A little bit of this, A little bit of that...

Lots of little things going on around my one BIG project.

Mom & I went to IKEA...and I must say again that I love, love, love that store! I found these lovely pillows..

And they look good here:

Peeping out from the bench at my breakfast table.

Onto editing, I've been looking around the house lately and reassessing.  I have done a whole lot of purging. I had way too much on the walls in the dining room and I took some of it down, cleared some clutter & organized.  It feels so good to get rid of stuff and organize!  I gave this little table a job too...

First, it needed a little dressing up & some polish.

Much better..sanded & polished top with a simple coat of white on the legs.  (I used the flash to show the pretty wood top.) 

Here it is now as our little cocktail station. Nothing major but it's portable & organized & purposeful.

Before I wrap this post up I gotta show our progress on the beast of a bookcase...

Beadboard is up!  Since taking this picture I have primed this section, caulked it & have one coat of paint on it already.  

You can see where I'm mudding in the paneling in this one area (and all the paint swatches).  I really don't want to sheetrock around all these corners for such a small area, so I'm making myself miserable in a different way.... filling in paneling grooves on one wall.  The den is a nice sized room and we're going to rip out the paneling and hang sheetrock.  I totally dread doing that but in the end it will be nice...at least that's what we keep telling ourselves.  Onward & upward!

Have a good day!!

Lovely lamp & the beast

So yesterday was a pretty good day. I finally solved my decor dilemma in my bedroom. You know when you just can't get the look you want and you try&try&try. I know most of you know what I mean. Well mine is ovah!
 
I've tried greenery on this chest of drawers in different containers and none of it looked right to me.  I went shopping through my stash and found this little lamp I picked up in an antique store.

  I love the warm glow and it's the perfect night light.

I had to rewire it with a lamp kit and it's a little wonky but, hey, it's old!  I  was glad it already had an adapter for the wire.

I love the shape and it's pretty heavy too.

So now that I can check that off, I'm going to focus on the beast...this big, dated built-in bookcase in my den.  I'm not going to show the whole thing because it looks terrible and until I have a gorgeous after, the befores will have to wait..here is a peek at what I have to work with though..don't be jealous..

Formica top that we are covering in Oak veneer.

PANELING!  Thank you previous owners for including this in the build!  We are covering this with beadboard.  

So, as you can see, we have our work cut out for us.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to post this piecemeal because it will probably be so thrilling to me that we're finally doing this that I won't be able to contain myself!  Totally random question here..but is anyone else watching Top Chef? Wonder who is going this week... 

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!

Where to start....

Good news is that work is starting to slow down a little and I think I might actually get the entire weekend off!!  I have a date with sleeping late on Saturday..can NOT wait for that!

A couple of things just totally went my way this past week and who doesn't like it when that happens?

First of all,  I ordered a new bed set for my son's room.  This is the THIRD..I just couldn't find one that really worked in his room..that is until NOW!

I ordered it off Overstock.com and got it today. 

It's the perfect shade of red to go with these:

I had to use the flash and it knocked the color off in this picture, but they look great together. I found these night stands at Salvation Army last year and got the set for $20..of course, they looked terrible when I brought them home but the craftsmanship is wonderful.  Please ignore all the book clutter. We're in the process of organizing his room.

I love the metal snap details on the shams..it's like a canvas material but not too rough.  I can't wait for him to see it!

I finished a couple of little projects.  I painted the telephone table and candlestick and then found these two outdoor sconces in the garage!  I bought them years ago and they were packed away in a box.  I used a little bottle of sample paint from Martha Stewart's line.  I haven't heard good reviews of her paint but I thought it did fine for small projects.  I also used Valspar Aphaltum Glaze that MMS has been talking about..it's so easy to work with and I like the look.  I'm putting all of these on the patio for now. 

Finally..

That is a bunch of beadboard panels that I'm going to paint because we are FINALLY going to rehab the built-in bookcase in the den.  Thank goodness!!  I'm using Dover White from SW and hoping I don't have to put more than 2 coats on...I bought them primed already so maybe I'll get lucky. 

Well my brother is in town for a few days, so I'm going for a visit.  Have a good night!!

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!