As I mentioned in a previous post, my friend Lori has asked me to help teach Miss Mustard Seed milk paint workshops at her shop, The Round Barn.  That also meant accompanying her to retailer training at The Ironstone Nest in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin earlier this week.  Sun Prairie is the quintessential American Midwest small town complete with a darling main street …

And a fabulous diner ….

Here is Lori when we arrived at The Ironstone Nest and were greeted by this fabulous vintage door with a chalkboard message.  Aren’t her coat and bag to die for?  and so is that door!

Laura of The Ironstone Nest has the most fantastic studio space.  Everything about it was totally inspiring from her wall papered in vintage book pages to her stacks of furniture waiting to be transformed, and the many fabulously chippy pieces scattered about.

Clearly I should have expected a group of amazingly creative fellow trainees.  Naturally these were all people who appreciate a fabulous piece of vintage furniture with some chippy paint.  As they say, brilliant minds think alike.

We spent two days together learning all about the milk paint and experimenting with different techniques for using it.  As well as laughing and just being silly.

The highlight of the trip for me was when we skyped with Miss Mustard Seed herself and I discovered that she knew of my blog and was a fan of my furniture pieces!  How amazing is that?  Little ol’ me?  I’m practically famous now, but I’ll try to remain humble and loyal to those of you who knew me when.  LOL.

But seriously, I hope some of you that are in the Twin Cities will consider signing up for a workshop with me at The Round Barn.  I truly think this product is amazing.  I would not be able to get the results I do without it.  It is  definitely different from your typical latex paint, but once you learn the basics I think you’ll find that you love it too.