Took a breather

We have been so, so, so busy lately - well, since the beginning of November it's been non-stop.  We keep thinking it will slow down but it hasn't.  It's a good thing we tell ourselves but we do get tired of producing product sometimes.  That is one reason why it is so awesome to have a great business partner.  When I said I'd like to take a couple days to just go visit my folks Jan quickly said, "Go!"  So I had a quick trip out to Bayview, Idaho for a visit and got to play 3 rounds of Settlers of Catan and 2 rounds of the Marble Game, eat homemade cherry pie and sleep in till 9!  Here are a few pics of my folks lake - Heaven.  Jan, now it's your turn for a breather!

SUGAR and SPICE

You can't manufacture age.  

So we are thrilled when we find wood that is genuinely aged and has a wonderful true, shabby color we can embrace.  

That was the case with these two windows.  I  had to touch up the paint a little and seal it all with a clear finish but the original colors were the inspiration.

I started with the pink one because I immediately fell in love with the color and knew it had to be designed for a girl's room.  After much debate and thought, I pieced together a couple of our wall graphics to create this Sugar and Spice design in our brown matte vinyl complimenting the brown wood showing through.  Then I added a brown handle to complete the look.  CUTE!!

So cute, in fact, that I decided to do another one in this mint colored window.  

(Again, the original paint color).  

This time I added some brown and mint buttons at the bottom as my finishing accents.  

Sweet and Fun!!

Feelin' the LOVE

Just in time for Valentine's Day!

This creation once again resulted from a little love on our part -- love for this rusty hinge that I simply could not remove.  When my husband cut the door, he had to cut around it.  It left this little lonesome piece of wood attached to the rusty hinge and I simply could not throw it out.  So...with some vintage typewriter keys fitting perfectly in the holes and some other funky metal pieces and buttons this sweet piece developed.

Sweet, one-of-a-kind, and sending its love!

 

You can purchase this on our website at:

(Remember, there is only one available!)

http://oldbarnrescue.com/2011/10/love-with-typewriter-keys-and-rusty-hinge/

Happy New Year!

I can't believe tomorrow night we will welcome in 2012!   

As I think back on 2011 for Old Barn Rescue Company, 

my heart is full of thankfulness and joy. 

It has been an amazing year of growth for our business with so many wonderful memories. 

Old Barn Rescue Company's top 10 highlights for 2011:

10) Our TV airing with Great Day St. Louis

9)  More stores selling our wares.

8)  Reaching 2000 sales on Etsy for our wall graphics.

7)  Reaching 3000 sales on Etsy for our wall graphics.
 6)  Participating in Art on the Green in beautiful Coeur d'Alene, ID in early August.
5)  Getting our new website up and running.

4)  Hiring Shawna to help us with our growing business!!  (More to come on Shawna soon)

3)  Continuing to create new and unique items inspired by what we find.

2)  Pottery Barn purchasing some of our windows to decorate their local store.

1)  Adonna and I sharing 3 days on the road from St. Louis to Spokane to transport our creations for the Art on the Green show.  

What a time to laugh, share our hearts, revel over breathtaking scenery and dream for our business!

What started out as a fun "hobby" in an attempt to save some old barn wood has turned into quite the adventure for us and for this we are so grateful!  

So as we look to this new year, 

in keeping with our love for words, 

here are some wonderful ones to live by:

Thank you for all your support and appreciation of our creations! 

May 2012 hold more surprises and joys!

Custom orders

This is a busy time of year for our custom orders. 

We LOVE that we can offer a gift that is personal, truly one-of-a-kind and eco-friendly!  

This customer certainly loved it, too!   She ordered this for her parent's Colorado cabin.  FUN!

Holiday Boutique

We are asked ALL THE TIME if we have a shop.  Besides the fact that Jan and I have no clue how to run a shop (other than an on line one!) we are soooo busy with creating we would never see our families if we ran one.  So we do the next best thing...open up our homes every so once in awhile and invite any and everyone we know in the area to come see our wares and enjoy a glass of wine with us.

That's just what I did this past weekend here in Spokane.  We had an open house on Sunday from 2-4 and had a nice little crowd of friends and family come through.  Here are a few pictures from it...if you didn't make it just know, WE'LL DO IT AGAIN!

Off to create some more - Adonna

Our windows decorate local Pottery Barn store

We were honored to have 3 of our windows purchased by the buyers for Pottery Barn Teen, Pottery Barn Baby, and Anthropology. 

They used the 3-window combination to decorate the front wall in the teen section of Pottery Barn's new store in Frontenac, MO. 

What a FUN statement!

Wall graphics go Ohdeedoh!

Our wall graphic division has been a wonderful addition to our business adventure.  Wall graphics are a beautiful, economic way to personalize and change the look of any room.  

You can go bold and big or subtle and classy -- either way they are a simple and easy way to add that special touch.  
The sweet addition of our leafy mendalas to this wall show the subtle and classy impact that can be made:

Gorgeous, huh?  This room is featured on Ohdeedoh today. You can go vote for her room to win (it's toward the bottom of the article) and feel free to share on Facebook!!!
http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/small-kids-big-color/a-taylormade-room-small-kids-big-color-entry-28-162136

Merry little scraps of wood!

Instead of throwing out these little scraps of wood - 

we used them to create the PERFECT Christmas gifts!  

