Finish It Friday: Turkey And Basket

This week I finished two projects from my garage pile. This wooden turkey started out a dull grayish brown when I bought him at a garage sale too many years ago to remember when. 

 I finally finished his white makeover this week, just in time for the fall season. Turkey would probably be improved with a little dark wax to age him/her, but for now I'm calling Turkey done!

 See those gold pictures lurking behind Turkey? That's a new project I picked up this week at a second hand shop for dirt cheap. 

And that basket I was painting white on "White Wednesday" last week? Well...YAY! I finally finished that too...

Here's a reminder of what the basket looked like while it was getting a makeover...

I had planned to leave some of the natural brown of the basket showing, but that didn't work out very well. 

There's only a little peek of the basket's original finish showing here under the metal leaves.

Thanks for dropping by!

You Never Know What You'll Find On Craigslist

We're downsizing our furniture...trying to be a little bit more minimalist. 

We've sold a couch and took a rocker recliner to my mother, but we still had another rocker recliner we didn't need, so Wild Bill put it on Craigslist...

A nice sounding lady emailed him last night asking to see the chair. She was having trouble with her texting so had to communicate via email. So there was some back and forth emails this morning, which ended in her calling Wild Bill for our address.

When he gave her the address...she couldn't believe it.  In 30 seconds she walked across the street and around to our front door!

"uhhhhh...Hello Neighbor that we haven't met yet!"

She came in to see the chair and sat in it for 2 hours while we discovered how much we all had in common. Like me she grew up in California, married a native Texan, and moved to Texas to be near his family. They've lived across the street from us for 6 months! Crazy strange! 

It turns out she and her first husband lived for years in the same neighborhood Bill did years ago in Vacaville CA. Small world!

I stood in our garage on the side of our house (we live on a corner) and took this picture of our husbands moving the rocker into her house with her "supervising" them.

So if you're looking for new friends, my suggestion is sell something on Craigslist. If you don't have anything to sell, maybe just walk across the street and knock on an unknown neighbor's door.

Thanks for dropping by!

Five On Friday - Books And Bunnies

Books and bunnies seem to be coming and going today. Here's my Five On Friday, joining the party at Love Made My Home.

1. Amazon delivery arrived today...my part was Susan Branch's book, Martha's Vineyard - Isle of Dreams. 

I sat right down and started reading it. As an avid follower of Susan's blog (see bloglist for link) I couldn't wait to read it. Like me, she's a California girl who moved far away to another world. 

2. I couldn't put it down! As I read, I got to the part where she accidently bought a small cottage while on her way to see a rental house. Oops! I loved it. She was talking about walking in her new yard and seeing brown bunnies hopping all around. That made me think of the poor baby bunny who met with a swift death early yesterday morning. We went out to get in the car and found just its poor little back bunny legs lying in the driveway. No blood, just the legs. Did a owl drop them there? Did a dog kill the poor bunny and carry them there? Odd...

3. Right while I was thinking of that poor little bunny...CRASH! The porcelain bunny mold hanging on the top of the chalkboard fell right off and smashed on the floor.

This poor bunny lost more than his back legs, but there was a piece that I kept as an (un)lucky rabbit's foot.

4. As he did with the little rabbit legs laying on the driveway, my big house bunny hopped right up and came to my rescue and cleaned up the porcelain carcass too. Wild Bill takes his job as "floor man" around our house very serious indeed.

5. To fill up the now empty chalkboard, the metal bunny that I bought for a few dollars on clearance a while back replaced the shattered one -- along with a boxwood wreath to add volume and color. 

Black, white and boxwood green together make me so happy...how about you?

There's no breaking this bunny so, if it falls too, there will be no mess to clean up. Hop on over to Love Made My Home and join the Five On Friday link party here.

Thanks for dropping by!

Little Wall Rack

Last post I talked about this little wall rack that I've been torturing with paint, hammers, pliers...well, basically anything I can get my hands on. 

I planned to paint it white. In fact, I put a thin coat on it because I just couldn't stand this sweet little paint job it came with, bow and all. 

 Wow. The 80's called and wants this little shelf back!

The original price of $49.99 was still stenciled on the back. Far above the two dollars I paid for it at a garage sale.

So, last Friday I painted it with a coat of white, knocked that cutesy top do-dad off with a hammer, then used pliers to pull out the wire brads that held it in.

I said painting it white was the plan. And it was...until I saw this post today at the blog, Infuse With Liz. She featured a similar plate rack on her wall, which is painted black. Love it!

Infuse With Liz Blog

Now I'm thinking this little shelf needs to be black like the one Liz has. Your thoughts?

Thanks for dropping by!

Joining The Party At:
Bernideen's House and Garden Party

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.

Here's the link to the Saturday Progress Party and other parties I'll be at this week:


http://betweennapsontheporch.net/


http://diyshowoff.com/2014/08/24/diy-party-21/

http://oldworldpatina.blogspot.com/2014/08/saturdays-studio-glimpse-link-party.html

http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/2014/08/amaze-me-monday-73-blog-linky-party.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheHeartOfYourHome+%28The+Heart+of+Your+Home%29



Saw On Craigslist

I may be addicted to Craigslist.

I have a garage full of projects and

yet I check Craigslist everyday.
I sincerely hope I'm not the only one! 

I love this coffee table...

I think the coffee table legs could
be extended to make it high enough

to make it a farm table.

I keep thinking it would be easier to

buy it than to make a new top for the

too small table we already have.

Thoughts???

Thanks for stopping by. I hope
you have some advice for me.