Mini-makeover for my little kitchen

Before

It all started last night because I redid my windowsill with Mason jars to get ready for lilacs and dogwood flowers.

First though-I wanted to clean my window.  Wasps had built a nest between the window and the screen last summer and I never had the heart to kill them.  They made a mess!  But when I climbed up on the chair and took the curtain down and took the screen out, I noticed the filth up above.  It had been awhile since I had cleaned up there and ewwwwww!

So this morning I thought-I'm going to take all that crap down AND I'm going to take down that border AND I'm going to try to get that rail off.  It was nice in 1987, but now the dated dirt trap had to go!  With a little help from a hammer and a crow bar, off it came.

When I took all that stuff down along with the border-it was so dark up there, it looked terrible.  So I just went ahead and cleaned.  And cleaned some more.  I was trying to figure out what to put up there.  I started with a few of my Pyrex bowls, and well the rest is history.

(My fridge is naked-I took all my pics off today, but I will be putting updated pics back on.)

I like the color the bowls added and I think the whole kitchen looks better than before.

Wow-it's so true that you have to mess up to clean up and oh, boy-what a mess I had. 

Now, I need a cup of tea!

Have a great day!

Ruler trim

After I finished laying my new vinyl floor,  I needed a piece of trim to cover where my different floorings meet.  I thought to myself, surely there's a way for me to get out of going to a hardware store.  I know!-who dreads going to the hardware store?  Well, that would be me.  So, I started looking around the house for a solution-and I found one in the form of a wooden ruler.  Only I needed 30 inches not 12, so I did need to stop in town to see if I could find more.  The dollar store was out, but Rite Aid had them for a dollar a piece.  I guess I don't mind stopping at drug stores.  :)  I went ahead and got three, so they would match up.

I opened my junk jar and found screws.

I gave them 2 coats of some water based polyurethane I had, last night.  I cut off two of them at 11 inches, because I didn't want to deal with the large hole there at the end.  The other ruler was cut at around the 8 inch mark.

I am The Hackmaster! 

I just used the built in holes and screwed them right to the floor.  I did most of this-this morning, while talking on the phone with my sister.

Tada!-floor trim made from rulers. 

I'll never have to look for a ruler again!

Have a lovely weekend, everybody!

New floor



Friday morning I started laying vinyl tiles (which came right to my door
on Thursday, all 110 pounds-free shipping) on my dining room floor.
I started in a corner, as opposed to starting in the center of the room-as the directions
say you are to do.  I'm such a rebel.  I'd move a piece of furniture away from the
wall-tile that spot, and then carefully move that piece back-and so on and
so on and so on.  I completed the tiling last evening.   I finished cleaning
 up the joint this morning and then I took some photos, so I can remember
what it looks like clean-since it won't be that way for long.

::1st row-I worked my way across the far wall.
::2nd row-Heading towards the center of the room and also my
cutting tool of choice-which was my rotary fabric cutter.  I'm sure I
ruined the blade, but I have more.
::3rd row-Working my way to the end of the room.
::4th row-The last tile, my pile of garbage, and the finished product.

All done!

The best parts are-I did it myself! and it cost approximately $90.00!
 and it's clean! and it will be easy TO clean! and I did it myself! and it cost
 90 bucks! and it's clean!


Have a good weekend everybody.

Demolition

~Intentional demolition~

I ripped up my dining room carpet.  What a mess!  But what can be expected after nearly 23 years of abuse???  It was a lot of hard work-moving all my furniture under arrest (that's all my furniture lined up against the walls), then cutting and pulling the carpet and padding, sweeping, pulling staples, sweeping, lifting those carpet tack strips, and sweeping.  I haven't worked that hard in a long time.  Now I just have to wait for my vinyl tile to arrive at my door (Sears-free shipping)-and yes, I'm laying it myself.

All done-for now.

 ~Unintentional demolition~

My window frame fell off the wall!  This happened Thursday afternoon.  Crash, bam, boom!  I don't know why-it's been hanging there for years!  The good news is-the window is not broken and my cabinet didn't break.  Only a few pieces of milk glass from Goodwill broke and it will be easy to find more.

Hopefully demolition in my home is done for now!

Have a nice day.  :)



From lamp...to crock

This is an unused lamp. (as in almost two years in the basement.)

(no-not here.)

(how about here?)

This is a used crock. (with a hole in it, none the less.)  Any questions?

Before and after: Jessie's tv stand

A friend of mine (I'll call her Jessie), asked me if I would paint up this tv stand that she had inherited.  It was a lovely stand, but a little too dark for her taste, so paint it up I did!

