@refunkmyjunk
Helping you Refunk your furniture and home one piece at a time! Exclusive retailer for CeCe Caldwell's Chalk & Clay paints and Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint
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 5 Ways To Add Flair to your Furniture |
 Metallic Silver Dresser: Before & After |
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 Featured in Design Oklahoma |
I Got Jacked! Or Also Known As How A Student Stole My $1000 Camera
I have been debating if I should write this post. Will I open up a can of negative worms if I do? I want Refunk My Junk to be a positive place to come, get inspired, share tips, tricks, and ideas, and be a forum for DIY opinions and products knowledge. But owning your own business and DIYing furniture is not all roses and fairy wings. Sometimes it’s ugly, nasty, and just plain scary.
This past Saturday I held a workshop and my camera was stolen by a student in the workshop. Yes, my brand new Nikon D5100 with a special lens, professional memory card, and awesome chevron camera strap. I set the camera down prior to the class starting and by the time 10am rolled around, we started doing class introductions, it was gone.
My Mom felt like it was stolen. I wanted to believe that I had just set it down in a weird place. So I proceeded to tear everything apart for the entire 4 hours of the class, attempting to act calm in front of everyone, while holding back tears. Deep down I knew it was stolen. But I didn’t want to believe that someone would do that to me. Especially someone who took a class from me. When someone can afford to pay almost $200.00 for a furniture painting workshop it’s not like they are from the low-end of society. As soon as everyone left I proceeded to cry on my Mom’s shoulder in disbelief. I still didn’t want to believe it was true.
I decided to file a police report in case the person who stole it tried to pawn it. That way the serial numbers would be on file. My Mom had her suspicions of who in the class took it. I just wasn’t sure and still didn’t want to believe it. But when we gave that person’s name to the officer, they pulled her criminal record, and there was the proof in black & white. She had felony charges dating back to 1975 until 2003 of burglary, theft, and credit card fraud. I was shocked.
This woman looked me in the eye, stole my camera, and then proceeded to sit in the front row and take a 4.5 hour furniture painting class from me!
I have a picture of the person, their address, phone number, and even text messages from this woman. I am not going to post them because this is not intended to publicly embarrass her. (But she is in this Facebook photo I posted on my page. Can you guess who it is? Nope. Didn’t think so.)
Yes, I hope she gets caught. Yes, I pray I get my camera back. I hope she reads this post, feels terrible, and returns it to me. But I am not trying to publicly humiliate her.
I am writing this so that you know that I will not let this person steal anything more than my camera. It won’t steal the joy I get from teaching classes. I didn’t let it steal my Mother’s Day. I won’t let her steal my belief that most people are good.
But I will keep my eyes more open in the future. So, when you see my blog, and the photos are from my iPhone and not beautiful, professional looking, magazine worthy photos, you know why.
I have to save up another $1000.00 to buy another camera. It will take me some time but I won’t let her, and her bad decision, ruin this blog or my business.
Have you been jacked by someone too? Was it hard to not allow them to steal your joy too? Tell me I’m not alone and join my pity party by leaving a comment. No more negative posts, I promise, I just had to get it out and I knew ya’ll would understand.
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April’s Furniture Painting Class Recap
Who’s ready to soak in a bunch of mahvelous furniture before & after’s from this month’s furniture painting class?
Let’s get to it!
Durenda brought this shabby and not so chic end table that had it’s fair share of water marks.
She revamped it using Alaskan Tundra Green and Copper Metallic Pigments. Love this combo!
Tammy brought this little two-tone table. (Say that fast five times!)
She used Johnston Daffodil, Clear Wax, and her new found distressing skills.
Theresa brought this sofa table that had seen better days.
Her Spring Hill Green makeover did not disappoint.
Look at those legs! Rwrowrrr!
Kristine had this coffee table laying around from a garage sale.
She had fun refunking it using Johnston Daffodil and Clear Wax mixed with Copper Pigments.
Bren scored this amazing chest of drawers off of Craigslist for $100.00. I love all of the detail and our whole class was fawning over this one!
