This just made me smile!

I parked behind the house last night.  This morning as I walked toward the back gate, I was blown away by this beautiful spiderwort.

The muted sage green is just fabulous against the deep violet of the flowers.

(By the way, I think these are pretty good photos from an iPhone.  The only editing I did was to crop the pictures.  I think I may actually be getting the hang of taking a picture with my phone!)

Giddy with excitement!

My new mattress gets delivered tomorrow.  The fact that I am this excited about it should tell you a little something about my life!  Because the mattress is one of those very plushy fat ones I had to purchase new sheets.  I love sheets and towels.  If I worked at Bed, Bath and Beyond (also known in some circles as "Bed, Bath and Satan" due to the level of temptation) I would be totally broke all the time.  600 count Egyptian cotton sheets?  Yes, please!  100% cotton heavy weight bath towels?  Oh, baby!

(Which reminds me - I just saw an advertisement for "quick drying" towels.  My only experience with quick drying towels would be those that were nearly threadbare.  No, thank you.  I want my towels fat and absorbent!!)

Anywhoo, I purchased these sheets.

LivingQuarters Cool Touch Select Percale Sheet Sets

Being of a certain age, the thought of cool sheets grabbed my attention.        I can only hope it isn't a bunch of hype as the sheets are currently in the dryer.

One last night on my 10 year old mattress and then blissful sleep on my new mattress and cool sheets.  Whoo hoo!!

Decisions, decisions...

I want to paint my walls.  All my walls.  Right now everything is Glidden Antique White.  Walls, trim, ceiling, everything!  It is a nice neutral white.  The biggest problem is that it was all applied very poorly.  The homeowner before me sprayed all the walls and was very light handed with the spray.  His wife did the trim and she was very stingy with how much paint she put on the brush!  I have put this off as long as I can.

So - my first dilemma.  What color?!  My living room and dining room are connected so that is the biggest space on the first floor.  I decided that I want something in the beige family.  (Oh, how I would love the trendy grey but I will save that for the bathroom when I finally paint it.  This paint job will be a one time thing for me.)  Once I decided on the idea of beige - what beige?

 

Some beige colors lean toward green, some to orange, some to grey.  Then there is the whole issue of light.  Most colors look very different as the lighting in the room changes.  What happens if I love it in the morning light and hate it in the late afternoon light?  What if I paint the room, put all my furniture back into place and hate the color all together?

Maybe I should just get more Antique White and call it a day...

I love my neighbors!

Really, I do!  My neighbors that live next door down are really lovely and kind.  They are the kind of neighbors that have a key to my house and bring in packages off the porch.  They are the kind of neighbors that offer to check on the cat when I am out of town.  The husband retired about a year ago.  He apparently needs things to do because he has started hitting the local auctions and bringing home all kinds of things.  His wife says he is turning into a hoarder.  Well, this time his hoarding paid off...for me!  He stopped me yesterday evening and asked if I would be interested in these

Aren't they fabulous?   The larger of the two looks like it is a fruit bucket.  I love them both.  I have to decide  if I am going to paint the one without the decals.  I may do something like what Suzan at Simply Vintageous did to her bucket.  (What exactly I am going to do with the buckets is a question for which I still do not have an answer!)

Oh, my auction shopping neighbor?  He also cuts my grass.  Best.neighbor.ever!!

Here it is!

I don't know how soon I will use the Modge Podge method of graphic transfer again but I am pretty satisfied with how my little cabinet turned out.

I wanted the graphic to look like a label that had been applied by the manufacturer and I think I accomplished that.

As I have a fondness for wine, choosing this particular graphic from the Graphics Fairy was not difficult!  One of the things I was also trying to do was come close to matching the buffet that my granddaughter and I painted last year.

This is the buffet.  I think it matches up pretty well.  The buffet was painted with real ASCP and the cabinet was my concoction of antique white latex, plaster of Paris and water.  While using the Annie Sloan paint is very convenient and goes on beautifully, I am pleased enough with my version to paint just about anything!

Linking to these parties:  Sew Darn Crafty Link Party, Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Feature Friday, Fabulous Creative Friday, Power of Paint Party, Brag Monday at the Graphic's Fairy.

Pins and needles

When the young man who restored my home put it on the market, his Realtor indicated in the brochures that there would be a pantry in the kitchen.  Since I signed the contract prior to the kitchen being finished I expected a pantry.  One day after I knew the kitchen cabinets had been installed I stopped over at the house to look in the windows.  Pantry?  Where was the pantry?  I called my Realtor who, in turn, called his Realtor.  Two days later a pantry closet was installed...in the middle of the back wall.  There is about a 22" space from the back door to the pantry closet.  22" of bare nothingness.  I have been looking for some kind of a cabinet to fit in that space and I finally found one.  It is an oak cabinet (painted white) with a enamel metal top.  I am pretty sure it was marketed as an "add on" for a Hoosier fitted kitchen.  It has a wire basket just inside the door and a place where a wire cooling shelf was located originally.  It was in pretty rough shape with multi layers of paint including the final layer which was apparently latex over oil paint so it was chipping off in big chunks.  I didn't care.  It was the perfect size and just $20.

She originally had metal casters on the legs but those were rusted beyond repair.  Because the paint was so terribly chipped and totally not stable, I knew I would have to sand so sand I did!  I put on a mask, took the cabinet out to the patio, plugged in my hand sander and made that baby smoooooth!

I had already started the sanding process before I remembered to get the camera.  I am a terrible blogger!

The hinges were pretty rough looking but I decided to just paint over them .  No, I am not lazy.  I just like that look!

I mixed up a batch of (my version) "chalk" paint in an antique white.  According to a chart I found on line, it matches the Old White color from ASCP.  I wanted to match it as best I could to the buffet I painted last year.

I found a wine graphic on the Graphic's Fairy site and did a ModgePodge transfer technique.  Right now the graphic is drying on the cabinet and I am a nervous wreck and sitting on pins and needles!

I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will have the cabinet I have envisioned later this afternoon.  Oh, the joys of DIY!

A little "blog" maintenance

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