Room Progress

...but this is all you get.

Finding an apartment in San Francisco is next to impossible unless you're willing to stomach paying over 1500/mo for a room. Not apartment. Not house. ROOM. Literally everyone I talk to who pays less always follows up how much they pay with, "but like, I've been here for four years. This would go for $2200/mo now." Then I want to slap them and be them at the same time.

The point is that for now, I'm subletting until I can find an apartment that I love/can afford. However, that's not going to keep me from putting some effort into making the one I'm in now cute. It was a bit of a mess because I had to move furniture out of that room that was left in order to move my stuff in but there was literally no room because two other people were moving as well. It was like a game of Tetris....from hell.

Mended Furniture - Serpentine Dresser (Re-Post)

 

 

 

I've have a ton of traffic from Pinterest on this post so I thought I'd go ahead and re-post it. Enjoy!

I say this every time I finish a piece of furniture for someone, but I think this is my favorite one yet! As a reminder, through the Mended Nest, I sell furniture that I find and repaint OR I repaint other's furniture. In this case, this is a client's dresser who trusted me enough to let me go crazy and do whatever I wanted. Obviously, it's not too off-the-wall, but still young, fun, and classic.

It took a lot a work, but it was totally worth the effort. I started by painting the whole dresser in Annie Sloan's Paris Grey and the drawers (and the sides of the dresser) in Provence. I also added a border of Provence on the top of the dresser. After applying a few coats, I went over the whole thing with a mixture of French Linen and water, wiping the excess with an old shirt as I went. This allowed the original color to bleed through with a washed/cloudy effect. After it dried, I distressed it a little and applied both clear and dark waxes to seal the paint. Again, I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome; I hope my client feels the same way!

If you're interested in getting a quote for your furniture, email us at TheMendedNest@gmail.com!

DIY Table and Decor

This is a table that I had made at my old house out of an old singer table and a shutter. I decided to move it over to my new place because I loved it so much! I was looking at it this morning and thought - I better blog about it before it goes BACK in storage before I move to NY...so here you go. With the old window frames, antique books, and old-school lamps, I think that the look really came together nicely. Hopefully I'll be set up in NY soon with an apartment that can physically fit it. I'm not crossing my fingers...

Thoughts?

mint

 

 

 

 

Last night, I joined Patty (from "What's in the Box"), Krystal (from APoL), and Jason for the opening of Baton Rouge's newest interior design store/art gallery/seller of fine women's shoes...Mint.

I have to say - this store could not better represent my own personal design aesthetic - very clean, crisp, light, with lots of whites, linens, and soft blues and greens. Mix in some mint juleps, wine, and delicious cookies (yes, i went there), and I'd say that had a stellar opening party.

Mint is located in the old Vespa shop on Corporate Blvd. Check them out - I promise you'll find something you love!

Lissa's Kitchen Set - Work in Progress

Happy Monday! Is it Friday yet?

So here, you can see that I blogged about this earlier; this is just a progress post. This is (obviously) a picture of the chairs that I'm working on that will go with the table and bench. I think that they're coming out beautifully. I used 3 coats of Annie Sloan's Old White to completely cover the chairs that were originally just a natural light wood. Afterward, I went over the chairs and sanded them pretty heavily, allowing a fair amount of the natural wood to show through. Because I wanted them to stay white, I didn't use any of the dark wax to seal - only the clear. Finally, I used a polycrylic to completely seal the chairs. I don't always to this, but since chairs get more abuse than an end table or dresser, I figured it could use the extra protection.

The finished product will be posted about later this week. Make sure to keep reading!

PS - please excuse my attire. I DO have short on, but they're those obnoxiously (bordering on offensively) short running shorts. I had just finished running the lakes before coming over.

Mended Furniture - Foyer Table

So what do you think? This is a table that I just finished for one of my clients using Annie Sloan's paints and waxes. I love this table because of it's simplicity (in terms of design and color scheme I chose). I usually try and throw in a blue or green, but I'm happy I decided to keep this neutral. 

