SCARF STORAGE

Well, the kitchen is in a holding pattern.  I have found someone to put the floor down and the lights in, but I'm afraid to get things finished up, in case I have to use the money to get by on while I am looking for a job.

In the meantime, I was trying to find a way to store my scarves.  I found this on line.   I decided to try it out, but because I have so many, I decided to put them on a curtain rod. Below is how it came out.

Two packs of clear, shower curtain rings, $1.25 each and a $3 curtain rod.  Because the closet door is narrow, I had to get my hacksaw out and cut the rod down some.  This was SO easy and CHEAP!  My favorite kind of project.


Vicki

HENNY PENNY

I love French Country style, but it's a rather fancy for my plain little cottage.  One thing I've noticed is that most French Country kitchens have one or more roosters.  I had been looking for just the right size, but I didn't want to pay much for it.  A few weeks ago, I found one (or is it a hen?) at a thrift store.  It was a planter with silk flowers in it and it was U-G-L-Y!!!!

This is how it looked when I got it.

 

This is how it looked after I removed the nasty flowers. 

Whatever was holding them in was like plaster of paris. 

 I had to use a hammer and chisel to remove it.

 

Here it is after cleaning it out.

 

Because it was made of resin, I primed it, then painted it with a white gloss.

 

The finished product.

 

 

I'm not sure what to feature next.  Maybe I'll be finished with the cushions for the kitchen chairs by next week.

 

Vicki 

 

ANOTHER KITCHEN TEASE

Still don't have the floor, because I still don't have a job.  Oh well.  Here are a few more pix of some of the changes.

This is the big wall where the eating area is.  With the exception of the middle picture, these were postcards that I bought years ago in New Orleans.  I had them framed in a natural wood frame, because, at the time, I didn't really know what I wanted.

I decided to paint all of the frames white, including the black one that was in the middle.

And this is how they look against the new wall color.  I also added a shelf.  Sorry the light is in the way.  It will be changed out.

Below are close ups of the pix from N.O.L.A.

I know.  Lousy pictures.  But you get the idea.  Next time, I'll show off my rooster.


Vicki

NEW KITCHEN

 

This is a long post, but since I've not posted on here for 7 months, I guess I need it to be long to get it all in.

Let's see, in April or the first of May, I started having mice.  Now since I suffer from Musophobia, this was a big deal.  I called someone out to handle it.  I paid $180 to get a guy to come and tell me that yes, I had mice.  He wanted another $250 to take care of the problem.  I told him that I didn't have $250, so he put out some traps for me and wished me luck.  He also told me that I needed to remove the dishwasher, which hasn't worked in a couple of years.  It seems that the critters were stock piling dog food behind it. 

I paid a handyman to come and take out the dishwasher.  He really didn't know what he was doing, so the hose to the dishwasher started leaking, although I didn't know it for a while.  I called in a plumber, who called in one of those companies that come in after a flood to dry stuff out. They pulled up the whole kitchen floor and dried it out.  When the insurance adjuster came, he informed me that this company were crooks.  He gave me a check to pay the company for drying out the floor and the rest went into savings to pay for a new floor.

I was laid off from my job, so I'm terrified to have the floor done, in case I need that money to live on.  Because the floor was sticky, I decided to put down cardboard to walk on until I can get the new floor. 

For my birthday, which was yesterday, my daughter painted the walls for me.  The kitchen is really coming together.  Since it isn't finished, I'll just show some of the highlights.

So the first thing is Daisy's new dog food container.  The previous one was a short, plastic garbage can with a lid.  Apparently, the rodents were trying to chew through it, so I had to find something else to put it in.  I went to a thrift store and got a popcorn can.  Then I primed it and painted it.  After that, I went to The Graphics Fairy.   I spend WAY to much time on that site.   I found this beautiful French ad and decoupaged it on.  By the way, I SUCK at decoupage!!!  This turned out pretty well.

These were the hideous curtains that were in the kitchen, when I moved in.  Now, I've lived here for 5 years and I JUST took them down about 3 weeks ago.

