Rustic Coffee Table by Ultrim

Isn't this rustic coffee table fun? I love the extra storage cubbies on all sides AND that it is on casters. I like being able to move my furniture around with ease. Our space is smaller so we often need to shift things around for events. (Well, face it…when I say events I mean movie watching with friends or having my youth group over. We aren't the hip hosting type—yet.)

All that being said, we don't get to keep it the table. Adam and Nick made this as a spec piece and sent it to Kansas City where Adam's sister Heidi has it in a booth for sale. It's very sturdy and made from good wood so I hope it does well.

If you are interested in having something like this made for you in any color or stain—contact me (or Adam if you have that info). I can send price and dimensions.

Everything is Not Awesome

For about 4 years I've had this GREAT business idea of selling wooden cake stands. I've done a copious amount of sketching and research—and then at last, Adam obtained the right kind of power tools through Ultrim, so we could FINALLY undertake one my more simple stand ideas. You know, just to see if we LIKED producing these lovelies. (And if we still liked one another at the end.)

A lot has been learned. I hate sanding. I understand why a good filler is important. Sometimes exact measurements are not best. Paint does NOT fill in gaps. I love the paint gun—I despise cleaning it. A real painting booth would be worth the investment. Soon, it became evident the storage space needed and overhead costs were also not optimal.

I hoped this would be an enjoyable husband and wife hobby. Turns out our schedules didn't match up for this kind of thing. The discovery of this was the saddest part of our experiment.

I put the stands on my Etsy site with custom size options— and then I made a sale (yay?) I found myself resisting the very thought of filling the order. And realized—the dream had died. And no particle of me wanted to make another stand.

Panicked, and wanting to provide the best experience for my customer I placed a call to my intelligent father and explained the situation. Do I buy all new materials just to fill the order even though it wouldn't be cost effective? Do I cancel with a lame apology? After some thought he suggested I refund the money and offer a discount on other items in my shop. Feeling much better about this option, I notified the customer (within hours of her purchase) and sent her a coupon code.

So, while this business idea was well on its way to becoming awesome…it was not. So, go ahead and steal it if you would like. Maybe for you, everything will be awesome!

Colorful Birthday

As much as I like entertaining and planning…I've been quite burnt out lately from other life duties. I couldn't think of a thing to do for my 34th birthday. So instead, I decided we could go somewhere else and let someone else do the entertaining!

Groupon coupons to a painting class at Texas-U-Can-Paint were the key this year! All materials are provided and the class learns how to paint the SAME thing, step by step. It is for people who have never picked up a paint brush or probably drawn anything. Ever. (These businesses are opening up everywhere, just like ceramic painting did about twelve years ago.)

Guests can bring their own treats and drinks. Dafni had a few bottles from work which she filled with grape juice. So we enjoyed sipping from stemware as we created our master pieces, (the teacher made all kinds of drinking jokes…Snicker. Snicker.) At least we could act loud and silly and no one would know the difference!

The guys really got focused. They stood up and swiped paint back and forth like it was an intense exercise.

"Hmmm, does my tree look alright? I mean, I want it to show my creative ability and originality as a budding artist…."

Maybe we should slow down on the "drinking"…..nah.

It's common to keep famous artists' painting palettes; you can see deep into their painting and thought process. Here are ours.

Dafni, Anna
Adam, Brandon

Can you see our souls?

Adam and Brandon get points for following directions most closely. I like Dafni's, it has a certain kind of style. And mine? I am a tight…ahem, arse...when I paint…I need to loosen up.

Oh, and the best part. I had been eyeballing this $10 dollar wine glass wondering how I could afford, or perhaps even duplicate such a beauty, when to my surprise it was awarded to me as a birthday present from Texas-U-Can-Paint! Isn't that so very nice of them?

I walked out of the studio, leaving it behind…hoping no one would notice. But the teacher caught me at the door, "Where's your beautiful birthday present!?"
"Oh," I exclaimed looking at my hands as if surprised I wasn't carrying it. "I totally forgot. Let me go get it!"
And off I scurried to claim my prize a second time.
It hit the trash as soon as I got home.

We had planned to go to a nearby grocery store where there were tables to eat the birthday pie (homemade coconut cream). But we left the painting class too late. Instead we climbed into the back of our SUV, sang happy birthday, and ate! Again, passers by must have thought we were drunk.

For not wanting to plan anything, this turned out fun and memorable!
Here's a little vid. Password: birthday
AnnaBirthday2 from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

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