For the body and legs, I went with one of my colors, Country Gray and for the drawers and top, I went with Old White. I only used a little of the dark wax because I wanted the table to keep it's original color. What do you think?!

If you're interested in a quote to have something refinished, please email me at themendednest@gmail.com. I'm happy to answer any questions, and I look forward to hearing from you soon! I also have pieces in The Foyer in Baton Rouge (down the strip from Juban's on Perkins) for sale. Check them out here.

My New Place (take 4)

One year ago, when I moved into my house on Capitol Heights, I thought I was finally done with moving. It's the biggest pain, it never goes as smoothly as you think, and there's always at least one unexpected something-or-other to make things worse than they already would be. What a joke. Since vacating my house, I've now completed my 4th move in ONE month. Thank God for wonderful, generous friends because that is who I've been leaning on. Thank you Patrick, Megan, and Michael for your hospitality while I got my life back in order! (Yes, I know that equals 3, not 4)

Last night (after a particularly long day at work then two client house calls for The Mended Nest) I moved for (hopefully) the last time for at least a few months. My Uncle Tommy was nice enough to let me move into his place, and I couldn't turn down the offer. Then of course, there's the added bonus that his house is extremely nice. It's completely my style: 12 foot ceilings, white walls and trim, dark floors, triple crown molding, super clean and simple. Since he works in NOLA and stays there frequently, I'll have the house to myself for a few nights out of the week. Well...me and his 4 dogs! I'm really looking forward to my time here. I'll have plenty of time and space to blare some music, pour a glass of wine/pop open a beer, and start on some Mended Furniture projects. It's morphin' relaxin' time!

French Inspired Dresser

So what do you think?! This is a dresser that I've recently refinished using Annie Sloan's paints and waxes. For this piece, I used Louis Blue and Pure white to get a French antique inspired look. (The before pictures are obviously the ones at the bottom lol) I love it!

This item is for sale, and you can see it in person at The Foyer (corner of Perkins and Acadian). Remember, if you're interested in having a piece of furniture refinished by The Mended Nest, please email us for a quote at themendednest@gmail.com!

All Moved In...

So here is the first look at our space in The Foyer! What do you think?! We still have a ton of work to do, but i think it's coming along very nicely. I'll be blogging about this in more detail, but I'd like to thank Tyler Bascle and our friend, Lou for contributing to the space. Tyler is a very talented local artist who will have constantly have a wall space in The Mended Nest booth (you can get a sneak peek at some of his art in the pictures above starting with the Elephant painting). Lou will also be helping us out by essentially being our free lance buyer for TMN (check out the lamp and office chair).

I think it's a great start, and I'm SO SO excited to watch it grow. Plus - my dining room no longer looks like the picture directly above!

Duck Egg Blues

 

Love this! 

What can I say? It's my favorite color. BYE.

Duck Egg Blue
Clear then dark waxed (removed excess dark with the more clear)

Knobs

I LOVE pulls and knobs. They can literally transform a piece of furniture to something modern, antique, country, or whatever else you're looking for. I collect a ton from Anthropologie or World Market, but I need YOUR help. Please email or comment on this post on other places where I can find fun and unique knobs and pulls. I'm so sick of the same ones and I know there are place all around Baton Rouge or online where I'm not looking.

Hope to hear from you! (themendednes@gmail.com)

Annie Sloan Desk - AFTER

Aaaand here we have it! Finally, I was able to finish the desk last night (that I posted about two days ago). What do you think?

I chose two colors for the whole thing: Annie Sloan's Versailles and Country Grey. I used Versailles for most of the desk, saving Country Gray for the trim at the bottom, hand drawn diamonds on top, and for the pulls. To add a little funkiness, I added the gold wax to outline the diamonds, and I LOOVE it.

This desk is FOR SALE, so if you're interested in the price, please email us at TheMendedNest@gmail.com!