Tales of this shopkeeper - A Vintage Twist

I have been in business almost three years now and when I first opened the shop it was very shabby chic; very feminine and very pink and white. Flowers and ruffles and pretties all over and I loved it!
Over the years I have found that there are so many things that I love ie. shabby, industrial, classic and, yes, even mid-century modern and different aspects of each of those decorating styles have crept into Winsome at one time or another.
I really enjoy mixing the romantic feminine with a more edgy color or style. After all, opposites attract, right? Why not burlap and lace; soft lines and hard lines; zinc topped on curvy, cabriole legs...you get the picture. Such is Winsome these days and this week has been no exception!
It was time to change out the window that held the beautiful cream colored 30's dresser with accessories. What to do, what to do?? Time to change it up!!
Enter....barcelona orange from our wonderful selection of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (www.anniesloanunfolded.com for a retailer near you).
I am NOT an orange person. Don't really wear it...ever. It just doesn't look good on me and maybe that's why I don't use it to decorate in my home or haven't associated it with that shabbyness we love at Winsome...until this week!
So...I found this great mid-century modern piece that has quickly taken on a beautiful shade of barcelona orange in the past few days. It needs some dimension so I have started distressing and will add clear and dark wax and ooooh la la! This picture is a bit dark but here's a corner of one of the doors.

Oh, yeah, can you just imagine it?? Coming soon enough!
Well, my plan was to get this done for today, Saturday for 10:00 a.m. in the window with another compatible piece and these hanging from the ceiling.

Cute, huh? Are you seeing a color theme here? Anyway, this didn't get done in time and last night my husband and I were up at the shop thinking it would be a very late evening. BUT...our talented couple that creates and sells in the shop showed up with a great old piece with a funky new finish AND in orange!! I had mentioned earlier to Rachel that I was thinking of using orange for summer so she made up some great pillow slips to compliment orange and then found this victrola cabinet, painted it and let her creative fingers fly over the front of it in this great argyle pattern! The bonus was a cute curvy chair padded in another twist of satiny orange/pink.
Guess what ended up in the window last night AND guess what sold five minutes after I opened this a.m.? So fun and I asked the customer if we could keep it in the window until my other piece is ready. She is fixing up a home before they move out of their old one so she was fine with it!

Do you love it? That's Winsome's new look for the summer...more to come but expect shades of orange and yellows and greens! And btw...the colorful balls hanging from the ceiling are made with coffee filters.
At Christmas last year I found a project online for a wreath made from these. We even had a contest in the shop to guess how many filters I used.

And true to her creative mind, Rachel not only tried those wreaths but tried dipping the filters in food coloring and then gluing them to a 2" ball, thus...what is in the window. Easy peesy and so pretty for display.
So...our new look. You have to change it up once in awhile. I love the difference it makes even though I have stayed with whites and lights these past years it's so fun to change directions!