This week we'll be looking at all the treasures you can find in thrift stores, garage sales, and flea markets.

I love running across a great deal.  In fact, I frequent thrift stores so often, I know which ones I like for furniture, which ones I like for books, which one I like for glass ware and so on.  My poor family has to put up with me running in to check for anything new that I haven't seen.  And that is another part of the appeal, there is no telling what you'll find because they are always putting newly arrived treasures out on the floor!

You might be surprised at what you can find!

I absolutely LOVE this bunny!  It is actually a soup bowl and has a place for the serving spoon to rest between the bowl and the lid.  I paid $5.00 for it.  Some people might look at the scratches and complain, but I think it gives the piece more character. 

I will be going through my treasures this week to show you all kinds of possibilities!

Many of the pieces I will be showing will be for sale at my market booth on May 10th.  Be sure to check back often or follow me so you can be the first to see what I will be selling.  If you see something you like, contact me and I can put it aside for you!

Let's talk Logos

Information Overload!  As I spend my evenings and weekends trying to educate myself on Small Business, I am overwhelmed by all the resources and information that are available.  I do think I am beginning to find other furniture restoration business owners to use as a model of good decisions.  One of my favorite business owners is Miss Mustard Seed.  She is amazing!  Not only can I see what pieces she is working on, she also has an excellent blog with wonderful advice for a gal like me.

Ok, now about Logos...
I am noticing that a logo is pretty important for marketing a small business.  A logo is any image and/or words you choose to associate with your business.  It will be the hook that pulls your customers in. It will appear on banners, signs, business cards, webpages, blogs, photographs, icons for Pinterest or Facebook, letterheads, stickers, stamps, brochures, etc....

I am in need of a logo already.  I want my logo to be consistent on my blog, my Pinterest account, Facebook page, Etsy store, and the business cards and brochures I am designing for a market I plan to do.  I also need my logo for the photographs I post; the logo will be a sheer stamp at the bottom of my photos which will allow anyone using my photographs to know my business name.

The first step of my plan was to look at as many logos as possible... that was crazy, so after a while I looked at logos that had symbols I felt were associated with my business.  I found that clean, simple logos were the most appealing to me.  I also liked having something that would have a meaningful symbol along with the name Curbside Revival.  I will want to have both the symbol and name on signs, banners, business cards and brochures, but I might like just having the symbol for icons, stickers, price tags, and stamps.



I love silhouette logos.  This one is my favorite.

The silhouette is clean and simple.  It will look good on paper, on a sign, as a stamp, or online.  The symbol has furniture and design elements. 

It is so PERFECT!!!

And it is so taken by a business out of Dallas. 
Boo hoo!

Ok so I began to look for silhouetted images that I felt represented Curbside.



This logo is another example of amazing!

I really like the paintbrush and feel like it needs to be somewhere in my logo.

It  will help my customers understand that I will be using painting techniques to update and transform their furniture.
I played with the idea of placing a crown on top of the paintbrush.  Could this symbol help to convey a message of revival?  I knew it would give my logo an elegance that I felt was important.

I found a free graphic of a crown on graphicfairy,com . 

I played around with fonts on PicMonkey and found this to be my favorite.

I am using this as an interim logo for now on social media.  But I plan on replacing it with a logo that will also have the paintbrush or furniture elements I need my customers to recognize.







LOVE the chair in this design!

I like the simple use of color and curvy lines.

So now I will compile all of the ideas and images I like and I will send them off to a designer.  I hope to get a few logo choices.  I will pay for a package that gives me the rights to the logo and the ability to mark images, make signs and banners, and everything else I need.


It will be exciting to post my logo on the blog since you have insight to all the considerations I am thinking through!  Can't wait!

Spring Fever

This was a busy week!  Time off from school proved to be fruitful for Curbside.  I was able to complete four pieces:

• The night stand is little sis to the Berry Dresser
• The headboard is a twin that I picked up and worked a long time on
• The painted knobs go to an unfinished dresser I painted in AS Provence

 I will write more about those pieces later. Today I am spending time on this great little table.

It did not start out this way....

                                      This is how I found her.  Sad and dried out.

 

When I saw her I thought she could be so pretty if the wood could be restored.  This made me think of the great things I'd heard about Miss Mustard Seed's Hemp Oil.  I decided to give it a try.  I simply followed the directions and rubbed a layer on the top, allowed it to sit for about thirty minutes, and then wiped off what remained.  Here is the result I got after two applications.

 

I could not believe it!  I am very impressed with this product and highly recommend it.  After I restored the top, I decided to paint the base with Annie Sloan's Old White and did a wet distress.
I was thrilled with the result.

 

This little beauty is available!  Let me know if you are interested in buying her.  Or if you like this look and would like me to work on a piece you already have, contact me.

Next time, I plan to write about coming up with a logo.  See you then!

 





 

 

 

Are You Ready for a Revolution?

Funny Story!  On a whim, my husband and I decided to go check out a property in a nearby town.  The property was a large garage/warehouse that had half of it converted into a house.  An artist had lived there and used half of it to live in and half of it as a store for the artwork. Jas and I thought it was worth looking in to.  So we set out on a Sunday afternoon for Bartlett.

