A Week FAT with Fun!

What a terrific week we’ve had here at The FAT Paint Company!!

The start of our week saw Brad and I drive up to Merritt, BC, where Laurie Jones-Turmel, our Southern Interior distributor and co-proprietor of The Furniture Reincarnators, hosted her first FAT Paint workshop. Heck, it was OUR first workshop too!

And what a wonderful (and large!) group of participants we had!!

Some great furniture and home decor pieces were brought as FAT Paint projects, and they left looking FAT-abulous!! Here are just a few:

This bench belongs to Colleen. She painted it in “Autumn”, a rich red with a very slight orange undertone. It looked great, but Colleen felt it needed something more. I suggested pulling out the orange undertone in the red by washing the bench (watered down paint, strategically ragged on and off) with our “Pumpkin”. The end result is wonderful, and Colleen LOVES it!!

 

This fantastic chippy table and distressed chair belong to Robyn.

Robyn started by painting the apron of her table in “Soap Stone”, a light black, and then “Autumn”. I believe the old table had an existing coat of white paint on the apron so when she distressed it, the table took on a wonderful chipped and aged look with its 3+ paint layers.

The same colours were used on her chair only with “Autumn” first, followed by “Soap Stone”. Robyn rubbed this with a sanding block in all the right places, revealing the red and wood and making this piece shabby-perfect!!

 

 

Blogger and vintage furniture/home decor collector & rehabber Diana from Vintage Cove brought what she believes is a little sewing table… and left with a “colouring desk” for her daughters! Diana painted this desk in our “Cream”, but made the desk even more special by painting the inside of the drawers in “Cashmere Pink”. She finished off the transformation with the cutest glass-flower drawer pulls! Needless to say, her daughters LOVE their new desk!!

To see more projects from the workshop, as well as a few project-befores, check out the Merritt Workshop Album found on our Facebook page.

And all that was just our Sunday!!

Let’s jump ahead to Friday, shall we

This is where I was on Friday evening: the Dublin Castle Neighbourhood Grill. Cool hey?! An honest-to-goodness fortress right here in New Westminster!

Robyn and Heidi from Robyn’s Vintage Nest have been so on the ball this past month… they helped to pull together over 20 New Westminster small businesses to participate in Canada’s Small Business Saturday (Canadian Federation of Independent Business [CFIB]) and then, hoping for our group to make a more long-lasting connection, organized a dinner-gathering.

So there we were, at the Dublin – not just because the food and atmosphere are terrific, but because they too were participating in Small Business Saturday! The Dublin’s owner, Chaya Katrensky, treated us wonderfully!! Who were we? Not everyone involved in our local SBS group could attend, but those who did were: Jenn from Brick + Mortar Living (A quaint little shop in the heart of historic downtown New Westminster that’s filled with local designs, unique gifts and nostalgia for the home), Jennifer of Mid-Century Modern HOME (a must see store for those who love mid-century modern design, located in New Westminster’s historic Antique Alley) Sue & Emily from Eden Accents (a new boutique style shop located in the Sapperton area of New Westminster, showcasing accents for the home and garden and highlighting local artisans), Urban Bliss Spa (also in the Sapperton area. Spa, spa, spa… need I say more?!), and of course Robyn & Heidi from Robyn’s Vintage Nest.

I’m so happy to have been included with this group of amazing New Westminster business women… and I’m sooooo looking forward to our future gatherings and collaborations!!

Then came Saturday and Robyn’s Vintage Nest’s Open House!!

When Robyn invited me to set up a FAT Paint display at her open house, I jumped at the opportunity to introduce our chalk-style paint to her customers!

Of course having our paint sit amongst Robyn’s absolutely gorgeous creations is a huge honour! An even bigger honour: Robyn will be using FAT Paint and FAT Wax on her treasures. We couldn’t be more excited then to have such an amazing artist using our products!!

Click on the photo below to navigate to an album on the Robyn’s Vintage Nest Facebook page that shares the lovely pieces Robyn had on sale at her Open House.

A photographer friend of Robyn’s also took some wonderful photos. See Sam Chua’s album HERE.

What a fantastic, successful day for Robyn and FAT Paint!!

And of course today – Sunday again. Today I spent the afternoon brainstorming great FAT Paint plans and goals with our South Surrey/Fraser Valley distributor Maris MacDonald of SemperNova!

Experiencing a week like the one we just had has made me excited for the week to come… starting with a meeting tomorrow with my biz-partner and brother, Bradford!!

Bring on the great stuff!!

When life gives you lemons… make FAT Paint!!

Life is unpredictable

Life is good and it’s bad, it’s sad and of course it’s happy, wonderful, joyous!

Sometimes – inexplicably – these emotions/experiences occur all in one day and confuse the hell out of us!

We each of us have our life stories... those individual happenings that make us who we are. Over the last couple of years my happenings have certainly been challenging for me, especially after I was diagnosed with a chronic auto-immune disease called Sarcoidosis. It has been extremely hard to not let the Sarc dictate how I live my life and how I feel about myself!

Lots of Lemons

Determined to affect some positive change in my life and to take better control of my health needs, I left my full-time job after10 years. Upon waking on that first job-free morning I felt wonderful, free... and very hopeful indeed!

A Little Lemonade

 

But like I said, life is unpredictable… I’d initiated change and change really wanted to happen! Specifically, change wanted my relationship. Or perhaps more to the truth: my relationship wanted a change. Regardless, change it has; Brian and I are separating.

