2011 in Review: Our Top 5

As 2011 comes to a close, I thought I’d jump on the “year in review” band wagon and give you a look at my top 5, “most viewed” entries for the year.

Number 5:  Garage Sale Loving

I took this fun little piece and transformed it into a funky entryway table. It sold this summer at The Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival.  It was the first time I had attempted a landscape motif on a piece and I must admit this turned out to be one of my favorites!

Number 4:  The Benefits of Social Networking

My friend Krissy will be glad to know that her daughter’s dresser made the cut!  This piece is actually one of the highest “repined” items on my Pinterest page-it shows up all over-and for that I am honored! I’m hoping I will have the opportunity to get to some larger pieces again this year!

Number 3:  A Funky Floral Mandela Table

I've had a lot of people affectionately call this my “Toy Story” table, and you know what, I like it! If my babies were still little, this would proudly be displayed in their room, but alas they are teenagers, dark & Gothic, teenagers, gone are the days of Toy Story and bright colors.  Even so, I personally L-O-V-E this table and its primary color pallet, cow print meets floral...it just ROCKS!

Number 2:  Where Do You Find Inspiration?

Great piece, but boy, was my hand tired from painting in all those zebra prints on the back! Perhaps that’s what prompted my carpal tunnel surgery this November? Hmmm…

I really liked the blue on blue and the red on red (I did a linen weave faux on the top, which didn’t come out all that great in the picture, but looked really cool in person) then did a gold metallic Polk-a- dot on top-SWEET! Then the feet...Shut the front door! They were fencing post toppers-love it! Sold this piece to the same person who bought number 5! Ya baby!

Number 6: Moroccan Stencils

Funny how the number one, most viewed post on my blog for 2011 isn't even furniture! BUT STAIRS!  

As many of you know The Decorative Paintbrush is a 2^nd business for me. Although this year, and hopefully in 2012, it will become more of a full-time career for me. My partner and I own another business called 2 Women and a Paintbrush We do all kinds of painting in & out of people’s homes-as a matter of fact, if you've ever read my bio, you’d know it’s really how TheDPB was born.  

Anyway, we were commissioned to paint & stencil a customer’s stairs, and although we have a blog for 2Women and a Paintbrush because I loved how these looked I wanted to share them here as well! I’m so glad I did because it turned out to be the most highly viewed post on my blog since we started in 2009! Too funny, hugh?

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful, safe & happy New Year! Thanks for being a part of my world this year! Your comments are always so uplifting and inspiring! Can’t wait to get painting again-lots of great stuff on tap for 2012! Remember to come follow along on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter! 

Be safe! Big hugs & much love! PEACE!

One Chair, Thirty Different Looks

A while ago we decided to clean out one of our storage sheds in hopes we could cut down on our expenses (…um ya, it sounded like a good idea anyway). That’s when we got a call from our friend Tammy. “Look ladies I just went through the drive-thu at Wendy’s and they’re getting rid of like 30 chairs, you might want to get down there!” Before she was even done talking I was in the car, pushing some red headed kid out of the way and high tailing my ass into the dumpster. Three trips later we had all the chairs (and about 5 tables) in our newly cleaned out storage shed (so much for saving some money, right?).

Maggie testing out our chairs. Looks like church in the shed!

So, these are the first of the those chairs. What I LOVE is how one chair (style wise) can take on so many different looks, as you’ll see over the next couple months. I'll periodically post "Wendy’s Chairs”postings. They'll be the same style chair but different colors, different fabrics, and different designs creating a whole new look. These black ones we did for the Syracuse Arts and Crafts Festival.

SIDENOTE:  We had a great time at The Syracuse A & C Fest (except for the rain out on Friday); we met amazing fellow crafters, artists and customers and learned so much from a variety of people (Thanks Ralph for all the tent help!). Saturday & Sunday the weather was beautiful and the traffic was nonstop.  We handed out hundreds of business cards, talked about custom orders with people and made a lot of business contacts (look for our work to possibly be in a shop near you soon). We hope that they will have us back next year. One great prospect that came out of it is this; I will be The Artist in Residence at the NYS Fair September 1, 2011! How cool is that! From 11-3 I will be painting furniture, doing a demo, and doing Q & A, which is sure to be very exciting. (Okay, honestly, I’m really nervous.)

Anyway, back to the chairs…I kept them in the same color palette, but changed up the seat pattern and the design on the back, this way they could be sold as a group or someone could purchase just one if they liked. 

The next set I did was white, with red & white seats, very classic looking. Then white chairs with an aqua, tan and white fabric…sigh, to die for. So, like I said, look for these posts soon.  I’ll be putting them in as I get them done. They look so much different then the black ones, but they are the SAME style chair-it’s really cool.

Oh, and here’s another B&A (Before & After) that doesn’t require a whole blog post of its own but I thought you’d like to see it. This cute lil’ bar stool sold at the Syracuse A & C Fest as well, and I must admit I was sad to see it go. I really liked it that much. Perhaps I’ll have to make one just for myself. Found the stool at the Thrifty shopper for $2, LOVE IT! Simple, but chic…

Happy Painting,

Mary

I'll be sharing this post with some of my friends at these blog parties and they can be found on my link page.