Well, it was a bust.  The place was much smaller than we had dreamed up in our heads and we knew it would never work.

But the story goes on....

Bartlett is a tiny town with one main street.  The property we were investigating was off the main street.  A strange building caught my eye and I told Jas to turn around.  It looked abandoned and also like it had survived some sort of fire. As we circle the block to go back, I tried to find the back of the building.  Nothing. Then I saw a giant structure with scaffolding.  We parked and got out to investigate.... It was a fake building with only a front!

 We were on some sort of set!  My eyes started scanning around and I noticed props and fake statues, fake signs, trash, across the square was a whole different set.  No one was there so we began to explore.  It was so interesting.  I could tell it was a post apocalyptic theme.

It was so cool and the props were great!  I wanted to back up the car and load up with all of the wonderful chairs, tables, chicken coups, file cabinets, tool boxes that were piled up on either side of the street. So tempting!  But of course I didn't take anything.  

After leaving and doing a little research, I found out is was the set of the TV show Revolution!  It is one of their sets around the Austin area.  Wow, I never thought I'd be on an actual TV set....

Time Flies

Too much time has gone by since I last posted!  Things got busy.  But I do want to update you on my progress.

• Got an official Tax ID
• Bought the rights to www.curbsiderevival.com as a domain (not active yet)
• Began drafting my ideas for a logo (more about that later)
• Did tons of research
• Went to my first estate sale
• Got an application for a booth at the monthly Georgetown Market
• Completed the first piece of furniture for a paying customer!!!

As always, I started this piece before I ever snapped a picture.  I get too excited to wait for a photo-op.  Here is the final product for the "Berry Dresser"

I am very happy with how she turned out.  I did not reattach the hardware yet because I want to give the paint and wax a chance to cure.  I think my customer picked out a great color for this piece which will go in her daughter's room.  I used Annie Sloan's Old White with clear wax to get this look. I did a combination of sanding and wet wiping to get the distressed effect. 

 

I have also made some decisions and goals for this blog.

 

1. I plan to update on Sunday nights, that seems to be the quietest time for me to get in front of the computer and think.

 

2.  I will be writing about setting up this new business and occasional life stories

 

3.  I have also planned out some topics to cover:

• Registering Curbside with Williamson  County
• An adventure climbing around the set for a TV show
• Going Thrifting
• Estate Sales
• A trip to Round Top!!!
• Setting up a market booth
• Working at the market
• An interview with an Artist friend who has a successful Etsy business
• Designing a logo
• Marketing my business using social media

Wow that's a lot!! I hope some of these topics interest you and that you will stop by each week to check on me.  I have a lot to learn!



A Celebration of Flaws

This week I have had some defining moments in my drive to get  Curbside Revival started.  I am still in that unsure stage where things can easily send me questioning myself and my decisions. I am not thrilled to be in this stage because it is uncomfortable; I am in a teaching career where I feel very comfortable and confident in my daily choices.... and I like it that way.  But with Curbside,  I find myself always asking the same questions: what is the next step? am I doing this right? I think this looks good, what do others think?  The eternal dance of two steps forward one step back.  This dance makes for slow progress, and I'm the type of girl who likes a clear plan and has a desire to get goin'.

And so far I have been getting outstanding feedback and support from everyone around me.  I am a lucky girl to have family and friends who are so supportive of me.  But this week I faced a first with Curbside, a real decision to head down one path or the other.  Am I going to only buy furniture that is in pristine condition?  Am I going to fill in and sand out every notch?  Am I going to cover any trace of a past life and restore each piece to a brand new state?  There's nothing wrong with any of that.  Many refurbishers (is that a word?) would think of nothing less.  But in a weird sort of way, I feel like that would be turning my back on so many wonderful opportunities to work with amazing pieces.  I do want to restore furniture, but I do not necessarily want to cover up all flaws.  After all, many times, it is the slight flaw that brings out the character and history of the piece (I find this true in people as well.)  I do want to bring the pieces back to life, fix things that need fixing, paint the parts that need painting, figure out the perfect make-over so that I can then find a new home for this once discarded piece of furniture.  I want others to see the beauty in the make-over but also the character in the flaw.  I want others to appreciate this one-of-a-kind look, that they will not find in any department store.  After all, isn't this "Curbside Revival?" 

Valentines did not go quite as I expected.  Ended up sick and in bed.  But here is what I had planned to post...

This make-over was really fun!  I used Graphite from Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint line.  Then I used Metallic Gold from Martha Stuart's line of paint.  I was pleased with both of the products.  I couldn't find knobs that I liked for the dresser and I finally came up with the idea just to paint them! It worked perfectly.  The gold is a soft gold and really compliments the dark shades of the Graphite. And I love the geometric shapes of the details- it reminds me of the bold patterns that I see in so many fabrics. If you are interested in this beauty, let me know-she is for sale.  She would work perfectly in so many settings: a formal dining room as a buffet, a living room, a sophisticated teen's room, or maybe even YOUR bedroom!