Monday, January 29, 2018

Sneak Peek At The Studio

The Studio is just about done! I've been planning out where I'm putting things and finishing the painting.

I'm happy to say I did get all the trim painted and the floor is all stained!

Bruce and our neighbor moved the lockers into the studio for me. I cleaned them up then Bruce reattached the side that was loose. The patina on these are great!



One side has turquoise paint under the red

 And the other side has yellow

There were 3-4 of these tables left at the farm that we found in the barn and shop. I snagged one to use in the studio. It will hold my palette next to the easel. It's the perfect height and size.

 This one needed a new top so Bruce cut one out of a scrap of plywood. I still need to sand it. The chippy paint is perfection!

I'll be moving this shelf unit and this small drafting table from the city house. (Sorry about the bad pictures - they are from 4 years ago). They will be getting a makeover!


After reading this post, I had a great idea for using one of my crib pieces.

Can't wait to see if it will actually work.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Then I actually came up with a brilliant idea for the other 2 rails! Even Bruce was impressed! I'll share more of that at a later date.

It's so fun to finally be at this stage. Soon I'll be blissfully painting and creating  in my beautiful, light-filled studio!



Monday, January 22, 2018

How I Stained My Concrete Floors

If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen me working on the studio floor. It was plain concrete and I wanted to seal it and give it color.

 I honestly didn't want to worry about messing it up if I dropped paint on it. My idea was to stain the concrete and thankfully, I had a good resource for information. My friend, Cecilia, at My Thrift Store Addiction stained her concrete floor. She assured me it wouldn't be hard so I decided to go for it.

I was fortunate I didn't have carpet to remove like Cecilia did. I just needed to clean the floor really good first - you can see from the picture  how dirty it was. So I began by sweeping then vacuuming all the Sheetrock and joint compound dust up. Next I pulled out my wet vac and gave the floor a good scrubbing. I let it dry overnight.

The next day, I looked to see what kind of stain I had. I found a quart of Minwax Early American wood stain that was almost full. I figured I'd try it out so I started in the back corner using a foam brush - I figured the stain would soak into the raw concrete. And it worked beautifully! I brushed it on, let it sit a short time then went back over it to get the excess up.

I worked in about 2' sections making sure to feather my edges so I wouldn't have hard lines. It actually went pretty fast but since I used foam brushes to apply it, I was on my knees all day. Trust me when I say a foam kneeling pad can be a life (or knee) saver for this.
(The black spot is from oil from a vehicle parked in here back when
it was just a barn. I scraped and cleaned as much off as possible.)

By lunchtime, I was close to finishing but almost out of stain so I took a much needed break. (I met a friend for lunch then ran to Lowes to get a small can of stain).

Upon returning, I poured the small can into the larger one and mixed well. Then I finished the floor, making sure I ended up at the door (you don't want to paint yourself into a corner!)

Someone asked if I was going to put poly over it. My answer is no. We don't know if the slab has a vapor barrier under it (it was already there when we purchased the farm) and thought if it didn't, sealing it would keep it from breathing, and the finish would flake off. And no, the stain doesn't come off on your feet. It dried nicely just like it would on wood.

I absolutely love how it turned out! If I drop paint on it, I won't be upset or worry about it like I would if we'd put conventional flooring in. And it looks great with the varied shading.

Next time, I'll be sharing a sneak peek at some of the studio. I'm starting to set it up and I'm super excited. I have quite the checklist but with Bruce's help, I'm getting it done!



Saturday, January 20, 2018

Enjoying Snow At The Farm

Last weekend we were going to stay in the city - we had a family get together at my mother-in-law's Saturday to go to. But as we looked at the forecast,  snow plus very cold temperatures were headed for the farm. So after we left Bonnie's, we packed up and headed to the farm to take care of things. The weather was still mild on Sunday but Monday that all changed!

Not only did it snow; we had temperatures way below freezing!
The road to our driveway
up the driveway
Bruce brought the beehive into the garage to protect the bees as much as possible. They've been struggling so we want to give them as much a chance as we can for them to survive.
road to the pond...it actually froze
I loved seeing snow at the farm! It was so pretty!

(yes, I still have pumpkins in the flowerbed...guess it's time to throw them away. ha.)
 But it was so cold! Tuesday it stayed in the 20's and Wednesday morning it was 9 degrees! Say what?


