French Country Beauty and Elmer

Another week has gone by and here is a quick update on The Painted Drawer.  It has been a fun week of treasure hunting with some great finds!

First of all, the stately chest of drawers made its way safely to its new home in Florida thanks to a fantastic shipper, Mike!  How lucky was I to find him!  He arrived on time, wrapped each drawer individually and placed the whole dresser safely into the back of his van.  All while having a great conversation with my mother on all things England (she is British). Thanks again, Mike!  Christa loves the new addition to her home and all turned out well. 

Barn sales, navigating the shipping world...

I finally am able to write another post on my blog!  What a busy week it has been.  I went to Falls Church, VA to buy some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  While in the store I met a great girl, Kelly, who owns a shop called Stylish Patina.  Turns out she has a big barn out in Frederick, MD as well as space in Lucketts, VA and the Falls Church location.  I emailed her pics of my "unique vintage finds" and she invited me to consign a few at her Barn sale.  So, last Monday my long suffering husband loaded up the minivan and my even longer suffering father helped me deliver the furniture the next day.  It was quite a job, believe me!  Heavy stuff, these vintage finds!  Very happy to report that my beach chic dresser sold today and I believe my curvy sidetable. :)

Wow, had a great day today :)    Bought some ASCP and wax from a great shop in Falls Church, VA called Stylish Patina.  I got to try out the wax when I got home before I had to leave again for my little one's Brownie meeting. I also made a SALE from my Etsy shop - The Painted Drawer.  A great mom-to-be saw my gorgeous vintage dresser and is planning on using it as a changing table - it really is a perfect use for it!  Another lady from California would like to purchase another piece but I need to figure out shipping.  I have NO idea how to do that.  I tried going on Uship but am still unsure how that works.  I guess this is all a learning curve.  Can't wait to paint my newly acquired, extremely sweet dresser in my new chalk paint tomorrow.  Duck Egg is the color.  I will post a pic or two once I figure that aspect of this blog out :)  Cheers!

I am a happily married mother of three children, Matthew, Ella and my little one Sophie.  In addition to my many jobs including housekeeper, wannabe chef, laundress, chauffer and all things household, I have decided to try my hand at starting a vintage furniture business.  Hence, The Painted Drawer is born!

I was brought up by British parents in the 70's and spent a majority of my childhood with my mother in Goodwill, thrift stores and estate sales.  We hunted Steiff animals, books (especially Enid Blyton) and much more!  My mother still spends the majority of her time at the local thrift store and has an amazing knack of sorting through the junk to find the gem.  Combine this lifelong love of all vintage treasures with my obsession - yes, obsession - with paint and there you have it, The Painted Drawer.

I have noticed that more and more women are beginning to discover the joys of all things second hand and that is great.  I really think it is recycling at its best.  There is nothing that I enjoy more than spotting that vintage treasure amid the junk - nothing except the smell of a freshly opened can of paint!  I know, it is weird but I just love that smell.  It is the smell of something new and creative.  Opening up the paint and changing an old, worn out piece into something beautiful is just so much fun.  I love the creativity of starting a project with a specific idea in my mind and watching it morph into something else entirely that is better.

So, here is what I have managed to do so far:  pick a name, buy some furniture, have my lovely husband take it out of the minivan and put into our garage, and paint.  I also started a Facebook page and an Etsy shop.  Believe me, this took like almost all day for me to figure out.  Creating a banner - what a nightmare!

This is my first post in my new blog about my new business, The Painted Drawer!  I hope to post a lot more soon about the challenges and fun times to come!