La Craie Paint and great vintage finds

We are always looking for pieces of furniture to paint that have personalities.  Here a few we are working on now.

 

 

We will be sharing the before and afters soon!

Cindy & Cassie

Living on the Bliss

 

Southern Bloggers Conference

If you had fun at the Southern Bloggers Conference raise your hand.  I see lots of hands!!

Have you ever spent your weekend with famous people?  Someone you really look up to and admire and aspire to be.  I had that opportunity at the Southern Bloggers Conference in Raleigh, NC.

Here I will share a few of the pictures that I took, and will cherish always.

Linda with It Started With Paint, KariAnne with Thistlewood Farm, and Kelly with Eceltically Vintage.  Amazing women.

Suzy with Worthington Court, KariAnne, Thistlewood Farms

We all had such a great time.

Meeting Annie Omar with Maison Blanche was the highlight of the conference.  She’s so wonderful.

 Rhoda, Heather, Kelly & KariAnne we speakers and shared so much with us all.

Matt & Jacque Knowlton with TheDIYVillage, what a beautiful couple who drove 8 hours to attend the conference.

Famous Brittney with Pretty Handy Girl spoke, she’s so inspiring

Annie Omar demonstrated Maison Blanche’s new products, can’t wait for these to be available to us. They are super cool!

Southern Bloggers Conference was wonderful and I can’t wait until next year!

Cindy & Cassie

Living on the Bliss

Chalk Paint and a Vintage Buffet

The great thing about what we do is giving new life to a piece from the past.  We bring it into our present with thoughts of those who might have enjoyed it and give it new life hoping that it will be here in our future.   We must save Vintage Pieces that are tucked away in dusty barns and dirty attics.

On one of our “junking” trips we bought this amazing buffet that I “just” had a feeling about.  I couldn’t walk away from it for some reason.

It rested in our paintng room for several weeks before we moved  her into our main room and decided it was time to tackle our biggest project.   I want you to come by our store and see this for yourself!!  My daughter Cassie is our genius talent on this piece and I’m sure it won’t be in our store long,  so if you have a need for an amazing, stunning buffet you must come by and see this it.

This is how it started out.

 

This piece of the past has great bones…

Here’s a great picture of it.  We are trying to decide if we are keeping the hardware…

Yes, we are keeping the original hardware.

Cassie began by repairing the top surface scratches with wood putty and lightly sanding it smooth.  Then she started with one coat of Chalk Paint.

 The bottom floor of the buffet was missing so we built a new one.  Now it’s beautiful inside.

Here’s a shot of the new inside before we paint it.

We painted it with 2 coats of Chalk Paint and 1 of Clear Wax.  Cassie distressed the buffet and it is beautiful.

This Vintage Buffet has truly taken on a new life.

Come on by and see us at our little quaint place in downtown Southern Pines, NC.  ”Living on the Bliss”

Cindy & Cassie

Living on the Bliss

126 W. Pennsylvania Avenue

Southern Pines, NC 28387

910-986-0289

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Fish Foam + Purdy Brushes = Swag!

The Southern Bloggers Conference is being held at the Embassy Suites in Raleigh, NC, October 12-13, 2012.  If you already have your ticket, yeah!  If not you better buzz on over to the site and get yourself a ticket and a room!  There will be lots to learn and lots of SWAG! to take home with you.  Did I mention all the Amazing Bloggers you will meet.  I attended Haven Conference in Atlanta this year and I can tell you going to a Bloggers Conference can change your life.  Did I mention all the FUN! you’ll have.

We have great sponsors that are slipping goodies “SWAG!” into a big awesome bag for you to take home and fall in love with.  Here are two of the Sponsors for you to get a preview of!!   Please go to their site and use their products and help us thank them for their generosity and support of our Southern Bloggers Conference.