They are little, can sit anywhere, 

are eco-friendly, 

one-of-a-kind, 

AND will add a whole lot of cheer!

An Ugly Duckling

I LOVE transforming something ugly and out-dated into something sweet and usable.  This sweet little sign evolved from such materials.

 It all started out with this ugly scrap of wood, an out-dated flower brooch, a chipped up lock latch. and recycled door knob.

The latch I have had for quite awhile and I have always been drawn to the dusty pink paint that shows through all the chipping.  I decided to use that as our main color.  That required some paint mixing, but I covered the ugly wood and out-dated brooch to bring new life and sweetness.

Then I had to assemble it all for sturdy construction which involved some drilling, wiring, gluing and hammering.  A small little pearly pink button completed the center of the brooch and hid the screw I used to attach the brooch to the door handle.

Last, but not least, I added the "You are my sunshine" quote in our brown matte vinyl and sealed it all for the finished touch.  LOVE this great little transformation!

Classy and Fabulous - the finished product!

 

 

Classy and Fabulous

This quote on our upcycled wood is in high demand right now in the stores.  

So I need to create!

It's always fun to add some BLING with this saying... 

so I found an awesome vintage plate from a dresser knob and a bright pink glitzy button:

 

I have this old cupboard door set aside and I think it will work perfectly for the quote and the bling!

 

Now, off to paint and create!

You are my Sunshine, my only sunshine.

Sometimes the most unassuming piece of wood can produce such a sweet little piece!  This cute little guy is the perfect example. 

I had an ugly 18" x 11" piece of wood that most would be tempted to throw away, but I added some fresh dark gray paint and sanded it to keep the true imperfection of the wood.   Next I had to search through buttons, jewelry, and our many odd treasures to find some compliments.  The wood had a rough line along the right side that kept bugging me, so I decided to accent it and cover it up.  I chose to use a small section of an old silver ruler.

Then I found the complimentary silver flower pin which I actually took apart some to get to the basic shape.  I decided the pin needed a little color and "pop" in the center, so I dug through our stash of buttons.  Eventually I found the perfect little yellow button!

 

Inspired by the yellow, I decided to go with our "You are my sunshine" quote in our yellow matte vinyl.

Once the vinyl was applied to the wood, I sealed it with a clear coat of matte polyurethane.  The last step was adding the sweet finishing touches of my fun little finds!  LOVE IT!

Fall Ball

Since we're based in St. Louis the world series is what we'll be watching tonight!  In between games Jan has been working hard on making upcycled signs for any baseball lubber out there.  Could they be any cuter?  Go Cardinals!!

"The Art of ReUse Contest"

We are so excited to be taking part in "The Art of ReUse Contest" sponsored by Etsy and Green is Univeral.  The contest is such a perfect fit for our company because it is all about how we can keep things out of our landfills by reusing them to create art. 

It was so fun to share our story...but we need your votes!  

Follow the link below and here are the official rules:

Click LOGIN to become a registered user (they will send you a confirmation email with a password). Once logged in, return to this page and click the CAST YOUR VOTE FOR THIS CATEGORY button just above the comment section (the button doesn't even appear if you aren't logged in) under all our pictures and explanation. 

We need your votes to win! - spread the word - spread the LOVE - and don't forget to register to win the sweepstakes  (a $500 shopping spree on Etsy). 

http://www.greenisuniversal-reuse.com/home-decor/trash-to-treasured-home-decor

Voting ends this Friday, April 15th.

Inspiring Minds

Adonna and I love a good quote, a sweet phrase, a powerful word.  

This has been at the very core of so many of our creations and, of course, our wall graphics. 

Well, my daughter has an 8-year-old friend who loves all our quotes 

and is curious about all my current projects.  

She is always coming up with sayings of her own.   

The other day for my daughter's birthday she made this card: 

"If I had a cake for every time you love to laugh and smile, I would have a birthday everyday."

It was inspired by a favorite quote we have on our wall:

 

What a clever little girl!  

And what an honor to be a small part of what inspires her!

TV time for Old Barn Rescue Company

Virginia Kerr, a host on KMOV's Great Day St. Louis, contacted us to run a feature story on Old Barn Rescue Company. 
Well, of course, we couldn't say "no"!   

Virginia found us searching the web for local "funky junk interior" types.  

She shares our passion for old, rusty, weathered materials
and was excited to share what we do. 

We were excited to meet her and have the opportunity to tell our story! 

"No more monkeys jumpin' on the bed"

You can't go wrong with this timeless quote!

Busy!!!

We have been so busy lately we totally forget we actually have a blog.  Case in point...our last entry was from last spring!!  Well now Jan is in the midst of final prep work for a show at John Burrough's in St. Louis this coming weekend.  She's made all kinds of fun stuff from old doors and windows.  I must admit that I am kind of jealous.  We have so much fun creating in her basement together but I had to sit this one out (insert sad face here).  I had to hold down the fort for our Etsy site which has had amazing sales this month thanks to some awesome bloggers out there that have gotten the word out - thanks to you all!!

If you live in St. Louis Jan would love for you to stop by the show this weekend and say hi!  I'll be at home in WA watching the snow fall (predicted for Sat) and  plugging away with our wall vinyls wishing I was there too!  Here's hoping she comes home on Sunday with an empty van!