Lamp, Finds & a Few Changes!.

Hey kids!  I'm having movie night with Brian and it's a sobering one..The Company Men on Netflix. Pretty good but it's a huge dose of reality.  I prefer to live in lala-land, personally!

I'm making some changes to my blog by adding new pages and getting a little more organized.  It's going to be slipshod for a while, so bear with me.

My sister and her family came to town this past weekend for a visit and we did some junking (woo-hoo).  Here's what I snagged:
 

Picked up another globe for my son's room from an antique shop.  I'm going to paint the stand red.  He really likes his collection!

Now this one, I love!  I found this fixture at Habitat..it was $8.00 and 50% off..yep, $4.00!  I have already spruced it up and I can't wait to show you how it turned out.  We're going to hang it in the hallway that I'm working on now.  I have the walls patched, sanded, trim off..basically, it's a flipping mess!  Now I have to put it all back together - the fun part.

Moving on...remember this?

I'm using it in the den for a little pop of color.

Here is what I did with it...

 I used spray glue and covered the shade with the silk floral print and trimmed the rough edges with a cream ribbon.  This lamp looked like this not too long ago, but I didn't think the blue was working in this space, so I changed it up. I think the orange is MUCH better!

 Another little shot of color. I'm tickled with how the den is turning out. We still have to put up crown molding.  I added my own special touch to the carpet by knocking over my paint tray.  Brian says it looks like a flower...it happened in slow motion and it totally sucked eggs to clean up.  I'll include a shot of it in the "big reveal".

Here are a few of the pillows I made with the other fabric.  (I didn't have the heart to knock Olive out of her comfy spot.)

And you'll never, ever guess what else I'm doing....can you tell what this is?

It's a family of kitties that showed up in my backyard a few days ago!  Apparently, they got the tweet with my address and headed on over.  It's a mommy with her 4 babies.   This picture is taken from far away because they are super skiddish.  I'm not sure if they're totally feral but it's going to take some time to win them over. We are making arrangements to get mommy fixed before she finds herself in a 'family way' again, then the babies.  After all of that, they are going to need to be relocated. 

I'm finding a lot of great resources as I take in all these little guys and I'm going to be sharing them from now on on my Pet Rescue page.  Some of the groups I'm working with have chapters all over, so hopefully it will be useful for others that are stray magnets, like myself.  Please check it for updates.

I was watching the movie while writing this, so if part of this post makes no sense, you know why.

Talk to ya later! Hugs-

Let me dust this thing off....

Haven't touched my blog in weeks! I feel out of touch for real this time...haven't done much computer wise outside of work in a while.  I tell ya what I have done though...I've seen a lot of movies, read a book, spent a lot of time with my peeps, ruined a slipcover, sewed a lot of pillows, covered a lampshade, acquired another cat, started 530am workouts again and I painted this....

Here's the before to this big old girl. I used chalk paint in Old White & sealed it with Fiddes & Sons clear wax.  The sanding part was messy but it's a smooth as silk finish and it's so easy to get an authentic distressed look with chalk paint.  It was super expensive though - $89 for 2 quarts (with shipping)!  I will say that not having to prime or prep at all was worth it! 

 

I found this design on the internet from the Paperchase Folk Tree collection and loved it.  It has a Scandinavian feel to me which is what I wanted for this piece. 

I posted this and then messed with it some more..I think I'm finished now, so here's the after, after: 

 I used my overhead to keep scale and acrylic paint, then sanded and added a stain to dull the colors a bit.  I wanted it to look worn & faded.

 I outlined the flower tree so it would stand out.  I like how it looks a little haphazard & folksy.

The extra storage is AWESOME!

I love this part - little bird hooks for our keys!

I love all the muddled colors

Still can't believe I got this armoire for $40.

Pretty details.

Here's a back view.  We have an open floor plan and this helps separate the front door from the living/dining rooms.  So you can hide if someone comes to the door and you're not decent (and by you, I mean me)!

Now on to my newest little wanderer...

This one just showed up last week.  Scraggly little guy with an eye infection, ear mites, hungry...all kinds of beat up...will you just look at that poor little face.  I think he was working me.

 So we fed him, loved on him, took him to the vet, got him neutered & named him Scooter.

 I tried to make him an inside only kitty but I can't tame his wild heart.  He's happiest skipping around the yard.

He follows me to the mailbox every day.

Here he is after dinner...big old tummy and ready to nap!

So there ya go...more furniture & another kitty!  Another bit of good news, we're now sponsoring a little boy from the Philippines.  His name is Fritz and he's 9 (the same age as my son). I'll share more info on the program as I learn it myself.  I got started here.  We're really excited to get to know this little boy. 

Now that I finally posted something I hope someone is still around to read it!! 

Hugs to you - until next time,

Wardrobe is finished!

It might look like I've been doing alot of this:

But I assure you, I have not.

  I've been doing alot of this:

You want to know what is in the spreaders?  Cornmeal!  We're trying to save our grass from some wicked fungus and it's dirty, dirty work!  There's Brian lightly dusted and ready for the oven 

(which is how it felt..so much humidity).

A good thing - our apple tree is going bananas in the backyard! They have a great balance of sour & sweet.

