Refreshingly Chic: giving

Giving is very important to me and our family.

Being thoughtful, caring and loving others simply makes the world a better place.

In our personal lives we try to be generous. 

This doesn’t always mean financially.  Let’s be honest.  I am a stay at home mom who designs and refinishes furniture on the side to help support our family. 

We try to find other ways to give.  We volunteer at church, at school, we bake local firefighters cookies, we attempt random acts of kindness. 

We teach our girls to treat our friends and family with love and respect.

Last year I wanted to find a way to use my business as a way to give.

My idea is simple, but I need your help.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Do you have an old dresser sitting in your garage that you had the intention of refinishing 4 years ago?

Is your old childhood chest of drawers in your attic collecting dust?

Are you preparing for a garage sale and have an old desk you’re hoping to get $15 for?

If you have a piece of furniture that you don’t need, please consider donating it to Refreshingly Chic.

HOW REFRESHINGLY CHIC GIVES

It’s simple.  I will refinish each piece of furniture donated to Refreshingly Chic to sell.

100% of the sale from the furniture will be donated to a family in need, charity or organization.

I will donate my time and supplies to transform furniture as I with all my projects.

WHAT NEXT?

Please email me photos of the furniture you are considering donating to RefreshinglyChic@gmail.com so I can schedule these projects. 

As with all my projects, please remember that I can do minimal repairs to furniture.  If you have a piece with missing legs, cracked and peeling veneer or major structural issues they may not be right for this project.

DO YOU ALSO REFINISH FURNITURE?

If you want to join in our cause we would love additional help!  I know our fans are generous.  My goal is to refinish all of the donated furniture myself.  If we get an incredible amount of response I would love others to help refinish furniture donated to Refreshingly Chic.

If you aren’t local but feel moved to give we would love for you to share our idea.  Your fans can donate furniture to your business and you can help support our selected charities and families.

OUR FIRST FAMILY IN NEED

I feel very led to help Ginger Harris Curtis and her family.

 

Here is her story taken from Caring Bridge:

Ginger is a 33 year old devoted wife and mother. She and her husband, Eric, are the most amazing parents to their 5 children: Tyler(13), Madison(10), Lily(8), Avery(3) and Asher(7 months). On Thursday, October 17, 2013 a sonogram revealed that Ginger has a malignant mass in her breast. An MRI determined the cancer is in both breasts and lymph nodes.

For those of you that know and love Ginger, you know that her family has walked this journey before in 2011 when Avery was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia at 5 months old. Their family was surrounded with God's love and faithfulness that got them through those months of Avery's treatment. Her life is a testimony of God's healing power! Today, Avery is a healthy, happy and beautiful 3 year old. She is also the proud big sister to little brother, Asher James, Eric and Ginger's 5th child, born in March of 2013.

You can read more about Ginger, donate financially or if you’re local you can sign up to provide meals for their family here:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gingerharriscurtis

As you can imagine, they are in need of prayers, good thoughts and generous support.

My goal is to donate to the Curtis’ family in the next few months.  Hopefully they can use the donation for meals, medical bills or other expenses they will have.

OTHER WAYS TO HELP

If you don’t have furniture to donate but would like to give to the Curtis family, please consider donating online or purchasing a gift card for a meal for the family.  The following are suggestions:

Outback, From Across the Pond, Chipotle, Chili's, Cotton Patch, Wildwood Grill, Mi Dia, Fireside Pies, Fresco's, McAlister's, Palios, Red Brick Pizza, Pei Wei, Carabba's, Red Hot and Blue, BJ's, Olive Garden, and My Fit Foods.

Please contact me if you would like to send gift cards to me to add to our donation.

Sharing their story, this post and the completed furniture to donate is another way to give!  Help us reach as many people as we can so we can support this family.

THANK YOU!!

If you have a charity, know a family in need or organization you would like to see us support, please email me at refreshinglychic@gmail.com

Chandelier makeover

Since we have our new home office (seen here) complete, we are turning our dining room back into a dining room!  Thanks to a few garage sale and Craigslist finds, we have a dining table & chairs.  Both need a little work but you couldn’t beat the prices!

Next on the list was a chandelier.

I found this chandelier on Craigslist for $40.

