Beeton Honey and Garden Festival 2016!

Hi all, I'm pleased to announce that I'll be a vendor at this year's Beeton Honey Fest!  I'm happy to participate again in this great community event. Check out their website here.

  

This year, the festival runs on May 28th from 9am - 4pm.  Come out for a day full of fun activities, great shopping, and good food!  Shop local and support your community artisans - we appreciate every little bit and love to grow our relationships with you!

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Beautiful custom sliding barn doors

Another custom order is done and ready for installation!  When T & T asked if I could make a matching set of barn doors to go in their double doorway, I said that was no problem.  They showed me their dimensions, and a photo of the style they liked best.   I set to work building some very big and sturdy doors that will hang from a track so they slide over their existing doorways.  After picking out the best lumber I could find, I set about drying the pieces and measuring and cutting everything to size.  Once the pieces were all cut and aligned to the proper dimensions, it was time to nail in close to 150 nails so everything stayed plumb and together.  My jigsaw worked wonders to make some of the boards look more worn than they actually are, and I also added some distressing to make it look as though each board had been around for a long time.

 After the actual building of the doors, it was time for staining each one so that all the quirks, knots, dents, and chatter marks would stand out and give the doors an authentic barn-board feel.  I applied several coats of a gorgeously rich walnut stain, paying special attention to the places where the wood would soak up extra colour, and followed that with a coat of satin varnish to seal the stain and give the doors a nice sheen.  The doors are now ready to hang from their tracks in their new home! 

 Enjoy, T & T!

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Here are the before pictures, including a "half-way" photo...essentially, a pile of lumber and some sketched plans and measurements:

And here they are after!!

 

To place a custom furniture order or to purchase an existing piece or photography prints, please contact me at sageandbalm@gmail.com and I'll be happy to assist you!  You can also follow Sage & Balm on Facebook and at sageandbalm.com.

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Rustic grey and whitewashed wood trestle table and benches

This weekend, I had the pleasure of working on M & T's beautiful dining set and transformed it from a dated, ambered indoor set into a lovely rustic grey and whitewashed patio set!  

This is a sentimental piece as it was M's childhood table; so naturally, M & T were pleased to keep it in the family.  As this set is thick planked solid pine, it shows many decades of wear and tear - and even M's childhood signature - but it was definitely ready for some refinishing.  The owners took a lot of time and care deciding how the table could be refreshed and settled on a two-toned grey colour for the table and bench bases with heavy distressing to give homage to the set's age.  They like the rustic, well-worn look of aged furniture, so that is what we did!  They also agreed that the orangey stain of the wood was not what they liked, so they went with a "raw pine" look for the table and bench tops that was whitewashed to prevent ambering after exposure to the elements.  The whitewashing also gave the table and bench tops a feeling that there was still a natural patina to match all the lovely nicks and dents that had developed over time.  After all of the stripping, sanding, whitewashing, painting and distressing, this dining set was truly converted to a weather-proofed patio set after several coats of marine urethane on every square inch! 

 I hope M & T will love and enjoy this different version of  their well-loved table and benches!

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Here is a before photo:

And here it is, after!

To place a custom furniture order or to purchase an existing piece or photography prints, please contact me at sageandbalm@gmail.com and I'll be happy to assist you!  You can also follow Sage & Balm on Facebook and at sageandbalm.com.

"Revolution #9" The Beatles antique magazine-table makeover

My good friend , who loves the Beatles, asked me to refinish her grandmother's old magazine table and said, "I trust your artistic decisions".  So since she is such a big Beatles fan (and a music teacher), I'd already decided that this lovely table could use some fun in her pretty apartment.  I went with a fusion of classic colours, rustic wood finishes, a new fixture, and an iconic logo to make this table uniquely her own.  It will fit in nicely with her existing decor, but still stand out as a statement piece; which, as an inherited piece of furniture, makes this table truly - much like my friend -  special and one-of-a-kind!

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Here is a before picture. The table wasn't in bad shape, but it wasn't much to look at:

After!  A revolution indeed!

To place a custom furniture order or to purchase an existing piece or photography prints, please contact me at sageandbalm@gmail.com and I'll be happy to assist you!  You can also follow Sage & Balm on Facebook and at sageandbalm.com.

Cream Baronet tall-boy dresser with antique fixtures

This beautiful Baronet dresser was a custom order for a friend.  It wasn't in terrible shape to begin with, but it needed a freshening up as the paint was discoloured and peeling, and an unattractive fake gold paint filled the groves on each drawer.  My friend needed more storage space in her bedroom, and already had some Baronet company pieces, so this dresser was an obvious fit.  To make sure it fit in nicely with the rest of her bedroom and existing furniture, we settled on a beautiful cream colour and kept the original fixtures.  The makeover was a success, and the dresser now  has a very clean, simple elegance that is just lovely.  My friend loves her new dresser, and it looks great in her room!

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Again, no before picture!  Apologies!

To place a custom furniture order or to purchase an existing piece or photography prints, please contact me at sageandbalm@gmail.com and I'll be happy to assist you!  You can also follow Sage & Balm on Facebook and at sageandbalm.com.

Pretty navy console table

I had this table for a little while and thought I knew what to do with it: it was going to be a "Van Goh" photo-art tribute of sorts, but the idea never panned out.  It wasn't looking like it suited the table in its original pale blue state.  Thankfully it only got as far as a coat of pale blue paint before I changed my mind and made it a deep, custom navy colour.  I wanted it simple, since the lines of the table were quite elegant.  So the pale blue colour was relgated to the drawer interior, and a new copper fixture against the navy colour made the table instantly classic.  After a coat of wax  and sealant, the table was ready for its new home (where I hope it is happy). *please excuse the poorer than usual photo quality as I used my phone to photograph this table before it sold*

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I cannot yet locate my "before" photo, so that will be added at another time.  Envision the table dark brown with an ugly, square silver fixture that was falling off!

To place a custom furniture order or to purchase an existing piece or photography prints, please contact me at sageandbalm@gmail.com and I'll be happy to assist you!  You can also follow Sage & Balm on Facebook and at sageandbalm.com.

A Compendium of Moody Florals

I have to admit that I have a slight obsession with shooting macro photos, and that is because my favourite photos to create of all time are moody florals! 

I started taking macro shots years ago (it was one of my first photographic loves!) and when I started to play around with exposure, I realized that I was liking my lower exposure florals better than the true-to-light exposures. Since then, I've tried countless ways to manipulate floral shots to make the shapes and lines draw more attention than the riotous colours that are typical of flowers. 

I think the enjoyment of these photos in particular is the juxtaposition of taking something quintessentially cheerful and showing that it can be just as beautiful when it's stripped down of its loud colours and deepened into a more romantic kind of portrait.  I'm a sucker for romance as well as abstract photos, so I have made many a moody floral over the years, and I love the magic that happens!   I hope you enjoy these moody florals as much as I do - of all the photos I've ever taken, these may be my all-time favourites!

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If you've enjoyed these photos (or any others featured on the blog), and would like to purchase a print, please contact me at sageandbalm@gmail.com and I'll be happy to assist you.  For sizes and price listing, please visit sageandbalm.com and look under the "services" tab.

Website updates

Just a quick note that I've been working on improving my website at http://sageandbalm.com/.  I've added new photos, updated my furniture, and tweaked what was absent from my policies and services.  Please check out the improved website and let me know what you think!  Happy Tuesday! :)

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