Saturday, January 26, 2013

Second 2013 Goal: Getting Back My Office!!! {Phase One}


You know that TV show Hoarders?  Well, I officially feel like I should apply and be filmed, because THIS is what my office/craft room has turned into:


 


AHHH!!  Makes you want to scream/cringe/pass out all at the same time, right?!

Well, my second goal of this new year has been to take back my office area!  I'm envisioning a beautiful craft room where I can work on both things for Teapots & What-Nots AND for my classroom, too. 

So, you can't really fix something like this overnight.  (I mean, I wish I COULD just snap my fingers and *poof*, but, let's be realistic here...)

My first task to tackle was the desk.  Desk, you ask?  What desk?  Yes, I know, you might have missed it.  It was camoflauged in all the junk...



It's way too big for what I imagined and what I need, so it will eventually get a face-lift and a new home.  Instead of simply moving it out to the garage where it would become engulfed into the piles of furniture that need to be refinished, I though why not just refinish it now?  So that's what I did!

Old desk:




New desk:

Please ignore the divots in the vinyl.  We're sitting on carpet here, and Mannon and I are still trying to figure out the whole photography thing.  After all, I'm a teacher, and she was a stay at home mom (neither of which are trainer photographers!)  :)





I'm digging the dark dark "plum" (purple-ish brown-ish black-ish color), because let's face it, when desks get used, they get dirty!  And what better way to hide that than with a dark color?!  :)  I whipped up a batch of my homemade chalk paint (which I'll tell you about tomorrow!), sanded the desk down, and got to painting!  Then, I finished it off with a couple of 3 coats of polycrylic to seal it all.  Viola!  Simply adorable!



I have to admit, once it was done, I was crushing on it so hard that I really debated keeping it in the office...however, even with moving it along a different wall, it's simply not going to fit with our new vinyl backdrop, and the workspace in the middle of the room I need.  So, it's going to a new home!  Listed in on CL here, or if you're intereseted, simply shoot me an email at TeapotsAndWhatNots@yahoo.com

Happy Saturday!  Wish me luck on the rest of the office/craft room.  :)

~Jillian

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

First Goal of 2013: Enticing New Followers!!!

Okay, so we have to admit...we've been pretty lazy here on our blog.

One of our New Year's resolutions for 2013 is to step it up a bit and get our sad, pathetic, ignored excuse for a blog up and off the ground...and soon!  So what's a better way than to entice more followers than with a bribe?!  :)

Curious as to how we're planning on luring in new followers?!  Here it goes...hope I can explain well enough...: 

Step 1. Stop by our Etsy shop {here} and pick out your favorite item.  "Favorite" it through Etsy (the little heart on the side). 
Step 2. Then, stop back here and start "following" our blog!  (Really, you can do step 1 and 2 in any order!)
Teapots & What-Nots on Etsy!
Step 3. Send us a message either through Etsy or via email (TeapotsAndWhatNots(at)yahoo(dot)com) telling us that you're a new follower and letting us know which is your "favorite" item.
Step 4. We'll edit the listing to make it a custom reserved item just for you, and we'll also edit the price by cutting in IN HALF!  That's right...YOU GET ONE ITEM FOR HALF PRICE!!!  50% off!  (oh, forgot to tell you, though...this only works on regular priced items...the clearance and sale ones are already very heavily discounted)
Step 5. You go buy, we ship, and everyone is happy :) 
{but hurry, this fun little promo will be up on 1/6/13}


Clear as mud?  If you have any questions, please, feel free to just ask...I'm sure I'm not that great at explaining what I have going through my head :)

Finally, are you already one of our few followers?  Want a 50% discount, too?  No problems!  Simply just stop by Etsy and then let us know!  We want to reward you all, too, for being the first few to jump on board, even when we didn't have much to offer, reading-wise.

So, hope you love it, hope we love it, and hope it works well for everyone.  Happy first day of 2013!