la vita e dolce

.... the sweet life or life is sweet ....

I have to say a big thank you to Carlie of gabriel ryan photographers for posting the photos from last month's wedding, they just made my day!  Meagan {the bride} is a long time friend of mine, who married her knight in shining armor on 8.28.10... I had the honor of being one of her maids for her wedding day, but I just couldn't help myself, my design business did their paper goods for the big day, and you know I had to assist in throwing in a little event design love too!

So here's the dessert table we did for their big day

The overall wedding look was very classy and elegant, and since Meagan had spent a summer in Italy, she really wanted to bring a few touches of Italy to their day.  So JDVpaperie created the banner, which we attached to the frames, along with photos from Meagan + Erik's {sweet} lives, and then of course the table was finished off with the actual sweets!  

And since I can't just post about the dessert table, here's one of my favorites of them...

a big shout out goes out to

 * Lisa of Double Take Interiors/ jomestic doi for creating the gorgeous silk overlay 

{she's my fabulous SIL and interior designer}

* also, to Collette's Catering for the sweets and pretty cake!

And if you're ever in need of some awesome and large vintage frames I have both of these babies {and one more} available to be rented for your upcoming event! =)

{DIY} another man's trash is my treasure

Hello, I'm here, trying to come out of blogging hiding... this has seriously been quite a summer!

I thought I'd come back with something I have been wanting to share with you for a long time... if you've been keeping up with the sweet blog features showing Marci + Josh's wedding dessert display {amy atlas, wedding chicks, and jay's catering}, you'll remember there was a cute shabby chic-y desk at the center of that design... now if you haven't seen those posts,

this is the cute little desk I'm talking about:

Now, would you believe that this is that same desk... the day I found it calling my name in a local antique store!

{sorry for the shot from my camera phone}


Even with all the junk piled on it, I new that it was special and that it could serve a very important purpose in the upcoming wedding dessert display.  So, I called my mom over to the shop for a second opinion {she's my shopping buddy and confidant}, and she saw the potential that I did.  After mom's approval it was time for the real critic, my pops to come check it out.  He and my mom used to deal antiques in the early days of their marriage, so I knew if he thought it was tacky, I just wouldn't go there.  I also wanted him to kinda assess all the work we would need to do clean it up... as you can see it was in need of some MAJOR TLC and maybe even a tetanus shot!

After some back and forth, a little price haggling, we got a great deal and she was mine.  Here it is right after clearing away all of the junk.

So upon getting the desk home to work on it, my pops said we needed to take the desk totally apart so we could stabilize it. We took a leg off, detached the hutch, sanded, painted, sanded some more, nailed, painted and then sanded some more.... I think you get the gist =)

Here's the desk in the middle of the process laying in the driveway, missing limbs and it's hutch...

Getting fairly close to finishing up the TLC process my engineer{dad} and I decided to add this fun little contrast detail to the back edge of the desktop, just incase I ever wanted to use it without the hutch 

{you can see it's the only part not painted white yet at that point.}

I will tell you that when I bought this desk, I hadn't planned on keeping it, but after the labor of love it was to work on and dress up, I couldn't bear to part with it, after all, as a friend said "she does have nice legs!" =)

Here's the desk again at bridal shower, being used with out the hutch for a totally different look... {yeah, and if you're wondering what the banner said... "showered with love"}

If you're looking for a fun prop like this for an upcoming event, I'd be happy to rent her out to you for a day, evening... er, wow this sounds like a escort service... but, seriously if you are looking for a rental piece like this and you're in the LA, OC, SD areas, feel free to email me and you can rent her for your special event - BlairBrittEvents{at}gmail.com