Tuesday after walking around in the snow, I played with decor in the house while enjoying a warm fire.Tin star candle holders and greenery plus rusty snowflakes on the mantel are so pretty. Those stars are perfect for the farmhouse!

The stars along with the flameless candles came from Twigs in Canton.  The candles really look real! They come with a remote too which is so nice! 

Love my snowy plates with deer. I've had the fawn figurine since I was a little girl.

One of the cute birds from Kris at Junk Chic Cottage is dressed perfectly for this winter weather.

I styled my dough bowl with a cute snowman on a sled.


An enamel bucket also from Canton filled full of large rusty bells looks very farmhouse-y on my vintage yellow step stool.

I set up a hot chocolate station so we could have something nice and hot to drink after enjoying the snow! The platter is actually a Christmas one but it goes well with the snowman mugs so it got to stay.

I placed my cotton stems in a tarnished silver pitcher.



Thankfully Wednesday, the sun came out melting the ice and snow so we could head back to the city. I don't think my fountain thawed out very quickly though.

As for the cold weather, we're back in the 60's today. And that, my friends, is why I love Texas! We can have snow and enjoy it but we aren't stuck with it. :o)

How's your winter going?

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Ideas For The Art Studio

I'm off to the farm this week to paint trim and stain the floor in the studio - the last bit of work to do before I can start setting up the space. Since there's really not much to show, I thought I'd share some ideas I've gathered for the space.

I need shelving as I have books, frames, canvases...all that need a home. This bookcase is nice and I really like the brush holder.
source
 I like the shallow shelves in this picture. They'd be great for all the cans and bottles of paint. The inspiration/bulletin board area is also really great. I do have an idea for an area to hang photos I'm working off of.
source

This one is one I really like - notice the canvas storage above the bookshelves and worktable. I want to replicate this is some form or fashion.
source

These shelves are only one can deep -I'd love something like this so I could see at a glance what paints I had. Loads of them too...I don't think you can have too many shelves. 😊
source

Right now my oil paint tubes are in a toolbox. I'd love to have something like this that I could clip them on. Sure would make finding a certain color easy instead of digging through my box.
source - #15
Another paint tube system also fabulous:
source

 Love the idea of clip boards to clip inspiration photos up. You can usually find clipboards at the thrift store for next to nothing.
source

Another setup for canvas storage:
source

source

This is an idea I could easily do - it's an old tv cart with pipe dividers. hmmm, guess I'll have to look for one if Bruce doesn't have time to build me one like in the previous photos.

This one I like for the tin ceiling and large worktable in the center. Not sure if I'll have a table in the center though. However, I do plan on one against the wall like the back wall in the photo.
source
These are all great ideas and will help me figure out how to set the studio up. I am looking forward to planning the space out.
SaveSaveSaveSave

Thursday, January 4, 2018

2017 Was A Good Year

2017 was quite the year. We spent most of it getting ready for our daughter's wedding: mowing and grooming the wedding and reception spots, planting the front flower bed, and working on the art studio (thought we might need the space for guests to stay in) and we got a beehive.
Megan and Dylan working on the Spot
It started off a little bare but filled in nicely by the wedding
Front of studio getting closed in
Exterior of studio done and walkway added
putting the beehive up

Then there was the wedding - it was beautiful and perfectly Megan and Dylan. We had near perfect weather (just a tiny bit hot but nice and sunny) and everyone had a wonderful time.




Lastly, Bruce with occasional help from family and friends got my art studio closed in and done! He finished up all the construction part the week between Christmas and New Years. The walls and ceiling were textured and painted, the ceiling fan and lights were hung, and trim added around the windows and doors.
trim around door ready for paint
ceiling fan hung
window sills and trim in
The next part is for me to paint the trim and seal the floor. Then I can start setting it up. I have my metal grates from Comfort, TX to make into shelving

and I found these red lockers in Canton this past First Monday Trade Days (oh it was so cold but these made it so worth it!). Both will work great for storage, etc. in the studio.

The unicorn (from another Canton trip) is hanging in the studio...whether she stays in that spot or not, time will tell but for now this is where she is. Guaranteed to make me smile.

2017 was definitely a great year filled with wonderful things. And here's to the new adventures 2018 brings!
Many blessings!


Springtime Projects 3: Have A Seat!

It might still be Spring, but here in Texas, things are starting to heat up and feel like Summer. I knew I needed to get the last of my Spri...