Hillcrest Cottage Weekly Highlights

This has been a crazy week. I have been very busy painting furniture for clients. Below is a beautiful chest of drawers! I am very pleased with the results.

I especially love the keyhole and how it now stands out becoming the chest's best feature. 

I experimented with an old chair of my own. I had fun with a splattering technique I used to use years ago. The spatters really help to age the pieces.

And... I continue to make personalized Subway signs. This is a sign I made for a college guy who loves Arkansas and loves to duck hunt. He wanted his sign to reflect his favorite cities and hunting spots.

I am very delighted to see my college guy develop new relationships. His intramural football team is beginning their season well. He has been voted the MVP in two games...very cool. He sent me this pic as a screen shot from an instagram account.

I had several trips this past week to my favorite hometown hardware store. I love their phone.

I love the hardware store's floor. Years of feet have been helped by these knowledgeable hardware men.

Craft Show season is approaching... lots of work ahead. I am excited about all the new things Hillcrest Cottage will be creating.

Seaside Chest

I always forget to snap the "before" photo because once I set my mind to a project, I dive right in and quickly begin!

This chest of drawers was a very common brown antique piece which had belonged to my client's grandmother. The client's husband had said, "Why don't you just buy a new chest?" The client wanted to do something different to give the chest new life instead.

The antique is a very sturdy piece and finds its home in a powder room decorated in posters from the client's favorite vacation spot: Seaside, Florida. I immediately knew that I wanted to give the chest a soft sand- meets- the- ocean type feel.

One of the chest's best features was the drawers' keyholes. The keyholes had been hidden in drab brown-ness for over a century, so I distressed around them to make their presence known!

And... of  course... I had a bit of fun with the knobs.

The original brown shows forth in this picture.

After the painting, I added a very smooth coat of hand-rubbed wax. I love the silky finish!

Fresh Produce Skirt

This Fresh Produce skirt has been my best friend since late Spring. It is the most versatile clothing piece in my closet. The pewter color allows it to go well with pastels and pink. It dresses up, as you can see in this picture. It also dresses down with flip flops and a tank top for those 100 plus degree temps we have had all summer long (and will have again this upcoming week). Had I been able to vacate at the beach this past summer, the skirt would have been perfect also as a bathing suit cover-up.

Let me just ask this question: Have you ever had a skirt which would take you from the beach to a wedding shower to an event at West Point? My Fresh Produce skirt did and will... minus the fun beach part which I have already lamented.

I also think this skirt would look very cute with a pair of boots. It can definitely carry me into the fall. March through October... that's the hardest working item in my closet!

And another thing... it packs like a dream. I think it would be perfect for a European trip where clothes have to work extra hard to be versatile. I can iron this skirt or leave it wrinkle-dy for different looks.

Lastly, this skirt is just plain fun to wear. Whenever I wear my Fresh Produce jersey- tiered skirt, the playful style just makes me happy!

Click over to Fresh Produce and check it out for yourself.