My Dining Room

My dining room has reached a point of near completion as I mentioned in my last post.  I was longer in getting photos up than I expected due to putting the contents of my living room in the dining room while I cleaned the carpet.  Then I decided that while everything was out of the living room, it was a grand time to get the painting work done in there.  So the displaced furniture stayed displaced and I spent a week working in the living room.  Still some trim to finish and curtains to make, but much nicer than grey drywall and compound dust.  Photos of the living room will follow one of these days, but in the meantime, here are a few peeks at the dining room.

The blue woodwork is now a creamy white.  The shade of yellow on the walls is a softer version of the previous yellow.  And you can see part of the new wall and the new doorway into the the kitchen.  (Previously there was a wall there with the fridge on the other side.)

My lovelies are back up on the walls and shelves.

The only thing left to do is to paint the new transition trim from the dining room to the living room and rehang (after cleaning and ironing) my linen draperies.  That is tomorrow's project.  Small potatoes compared to what I have been doing.  Wednesday, it'll be back to the painting grindstone.  Oy!

Thanks for stopping by.

Check back soon to see what I came up with as a creative hold back for new lace curtains in the entryway.

A Couple Happy Finds

There seems to be no end to the painting in my house and putting things back together.  The dinning room is nearly done.  Two small details left to attend to, but at the moment my living room furniture is in there while I clean the carpet and paint in there.  Hopefully, I  can finagle a couple photographs to share with you soon.  I am so happy to have a room done (nearly) and am anxious to share it with you.  In the meantime, I am trying to remember to take some time out for myself a couple times each week so I don't burn out.  Thursday mornings I enjoy fellowship with women at my church for our weekly Bible study.  We are embarking on a study of Matthew guided by Max Lucado, one of my favorite authors.  My second time out on a bimonthly basis is my trip to the dairy, which I combine with a stop at a favorite antique haunt or two.  I have also been blessed to enjoy a couple of lunches out with some lovely friends.  And lastly, I stumbled upon an on line course called "Creatively Made" by Jeanne Oliver (thank you Jeanne - this is a wonderful creative and inspirational course) and signed up for it. I don't make time to follow it each day (fortunately it is a go at your own pace type of thing) but when I do, WOW, I walk away so inspired and so full of good thoughts and productive thoughts.  What a gem to have stumbled upon, especially given the chaos right now.  Certainly the work load has been far heavier than the fun, but looking forward to the fun breaks make the work part a little easier to handle.

I misplaced my camera in the chaos of my living situation for a couple days, but found it this morning so I snapped a couple quick photos of some happy little finds at last week's brief antique foray.  Here they are for you to see.

Some vintage sewing notions (spools of seam binding, rick-rack, looped trim and a pattern book for crocheting with great vintage graphics), vintage inspired coasters, a pretty plate with brass handle, vintage valentine decoration, some teeny tiny perfume vials with red glass stoppers and my favorite, a round price tag.  Don't know what it is about numbers, but I love them.

This little girl will look sweet decorating some little nook for Valentine's Day.

Not too much to share today, but things are so busy here.  More to come one day soon.  Thanks for stopping by.

Honey - Just to make you smile...

For Christmas, Honey, the youngest of my two golden retrievers, and I, created a book for my mother.  Kind of a love narrative from Honey to my mom.  We are convinced that Honey thinks my mother is her natural birth mother.  Strange, I know, but Honey seems to overly adore my mom and in her younger years seemed to try to burrow her way right to the womb when she would snuggle with my mom.  Since then, she is love a magnet to Honey, who just can't get it through her furry head that she should take a chill pill when she is around my mom.  Anyhow, some of the photos in the book were candid and some posed, but all make you smile.  So here are a couple of my favorites.  Their only purpose?  To make you smile today.  Hope you carry it with you the rest of the day.  (The smile that is...)

Candid shot of puppy in TOTAL relaxation mode.

Candid shot begging for a belly rub.

Sadly, also a candid shot.  Bad, bad mud boggin' dog.

Posed of course, as is the next.  I just couldn't resist some dogie dress-up, and she is so cooperative!

Candid.  What dog doesn't like a good stick.  Wonder what she was thinking about as she sat here on the steps with that ole stick.  My mom (and others who know Honey well) would probably answer that she couldn't be thinking much in her warped lil' brain.  Personally, though, I think she is quite smart and is sitting here solving the problems of the world.  The answer to world peace, according to Honey? .... a favorite thing to hold and then share when asked to, unconditional love and endless forgiveness.  I think she's got it all figured out.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope we shared a smile.

Boo Boo Puppy

Well it finally looks like winter in my New England world.  Several inches of snow fell during the day yesterday and it is now crusted over with ice after a day of freezing drizzle intermixed with regular old rain.  The trees and bushes are bent under the strain of the frozen white paste and the ground is slippery and a little jagged.  Unfortunately all this led to our first winter injury in the household.  No, nobody fell, thankfully, but Honey our five year old, yet permanent puppy (she's not quite all there!), ripped and dislocated a claw on her back paw.  Owwie!!  Her exuberance on slippery ground got the best of her.  A trip to the vet and a visa payment later and she is home recovering with a sock duct taped to her leg for a couple days.  It was either the sock or the "cone of shame" to keep her from licking and biting the now removed claw.  Heidi, my youngest daughter, thinks she looks like a super hero with the red and silver combination.  We deemed it necessary to add a super hero cape as an accessory.  Unfortunately, super hero capes are on back order, so we settled for a homemade red fleece bandanna.  We think she looks quite cute and she actually seems quite content with the whole deal.  What a good girl!!

