My Blog

Was to Is

Handmade Solid Wood Trunk
Redone Handmade Trunk

I’ve mentioned it before, often. But I still get a lot of questions about what I buy and how much goes into what I sell. It’s certainly more subjective than objective. Yes, there are items I fell in love with when I found them – which are still lying about with no final completion in their near future. Some things, like a small table with weird legs that looked ‘Wow’ when I loaded it up, suddenly became that ‘what on earth can I do to resuscitate this thing?!” once it’s in my studio.

And yes, there are those items I’ve loved along and applied CPR to, only to have them flatline when the finish dries. Wrong color, wrong hardware, should have fixed that dent, why is it still wobbly!?!? and a dozen other reasons. Sometimes I just can’t get it over the finish line. When it does come together, those orphans in the corner seem to calm down instead of staring at me like Chucky the movie doll.

The trunk pictured above is a great example of before and after. This treasure was hiding among a number of discards in a new ‘picker place’ we found. It is obviously hand made with zero markings to indicate a builder. The more we looked at it, the more intrigued we were. The dated finishes and badly corroded hardware created a great camouflage from prying eyes. However, we rescued this trunk and brought her to the Pre-Op room for a thorough cleaning and sanding. The hardware came off and was de-gunked in preparation for painting in a flat black. The box itself required a LOT of filling and repair to bring the surface up to a paintable standard. After that, sanding, sanding and more sanding to get through the layers of finishes baked into this piece.

Once the bare wood is exposed, we apply at least two coats of sealer to keep the knots from bleeding through the final finish. Then the color is applied, again in two coats. After the base color this cabinet was treated to a hand applied antiquing process. Then finally, two coats of poly sealer to protect against spills or scratches. Each new coat of finish requires hours of drying time. After that, the hinges needed modification to get the top to align properly. A cleat for a handle is installed and it’s ready to head to the store and a new home!

Pre-Op Room

Preparation Room

Ok, it’s not a ‘room.’ Since our truck doesn’t fit into the garage, we’ve repurposed this area for new goods storage and preparation. Here Lee does whatever repairs are needed to these previously loved items. The work can include rebuilding a drawer, filling dents and voids, or covering up details I wish to hide. We’ve installed a radiant heater above this space to help keep temperatures warm enough for putty, paints and finishes during the winter months. You’ll notice a number of items stacked up in the on-deck area waiting for some attention. I’m dying to get at that small trunk on the top of the stack!

One example of changing the look is the drawer in the bottom part of the photo. This beautiful solid wood chest of drawers originally had what I call ‘crumb catcher’ grooves in several areas. Those details make sense in the original design. However, I’m going to bring this cabinet into the 21st century with a dramatic color change. The crumb catcher grooves just won’t work for what I have in mind. This piece has them on the top of the cabinet, this top drawer and as a detail on the front posts. All of these had to be filled in.

What Lee does is fill all of those type of details and then sanding, fill, sanding, and more sanding to get the finished surface I need. In this case, because the piece is solid wood, we also need to apply a stain blocker to all the surfaces that will get the new finish. The stain blocker, shown in white, keeps the grain features in the wood from bleeding through to the new finish. This means paint, sand, paint sand and detail any voids before he turns it over to me for the final finish. I’m excited about this chest as it is actually in very good condition. Being solid wood, it’s very heavy and extremely well made. We hope to deliver this one to our new space this weekend.

You’ll notice the high tech lighting attached to the garage door. These lights, plus abundant overhead lighting, gives us an excellent workspace to do the preparation detailing. Of course, the rule is DO NOT OPEN THE GARAGE DOOR!! I’m guessing it won’t be me when it happens 🙂

Follow me on Facebook for more updates.

Eat Life.

Moving Day – Holy Moly!!

SeaHorse Cove
New Location in Morehead City

Wow! What a whirlwind week this has been! Last week we were poking around in some shops in Morehead City. Seahorse Cove is a very well known location for Consignment and dedicated vendor sales. While we were looking around the store, we noticed an empty stall. It is smaller than the location I was in, but seemed perfect for my creations. We inquired as to availability and just a few days later were wrapping up an opportunity to become part of the Seahorse Cove family.