I mean, look at the transformation!
Karen lugged this old bookcase into class.
And kept it simple with conservative distressing, Smokey Mountain Grey, and Clear Wax. A simple yet effective project that I secretly wanted to take home with me!
Rima is a talented permanant makeup artist and now she can add talented furniture painter to her resume as well!
She used Seattle Mist and metallic silver pigments in her Clear Wax.
Here she is Refunking away! And I secretly have a crush on her awesome blue hair! I wish I could get away with something fun like that!
Lynda had this traditional Duncan Phyfe end table.
She was able to turn it up a notch using Destin Gulf Green.
It was such a beautiful day we were able to eat lunch in the courtyard at The Fine Arts Institute and we also set our pieces of furniture outside to dry while we chatted and got a dose of Vitamin D. Aren’t they CUTE?
Thanks for being such an awesome group!
If you are wanting to snag a spot in one of our upcoming workshops there are still a few seats left in our Showplace Market Workshop! You can sign up by clicking here.
See at next month’s class!
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Furniture Painting Workshop Recap {March 2013}
It’s that time of the month again! Ok, that sounded like something my husband would say to me when I am in a bad mood. No, not THAT time of the month but it is time for our monthly furniture painting workshop recap post!
Everyone loves seeing all of the before and after shots of the furniture makeovers, so I never get tired of posting workshops. Even after teaching over 200 student I still love to see all of the ladies (and an occasional gentlemen) face light up when they see their finished product. So let’s get right to it!
Kyle brought this adorable Gossip Bench to Refunk.
After two coats of California Gold it had a little more personality and much more gossiping in it’s future.
Courtney brought this repurposed vanity. She had sawed it apart, made a new top and was ready to make it into two nightstands. Genius!
She did one layer of Virginia Chestnut and a second layer of Destin Gulf Green.
Look at the transformation! She also gets bonus points for wearing her Junk Hippy Roadshow t-shirt to class.
Ellen brought a mid-century inspired end table.
A few coats of Alaskan Tundra Green made it brand new!
Janice brought this coffee table she purchased at an antique store. It wasn’t really her style but she knew it had potential.
Boy was she right! Memphis Blue gave it a whole new look that was much more fitting for her home.
Dana brought an old bookcase. Look at those curves. Ow!
She used Traverse City Cherry
Michael brought this old gal who needed some love.
She gave her a makeover using Destin Gulf Green and Silver Metallic pigment tinted clear wax. I have never used that combo before but I wanted to take it home.
What a great group of fun and talented ladies! Sometimes I think they inspire me more than I inspire them!
If you are wanting to learn how to Refunk your own junk there is still one opening in our April 6th Furniture Painting class. You can reserve your spot here.
We are also hosting a special Mother’s Day Weekend Class at Showplace Market with lunch provided by Tealicious Tea Room! What a fun way to spend time with your Momma!
New Workshop Dates & New Colors!
Argh! For some reason my camera is NOT communicating with my computer! I have some suhweet furniture Before and Afters to show you! But a quick announcement about CeCe Caldewell’s Limited Edition Colors and our 2nd Quarter workshops dates will have to do!
Have you seen the new Limited Edition Colors in the CeCe Caldwell’s Paint line? To. Die. For.
Chesapeake Blue is a soft blue with periwinkle undertones.
And Emerald Isle is a luxurious Emerald that has a little bit of Wizard of Oz and a little bit of Pantone’s 2013 Emerald. It’s the perfect green for any decor. I just completed a project in this mixed with Metallic Copper Pigments. It has turned into a piece of furniture that I am having a hard time selling. Seriously Griffith household material.
I have also published my April – July Workshop Schedule that you can find here.
I am adding a few night classes in May including a 2-hour All About Milk Paint class! I just hosted one today at Feathered Nest and it was soooo fun!
Hope a bunch of updates on the activities around here will tie you over until I get my camera and my computer back on speaking terms.
Furniture Painting Workshop Recap {Refunking 101}
I can’t wait to share with you all of the awesome before & afters from this month’s furniture painting workshop! Like always, we were blessed to have a super fun, talented, and hilarious group of gals for the class. So let’s get right to it!
