought it was pretty cool and they got the black polo shirts too.  The girls they meet at the nightclubs think its pretty sensitive of a guy to care about breast cancer.  Colin is just a handsome young man who actually does think about such things. I don't know how we got so lucky with him! He is a pleasure~ok, enough bragging on him...

 I finally got the Maison Decor Advance Workshop schedule started and I have decided to do it in a monthly series. One special workshop per month will be offered.  I added a Glazes and Washes class for February 17 and an Artisan Technique class for March 24 which will be all about the Pearl Plaster and other products.  At the end of this month I am headed to Colorado to spend  5 days with one of the creators of the product and I will get some one on one training time from the master of these wonderful and exciting products!  Of course I will still have my Annie Sloan Introductory workshops, two times every month. March 10 has SOLD OUT and March 17 has only 5 spots left.  Please sign up if you are considering it, as they will be gone probably by the end of the week.

 This table leg bears a smokey wash and a gilded wash...

And last but not least~

Thats my mom on the right in 1969.  She looks pretty chic in her tight bob and cats eye glasses and empire waisted shift!  She is standing next to my Nana, and then next to Nana is my aunt Cynthia, my mom's youngest sister and my Uncle Arthur. They have 2 boys and 2 girls.  Very sadly Aunt Cynthia died of melanoma when she was only 49 years of age. We miss her.  I think everybody agreed she was the prettiest out of the 5 daughters and had a matching personality to boot!  Uncle Arthur is one of my favorite uncles~he is that dashing kind of guy, tall and handsome and got charisma in spades.  When he walked in a room, he just lit it up!  Now he is plagued with an undiagnosed condition and the doctors are busy trying to figure it all out and find out how to treat him.  So if you are inclined, please add him to your prayer list. 

Hang in there Uncle Art! We love you and are pulling for you.

Read more »