Old Window Frame

.................................................................................................................I have been meaning to do something with the shutters and windows that I picked up the night I went junking with my Mom and stepdad. I finally decided to turn one of the windows into a picture frame and use the shutters to finish the look. Fortunately I did not have to do anything to the window but clean it up a bit. Actually quite a bit. It was pretty nasty. But with a little soap and lots of water (even used a magic eraser) it washed up nicely. I really did not want it to whiten up, I just wanted it to be dirt and bug free! I tried several ways to get the pictures to adhere to the inside of the window. I used scrapbooking glue dots in my first attempt. In the middle of the night I could hear the pictures dropping to the bottom of the window. Not good! I finally decided to use hot glue and it worked. You can see the glue a little but at least the pictures are staying put (for now). To back up a little, I used pictures from different vacations, changed to sienna and printed out from Snapfish. I mounted each picture on cream cardstock that I edged with brown ink to instantly age. I also used cardstock to identify each picture with the location and date. Once all the pictures were glued to the window, I backed the window with linen fabric. The shutters were dark brown wood and so I spray primed and then spray painted Heirloom White and sanded. My BR hung the trio and I decided to use an old ironing board that had been stored for many years. I have seen on lots of blogs where people have used all white accessories so I decided to give it a go. I used a little more of the linen fabric on the board. I found some black iron frames at Walgreens for less than $3 and so I spray painted those and used some sienna photos in those. Added a few more items, including a pair of my daughter's baby shoes and there you have it. I really like the look. Let me know what you think.

Apron Strings!

I love the fabric that old aprons were made of. They just speak of home to me. I have a few that I have picked up over the years and don't wear them as much as I should. However, I really wanted a way to enjoy them even when I wasn't wearing them. Finally, an idea came to mind. The end of the cabinets in our kitchen is right next to the walkway into the dining room. Can't do much in that space, so I chose to hang my aprons there. A little decoration mixed with some functionality and Ta Da! Thanks Chick #1 for the great find on the utensils with W's on them. I used velcro sticky dots to attach the utensils. So far they are holding fine. If I find that that is not enough to handle the usage, I'll come up with another plan.

Way over due photos!

Just a few photos of the MESS I am still working on. They label all the boxes and furniture. They started at #1-489! That is WAY to much stuff.

Here is the stained sunroom floor. The photos don't do it justice. They look much better in person! Guess you guys will just have to come and look at it! I love the wall colors too!
The kitchen with the new floors!

Living room and office. I love the red! Not sure why the other photo has some yellow in it.

Summer's Bounty

Wow! I had totally forgotten how easy making things from God's bounty can be. Thanks to 2 wonderful friends (PM & SN) I had some delicious food that needed to be preserved to be enjoyed later. After picking berries and cucumbers with one of those great friends on a very generous person's farm, we returned home to "put it up"! Check out those beautiful before pics.

We had great help from the kids and ended up with these yummy looking treats! We even shredded the zucchini for one batch now and more later. Can't wait to try them.

There is more jam, I just didn't feel like going out to freezer to bring it in for a pic! Sorry.


It was really enjoyable and I look forward to more opportunities to do this in the future!

Crap and Crap and MORE Crap!

Well today I have come to the conclusion that we have way to much crap! So to use someone's favorite word I am going to do some major decrapification! The household items did get unloaded today. Even in all the rain. Now for the fun part....I think! Someone keeps telling me it is like Christmas......well chicky...I am not as excited yet as I would be on Christmas! I did take photos of the house before the boxes and after the boxes. But the camera is at the house, I am at the hotel. Isn't that how it goes?
On the brighter side......Abigail's room is almost unpacked. Andrew's room is almost unpacked and I got started on the kitchen (well, at least one box). Right now we are putting the rooms "together" and getting rid of alot of things. After the entire house is unpacked we will go back to each room and do the finishing things....like paint the items that need painting and things like that.
I will try and do better at bringing the camera back each night to post what we have gotten done.
On the darker side......I already miss the other two chicks ;-) Everytime I wanted some "ideas" when putting the rooms together my thoughts went to the girls. Send some good vibes my way!!

What is the equivalent to Winter Doldrums?

O.K. I feel like I have hit a wall. I have a ton of projects on the list and none of them are getting completed. Not to mention, the mess the house is in. Looking for suggestions to jump start my motivation to get/keep this house in the shape I like. Kids are pretty much doing their part, it is more my lack of energy to do the everyday stuff. What do you guys do when you hit this sort of slump?

Vacation "Souvenirs"

This picture shows all the goodies I was able to pick up during our vacation. The boys were fairly excited about these stops and even pointed out Billboards that advertised Flea Malls! One item is a "gift" for Chick #1 if she can figure out which item I am referring to!!

I'm sure you're not surprised that I couldn't live without the orange and white polka dot enameled pot. There are some lanterns that I will paint red for out by the pool, a few books that I plan on using in a creative way I saw in a magazine, a robin's egg blue pail, cool old stool, some shutters, a couple of frames, and some other odds and ends. I will share pictures when their transformations are complete. Another item that I forgot to put in the picture is an old bowling ball that will be repurposed as a "gazing ball". That was fun to find. The boys got a kick out of that purchase. We actually had a few to choose from. There was another one that was way cooler, but more expensive. We decided that since we are covering it up we would save the neater color for someone that might want to use it in a different way than we did.

I couldn't get over the number of signs I saw advertising flea markets. Makes me want to go on a road trip!

Update

We are about done painting. Today should be the last day!! I have one room that needs one last coat. I have worked on a few projects but they are not 100% done. I will try and post some photos of the new floors and walls before the boxes are sitting around the house. I am in love with spray paint. Greg bought a few lights that were not the "best" looking things but worked and were cheap. So a $7.00 can of spray paint can make a big difference. We feel like we are getting closer to the light at the end of the tunnel. I will just be glad to have all my things in one place....even if they are all boxed up. Living in one place and having your stuff scattered in three other places is getting old!
On another note..... I asked what ideas my other chicks had for the floor in the sunroom. Well after about two hours in Lowes (this has been a theme for us). We bought stain. Not sure how this will work but willing to give it a try. We will work on that this weekend so it can set up for a week before we walk around on it. I can't wait to see what this will look like! I will post photos soon!