Spotlight & a Peek at the Bookcase!

Sherrie from A Vintage Affaire chose me for her Blog Spotlight Saturday this week and I am so grateful and honored!  Please go by Sherrie's blog.  Her booth is beautiful and full of unique finds & I love her tutorial on aging silk flowers!  Thank you so much, Sherrie!

I wanted to show a little peek at the bookcase. I finally feel like we are getting somewhere close to the end.  It's one of those projects where you think, "I'm not doing anything for a while after this."  But then I've already started something else..so much for that.

I think I'm wearing Brian out though.  He asked when we would be finished with projects and I'm like..uh, never.  So, I think he's super happy about that!

Onto the bookcase...

I could just hug paint!  It's a clean look that I don't think I'll get tired of over the years (because I never want to do this again.)

 My goal is to hide all of the ugly stuff that we need for our home office & in the den.  I'm looking for pretty storage and using baskets like these.

I have to use these daily for work. They aren't pretty but they're a necessity. So getting them off the desktop, so my son will stop slamming the cord in the drawer was a must.  A pretty hook goes a long way.

So today we have to do our usual yardwork (not gardening) yard.work. After that, we're laying out the veneer for the bookcase and may start that step today.  We'll see, I have some family swinging by today and since life is about the people in it, this may get waylaid.  I'm so grateful you spent a little of your day here with me and hope you have a fun weekend!!

TTFN,

Mirrors...need I say more?

I messed around with the dining room this past week after my mom unearthed this HUGE mirror when she was redecorating one of her rooms.  She thought I might like it..that's an understatement. It's fabulous..the bigger the better...

Before:

This was the old mirror that is quite a bit smaller. It's finding a new home in my son's room after I try something new on it.  If it bombs, this mirror will never be seen again.

 

After:

Mirrors really open up a space.  My dining room can look like a bowling alley if I'm not careful and this larger addition adds depth.   

 That's all I'm up to..one fun thing I have on my little agenda today is to pick out hardware for the redesigned bookcase. I love how paint can change the entire feel of a room or piece of furniture.  Don't you wish life were that easy?  I think everyone would keep a can of paint on them!

Talk to you all soon,

The beauty of black paint...

I was talking to my sister the other day about how I haven't been blogging much lately and she said it's hard to blog when you are doing projects all the time - totally true.  I've been working on this blasted bookcase for days now and I'm SOO over painting the grooves in beadboard!  Another sandtrap has been my paint choice. I've heard so many great things about Sherwin Williams paint, but I think it's kind of on the thin side compared to Benjamin Moore & Behr.  I've had to put 4 coats of paint on this bookcase PLUS a coat of primer to get the coverage it needs.  If I don't end up in a cast from all of this painting, then I'll count myself lucky!

So to break up the monotony of white & because I suffer from 'must have multiple projects going on at once all over the house-itis", I walked around with a BLACK can of paint.  Here's what I did..

Before:

*yawn*

After:

Black paint, new tassel & shade.  New look..love it!

I'm trying the zinc look on a mirror..cross your fingers it works!! 

TTFN,

Scott Antique Market & more beadboard!!

I need a weekend from my weekend. I'm sure you can all relate. This weekend was Scott Antique Market - that's a big deal in Atlanta. I didn't take my camera, so I have no pictures...bummer.  But if you have no idea what it's like and would like to this amazing blogger has some good shots.

It was a family trip out..my sister, her husband, niece, my mom & Brian all piled up for the one hour drive. There is PLENTY of inspiration to be found but man it's pricey...to be more specific, it's INSANE expensive. But I did find a little something that I think is uber cool...

This glove form.

Onto our project du jour -

Brian got busy with the bookcase and it's coming along, but it looks like a tornado hit it the den.  We're reconfiguring my workspace (I work from home), so this is a big, big deal for me.  I'm tickled!!

 
Before I go, let me show you this corkboard...

I found this in a local shop and it was a little more than what I normally would spend.  But alot of work went into this and I appreciate the detail, so I think it's worth it. I have another frame that I'm going to attach to the one on it now that will add even more character.  

I hope this post makes sense..I'm bleary-eyed and still have alot to do..but it's all good stuff!!  Have a good Sunday night, ladies!

Shopping the house

I like to save money & try to squeeze a penny until it screams on SOME things.  I wanted a different chair for my 'office' in the den, so I had a look around.  I decided to move an extra one I had in the dining room. I picked this chair up for $20 years ago. It is solid wood, very heavy AND it has another coat of paint on it thanks to the den makeover.

Before:

Using the flash for blogging is not cool, but unfortunately it's very necessary on cloudy days in my house. (What you can't see is my blinded cat off to the side who stared at the camera right when it flashed.)

After:

It looks very clean & simple now.  I used Stratton Blue from Benjamin Moore & Dover White from Sherwin Williams. The Stratton Blue is going up on the walls in the den (I'm pretty sure). It will be a little brighter on the walls because I glazed this. BM is like painting with pudding..it's so thick & did I mention awesome?

I picked up the cushion at Pier 1.  It's so comfy - which is REALLY good because this is where I'm parked for most of the day.

One more thing before I go.  Here is a little peek at the bookcase...

I have everything crammed in there for now.  I can't stand a mess and I have the den torn A-P-A-R-T! But I will tell you that I love how it is coming together even if I have to take baby steps.  I'm a patient woman and I have a feeling that my patience will be tested during this den renovation!

For the Love of Ephemera

My favorite antique dealer in town had another awesome yard sale a few weekends ago.  I found quite a stash of vintage postcards..most of them were from the early 1900s.

In a world full of text messages, email, blackberry, facebook and anything else you can think of..it seems communicating with postcards and letters is slowly fading away (actually not so slowly).  The notes on the backs of these are so interesting.  I read about a break-up, gossip about an aunt, a love letter, a trip, just saying hi..some of the addresses were just a name & city with a stamp on it.  I assume at one point that was all you needed to send a letter or postcard.  Here are a few of them

There are Easter ones....

Christmas & New Year's...

And my favorite...Dutch children...

I just love these.  They are so charming and fun.  

I'm thinking of putting some of them under glass on an end table.   They are so cool & I will definitely cherish them.

Kitchens & furniture

These are two of my favorite things (you have to sing that or it loses it's charm!)

I designed a layout for my mom's new kitchen. Ikea's planning software is pretty cool & easy to navigate.  I'm definitely going to blog the details of this project.  We are in the planning stages & since I don't think the electrical part is much fun, I'll wait until we get to the actual installation to start blogging.

I'm pretty sure this is the plan she wants to go with.  These cabinets are topless for now but you get the idea.  I just love it.  

Next I'm going to hop on over to my sister's place...look at what she did with the sheet music bookcase I made for her!

She has this nestled on a stair landing.

I love the old hat box, the hat, bird in a nest..the little chair & lamp..I just love it all. It's just so cute and SO Julie!

She also made this adorable Halloween banner...

The vintage images were downloaded from the web. 

Can't wait to see it all in person on my next visit..but seriously, she'll probably have everything switched around by then.

Happy Labor Day!