Here are the ones I made to replace them.  They were actually longer cafe curtains that I shortened. 

Well, that's all for today.  More kitchen pix later in the week..

 



I'M FINISHED WITH JUNKIN'!!

Well, at least for profit... 

I am trying to finish up the last few projects for my booth and then I think I will close it.  It seems that it has taken over my life and I KNOW that it has taken over my house!!  I'm tired of stuff being all over my porch, my back deck, my livingroom, and so on and so on.  I don't have a garage and my basement floods (plus, getting large items down and back up again is difficult).  I have SO many projects that I want to do in my house and I just can't seem to find the time to do any of them!

I hope to be able to close by Spring or early Summer.  The trick is, I have to get out of the mind set of looking at something and saying, "Oh I can make THAT and I'll bet it would really sell!"  It will be hard, but it IS necessary!  I've also tried to not look at as many trash to treasure type blogs.  I'm trying to focus more on just decorating blogs. 

In the meantime, here are some of the things that I've finished for the booth.



I've actually sold the chalkboard and the message center.  Right now I working on 2 more message centers.  I also have a coffee table and a trunk to finish up with.  And THEN, I can start concentrating on the "home projects."

I want to lengthen the drapes in the livingroom, make new drapes for the diningroom, and make a valance for my room.  I also want to build some bookcases in the study and cover a mattress for a daybed.  And that's just for starters!  Hopefully, I'll get started on some of these soon.

I'll keep ya posted!

Vicki



Still Playing Catch Up

This past weekend, I worked on a TV cart and a cedar chest.  Neither of them are finished.  So, I thought I would add pix of some of my latest finds.

I found these at a yardsale.  I had not planned to stop, but I saw these at the edge of the street.  The legs are metal and look like they are in good shape, so I think I will leave them as is.  I plan to cover at least on of  them in a deep purple velvet that I have on hand.  I can't decide if I should cover both the same or do the other in a different fabric. 

I found this at a thrift shop in Nashville.  It would be pretty with some vines growing on it, but I can't figure out how to get it in the ground. 

I also got this in Nashville.  Although I got it for the booth, I'm thinking about keeping it.  I don't know why, but frames are my weakness.

These are at my front steps.

 

In closing, today is my mother's birthday.  She would have been 100 today!  She was the epitomy of a Southern Belle.  Happy Birthday to the prettiest girl in Monroe County.

WELL SHOOT!!

I had hoped that I would be able to reveal my craftroom, but I'm still putting finishing touches on it.  My daughter's friend, Leila, helped me SO much to get things organized.  I'm still moving some things around.  I also have to build 2 drawers that go in the cabinet.  I DO, however, have the pegboard up!!  That was NO easy task.  Of course, it seems that ANY task I take own SHOULD be simple and then it isn't.  When I was all ready to put the pegboard up, I found out that I first had to put up furring strips to attach it to.  This keeps the pegboard from being flat against the wall, thus allowing room for the pegs to hook in.  The furring took longer than I anticipated.  Again, what should have been simple...

Since I can't show the craftroom yet, I've loaded some pix of other things that I've been doing.

This is a letter box, I guess.  I found it at the thrift store.  It was in 2 pieces.  I guess that is why the tape is on it.  I found some screws in my stash and put it back together.

This is how it looks all put together.  I hung it in the craftroom.  I still need to prime and paint it.  Oh look!  You get a sneak peek at the craftroom!!

This is a mirror I got a few years ago when I lived in a house that was more of a Victorian in style.  When I moved into my craftsman bungalow, I didn't really have anywhere to put it, so my daughter used it at her house for awhile.  When I got it back, I decided to paint it a fun color and put it in the booth.  Once I finished it, I realized that I wanted to keep it for my study.  The study is my next big project, as soon as I finish the craftroom.  The walls are lime green and I'm going to use pink with a small pop of purple.  Anyway, below is the finished product. 

Up close

Hanging in the study

I have several booth projects going on, as well as a baby afghan that I'm crocheting.  Hopefully I'll get the booth foofed this week!!  Until next time!!