looking back on a year of furniture!

like any good children's book, this post is going to be mostly PICTURES!!!

if you see something cool and want to ask specific questions, PLEASE DO!

 

if you are reading this, you may have found it on Pinterest!  or on my Facebook page!

we've been in business a year now so i went back thru pictures and will be posting some of my BEST and WORST pieces!!  lets be honest, not every project turns out a master piece!!

 

if you love looking thru pinterest (as i do) at all the beautiful painted furniture.... or the "trash to treasure" pins, you probably find yourself wanting to give it a try!  and i say GO FOR IT!!  i've always been creative, but i never imagined myself doing this!!  and my husband isn't overly creative but he too is very good at ReInVintage'ing furniture!

 

so here we go!!

 

first of all, i WILL be telling ALL my secrets!!  where i find my goodies... what paint i use...

 

WHERE??????????

 

craigslist...

is my favorite and by far the most brutal!  you have to be on the ball to do this one!

 

 

garage sales

i'm not good at looking at ads and then mapping out my trip... i like to get in my van and wander aimlessly!!  it makes finding furniture a true adventure!

 

estate sales

i personally don't find these to be that great.  they are usually overpriced...

at least for what i want to accomplish.

 

auctions

this can be tricky.  if you go to a recurring auction, you'll get a feel for the prices... some auctions have great deals, and some are insanely over-priced.  it just depends on who shows up.

 

THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!!

who are we kidding?!?  you see an awesome chair on the curb and you load that thing up!  i have gotten dressers, chairs, tables... just make sure they are safe (sturdy) and cleanABLE!

 

free stuff

its hard to explain this one... but once you start painting furniture, people start giving you items!  and it's awesome!  i have gotten some GREAT pieces this way!

 

PAINT?????????

 

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  period.  in my dream world, i would ONLY use her paint.  but when i have a project that requires a color she doesn't have, i am forced to use other brands.  BUT... i always start those projects with a base coat of Annie's Old White.

ASCP is ONLY sold at specific stockest... meaning don't look at Lowe's or Sherwin Williams!!

get on Annie's website and you can find one near'ish to you!

Birds Gotta Fly Vintage in Elkhart Indiana is right by me!!!  paint any time i want!!

 

NOW SOME PICTURES!!!!!

 

 

this is the table that started it all!!  a farm table built by my husband and father in law!!

 

the 80's are OVER!!  so we gave this china cabinet a major make-over!!!  ditched the doors and lightened it up!

 

when you get an "antique" or "vintage piece" that is too damaged to re-finish, painting it is a great option!!!

 

i found this treasure at a garage sale!  it was handmade... cobbled together out of scraps... during the depression.  i almost didn't want to take it from it's original family!!  but some paint and new pulls and now she sits in my friends laundry room!

 

 

 

who had French Provincial Furniture as a little girl?!?!  i know i did!!!  and this desk brought back a flood of fond childhood memories!  this was the first in a long line of my French Pro painting!

 

this dresser gave way for my "RoCk sTaR" collection of furniture!!  these pieces are aimed at tweens and teens.  this piece went to a student in our son & daughters grade in Junior High.  Whoa was my daughter on my case to make her one too!!

 

and here is what she got!!  another awesome garage sale find!  dark 1970's to a legit teens room!  i got blank pulls and hand painted on them!  if you want more info, i did a blog on Redecorating a Room for Less than $200!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

when i brought this yellow chair home and told my hubs it was for him... he looked at me like i'd completely lost it!  but, he picked a dark distressed red, and EVERYONE loves it!!

 

 

this beauty was a craigslist find... and my introduction to the RACE that is craigslist!  "whoever gets here first gets the chair".  i REALLY wanted that chair!  this piece was donated to a silent auction to raise money for our favorite missionaries!

 

 

and more rock star pieces!!!

