Okay, so sorry for being gone from my blog for so long…I hate when that happens.  But, sometimes life just gets a little too crazy and something’s gotta give.  Since I ususally choose for it to not be my children or the hubby (although that sometimes happens) this time it ended up being my blog.  For good reason though.

We had our first Whimsy Green sale of the year, and it was a huge success!  We are so humbled EVERY TIME by the devotion of our fans and followers.  So this is a huge THANK YOU to all of those of you who braved the weather, came early, fought the crowd, waited in line, and brought a smile to our face:)  We literally ran out of a lot of things, and although there were still some fun finds left in the store, the walls were pretty bare by the end of Saturday!

Here’s a picture of the workers Saturday morning…

it’s a pretty blurry i phone pic, but you get the picture.  My oldest sister Jenni came to help for the first time.  She’s on the far left, along with my next oldest Sonia, a wonderful helper and family friend Cindy, and myself.  My sister Melanie helped thursday but then had to head home to work on Saturday.

And thanks to Amanda for this picture…of what it looked like outside while we were waiting for the clock to strike 9 before opening the doors:)
That is the line of people waiting.  SO BLESSED!!   They started showing up just before 8:30!

So, for those of you that live a distance away, or weren’t able to make it, I thought I’d give you a sneak peek of what Whimsy looks like before it gets picked apart:)

In the front room we had the little girls room…

I loved how whimsical it felt….

and one more..

or 2:)

We had this fun rustic/shabby area by the front door…

I love how the natural and pops of color went together..

A classic is always our gallery wall..

It was plum full

Then we had the bright kitchen area…

I loved all of the color in here..

the bedroom….

With a gallery wall of it’s own…

and some fun accessories…

I’m always amazed how full we can make this shop thinking that there are only 4 of us crafting away, and how it always pulls together:)  Again, a huge thank you to all of our supporters!!

For those of you who are new to the blog, I just thought I’d quick fill you in on the little side business my sisters and I started a year ago.  It all started when I had quite a bit of furniture from the other house that just wasn’t going to work in our current house…and I didn’t want to just give it away. ( I needed funds for some new things:)  So, my friend said to me, you should have a barn sale in your big red barn out back!  Well, one thing led to the next and before you know it Whimsy Green came to be.  A small occasional shop in my backyard.  My sisters, mom and I, repurposed old furniture, crafted, sewed, created…and filled a shop full of small treasures.  We had 4 sales last year and are hoping to have 4 again this year.  Our first one is actually coming up on April 25th, only a little over a week away!  So, that is the reason for the sparse postings.  I have turned our guest house into a workshop since the weather is NOT cooperating!!!  I move a couple of pieces of furniture in at a time to paint, let them cure, and then move them out to bring a couple more in.  I thought I’d just give you a sneak peek of some of the pieces I’ve been working on:)

Here was this beaut.  I bought it at an auction and wasn’t sure I really wanted it, but no one bid after I raised my number up, so alas..I got it.  It is quite grand in size, way too big of a piece to but in our little house.  But it does make a statement.  For all you wood lovers out there, you may want to close your eyes:)  It was a beautiful wood before I got my hands on it:)

before…

I had already painted the top by the time I remembered to take a pic, so yes..it was the beautiful wood as well:)

and after….

She quite the looker now.  Sorry none of these photos are staged, I barely had enough room to walk around the furniture let alone stage it pretty:)  Too much work to do:):)

My father in law called me another day and said he pulled a dresser out of a burn pile for me (love that man:) and dropped it off in our shed.  Ry ended up having to fix all the drawers (he loves when he gets to help me–wink wink) and then she was good as new.  Again, I forgot to pick up my camera for a before, but here’s the cutie now…

I had cream underneath with a dark grayish cream on top.  I love the two tone paint effect.  (it’s even prettier in person:)  The sides and front of the drawers are chalkboard, so you can write whats in them for those of us with short memory spans.  Or to encourage your kiddos to put their own things away:)

And for the last one for now….

the before..

Okay, you think I’d learn by now.  This is the best picture I got;)  This dresser I also bought at an auction.  I’ts quite the piece. Solid wood and lots of storage.

and the after…

I painted it white first, with light blue on top.  I love when just a bit of the underneath color peeks out.  I distressed it and then stained it with a lighter stain.

I love how it distressed…

So, that’s all I can show you for now.  I have to get back out there and keep working:)  If you want to see them in person, I’d love to see you at Whimsy Green!  You can find more information here.  We are open April 25th and 27th from 9:00-3:00.

** Just a little sidenote, we can not do any presales or put anything on hold.  We really want everyone to have a fair chance so it is first come first serve:)  Can’t wait to see you!

