Simple Matters

Something NEW!!

Simple Matters — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:56:27 +0000

I did it! My blog and Website are now together in the same place! I had been thinking about it for a while and I finally took the plunge. I like that I will be able to share not only a couple of pictures but the story behind each and every piece. Also, you can leave comments and ask questions about specific pieces in a much more interactive way than filling out a “contact us” form. The down side is… now I have to blog! I had neglected my old blog for months so I have tons of projects to share from way back in February. Looking at the bright side… we have a lot to talk about.

Please take a few minutes to look around, if you see something that needs some improvement or if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Also, enter your email on the side bar if you would like to receive email notifications of new posts.

Kahla {sold}

Simple Matters — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:22:00 +0000

I had this bed in my storage for a while, it just didn’t seem to catch anyone’s eye. It was just a regular bed, I’m sure we have all seen a few of them while thrifting or at a garage sale. Maybe that’s why no one claimed it.

I didn’t want to “just” painted, I thought it needed something else. So I decided to upholster the headboard and add coordinating fabric to the footboard.

I painted the frame black. The black and white fabric gives it just the look I was going for.

It is no longer an ordinary bed and as luck would have it, it sold within a few minutes of posting it!

Technorati Tags: bed,upholstered headboard,black and white

Fisher {sold}

Simple Matters — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 17:20:00 +0000

For some reason twin beds are hard to come by. I can find full size beds all the time but twins (and queen and king) are elusive. This little guys was in need of some attention but he was very cute.

I couldn’t decide what color to paint it so I used them all…

I painted it a creamy white as a base and dried brushed three or four other colors until I got the effect I wanted to see.

I love all the delicate curves and lines of this bed

The fluted columns and finial of the headboard post

And the slight curve of the footboard

Fisher was purchased for a sweet little girl to go from her nursery to her big girl room. Her mom showed me the French inspired fabric and accessories. Even though I didn’t get to see pictures of the finished room, I’m positive it is awesome!

Technorati Tags: twin bed,dry brushed,distressed,vintage

Hannah

Simple Matters — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:55:00 +0000

Hannah is the first piece on my I’m-trying-to-catch-up series. She was a little beat up and needed a little TLC. And she was missing some hardware.

After sanding, priming and paint… this what she looks like now…

Because she was missing some hardware, I had to improvise with some left over pieces I had from other projects. If you notice, two of each drawer have matching hardware but different from the other sets.

The top three drawers and the door have all original hardware. Since they were all different and of course different colors, I used my favorite spay paint… Oil Rubbed Bronze. I sprayed all of the hardware the same color to match the chocolate top and everything looks like it belongs together.

One more close up…

I’ll be back soon with more!

Hello! Are you still there….???

Simple Matters — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:44:00 +0000

I’ve been gone for… months and months, I thought about not blogging anymore but I really enjoy reading everyone’s blogs and I don’t want to miss out on the fun.

I have 7 months worth of projects to share with you. To those of you who are still here… Thank you!

Please also note that our URL has chenged from:

simplematters2.blogsopt.com

simplebutmatters.blogspot.com

I will get started tomorrow with the last few pieces from back in February. Hopefully it won’t take too long to catch up so I can start sharing current projects.

Keeping with the Black and White theme and a Giveaway!

Simple Matters — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 19:01:00 +0000

Keeping wit the black and white/upholstery theme I’ve had in the last few days, I wanted to show you these chairs. First up, when I was working on the Fuller Chair, Shaunna contacted me about painting and upholstering two chairs that had been given to her by her grandmother.

Here’s the before…

Gorgeous chairs but they didn’t even match!
After a little bit of paint, some fabric and a ton of staples (if you upholster you know what I am talking about!) here they are…

Another view…

One more…

The next chair is very special to me. It is not because it is anything out of the ordinary it is because of the way I got it. A few weeks ago I was out working in the garage right around the time the kids get home from school. We live about 2 blocks away from their school so they walk home with their friends. I heard voices so I looked up and I see my son carrying a chair.
He ran the last few yards to the house with the biggest smile on his face saying… “Mommy!! Look at what I found in the trash!!! I couldn’t be more proud of him! Not only because he thought of me but because he didn’t care what his friends would think of him by picking up something from the trash. The chair was in perfect shape, I guess they just didn’t want it anymore.