On to the business of some furniture - I finally finished the large wardrobe that I picked up with the dresser I did a few weeks ago.  I used the same Wythe Blue paint from Benjamin Moore but I glazed (Valspar Mocha) the doors on this one just to mute the blue a little.  Remember the roadkill before?  Here she is now and I'm happy with how it turned out and more importantly, Mom is happy!  It's on her sun porch holding extra blankets, pillows and some laundry supplies.

I was going for a banged up Parisian feel to it.  The white paint on the piece had a weird texture to it.  I  smoothed out some of the texture with the heavy distressing.  It was hard to get a good picture the sun was setting but you get the idea.

I think the knobs look sweet & simple.  It's a tall piece so I didn't get a shot of the top but it's mahogany & polished up nicely.  It looks just like the dresser I did for my guest room.

I added rosette knobs.

The glaze also brought out the design on the doors.

I had this cute little baby helping me take pictures...

Ok, well I'm working on our built-in bookcase now. We ordered the oak veneer for the desktop.  It's going to be a HUGE project with a major impact on our den.  I hope it turns out as fabulous as I have it pictured in my head.  If not, I imagine it's going to be tough living with me until I get it right.

I'm linking to Furniture Feature Friday at Mustard Seed Creations...tons to look at there!

Hello?

I'm still alive! I've been working like nobody's business for 'the man'.  It's busy, busy at work and while I have finished a few fun projects, I haven't had any time for blogging.  I'm catching up on linky parties during breaks.

So today I'm going to finish up here at my job (working on a Saturday - blech), get to my mom's and put the finishing touches on the wardrobe, so hopefully I can post it on Monday. 

We still have the puppy (she's staying with Mom) and she's hilarious...silly puppies & kittens are the best! So sweet!

Sidelined

Along with being a wife, mother, card carrying member of corporate America and lover of furniture & paint, I am also active in animal rescue.  They usually find me. I've been rescuing animals since I was 7 or 8..my poor mom!  I 'rescued' a feeder mouse once while my mom was in a bookstore from the pet store in the same plaza. I asked her for a $1 and bought the mouse for .99.  I had it in a little box in the backseat and we were all the way home before she noticed.  So, taking in animals and finding homes for as many as possible is just how I roll.

So ANYWAY, I had a long list of projects we were going to knock out this weekend. I was completely thrown off my schedule by this little girl....

***Update:  We took her to the vet this morning (Monday 8/2) and turns out she's a 10 week old Rat Terrier in very good health. So she has her first puppy shots and ready for her new home!  Mom is keeping her at her house for me and calling her Gidget..how cute is that???

She is PRECIOUS!

She was dumped in the country near a friend's home and was going to be taken to the pound.  Knowing what I know about rural shelters, I told my friend I would take her and find her a home. Her chances of making it out of the shelter alive were slim at best.


I got her all settled in..first, some dinner..

This is delicious!

Hmmm....

nom, nom, nom...

Then a bath and off to bed...

she was exhausted...

Her head is totally different than the rest of her!

So, she's up for adoption!  I have put the word out far & wide in hopes someone wants to love her forever!  She is doing great with potty training, sleeps in her crate or snuggled up with us on the sofa and is super affectionate and sweet. Brian is teaching her to sit & shake..she's a smart little cookie!

I live in north Georgia if any of my friends in blogland would like to have this baby.  We think she's a min-pin/jack russell mix (totally guessing), est 3 months old & weighs 4 pounds. She has long legs for her size and little feet. She's going to be a small dog.

Olive wants her spot back!

Until a home is found I'm going to continue training her and loving on her!!  Thanks everyone for reading and maybe helping find her forever home!

Kitties & my lucky number

(I started this on Tuesday but putting it up on Thursday. I don't know how to change the publishing date or if you can...)

Please be patient with me on this post:

I have 6 kitties of my own. BLT had 2 and I had 3 when we married and then one of ours passed away last year and we adopted 2 more. They all have kooky little personalities and hang ups. They are much loved and overfed, so we're doing our job.

I have been involved with animal rescue for years..I've been picking up strays since I was a kid. I bought a feeder mouse for .99 when I was about 7 years old and kept it as a pet..that didn't go over well. I brought my mom a rabbit that was attacked by a cat with it's tummy hanging out and handed it to her..saying, "Fix it. You're the mom..make it live." When I started driving I would get dogs out of the shelter and tell my parents I found it on the side of the road..I was baaaad when it came to animals.

I still have that need to save..I can't stand the thought of knowing an unwanted animal is in a stainless steel cage and may lose it's life by no fault of its own. Which brings me to my point..I'm fostering for Floyd County Humane Society..it's a rural area and they don't get much traffic in their shelter and the Humane Society isn't big at all. My cats have their own part of the house they live in and the fosters will live in the laundry room for a while until they are ready to go to their forever home. That little laundry room has been the nursery to many, many kittens. If you've ever thought about fostering a pet, I encourage you to pursue it. It's a wonderful way to teach children about being responsible & good stewards of all animals. There are so many in need and anything you could do would be a big help. It is the best feeling to see them thrive and go to their new home!

Here's a little project that I cranked out last week and I like the way it looks..

I bought these at Hobby Lobby. I love stuff like this..stars, eggs, numbers, letters..

I painted them chocolate brown and then waxed them and basically treated this cardboard like wood. It took it pretty well!

After a coat of white paint and light sanding I got this!

These are part of my cubbyhole makeover that I'm going to post Friday. I like projects like this...inexpensive, doesn't take too long and you don't tear your house up doing it!

Have a happy Thursday!