Fish Foam is an amazing cleaning product.  I came home from Haven Conference with a can in my Swag Bag.  My husband was with me at Haven and new I had been given lots of goodies and remembered the unique product Fish Foam.  He asked to use the Fish Foam to clean the windows in our car, of course you can honey…  He came back inside and said “That stuffs awesome, I can’t believe how good it cleans the windows.”  That’s when I knew it must be really good.

I contacted Fish Foam from their Facebook Page and Nathan wrote me an email.  My 2 daughters High School Chorus Programs were holding a Car Wash.  A match made in heaven,   Car Wash + Fish Foam = Happy Clean Windows.   Nathan mailed me several can of Fish Foam for the car wash and…..made a generous donation without being asked to our High School Chorus Program.    Thank you Nathan, & Fish Foam.

So please go to their site and order you some of this great window cleaning product here!

Here a Fish Foam Video.

 

They also have a window cleaning service that comes to your home and cleans your windows.   Fish Foam Cleaning 

Enjoy these pictures of my 2 daughters and their Chorus Group having a great time at their car wash to raise money to go sing at a competition.

They had a great time with the Fish Foam…

Working hard to rally cars in to get washed.

Still working….

Rent A Center, local business, just dropped by to make a donation, Thank you!!

Here’s part of the group….

THANKS FISH FOAM!!!!

 NOW, On to another sponsor, PURDY Paint Brushes!!

I don’t know if you do much painting, but I do.  In our store, Living on the Bliss, we paint vintage furniture with Chalk Paint which requires a very good paint brush. So..our brush of choice is PURDY!!

Here’s a couple of photos of our favorite Purdy brushes.  Can you tell the one on the right has painted a few things.

They always look so nice when they’re new…

Purdy is a generous sponsor of the Southern Bloggers Conference,  and will be donating paint brushes for our “Swag” Bags.    Thank you Purdy!

Please join us at the Southern Bloggers Conference, “Like” us on Facebook and “Follow” us on Twitter.

Cindy & Cassie

Living on the Bliss

Living on the Bliss, our new store…

Bliss: definition, sheer happiness, utter joy, complete contentment…..  What makes you Blissful?

My daughter Cassie & I have been working on our retail store and getting it ready to open for 6 weeks now.  We decided to name it “Living on the Bliss”, which is our blog name because it represents Sheer Happiness.  Explanation of of our name here…

We are Mother/Daughter, but feels like Sister/Sister or, Best Friend/Best Friend.  I wish sheer happiness for you in your relationships with your daughters that I’ve been so VERY lucky to experience.  That’s my BLISS! and I’m sticking to it.

Enjoy a few of our silly, exciting, stressful, blissful, happy moments in building our new “Living on the Bliss”

Our first purchase and now our signature Chalk Board…

We’ll post later on how to make a chalk board like this for your home!  Come by our store and see this piece hanging in our front room.

We found our retail space in the courtyard stores of Hotel Belvedere, 126 W Pennsylvania Ave, Southern Pines, NC.

Cheers, we’re celebrating!!

Now to the hard part.  Getting the rooms spruced up and ready to go.  We had to replace lighting…

We had to clean the hardwood floors…

 We had to paint all the walls, and there are lots of walls….

We started “junking” as we call it.  We go and buy truck loads and give them some love.

And more truck loads….

And more truck loads….

So stop by and see us and you just might see one of these beautiful pieces from someones past, in our present, for you to enjoy in your future.

Cindy & Cassie

Living on the Bliss

Contain Yourself! @The Container Store

If you can’t “Contain Yourself” when you go into the Container Store we completely understand…..

 

The Container Store has been assisting home owners organize and create the feel of peace and calm in their homes with their amazing products for years.  They have wonderful staff ready to help you with whatever your project may be.

The Container Store was always a big FAVORITE of OPRAH!  Remember seeing them on her show.  Boy, I miss The Oprah Show, don’t you?

Here is a great way to organized all your favorite DIY magazines….