Misti brought this cool harvest table and painted it CeCe Caldwell’s California Gold. This picture doesn’t do it justice because it is in the middle of drying. But she really brought it back to life and also brought it out of the garage after sitting there for 10 years. I’m so excited for her to enjoy this piece of furniture again!
Susan, the mastermind and decorating genius behind Staged By Susan brought a beat up old chair to learn some new techniques on.
She chose CeCe Caldwell’s Carolina Sun Yellow and since this piece was in the middle of drying too, I wasn’t able to capture the final product. Rats!
Susan’s daughter, Jessica, brought this stool she had owned since she was a child. Aw! Love that!
Using CeCe Caldwell’s Santa Fe Turquoise and Bronze Pigments she refunked this stool into something she will continue to love.
Holly brought this garage sale find. But I didn’t get an after pic. I always seem to miss someone!
Holly’s mamma brought this table she laying around and transformed it using CeCe Caldwell’s Alaskan Tundra Green.
Again, no photo. I am slacking!
Lavone brought this adorable table.
She looks a little unsure about the finished product, but I think it turned out simply mahvelous! She used Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint in Tricycle Red.
Lavone’s daughter-in-law, Kristy dragged this table out of the cobwebs to revive. (PS: What an awesome Mother-In-Law to arrange for the two of them to take the workshop together! Lavonne, if you want another adopted Daughter-In-Law, call me!)
Kristy rocked her new table and felt empowered after it was done! Can you tell?
Deborah from the The Tickle Me Pink Boutique in Tuttle brought this mess-up table she had attempted to spray paint orange. For the record, I didn’t think it looked that bad!
She used CeCe Caldwell’s Traverse City Cherry and Clear Wax tinted with Vermont Slate to transform this table. Way to go Lavone for using your new wax tinting skills in class! I love the outcome of this and it was secretly my favorite of the day.
Deborah also brought her daughter in law Kasey. Kasey had a ho-hum table to refunk for the day.
And look at the result! Ok, this one was a close 2nd to the class favorite. This garage sale find turned into an expensive, custom looking piece of furniture for her home! Ta Da! Way to go!
Jana the creative genius behind Red Dirt Junk Chick brought a French provincial end table and used Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint in Tricycle Red.
She really had some great chippiness.
The ladys worked hard but had fun. And a little fun fact we learned, thanks to Misti’s pedometer, is we burned 724 calories during the class! I knew there was a reason I don’t workout! Ha!
Thank you ladies for a wonderful class and all of the hugs you gave me when it was over! You gals make my job worth it!
If you want to enroll for our upcoming March 16th class you can click here. There are only 3 spots remaining for the class so it will be booked before you know it!
You can also see some of our past workshops here.
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Saturday’s Furniture Painting Workshop {A Refunk Recap}
What a mahvelous group of Refunkers we had at this past Saturday’s Furniture Painting Workshop! Here is a quick recap of all of the before & afters of the furniture painting projects we tackled in the class!
Here is Brandy’s treasure she brought to class. Her and her mother and sister drove from Weatherford to attend our class and they were just the most adorable group!
Here is Brandy’s after of her project! She painted with CeCe Caldwell’s Maine Harbor Blue – I just love this color and she did an amazing job! Woot woot! Go Lori!
Brandy’s Mamma, Janice brought this table, which had an unfortunate accident with a Bath & Body Works Scented Plugin just like I did! {*sniff, sniff* I feel your pain Janice!}
She transformed this cast off into an expensive looking piece with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint using the color Typewriter. It was breathtaking to see the transformation and I love the end result!
Christi brought this old gal back to life with a couple of different techniques!
She first painted it using Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paints Tricycle.
After the Milk Paint started to chip and flake away she decided she wasn’t loving the chippy look. Which is okay, it’s not for everyone! Luckily all we had to do was paint over it in a coat of CeCe Caldwell’s Vermont Slate. It looked really gorgeous after some distressing. You could see some of the Tricycle peeking through, which gave it an authentically worn look. LOVE!
