Archives for February 2015

I had the great pleasure of attending Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint retailer training in Memphis, Tennessee a few summers ago. Abbe Doll of All Dolled Up and Jennylyn Pringle, the president of Homestead House, led the training. It was hosted by the local Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint retailer, Stephanie Jones, at her studio, Me & Mrs Jones.

The studio in historic Cooper Young is as adorable on the inside as it is on the outside, jam packed with giant inspiration boards and tables with stenciled drop cloths for workshops, and lots of DIY books and furniture pieces available for purchase. I could have spent days and days (and she has since opened a second location in Germantown). I really need to plan a return trip!

Stephanie is an amazing hostess and so knowledgeable. Everyone who attended training was impressed with and inspired by her – she is a great talent and a warm, fun lady! And here’s the really great news for those of us who can’t easily get to Memphis to soak it all in – She has written a book! You can have a tiny bit of Stephanie Jones in your own home. Trust me, you want this book…

Stephanie wrote and was the principal photographer for Upstyle Your Furniture and it just feels like you are talking to her in her studio. It has 27 step-by-step tutorials and over 300 color photos. Think you know everything about furniture painting and  DIY? You need this book because it will take your distressing, design and all-around painting to the next level!

I asked Stephanie a few questions about her own personal style and decision-making…

E:  What inspires your color choices on non-custom pieces?
S:  I try to let the shape and style of the piece do the talking…clean, simple, larger? (Neutrals, maybe a pattern…) Delicate or feminine  silhouette? (Definitely a softer, washy sort of a color opportunity). Small, unique/kooky, or modern? (Insert bright, saturated color here.) That said, having recently re-watched a favorite movie or show – something with strong interiors, like ‘Marie Antoinette’ or ‘Pride & Prejudice” – will have me looking for a piece and breaking the rules to suit a mood.

It may be below zero outside here in the Midwest, but it’s spring inside our little shop.  Whether you are on the hunt for faux eggs, wire baskets,  moss bunnies, or garden-themed décor, we have it.

Bunnies, anyone?

Who can resist a sweet little sign for the garden?

And these eggs would be darling in one of our wire baskets

We also have sweet little sachets hand-stamped with flowers

And faux boxwood wreaths for a touch of greenery

If you have a touch of spring fever (or would like to) come in and see what’s new!

As mentioned last week, we have decided to pay homage to some of our wonderful neighboring businesses in Zionsville. From the historic brick street to the seven minute drive to Indy, Zionsville offers a taste of small town and big city all at the same time. We are lucky to have lots of great stores in our ‘ville and are going to introduce you to some of our faves.

Lesley Jane
Just a couple of blocks down on our little Zionsville Main Street is a boutique filled with the latest in women’s fashion. I don’t know how she does it, but the store owner, Lesley, always knows what’s new and hot, and has it in stock (sometimes even as it hits the fashion magazines).

You’ll find trendy seperates and dresses from up-and-coming designers, as well as shoes, handbags, hats, and jewelry.  Need some help picking out just the right look?  Lesley and her staff are happy to help.  And boy, do they know what they are doing!

We took a peek at what’s hot right now in her store, and the focus is all about evening wear, perfect for a gala, prom, or wedding party.  And what colors are hot in fashion this season?  Matches to our fabulous newly launched European color line.  Coincidence?  Me thinks not!

Marzapan match…

Mora match…

Layla’s Mint match…

Bergere match…

Arabesque match…

So if you are in search of fabulous fashions, be sure to visit Lesley Jane, www.lesleyjane.com.  And, if you’ve fallen in love with an outfit for your next gathering, and need décor to match, come in and see us!

Hello! We hope you are staying warm wherever you are!

One of my very favorite places to shop is the hardware store. From Maines’ Hardware where I went as a child to Hedlund’s in Indianapolis to Akard’s True Value in Zionsville, I love going up and down the aisles, picking up some paint and sundries and imagining the possibilities. We are excited to offer this in our store (on a smaller scale!) so YOU can imagine the possibilities!

Introducing the fivethirty home hardware bin…

It houses knobs, some Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Products, vintage hardware and hooks!

These single knobs are $3.50 each!

Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint testers are still $6 but now come in the same adorable packaging as the quarts.

Some drawer pulls and knobs are $5 and some are $8, depending on size!

We’ve added the paint and wax brushes, tough coat, brush soap, mixers, whisks and wax pucks to the bin also. We hope you love the hardware bin as much as we do…see you soon!

