Friday, August 29, 2014

Looking Back


Maybe it's old age, but getting out seasonal
decorations seems to lead me down
memory lane a little more often these days.


This "book" will never be a best seller, but
I've cherished it for almost 30 years.

Halloween And Lady Bugs...
It was made by my two youngest daughters.

First they created a drawing and then wrapped
it around a piece of wood.

 Here are the two authors, probably a
little before their publish date...

And here they are during early college days.
No surprise to anyone, they both majored
and earned degrees in English, and both
use their writing skills to make a living.

This picture was taken at a college graduation
party for Jaysa (rhymes with Lisa) 
-- she's the shorter one and the oldest 
by 19 months.


Here's the most recent picture I have
of Jaimee, taken earlier this month...
my youngest baby has the youngest
(and last) grand-baby.

If it's been a while since you've had a baby,
this picture will remind you of how
exhausting new motherhood can be!




So...I know it's a little early for Halloween,
but I like to put this "book" out first thing
when I decorate for Fall.

After all, it's a first edition!


Thanks for dropping by.




Saturday, August 23, 2014

Saturday Progress Party





Recently, I found a blog that has a blog
party for slowpokes like me.

The party features "progress" pictures
of your projects, not finished projects.

WOW...sign me up!

I've got a lot of half-done stuff around, ya know.
So here goes:

The old $12 coffee table

Yes, still working on this poor guy.

I thought it needed some wheels to make it higher.

Four wheels from Home Depot = $18.00

I planned to use some old bed slats to make
the bottom shelf...
Wild Bill offered to help and I was so surprised
(he hates my DIY projects)
that I forgot to tell him to use the bed slats.

So he cut up the high-dollar poplar boards we
bought a while back to frame windows.
OOPSY...
(no Texans were hurt in the making of this shelf)
If you're not familiar with it,
"High-Dollar" is a Texas term meaning it costs
a lot -- usually implying it was not worth it.

My $12 bargain coffee table now has a bottom
shelf costing $48 ($16 per board x 3 boards)


Putting the shelf on knocked the bottom frame
out of whack. 

Some Elmer's Wood Glue and some handy
decorating books fixed it up fast!


And I had a basket that just fit the shelf...
but, it needed a few more.

I had to buy two more baskets at $16 each.
(almost $35 with tax)

What's next you might ask?
I want to add numbers to where the knobs
used to be, and the top needs to be sealed,
but I'm thinking I might sand it down and
put some stain and wax on it.

Whatever I do, it won't cost any more money.
For sure!
I've already spent over $100 fixing up
this $12 table.






Monday, August 18, 2014

New Wheels In The Kitchen



Wheels in the kitchen? YES!

This is something I've been wanting to do
for over a year.


Local hardware stores sell several types of
wheels for around $4 for the large ones.


The travertine tile we put in the kitchen
is soft and easily dings, so when I bought
this island last year, I put it on a small rug.


My thought was the rug would keep the
island's wood from scraping the tile...

but what it really meant was
I avoided cleaning the floor because
of the rug.

Are you following me so far?

It is NOT (as Wild Bill says) that
I just love torturing the furniture.
Honest.
I'm going to confess right here that there
is one more thing that needs to be done
to make this piece perfect:
See the ends?
The shelves are too narrow to hold
anything. I put a small chicken on one
shelf to show you the depth.
Not much room there... 

Do you have any ideas on how to
make the ends functional?

Please leave a comment and let
me know what you would do
with the ends.

By the way, see the flat space above
the stove? The one with that plaster scrolly
thingy that won't stay even?

Don't you think it needs some lettering instead?
Ideas? Let's talk.

Thanks for dropping by!





Thursday, August 14, 2014

Enjoy One Last Laugh...





Back in the mid-80's, with little ones at home
but a need to earn money to support them, I
worked as a manager at McDonalds...
usually as the closing manager.

One late night in the drive-thru, a man
with a heavy German accent started to place
an order on the speaker, which was out
of our sight.

Suddenly an Irishman interrupted and
started to change the order, then an
Englishman butted in. Finally a Texan
overrode him and twanged that he needed

"...some cow right away..."

The high-schooler working the register
stopped giggling just long enough
to silently mouth to me:

"How many men are in that car?"

The answer was just one!
Robin Williams, with his little boy,
on an apparent late night escape!

Our town was Sonoma California and it was
gossiped that Robin Williams lived up
in the hills above us somewhere.

I imagine he's up in different hills now,
but no doubt just as zany and charming.






Sunday, August 10, 2014

Dreaming Of Trim


Whenever we go looking at "new home" open
houses, you can find me in the kitchen or
laundry room...checking out the trim.

This kitchen and laundry/mud room
did not disappoint.

Middle daughter wants to build a bench
in a closet in her laundry room. I think
this one would work perfectly, except I
would do the hooks differently.


The cabinet below is "trimmed in" real
simply and would hide shoes.

I have been trying to figure out how to 
trim our large back window, which is near the
double french doors leading to the back patio.

If you notice here, the window and door trim
do not match, yet they look good together.


The doorway has a pretty easy-to-duplicate
design. Simply a matter of combining a
few boards and trim...





The picture below is a close up of the window
trim. Just boards and moulding...doesn't it
make you think you could do it yourself?



Thought I'd give you a look at the dining room
of this house before I go.

The dark floors with the white trim
really make this house a winner.

Thanks for dropping by!




Sharing at the following:


http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/2014/08/make-it-pretty-monday-week-111.html










Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Painted Bar Stools



You can tell by the orangey-brown finish on
 these bar stools that they date back to the early
2000's. Wild Bill had about talked me into getting
rid of them when we cleaned out the garage,
then I painted one white. Just to see.

 Here's the next victims waiting for their turn
for torture...
 I thought for sure I needed to replace the
leather seat, but once the stool was painted
white, it seemed to darken the look of the
leather and made it much more appealing.


 So, of course, I had to try painting the 
 matching pub table white. Just to see.

Here's a Throw-Back Thursday shot of the 
table and two of the stools back in our house
in Albuquerque NM around 2003...

Real FAIL on that tablescape.

That was the "RED" phase of my decorating
life. Yuck. Wood, burgundy red, yellowish beige.
It was a look. That's all I have to say about that!

So back to the makeover.
I decided to sand down the table top and stain it
with a darker stain to match the leather on the seats.

I HAD A PLAN. I heard it's good to have a plan.
 But here's how the stain turned out...
Apparently some wood products are pieces
of different types of wood all pieced together.

Plan B: Dark brown paint from Ce Ce Caldwell.
Supposed to look like wood when a glossy finish
called "Endurance" is added to the top.

The brown was too purple-ish for me.
I didn't bother to add the Endurance finish.
Moving on...

Plan C: Add a coat of white like the legs and stools,

 and then beat the hell out of it for a really
distressed finish so the brown shows through.
hmmmmm???

I think I like the set without the distressing.
I think the stool looks much better than the table.
Wild Bill still thinks we should get rid of them.
Plan D: Another coat of white paint on the table
top and legs, paint the rest of the stools, and then
add numbers (I do love numbers) to the
recessed backs of each stool.

Six stools, six grandkids. Each one of them will
have a stool to sit on with the day they were born.
5, 25, 23, 17, 7, 3
(and a 20 on a little rocker for little girl in Heaven)

I like this plan...but we're gonna need
a bigger table!