Super Puppy!!

Thanks for stopping by.

A Big Birthday in Our House

How is it possible that my daughter turned 18 today?  I mean really!  I could swear she was just born yesterday!  Where, oh where does the time go?

Three months

18 months

Four years old

Six years.

Where, oh where has my little girl gone??????

She's gone and grown up on me, that's where!  What a beautiful young woman, inside and out!

Happy Birthday, Luvie!

More Progress and a Vintage Postcard Display

Progress continues in my house.  The door folks arrived yesterday and began replacing some aged, drafty doors and replacing one door with window instead.  Wow, does that ever change the feel of my living room.  Such small changes can add up to a grand change it seems.   A couple photos to give you the idea:

While the workers were busy with saws and hammers, I decided to take a break from the painting and do a little creative decorating.  Got out my own saw and hammer and drill and took on a new small project  Here's a peek at what I've been up to.

I picked up this old expandable child gate at the last estate sale.  Wasn't sure what I would do with it, but figured it would be good for something different.

I cut it into two identical sections and discarded the rest.  

I then pre-drilled holes, and screwed on mini paper pincher clips.  (Not sure what the official name for these little ditties is.)

I was then able to safely (without permanent mark or damage) attach part of my collection of vintage state souvenir postcards from the 40's and 50's.  Love them!

I hung one on either side of a new display I hung over the bench in it's new home along the newly built wall that separates the family room from the kitchen.  The bench previously lived in the entryway (also undergoing a cosmetic makeover) where I had custom built it as my first big woodworking project 14 years ago.  It will need a few modifications for it's new home, but for now that is a low priority.

I hung the display a little higher than I normally would to account for folks sitting on the bench to put on their shoes  (Happily, it works out the the bench partly covers a heat register so the shoes on the shelf are warm and toasty when put on.  Ahh..).

It feels so good to have been able to create and focus on decorating for a bit.  The slate for tomorrow?  Cleaning my bedroom carpet and baking cupcakes for my daughter's birthday.  Eighteen years old tomorrow!!!!  How did that happen already??

Thanks for stopping by.

Redo at the Cooperage

You may recall a while back in an earlier post, I shared with you that come January 1st I planned to downsize my selling space at the Spaulding Cooperage in Townsend, MA.  Well, I stuck to my resolution and spent several hours there on Wednesday doing just that.  Here are some photos of my redesigned spot.  I am quite content with it.

I mounted an old door to the wall to delineate my space from the newly created space next to me.  Here is side angle shot of the new space.  Not only is the door good as a barrier, but it gives me added "wall" space.  I plan to hang a towel bar on the lover half of the door to use for linen displays.

The Cooperage is closing for the last two weeks of January and all of February so I will have plenty of time to craft and collect for some nice spring displays.  Thanks for stopping by.  I am off to paint!

Remodeling Progress

Whew...it has been a bit since I've posted anything.  Between the holidays and the chaos that surrounds me at every moment in this remodeling project, I sometimes can't seem to find myself (hmm..where did I put me last.  In a paint can?  In a 5 gallon bucket of joint compound?) or at least trouble finding time for myself.  Well, here I am!  And glad to be back, at that.  Here are some photos of continuing progress on my remodeling.

Here is the new wall separating kitchen space from family room space.  A peninsula was removed (refer back to earlier post to see original photos on 12/2, titled, "Let the madness begin!").  You can see where it used to be by the rectangle of missing flooring.  In its place, a new lazy susan and a space for a small drawer and shelf for trays.  And a large space to relocate refrigerator to.  And space above for shelves.

Now you see the closer-to-finished corner.  All natural color wood work awaits my painting.

The overhanging soffit was removed and new ceiling installed.

New doorway into the dining room where refrigerator used to be.  Also the addition of a fold down butcher block counter extension.

A new wall with window (yet to be made by me) opening was built where the pass though to the dining room used to be.  This created separation for the two rooms and also created a place for my eat-in-the-kitchen nook.

And a grand view looking into the newly defended kitchen space, still with finish work to do.  It is amazing to see that by defining the spaces with walls and doorways, and removing the soffit, we were able to make everything feel bigger without actually adding to the footprint of the house.

New trim to frame out transition from entry to family room.

The back side of the wall where the blue table is.  This totally changes the feel of my dining room.  It feels quite quaint now.

And lastly, this new transition and trim was installed to define the dining room as separate from the living room.

Hope you enjoy what you see.  There is still lots of work for me to do, but it is turning out even better than my imagination had designed in my head.  Our contractor was great.  He really captured the character I was looking for.  More to come in the future - but be patient with me....so much to paint!!