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Easy Chalk Paint Project...

8/9/2018

I often hear customers excited about the prospect of tackling a chalk paint style project, but unsure where to begin, what to do, and how to start. My advice, just begin! Confidence is about equal to skill, and the more confident you become, the greater your skill will grow!

Here's a simple step-by-step of one of the most basics of projects: a wooden picture frame.

using a plain wooden frame, remove glass & backing; clean lightly with soap & water
Add one coat Cottage Nest Paint in "French Quarter Rain," let dry
For second coat, add water to Cottage Nest Paint "Cotton" creating a wash effect, let dry.
lightly sand with fine sandpaper, distress and smooth as needed, wipe clean
Add Chalktique Paste Wax in light or dark and buff to matte finish, let dry.
Pop in a fun Cavallini paper or your own picture

Purchase everything you need in store at Nest Interiors

Complete one or several of these, playing with different brush types, waxes, and distress techniques to develop a comfort level for a larger project.
Have your own tips? Share with our readers now...
XOXO,
Lisa

Copy Cats...

3/29/2018

I know this isn't a real warm and fuzzy topic but, I feel I need to address the issue of Copy Cats. In my 10 years in business, it's happened here and there to us...another store grabs a line we did the hard work to find at market or they replicate a promotion, copy product ideas, etc. But in the last several months, I've seen similar content to our business now once to twice a week on social media from a few local stores and artisans. The worst offender, by far, tho lifted an image I took in my store and then copied verbatim the copy I wrote for the product!

The top image is from my site, the bottom is from the store down the street. I consider this stealing. I also consider the behavior I've been seeing from multiple stores and artisans to be un-befitting of small business owners. Honestly, I'm not looking to ruffle any feathers, but giving these people (because obviously they are reading this) the advice another store keeper gave to me in my 1st year...Be different, Mind your own business, and work hard.

And a message to my customers, just yesterday, a lady told me how much she enjoyed visiting each local store in town and seeing what was different. My goal, from day one is to keep bringing unique content to you with fair prices with an atmosphere that everyone is welcome.

xoxo,
Lisa

Thank You Friends!

3/20/2018

Just a quick hello, and thanks for a spectacular Saturday! Placing our 10th anniversary party on St. Patrick's Day was so appropriate because you all made us feel so lucky. It's Tuesday, and I'm back open for the week and I still have people coming in to shop and tell us how much we have meant to them all these years. Not a bad way to start the week or the next 10 years!
xoxo,
Lisa

Double-Digits Y'all!

3/16/2018

It's hard to believe our little store and dream are now 10 years old. We've had all the ordinary struggles as you'd expect of any business, but uniquely in our 10 years we've survived a damaging hurricane, a cancer diagnosis, and high risk twin pregnancy. If you like underdogs...you'll love us!
So, tomorrow...March 17th, St. Patrick's Day...we are celebrating being the luckiest of stores.

Open 10am - 4pm
Every purchases chooses a surprise discount at checkout; 10-30% OFF
Meet Kelly Dupre of Repurposed Finds
Cake and Refreshments at 1pm
Save your receipt and receive a FREE month at Snap Fitness Ponchatoula courtesy of Bree
Online use LUCKYNEST for 15% off your purchase thru the weekend

And thank you to everyone who entered our door or click our links...we're still here because of you!
xoxo,
Lisa

Bugging Out Over Butterflies...

2/6/2018

You never know where your heart will take you! Yesterday, I had the pleasure of sharing with Brownie Troop 32003 my passion for helping butterflies and why we created our Monarch Waystation here at Nest Interiors. These ladies are super smart and asked great questions, all to earn their bug badges.
We learned about the unique migration of the Monarch butterfly. We also looked at examples of host plants for caterpillars, including milkweed for Monarchs. We talked about other common butterflies we find in Louisiana throughout the year. We even talked about how butterflies are not only important pollinators like bees, but they are an excellent larval food source for birds. And as a treat, I had a couple Gulf Fritillary caterpillars and one chrysalis to view.
And a special thanks to Troop Leader, Erin, who asked me to present to the girls. I've never formally done anything like this before (tho I've been known to prattle all of these things off to unwilling customers - hee hee). Seriously, seeing 8 girls all excitedly asking butterfly questions at the same time fills your heart full of hope for not just butterflies but for all of us.

