Each week, our retail partner, the Queen of Hearts, features a different theme. Last week, the theme was lightning bugs, which I'm interpreting as lighting. Lighting is something we are into at The Painted Hammer. We carry a wide assortment of sconces, tea candle holders, candle bases & holders, and lamps. So for this week, I shared our available lamps.

Check them out and let us known if any of them belong in your home!

We got another blog feature with The Queen of Hearts, and I must admit it still makes us feel pretty special.

Yes, we knew it was going to happen.

Yes, we provided the content.

Yet seeing the final published product still generates a wave of excitement within The Painted Hammer. I hope this never goes away, as I see it as a sign of the fun we're having with what we are doing!

Sunshine @ TPH

(Update: this hall tree sold! Although it is no longer available, contact us if you want one made just for you.)

My oh my. Have you seen this beauty? We took it in to the Alpharetta Queen of Hearts on Thursday night.

I knew it was cool, even from the beginning. Shane and Audrey started planning this the second they got their hot little hands on a batch of doors, and it is finally real.

I didn't realize how cool it was until I posted it to our Facebook page and got a record 250+ views, 2-3x more likes than our average post, and more commentary than I've ever seen on a post before.

My awareness became even more heightened when we showed up at the Queen and got lots of stops and inquiries.

I'm predicting this item will sell before the weekend is over. I'll let you know if I'm right or wrong. Either way, we're doing something right with this lovely piece.

Let me show you how Shane & Audrey's talent brought this hall tree from a salvaged door to the awesome piece of furniture that will adorn someone's entry way or hall way or other living space!

Once Shane made the door into a hall tree with a storage bench, Audrey took over and upholstered the bench and painted the piece.

Of course, after the paint & upholstery is finished, Shane added the hardware. So not only does this have storage and a bench to sit on, but it also has two very good 3-way hooks and a door knocker. The door knocker may just be an embellishment, the jury's still out on that.

The fun has really just begun. I can't wait for someone to buy this and love it and set it up in their home. I can't wait for Audrey & Shane to start on their next one, which will be so different and awesome in so many other ways. I also hope that our piece inspires others to create their own hall trees or to go find one that works for their space. If you are reading this and end up with this piece or a piece like it because of this blog post, do let me know ;)

TPH

Each week, our retail partner, the Queen of Hearts, will feature a different theme. This week, the theme is red, white & blue, so I thought it would make sense to share some of the items we're currently carrying that fit this theme!

If you see something you're interested in, visit our Facebook photo album, which we keep up to date with photos of our most current inventory (we update it nightly, moving items that have sold).

We'll start with a collage of reds.

Then whites.

Then blues.

And a bonus category, blues with white (or tan).

Enjoy!

Sunshine @ TPH

Before the hall tree and before the upcycling of the wire spools, there was the headboard bench. It was my first true love at The Painted Hammer, for one very important reason...it was the first pure design & build collaboration between Shane and his sister. They had done several things together at that point, but they were more like placing an order and taking an order.

Shane would say, "hey, I'm making these shelves that spell out L-O-V-E, and I need you to paint them, okay?" So Audrey would paint them.

Audrey would say, "hey, I need a piece of wood that is 3'x2' that I can upholster, and I need you to cut it for me, okay?" So Shane would make it.

The hall tree was more organic and collaborative. Audrey acquired a metal headboard. She showed Shane. She said she'd been thinking about making it the back of a bench constructed from salvaged pallet wood, and she had a sketched out idea.

Shane started work on the bench, making changes to Audrey's design where he needed to or had inspiration to. They talked throughout the process too, passing snapshots and ideas back and forth.

And then it was complete. They had designed and built something pretty amazing, which Audrey then finished.

I look forward to many, many, many more of these originals from Audrey and her brother. And I look forward to sharing them with you.

Sunshine @ TPH

Each week, our retail partner, the Queen of Hearts, will feature a different theme. This week, the theme is travel or wanderlust, so I thought it would make sense to share some of the items we're currently carrying!

If you see something you're interested in, visit our Facebook photo album, which we keep up to date with photos of our most current inventory (we update it nightly, moving items that have sold).

If your wanderlust is the lake, the coast, the beach, or the open seas, we have fantastic inventory for you:

If something more distant and introspective is part of your wanderlust, have a look at these items.

We hope you enjoy this new topic for our blog.

TPH

We have arrived. We have our first guest blog post!!!

The blog article I wrote for the Queen of Hearts went live overnight. Read it when you get a minute.

That is all!

The Queen of Hearts offers a half-day training course to all dealer merchants, and although I was interested from day 1, it took 2 months of being a dealer merchant for the course to be offered on a day that I was in town and available. So I went. Yesterday!

I found my way to the Buford location and their training room just as the very charismatic Peggy Jones was getting started, and then spent the next 4 hours in sponge mode. I was delighted to find out that The Painted Hammer has developed a strong Facebook reputation with the Queen's PR staff, and we got several mentions when the course talked about good Facebook practices. We went through a tagging exercise so that we could understand how important our tags are, how important it is to follow their tag guidelines, and what happens when we don't. To the best of my knowledge, we follow the rules, but it was good to learn why the rules are there. I really enjoyed hearing Peggy's ideas on what a good booth is like, how invested the Queen is in our shared success, what our rent and fees go to, and how to promote our wares.

I'm most impressed with how the course was able to cover such a broad range of topics for such a broad range of dealer merchants with such a varied set of skills. I guarantee you all 20 of us left with a list of things to do immediately in our space, things to look into, and things to try once we've been around for a little longer...I know I did!

Here are a few things on my list:

• Our merchandising is good (thanks to the amazing Audrey), but I can't wait to get more furniture pieces in so that we have less on the floor and more at waist height and above.
• I do the website, Facebook & Instagram, but I'm missing out on an important group by not doing a monthly email newsletter.
• I need to get to know the sales people on the floor better because they talk to customers, they see our booth way more than I do, and they are going to have some insights & perspectives that could help us do better.

I'm glad the Queen offers this course, I'm glad I went, and I look forward to

Check out one of our newest offerings, the L-O-V-E shelf. Constructed by Shane & finished by Audrey, it is an awesome piece. I think that it would go great in a nursery, kid's room, play room, or bedroom, especially since it ended up this lovely pastel blue.

The internet and places like Pinterest are laden with lots of great ideas, and we often leverage those ideas as inspiration for our own work, both in our homes and for The Painted Hammer. I had saved this awesome L-O-V-E shelf tutorial by Keeley Criswell at DIY: Crafting It Myself for some time, and I couldn't be more pleased with our take on her project.

Not too long ago, Shane disappeared for a while and then called for me to come look at his work. Lo and behold, he had cut and arranged wood according to the blog's instructions (with some enhancements), and he was showing me his progress on the shelf. It looked great.

Once he was done with his part, we delivered the shelves to Audrey in two pieces. She did her magic with finishing, and the shelf is now available at our retail booth. Here are some photos of the shelf as it was being constructed and assembled. Aren't my husband and his sister a talented pair?