This Monday we set out to paint the space and get it ready for us to move in.

Before Painting

Two coats of dark blue on the walls, a light grey on the beams and we had it looking pretty good. The finished space has such good lighting it really lets my items pop on the dark blue walls. After we finished painting, we hustled up to our previous location an hour away, and began loading my products into our truck. We left the big cabinets and our lighting behind for Lee to fetch on Tuesday.

Newly Painted Space

The real work started Tuesday morning. We got to our new shop at Seahorse Cove and began unloading. That picture is missing as we were waaaay too busy to stop and take pics of my goods piled ever everywhere. Once the items were all tucked into our space, Lee left with the truck and headed back to our old space and retrieve the three bookcases. We knew we would only have room for two in this space, but we needed to vacate the old one completely. I had the job of rewriting all of our price tags as this shop required their own nomenclature on the tags.

By 3:30PM Lee was back at Seahorse Cove with the bookcases. I had started hanging the wall decor. With the bookcases installed, now I could finish up the displays. We wrapped up our work about 20 minutes before the store closed. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

We really hope you will stop by and see the space and visit with the vendors at Seahorse Cove. Our hope is this is a really great fit for us and for them.

  5. It looks great and will be so much more convenient. Congratulationsđź’–

A Bit of History

Shangri-La

Yes, this was our home for over 6 years. No car, no dirt home. Just us and the Sea. Although we had plenty of living space, there wasn’t really much room to ‘spread out.’ Our rule was “one on, one off.” Which meant if we bought a shirt, one had to go. New shoes? Yup, a pair had to leave. It took my husband Lee a while to figure out the one on was usually mine. The one off was his. Although this journey was life changing and full of adventure, I never realized how much I wanted to work through my creative urges until we moved ashore.

It was a rather whirlwind start. My husband and I met in December of 2015. In March of 2016 we sold EVERYTHING and moved onto this 42′ trawler. For the next six years we traveled over 12,000 miles visiting the most amazing stops in the Eastern and Central USA. Once we came ashore, the urge to create something beautiful out of something ordinary took over my life. I couldn’t stop. Our new shed was brimming with items I found and repurposed in new finishes and prints. And that’s when we realized, I needed an outlet.

Much of my influence comes from our travels. We were in Colonial towns up and down the East Coast, Reggae seaside art festivals in the Keys and Midwestern Small Towns each with their own character. I’ve always said, I don’t have a ‘box.’ Which means each and every item is unique and often created without rules. I hope you enjoy what I do as much as I enjoy each and every completed item.

Gift Giving Time is Here

So many of the items I create make wonderful gifts to friends and family. Looking for that one-of-a-kind item that will become a family treasure? Check out the many table top and wall decor pieces available in my shop.

Most everything I select to work on first lives in my imagination as a “what could I do with this?” kind of thought. I’m always looking for things that will stand out and enhance that empty corner, lonely shelf or a special place on a dresser or in a cabinet. Many times I will start cleaning an item up, removing existing finishes and repairing nicks and cracks with a goal in mind. As I handle the item and keep looking at it, often new and different ideas come to mind. I’ve actually finished a piece only to set it aside thinking, “why doesn’t that pop like I hoped it would?” Back to the bench, and start over. Often this means stripping the item back down and starting over. Putsy, yes. But only when I feel the color, texture and details really come together does that piece make it to the shop. My goal is to provide truly one-of-a-kind items a family can treasure for a very long time. If you are in need of a gift that’s been loved, not mass produced, I invite you to stop by and check out my creations.

Thank you for following along – Eat Life.

How Does it All Come Together?

Some items I find need only a bit of cleaning and I can get right to the creative part. Others, I find in a seriously distressed state. Those I need to first envision what I want it to look like, then begin the reconstruction and preparing the surfaces. Often times, I will change my mind as the project moves forward. Something about my original plan just doesn’t look right.