It had great shape but needed a bit of work to fit the style of our room.

First I hung it on our garage and sanded the arms and body of the chandelier.  A simple light sanding to scuff the existing finish will help the new paint adhere.

 

Then I cleaned the chandelier and taped off the tops of the candle holders to ensure paint didn’t get in the light sockets.  We replaced our candle holders so it was okay to get over spray on them since we tossed them when the painting was complete.

 

In the instance where we were missing a candle holder I just taped off the exposed wiring and light socket.

Don’t forget to also sand, prep and paint your canopy and chain.

I used a ziplock bag to hold the extra wires and taped them to my fancy wire hanger which held my chandelier in the garage.  This will keep it out of the way while you’re painting.

If you are painting directly onto metal I suggest priming with a metal primer.  Since our chandelier had previously been painted I simply used a metallic Valspar spray paint.  It covered very well and sprayed evenly, producing a great finish.

I was able to spray two coats and get full coverage on my chandelier.

 

I ordered white candle covers with faux wax dripping online for $1 per cover, plus shipping. Once those arrived in the mail Tyler hung the chandelier and we were done!

Stay tuned to see the rest of our dining room transformation!

Furniture Favs

Since I’m trying to catch up on my blog I thought a post highlighting a few of my favorite projects would be fun!

I found this chest last fall and fell in love with it.  It was a great size and had such pretty details.

BEFORE

 

The previous owner wasn’t afraid of color when they slapped some paint on it so it took some work but the end result was worth it!

AFTER

 

A sweet family friend was getting rid of her dresser and thought of us!  I must admit that many around me thought I was nuts for thinking this piece had such great potential.  But after it sat for a few years in our garage we found the perfect home for it!

BEFORE

The blue is a beautiful contrast to the original brass campaign hardware! 

AFTER

 

Sarah is using it as a bar in her home and it looks awesome!

I found this file cabinet for a client and refinished it in our Antique White.  We also stripped the top and re-stained to give it a little contrast.

BEFORE

I love it because it’s a great way to have file storage in your office without having an unattractive metal file cabinet.

AFTER

We added new hardware which was the perfect touch for my client’s modern home office.

 

The last piece I refinished was a vintage wardrobe for my niece's Christmas gift.  It had been in their family for many years which makes it extra special!

I selected a custom purple finish with chalkboard accents to compliment her playroom.  The interior of the cabinet is painted in our Antique Pink to give it a soft pop of color against her play clothes.

  

Be sure to follow me on Facebook to see additional projects I’ve been working on!

Chic Party: Pancakes & Pajamas

My sweet Lilly turned two in December!

As you can probably tell, I’m really behind on my blogging.  It’s summer and I’m just now posting about her party.  Opps!

We had a pancakes and pajamas party and it has been my favorite party for the girls. What could be better? Sweet birthday girl. Comfy jammies. Family & friends. Pancakes. and Donuts!

I bought my invitations from Three Little Monkeys Studio and love them!

Since I have an inventory of furniture to be refinished in our garage, I pulled out a twin headboard and made a “bed” of of two folding tables and a quilt.

I also used a small table as a “nightstand” and it was perfect for our paper goods.

We, of course, had pancakes and they were YUMMY!  My husband made them from scratch and they were a huge hit.  He made them after our guests started to arrive so they were warm and quite possibly the best pancakes I’ve ever had!

We also had donut holes and donuts for the kids with a special pink donut for the birthday girl!

On the menu we also had a variety of muffins, fruit and cereal.

   

Since the party was on a December morning it was nice having coffee and hot chocolate to keep us all warm and toasty!

We used Froot Loops to make necklaces and as part of the party decorations.  It’s an inexpensive and festive way to decorate for a pancakes and pajamas party.

 

We had a basket of dolls as the favors for all of Lilly’s friends.  The girls got dolls dressed in jammies and the boys got snuggly teddy bears.

Lilly got her own special doll dressed in pajamas that I had made from Dandelion Wishes.  She is such a sweet doll and Lilly loves her!

 

We had a perfect day and Grams even bought the girls matching pajamas for their baby dolls.

Thanks to our family and friends who made the day so special for Lilly!  And a big thanks to Mike for being Tyler’s sous chef.