secret revealed!

Hello abode lovers and happy Monday! Today I am super excited to share my first piece of art for my new shop, Laurel Dawn coming in early November! This is a piece that I painted for my little abode and I think I love it. I've always painted flowers, and I needed something for this little nook-- which is kind of where Laurel Dawn began... 

This piece is an original acrylic and oil pastel on raw, loose canvas. I love the raw edges-- I will be offering this original piece as a print, so get excited!

I've been somewhat taunting my dear abode lovers with Laurel Dawn paintings as well as this super secret project that I've been working on slowly but surely- and today is the day for the big reveal (for one project at least!) 

See, I had this nook.... I mean, when we first moved into this abode-- I loved it. I thought this nook was the best. It was the perfect spot to pay bills and store things. Then reality hit. This became a landing spot for SO much crap and it always looked bad. One more thing-- the upper cabinet wasn't fastened securely to the wall and the dang shelves couldn't hold much without collapsing. Major skankfest. So-- what's a girl to do??

Knock that skank-ness out. 

And then order something fabulous from Restoration Hardware to fill in the nook! 

I caught this guy on sale-- It's the Vintage Industrial Steel Cabinet from Restoration Baby & Child.  It was certainly a splurge-- as RH always is... but I NEVER buy anything full price. The great thing to know about Restoration Hardware is that they are ALWAYS running specials. Either 20% off family and friends discounts that I receive via their email mailing list OR my favorite, for every $500 you spend you get $100 back! 

I thought this piece would be great for the space because it offers a TON of storage, it's super industrial looking-- and since it's in a gold, metallic nook I figured that the more masculine I could get-- the better. 

I also think that this piece has a long life ahead of it. Not only is it great for storage, but one day, I can use it for a tv or possibly even clothing storage in a kid room. I think this piece is pretty amazing.  

I then decided to top it with a Laurel Dawn original framed in lucite bolted together with small gold bolts. MY FAVORITE! This adds a bit of feminine prettiness to the now very masculine nook. Can you tell I've been digging flowers lately??? I'm still a bit obsessed with my Anthropologie Glorias Garden rug. 

After filling in holes, spackling and sanding like a crazy person then finally painting-- I wanted to bring more light to this nook-- so I added this picture light that I snagged from Lowes on the cheap! I love that it highlights the metallic paint used in the artwork, I also love all of the extra light that it brings to this little nook. 

Here's the entire nook, finished! (Please try to ignore the boob light reflection in my artwork... I have big plans for what I'm going to do with the lighting situation in this nook!)

I added some much needed accessories that I collected from around the abode as well as taking a little trip to Target for the mini trophy and white ceramic pup (sorry! I couldn't find the pup online!) 

I love having a stash of pens and pencils in this nook because I still store paperwork and bills in this area. I also added a great photo of Mister Husband and his dad on our wedding day and a photo from WAY back in college-- and yes, I was wearing a tube top, those were the days.

Since I was moving this bird lamp (snagged from TJ Max YEARS ago) up in the world... I figured I should fancy up the inside of the shade. I bought this piece of gold metallic paper from Hobby Lobby, cut it into easy to handle strips and glue gunned each piece inside the shade.

 See? Much better.

Here's a shot with the lights on-- the new lampshade interior creates a warm, golden cast downward onto the little birdie.  

For now, I just have books and boxes inside the storage piece-- I really love the look of the mesh screens and it holds SO much stuff! 

So-- now all of you abode lovers know exactly what I've been up to! I have been painting for my Laurel Dawn art shop and creating this little nook! I have a few more things on my wish list to finish out this space, I'll keep all of you posted on any changes! I also can't wait to share a few more sneak peeks of more of my artwork before I officially launch my store!