The Girls

I had a brilliant idea about a year ago (in actuality, I have brilliant ideas almost everyday…only about 2% of them actually come to fruition, though). I was struggling to keep up with the demand but not in the financial position to hire a traditional staff...

The Ever-So-Trendy Chalkboard Wall

They are all over pinterest, blogs and magazines…entire walls turned into chalkboards. It is so trendy right now. In fact, I read in a home design magazine that among the top ten interior decorating faux-paus listed were “turning every vertical and flat...

Farmers Market and the Wood Thing

A couple of weeks ago, Sabrina coordinated a booth at the Monrovia Farmers Market.She hooked up with one of our newest paint addicts, Donna who just took the Annie Sloan Paint and Play Workshop, and the two of them loaded the truck with a handful of goodies from knot...

The Girls Bedroom-Reveal

I stood in the kitchen last night after the kids were in bed and looked at my husband…I said, “now that the kids room is done I have another project in mind.” His shoulders slumped a little, he rolled his eyes and said, “of course you...

The Chandelier Conundrum

We are at the final stages of the girls bedroom redo. It was my major “to-do” for the month of March. And, with just five days to spare, I can cross it off the list. This last weekend, my husband said he would help me put up the final touch…the...

Great Grandma’s Dresser and the Girls Room

I got a taste of what it’s like to refinish paint a family heirloom. It was a little bit of that sickening feeling of “if they only knew they’d be rolling in their grave.” This was my Great Grandma Zeller’s dresser (minus the...

Horrible

Do you ever come across a piece of furniture that is just so horrible that you wouldn’t even dream of touching a paint brush to it?Horrible was an understatement for this nightstand.The paint application was so thick and chunky. It was beyond repair. Worse yet,...

How to Operate a Drum Sander

The first refinishing project I ever tackled were hardwood floors. When I was about 13 or 14 years old I told my parents I wanted to rip out the carpet in my bedroom and keep the hardwood. My dad said it was OK, but I would have to do all of the work. So, we tore out...

More on the Girls Bedroom

So, I’m re-doing my girls bedroom! I shared my master plan in a previous blog post. This past weekend, I finally buckled down and got down to work. In case you missed my last post, this is the before picture.After this weekend, we made some progress but have a...

The Girls Bedroom

My March home improvement goal is to refinish, from bottom to top my girls bedroom.My poor little Molly girls is almost four years old and wears her sisters clothes, gets the remnants of her sisters shoes, slept in her sisters nursery and moved into her sisters big...

Master Bathroom Makeover

Some things take forever to finish. Such was the case as my Master Bathroom. I started refinishing it last April…yep…nearly a year ago. I re-painted my chipped up, laminate, boring, hum drum cabinets and started to re-paint the walls.That’s...

Selling in Irvine

I’ve never thought about all of the logistics that go into setting up a huge flea market. When you go to shop, there is row after row of perfectly placed vendors and their perfectly placed cars, trucks and vans right alongside. How all that fits so perfectly...

Irvine Antique Market

About four months ago, one of my customers came to the shop and told me I had to sell down at the Irvine Antique Market. I hadn’t been to that flea market. I thought I had heard of all the Southern California swap meets so my interest was piqued since I had...

The Wood Ladder and Strings Music

This morning, I was taking a walk downtown to drop some packages off at Ellsworth Stationers to be mailed. I hate going to the post office. It’s an irrational kind of hate. I rank it up there with emptying the dishwasher. Well, this morning I had a few important...

Custom Milk Paint Color

What a week we’ve had. In fewer than six days we have:Participated in the Glendora Village Wine Walk,Set-up (and tore down) an awesome Valentine’s Themed Photo Booth,Hosted an Annie Sloan Paint and Play Workshop,Re-arranged the entire store,Unpacked and...

Wine Walk Valentine Photo Booth

With a little luck, and a lot of love, we were able to host a romantic vintage photo booth at Knot Too Shabby during the 4th Annual Glendora Wine Walk. How did we do it? Read on to find out how the KTS team made this fun Valentine’s photo op...

Making Milk Paint Chip

I’m starting to close in on two years with a retail spot. In the beginning, my husband challenged me…”what are you going to do when trends change?” My response was to change with the trends or quit doing it when home decorating trends are no...

Big Projects

They are always there staring me in the face. Big Projects! In the midst of big projects, I think “as soon as I finish (fill in the blank), I can relax.”But, as soon as I’m finished there is another Big Project staring me in the face. And so on...

Vintage Wood File Cabinet

I am in the midst of creating a design plan for my girls bedroom. Since my three year old moved into her big sisters room over a year ago, we’ve never done anything to make it “her” space, too. So, I am finally getting ready to re-decorate the...

Grandfather Clocks

This week has been clock week. I tackled one grandfather clock that I’ve had for over six months, and another that I’ve had for less than a week. The first one:My mom and dad picked this clock last summer. It was in nice shape, so I opted to try and...