Well, I must admit that I thought the store looked quite fabulous.  And as it was fun to see peoples reactions, I had a lot of friends and family come out to see our house as well.  Our house….well not so fabulous.  Most of my time and energy as of late had been going into Whimsy Green, as well as my furniture:)  I knew I wanted to sell a lot of my chairs, because they were just “working” until we could afford new ones, but I also sold my temporary mantel, our coffee table, and some more chairs.  Oh, and my colorful pillows:)  So this is how the house looks this morning…

Eek!!  Ryan has been working on finishing my mantel…and it’s looking gorgeous!  and I just ordered a fun little settee for the area.  Now to just have it arrive and pull it all together!!

The settee will sit on the middle of this wall.

The living room went bare as well…

and I lost some of my pillows:)

Good thing I still had a few to spare:)

So, tonight I’m off to ikea to fill in some of the space and have a fun girls night.  I can’t wait:)  I’ll show you what I got and how it looks next week:)

Wow!! What an amazing weekend….and exhausting:)  We had our first ever occasional sale in the big red barn and it was a great success!!  Thank you so much for everyone who came to support us.  It was so fun to see your faces walk through the door.  And the new people that we got to meet, from blog followers to neighbors, to facebook fans:)  We feel truly blessed.  And a huge shout out to all of my college girls that traveled a long way to come and make it super special!!! Thanks ladies!!!!! Love you:) :)

Also a HUGE shout out to my mom who was up every morning as 6 making fresh baked cookies and cleaning my house so people could walk through it and not have it look like a tornado:)  Love you mom!!!

I just want to show you some pictures I snapped quickly Thursday morning before the craziness.  Sarah snapped some that will look a lot better that I’ll show later, but I thought some of you might be curious what Whimsy Green turned out to be…especially my far and away blog fans:)

First I’ll show you the crew that put this together.  Here is myself with 2 of my sisters, Mel and Sonia.  We are hoping to get our other sister in on a sale too:)

I know…hard to tell we are related:)

My mom and my friend Sarah weren’t in the picture…but helped out immensely!!  Mom’s baking cookies/housekeeping/watching kids/getting ready (that’s all) and Sarah’s behind the camera:)

My favorite area of the shop was the gallery wall.  I love gallery walls and I think this one turned out pretty amazing with the wood background!

and one more..

The pictures aren’t the best quality, but it was a gloomy, dreary, rainy day.  We actually got over 4 inches of rain on Thursday.  The Lord took care of us and kept us dry in the barn:)

The bright kids room:)

and then a little shabby chic area..

and the cozy bedroom

and I loved the view from behind the checkout desk…

I feel like a broken record again, but one last big shout out to my hubby…who completely renovated our house, worked on a guest house, and helped me finish off a barn so I could pursue my dream….all within 11 months!  You’re the best!!  Love you lots!!!

Alright, we are t-minus 8 days until the opening day of our new occasional shop, Whimsy Green, and we are so excited!!! Today we are going to show you a very tiny little sampling of some of the things that will be in there store.  I say very little…because we have so much stuff that is still in garages, tubs, Wisconsin, everywhere..that we couldn’t shoot.  And because the barn wasn’t quite ready to put everything into yet so we just set up a few shots:)  So, if you are even a bit interested in some of the things you see, please come have a look.  I am so excited to put the whole barn together as soon as the sisters arrive!!

Okay, with that being said here are some pictures, again graciously taken by Sarah .  I think they look amazing:)

She got some really fun shots of the barn so I can update the Whimsy Green Facebook page.  I love this one because it’s our everyday life with little missy walking around:)

Love this…we were darting around raindrops so it was a challenge to get a bit of blue sky:)

and then the clouds rolled in….

I love this look though, kinda the picture we had in mind when Whimsy Green came to be.

And now onto the goods….Now I must say before I even show anything that as bad as we would want to do pre-sales for people, to be fair we just can’t.  It will be first come first serve.   In saying that, we do have a lot of furniture that will not all fit the first day, so new items will be added each day.

Also, please remember we staged this for a few photos, when you come next Thursday it may not look like this cause my amazingly talented sisters Mel and Sonia will be helping set up rooms and vignettes:)  Can’t wait!

and some close ups..

and a little flirty…

and a little fun…

So if any of it interests you, check out our FB page for more details and directions:)  and lots, lots more to come:)

Check back tomorrow for a couple more fun photos!

So, I’ve been in a bit of a frantic, crafting, fixing, painting, creating mood lately.  More so because I am starting to hear some awesome feedback from people excited to check out Whimsy Green…Yay!!  Thank you so much for your support, and we really hope we don’t disappoint!!  We are trying to pack the barn full with all sorts of goodies!   One that I was working on might not quite make it to the barn.  I hate that when that happens.  I kinda  fell in love with her.

