Its the Simple Things

If you are ever in the north Texas area, you must visit 

Simple Things Furniture Company.

They are re-opening their store this week

in a brand new location and it is amazing!

I asked them if I could share the news and

some of the pictures here on my blog because 

you just have to see this place.

This isn't just a regular furniture and home decor store 

where you walk in to see the merchandise.

It's an experience. 

   How many stores do you go into and actually marvel at the walls of the building or notice the ceiling and the floors.  

The place is a beautiful structure.  

You'll want to move right in. 

Can someone put these floors in my house please?

Once you get past the stunning architecture of the building

 (which they created from a generic warehouse space),

get ready for your jaw to drop.

Here are some pictures of inside Simple Things.

Those seltzer bottles are not just any bottles.

See the tag?  It says Joe T. Garcia's which 

is a restaurant icon around here. How cool.

This is so me.  Love the pop of red!

Not only will you want to buy everything,

but you will be inspired with decorating ideas.

I know.  Your jaw dropped.

Close your mouth before you drool.

Are you wanting more?

Get ready to blow up your Pinterest account.

Click here to visit their blog and see more pictures

of how they built this store and more of what is inside.

Better yet, visit them at 

7401 W Vickery

in Fort Worth, Texas.

What do you think?  Are you in love with this place?

What did you pin?

first project: a sign

...and we're off!  I finished my first project of the new year this weekend.  

It's a simple, quick one but it turned out well (or at least I think it did).  

Back in October, you may recall this post where we refreshed our front porch.

Part of the "refresh" included replacing a piece of wood on one of our columns.  That piece of wood was chippy and white but of course that doesn't look good on the front of the house but it might look good inside the house...so I kept it...and my husband gave me looks like I had lost my mind.

That little old piece of wood made a nice little sign to go in my kitchen.

Here's what we started with:

Here's what I did with it:

Here's the finished sign:

Pretty cute huh?

Hey Lori at IPOMP, just imagine if it said "Pickle"!

linking up to my favorite link parties listed above or down below on the right

Signs

Funky Junk's themed link party this week features "signs".  I like signs around my house and thought I link up a couple.  As I walked around the house to get pictures, I realized I had more than a couple.  Most of my signs have some sort of meaning for our family while others are here just because I liked them.  Here are a few:

Lots of "3"s around the house.

A little welcome sign on the front porch.

A few signs that I made...

The sign off the downtown Dallas door of my Dad's jewelry company.

Old top of a barrel hung as a sign.

I got this sign from a shop.

This little metal sign highlights my mother's family name.

So there you have some of my signs.  You know what?  I think I want some more!  Can one have too many signs around the house?  

If I can do it...easy make your own signs

I love old signs.  You know, the kind that look like they have hung out in the weather for a hundred years.  Those are getting harder to find and when you do find a good one, it can be expensive.  I've seen many bloggers recreate old signs so well that I couldn't tell the difference.  To do it well, it looks like a lot of work.  I just don't have that kind of patience.  If I decide to do a project, I like to do it fast and get instant gratification.  I have never made a sign before but on a whim I decided to give it a try.  If you like to do things the right way, just turn away now.  I'm sure this will go against all rules.  If you like fast and easy, stay tuned.

Do you remember this sign I posted about last week that Jennie found?  Maybe if you squint your eyes you can make it out.  For those of you under 40, this is what everything will look like in a few years.

The more I squinted and looked at that sign, the more I kind of wanted one.  It's cute.  So, with leftovers I had in the garage, I gave it a whirl.  Here's what I did.

I started with a piece of cheap wood the size I wanted for my sign.  If it has "issues", that's okay.  It will add to the "character" of it.

I like thin wood.  I don't know why.

I sanded the edges just enough that I wouldn't get splinters in my fingers while I handled it.

Then, I spraypainted it a quick good coat of creamy white. I like satin finish because the next layer of paint won't adhere perfectly to it.  There's so much spraypainting going around blogland, I hope you all have one of those spray handle attachment thingys.  They are awesome.  I have two, an old one and this newer one. 

Here's what it looked like with one coat of spray paint. 

Then, I pulled the little craft paints out in the colors I wanted.  Notice they are Yard and Garden craft paints.  Why?  Because it's what I had at the time.

I didn't wait for the spraypaint to dry completely before swiping on some pale blue.

I thought the blue was a little too plain so I mixed a bit of green and blue together and swiped that on too.  As you can see, none of the paint was applied perfectly.

Then, using a pencil, I wrote out what I wanted to write on my sign.  I did this so I would know how to space my lettering.  It's easier to erase pencil lines than paint.

Then I freehanded the letters with black craft paint.  Looks pretty bad right now, huh?

Now, sand the heck out of it.  Sand as much as you want. 

 

Finally, I glopped on some dark poly stain.  Leave it for a bit or take it off immediately. 

I took it off pretty quick because I am IMPATIENT!

That's what it looks like up close.  Not bad, huh?  I made three of these in about 30 minutes or so.

Total cost: free (because I had this stuff laying around).

This one is my favorite. 

Here's my version of Jennie's cottage sign.  Kind of cute.  What do you think?  Does it work?

 

I'm so darn happy with it that I think I'll link it to some of my favorite blog parties listed below on the right or above on my blog party page.  If anybody makes any, I would love to see them!