arts night out: sarah ahearn bellmare

SO much SUNSHINE

well hello out there!

tonight marks the final arts night out event of the year. how does time fly so fast?

stop by to check out the whimsical, lovely work of local artist sarah ahearn bellmare. there will be a reception this evening from 5-8pm and the show will be up through the holidays.

sarah will be showcasing a series of fresh new paintings inspired by poetry, found photographs and vintage botanical illustrations.

she will also be selling an signing copies of her new book Painted Pages: Fueling Creativity Through Sketchbooks and Mixed Media (Quarry Books, May 2011)

diy wine rack

hi all, so if you check in regularly with the s&b blog, you've noticed we haven't been online much these days- but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy! my family just bought our first house! and of course, it's a fixer-upper. while justin and marcella have been keeping s&b open and amazing as ever (thanks guys!)- i've been at the new house knocking down walls, hanging drywall and sanding floors all hours of the day. in between this work, i went down to 22 news and filmed a couple diy projects for their show mass appeal. click here to see the 6 minute video. i'm a tv star!

Event at Sticks and Bricks

Please join us in welcoming Kate Payne, author of recently released book, The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, at Sticks and Bricks on Tuesday, Sept 13th @7pm. We will have copies of the book on hand for purchase, or feel free to bring your own copies to get them signed.

Food will be potluck-style, so please bring something to snack on or sip. (Hip boys welcome, too!)
RSVP on Facebook, Hope to see you there!

wine box stand

this little guy has been kicking around in my way for quite some time. i had initially bought it thinking i would redo it for my bathroom, but alas it was just a bit too big.

inspired by the crate front desk we posted about earlier this week, i replaced the drawer fronts with wine crate pieces.


when i deconstructed the sides, one of the pieces inside was an old yardstick. so fun to unearth the unexpected!


it was so cool, i decided to leave the sides open.


the top was pieced together with boards from a pallet we took apart. some pallets are hidden hardwood gems!

mexican kitchen island

this mexican antique we came across in our hunting needed some serious tlc! the color is so great, we wanted to keep the original finish as best we could.


it's the perfect size for a kitchen island so we added some fun knobs on one side for towels and little hanging whatnots.


perfect for apartment living!

crate front desk

sometimes there are those projects that just seem to speak to you and come right together out of your mind's eye into reality and this desk is one such project.


we have a love for old crates and can't seem to leave one behind when we come across them.


we removed all of the regular old drawer fronts and replaced them with graphic sides from the collection.


add some old metal hardware for contrast and voila!

Cozy, yet harcore, Kitchen Table

I think this table speaks for himself.

Country Sideboard

We took a heavy, prissy piece of furniture and turned it into a really cozy and yet tough sideboard. What a lovely place for table linens, dishes, and silverware!

monster cabinet

i like when furniture has personality.



i think it's safe to say this meets that criteria!


i took an old trunk, turned it on it's side, added shelves, legs and the tin eye. now it's ready to store (eat?) whatever you need to put away.

fancy scraps

i like when things feel indestructible. this coffee table totally fits that bill.


marble tile scraps with reclaimed cedar fencing.

no coasters needed.

dream desk

there is never enough storage and organization in my life.


so a desk like this makes me woozy.


i can just imagine all our s*&t sorted so nicely. i'd be wishing for an audit- almost ;).

amazing folding chairs

vintage+splashofmodern=amazing


even if this wasn't a folding chair i would be in love.

but they ARE folding chairs and i've been trying to for weeks to come with an excuse to keep them. maybe it's time for that second home ;).

window box

an old bookcase
add one window, part of one door, 4 feet& funky hardware.

the spring handle is my favorite part :).

bathroom vanity

we have a lot of catching up to do.

some of you may have noticed that i completely dropped off the face of interweb (is that what they call it? it's been so long.....). i'm tempted to list off excuses, but no one ever really wants to hear that. i do think it's safe to say that if being an artist means you are sometimes plagued with feelings of inadequacy, insecurity and lack of direction - then i'm an artist!

while all that is true, i have also been very busy. lots of custom work and fun projects so there is a lot to share. lets start with the first set of photos that sat on my camera for far too long. a custom bathroom vanity project.


the top is stainless, and we made the box and window to fit their dimensional needs.


the handle on the left is made from an old spring hinge cover and the one on the right is from some kind of plumbing fixture. the door & window had that lovely patina already- perfect for this project.

chalkboard cafe table

this was one of those pieces that came together like magic in the workshop! the top was going to be for a different project, then we had a moment when we were organizing and one of us plopped the top on the base and voila!


the chalkboard top is so fun!


this is a base we picked up last year to potentially use over at the roost, but ultimately went in a different direction. and we are glad it did ;)

winged bookshelf

this little bookshelf needed a little personality! i expanded on the spice rack idea i had recently.
and since it is spring now, i am all over the combination of turquoise and bright green.


these wings would be perfect for plants cascading off the sides (can you tell i am ready for the warm weather to stick here in new england?).


this is just a cute little one off chair i redid. so cute!

mud room bench

i forgot to snap that ever so important before picture of this project...mostly because when i got it to the shop, it was in a few different pieces!


you may recognize it as something similar to grandma's old dinning room sideboard! the base was beyond repair so i cut it off entirely. liz thought it was the perfect sized bench. it took some convincing, but i agreed in the end and couldn't be more pleased (thanks partner!). a perfect place for all those shoes and such in your mudroom.


the crackle finish came out so cute on this piece. you never know what will happen when you do this finish and this time i think it's the best attempt yet.

dandy chairs and a swell table

we picked up a bunch of office chairs recently. who knew what we would do with them but we thought we'd give it a try...


and voila! these boring old chairs are transformed into sleek and modern design gems with some graphic black and white prints!


they would make a great dining set to offset something more traditional like this super neat salmon table!


the mechanism on this table is just about the coolest thing ever! you grab either side and the leaf pulls out like a roll top desk. (this is where we wish we had a video for you!)


a detail of the leaf. i hope we can find many more of these! such a great table for a small space.


and here is a chair we pieced together. the old wooden chair's bottom was in rough shape so we cut it off, added some fun color and attached it to one of the office chair bases we picked up. two pieces that needed a new match!

trunk show!

we can't resist a nice old trunk over here!


this one had a nice patina on it already, but we thought it needed a splash of color so we added these fun stencils all over.


this one is a perfect size for a coffee table but a little short so we added these cute little feet to raise it up to the correct height!

we salvaged the feet off an old settee. so cute!