Highlights from Chicago and Playing with Paint

Well, I’m back, unpacked and so full of ideas after General Finishes’ Flippin’ Furniture Expo. I was in Chicago Sunday morning through Tuesday afternoon. I know some of you are eager to hear all about my trip!

First, I need to thank my friends at General Finishes for inviting me to be a speaker. I’m so honored for this opportunity and I had so much fun teaching classes. I also want to thank my friends at Saltwash for trusting me to represent their brand and their product. You guys know how much I love it! It was fun to share some techniques with attendees. I have a few fun ideas, for the holidays, that I plan to do with Saltwash, and can’t wait to share that all soon…

The conference was at the Loews O’Hare and it is such a gorgeous hotel. The rooms were stylish and comfortable and the art was amazing. I couldn’t help but think how much my 10 year old would love it all!

This artwork was in the bathroom. Isn’t that gorgeous? I also really loved the tile and the sink in the bathroom.

The bedroom. Yup. loved the neutrals mixed with the wood and all that light!

There’s just something so amazing about visiting a new place. I’ve never ever been to Chicago before and my friend Jennifer over at Town and Country Living volunteered to be my tour guide!

We snapped this quickly on her phone while site seeing:

That’s the bean behind us.

I wasn’t gonna bring my camera but I’m soooo glad I did! Okay, now I’m going to share far too many images of the city.

Feel free to skip ahead if you want, but I couldn’t believe how big the bean was and thought it was so cool to see the buildings’ reflections in it.

The weather was cool and a bit windy, but it was so nice to walk in the fresh are. We spent a few hours walking around the city.

The foliage was stunning and so were all the plantings. Lots of sea grass every where. LOVED it all.

I’m also so glad the Cubbies won the other night. Walking around we saw so many fans.

Including some very big ones 😉

If we had more time, I would have popped my head in the museum.

I really loved Navy Pier too.

I am so scared of heights, so we didn’t go on the ferris wheel.

I couldn’t believe just how big the lake is! I was asking Jennifer if it felt like the sea before I saw it and, yes, I would say it looks like the ocean.

There were even lighthouses, which I of course took many photos of 😉

How crazy, I go to Chicago and take photos of lighthouses. I just can’t help it. There’s something about water that reaches the inner depth of my soul. I find it so calming to be close to water.

The clouds were so beautiful and the sun was going down so got some beautiful, almost rainbow effects.

These trees looked like the were neon green from the sun.

Jennifer and I have known each other for 5 years but this was the first time we met in person, and it was fabulous. We roomed together and caught up on life over soup, coffee and strolling the city. I’m so grateful that she joined me for the conference. We had so much fun!

At the conference I taught five Saltwash classes which were all sold out. Yay! Everyone loved Saltwash and I loved sharing the cool effects you can get with it.

I was so busy teaching that I didn’t get a chance to take any photos during my classes. Many people who attended had their own shops and galleries and it was fun to get to know everyone. So many creative people in one place!

I was also able to get to take a few classes myself which I was so excited about. I love playing with paint and learning about new techniques or about products I don’t use all the time.

Well, I’m happy to say I learned to so much. I loved Lisa Zuelke’s class Developing Trendy Specialty Finishes. She shared two hands on techniques and a few others in a hand out. I think my favorite from this class was the aged bronze. Isn’t this cool?

I wish we had a range hood because I would do this on it. LOVE it so much! I also really loved one she did that looked like granite that I think I’m gonna have to try on something and she had a cool one that looked like a door from Veranda magazine.

I tried doing an image transfer in April Hallwood’s Class (of Hallwood Studios). She does some amazing things with image transfers of her own photography. Her class was fun and gave me some new ideas.

I also learned more about inking and glazing from Nicole Genz of Rescued Furnishings. She specializes in cabinet refinishing but is opening a huge new space. She taught us her tricks for glazing like a pro. Inking is the line that you see on the cabinets to give a 3-D effect.

The other class I took was Rachel Timble’s of Restyle Junkie. She specializes in cabinets and also distressing wood. She has a special machine that makes grooves in wood to look like barn wood and talked us through distressing wood. She shared two techniques.

I tried to make mine look like driftwood. In person, it really does! Such an amazing technique and I’m excited to try it on something for our home!

At the end of the conference Jennifer and I asked someone to snap our picture. We both kind of look tired but full of new ideas.

I know it’s slightly soft focus but I didn’t have a better one 🙁 Thanks, Jennifer, for joining me!

Oh, before I go I also have to give my hubby a big shout out! Thank you, Luke Driscoll, for watching our babies (all of them, 2 kids and 2 dogs) so I could attend and teach. You’re always pushing me to keep going for my dreams. Thank you for always being there to support me. xx

I think they’re gonna have the expo again next year and if you love paint, I highly recommend it!