Taaaadaaa!!!!  Here she is with a coat of primer, two light coats of paint, a little brown paint rubbed on and then off with a damp rag, and a heck of a sanding to the edges.   I like it, and Jessie, I hope you do too.  If not-I can always paint her again.  :)

I dragged her outside for her photoshoot.  (She's on wheels!)  I grabbed some fall decor from the basement (that never made it out this year) and decorated her up.

See this little runner?  I made this from a little ziploc baggie of already cut triangles that I picked up from Goodwill, a few years ago.  I think it looks autumnal.  (I love that word!)

I have a notion to just set some bowls of candy out there for the handful of Halloweeners I get.  That way they won't need to come into my GROSS basement!

Have a great Saturday evening!

Green tinted wildflowers

Before...

After...

Have a wonderful day!

From bowling ball to gazing ball...

in no time flat!

Somebody won't let me alone when I'm trying to 'garden'. Good thing he's cute!
What do you do when the top of your bird bath breaks? Well, when a lovely friend emails you an idea about turning a bowling ball into a gazing ball-you do just that.

Yes-we happened to have a few bowling balls lying around-doesn't everybody? (I guess hubby found them and brought them home. I guess I've taught him right!) I found a can of gold spray paint that's at least 10 years old. You are suppose to prime your bowling ball (I didn't, but I thinks it'll be okay), then paint it on one side, then the other, repeat. Then tada-a gazing ball, looking oh so lovely in my under the deck flower garden.

Thank you, Rhonda, for the idea.

The 15 cent nightstand

Who would want this old nightstand that looks like it had a run in with a dog? Ummm-that would be me!
I did my usual priming (I used up three nearly empty cans), two light coats of paint, antiquing with a little brown craft paint rubbed on with a damp rag, and some light sanding of the edges.
I lined the drawers with some thrifted, strawberry contact paper. (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn-the best novel in the whole world. The infamous fork-the best back scratcher in the whole world.)
Taaa daaa-a new nightstand. Can't beat that with a stick!
Now I have a place to put all the craft books I've been ordering. (Yes-that's my guilty pleasure! and thank you, Jessie, for gifting me Pretty Little Presents. I love it!)

I've got her camera strap-covered

I can't remember if I volunteered or if my sister asked me to-but she wanted a funky camera strap and today-I made her one.

Before:

After:

I googled 'how to make camera straps' and looked at a couple tutorials and I came up with the above. I think it turned out great for my first one.

Hope you like it, Jodie. That's as much funky as I could muster up today.☺

Veggies-before and after

Before.
After.

My contribution to Christmas Eve supper.

Cooking may not be my forte, but I make a mean veggie basket!

Have a lovely Christmas Eve, everybody!☺

Potholder redo

Have any potholders that are still functional but have seen better days? I do. I thought I try recovering this one.

My friend Dawnie had asked me to make her a potholder. The ones she always uses are really big (she must have bought these at a craft show), and she couldn't just go buy one that big at the store.

So, she gave me one to take home and instead of making a whole new one-I tried recovering it and it turned out pretty good. Then I thought I'd try to recover one of my own.

I traced the potholder (with washable marker-leftover from having a young child days) on the wrong side of one of two pieces of fabric. I cut the two pieces out about an inch bigger than the line.

Then I sewed right sides together about a quarter of an inch outside the line, leaving about two inches or so open. (Nice sewing, huh?)
Then I trimmed off the excess fabric and turned it right side out. I then stuffed my good ol' potholder in the opening. Tried sewing the hole shut about five times with the machine. It looked terrible, "sew" I gave up. Then I took my ruler and washable marker and drew some squares (cause I can't sew a straight line to save my life)and sewed over them. I brought it up from the darkness of my basement and into the light of my dining room to sew the hole shut by hand and thought-this looks kind of like a pumpkin. So I got out the green seam binding and sewed a stem on as I was sewing the hole shut by hand.
Here's my potholder redo and Dawnie's. (See how big?)

I think they turned out pretty cute if I say so myself.

Now I must go clean something...cleaning is so overrated!☻

Home Interior Redo-Part 2

Remember this? (Probably not-but go refresh your memory!)

Well, here's the second installment of redoin' that ol' Home Interior. (For those of you who perhaps don't know what Home Interior is-like maybe if you are from Australia-it's where you have parties in your home and there is a demonstrator and people buy these home wares and the hostess gets free things. Kind of like Tupperware parties.)

Okay-anyhow-I was too lazy to prime, so I got out the ocean breeze blue spray paint. I sprayed it on-but I didn't like it. I tried white-didn't like it either. So-I thought I would try red for this ol' Home Interior shelf and I think I like it. And since I have red accents in my kitchen(ette), I think this works.

So now I have more display space, and you can never have too much display space.☺

***Note-when taking pictures for your blog, take them sideways. It makes them look better. (That's what I tell myself, anyhow.) And I call this photo ~dreamy~, not ~blurry~. ☻