Lori brought this Estate Sale find. It was already cute, but looking a little shabby and not as much chic.
Lori chose Young Kansas Wheat to refunk her piece.
She did a fab job and now she has a piece of furniture she will adore in her home for years to come!
Kim from Newcastle, OK brought an old end table that had been banished to an unused room in her house.
Using Omaha Ochre she is took this table from a cast off to an end table she will now display front and center in her living room!
Neal from Altus, OK brought this bench that a dear friend who had passed away left him.
Neal is a talented florist, decorator, and kept our class in stitches from his hilariousness!
With a little bit of Santa Fe Turquoise and a lot of love he was able to memorialize his friend.
Peggy from Altus brought this awesome antique ironing board/chair.
After apply just one coat of Miss Mustard Seed’s Ironstone she decided she loved the washed look. I totally agree and it now looks like a true piece of art!
Judy and her BFF/partner in crime Mary came to the class together. Judy own Antique Avenue in OKC (um, have you been in that store and seen all of the to-die for vintage jewelry they carry?) and brought this neat shelf to refunk.
She chose Spring Hill Green and did a heavy distressing technique. (without the heavy work!)
I think this was my favorite transformation of the day, but it’s hard to say because I love them all!
Mary brought this old gal to bring back to life.
Isn’t she a cutie-patootie? Look at those tennis shoes! Her and Judy have been best friends for over 30 years and I hope me and my bestie grow up to be just like them.
Using Traverse City Cherry this piece is brand new!
We all had a wonderful time laughing and learning together!
Thank you ladies for blessing me with the opportunity to meet each one of you! If this group is anything like the classes for the remainder of 2013, then I can’t wait to see what is ahead!
Plus, after some quick math I realized I have professional taught over 200 women and men how to refunk and refinish their furniture! What the heck? I can’t believe it!
If can learn more about our furniture painting workshops by clicking here. We only have a few reservations left for February’s class!
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Now Booking For February’s Workshop! {Oklahoma Furniture Painting Classes}
2012 hasn’t even ended and we are already booked up for January’s Painting Furniture Class!
So if learning how to Refunk your own Junk is on your New Year’s Resolutions list then please hop on it! These seats are selling out fast! Plus, I know several gals who had a Workshop Gift Certificate for our famous classes under their tree this Christmas, so I don’t want you to be disappointed by having to reserve your spot wayyyy later in the year. You can see our Painting Furniture Class schedule and reserve your spot by clicking here.
If you haven’t heard about our Refunking 101: Furniture Make & Take Painting Class then let me fill you in!
Our All Day Furniture Refunking Workshops are hosted at The Edmond Fine Arts Institute in historic downtown Edmond, Oklahoma.
Our Furniture Painting class is like no other you have ever experienced! You preselect any color available in the CeCe Caldwell’s Paints or Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paints lines you will learn aging, distressing, and old world finishing techniques, as well as proper finishing with waxes to create a durable, gorgeous finish. You will also learn additional advanced furniture painting techniques like tinting waxes and custom color mixing as well as tons of furniture painting tips and tricks to help you save time, money, and allow you to tap into your creativity and become more efficient in the process! You simply bring a piece of furniture and we provide the rest! Including a catered lunch, snacks, and drinks. Allison and her assistant instruct the class with a hands-on approach and will be available to answer any questions you have during the class including questions on starting a furniture painting business, pricing, and junk hunting! It is a day that you won’t want to miss!
But don’t take my word for it; here is what some of our past students have said:
“So helpful!! I had been wanting to paint my dining table and chairs and did not know where to start, so when I discovered Allison was giving classes I enrolled and since then have painted several pieces. She shared so many great tips and sent home a folder that I still refer to. I am considering taking another class after the first of the year!!!” Daphne – Binger, Ok
“Allison, I can’t say enough about the workshop!! I have created so many beauties and had so much fun. Your workshop was my springboard into a whole new approach to refinishing furniture. You gave us short cuts and shared your secrets. I love your blog and have learned so much from venturing out to the other blogs you follow.” Dianna Johnston, CFOD (compulsive furniture obsessive disorder)
“Loved your class! Had a blast. I have “refunked” since taking your class and I used what I learned!” Kelli – Oklahoma City, OK
“I absolutely loved your class. I have done several projects since my class and they turned out perfect. Thanks for teaching us all of your secrets.” Dara – Edmond, OK
You can also view some of our past furniture painting workshops and classes here. Or, if you are ready to reserve your own spot you can sign up here!