 

 

 

this piece was fab for a special reason!  i put this on craigslist to sell it and a lady responded... she noticed my email name and after 5 minutes, we realized we were cousins!!!

 

 

i LOVE to decoupage!!!  and its super easy!!  i have step by step instructions in my blog!!

 

 

this piece actually stayed in our home!  our 9 year old daughter got it for Christmas last year!  she LOVED it!

 

 

we had an Ugly Furniture Contest and this was our winner!  someone along the way had stripped it with the intention of re-finishing it when the current owner snagged it at a garage sale.  her vision was perfect!!!

 

 

  here's a softer side... for little girls!

 

 

 

 

 

what a MAKE-OVER!!!  this chair was the first piece of brand new furniture my mother EVER bought!!!  it was in perfect condition!!  except it was.... ugly!!  she gave me a color to start with and i went from there.  she was thrilled with her "new" chair!

 

 

  OMBRE.... oh how i love OMBRE!!!  the top picture was my first ombre piece... and i have done many since!

 

 

  this was a great auction find!!

i LOVE red!!! i just love it!!

 

 

this piece is WHY you chat up craigslist sellers!!!  you never know what else they have to sell!!!  my husband snagged this for "$11 is what i have in my pocket"... DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK!!!  he paid $11 for a hand built dry sink!!

incidentally, my husband hates when i paint things orange.  but customers LOVE it!!  they sell super fast!!!

 

 

sometimes we get pieces that should NOT be painted... and we sell them as is!!!

 

 

 i can't make enough with this color combo!!

we weren't sure about this one... but it sold in 2 days!

 

a very subtle ombre.  i absolutely love this one!!

 

i'm not especially into the "waterfall style"... but i do like this piece!!

 

another piece built by my FIL!!!  i just love this design!!  it was brought to us by one of our friends!!  thanks jeremie and bri!!

 

 

this piece came out of a storage locker auction purchase!  it was a real score!!

 

 

a sweet little old man was moving into an assisted living home and selling all his furniture... sometimes, the more you buy, the cheaper it gets!!!  this went into a pirate themed room!  LOVE!!

 

i'll end... sorta where we began!!  this was our first try at STAIN!!  we like the look it created on this farm table!!

 

 

well, those were some of my favs!!  it was fun looking back thru the pieces we've done!  if you have questions JUST ASK!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

look what brittin CAN do!!!

the sun is shinning!
the temperature is perfect!!
and my daughter can read!!!

ok... it's not exactly a revelation that Brittin can read... but today is a GREAT day in the world of Brittin!!

as parents of a child with special needs, it's easy to get wrapped up in what your child CAN'T do. 
she can't ride a bike
she can't count money
she can't read chapter books

sometimes, it can get downright depressing!

last week brittin's team of educators (principal, special ed teacher, teacher, personal aide) sat down with mike and i and expressed their concern at britt's recent test scores.  i'll admit, i cried during 95% of the meeting!!  it was during that meeting that a "life skill program" was brought to our attention.  maybe... that's the direction brittin's education needed to go.

at first i was admittedly AGAINST it.  but the more mike and i discussed it, we agreed it was more important for brittin to learn to read a recipe, measure ingredients and use the stove than to attempt to understand double digit subtraction.  we, along with the jimtown staff decided it was important for us to visit the "life skill program" classroom.

now here's a BIG issue... the program is NOT at Jimtown.  WHAT?  mike said "but brittin is a jimtown ICON!"  and that she is!!  everywhere she goes, someone knows her!!  WE usually don't, but SHE does!  the idea of her going anywhere else was... horrifying.  no joke!  and not only is it NOT in Jimtown, but it's in ... CONCORD!  

now... for those of you from this area, you know those are rival schools!!!  neither mike nor i went to jimtown, but it seems once you move in, you never want to leave!  we are jimmies all the way!!  as a disclaimer, there is NOTHING wrong with concord... i'm sure they are lovely schools... we just happen to be jimmies!!!

so we went to visit the class this morning.  mike and i went with OPEN MINDS!!  we only want what's best for brittin... even if it's not what we envisioned. 

so here we go.  we go to Concord Intermediate.  nice building.  we, along with the special ed teacher and brittin's aide, are escorted to the classroom.  my reactions: (brutal honesty alert!!)

