Behind the Paint | Next Stop on the DIY Blog Tour

Sharing is caring!

When I started blogging two years ago, I had no idea how social blogland would be.  I thought it would just always be me, sitting at my computer, throwing out my ideas to “you” out there but never really connecting with anybody through it.  Boy, was I wrong!

Blogland has been a fun place for me to explore and has given me the chance to “meet” some really neat people.  It’s true that I have never seen any of my fellow bloggers or readers face to face (except for a few of your local guys), but there still has been a connection built as we share our stories and similar passions.

One of the lovely ladies I have met is Diane of An Extraordinary Day.  Her blog is filled with beautiful ideas–inspirational posts, great DIY projects, and though-provoking stories. I was very honored last week when Diane shared about my little corner of blogland on her site, and invited me to join her in a backstage DIY blog tour that has been going on this summer.

So now, the blog tour has made it’s stop here, and it’s my turn now to share with you a little more about Lost & Found.What am I currently working on?

Last week I started tackling this great pair of antique chairs.So far, one has been stripped down to its upholstery “undies” and the top has been recovered.  I decided to actually not paint the frame on these lovely chairs (can you believe it?) because their wood carving is just so beautiful.

I can tell by the subtle inconsistencies in the carving that it was hand done, and I was afraid that any paint pooling or filling in cracks on the frame would cover up the difference in those tiny little carvings and take away from their uniqueness.

How Does My Work Differ From Others in My Genre?

When I started blogging, I had no idea that there were a gazillion other furniture flipping, antique-store dealing blogs out there.  I just wanted to blog because I like to write, and I thought it would be a free way to advertise my business.

As I uncovered more and more home DIY blogs, I started to worry whether mine was good enough, or I’d be concerned if I didn’t seem to be posting the same type of projects as all of my peers. But after trying to be a copycat for a few months, I decided to heck with it, and to just keep doing and writing what I liked.

So I think one way in which my work differs from others is the scope of furniture projects I take on–not just dressers and chests, but also dining sets, cabinets, and even some re-upholstery. Also, I like trying lots of new kinds of paint and techniques, it helps keep me interested in the process 🙂 Unlike many other DIY home bloggers, I don’t write much or share many photos of my home or projects I am doing for my own house.  The main reason is that I honestly don’t spend a lot of my financial resources on my own home;  most of the excess that I have to spend goes into my business or into our family savings.

We live on a modest one-income budget, and I don’t have the resources to do a lot of the things around my home that I would like. So instead of feeling like I somehow had to make my home pretty enough to fit into the DIY blog world, I decided to focus more of my writing on how I run my small business. I am a very big fan of running a home-based business, so sharing the things I have learned about how to pull that off has become a major purpose of this blog.  If I can inspire other women, particularly mothers, to use their creative skills to start their own small business, I consider that a great privilege.

Why do I create?

I enjoy the process of making old things new, finding a good deal, and discovering ways to decorate on a dime.  I started Lost & Found as a way to have an outlet for those creative energies, with a hope that it might make a little money along the way!  Lost & Found February 2012and now! September 2014

Overall, the antique-dealer business has been good to me (good enough to fund a trip to Disney world in a few weeks!), and so I continue on with it now in hopes that it may continue to grow to the point that one day, I might have my own little shop. That seems like a total pipe dream right now, but you never know!

How Does Your Creative Process Work?

I am the first to admit that I am a horribly unorganized blogger. I don’t plan ahead what I will write or have some sort of schedule I try to follow.  Honestly, the idea of that bores me.

I write about what is on my heart and mind at the moment, or what is filling up my garage!  I write to share with you helpful tips for your own DIY projects, but also to share with you more personal parts of my life.

I like to get to know the whole person, so if I’m a reader I want to read every once in awhile about the person behind the pretty pictures.  That is why I’ve taken the time to share about my family, my struggles with postpartum depression, my running goals, and the struggles of my family in dealing with sudden loss.I know those posts may not generate the highest traffic, but I feel that it’s important to give you snippets of the “real” me.

It’s so easy to read a blog and think that the person writing it must have it all together to be able to pull off all of their projects!  I want to share and write in a way that is honest and personable so that my readers can know that’s definitely not the whole story–most of the time I am just as scattered as anyone else!

So that’s a little behind-the-paint tour of me and Lost & Found. I hope you enjoyed taking a few sneak peeks behind the curtain 🙂

I want to introduce you now to the next stop on our tour of blogland:Revived by Delia

Delia is a full-time working mom who fills the gaps in her spare time turning castaway furniture into fun, bold pieces worthy of a new life.  She prides herself in thinking outside the box – replacing furniture blemishes with character while maintaining the integrity it’s maker intended.     Sweet Delia was one of my very first followers and has been an encouragement many times to me along this blog journey.  So please be sure to pop on over to her site, and next Monday the 15th, read her backstage tour.

Thanks for riding along with me today 🙂