The Official Launch of our Website and Shopping Through Facebook!!

Sweet Peas Charm is Here! Just in Time for Black Friday!

We are pleased to announce the official launch of the website for our new business, Sweet Peas Charm! We have worked really hard on the website and we are very excited to share it with you! 

You can find us here: www.sweetpeascharm.com!

You can read this information on our website, but I’d like to tell you a little bit about us! Sweet Peas Charm is comprised of three ladies, Lynn Bennett, Pollyanna Rondeau and Rebekah Tong and we all have a passion for bringing beauty back to furniture and home décor that has been neglected and abused. All of our boutique items have been created by hand with love and care to bring you only the finest furnishings for you to love now and for many years to come. Our prices are very reasonable and you will never find better customer service than you will at Sweet Peas Charm...we guarantee it!

Did we mention you can find us here: www.sweetpeascharm.com?

On our site the Home Page includes a slideshow of some of the items we have for sale.  We have an extensive Boutique page that showcases everything that is currently available for sale.  We also have pages separate from the Boutique with our inventory separated into categories, such as “Candlesticks and Candle Holders”, “Décor”, “Linens”, “Tables”, etc.  We felt that by separating our inventory this way, it would make for quicker shopping if you are looking for something specific. 

In case we forgot to mention it, you can find us here: www.sweetpeascharm.com!

In addition to the Boutique, we have a page for Blogs where we write about some of the processes we undertake in (re)creating particular items.  We eventually hope to blog a few times each week to keep our clientele updated with the latest information at Sweet Peas Charm.  There is a field on our Blog page where you can enter your email address to subscribe to our updates.  When (and only when) there is a blog posted, you will receive an email with a link to the blog.  You will not get spammy messages by subscribing to our blog…just blogs! So please…..subscribe!

Is it redundant for us to mention that you can find us here: www.sweetpeascharm.com?

Next to “Blogs” we have a “Guest Book.”  We would be so pleased to know you visited our site and we would love to read any comments and/or suggestions you may have.  Please sign our Guest Book as often as you would like!

We also have a “Galleries” page which contains “Before and After” photos of some our inventory, as well as photos of some of the items we have sold, and a “Get to Know Us” page, which contains a quick synopsis of who each of us ladies are.  We want you to get to know us, just as we want to get to know you! And finally, there is a “Contact Us” page, which will allow you to easily contact us.  We guarantee a response to your inquiry very quickly, but in no longer than 24 hours.

We are so excited to share all of the beautiful items we have for sale with you!  Nearly every item listed can also be custom-made, so please be sure to ask about your options. Your happiness, satisfaction and repeat business are our goals!  Our inventory is constantly changing and being added to, so if you see something you love, grab it before it’s gone, and if you don’t, please check back often! And, please be sure to share our site with your friends!

One last thing I’d like to mention is that we now have our boutique linked to our Facebook page! By going to https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Peas-Charm/149139088591001 you can keep up to date with all of the happenings.  AND, if you “Like” our page, you will receive a code that will provide you with a 10% discount on your first purchase!  Everyone loves a discount, so be sure to share our page with your family and friends!

Welcome to Sweet Peas Charm!  Please visit us at www.sweetpeascharm.com!

Lynn Bennett

lynn@sweetpeascharm.com

Pollyanna Rondeau

pollyanna@sweetpeascharm.com

Rebekah Tong

rebekah@sweetpeascharm.com

French Graphics and Burlap!

Everywhere I look I see beautiful artwork printed on burlap and I'm so in love with it!  I've been wanting to try printing on burlap myself for quite awhile now, and I finally gave it a shot a few days ago.  I believe I nailed it, if I do say so myself...and I do!  *wink*

One of the best websites I've ever found (and I'm pretty much done looking now because, as I said, it's the "best") is The Graphics Fairy.  Karen aka The Graphics Fairy has a wonderful website with DIY tutorials, craft projects, etc., but my favorite part of her site is that she has thousands (literally thousands!) of graphics that can be downloaded..  Not only are the graphics gorgeous....but they're free, too!  If you haven't visited Karen before, it's really a must-do!

Back to my project...  I used 3 different graphics to create French artwork for the kitchen and/or dining room, and I framed them in rustic vintage-y frames that coordinate perfectly with the burlap.  Check this one out:

And this one:

And this one:

I am head over heels in love with each of these.  However, my favorite look is the 3 of them together (I know I have this photo at the beginning of my blog, but I feel it's worth a second look *grin*):

All three are available for purchase in the Decor section of the Sweet Peas Charm Boutique!

Live your life smiling with the joy you bring others and may you be blessed always!