1.  this is a small room.  i pictured something much larger in my head.

2.  9 students... 4 adults... that's nice.

3.  look at the little girl in the wheelchair. :(      this was REALLY sad.  immobile and nonverbal.

4.  i LOVE the little girl who has downs!  (she's a jimmie too!!) 

5.  they are doing pre-school "calendar time".  brittin jumped right in.  she actually wanted to take over!

6.  we've been here 45 minutes... when are they going to do something brittin DIDN'T know 4 years ago?!?!?

7.  the daily schedule is on the board in picture form.  "restroom time" includes changing undergarments.  very very sad.  :(

8.  several children are doing sign language.  that's cool.  wait... its because their speech is difficult to understand.  still cool.

9.  "snack time" isn't as much about eating as it is about communicating what the children want.  brittin sat with the verbal children.  now i'm really freaking out...

after 60 minutes of observation, it's time to discuss what we all think....

the Jimtown Special Ed teacher comes up to me... about 5 inches from my face and whispers "brittin is NOT coming here".  good.  we finally agree!

i want to say... this program is Elkhart County wide.  it is WONDERFUL!  it's just not appropriate for britt.

out of the 9 students:

5 are verbal ... to varying degrees.
0 have ever been in a standard education classroom
0 are able to read

right there... that was enough for me to make a decision.  the director of the program even agreed, this was not the class for britt. 

now, we also agreed that at some point... maybe junior high... maybe high school... we'll visit this concept again.  it's not totally out of the question, but in a much higher functioning class.

here's what i learned today:

1.  i need to THANK GOD EVERY DAY for the enormous list of things brittin can do!!
2.  on days when i am whiny about how bad we have it, i need to reflect back to the children we met today.
3.  there is a serious GAP in our education system where students like brittin fall.  too high functioning for a "special education class" but not able to fully function in a standard class. 

today is a GREAT day!!  in every way!  we have an awesome school system who's ready to make a "brittin plan".  we have teachers and administrators who truly care about brittin and her needs.  and we met some beautiful children this morning with the purest of hearts!!

everyone, HUG your children today!  and say an extra thank you to God for everything they CAN do!

have a BLESSED day!!

here are some of my favorite BRITTIN PICS!!

Purple Wedges Please!!

wow... where do i start?!  sometimes it's hard to decide where the beginning of my stories are because one story leads to another!   i'll give this a try!!

i guess there are two important pieces of info to start with...

last friday, mike and i took brittin to see a CP/traumatic brain injury specialist at the University of Michigan.  the appointment definitely didn't go as i'd envisioned.  that's ok though.  it ended like this... "brittin is a high functioning child with CP.  nothing will help re-form her feet.  she doesn't need expensive inserts.  (here's the important part)... let her wear whatever shoes she wants that feel good."   that is a BIG statement for a girl who LOVES shoes!!!

friday was also brittin's birthday!  with this new info regarding footwear, we told britt we were taking her shopping!!

and here's where the PURPLE WEDGES come in.  brittin's older sister sireana has a pair of purple heels.  brittin loves to walk around in ONE of them.  the right... because she can't walk in the left one.

sunday after church we headed to Shoe Carnival for some serious birthday shoe shopping!!  on the way there:

me- brittin, what kind of shoes do you want to get?!?

brittin- i'm getting purple wedges!

me- (thinking to myself) oh good LORD!

