Hi guys! The last week and a half has been a little busy around here - in the very best way! The garage is filling up with new pieces awaiting their second chance at life, I've been restocking paint, and taking advantage of the plethora of Fall festivities this area's got goin' on. This was our entire afternoon after church last Sunday:

The Temple Hall Farm Festival in Leesburg, VA. We think it's the best kept secret around! While many are fighting the traffic and crowds at Cox Farms and Pumpkinville, Temple Hall has so much more to offer and far less 'congestion'. And camels. Because what's a Fall festival without camels!? They obviously go hand in hand. ;)

It's also a great place to snap a Christmas card picture, pending you find someone with a steady hand. Last year's pic is at the right, this year's on the left. We had a better photograstranger last year. Oh well. I think the stone background is washing us out anyways...and by 'us' I mean everyone except my dark and handsome husband.

Moving on, (because I KNOW ya'll didn't come by to weigh in on whether or not we should use that top left picture for our Christmas card. We definitely shouldn't. Right?)! I've been a painting fool over the last two weeks and just wanted to share some recent pieces!

First up, this very special custom order for a very special lady - my Grandma Livi! She found this dry sink in her mother's basement years ago. She did a wonderful job restoring the wood, but recently wanted to give it a fresh look.

I just love me some distressed aqua. It's the Best of the Best! ;)

This piece started off with some gorgeous, textured wood grain. When working with a real wood piece with grain like this, you can still play up the wood even when painting over it. On this dry sink, for example, I never once loaded my brush up with too much paint. I did 3 super thin coats until there was even coverage all around. Sounds like a waste of time, right? Why not just do one thick coat? Well, if I were to lay the paint on too thick the paint would have settled right over the wood grain, thus hiding it's beautiful texture. Using more of a dry-brush method, where I only dipped the very end of the brush in the paint, I was able to cover the piece with three thin layers and preserve the grain. Win, win!

Since this is a super-duper old piece I wanted to give it some fresh, current styling. I surrounded it with my slow-grown Anthropologie kitchen collection which compliments the soft aqua color and contrasts well with the new rustic makeover.

Collection tip: When you love a store or a particular item that you can't afford large purchases from, just keep a sharp eye for items on clearance, or indulge in smaller affordable pieces every now and then. The stacked bowls were the beginning of … — Collection tip: When you love a store or a particular item that you can't afford large purchases from, just keep a sharp eye for items on clearance, or indulge in smaller affordable pieces every now and then. The stacked bowls were the beginning of my collection - as our family grew, we would add one new bowl per family member.

On deck for tomorrow is my first ever buffet + bar cart set! You can expect the pieces to be traditional, but with a cool, edgy twist. I can't wait to see what you think!

Thank you so much for stopping by!