Dirty 'ol Chair made Quirky Plant Stand Final Product

The dirty ‘ol chair is finally complete!

After staring at it, thinking it was looking good, I realized the paint was looking too good. So I took a wet rag to chair and roughed up the paint so it looked a little less “freshly painted” and a little more “broken in”. And to tone down the brightness, I smeared dark glaze all over the chair. Once the glaze was dry, I gave the chair a nice coat of polyurethane to seal.

Now to make sense of the quirky plant stand portion of the chair, I purchased a 12” pot and filled it with some plants. Featured in the pot is a foxtail fern, peachy geranium and hot pink petunia.



Dirty 'ol Chair made Quirky Plant Stand

A few months ago, one of B’s best friends sent me a text with a picture of 3 chairs and asked if I wanted any of them before they went to the curb. At first I was hesitant because adding to my always growing project list (and clutter in the 3^rd car garage) would be risky for this wife. But, the inner hoarder in me couldn’t say no to a free chair with potential (lucky for the husband, I only came home with 1 chair).

This was my pick of the litter. Pretty dirty, a little raggedy but definitely a diamond in the rough. A little TLC and paint could do wonders.

After sitting in the garage for a few months, I decided on a plan for the chair. Painted up with fun colors, given a quirky vibe and cut out the dingy woven seat – I was going to repurpose the chair as a plant stand. Put a big ‘ol pot of flowers in the seat hole and set it on the front (or back) porch to enjoy.

I cleaned up the chair with a few dozen Lysol wipes, ripped out the woven seat and began painting.

Wanting the chair to be bright, fun and quirky, inspiration from Mackenzie-Childs should come as no surprise. Starting with the biggest area for paint, the seat became “McDaniel-Childs” (Courtly Check) inspired.

Next, I painted the arms of the chair. Who doesn’t love orange/pink and lime green/turquoise paired together in a chevron-like pattern. After I finished the arms, the chair sat for a two weeks because I was stumped.

Believe it or not, B gave me the idea to incorporate leopard (which I call, my “camo” to Brandon’s Max 4 camo). So this Sunday afternoon, I went with his idea.  wanting to accent the detail in the top of the chair back I painted it brightly to tie in all the colors used thus far – with a little gold.

Because the chair was getting so bright, I decided to leave the back rails and legs of the chair black. But of course I couldn’t leave well enough alone and added some turquoise and roughed it up.



All it needs is a coat of polyeurethane and pot of pretty flowers to make it's porch debut!

Lake Texoma Weekend: The Pink Pistol

We headed down to Lake Texoma this weekend to get away from the City. Since it's not quite "lake season" yet, the boys’ agenda was mostly focused around fishing, while the girls’ agenda was mostly focused around The Pink Pistol trip. 

Saturday morning, my MIL, SIL and I took a short little drive northeast of Madill to Tishomingo, Oklahoma. The town Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton call home and also the place Miranda opened up a little  shop called The Pink Pistol. Remember how Miranda Lambert is my favorite female country artist and famous Texas Okie? I've been dying to go to the store - and to say I was excited about this venture was an understatement.

Miranda wasn’t there, as I had expected, but I sure had fun looking around (and taking pictures) in her store. It looked as if pink had exploded everywhere. There were t-shirts, boots, bar ware, dips and sauces and other random knick knacks to buy. Also, the store featured an old school soda fountain bar, visitors’ signatures on the floor, a Blake Shelton cut-out and some fun vintage furniture. 

Katelyn & I with Blake

Sitting in the Pink Pistol Princess Chair. 

(Posing just as Miranda did for her story in People Magazine - framed above the chair)

Loved this old re-purposed suitcase. And Pistol Annies shout out!

I don't even come up to his shoulder.

Glad to know I'm not the only one with a French Chair obsession. Miranda likes them too!

Been there, sat there and got a Dr. Pepper there!

While holding Pink Pistol souvenir wine glasses to purchase, we learned that Miranda also has her own winery in Lindale, TX called Red 55 Winery. And as luck would have it, the liquor store down the street in "downtown Tish" carried her wine! Next stop after The Pink Pistol? The liquor store. Don't judge us that we were at the liquor store before noon, we were just excited to get in and get the bottle of our choice before they sold out! I bought a bottle of her sweet white wine, called "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." As a sucker for riesling, I can't wait to open it up (but maybe I should save it?)! 

My Pink Pistol/Miranda Lambert/Tishomingo, OK Treasures.

Momma Swann's Painting

I finally painted something for my Mom. It only took me a few years to drum up the nerve to paint something for her, but it actually came to me pretty easily. Painting something for my ever-so talented and creative mother was intimidating but I focused my inspirations from some of her favorite things. You can't go wrong with favorite things, right?

When I went home to Texas this past weekend, the painting donned a new (old) gold frame and had an official wall space in my parent's home. Seeing the painting in a frame and on the wall made me feel like an "official" artist (kinda). 

The story behind the painting is best described through pictures. So, let me show you the story.  

Mom recently purchased the ikat throw pillows to place in the den. I'm a sucker for ikat. 

My Mom has been collecting peices of Mackenzie-Childs Morning Glory (blue) since I can remember. (I guess my love of MC Courtley Check is genetic?)  

Momma Swann's all time favorite color is pink. So flower color choice was obvious. To touch on favorites - I included hydrangeas and lillies. Mom loves hydrangeas and my Dad has always liked lilies.

At one time I would have said "yuck" to gold but it's a different story now. I added gold to give the painting some pizzazz and demension.

This was the finished, signed product before I wrapped it up for Christmas.

Obviously, she is proud of it. Not just because as my mother, she has to be, but because it was placed in a room Mom & Dad always sit - they'll think of me all the time.

Pretty cool!

Paint Slinging Sunday

I felt inspired to sling paint on Sunday. My inspiration came from two random places: Pinterest find and a Saturday shopping trip.

I found this bedroom on Pinterest and fell in love with the look and feel of it. The mix of color (my favorite colors) with hints of rustic was what caught my eye.  In true stalker fashion, I wanted to see more pictures of the room so followed the sources to find that the headboard was a DIY project by See Cate Create. The ikat, chevron pattern on the headboard was actually painted onto white fabric, who knew!?

My other inspiration is really random. I went to the mall Saturday morning to scope out Dillard’s Additional 40% Sale and ended up walking around the mall. Walking by Victoria’s Secret, it caught my attention that they had swim suits in store (ordering online has had its back-fires for me) so I turned in. As a lover of bright colors, chevron and gold – I was drawn to this print:

I can't seem to find the exact swim suit I saw in store, but this is the same fabric on a different suit.

After finishing my Sunday honey-do’s and nothing on slate for my afternoon, I busted out the painting supplies. When all else fails, create.

I got stuck here for a bit. Should pink make an appearance? What about white, would it be too white? What’s the repeat going to be? 

So, I went with a little pink (Momma Swann would be pleased), a little white and another “line” of gold and found my repeat. Here’s the final product: