fix it and finish it

I've had my television debut you guys!! 

Last summer, I was contacted by a local designer, Katrina, to be a part of this home improvement TV show that was going to be filmed in Birmingham called Fix It and Finish It. She found me on instagram! I love that app, it's brought me lots of business and put me in touch with a ton of local artists I may not have known about otherwise. 

Katrina and I found out that we live really close to each other, so we met at Starbucks right up the street to discuss specifics. I was going to create the art for one episode for an awesome mid century modern house where a young couple lived. There was a huge wall to be filled, and Katrina had the idea to do three large panels with iconic Birmingham landmarks. Done! 

I went to her house to use some of her paints to get a background color laid down.

All the paint samples we pulled from.

Katrina let me look at the plans for the space, along with some of the finishes (that I don't have a picture of). 

I hauled the big boards home to get to work on the details.

Sloss Furnace was a natural choice.

Along with the old Magic City sign that use to be at the old train depot. 

These boards were HUGE, and I had to prop them on the stools and across the dining room table in my house to paint them.

You can see I pulled up a pic of the sign to draw from. 

They took over the house for several days. 

I pulled them out in the yard to even out the background and ended up lightening them up a bit. 

After that, I added some string art detailing. 

It's hard to see in the pictures, but it was more noticeable in person. 

What in the world are you doing, ma?!

I used a bunch of colors that Katrina used in the other finishes in the room. 

Someone thought it was really cool..

I mean delicious. 

Pretty soon it was filming day! I arrived around lunch, but they had started filming around 6am. The production equipment was everywhere!

Since I couldn't get a picture of the room at that point, I got a picture with one of the cameras. How awesome is this house?! The original mid century fireplace in still in the living room! 

It was awesome to see the owners carried the midcentury theme throughout with furniture and fixtures. Below is where they owners did their interviews for the show. 

Another shot of the fireplace. So jealous of that wooden bar against the wall. 

I got some more shots of the house. How amazing is this light fixture? Mallory, the wifey owner, told me her secret shopping place here in Birmingham: Bargain Hunt. She said you have to go often and dig through a bunch of duds, but eventually you'll find some diamonds. So jealous of her luck! 

The sheet to the left is to hide the room being transformed. Mallory and Eric (the hubs) got to help out the first part of the day, then they left and weren't allowed to come back until it was finished for the big reveal. 

That's Mallory back there doing one of her interviews. 

How cute is this minty retro kitchen?!? 

More production stuff in the carport, along with snacks!

Since I was going to be on camera, I had to sign all these release forms. EEE! 

Here's Katrina, the lovely designer! 

And you may recognize the host, Antonio Sabato Jr! He was on a bunch of soap operas, and most recently Dancing with the Stars. 

I eventually got to take some pics of the space being transformed, the sun room. 

Katrina thought she was going to have time to run to some stores to grab accessories, but alas, she wasn't allowed to leave. Lucky for me, because I got to go! Yayyy! I loaded up the ol' Tahoe after running to Target, TJ Maxx, and Bed Bath & Beyond. 

When I got back, they were hanging my pieces! I had to keep them in the car until Mallory and Eric left, and I was finally able to breathe because the boards had made it to their destination without getting messed up too badly. 

They drilled a hole in each top corner and hung with with plumbing pipe. 

That's when I got to speak and be on camera with Antonio! He asked a couple of questions, and I was given strict instructions to look at him and not the camera (it was harder than you think with a big lens 2 feet from your face). I think I did pretty good. We did it in a couple of takes, and I was done! 

Of course I got some cheesy poses with the boards. 

Katrina had the idea to do this string installation over the door to hide some imperfections that the budget couldn't cover. 

Everything in place! I'm sure you notice my fav print shop in town, Yellow Hammer Creative's prints on the wall to the left. 

I REALLY want that lamp. 

We all hid in the little mudroom outside the sun room while Antonio did the big reveal with Mallory and Eric. Katrina got to come out and speak on camera again as well. Here's my attempt at being sneaky to send people pictures during this time/having a hard time being quiet:

They LOVED it! It was so rewarding to hear how excited they were when they saw the room! 

We all became instagram friends afterwards, and I have to say they are pretty cool people. Mallory even contacted me to do a string art for the salon she works at! So exciting! I was so honored to be a part of the show. Big thanks to Katrina for letting me join the project! 

Fix It and Finish It did a handful of episodes in Birmingham and Montgomery and traveled to tons of other cities across the country. It airs on Fox everyday at 11am CST. My episode aired in October 2014. I was on air for about 5 seconds, but it was very exciting! I'll be sure to update everyone if it airs again. Also, if you'd like up to the minute updates on things like this, feel free to follow me on instagram @ilikewhatimherring. 

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In the midst of the show, I was still trying to get the 200 string arts done. Here's my dining room table after completing the 80 for State Traditions. SOOO MANYYY! 

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At the end of July, my sister moved out of my very favorite place, the Payne Street house in Auburn. Naturally there was about 10 years worth of junk from people that were there when I moved in, so we had a yard sale. 

So sad to see the house all cleared out. 

Possum was sad as well. 

The new tenants are very… difficult. That's all I say, unless you ask me about it in person, then I'll give you a mouthful. I wish we still had the house to use during football season. Le sigh. 

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My string art prayers were answered when my dad's friend found a wholesale place for me to buy nails!!!! This box arrived with 70lbs of nails inside! SEVENTY!! 

The box wasn't that big, but I wanted to dive into it like Scrooge McDuck dove into his pile of coins. Sweet sweet relief to know I didn't have to stalk WalMart and Home Depot for nails for a while. 

I've almost finished the box, and it's been about 10 months. Totally nuts when I think about it. I'll have to order another soon! 

Next up is August, and the start of football seasonnnnn! MY FAVORITE!