Laura is a rancher. A true rancher. She was approached last winter by a photo-journalist who showed up at her door asking if she could include her in a documentary about women in cattle ranching. Laura agreed to be a part of it. The film is in post-production now and the name is Harney. You can see more about the film on the filmmaker's website or their Facebook page.
When Laura isn't ranching she has her side business Keep It Simple which evolved because friends and neighbors as far as 140+ miles away started asking her to paint and organize their houses and help with decorating, mostly with old relics and junk found in their barns. From there the room painting and organizing grew to painting old pieces of furniture that her customers had on hand. Normally, Laura tries to do two or three houses in a year, in her spare time, and extra furniture when she has a minute between cattle work and field work. (I'm tired just reading all that! She has more energy than I!)
Today she shares with us this furniture flip. She began with this guy...
Her client wanted a custom makeover on it since she planned to use it as a display piece to take to her annual booth at the Cowboy Christmas in Las Vegas. She left it up to Laura's discretion but asked that it be Western and "flashy". Laura mixed up a custom turquoise paint for the body of the chest of drawers. She chose this piece for her first attempt at stenciling furniture. The stenciling didn't go as planned so Laura then hand painted a star on the front. After, Laura did a bit of distressing and waxed/buffed the piece. The top was given a good sanding and a couple of coats of clear poly. Laura knew the drawers would be open to display her customer's "wild rags" and purses, so she decided the inside of them needed a bit of "flash", too. Using Western patterned paper in two different sizes, she pieced them together, sort of like a quilt. They were decoupaged on and the edges sanded, giving the appearance the drawers had been lined forever.
Are you ready to see the finished piece? Here you go!
I can just imagine how awesomely cool it looked filled with all of the glitzy wares her client was selling. Fantastic job Laura!
Laura had to slow down on some of her projects because she spent the past year fighting off cancer. She's regaining her strength (she never lost her determination, she's a warrior) and she hopes to be back up to full steam once she gets caught up on ranch projects.
Didn't I tell you she was inspiring? That's what I love about having this blog. I am inspired DAILY by all of you and I hope you are inspired by the people you meet here, too. It's all about encouragement and not competition in my book. It's a big world and there's room enough for all of us.
You can visit with Laura on her Keep It Simple Facebook Page. Let her know you saw her on Furniture Flippin'. Don't forget to watch for the documentary, too.
Thanks Laura for sharing your fun and fabulous furniture flip!
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