In rare cases, I’ve taken all the new finishes off and started over with a bare bones item. Even when this happens I still enjoy the process of giving new life to previously loved items.

Often, I will hold an item for, ahem, too long. It may be so unique that I’m wondering, “If you could speak to me, what would you say? Where have you been? Who was your family?” It’s easy to get caught up in the history of something as simple as a teapot or flour box.

The cradle pictured above is an example. A dear friend’s family heirloom, she wanted to repurpose it as a living area display piece. The new owner had a number of ideas for patterns, so I had a good plan to work with. The issue? What you see here is the re-assembled cradle. One of the wings had broken off. There was no floor in it. Several parts were severely damaged and needed fill and repair. My husband Lee did the major repairs and filling. He insisted on using glue and dowel construction as he didn’t want to have any screws or nails in a piece that was originally completely assembled with dovetail construction.

Below are some views of the finished cradle. There are 5 finishes applied to the raw wood to achieve this look. In all, we had a LOT of hours in this one and it came out just beautiful.

Thank you for following along. I’ll go into some of the other processes I use in future blogs. For now, adios and remember, Eat Life.

Lugging the Goods

It all starts with trips to so many different places. I visit thrift shops, antique stores, and estate sales. What I look for is something already loved and now orphaned, that I can make into something new. Apologies to the antique folks, but sometimes that previously precious piece just doesn’t work in today’s decor.

New Goods
New Product Delivery

We load up the truck and then once home, we have to get them out back to the shed. Lee helps me out with a lot of the moving where we have a number of items, or heavy items. Here he’s pulling our wagon with the first of two loads we discovered while on a trip to Williamsburg, VA. With all the history and so much to see there, we still managed to take time to find a number of great treasures!

These will be thoroughly cleaned and then any repairs necessary will be done before any decorative finishing can begin. This particular haul included a number of very unique items that I’m so excited to get started on! I’ve already started planning much of what I will do to get these items ready to sell. Each visit you make to our shop will treat you to something new!

The Inside Story

Inside My Shop 1
Shop Interior 1

Yikes! No, it’s not really that bad. I often have a number of projects in process at one time. Sooooo I’ll have one item with paint drying over here, a molding project curing over there, maybe some glued assemblies curing, while I’m sanding something at my bench. Often, lot’s of LOVE is needed – depending on the item. I love my shop, which is about one third of the total space in the shed.

Shop Interior 2
Shop Interior 2

My husband, Lee, has provided me with heat in the winter and thanks to a donation from our grandson, Tyler, I now have Air Conditioning in the summer! You can see my AC unit which vents out through the wall, in white, on the floor. We also had Cat6 internet cable run to the shed when we had power installed. I have high speed internet on my devices. I also get all the channels we get in the house on the TV out in the shed. Of course, I spend a lot of time on DIY videos and gathering ideas from artists around the world.

Lee’s Workshop

Here’s the balance of the shed. This is where Lee works on his projects, spools fishing reels, counts fish hooks and occasionally cuts up some wood should I need it to complete a project. Between the two of us, we use up every bit of space in what at first seemed like a HUGE shed!

The Cottage

In the Shade of an Ancient Willow Oak. . .

When we moved into our home in 2022, we were blessed to have this 11×32′ shed already installed at the back of our lot. It’s here that I work on my creations.

Willow Tree Cottage

After 6 years living full time on our trawler, we set our sights on a ‘dirt home’ in Beaufort, NC. This property gave us the freedom to enjoy our privacy and live in a wooded coastal area. To be honest, we pinch ourselves every day for the good fortune to have found such a quiet, convenient home.

Dock Outside My Shed Door

Here is the view out back from the Cottage. At the end of this 250′ rickety old dock, is our creek, which leads to the AICW, (Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.) From here we can take our small 23′ center console virtually anywhere we wish. The trip by boat to downtown Beaufort is around 50 minutes. 25 minutes by car.