Vintage Rocking Chair

One of the things I love most about being a partner of Sweet Peas Charm is the opportunity to turn a piece of furniture that is old and battered and return beauty to it.  I generally prefer to create "new" beauty, rather than refurbishing furniture to look as it once did.  That is exactly what I did with this vintage rocking chair!

I found this little treasure at one of my favorite "junk" shops.  What attracted me to it at first was the deep, rich color of the wood, as well as the size.  It's most likely considered a child's rocking chair, but it's soooo comfortable for a small adult like myself (I'm 5' 2").  My feet can actually sit flat on the floor in this chair! :-)

This is what she looked like before we started her make over:

As you can see, she really needed some help! I sanded her down and painted her with standard latex paint, Behr "Gold Coast White."  After 3 coats, rather than becoming more ivory in tone, there was quite a bit of pink bleeding through.  Note to self: When applying latex paint over vintage dark wood, ALWAYS use a primer coat or two first!  After the third coat, I used 2 coats of primer, then two more coats of "Gold Coast White."  The result was the beautiful ivory shade I had originally envisioned.  Learning the hard way generally prevents me from making the same mistake twice...learn from me rather than subjecting yourself to applying 7 coats of paint!  

After she was completely dry, the real fun began!  I wanted her finish to be heavily antiqued so I sanded, sanded and sanded.  Once I was satisfied with the look, I went over the entire chair with a heavy dose of "Provincial" stain by Minwax.  By using these techniques, I was able to achieve the old, vintage, much-loved look that I was going for..I think she's quite lovely!

This fabulous, one of a kind rocking chair can be used as home decor, as a chair for a child (or a small adult!), or for dolls or stuffed animals in so many wonderful ways...the possibilities are endless!  

She is available for sale in Sweet Peas Charm's Boutique, as well as in our Etsy Boutique.

Thank you so much for hanging out with me! Please leave a comment and tell me what you like and what you don't like about the rocking chair.  We would also love to have you subscribe to our blog!

Live your life smiling with the joy you bring others and may you be blessed always!

Miss Pink: The Coffee Table!

So yeah...  I actually painted a coffee table pink!

I've been "rejuvenating" furniture for a few years now, and I tend to lean towards the color black and a few other dark shades. I enjoy distressing the paint for that cottage chic look, but I have typically stayed away from the whites, ivories and other lighter colors.  However, when I came across this table, my first thought was to paint it pink....what?...so I did!  Admittedly, I left the top finished in its natural wood (the grain is just too beautiful to paint over), but the remainder of the table is pink.  Check it out....

This is what Miss Pink looked like when I first got my hands on her:

She is a "Lane" brand table, so she is very good quality.  Very sturdy...solid as a rock, really.  However, being so sturdy didn't sway me away from girlie pink, so here we go....

See?  She really is a Lane:

Miss Pink and I got down to business.  I taped off the underside of the table in order to retain the Lane stamping.  I then sanded off the original finish, leaving a bit of the darker finish remaining in the grooves around the table top.  Not only was less sanding required, but I really liked the look of it:

You'll have to forgive me, but I didn't get pictures of the next two steps, which were to give Miss Pink two coats of Kilz white primer, followed by two coats of "Oops Pink" paint.  You know about "Oops" paint, right?  It's what Home Depot calls its discounted paint that a customer ordered, but wasn't properly mixed to the right color.  Therefore, I named the color "Oops Pink."

This is where the creativity (crazy?) in me kicked in.  I decided to add a transfer of a rose graphic (courtesy of The Graphics Fairy...love this site!) to the center of the table top using the wax paper method.  This was the first time I'd given this a shot and it took several attempts to get it correct (during which I questioned this particular creative decision!), but I finally nailed it!  Granted, I had to hand paint in some of the detail that didn't transfer correctly (you'll notice in the photo that it transferred sort of messy), but in the end, I'm pretty darn pleased with it!

So after touching up Miss Pink's roses, she and I took a trip outside.  I sanded and distressed the legs and base of the table to give it that wonderful cottage chic look.  I stained the table top with a lighter shade of stain (if you go too dark, the transfer isn't very visible).  I stained the base and the legs with a darker shade to really bring out the distressed areas and to tone the pink down to a color that pink-lovers and pink-not lovers can both enjoy.  This subtle shade of pink also makes it easy to coordinate with the existing colors in one's home if pink is a new introduction!

Once Miss Pink looked absolutely perfect, I completed her by applying a polyurethane by hand to give it that hand-rubbed finish that is so beautiful and classic.  And, man, oh man, did the polyurethane enrich the wood grain on the top....gorgeous!

 I never thought it would happen, but Miss Pink is bringing me over to the light side....