RareHues is a rare gem!

I started following RareHues a few months back do I was able to join their journey as the empty space became a beautiful showplace of home decor. I was able to attend the Grand Opening today and the team at Rare Hues has created something truly special. Whether you are looking for a specific piece or inspiration for an entire room this place has it all. With furniture, accents, jewelry, bath and body there is something for everyone. Here are a few pictures of my favorite things:

This little beauty had to come home with me, I absolutely love her:

I had the privilege to meet one of the owners Juan and he suggested if I was interested in a space to fill out an application... I might just have to do that!

Southern Fresh Inspiration

You never know where inspiration will come from and when it hits you better document it! I took this picture of one of favorite Safety Harbor local eateries called Southern Fresh. This gem has a small menu but everything they make is excellent! Their fried chicken is juicy and perfectly paired with the creamiest mashed potatoes... definitely a Junqueanew favorite! Anyway, Southern Fresh is painted in a great color combo of green, a coralish/red and white. I took this picture months ago and visited it often trying to figure out what piece would work best.

Then this dresser walked into my life.... I loved her lines and cute feet immediately! I knew I could recreate the 'Southern Fresh' look perfectly with Cece Caldwell's Destin Gulf Green, Traverse City Red and Vintage White.

Some of the progress pictures:

Here are the afters! I am SO PROUD of how this turned out!

A little surprise pop of color on the interior drawers.

                       

If you love this dresser as much as we do it is available at House to Home!

Do you find inspiration in unusual places? Let me know where!

Live to Learn Part 1

There I was minding my own business... going a long with day to day life when I had a SCREAMING need for creativity! My full time job fulfills my analytic, organized, strategic side and that was the side I had been concentrating on for a while and WHAM! I just needed to create, get messy and FEEL. I have be a longtime fan of Paper Street Market this fantastic, funky, vintage, eclectic furniture and home decor store on Central Ave in downtown St. Pete. Paper Street offers classes using CeCe Caldwell's Chalk and Clay Paints including a Cece 101 class to teach techniques and a Paint Your Piece class where you bring a small piece of furniture and paint in while sipping wine and getting tips from Celesta (who owns Paper Street with her husband.)  I chose the Paint Your Piece class (there was only one other person in it so we got a lot of one on one attention and could ask a ton of questions) and found this little wood side table at a thrift store:

I think this little table went from boring to beautiful! And a new passion and small business was born!

There are several brands of chalk based paints on the market today and most of the retailers for the big name brands offer a variety of classes this is a great way to get to try out different paints and learn from people who use it everyday! I wanted to try a different paint and learn some new techniques so I recently took a Annie Sloan Chalk Paint technique class at Robyn Story Designs taught by Lori. I loved Lori's enthusiasm and she is a wealth of knowledge! One paint I am dying to try is Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint and am hoping to find a class in the next few months. I just love the chippy look of the paint!!

So matter what the paint brand or where the class is taught just get out there and learn something new! Have you taken a DIY class you love? Tell me about it!

Re-Do vs Re-Don't

One of my favorite re-doers is Nicole Curtis the Rehab Addict. I love the old homes she finds, how she is always recycling and reusing items from the original house and period and usually lose an entire day when a marathon is on HGTV. But I know she would hate what I do.... Nicole is a big proponent of leaving things original and not painting wood. But she and I would have both been on the same team to beat up the person who decided to 're-do' this Lane ceder trunk.

We found this Lane ceder trunk at an estate sale buried under a ton of fabric and craft supplies. I was intrigued and took everything off to reveal her sad state. My husband was giving me the 'Really?' look. I opened her up and found the manila envelope (you can see it in the bottom picture) and there was a ton of wood trim and embellishments. Needless to say she came home with us... she needs help. I googled 'Lane ceder chest trim' and after searching through tons of images I found what she looked like in all her beauty:

She has walnut inlay, trim detail on the top and embellishments on the front. I could kill the person who decided to strip her of her beauty. I have no idea when we will have time to work on her but when we do we will do our best to make her beautiful (not exactly like before but much better than she is now!) And you can bet there will be a post about it!

I wanted to write this blog to say while I love to re-do, re-purpose and restore some things are best in their natural state and should be appreciated for what they are!