I have plans for the barn wood!!!

Oooohhh...I found my first project for all that barn wood I am soon going to have!!

If you missed the post about the corn crib (we will call it a barn just because it sounds so much cuter...) that was given to me for the wood...read my previous post...here.

And yes, it will confirm that I have lost my mind. A 35-year old girl is not your usual "gimme a hammer and pry bar I am going to rip down your barn with my bare hands prospect." But, if you know me...it totally makes sense.  

Ok, so back to my inspiration...I am so stinkin' excited! I was in Restoration Hardware yesteday and I had one of those "moments." You know what I mean...where you are totally across the room and you see it out of the corner of your eye. And somehow you push your way through the crowd of Labor Day shoppers to throw yourself at it..not even realizing you knocked over 2 displays and threw a pile of pillows to the ground in the process??

Yep.

 It was one of those moments.

Isn't it gorgeous???

I can't decide if I want it for a patio table or a kitchen island.

Hmmm...maybe I will make one of each!

Did I even mention that we build furniture, too??

That's right...I am not just a painter of furniture, when I get the whim....I design...and my sweet hubby builds me whatever my little heart desires.

Sometimes we sell it to stores for display pieces...some I will sell online...and every once in a great while you may see a piece at one of my shows.

But, since we are only 2 people...and we refuse to outsource anything...those pieces are few and far between.

But now, I have a good feeling there are going to be lots of cool pieces made from salvaged wood popping up around here! I officially cannot wait to get this barn down and get my projects going.

Oh...and project #2 is going to be a cabinet for my work room that looks like this.

I am crazy in LOVE with all those drawers!

Oh, Restoration Hardware...how I love thee.

Thank you for the constant inspiration...and prices so high it drives me to use my own to hands to create something I will be proud of.

~ smile ~

Happy Tuesday, friends.

I am still recovering from a whirlwind weekend of a super-busy flea market show and birthday celebration dinners, parties and shopping trips!

I will be back soon with the cabinet reveal!
(You know the cabinet...the one I promised you the reveal of 2 weeks ago! Well, lets just say I have been busy.)

we have a winner!!

We have a winner for the $60 gift certificate to CSN Stores!

 Jillian from...

Dear Jillian,

Where have you been all my blog life?

Random.org has chosen you as the winner of my little giveaway...but I don't think there is anything 'RANDOM' about it!

 Because once I saw what you did to your Pool House, I knew we were meant to be friends forever.

Can I come hang at your Pool House??

Because I think I am in love with it.

Mary

Seriously, this girl has a gift. Pop over to her blog and see her Pool House...and the rest of her awesome projects!

I wish I could have made each and every one of you a winner! Thank you so much for all your kind comments!

Happy Weekend, friends!

I am off to sell furniture all weekend at the Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles, IL!! So if you are in the neighborhood, stop out to say Hi...and maybe sing a few notes of Happy Birthday to me! Sunday is the big day, and there is no present in the world better than coming home with an empty truck! So wish me luck!

last day to enter my giveaway!

There is still time...my giveaway for the

$60 CSN gift certificate

ends tonight at midnight!

Visit my original post for the giveaway to leave your comment!

Good luck!

I'll pop on that...

Ok, so if you watch American Pickers...I KNOW you have heard Mike say that about a billion times.

Does it bug you as much as it does me?? He really needs to find a new phrase. It is like nails on a chalkboard to me now.

Ugh. I can't belive I found it coming out of my mouth earlier this week.

Here is a little background that leads up to the story I am about to tell.

I have so many facets to my crazy life. Some day soon...when my shows are over for the summer and I actually have more than 10 minutes to compose a blog post one measly time a week, you will see I am a girl of constant contradictions. I love to get my hands dirty, but I get a mani-pedi every other Wednesday. I am happy digging around in a barn of old junk...but I may have designer jeans on when I am doing it. You will find I have a serious case of wanderlust and actually spend oodles of time cruising backroads looking at cool old farmhouses and barns. I love them. They remind me of home.

Once in a while....I fancy myself to be a "picker"...but I didn't know that was even a term until I saw the show. You know the show on the History Channel...with these two guys...

Anyway, I am quite at home in the 'small farm scenario' so I rather like stopping when I see someone outside. More times than not, they are more than happy to let you poke around their outbuildings and I love...I mean TOTALLY LOVE when a cute old farmer shakes his head at me when I ask to buy a crusty old table I found buried under stacks of old feed sacks in his barn. The head shake is usually followed by a "Sweetie you can just have it...if a cute young thing like you is willing to crawl around in the dirt the way you do, you deserve to have it".

Well, that is when I know that poor man has spent waaay too many years working in the hot sun, because I am neither cute or young. So I have no choice to force cash on him, because the guilt would kill me slowly if I just took things I knew to be treasures.

During these little adventures, I climb over 100 year old machinery...through tiny spots to get into a hayloft that hasn't seen footprints in 50 years...I have even met an angry mama racoon or two that set up camp a little too close to crates of gorgeous vintage milk bottles I just had to have!

Very rarely do I come across a barn that is set up as nicely as I found this one. Primed and ready for the pickin'! The dirty part was already done. But it was no nearly as fun, I have to admit.

I have met some of the sweetest people on the Earth during my adventures. Truly good people. The salt of the Earth, as they say. There is nothing I love more than a farmer that has worked his life with his hands so we can have food on our table and his wife that daily wears an apron faded from 40 years of baking bread and making meals. I take away good memories of each and every one of them.

But the other day...one of those farmers from rural Iowa called my bluff.

I had already "picked" their barn, you see. I found doors with old pink peely paint...two gorgeous old farm tables...a green glass bottle pile that made my head spin...you get it. Good stuff.

But today...he didn't want me to pick the barn.

Nope.

He wanted me to take the WHOLE barn.
 (ok, actually it is a corn crib, but for this post I am going to call it a barn.)

Whaaaaat?????

Ummm...yeah..That is exactly what I was thinking when he asked me.

But, before I knew it...the words just flew out of my mouth.

"I'll pop on that!"

Again...Whaaaaat did I just say?

What the heck am I going to do with a barn?

Well, take it apart piece by piece, apparently. You see, it is coming down...either in flames...or by my hands.

 It kills me to see a barn come down. They seem to be dropping like flies. Replaced by the new metal versions that I know are so much more functional and efficent, but I just don't love them like I do an old wood one. It won't have the smells...or the creaking floors...or the rafters you can see bits of sunlight peeking through. So, I guess it is up to me to let this barn live on...even if it is piece by piece.

So, this girl is going to have to get an extra manicure...because I have a feeling my french tips are going to be chipped. I have rounded up friends and family, bought enough hammers and pry-bars to go around and we are going to grill out, make some margaritas and have a barn-tearing-down party!

So here is the question I have for all of you.

What in the world am I going to do with old barn wood that has white paint on it...gates...barn doors...everything in the photos is soon going to be owned by me.

And I have no idea what I am going to do with it.

Do I build furniture?

Make signs?

Use the doors and gates around my house?

Sell it?

I am here to pick your brain.

And I hope to grow one of my own...because this idea was just plain crazy!