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As I make my way through the swirling waters of first time entrepreneurship I surprise myself with what I can accomplish. I have always had a "can do" attitude which I admit has gotten me into a pickle or two, nothing a little MacGyver finagling couldn't fix, even so I have had a glimpse into the life of an electrician by wiring pedant lights, changing out ugly red outlets with new white ones and other handyman updates to the brick and mortar space. These are all projects I feel fairly confident in tackling, however building a website, social media and creating an online store...eek! As most of you know I am a few tech devices behind the rest of the world and these are the true challenges I face. That said I am so excited and happy to announce that delightful designs products are now available online for purchase and delivery via Chairish! Here are a few of the items currently listed on the site, more items are added daily! Click here to shop and check back often for new listings!
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I never met a color I didn't like ~ Dale ChihulyI completely agree with Dale, color makes me smile and I incorporate it into all of my refurbished pieces. Take a look at this free standing cabinet, a vintage Showers Brothers Company piece from Bloomington, Indiana. This cabinet was abandoned on a San Francisco sidewalk, missing hardware and had a few really bad coats of streaky brown paint. With help from my very supportive boyfriend we carried this piece three blocks up one of San Francisco's notorious hills, onto the light rail and finally another couple blocks home.  I was not yet the owner of the incredible orbital sander that I now have, thanks again to my amazing boyfriend, so I sanded this large piece entirely by hand. I believe this labor of love paid off. After about a week of late night sanding sessions I began with a coat of primer followed by a few coats of glossy white.       The vintage hardware was great but I wanted this piece to have a more modern and whimsical feel. I am not a hoarder by any standards, the complete opposite really, I like things neat everything with a home and a purpose, definitely not a collector of tchotchkes. On the other hand if an item has a purpose that I believe I will use in the future I will hold onto it. For instance, these wonderful glass drawer knobs were from a dresser I refurbished for myself when living in New York City about seven years ago. The vintage drawer pulls from this piece may one day find a home on a more modern item.  And since I named this post "Pop of Color" here it is! A fun mint interior to make you smile every time you open it. This piece is in great condition with wear consistent to the age but has so many great decades to go making you smile.
I rescued this large vase from a San Francisco thrift store (Apologies for not having a "Before" photo, I'm still working on being a better "Before and After" photographer). It was an awful shimmery brownish colored piece, but the shape was fun so I brought it home! I knew I wanted to do vertical stripes to play with the tall thin shape, as well as something that could be dressed up glam or playful. This was a pretty easy refresh project, a couple coats of paint and it was better than new! To add some whimsy I made a couple of large paper flowers. Having made paper flowers to cover the 8' x 11' wall in the shop I was able to pop these out fairly quickly. There are plenty of paper flower how-to's out there, my suggestion is to watch a few videos and then just start to play around with paper. I would recommend to start with simple printer paper as it is inexpensive and once you find a rhythm and style you like then upgrade to the pretty stuff.   Vase measures 23" H x 10" W with an opening of 8.5" W I made a few different templates for the styles I liked but feel free to just grab scissors and start cutting shapes (for each shape I made 3 sizes). Fresh flowers are not perfect so don't worry about your paper versions being either. I am more of a perfectionist OCD type so I traced and cut each petal...after about 1/3 of my large wall was covered and the grand opening was approaching the templates became less important. :-) For the the flowers in the vase I bought a couple of wood dowels from the hardware store and took the white plastic tape I had on hand. Curl the petal edges, just a simple roll with your hands works great, wrap around the dowel and secure with the tape. Continue to layer the petals until you have the size you like.   I'll leave y'all with a photo of the large wall. Stop by and see it in person!
First impressions. Whether you live in a small city apartment on the fifth floor of a walk up or a large suburban house with a spacious front porch there is always something you can do to make your entrance more inviting. These large planters will probably not be a good fit for the landing to your fifth floor walk-up apartment, for that I do have a smaller version of this planter. The larger size however will create a modern statement to any of the beautiful historic San Francisco homes or businesses.  I brought these planters home the safest way I knew how, seat belted of course! Then taped off a portion I thought would be pleasing to the eye.  The finished product is a fun contrast of shiny metal and matte cement (21.5" H x 14.75" W)! I currently (as of 6.11.2015) have a small (11.5" H x 8.5" W) lime green planter, found in photo gallery, and 2 medium (16" H x 12" W) unpainted and taking requests.  And gave them a few coats of metallic copper paint!
It's that time again! Tomorrow, Sunday June 7th, is the Alameda Antique Faire! I will be up before the sun to travel to Alameda in hopes of finding some great new treasures for the shop. Here is a look back at a few of my finds from last months adventure!    Follow my instagram feed tomorrow for live posts of my Alameda Antique Faire treasure hunt!
I was introduced to this app a few weeks back when hunting for new treasures. I found this great piece of furniture on another site and at the bottom was a note to see the rest of the "for sale" items on Close5. It is a great app and super user friendly! Check out my "Close5 Friday Finds" http://blog.close5.com/post/119054271513/san-francisco-bay-area-friday-finds-may-15  San Francisco is known to be cool, foggy and grey and as I was born and raised in the sunshine state, San Francisco's weather can be a little tough to bear. Especially when 75 degrees is what Florida winters usually feel like. In true southern manner I keep the front door open most days to physically say, "Hello! Welcome"! Unfortunately there are some days that are a little too chilly for my blood and I have to close the door. Sadly I feel like this suggests that I am not open. In an attempt to make the front door more welcoming I pulled out some bright paints and had an arts & crafts day!   I picked up some supplies and sat down for an afternoon of fun. First I gave the wood oval a couple of coats of white paint, front and back. I then measured and taped off a 3 inch section for the aqua stripe. Next I used basic 1 inch sticker letters, spaced them out and made them as straight as possible, and painted over them with about 3 coats of aqua. I let the paint dry and pulled off the tape and stickers to reveal the white paint below. A few touch ups where the paint snuck under the tape and my new sign was done. I added 2 screw loops and some ribbon and it was ready for the front door! I hope now if you should wander by and the front door is closed this fun sign will say, "Hello, We're Open" and you will feel welcome to walk in!  |
~ A B O U T M E ~
Creative Owner of Delightful Designs, a boutique where furniture is given a new colorfully chic life! Read more...
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