French Provincial Dresser

If you ask me what is my favorite color? I would say "White", then is "Black" and "Purple". That's why I am an " Antique French Provincial Furniture" lover, in my dream house, I want all my bath towels are white, and my bedding as well. But unfortunately I have two young babies at home, and two little ones plus Mr.Honey are all sweat a lot, seems like I could never have white bedding in my room. Every time after they wake up, you could find sweat spot on the pillow case! Grr, what can I do ???

Last night I was browsing craiglist on the bed, and one posting caught my eye right away! It was "Antique French Provincial Style Dresser"! I enlarged the picture, and found the condition was pretty good on the photo, also came with a very good deal! ( The seller wanted to get away by the weekend!)  I wanted to change my dresser for a long time, especially after Mr.Honey put up  his photography photos in the white frame weeks ago, I always keep an eye to find the right piece for my room. I immediately responded the seller and hoping I could be the one to have it! I think when you buy things from craiglist, sometimes it is just like "LUCK", if it was meant to be yours, it would be! And yes, I think this is it! Now I am the new owner of this beautiful piece, ( the seller had owned it for 16 years already !)  the next I will try to find two antique look black candle holder to put on the dresser,  finger cross, hope it won't take that long to find it!

Chalk Paint Side Table

I don't know how to call this? Side table? I found this one at the thrift store and grabbed it at $14.00.  I didn't have any specific plan how I was going to do with it, but I like the style although the condition was just ok, and it was only $14.00. As a beginner to learn how to redo furniture transformation, at least it worth to try.
I followed the usual step, sanded it first, then painted the first coat, and sanded the corner again the get some distressed looking, then went for the second coat until dry, I found the stencil from "Martha Stewart" I bought from Michael when it was on sale. I didn't shake well the paint before I paint the stencil on it, I think because I was still lack of experiences and also didn't have enough "patient", so the result was not too happy, the top stencil was shown a little bubble. I was thinking to re-sand it again, and repaint it. When it was dry, I sanded it right away , actually it looked better, the pattern was just shown more faded which was more "antique look", so I decided to leave it like that.

Now this side table is sitting on the front deck, I think it will be nice to have a cup of coffee with  newspaper in the morning some day , especially have my beautiful flower garden at the front! Just like the words I painted on the table " sweet home"!

"I am not a Plastic Bag"

Summer seems goes by too quick and next week i have to sadly back to work, what a wonderful summer! I am lucky enough to have the summer off to spend time with two little ones.BUT now I am greedy again , wish it was still in June. There are couple things i have to do before I go back to work, first thing  was clearing out my closet while my two babies were napping,  and look! My little treasure I hid in the closet, and I almost forgot them! ( well, guess all the women do that, shopping then hid them in the closet, and later forgot them)

Does anyone still remember "I am not a plastic bag"??? ( In 2007 I think?)-- It was designed by Anya Hindmarch, the canvas bag quickly sold out in London in a matter of hours, months before being released. And the bag retailed for only 5.00 in UK but quicky fetched $400.00 on EBAY.

My girlfriend was a flight attendant , she flied to Hong Kong all the time few years ago. I asked her to buy  two for me , and thought one as a gift for my another girlfriend, but my other girlfriend also bought already, so they were always sitting in the closet, and of course I have too many bags, and I even forgot to use it myself. And now, I am like a child , so excited to find my treasure back! I can't wait to use it tomorrow!!!

Does anyone want the extra one I have?  $30.00 same as I paid few years ago.

Shanghai 1930's style Advertising poster

I am a girl from Shanghai, so I still have deep passion of Shanghai 30's, because I have read so many books, watched lots of movies and heard lots of stories from my grandparents....especially I used to live at the place which was belonged to French Colony, still lots of oldies memory from my family...

I love the Shanghai 1930 style advertising posters, they are great decorative arts.

Do you like them???  ( sale for $20.00/each )

Serving Tray Table

Kids' God Father Marc gave us this table one year ago, but we used this one as babies' diaper and wipes station. Because I am so into the painting right now after I bought from Cece Caldwell, I am trying to look for all the pieces that I can repaint, and my attention was stop at that table, so I decided to repaint again, and am sure sooner when my babies are all out of diaper, I can put back in the living room or deck for my coffee ,tea and cookie serving table again!
I bought a can of Vintage White, a can of Young Wheat, and a small sample can of Seattle Mist from Cece Caldwell weeks ago, and thought I could try the sample color of Seattle Mist for the table today, but unfortunately i was wrong, after I finished the top tray part, I asked Mr.Honey if the rest of paint would be enough for the bottom, he said no. So I had to use different color to finish my table. I used color of Young Wheat for the bottom part, (  Mr.Honey helped me to sand the bottom part and painted too) and luckily it looked all right with two different colors. I also used stencil I bought from Michael's ( weeks ago, I found  some supplies of Martha Stewart was on sale ) and painted on the top tray, and now it is definitely ready for my tea /coffee tray!

just love it!

Pizza Board

I bought this pizza board from a thrift store today, I wanted to give to a special family friend - our kids' Italian NoNo Tony.  Although myself  likes it a lot, I think Tony will even more appreciate it. He is Italian, and is also a family friend of Mr.Honey for over 30 years, now my kids call him NoNo. Since kid's grandma and opa are living far away, we celebrate all the holiday at his house, and he makes wonderful meal every time. He will freshly makes pizza and deliver to my house, he doesn't speak Chinese, but he is taking lessons and trying to communicate with my dad, also takes him for road ship and fishing sometimes... He is already our family member!
When you do your thrift shopping, and find something appropriate for a special friend, it's not just for fun also make it even more meaningful! Don't you agree?

Plastic Bag HoLder

This morning, I went to Avalon Burnaby to buy babies' organic milk, this is our usual routine once a week now. And of course on the way, I always  love to stop by Home Sense and Michael for a quick peak. But today, I didn't go to my favorite stores, because I saw a thrift store and caught my eyes, also nearby was one of my favorite store "Loft living", so I thought that would be a nice trip to visit .
And surprisingly, that was a big store, especially had more furniture pieces than other usual  thrift stores. I saw there was a Chinese red wooden box sitting at the corner, and right away got my attention. I usually don't like red, but love red in furniture pieces and some home decorations, maybe from my Chinese roots.  I guess it might be for a wine holder, there were six divider. Well, I didn't really need another wine holder, since I had good wine rack and nice bar table in my house already, but I thought maybe I could use for my plastic bag holder instead. Right now I stored all the plastic bag in a box underneath the sink, and if I switch that, it will be also a nice decoration piece.

And here are the pictures I'd like to share with you. ( Did you see the little oval table behind ? That was from Mr.Honey's great grandma's, and I am thinking to repaint and have graphic on it later, will show the photo when I am done.)