Another of the great European colors that recently had a coming out party is Bergere, named after Marian’s favorite French style of chair.  Bergere is quite the chameleon, in that depending upon what it is next to and the light surrounding it this color will show as more on the blue side OR pick up hints of blue-ish gray.  It is a wonderful color if you’d like to give your room some blue without it looking too “little boy.”

We’ve decided to do a series of blogs about our favorite places in Zionsville. For those of you who don’t know, Zionsville, Indiana is a northwest suburb of Indianapolis. We live here, our store is here, and it is a wonderful place to live and work. From the historic brick street to the seven minute drive to Indy, it offers and wonderful taste of small town and big city at the same time. We are lucky to have lots of fabulous stores in our ‘ville and are going to introduce you to some of our faves!

Fanimation

For those of you locals, did you know we have an internationally-known, HGTV-featured designer fan company right here in our own back yard? Fanimation offers a variety of elegant, traditional, and eclectic designs at quite affordable prices. These fans are made for function, but also for form, so you can complete your room’s look from floor to ceiling.  Going for that vintage look? Fanimation has it. Going for something mid-century mod? They have that, too. Fanimation also has a fabulous fan museum on site (how “cool” is that?)

Here are a few of our faves…

Fanimation also has a collection of funky free-standing fans.  Some are seen here…

So if your room just needs better air flow, or you’d like your fan to be a conversation piece and complete the look of your room, be sure to check Fanimation out!
http://www.fanimation.com/

As you know, we’ve been having lots of fun painting with the new European color line of Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint! We finally painted enough pieces to do a window display featuring the colors (almost, the mora piece is on hold for a customer so we didn’t use that one).

Here’s the whole window…

I found these great vintage European maps to use as our backdrop…

We did inspiration boards for two colors and then paired them in the window. The inspiration boards were one of those great ideas in idea mode but then a real pain when actually making them! I do think they were worth it though, because we added pictures of the namesake. I don’t think everyone knows that schloss is German for castle and hopefully the board will help explain.

Schloss and Marzipan…

Layla’s Mint and Arabesque…

Bergere and Mora…

We hope you’ll be inspired when you drive by 20 N Main and stop in to see us!

One of our favorite customers is updating her guest room and was looking for a small dresser with some fancy lines. We found this gem at an auction and I knew it would be perfect for her. My husband did some repair work on the veneer so we decided to prime it first because the filler was much lighter than the original wood. We then painted the dresser in Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Grain Sack (our favorite neutral) and highlighted some of the raised areas with a custom mix of Grain Sack and Trophy. Finished with our custom wax, she’s a beaut! I really love the built-in jewelry boxes on top…

Isn’t this desk and matching chair a lovely pair?  We really liked the desk’s classic design, and thought the chair was just charming.  Both have been painted in Miss Mustard Seed’s Artissimo, which is a deep navy.  This set would look great in an office or bedroom, don’t you think?

Thank you much to all those of you who nominated us and then voted for us in the annual Zionsville’s People’s Choice Z’list.  We are very humbled and honored to be chosen number one in both the antique and gift shop categories.  We couldn’t ask for better customers and friends!

One of the MMS colors for February is Apron Strings, which is a raspberry-coral color, named after Marian’s grandmother’s apron.  Combine it with a variety of finishes to bring out various shades, from light pink to bright coral.

If you hear the word Arabesque,  our other color of the month, you probably recognize it as a ballet term, which naturally conjures up images of ballet slippers and tutus (hence the name).  We must have a thing for painting children’s chairs in these shades of pink!  But this dusty pink is not just for ballerinas and babies…it’s a soft, very neutral pink that’s perfect almost anywhere.

Both colors are very fitting for the month in which we celebrate Valentine’s Day, don’t you think?

It’s hard to say (unless you are German) but it is a very pretty, creamy gray! Our next new color in the Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint line is Schloss!

Schloss – Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint

As you may know, Marian (aka Miss Mustard Seed) grew up in Germany. She credits this time with her love of European color and design. Schloss is german for castle.

See where she got its name??

Here’s our first piece in Schloss, an antique milking stool one of our customers sold to me last summer.

We finished it with a lighter version of our antiquing wax which seemed to really pull out the brown tones.

And, my pal Kathy at Paint it Shabby is working on this beauty using schloss with white wax as a finish…