Monday, June 29, 2015

Michael, the story of a boy, a brother... a man.....for Joan...

 My cute lil' brother...siblings...

The day our beloved grandparents moved to Florida...
it was a sad day for us grands...

 The 60's...who didn't love them...siblings gone wild...

 The man, my brother Michael...

 Living the life in Santa Rosa, Cali...with his cat Otis...

This was the day he met the love of his life...Joan,
courtesy of his best friend Mark and a little finagling
on Marks part...it's a great story!!!

A cold day in March, we took our dad on an airplane
ride over our home town...dad always wanted to be a pilot,
a dream never fulfilled...he got us instead...lol.

Our fair city, Muscatine, Iowa on the
mighty Mississippi...it was an awesome day...!!!

This photo journey is for Joan and her kids...
we lost my lil' bro to coronary artery disease April 26, 2015.
We love and miss you Michael...
until we meet again...!

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

A day in the life...river city USofA...Muscatine Ia...

 New piece just in...black is still hot...
some pieces are screaming for it, this piece was
originally painted a periwinkle blue...NOT...
however, the top is walnut...I never paint walnut, but
since it was already painted...nuff said...

 Cute lil' parlor table, it was already painted
white, all I did was freshen the paint...sweet...

 This cute lil' tiered stand had the most
awful orange-ish stain on it...so now it's
adorbs painted white with just a hint of a
brownish wash...stunning...

 Love this lil' Eastlake side table,
it has it's original finish, though somewhat
battered, it still makes a statement...

 We have a new dealer in the store,
Jacey from 'A Beautiful Purpose'...
we share a lot of the same tastes and
both struggle with TO KEEP OR NOT TO KEEP...
some pieces just make ya sigh...

An order just in of our new coffees...
Sasquatch Coffee...it's YUMMO...
we're gettin' Squatchy in SE Iowa...

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Can we get some Spring goin' on already at 'The Wild Thing' 122 W.2nd St, Muscatine, Iowa

 Well, we got the front of my daughter's shop painted last fall...
then proceeded to mine....

 Got the sign up, ceiling painted black...
I think it's time to get started inside...

 Lotsa furniture painted...

 and staged...

 soaps still comin' in and selling well...

 and more staging...

and yes, I'm still doing my 'Cracked in the Head'
nightlights...and actually have an entire room
filled with them and other oddities as well...

plus, we're now selling the most awesome line
of coffee in store, "Sasquatch Coffee"
it's the bomb...sooo addicted...

and we are adding vendors to our fledgling
antique store, making it a worthwhile trip to
our lil' river city, with 3000 square feet of shopping,
soon to be 5000 feet once the grotto is opened and
the Candle Shed is added into the mix...
are we having fun yet...YUP...
can we get a little SPRINGTIME already...
let's get this ball a rollin'

and at the end of the day, the closed sign
says it all...

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Update...

 Before...

 After...

 Before...

 After...

 Before...

 After...with new tin back...

 Before...

 After...painted with Rustoleum flat white...it's awesome!!!

Now check out the update on the Candle Shed
storefront makeover...LOVE IT...
Check out before pic below...
The top portion where the sign is
will also be black, if it ever stops raining...
Still haven't got the keys to my place yet,
but soon, so I thought I would tease
you with some of my inventory...lol

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Ok, here's the deal...'A Wild Thing' is born...

My daughter and I share a building
in our historic downtown, Candle Shed Effect,
where I sell my furniture and soaps out of...
well, it's been 10 years since I've had a
brick and mortar store of my own, but the other
day our landlord came in and said the boxing club
was moving to another location and wanted
to know if we wanted this space...HELL YES!


The building has totally been renovated
inside and out and goes all the way to the alley
as you can see from the next shot.

It's a very narrow store, but long
and has a full basement and garage...
hard to take a picture through the tinted glass...

 It also has an office or work area,
which will be perfect for me to set up
a studio for my lampshade biz and
my jewelry.

I
It's also been a long time since I've made
or restored any shades or made jewelry...
so needless to say, I'll be busy, but hopefully
a happy camper too, as this will be an awesome
addition to our downtown. You can follow our
progress on our facebook page...The Wild Thing
Yup, this soon to be 65 year old is
A WILD THING, fer sure!

Monday, January 27, 2014

Pink into Spring...with faux chalk paint on the cheap...

Yes, again I've made my own chalk
paint for this project...
1 cup hot water
1 cup plaster of Paris
3 cups paint (flat)

This is the before shot, pretty but
it won't sell as is, stains, water marks and
broken veneer...sooo...

First I paint the whole piece with the pink,
two coats, then when dry I brush on
a wash of white paint,
water and a few brush fulls of white  paint...
stir...

Then when the wash is almost dry, I wipe off
with a wet terry rag, leaving this in some areas,
lighter in others...

 Then I run the sander lightly over the
 whole piece...

 Then wax with Johnson's paste wax...TAH DAH...

Proving again that you don't need an
overpriced paint to achieve the same effect...

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Annie Sloan style on the cheap...

 First ya take an awesome old, Victorian chest...

Then ya start to paint...no prime, no sand...
I used Pittsburgh Ultra paint~'Knight's Armour'.
1 1/2 C. paint, 1/4 C. Plaster Paris, 1/4 C. hot water
mix good, then paint, it covers great.

I wanted a faux zinc finish for this piece,
so in this process I completely waxed on a layer
of Johnson's paste wax, let it dry and buffed,
then lightly sanded edges to distress...
then I put on another coat of wax adding
a dab of silver latex paint to my wax brush
and painted it on all over the surface,
then buff when dry.

Kinda hard to see, but it has an uneven
metallic sheen sorta like zinc.

Love the look and the paint covered
marvelously, with an awesome satin finish.
Always work with small batches,
as the paint becomes grainy in a day or so,
but this one batch I made covered all this stuff!

Tools of the trade...
my cheapo version of the expensive
stipple brush...$2.00 on the cheap...lol!


 Then I painted a chair...

 and a parlor table...
Then staged it in the front window
of the shop...
I love to play with paint
and it doesn't have to cost you an
arm and a leg to do it...
JUST BE BRAVE...
AND CRAZY(it helps)