Summer's nursery

Almost a year ago, I sold one of my very first "for sale" pieces to Summer Bellessa (from Girls with Glasses).

I still remember what she said when she walked into my house.  She looked around, oohed and ahhed then said, "I love your style".  If the editor of Eliza Magazine thought I had great style, than maybe my little business was going to make it!  It was such a confidence booster for me at a very unsure time when I was still feeling everything out.  I didn't know if there was a market for refinished furniture and I certainly didn't know if there was a market in my area for modern, refinished furniture.

Anyway, the dresser went in her son's nursery and she recently finished the room and posted photos.  Have a look.

Isn't it great?

Furniture inspiration

Any exciting plans for the weekend?  I loved hearing your thoughts on hunting and I'm sure many of you will be out on the prowl tomorrow!

I don't usually work on the weekends - it's an opportune time with Zac home to help with the kids, but I'm so darn lazy on Saturday.  I sort of putter around dabbling in things here and there, never really getting anything done.  The weekdays are so busy and then Sunday always feels hectic as well with church and meetings and such that Saturday feels like my only guilt-free lounge day.  Tomorrow is going to be a different story.  I have a garage full of client projects to turn out over the next couple weeks so the plan is to put in some good time on those.

Because of the burst of client projects, I've been seeking more color inspiration.  Here are some favorites.

room-polish

apartment therapy

zincdoor

design sponge

house and home

the decorista

Are you a hunter?

As I've started this blog, I have had the opportunity to connect with many likeminded thrifters.  Most I talk with crave the thrill of the hunt.  They love leafing through others' "junk"at flea markets or thrift stores for the next item to be repurposed or refinished.  They love the thrill that comes with a great find at a small cost and the adrenaline rush and many ideas that come from landing a rare, vintage piece.

When I first started thrifting, that was my favorite part, too.  Then, as thrifting and refinishing have become a business, I have enjoyed that part less and less.  I have become lazy.  Now my favorite thing is when someone emails with something awesome and asks if I want to purchase it from them.  Score!  No hunting necessary and I have something great to refinish.  It's terrible, I know.  I'm a disgrace to my kind.

So, I'm curious…are you a hunter?  Or are you in the lazy camp with me?

Thoughts

Thank you for all the love and support with the press this last week!  You know how to make a girl feel loved!  I'm headed off to go thrifting with a different news team tomorrow and I'm nervous already that I won't be able to sleep a wink.  Who would?  Cross your fingers that I don't trip and pray, pray hard, that I'll stand up straight (my posture is terrible).

I feel terrible for being so neglectful of the blog, but I'm too tired to string together another coherent thought tonight.  Instead I'll leave you with a pretty picture that has me itching to paint my bedroom a light turquoise.  (I can't imagine Zac would love this plan).

image source

Interview with Fox News

It's been a crazy, eventful week around here.  From the moment the Washington Post article ran a week and a half ago, there have been a slew of media opportunities opened up to Natty by Design.  It's been exciting, but the "unknown" kind of threw me for a loop and I was quite nervous to have not one, but two, tv crews scheduled to come to the house today.  Now that they're over my nervous anxiety has passed and I can be excited!

My older kids went to school late so they could see the crews and were thrilled to end up being included in the clip.  My two year old ran around the house all day saying, "I on da tv ta-night!" and "where the camera guys go?"

Here's the Fox clip that ran on the news tonight…  (I promise I wasn't about to cry even though it seems that way, I was just a wee bit nervous).

Gilbert Mom Runs Furniture Business out of Her Garage: MyFoxPHOENIX.com

Living room dreaming

If I was to execute a design plan for my living room right this instant, it would most definitely involve each of these colors.

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The reality is:  I won't be decorating my living room for quite a while and by then I'll be crushing on a completely different color scheme.  But for now, I can't get enough of them.

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Thoughts?

Washington Post feature

First, let me say THANK YOU for all your tips and well wishes with the potty training!  We had errands to run yesterday and ended up taking the day "off" with a pull-up so I'm hoping it didn't ruin any progress we'd made.  But we're back on the bandwagon today!  Geh.

My first week back to work hasn't felt nearly as productive as I had anticipated.  There are so many things I've avoided with the home and bills and such for the last 13 weeks that I spent much of my time this week catching up there.  I did manage to finish one client project, but I'm hopeful that next week I'll have some great pieces ready to share with you.

I was pleasantly surprised a couple days ago to be featured in the Washington Post along with another furniture refinisher here in Phoenix.

If you're interested, you can read the full article here.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Anniversary and potty training

Last night Zac and I went out in celebration of our 9th anniversary!  Nine years feels like our first "wow, we've been married for a long time" anniversary.

(photo at Zac's graduation almost five years ago when I was pregnant with Isabelle!)

I spent today, our actual anniversary, potty-training my 2 1/2 year old.  In the past, I've been the mom who refuses to think about potty training until my child's third birthday comes and passes, but I was at Costco Monday and couldn't square myself with picking up another pricey box of diapers.  So potty training it is.  Charlotte has been through a half a dozen pairs of pants today and I've heard, "I no go ba-froom!" over a dozen.  Any tips or techniques would be greatly appreciated.  If you don't have any tips and tricks other than to "wing it" like I do, than please send positive thoughts my direction.  I could sure use them!

Potential paint colors

I'm off to the paint store today to pick up a few new colors for a desk and a pair of french chairs.  

I've picked out a few different color choices, but I haven't narrowed them down yet.  Here are the top five front runners (all by Benjamin Moore).

SALSA:

SUN KISSED YELLOW:

SILVER LAKE:

SOUTH BEACH:

RUMBA ORANGE:

Any favorites?

The weekend

Anything exciting planned for the weekend?

We just inherited a playset from my parents but it's too tall for our HOA restrictions and is in need of a new roof.  Tonight we're all headed to Home Depot to pick up some wood so Zac can spend his Saturday building a new one :)

I'm back!

Hi friends!

This morning the older kids are back in school and I'm trying to play catch up.  Forgive me for dropping off the face of the earth over the last couple weeks - I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year!

I feel like a broken record saying again that I'm almost out of the pregnant sick stage - I'm this close!  A little nausea has decided to stick around longer than anticipated and I've been using it as an excuse to be lazy, cranky and get nothing accomplished.  With resolutions for 2012 on my mind, I've decided that I'm just going to resume life as normal and do my best to pretend I'm feeling 100% - then maybe it will actually happen???

So this morning I'm uploading and editing photos for the first time since Thanksgiving and I actually put on my painting clothes when I got up this morning to help propel me out to the garage during Charlotte's nap time.  I've got a couple custom projects to finish up and then it's on to some great french pieces I've picked up recently.

Thanks for sticking with me!