Here it is after paint and some left over fabric…

I didn’t get a “before” picture, but the picture of my son carrying the chair home will live in my heart forever.

And onto the giveaway…..

Why am I having a giveaway? I don’t know! I just felt like it! To enter,

1) Follow my blog and let me know, that counts as an entry (it counts even if you have been following, I haven’t had a giveaway here so I want to give everyone the chance to enter)
2) Hop on over to my Facebook page and become a fan (ok, “like” my page)
3) Every new person you invite to follow our blog counts as an entry, make sure they tell us you sent them
4) Every new person you invite to “like” my facebook page also counts as an entry for you, make sure they leave a comment on my wall to let me know you sent them.
The winner will be announced March 1st at 2:00 pm. He or she will have a choice between a $25 Hobby Lobby Gift Card or a $50 Simple Matters Credit. That way even if you are out of town you can win!! Please let me know if you have any questions, I’m almost positive I left out some details.

Talk to you soon!

New found love…

Simple Matters — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:54:00 +0000

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I have found a new love! … upholstery! No, that doesn’t mean that I stopped loving painting furniture, it just means that I have found something to complement it.
I can’t describe the satisfaction of turning something like this:

Into something like this:

The chair wasn’t in terrible shape but it needed to be reupholstered.

I found this fabric at Hobby Lobby and I thought it would be perfect for it.

A little bit of paint and a little bit of trim (and lots of patience and staples)

The black frame coordinates perfectly with the fabric!

Did you happen to see the matching couch in the background of the before picture? That’s my next project!!! I’m going in a completely different direction from the chair. I can’t wait to get started!

Talk to you soon!

PS. Find us on Facebook! Do you have a Facebook page? Leave a comment on my page and I will “like” yours!

Linking up to:

Meet Lola… Both of them!

Simple Matters — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 18:32:00 +0000

We’ve had a few challenges here lately. This bed “Lola” was purchased by a client of mine who lives in Kentucky. Here’s Lola is before painting. Cute, great lines but in need of a fresh coat of paint.

Before I committed to shipping the bed to my client, I got a quote from Greyhound. I actually talked to a person because I don’t trust their web based quotes unless I am just looking for a ballpark figure. I gave them the dimensions, made sure they understood that the bed came with log rails and that it would be more of an odd shaped package,a nice rectangular one.
Of course they said…. No problem!
Here’s Lola after painting it white!

Both Lolas that is! My little Lola and Lola the Bed.

The bed turned out great! Clean and crisp white paint, no distressing.

We carefully packaged it and drove it to Greyhound to be shipped. Can you guess what I am getting at??? They would NOT take the package! Because it was an odd shape and the rails were borderline of being too long. I tried and tried to get them to take it but no luck. So I had to explain to my client that she would not be receiving the bed as she had hoped. I tried finding a different way to ship it but the prices were just too high. Needless to say she was very disappointed but understood that I did my best to get the bed to her.

**Disclaimer** I still like Greyhound as I have shipped other items successfully!

So this gorgeous bed is now available! Sorry only to the Houston Area as I now know, it cannot be shipped! At least not for an affordable amount.

More pics…

Detail at top…

another view

This bed would be great for a “big girl” room or for ANY girl room!

For those of you who paint and sell furniture… Do you ship? If so, who do you use? I’d love to hear some feedback.

Talk to you soon!

Partying at…

little pieces BIG color!!

