Celebrate Good Times!

Earlier this month my brother married the most wonderful man - yep, I said it, man.  I'm super lucky that my brother (who is BEYOND smart, creative, hard-working and wonderful) married someone equally so.  I feel so blessed he has a partner with whom to travel life.  PS - these two are the GREATEST uncles of all time.


Here's a pic of the happy couple: 

My bro on the left, wonderful new hubby on the right

Anywho, my mom and I threw a rehearsal dinner get together for them. The wedding was held in Chicago where he lives.  We rented a large 6 bedroom house/mansion (to-may-toe/to-mah-toe).  It was a great place to stay and a wonderful venue for the get together.  In our family, we very rarely have things catered or hold parties at hotels or restaurants.  I think the very best way to show someone you want them to be your guest is to invite them to your home and serve them food and drinks you've made yourself.  Just me . . . . so when we figured out we wanted to throw this party, finding a house/venue all in one was AWESOME.

I went with a black and white and yellow theme.  First of all, black and white always make a statement, and I already had some pops of yellow to bring along.  Here are a few pix!

Sorry this pic is crappy, but it's the only one of the bar.

Fru-fru tooth picks from Hobby Lobby

These food signs were super easy add a custom touch

This is a Tipsy Arnold Palmer
(Tea, Lemonade, Vodka, Mint)

TAGS: black and white party, black and white and yellow party, rehearsal dinner, gay wedding rehearsal dinner, black chevron fabric, candy sticks

The Novogratz are Coming the Novogratz are Coming!

Ok, so I'm a HGTV junkie, I've seen about every episode of every show, and have watched it since it came on the scene.  Most of us who read blogs like this would say the same, and it was the only "fix" for our addiction before blogs came on the scene.  So, picking my favorite show would have been tough, that is until last year when Home By Novogratz came on the scene.  Cortney and Bob Novogratz are a super hip and cool couple who live in NYC with their SEVEN kids and have one of my favorite design styles: Vintage with Modern.  Their sense of style is truly unique, eclectic, and they always pack some WOW factor into their designs.  They love original art, re-purposing vintage finds, and create rooms that have amazing interest and personality.

They actually just did a promotion with CB2 where you could enter to win a room design by the fashionable couple.  Alas, my phone is still not ringing to say I've won said prize -I'd give my first born!  Sorry Mary Alice.  Speaking of Mary Alice, she adores this show too and we wait in anticipation for new episodes.

So, check out some photos of their work and Season 2 which starts on HGTV on August 4!

This rug available @ CB2 - it was their design.

Gold is the new black

Hi I'm Tricia at Mash-Up chic, and I'm a gold-spray-paint-a-holic.  I'm finding my new go-to "fix" these days to be gold spray paint.  It gives just about anything that pop of sparkle and finishing touch.  My 3 year old looks like of odd spray painted, but it will wash off eventually.  Also, just like every room needs just a touch of black, layering gold with silver has become a very popular new color combination.  Having both colors together adds depth and dimension.

The latest project is one of my Craigslist school stacking chairs that I previously referenced in THIS POST.  This time I decided to make something a bit more glam.  I think it would make a great desk chair, foyer chair, use as a bedside table or any place that a splash of pizzazz is needed.

As a reminder, BEFORE the chair looked like this:

After some glam-in-a-can:

So, what do you think?  Not sure the pictures do it justice, but it's really a fun chair!  It will be for sale at the Flea Off Market in September.

TAGS: vintage school chair, spray paint, gold paint, repurpose

Well DUH!

I decided to use some lettering to up-cycle (my new fave word for turning old junk into super cool crap) some vintage school chairs and make them one of a kind.  I stenciled the word "sit" on them.  My husband's synopsis of this idea was "duh, what else are you supposed to do in them?"  As usual he thinks 95% of my ideas are stupid, but typically his disdain means I have a great idea on my hands.

I bought these chairs months ago (6 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days says the hubby).  I loved the vintage feeling, and the practicality of stacking chairs.  I found them on Craigslist and bought 11 chairs for about $20.  The seller tells me they were used in a classroom in Fort Knox, KY at the army base there.  I set up the deal about 10 miles north of Fort Knox at a gas station parking lot.  I don't make this crap up.