See you in 2013!
Want more Refunk My Junk?
You can Sign Up to receive my posts in your Inbox, Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest! Only 8,347 other people are doing it, why not you?
2013 Workshop Schedule is Up!
If you have been itching to enroll in a workshop, but haven’t been able to secure your spot, then you are in luck! We have just finalized our 1st Quarter 2013 Workshop Schedule! You can click here to view the class line-up!
You can view some of our previous workshops by clicking here. Or you can purchase a Workshop Gift Certificate here!
See you in 2013!
Want a Workshop Spot in 2012?
There are only a few seats left in the workshops remaining in 2012… Ya better get on it if you want a spot!
This Saturday’s Workshop has just had 1 spot open up!
Saturday October 27th has 4 Seats Available
Saturday November 10th only has 2 Seats Left!
And our Advanced Workshop still has a few seats left too!
You can see some of our past furniture paint class Before & Afters by clicking here.
Can’t make it in 2012? I am already working on 2013 workshop dates! We are also putting together our super cute Workshops Gift Certificates just in time for Christmas!
{Don’t you think Santa would be smart if he left one in your stocking?}
Some Tuesday Workshop B&A
Today is my last day in the corporate world of banking. So I am taking a break from cleaning my office to post some long over due Workshop pics from March. YES, March! It’s shameful really. Now that I will be Refunking full-time after tomorrow, I am going to focus more on this little bloggy blog. So savor these moments of me, not shoving before and after pics in your face. M’kay?
Let’s get down to some B&A ( B&A = Before & Afters… which is much better than T&A. I won’t go into what T&A means. Sorry, I sometimes tweet my blog posts to my pastor, and I don’t think he would appreciate the adult referances, do you?)
This workshop was supposed to be my last latex workshop, because in February I fully converted to using ALL CeCe Caldwell’s and I just can’t bring myself to use latex again. So I gave everyone the opportunity to choose which paint they would use. And guess what they all chose? CECEs! Smart group of gals!
Here is Jamie with this amazeballs settee that she purchased at a garage sale. It was to die for. Every single one of us drooled over it the entire class. I was concerned one of the workshop ladies was going to try to take her down in the alley, behind the Edmond Fine Arts Institute, just to get their hands on it. But everyone behaved.
After in Carolina Sun Yellow 
Megan got this jewelry chest for FREE from her future Mother-In-Law. That’s a pretty cool MIL in my book.
Loving the bold Santa Fe Turquoise Choice!
Rhonda painted this telephone table, chair combo. I love a two-fer-one dealio on furniture!
Christin bought this bad boy at a Wall’s Bargain Center. And if your not familiar with these type of stores it is like Wal-Marts less classy brother. But that also means you can get some really good deals!
It was originally supposed to be a wine cabinet but she repurposed it into a TV Cabinet.
Charlotte brought this curvy & cute table. I just loved the detailing.
Susan & Carrie drove all the way from Claremore, OK to come to class! And they made a weekend of it by shopping and staying at a hotel in downtown OKC. What a fun girls weekend!
Susan’s Table
It was a great workshop and so fun to share my passion of working with CeCe’s ALL GREEN, No VOCs, no sanding, or priming! I do still have 1 spot in this Saturday, June 16th’s workshop. If you would like to reserve your spot email me at allison@refunkmyjunk.com and I will get you in! And even though we use CeCe’s in class we also discuss latex techniques, preparation, protection, sanding (yuck!), and all of my handy tips and tricks that I use to make my life easier and save me tons of time! So email me and sign up!
Until next workshop… Happy Painting!
