Places to go, People to see

Sassy Sites Blog Hop

Check it out!  Lots of great Blogs to read, as well as inspiration and friends to be found!


Ok I have to add this inspiring idea.  Remember my dresser dog bed?  Well what about these adorable Drawer beds?  INSPIRED!
The Decorative Paintbrush, drawer-full-of-possibilities

LOVE IT!


I'll also leave you for the weekend with the link to Green Demolition:
Green Demo

If you are in Norwalk CT area, Northeastern Pa area, or Northwestern NJ area they have a location and amazing deals near you!

Pssst, I have a secret to share

http://greendemolitions.com/


This place is a treasure trove and since I already got all the items I need for my house, and we're broke... I can share.  :D


Green Demo takes items from housing remodels, and offers a tax deduction to those donating the items- so if you are ripping something out, donate it!


Then they sell the item- so if you are remodeling or redecorating- check them out.
I bet they have what you want and probably in an upgrade at builder grade price!  
In fact some items are brand spanking new like the Viking stoves.  Yes I said Viking Stoves!


And the $ they get for the items is used to support rehab!  
See why it's a great idea?




Items we got from Green Demo for our house:

Master Bathroom vanity.  Yes, I swooned when I saw it.

It is 8'8" long and I was sure there was no way we could get it into the house... then they told me the cabinet is 3 pieces.  I don't know if I have ever whipped out the Visa that fast before or since!  It came with the counter, undermount Kohler sinks, and the faucets.

Recently I took off the knobs and added new ones from Hobby Lobby that were more in keeping with the feel of the house/bathroom

Before, nice, but not my style...

... after.  Perfect!

 

Mudroom cabinets.  These are Wood Mode cabinets.  We can not normally afford WoodMode.

In the picture on the left is the cabinet that started out as my saddle cabinet.  The upper was to house 2 saddle racks for my saddles, shelves for helmets and bridle racks [yes, all that equipment for a horse I no longer ride].  The drawers held saddle pads and boots and other goodies... the bottom drawer actually held non-horsey items- my various throw entry rugs.

Since I no longer ride, I moved the horse equipment to the garage into an armoire I tricked out.... and we installed a hanging rod in the upper portion of this cabinet in the mudroom, for an instant closet.  The drawers now hold our various hats, mittens, gloves and other 'stuff'.

This set of cabinets, also in the Mudroom, I finished with a granite counter I also bought at GreenDemo.  If I remember correctly I got that 2' x 2' piece with beveled edge for $80.  Perfect for that spot where we keep keys, a charging station for cell phones,etc.  Leashes [yes plural] hang next to that cabinet.

The sides of the upper/lower cabinets were not 'finished' and I was hemming and hawing about what to do with them, when a friend suggested blackboard paint, so I painted both with that.  Now the upper is a message spot, and the lower directs people to leave their boots there.

The cabinets were an entire small kitchen, so I had enough to do my laundry room too.

The DEEP sink there is also from Green Demo.  Great for washing these stinky dogs.

[Yes the builder hung the hutch cabinet WAY too high originally over the sink]

Here's the laundry room more recently, with a bookcase that houses my grandmothers iron and other items.  This will someday be changed out with a pantry cabinet, in which I can store those mops/vacs you see there, as well.  Finally, from the pine Wood Mode cabinet uppers to the someday pantry cabinet, over the washer dryer, I want to install shelves, and then a counter over the w/d, once I get the frontload washer.   

My grandmother used this iron into the 1970s, heating it on her giant woodfired stove that she also continued to cook on.

Those canisters were in my grandmothers kitchen as well.  Alas they were a bit rusty when I found them in my dads barn, so for now they hold my washing powders.  On the top and bottom shelves, behind the curtains, are cleaning supplies.

On the other side of the room is a dresser that I use to store wrapping paper, my stash of wallpaper and other 'stuff'.  Someday I want that to be my project/craft center.  I want to get a new counter that run the entire length of that wall, and create a spot for me to sit and paint small things.  The wall above will be fit with peg board and shelves above that.  As you can see I also have one of those wooden drying racks where I can quickly place air dry only items as I pull them out of the washer.

As you can see, really long rolls of wrapping paper do not fit in the dresser.

Above the sink I painted a chalkboard, as I did with the end there over my dogs bed.

We never use this door, so the girls bed is right there in front of it.

This is the sink in the 1/2 bath.  It's a Vitra sink and came with the Jado faucets.

I knew neither of those names when I bought it, it was simply the right shape and cheap, cheap, cheap price.

I got 2 of the 3 toilets there too- all Kohler, all for less than the cheapest toilets at Home Depot.

I got several light fixtures there also.  The one above is over the garage doors.

These were bronze... some spray paint and they are awesome and look like wrought iron.  I think we got 6 of these [and we only used 4 of them] for $24.  I kid you not.  $6 for a can of spray paint, and Viola!

And the chandelier, closest in this pic, came from there.

