My Living Room

It has been a while!  I have missed writing on my blog and connecting with all of you.  I am now up on instagram and looking forward to sharing more projects with you there.  Please follow me: @relovedrubbish.

I thought I would share my living room area with you in my studio apartment in the country. I repurposed and painted almost everything in my apartment and did it on a tight budget, so it is truly made up of reloved rubbish!

Since it is tiny space, I wanted to keep everything simple, uncluttered and fairly monochromatic.  My palette is grey, cream, white and natural.  The coffee table was four dollars at a yard sale and came complete with chippy paint.  I simply had a piece of glass cut for the top. On the floor, I put a fringed jute rug with a mini white cowhide.

This chair is one of my favorite pieces and also one of the first pieces I bought back when I started Reloved Rubbish six years ago. I paid five dollars for it! I sanded off the orange stain on the wood and had it upholstered in a beautiful grey linen.  I love the simple lines of this chair. Not only is this chair beautiful, but it is also really comfortable with a spring seat.

The bookshelf in the background is made of crates that I stained with driftwood grey stain.  I have a lot of books and am not willing to part with them even in tight quarters.  The painting in the background is a vintage botanical lily matted with linen and absolutely stunning.  I paid twenty dollars for it at an estate sale.  

As I mentioned, I live on a little country lane and you can see a peak of my view out my double french doors. I 'll show you full view later on in this post.

It may be surprising that the chair only cost five dollars until you see this before shot with the ratty fabric.  This is after I sanded it back to the natural wood.

I found this sideboard on Craigslist and when I checked the measurements, it fit exactly on that wall without an inch to spare.  I love the crisscross design on the doors.  

The hemp linen pillows were my splurge and came from Patine, a local Santa Cruz shop, that imports and reurposes antique and vintage textiles and other goods from Europe.  The pillows are simple, but offer a beautiful texture in person and so soft with down filling.

The sideboard before I painted it.

I mixed French Linen Chalk Paint with Old White to create a soft grey and then sealed it with a pewter gilding paste mixed with Annie Sloan's clear wax for a slightly shimmery finish.

I found these watercolor horse paintings at a yard sale for a few dollars.  They were in this frame, but the frame was an orange wood color, the matte was bright blue, and the glass was broken - all easy fixes!  I painted the matte with Old White Chalk paint tinted with a little French Linen for a pale grey. Then I painted the frame with Graphite Chalk Paint and replaced the glass.

The container holding my orchids is an iron piece from France.  I snatched it up when my business partner was selling it at Loot. I try not to buy too much that we are selling at the shop, but every once in a while I can't pass up something special like this piece.

I use it to hold my collection of sea glass and shells from my many excursions to local beaches.

The couch is a vintage piece that I found on Craigslist and had reupholstered.  I sanded all the finish off the wood parts to expose the natural wood.  It is a seven foot long sofa and works great as a guest bed for the occasional visitor.

This is my view from my balcony of rolling hills, oaks, and the flower farm next door.  This pic is from the summer when the gladiolas were in bloom.  The flower farmer also grows tulips (just starting to sprout now) and dahlias.  He grows so many amazing varieties of tulips, that people often stop their cars to take pictures when the tulips are in bloom.

The backyard backs to open land and the Soquel Creek.  This is my little bit of heaven in a tiny studio in the country.

Reloved Living at Las Vegas World Market Center

I recently went to the Las Vegas World Market center to set up a booth at the home/gift show for my business, Reloved Living.  My sister and business partner, Emily and I drove there and spent two days unloading and setting up our booth.  

I found all the display items at yard sales or on craigslist.  I already had the old, metal folding chairs. I mixed up a custom Chalk Paint® color using Emperor's Silk, Burgandy, and Pure White to make a bright pink and then painted the legs with gold Gilder's Paste Wax.  

This desk was found curbside with a free sign hanging on it.  With the twenty knobs, I thought it would make a great display piece for our decorative knobs.

I painted the desk with Pure White Chalk Paint® and used gold Gilders Paste and a stencil to add the chevron stripe on top.

Reloved Living also sells these fabulous, faux animal heads that we displayed inside vintage frames on the wall.  I painted each frame a different Chalk Paint® color and left some gold.  We had a couple mishaps with the shippers and then the movers that were helping us unload the animal heads.  We ended up with some broken antlers after the first day of set up.  I bought some super glue and spackle and glued, patched, and painted in the hotel that night.  They looked as good as new by morning!

We love the faux giraffe head!

I found another piece to display the knobs at a yard sale.  It is a vintage '90's cd holder, but the fifteen drawers makes it a perfect piece for displaying our knobs.

I painted the cd organizer with Pure White Chalk Paint®.  I found this vibrant, modern wrapping paper on Eva & Anne's Etsy Shop and used Annie Sloan's decoupage to glue and seal it onto the drawers.

I love the mixed colors and geometric patterns on the drawers - it makes our knobs really stand out!

The show organizers chose some of our items for their showcase display

I found the antique screens on Craigslist and thought they would make excellent booth dividers. The man I bought them from said his grandparents bought them a long time ago while traveling in Morocco and brought them back.  My friend and fellow blogger, Darrielle, from D.D.'s Cottage kindly helped me spray them with Pure White Chalk Paint®.  I think they would have been very difficult to paint by hand and I was grateful to have a friend with a paint sprayer willing to help me out!

All the preparation paid off! The booth came together and turned out great. All the bright colors mixed with Pure White drew people's attention and made Reloved Living's booth stand out.

Spring Dresser in Mustard Yellow

I am sharing a dresser created by the talented, Darielle from D.D.'s Cottage Blog. I sent her some green rose knobs from my online store: www.relovedliving.com and she paired them with Miss Mustard Seed's Mustard Yellow for a fresh, spring makeover.  I love the mustard yellow paired with green roses.

You can even see this piece featured here on Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint Blog.

To see more pictures of this lovely transformation visit D.D.'s cottage! 

To order decorative knobs for your own creative projects please visit my online store: Reloved Living.

Louvered Door Dresser

My sister, Emily,  moved to the charming town of Pacific Grove, which if you remember,  is the place I got my start in the furniture-selling business at Blessings Boutique.  It is a picturesque, seaside town filled with shops and victorians overlooking the crystal clear waters of the Monterey Bay.  I drive around the bay weekly to see my sister and nephews.  I cannot resist sharing this adorable picture my sister took of me holding her youngest, Ezra, at the beach.  

We have a bit of a weekly ritual while I am visiting PG.  First, we meet at Happy Girl Kitchen for an organic coffee or refreshing kombucha. Then, while Emily's older boys are still in school, we like to go to sushi at the freshest and bestest of sushi restaurants around: Crystal Fish.  Next we hit the plethora of thrift shops in the area.  We finish up the day by picking the nephews up from school, going to the beach, and getting delicious organic ice cream from Kai Lee Creamery.  

I found this vintage dresser at one of the thrift shops in Pacific Grove.  I was drawn to the lovely, louvered doors.

I painted the dresser with one coat of Old Ochre Chalk Paint®.  

I replaced the old hardware with these adorable, distressed bird pulls that can be purchased at Emily's and my online shop:  www.relovedliving.com.

Little birdies!

I sanded the dresser heavily, especially the louvered doors, to make them look like old shutters. Chalk Paint® distesses so nicely with 220 grit sandpaper and it was easy to get to the wood because I only used one coat of paint.