Not Too Shabby & Re-Find Living

hats

It Takes A Village

10:14 AM

Having a store is a whole mix of wonderful, angst, joy, stress, pleasure, irritation, and Christmas morning mess.

Yes, all of this and more!

And to get through it (with any kind of sanity) requires a village.

There's the Artists who help you see IT....

The Organizers who help you find IT.....

The Motivators who help you keep going towards IT....

The Facilitators who connect the right Hats towards IT.....

The Widget-Tracker who tell if you can have IT....

The Believers who always think you'll make IT.....

Thanks for being in our Village.

Couldn't do it without YOU!

anniesloan

Don't Stress When Picking Your Chalk Paint® Color(s)

11:20 AM

What to do when you've painted your piece one Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan, and a month or two later, decide you want it another color?

Maybe you've moved. Maybe you were just a little afraid of picking color. Or, maybe you've went crazy with the first can & color and now, you need this piece to stand out more.

Maybe you changed you're mind more than once, or twice.

No worries!

Just re-paint with your new Chalk Paint® Color!

Still no prep, other than cleaning.

Decide whether you're painting everything or, just part.

Finished!

Got Chalk Paint®?

gilding

The White Sofa

12:05 PM

What's a girl to do with 3 vintage sofas?

Yes 3.

http://pinterest.com/pin/Ayh4RAAQgKEG-z5XXz8AAAA/

No. I'm not a sofa hoarder! We were planning a backyard wedding last year and I wanted to 'dot' our backyard with vintage seating.

http://pinterest.com/pin/A7uDAAAQAHgD4lM31uQAAAA/

So, one thing led to another and in 2 short weeks I had 3 vintage sofas.

http://pinterest.com/pin/A_PbEQAQwGsA4lM31uQAAAA/

One was especially bad.

http://pinterest.com/pin/A6uHQwAQAE8F4lM31uQAAAA/

It looked great on Craig's list, and in person, till we went to load it and discovered the ENTIRE center was missing. The seller had put a pile of books on the floor under, and then the middle cushion over (another story).

Perfect for a backyard wedding. NOT! So Ashley stepped in and completely re-built the sofa.

She had to rip everything out, and start from scratch. Because it had to be completely re-done, we could actually do anything we wanted.

We narrowed our search, and getting inspiration from Jennifer Aniston, went with a rich pallet - a gilded frame and creamy white upholstery.

Oh, and the wedding.

It was a huge success. With lots of dancing, singing, and friends. And all the sofas were perfect!

Now she's at Re-Find Living in Auburn. Waiting for you.

family

She's All Grown Up & l'm Losing It!

7:02 PM

Caution: this post is highly emotional so proceed with caution & tissues!

You've been warned.

I read a quote shortly after having my first child, Samantha, that 'having a child is like having a piece of your heart outside your body walking around'.

It's true.

I'm always aware of what they're doing, where they're at, keeping track of my hearts.

And now, one of my hearts is moving onto the next stage of her life.

I totally get that I've had Samantha at home 3-years longer than most parents because she went to Sierra College instead of immediately going away to college after High School graduation.

Whatever!

It seems so unfair that the reward for raising kids, loving them, and genuinely LIKING my kids....is that they leave.

Apparently their amazing lives start AFTER they leave home?!?!

I am also very grateful to Samantha for breaking me in gently to this moving away stuff and after setting up her apartment, she rode back home with us.

Completely avoiding the drive off with her staying behind...and me completely losing it,

The rest of the family is grateful too.

t has taken me three weeks to write this post.....because I kept crying....couldn't see the keys 😭. I know I sound pathetic.

Whatever!

It's not like I've been crying for the whole 2 weeks.

Just when I start to work on this post.

She's really happy, that's what matters.

At least that's what I tell myself.

Whatever.

Even Doug is sad.

I need some wine.

anniesloan

New Store - Setting Up for the First Time

10:04 PM

After painting the floor, we worked our task list.

We had 2 weeks to opening & needed every minute.

David, our manager, had to learn all about our amazing Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan.

So, I had him painting & waxing everything. Trying out the different techniques

And we had a focal wall to paint & stencil.

Pretty soon wonderful decor & gift items from the Vegas home show started to arrive.

A key element of a great store is lighting. And so we mixed it up with oversized lamp shades, chandeliers & 1/2 globe lights (Southern Hemisphere anyone?).