Based on the wear, I think they are from the 60's-70's.  Been pondering what to do with these gems.  Several have found a home in my daughter's craft area, but they could easily be used as dining chairs or a chair for a desk.  I'm excited about about all the possibilities - lots of fun paint treatments planned!  So, here is my first go.  I'm a big fan of using words on furniture or on walls.  So here's what I came up with:

BEFORE

   

AFTER

   

I used a stencil made from letters from a stencil letter pack I bought at Home Depot. I just taped the letters together to keep them straight:
   

   

Then I sprayed a very light coat on one of them which turned out like this:

   

I sprayed the other one more heavily and then sanded it out when still a smidge wet:

  

I can't decide which one I like better, but if I had to pick, I like the roughed up one, just because I can imagine it being worn down over time (from all the booty action) and getting naturally worn like that.
What do you think? 

If you just fell in love you can buy these at the Flea Off Market in NuLu (Louisville) in September!  Or make me an offer I can't refuse now!  I can't wait to unveil the rest of my chairs.  The possibilities are endless!

TAGS: vintage school chair, SIT, repurpose

Way to go E-V-O-O!

Pets are great - they add to your family, they don't judge you, they provide unconditional love, they scratch up your leather sofas  . . . . .   So, my cat Buddy, and another Cat George before him, decided that when they were young kittens, jumping on and off my leather sofa was a big time.  Unfortunately they left their mark behind.  Evidence below:

Hideous, right?  After a while I started not to notice, but one day I realized how awful it looked and went online and typed in "cover up cat scratches on leather furniture."  Well, there was a world of options out there, but one that I had in my good old pantry was Olive Oil.  Found several sites that indicated rubbing olive oil on the surface of minor scratches would do the trick.  So I decided, what the heck, it's worth a try, and if it doesn't work I can wipe it off with some baguette slices and have a nice snack with my wine.

Results = FABULOUS!

BEFORE    

AFTER                                          


BEFORE

                                             












AFTER

I am THRILLED with the outcome.  I used a soft cloth to rub the olive oil into the leather in circles.  I think the key is really rubbing it in.  I followed up with a paper towel and buffed it off a bit.  I was a bit worried about oil residue on the leather, but the paper towel buffing revealed there was no oil left on surface of leather.  A few weeks later it still looks awesome.  There are a few deeper marks that are still somewhat visible, but it looks tons better than it did.  The oil also brought back the rich tone of the leather a bit.

TAGS: scratch repair, leather furniture, cat scratch, leather sofa, leather chair, repair

Slacker Alert

Sorry I've been so incognito lately - I.E. slammed crazy busy!  Lots going on with work and family in this bustling spring season.  But, thought you deserved a sneak peek at the boys bedroom which is coming along.

Dying for Diagonal

Stripes.  I love them.  They add visiual punch to just about anything.  Usually it's super cheap to add them to a piece of furniture, accent wall, whatever.  But, did you know the type of stripe you pick says something about you?  More on that later.  Here are some pix of a dresser I redid in DIAGONAL stripes.

I love how the uber-traditional lines and detail on this cabinet compliment the graphic and modern stripes.  Here was the chest before:

It was "cute" but certainly not a WOW of a piece.  LOVE THIS ONE!  Super easy - just taped off the stripes, painted and voila.  And my project was featured HERE a while back on one of my very favorite "Before & After" design blogs, Better After.  This is my MUST CHECK blog each day!

Now, back to my stripe personality test:

* Vertical Stripes (that's up and down to you and me) - traditional, orderly, neat.

traditional hall design by san francisco architect Barbara Chambers

* Horizontal Stripe (across) - modern, punchy, unexpected.  Horizontal striping, especially in paint teqniques have become super chic these days.

contemporary bedroom design by hawaii interior designer Julie Sumile Interior Design

And finally, the super cool and unexpected cousin of the horizontal and vertial stripes, the DIAGONAL stripe.

CLICK HERE FOR SOURCE

So, I decided to go a bit unexpected with the stripes on this dresser, and I LOVE IT.  You can see this dresser from my front window - it's a bit cooky but a bit of an art piece all it's own.