Excellent

Great story!

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Experiments

I came home from a night out with friends to find this:

a tattered blue bowl filled with water containing a handful of angel

hair pasta, white rice, and a popsicle stick.

A sticky note was attached reading, "no toching ples. stil working on it."

Hmmm. . . .

DIY Lamp

In keeping with my mission to turn the things in my home that

I am not crazy about into things I am crazy about I have

done something I never thought I would do.

Use a glue gun.

This little lamp was my project. I have had it for years. It lights up a dark corner on my kitchen counters. It's the right size. The right brightness. The colors are okay. But it's just a little too. . . cutesy for me. So I grabbed some spray paint from the garage, some old burlap from the attic, and my new glue gun.

I painted it olive green and used some brown acrylic paint to add a little dimension to the flower. I took the burlap and glued it to the shade. I only burnt (burned ?) off two fingerprints in the process!

I think at some point I will add some chocolate brown trim to the shade but for now that detail will have to wait. The busyness of the holiday season begins tomorrow for us so the growing list of projects forming in my mind will be put on hold until January as I make way for holiday trimmings.

Until then I will enjoy the new look of my kitchen lamp. I will certainly be spending plenty of time in this area over the next several weeks!

Shopping the House

As a church planter J doesn't exactly rake in the big bucks.

I'm fine with that. Really I am. Except when I

come across the most fabulous piece

of furniture or home accessory from Anthropology. Or

Sundance. Or a myriad of "cottagy" on-line

stores I have stumbled across. Or great finds

from some of my favorite antique shops.

Home items are, hands down, my weakness.

It's only then that I wish we had a little

more cash flow. But we don't.

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So, I have had to change the way I look at

cozying up our home. And you know

what? It's been fun. Slowly but surely I am learning

the art of "thrifting" along with using

what we have. And we have a lot. I don't like all

of it but I am getting creative in finding ways

to make changes to those things to make

them feel more like us.

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If you have been reading over the last few months

then you know how much I am loving

paint. Sprayed, rolled, brushed, distressed, all of it.

Paint really changes the look of old worn out

furniture and has made me fall in love with

pieces I have had for years.

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Lately I have been looking around at my

walls. Some spots I am happy with. Others, not

so much. So today, with the rain coming down

in sheets I decided to shop the house

and make a change to one space that has

been bugging me for a while. I am pretty happy

with the results.

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I failed to take a before picture but for those of you that love the before and afters I have dug up an old photo that has the area in question in the background. Please disregard the quality of this photo and concentrate on the picture behind Tank. It's a lighthouse, next to an old wooden house with awooden canoe in front. In Maine I suppose. I have no idea why I own that picture. It doesn't really speak to me and fits no particular theme in my home. It had to go. And the table, it had a lamp, a few books and a clock on it. Blech.

So, I shopped the house. I found a tray. Two old plates.

And some wooden picture frames with outdated

photos that I have been too lazy to update.

And here are the results.

I got a whole new look with stuff just laying around.

Tucked in cabinets collecting dust. The frames were

all stacked in a box because our realtor thought

we had too many family photos around.

Now my items have new life and I can look at the

wall beneath my stairs without cringing.

So, go shop your house. You might be surprised

at what you can pull together to freshen up

your space.

Seventh Heaven

My first baby is seven. But don't dare call him baby.

Or anything babyish.

That comes with seven. Or first grade.

Or having younger brothers.

Or something.

All I know is gone are the days of

referring to him as 'baby' or 'cute' or 'sweet.'

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It's okay though. I love Seven on Spinner.

*********************

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It has come with a sincere zeal for learning. A love of reading.

A bit of a competitive edge. Compassion

for his younger brothers. An ownership of his things.

An increased desire to perfect a British accent.

A developing interest in things that are scary (like his dad).

Artistic ability.A propensity toward headaches and

sensitivity to heat (like his mom, poor thing).

A spirit of helpfulness. A sense of adventure.

And a desire to drive. Yep, already.

***********************

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Happy Birthday, Spinner!

It's great being your mom!

the cycle

Why is it that at day's end, when the boys are tucked into bed on the fast track to dreamland. . .

my day seems far from over?

And then, 10 hours later it starts all over again. :)

Procrastinator Party 'Reveal'

Tomorrow marks the deadline for the Procrastinator's Party projects. I'm done.

Finished on time, with a little to spare.

Here is my piece, before. An eight year old armoire

that I have wanted to paint for a while now.

Wanted it to be a bit more decorative. To pop. To be more

of a focal point for the room.

At first I thought I would go with turquoise but

ended up on a more subtle blue. Farmhouse Blue from the Martha Stewart

line at Lowe's. (MS307)
Unfortunately my camera doesn't capture the color very

well. It's actually deeper than what you see here. These photo's

make it look almost powdery blue, which it is not.

The photo's also don't show the distressing very well. To me, in the photo's

it just looks like a really sucky paint job. And maybe it is. Or a really sucky

distressing job. I haven't done much distressing

apart from edges so I went a bit beyond my comfort zone on this

by doing some minimal distressing on the flat surfaces.

My steps were: sanding, priming, first coat, another light sanding, final coat, distressing.

I decided to add an unexpected element by painting one of the inside inset panels with chalkboard paint. On a side note I'm really bothered by that right drawer handle sticking up. Excuse me while I go fix that.

Now I need to figure out what to do on top. The room this is in has two story ceilings. I have always had a hard time knowing what to do there.

The total work time on this project was probably 3.5-4 hours. But I worked on it over a few days. I left it right where it is now and just lifted the legs to scoot a drop cloth underneath. I did remove the drawers and the hardware on the drawers. I had hoped to find a knob for the doors to compliment the hardware on the drawers. Still looking.

Overall I am really happy with it. It is eye-catching, a focal point, it's decorative and I just love the splash of blue in our family room.