Organizing any room in your home is a breeze with the systems they have developed that coordinate together.  You can turn your laundry room, home office, closet or pantry into a much more usable space!  And actually find things….BONUS…..

Great Color!

Nice Pantry…

The Container Store is a sponsor for the Southern Bloggers Conference.  We are very proud to have them participating and sharing organizing ideas with us in a class on Friday, October 12th @ 4:00 at their Raleigh Store.  Their experts will be on hand to help us with any organizing challenges we have.  You can learn how to organize you home office, set up a closet system, design a garage storage, free your playroom & children’s room of all the toy clutter.

We will also learn more about the Container Store’s history and how they can work with us as bloggers.

Please join us for this fun time to learn more about The Container Store and all their great products!!!

Did I mention there will be some prize giveaways, only for those in our group attending the Container Store session????

JOIN US!

Southern Bloggers Conference Tickets can be purchased Here!

 BUY YOU TICKETS HERE!

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR BLOG HERE! 

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK HERE!

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER HERE!

Cindy & Cassie

Living on the Bliss

Sheer Happiness for yourself and your home…

DIY Chalk Board with Chalk Paint

Chalk Paint is probably the best thing ever, since homemade bread.  (Did you ever hear that statement, (“best thing ever, since homemade bread”) when you were a kid?   Well, Chalk Paint is a new “must have”  addition to all crafters arsenal of DIY supplies.   What did we do before computers, iPhones & Chalk Paint, YIKES!!!

My daughter Cassie & I are opening a retail location of Living on the Bliss in beautiful Southern Pines, NC.  We will be sharing on our blog some of the projects we are working on that will be for sale in our store.   We found this old vintage mirror frame and decided to turn it into an amazing Chalk Board.  Here we share with you how we did it and how you can also make one for your home.  My children love to write on chalk boards, what’s up with that???

I got so excited about starting to paint this frame I forgot to take a picture before I had started painting.  Notice the  left side you can see where I started to paint with Chalk Paint.

 

Painting with Chalk Paint is so easy.  There’s not prep work, no sanding and no priming…  I painted this in my kitchen.

It’s really easy to apply the paint, I decided on 2 coats.

There’s great detail in the vintage mirror frame, I love it.

Starting to really look smooth, and has an even surface.

Love this color.   The Chalk Paint dries in about 30 minutes.  You’re ready to start the waxing in no time!

I pulled out an old sock, or you can use a stiff brush or an old t-shirt and rub the clear wax all over the project.

The wax needs to dry completely, over night is best but can be sooner.  I will be adding dark wax to make the details show up and stand out.  I used clear & dark wax together.  We will have classes and will teach this technique.

 

Again I got excited and forgot to take pictures of me using the dark wax.  I just added it to an area and wiped off the excess with an old t-shirt.  My granddaugter is wanting to paint so we let her paint an old cabinet door front we are turning into a wardrobe hanger.    Meet Harlow Grace…

Notice behind us the Vintage Chalk Board Frame has been distressed and rubbed in dark wax for more detail.  Harlow Grace is having a great time painting!  (just keeping it real with the mess in my kitchen!)  When a girl is painting she can’t be bothered with details like dishes.  Right Harlow??

Here Harlow is using Maison Blanche Paint.  Which we will be carrying in our store very shortly…. 

Now for the Chalk Board part of this project.  My hubby cut a piece of wood we purchased at Lowe’s Home Improvement to fit the back of the Vintage Mirror Frame.   First I primed it because it was raw wood.

Next step is a light sanding on the primer and then I applied Chalkboard paint I bought at Lowe’s.

I lightly sanded between each coat of ChalkBoard paint.  I applied a total of 3 coats for a very smooth surface.

Viola!   An amazing, fun, Vintage Chalk Board you can put anywhere in your home for notes to be shared with your family.

You can see this and more Vintage Goodies in our upcoming store.

 

Cindy & Cassie

Living on the Bliss

Sheer Happiness for yourself and your home…

 

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