WE GET THERE... finally find a chair to plop her in... and the madness begins. 
i was going to post pics of the shoes we tried on, but that would be waaaayyyy too many pictures!
we tried on sperry's... bob's.... roxy's... nike's... adidas all stars... pastries high tops...  all sizes, colors, styles.  brittin had a reason why each shoe wouldn't work! 

finally... exasperated, i looked at her and said "soooo, we're not getting any shoes today?"

she replied "yeah, i'm gonna get high heels!!"

after mike's jaw dropped, i asked her "are you telling me... you said NO to ALL THESE SHOES because you're waiting for us to bring you a pair of high heels??"

brittin replied "YEP!!"

AND HER SCHOOL QUESTIONS HER I.Q. !!!!!!  whatev!!  she's just manipulative!!

so i had mike just get a pair of girl high heels to end the madness!!!

 

here's the shoe... minus the strap.  that made it even more fun to keep this on her!!

 

 

she was totally excited to see the shoes... all white and shiny!!  obviously she doesn't know that whole "labor day rule"!

 

she slipped the shoes on.

 

she had a look of pure joy on her face.

 

she stood up... realizing her instability in the shoes.

 

she tried to walk.

 

her left foot immediately rolled to its side.

 

she realized she was going to fall.

 

she quickly began grasping for shoe boxes on the shelves, yearning for stability.

 

ok, that might have been a bit dramatic!

 

mike quickly reached for her and sat her down.

 

she ripped the left shoe off.

 

she stood back up. 

 

realizing she was stable, she took off running down the isle.

 

when she reached the end, she turned around and said "YEP!  i'll take these!!"  

 

PARENTS BE LIKE... WHAT?!?!?!?

we explained she couldn't just wear one shoe... and she said she could.  it was at that point, for the sanity of EVERYONE, we left... with no shoes.

we did however walk down to kohl's where we purchased a lovely pair of hot pink Nike's and extremely cute combat boots.

that's a day in the life of Brittin ;)

have a BLESSED day!!!

it's my party and i WILL cry

i know normally, i'm this big bundle of happiness. 

but today, i'm going to pout.  full on crying and whinning.  "why brittin"??? 

i'm going to mourn.  i will mourn what SHOULD have been.  i will mourn what never will be.

i'm going to complain.  complain about all the CRAP our family has been through this year.

i'm going to cry.  i will cry tears of denial and tears of acceptance.



and then...

i will rejoice.  rejoice in the assurance God gives us that everything WILL be okay.

i will be thankful.  i will be thankful for the health and restoration of each member of our family.

i will take comfort in the peace and love of my God and family.



****  not really in the mood to talk.... we've come to that point in brittin's life where we need to make careful decisions regarding her education.  we will pray faithfully and trust God's Will is going to happen. 

a perfect life...

after the past few weeks.... heck, after the past few months, I stood in the laundry room sifting through MOUNDS of laundry and thought to myself "I really feel beat down by life".  I just felt exhausted... mentally.  then after a minute I thought, "this is it!!  this is the only life I get here on earth!!  and no matter what comes, I'm going to make the best of it!"

some day, the mounds of laundry will be gone.
football games will all be over
band practices will have ended
dinners will be for two....

this weekend, I watched as my son and his friends swam in a creek and fished.  and I realized how happy I am at the fun they have riding their bikes down a country road... playing in the creek... and relaxing at bonfire.  now don't get me wrong.... these ARE the same kids who cut down a 50 ft. pine tree in our yard... that didn't need cut!!  but watching them having the simplest fun brings a smile to my face :)

life hasn't been a piece of cake lately!  it's been like a... really stinky piece of bad steak!  smelly and tough to chew!  but I know it's only a season in my life... and God will walk us through, never letting us down, bringing us to something far greater than we can imagine!! 

in the meantime, I will TRY to get to all the football games, doctor appointments, school events, and social events on the correct day and at the right time!  I will get enough laundry washed that my hubs isn't wearing the TMNT boxers!  I will cook... at least 3 times a week!  and I will cherish every hectic and chaotic moment with my family!