Simple Matters — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:36:00 +0000

I’ve been holding on to pictures of these little pieces, I think they turned out very cute but I couldn’t think of enough to say about each one to give them their own post and I don’t have all of their before photos. So…. why not post them all together???
First up, one of the cutest little side tables I have seen. It may look little but it was HEAVY! I don’t have the before but as you can imagine it was a little on the boring side. Carrie (her owner) wanted her to be a deep, dark red. So I gave it a few coats of red and to give it some depth I glazed it with a coat of RL Tobacco and a coat of RL Glaze with mixed with Black Truffles. All that glaze gave it lots of personality and dimension.

Crystal had been wanting to add a pop of color to an otherwise neutral room. She saw one of the pieces I had recently painted and she loved the color. She didn’t want any glaze or anything else to take away from the bright fun color she picked. She did want some distressing to bring out some of the detail.

For these next two pieces, I have the before picture as they were purchased from me.

The first one is a gossip bench or phone bench. How many times have you seen one of these and decided not to get it because you are not quite sure what to do with it. Well, Phyllis is going to put it next to the door from the garage into the house to have a place to set her purse and maybe kick her shoes off.

If I say so myself (*blushing*), isn’t just amazing what a little TLC and some paint can do?? Of course the fun apple green/turquoise fabric helps a TON. The insert on the back was a little too far gone to salvage. If you don’t see the before picture, you don’t even know that something was supposed to be there so I just left it alone.

And last but not least… this cute little chair now lives in Tiffany’s daughter’s room. Tiffany purchased a desk from me a while back but it didn’t have a chair to go with it. When I posted the before picture, she immediately knew it would be perfect for her little girl.

The desk was painted white with slight distressing so the frame of the chair needed to be white. The fabric was a bit more of a challenge. Tiffany wanted to make a statement. So she went shopping for the perfect fabric and trim and this is what she found…

Isn’t this the cutest little chair you have ever seen??? Check out the trim, it is gorgeous!
Thank you to all of you ladies for letting me work with all of these fun vibrant colors. Don’t get me wrong, I love the whites and creams but I loooooove working with color.

Talk to you soon!

Linking up to…

This was a first for me…

Simple Matters — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 15:29:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, one of my clients placed a deposit for Gianna. She said that she wanted her to look something like this:

Restoration Hardware Table

She also mentioned that it didn’t need to be identical, as long as they look similar and would look good together. I said that I couldn’t do much about the wood grain to show because the piece she had chosen had a very smooth grain but I could get very close on the color.

This is what Gianna looked like before she was painted:

I primed the piece, gave it a couple of coats of white and distressed the edges slightly just to give it some more personality. After that, I added a coat of RL Tea Stained Glaze and to give it the look my client was looking for, I glazed it again with glaze mixed with french gray paint.
The original hardware was cleaned and installed again. I thought I got very close to the color and finish of the inspiration piece.

Unfortunately when painting for someone else, what we think, doesn’t matter. I sent pictures to my client and she said that she didn’t think it would be “so white”. I explained to her that my camera sometimes doesn’t take true to color pictures and the piece was a little darker in person. I offered to take some more pictures in a different light and asked if she had time to stop by to see it personally.

I did not get a reply. I was finally able to get a hold of my client a few days later, she said that she would have someone come take a look at the piece however, never did. I didn’t want to, but I advertised the piece as available. Within minutes, I had several ladies wanting to come see it. Thank you Facebook!

These are pictures of one of the legs, just to get a better idea of the color:

The buffet may not have turned out “exactly” like the inspiration piece but I do think it was very close. I was disappointed that the person who ordered didn’t even want to come see it but I am very happy to report that Gianna did find a loving home. Her new owner was very happy and very excited and posted several pictures on her facebook page to show everyone her new “simple matters piece”.

I refunded the deposit money and I have not heard from my client (I guess really not my client anymore) again. Even though the story had a happy ending, I can’t help but feeling bad about disappointing one of my clients. Those of you who do commissioned work, know what I am talking about. What would you do in a situation like this? Do you wait? for how long? Or do you just move on and not look back? Ahhh, the joys of painting furniture for a living!!!

Have a great Monday!!!

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