 

Of course the end of our relationship means that we’ve sold our wonderful cottage in the city (we’ll move out in a few months)!

Much LOVE, time and energy went into the rehabilitation and renovation of our little house. We transformed it from top to bottom!!

My heart is twice broken!

 

 

Hundreds of Dozens of Lemons!!

Needless to say, it’s been a period of lemon-filled transition for me. There IS a sweetened flip side to all this drama though… and sugar-in-hand means that I can easily make loads of lemonade with my lemons!!

Or perhaps I should say that my lemons will make me lots of FAT Paint^TM!!

I am embracing transformation and the most fantastic thing about opening yourself up to change – about opening your eyes to the positive and the possibilities in life – is that opportunities present themselves!!

And what an opportunity I have! I’m so extremely excited!

So what the heck is FAT Paint™?

I’ll tell you all about it, including how my business partner (my brother Bradford) and I created FAT Paint™ (it’s an interesting story… really!) in my next post. In the mean time, drop over to the FAT Paint™ page here on Edin’s House to learn a little about our FAT-tastic paint … and head over and “like” our FAT Paint™ biz page on Facebook where you’ll find regular updates and highlighted projects!

You really DO want to come back and learn about FAT Paint!!

P.S. This weekend here in Canada we’re celebrating Thanksgiving. I give thanks for life’s experiences and the opportunity to experience MORE! I’m ever so thankful for my family – especially my son Matt and my brother Brad, the two most important people in my life!! And I can’t forget my sweet but high-energy girls, Kessie & Juno. LOL!

I really am in a wonderful, grateful place right now, anticipating with hope a future filled with love and the exciting adventure that new beginnings bring!

Happy Thanksgiving to you!!

It’s all in the Prep: Scout Market

Oh ya… just like all the vendors involved, we’re working super hard to prepare in time for the Scout Handmade + Vintage Market! We collecting and re-creating some vintage furniture, painting some art, preparing to send some graphic and painted art to the printers for reproduction, making pillows and sourcing other handmade or vintage home accessories that would work well in our Collection. Long and short of it… we’re stressed but having fun!!

We’re not the only ones busy in preparation for the Market ~ Lily & Rachel, the organizers of Scout Handmade + Vintage Market have been busting their behinds pulling in some fantastic sponsors for our market! Be sure to drop by their blog for a full list… and there’s a lot!

On the Friday night before market day – May 25th – Scout Market will be hosting a 1st Dibs evening of shopping, wine & cheese, live entertainment and more for a limited number of ticket holders and special guests. Again, check out the Scout Market blog for details :-)

As you can hopefully tell, I’m excited that ÉdinHome&Co will be participating in Scout Market!!

Now… back to work… projects are waiting for me!!

And here’s what I’m working on this weekend!

Thanks for dropping by, and for your continued support as we pull together The Édin Collection!!

Happy Friday!!!

ÉdinHome&Co goes to Market!

With excitement and enthusiasm… I have news to share! Two newses actually :-)

My first happy piece of news: ÉdinHome&Co (yep, that’s me!), in partnership with my brother Bradford, is creating a line of original photo & art prints, paintings, soft furnishings and other decor for the home: The Édin Collection! Currently we’re working to build our stock, after which we’ll open an Etsy shop and ply are wares! Watch for both regular updates on our progress and sneak peaks of our unique pieces right here on Édin’s House!

 

 

Drop by DTTD imagine.design.create – the new blog I share with Kelly James from JAX Decor & Design – if you’d like to see a little more of this pretty ‘n pink blossoms painting.

 

 

 

 

My second happy news… made official at midnight 03/15/12 (just a few hours ago!) ÉdinHome&Co was invited to be one of 50 vendors at the Scout Handmade + Vintage Market, taking place May 25th & 26th in Abbottsford! SH+VM is the latest in a series of extremely successful markets hosted by the fabulous Lily & Rachel from Birch + Bird Vintage Home Interiors, and we’re honoured to be selected – through a juried process no less(!) – to be involved!

And YES, we’ll be officially launching The Édin Collection there!

Again, drop in to Édin’s House from time-to-time for posts sharing bits and bobs on our preparations for the market. Truth: I’ve never done anything like this before so be sure to share your ideas and advise!!

Dreaming of Spring!

Happy Friday :-)

I hate to even repeat this out of a fear that sharing will make it real, but today’s weather forecast is calling for heavy rain with a chance of snow flurries (YUCK!!) and gusting winds. I don’t mind rain. Heck; I live in BC’s lower mainland… I’d better not mind the rain! And gusting winds? I enjoy a good storm, so bring it on!!

But snow flurries? NO! Please don’t let it snow!!

Thank goodness I’m settled next to the fireplace in my living room. Nice and cozy!

Better yet… sitting on my mantle, helping me to imagine the coming Spring season… TULIPS!

Hanging behind my lovely, happy tulips… my much-loved Matt LeBlanc Abstract Art original, a piece he painted during his Art for Life Campaign: creating 200 paintings in 184 days, with all profits from sales going toward the fight against cancer (Matt raised $38,000 for the cause!). Leaning next to the painting, the ResinArt I created with a photo taken by my friend Sheila Barriault (4Ever Sun Photography).

I hope you enjoy my spring inspired mantle as much as I do!!

Have a terrific weekend!!