Silly me forgot to take a before….seriously!  I told you I’m kind of in a mad rush!  But, it was a super fun antique chair a sweet lady gave to me as she was cleaning out her basement.  Thanks Chelsea!!

I painted the chair, distressed it, and then made a cute little seat cover for her.  She turned out pretty stinkin cute if I do say so myself!

Here’s a little peak of what’s hiding beneath…

not quite as cute…

I’m loving how it distressed!  I think she might find a home in the guest house:)

p.s.  The pillow and a couple more like it will be at Whimsy:)  As well as a few more treasures:)  Stay tuned…

And as you go here’s a little food for thought that I read today on an amazing blog called A Holy Experience.

Who can expect to make sense of a loud world when they haven’t made quiet space before God?

Life is only noise until you’ve been quiet before God.

Happy Monday:)

Okay, it’s kind of official:)  I’ve been dinking around on you tube and facebook for the last couple of hours trying to create a Whimsy Green page..that I think was successful?!?  I just can’t figure out how to link it up on my blog:)

But….if you are interested in seeing information about our upcoming occasional sale that will be in less than a month (ahhh!!!) and some fun pictures (soon to come) about a few things that we have been working on and will be selling, then head on over to Facebook and search Whimsy Green and you should find us!! We’d appreciate a like so we can invite you to the upcoming events and keep you informed!

Thanks for your encouragement during this crazy busy time and sticking with me when I can’t find the time to blog!   We have feverishly been working on cleaning, pressure washing, painting, wiring, landscaping, and anything else you can think to do to a barn that needs to look  presentable.  I am freaking out excited for this next month:)  Hopefully we see you soon!!!

Alright, before I left for Florida I told you we had a few fun things in the mix.  One of them was the guest house that I already shared and hasn’t really changed since….all in good time.  The second one though I am so excited for!!!

I have had numerous people in my life tell me that I should paint/sew/decorate/craft for a living.  My response has always been HA!  First of all, I am my own toughest critic and hate doing it for others in fear that they are not going to like it.  Second of all I just didn’t know how I could make a go of it.

Enter in the hobby farm and a fun red barn in my backyard:)
Again in a snowstorm but isn’t she pretty??

Where am I going with this???

Welcome Whimsy Green!!!

What is Whimsy Green???

Well, Whimsy Green is going to be a small family business that my sisters, mom, and I are going to “give a try.”

We have been collecting, crafting, painting and buying to create a fun little occasional shop that we hope you will come visit.  I am so excited about some of the pieces that we have found.   I have a few fun pieces from my last house, and we have tons of accessories, pillows, lights, wall decor that we have been crafting and buying to create this barn into a cottage-y, whimsical, home decor haven:)

So, if you are interested in checking out Whimsy Green, we are planning to have our very first sale Memorial Day Weekend.  It will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 24-26 from 9-5.

I know, I know…you’re thinking, wow!  That’s still a month and a half away.  Praise the Lord it is:) We  still need a little time to whip that barn into shape and give it a whole new feel.

But…..I will be showcasing some of the pieces that we will be selling on the blog so you will have an idea of what is to come, and well as a few pictures of the barn itself once she is ready:)

I hope you’ll join us on this new endeavor!!  And I hope one sale turns in to many more!!

I’m writing a quick blog to ask for your patience and maybe a little bit of help:)  As of this far I have googled, you tubed, and blindlessly walked my way through creating this blog myself.  I am not 100% happy with the design or layout options, but I realized I cannot read html.  I am limited and I have a whole new appreciation for those computer geniuses:)  Also, I have a blog that I am already putting some time into and don’t want to invest a lot of money at the moment since I am not making any money:)  Or should I say Ryan doesn’t want to invest any money:) But I do understand!

So, the reason for this post is 2 fold.  First, I have had to put restrictions on my comments because I was getting so much spam, and inappropriate at that, that I DO NOT want shown on my site.  Therefore I have to approve the comments before they come.  Well, since I was gone for a bit I realize that I have 11,000 comments to go through, yikes!  I love getting comments and hearing your feedback and questions so I am going to start cleaning up these comments and going through them everyday and hopefully respond to yours and “approve” it so it gets posted.

My second reason is to see if anyone out there knows of a college student, wonderful person, fairly inexpensive that does do work for wordpress blogs.  I am actually looking to change my domain name and my blog over to a different site.  Pretty sure I can’t  do it on my own:)  I would love some new design, a signature, button…some sidebar stuff…does this make any sense to anyone else??  :) :)   If not that’s totally okay, just thought I would throw it out there:)

So, please be patient with me as I am trying to figure out these computer technicalities and try to better my site:)  I also want to say thank you to those of you who do leave comments and encouragements:)  It keeps me going!!