The Artistic Home Design

Second Chance Charms is presenting a NEW product line called The Artistic Home Design! Featuring a collection of Fine art painting in acrylic by Maureen Flanigan on Second Chance furniture. A new style developed by a mother and daughter team bringing the traditional canvas paintings onto today’s refinished furniture.

Maureen Bolton Flanigan was born in Buffalo, N.Y, in 1963.  She showed an early interest in art and under the guidance of her Grandmother began painting in oil at the age of nine.  As a youngster, Maureen painted neighborhood windows for the holiday seasons and by her teens was painting windows at local businesses.  She progressed into painting murals and decorative work in private homes and businesses. She attended Phoenix College and graduated with an Associate’s degree in the Fine Arts program.  For several years, she was a student of renowned Arizona Artist Hal Weber, where she acquired a solid foundation in both portraiture and landscapes.  While living in San Diego, California, she became a student of renowned Western Artist Jack Jordan, developing her unique and vivid use of color.  She has won numerous awards in local shows and her paintings are in public and private collections throughout Arizona and California.  Maureen has served two terms on the City of Peoria Arts Commission.

Maureen and her husband Brad have been married for 35 years, they have 4 children, (one son-in-law and two daughter in-laws), and a total of 8 grandchildren.

Maureens’ daughter Rebecca, is very accomplished in her own unique style of refinishing furniture, and it seemed like a perfect fit to combine their talents to create fine art on the furniture that Rebecca brings back to life.

Maureens artist statement has always been   “…The beauty of a work of art is in the work itself.” A quote by Robert Henri, THE ART SPIRIT.  And now, this statement has a new and special meaning, as each piece is a combination of creativeness from both mother and daughter, a very special bond.

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Rebecca and Maureen

 

Thomasville Dresser

Vintage chic Thomasville 9 drawer dresser is available for purchase, please click over to Shop Selections to view details. Refinished in Sherwin-Williams Reflection Gray and glazed in Pure White for an elegant soft touch. Lightly distressed in certain areas bringing in a vintage feel. Gorgeous original hardware revamped in nickel. Swooning over here!

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Dresser and Mirror

Monday I posted the Master Bedroom Nightstands, next are the matching dresser and mirror. Refinished in Sherwin-Williams Pure White and lightly distressed. The top stained in a lighter gray. Followed by having the original hardware revamped in Nickel. Replacing the middle door hardware with knobs and revamping them to match.

Master Bedroom Nightstands

My client and her husband bought this bedroom set when they got married many years ago. Ready for an updated look they chose to have their bedroom set refinished in Sherwin-Williams Pure White and lightly distressed. The tops of the pieces stained in a lighter gray. Followed by having the original hardware revamped in Nickel. Stay tuned in as I will share the matching dresser and mirror!






Before:

Dining table and chairs

Shopping around for new dining table sets doesn’t take long to realize how expensive a table and chairs can add up. When you have a piece at home that doesn’t quite match your decor but you love the style, sturdiness and memories your piece brings it only makes sense to have it refinished. My client found herself in this same situation.
I met my client at her home and gave her a color consultation using her lighting and we talked about options for this piece. Her dining table and chairs have leather details, a gorgeous slate top on the table and a sturdiness unlike anything I have ever dealt with. (I am not kidding this thing, is ridiculously heavy and should be banned haha)

She and her husband settled on a solid finish in Sherwin-Williams Greek Villa for both the table and chairs. I re-upholstered the chair cushions in a gorgeous upholstery fabric my client picked out from Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts store. I can’t wait to see what this fellow looks like in his home!

Before picture:

DIY vintage doll house

Make your own vintage doll house! Bookshelf + Legs + Paint/Paper = Doll House!

I found a small wooden bookshelf at a garage sale for $5 bucks. My client picked out small little legs from Home-depot to give this little piece flair. I added a few wall dividers and added paint. My client wants to add wall paper and little furniture so her grand-daughter can play with her dolls.

Refinished in Sherwin-Williams Dover White and slightly distressed.


