Exciting News – Teaching at Haven

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you had a brilliant weekend. Today is a holiday and the kids are on school vacation so I’m happy to have the entire week with them. This mama loves when her boys are home 😉

Work on our ceilings starts this week too so wish us luck for that. If you missed that post, you can read more about it here.

So, I have some exciting news to share…

This August, I’ll be in Atlanta for the Haven Blog Conference to teach!  

Do you know what Haven is?  It is a large blog conference for DIY and home bloggers to connect with brands and each other. A safe place to share concerns and to learn new things. All different areas are covered from hands on techniques, DIY, SEO, WordPress, social media, writing books, how to improve your photography.

What will I be teaching?

Who Will I Be Teaching With?

Some of you may have already seen this come into your inbox.  When I saw it my heart was in my throat.  This is the first time in my life I’ll be teaching a class on painted furniture techniques, but I won’t be alone, I’m teaching this class with my dear and very talented friend Rachel, who blogs over at Shades of Blue Interiors:

Rachel and I have been friends for a very long time.  We started chatting online about furniture when we started our blogs and I used to drool over Rachel’s creations from afar.  She is such a talented artist and a beautiful friend.  Two years ago Rachel and I met at Haven. We roomed together and were up ’til 2am talking about painting and stains and techniques. Can you believe that?  She’s a night owl and I’m a morning person but the power of paint stuck us together. We are kindred spirits.

You can see us at the conference here with our friend Lucy.  This was actually snapped just after I arrived:

So what can you expect from our class? We’ll be teaching classic weathered and natural finishes. We both love the look of furniture “found” that way.  Created finishes that were always on the pieces. I will be showing how to get this faux galvanized finish I did on our sofa table. The top is wood but painted to look like metal:

We’ll also be sharing more about tinted waxes and dry brushing.

Rachel has already shared an amazing video of that on her blog.

I am so excited to be teaching with Rachel.  My husband asked me if I was nervous and I think I’m nervous no one will want to take our class, but not to teach.  I did my undergraduate degree in theater and my masters in Film & Television Production so I don’t get nervous about talking to people.  Rachel is just so funny too. She tells jokes and tears stream down my face, so I know it will be so much fun. We’re excited to share techniques that we use and love in our own homes.

If you’d like to sign up for Haven, you can do so here.

I’ve actually learned so much from so many bloggers I’ve looked up to and followed for years.  I shared my Haven experiences, my first year:

I remember being a little overwhelmed by the end of this one as it was my first blog conference ever and I had learned so much information over the weekend.

And my second year:

It really is such a great conference and I’ve learned so much from the sessions and also from chatting to other bloggers at night over french fries and cocktails. I switched to WordPress after my first Haven and learned about Lightroom from Beth Bryan over at Unskinny Boppy and she’ll also be teaching that amazing course this year!

They are also doing Haven Mentors this year which I think is going to be so great where you get one on one time with a mentor and blogger you look up to.  It’s going to be so fun. If  you’re still “on the fence” about going I think you should.  If you go, please find me to say hi!!!!! I’d love to catch up in real life, although I do love our chats here on the blog and via email too.