Join our Butterfly Community on Facebook, Butterflies in Berryland where we share not only news of our store garden but butterfly and gardening information specific to Southeast Louisiana.

xoxo,
Lisa

Happy Holidays

12/15/2017

This year has been full of unexpected wonder and 2018, our 10th year in business, is sure to be just as exciting. I've been working a lot behind the scenes the last few months, preparing and plotting out our course for the next decade. Still, we've put together a super stocked store for Christmas, full of unique items.

We are now open every day through Christmas; check our event page for times and dates.
Also, through Christmas we are running a daily deal, 12 Days of Christmas; you can watch all our videos on our Facebook page for more info.
And we encourage all our guests to join our mailing list here. Many of you took advantage of exclusive offers in 2017 and were the first to know about our sales and events.

Thanks for all your support this year and best wishes from our Nest to yours!
xoxo,
Lisa
***special thanks to our neighbor, Flowers by Linda for capturing this rare snowstorm on Dec. 8th***

Spreading Our Wings...

6/28/2017

A week ago, we turned the lights off, locked the door and tried to not feel too guilty about leaving our shop for a full week. We headed in a new direction...the Lower Rio Grande Valley, visiting South Padre Island, as well as, further stops West. New sights and new sounds were just the refresh we needed, plus time to recenter as a family.

The world is so big and so small, just the same. Truly, though, after a fun-filled week of discovery and relaxation, our Nest was a welcomed site!

Places we enjoyed:

National Butterfly Center - Mission, TX
Sabal Palm Sanctuary - Brownsville, TX
South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center - South Padre Island, TX
Gladys Porter Zoo - Brownsville, TX

xoxo,
Lisa

Picky Papa: Father's Day Challenge

6/15/2017

If you liked my Mother's Day tour of the shop, you'll love this walk thru (from our Walkthru Wednesday series) where I show you my picks for Papa!

Featured in this post:

Roux Spoon & Jambalaya Set available at Nest
LSU Grilling Set - one left here.
Lampe Berger Summer Nights Gift Set - $5.00 off here
Rustic Picture Frame for 5x7 photos - available here

xoxo,
Lisa

Flights of Fancy

6/8/2017

In my ongoing efforts to learn more about butterflies and enhance both my Monarch Waystation located at Nest and my home butterfly garden, I attended an interesting Butterfly Gardening talk given by our local Master Gardeners early this week. The wind was kicking up, skies darkening, another summer storm was rolling through - I thought, for sure, I'd be the only one. But to my delight, a lot of people attended, from all walks of life. Listening to the questions asked, many on what to plant, but several on the act of raising butterflies, I began to think maybe this is a topic I need to focus more on at Nest.

We started our Monarch Waystation late last year; it was quickly discovered by Monarchs (you can watch our first release here). And I've continued raising all sorts of butterflies since; earlier this year, we raised a number of Giant Swallowtails and currently I am raising several Black Swallowtails

I still consider myself a novice, but I really want to share what I've learned so far. All butterflies need our help, the more we over develop and the less we plant native and diverse plants, we will continue to chip away at their evolutionary fiber. So, I'm kicking around something for the fall; something to blend gardening info specific to butterflies and information on how to raise them, including monarchs. Let me know if you are in?!

For now, I want to leave you with a few great resources that I found super helpful:

A super informative presentation on raising Monarchs here
Mr Lund Science on You Tube: a lot of excellent Monarch raising videos here and good tips on growing milkweed
A very cool article and video about how one man basically saved a species of butterflies in his backyard
A butterfly gardening guide by LSUAG on specifically creating butterfly gardens in Louisiana
Journey North - lots of info and citizen science traceable info
Get certified: create your own Monarch Waystation

And, I'm excited to tell you, I will be returning to the Pollination Celebration as a vendor September 16th. I'll have favorites from our garden department plus a few new specials!

xoxo,
Lisa

Vintage Vibe: May Finds

5/31/2017

Milk glass lovers...take a look! We added a few beauties to our collection this month:

Featured in this post:

Milk Glass Tea Cup or Punch Glass Set of 6 - available here
Milk Glass Fruit Compote Glass Set - on Etsy
Westmoreland Swan in Cattails Vase - only one available here

xoxo,
Lisa