Hello June, Goodbye May

School studies have officially come to an end and summer is just beginning! I know I am NOT alone when I say “Thank Goodness May is over!” May happened to be one of the busier months for my family this year. We had birthdays, out of town family visiting, graduations, faith ceremonies and an emtional goodbye to part of our family moving out of state. I am glad May is over. Lets take a look at what has been completed this month as one of my smallest group of refinished furniture by far, but all gorgeous none-the-less.

This month I wrote a blog post about Secrets, Tips & Tricks on a master bedroom overhaul that was completed. I shared with you products that I use and the process on how I do my furniture so that you can try it on your pieces at home. As always, if you rather have me do all the work (which I most certainly don’t mind) please emailtext or call me for a quote! Remember to get yourself on the First Dibs Email to be notified first on available pieces.

This month I received many customer photos of Second Chance pieces staged in their homes and I am completely swooning over them! Some pieces you may recognize, one that was my first piece of January of this year and another from December 2015!

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything you gave me.

-Erma Bombeck

The 2016-2017 school year has ended and I am enthusiastic to finally share with you something that I started back in November of last year. If you recall my New Years resolution for 2017 was Inspiration; you can read about it on the 2016 Portfolio post.

Little back story:

We are days away from ending the first quarter of school and my first grader, Donovan, loads in the truck at Drive Line with an expression that literally looked like a light bulb went off in his head holding a sheet of paper in his hand.

D- “Mom, after school clubs came out for 2nd quarter I want to do one!”

Me- “That sounds amazing, which one?”

D- “Well that’s the thing, they don’t have THE ONE I want to do, will you run it with me?”

Art Club

What I wonderful idea my son had to host an after school Art Club for his peers! As the year was coming to an end I was Soul Searching what it was I wanted to work on for myself in 2017. Donovan inspired me to get out of my comfort zone. I am NOT a teacher by any means. I was nervous, sick and excited all at the same time about sharing my passion with children. Lets be honest children can be VERY candid. I was frightened. I kept reminding myself that talking in front of a group of adolescence might be less nerve-racking than lets say a group of adults. Public speaking is not my forte.

My first art club started off with 22 children ranging from Kinder to 6th grade. By the end of the school year we had a total of 48 kids split into 3 different age group classes.

“I went into this hoping to inspire children about the creativity of art and passion… but it was I who became inspired by them.”

– Rebecca Whitney

 

“Understand that you can be an inspiration to others, no matter what you feel you have or have not achieved. Even if you feel that you have not yet reached the endpoint, and even if you feel like you have reached a low point, you have the ability to inspire. No matter who you are, giving back and inspiring others comes equipped with many benefits. You never know who you’re going to impact when you give — and you never know who might be in position to reciprocate if you ever find yourself in a time of need. Giving back leaves a legacy that will live on far longer than you will. You will be amazed at the way inspiring others makes you feel. In fact, it is the only feeling that rivals the one you get when you realize you have achieved your dream.” -R. Kay Green

By the end of each class, and as each child focused on their projects, you could faintly hear a steady humming sound coming from each of them. An Artist ‘In The Zone’ moment. We did many creative art projects. As I would bring my samples into class to share with them what we would be working on, I became enriched with their ooh’s and aah’s. I encouraged the “Can I make mine different than yours?”. Never ONCE did any of my artist undermine another artist for his or her project. Those tiny artist taught me so much this school year.

xoxo -Rebecca

School’s Out for Summer!!

I can’t believe how fast this 2016-2017 school year has gone by!!!

I remember writing my blog post First Day Of School 2016! like it was yesterday. I am so proud to share with you that we now have a 4th grader and 2nd grader and a Preschooler for the 2017-2018 school year! Eeep!!

What an emotional morning! This is the first year where my kids are sad to have school come to an end. However, we are looking forward to summer and our summer plans!! What is in store for your family this summer?

Last year on Back to School 2016!! I built our work station over the summer which was completely helpful for this school years homework. This summer I have plans on making our laundry room a bit more organized for a nice steady flow.

As always thank you for your continued support and patience as my family and I find a new routine for this summer’s schedule.