The pendant you see behind it was a last minute, 'I gotta' find something to go there' find when the electricians installed the 2 pendant outlets in the ceiling with one of them too close to where that cabinet on the right was going in... meaning every time you opened that cabinet you would have dinged the pendant.  Annoying. So, instead of the 2 pendants I had, I had to go find one pendant.  We capped the other one that was too close to the cabinet... and yes it annoys me every time I look at it.

Here's the Butler Pantry I wrote a blog about, also from GreenDemo

during install...

... tricked out and almost finished.   We still need to repaint the ceiling where the paint/drywall came off with the paint tape [OY], level the lower cabinets and add toe kick trim, and then on the right add an upper cabinet over the freezer we installed, which will be to the ceiling and deep.  That cabinet, which will have to be custom made, will serve as storage for large, seldom used items.

I chose the grey paint for these cabinets from the granite counter, which is white, light grey, dark grey, with flecks of rust.

I love Green Demo and I know my house would not have half the upgraded items in it if I had not found them when I did.

Projects in progress

Ok I had a very enjoyable, relaxing, inspiring time at Camp this past weekend with my sister and cousin.
I promise I'll post pics from our Adventure Weekend soon!

Yesterday I dove into redoing [AGAIN] the white/blue hutch and that dresser I want to put into the laundry room for my craft storage.

Here's the hutch in progress:

You'll remember that hubby used this as a workbench and ended up [as is apt to happen when he has a saw in his hands- what is up with that?] cutting a nice piece out of the front of the top.

[The 'ding' was right above that right handle- did a good job getting rid of it didn't I?]

I sanded off the 4 coats of paint I had diligently applied, sucking in pounds of dust, and here it is.

The top is very smooth and I intend to leave it wood, though am considering a little stain to make it pop a little more.

Here's the hutch top.  It is definitely looking better since I took hubbys suggestion of painting the shelves, as well as the back and sides of the inside.  It does look muuuuuch better!

And here is the Dresser for the laundry room.  This came out of my fathers barn this spring, and I have no idea who's it was, but the construction suggests it was made by hand.  It would not shock me to learn a relation made it, as many of the other things in that barn turns out were made by Great and Great Great Grandparents.

So, while I am not generally a fan of 'Victorian', I love this and will really enjoy having it somewhere I can look at it and think of family.

Yes I sanded and sanded and sanded it yesterday.  It was a lovely piece, but there was crud just stuck to the finish and that finish was rough to begin with, as you can see in the top below... so it needed a light makeover.

The detail is really lovely though:

Am I crazy to paint it black?

And yes, we have since built hubby his very own workbench.

Inspiration

Don't you just love when you have that "Ah Ha!!" moment that seems to solve a problem you've wrestled with for too long?

I like to start my day reading decorating blogs while I finish off that pot  cup of coffee, and this morning it paid off bigtime!
One blogger I enjoy, Just a Girl, wrote how she was utilizing the redone dresser she had moved into her craft room [I dream of having a 'Craft Room']...  so organized with everything right where she needs it...
See it here: Just a Girl- whats-in-my-drawers.
and suddenly... Shazam!

Inspiration!

First a little background:

This summer I spent many dirty hours cleaning out my Dad's barn of family items that I just could not bear letting go to a dump... including 3 dressers that are now occupying prime real estate in my over crowded metropolis many call a garage.

I have a lovely laundry room which is also my dogs boudoir, that once I really get it arranged how I want will serve in part as a Craft room.  Someday.  Here are pics of it at present:

The raw ends of those cupboards are going to get made into chalkboards.

And I do have all the crown molding to finish off the tops of those cupboards.

^See this space where the dog crate and saddle rack are?^

That is where I dream of having a counter with drawers underneath, to store craft goods, and a stool to perch on while crafting away.

Above it pegboard for tools, and shelves made from black boards and decorative shelf brackets.

But for now, Lo and behold, one of those dressers from my fathers barns, with 3 HUGE lovely [yet dusty] drawers, will fit right in there!

Storage!  Organized craft items!  Yippee!!

And more....

  

I bought this bookcase via Craigslist, and use these here in the laundry room for storing a myriad of items:

Laundry and cleaning goods

the various jewel/cigar boxes from my fathers barn full of treasures

Oh and all those used cans- those are for making donation cans for the horse rescue.

I swear I am going to get those done.  Soon!

Then you see those cherry pattern canisters?  Those were my grandmothers.  

*sigh*

Just before my father got ill, leading to the barn cleaning, I had wished for a vintage canister set among several other items we unearthed in that barn.

Several of these shelves I am going to cover with a nice 'curtain' so it looks less cluttered.

Sewing is a winter activity, the warmer seasons are for painting things in my garage.

Inspiring and motivating!  

I'll post how it looks once I get the dresser cleaned up and put in.

But tomorrow I am off to Womens Getaway Camp with my sister and cousin.

Always an inspiring weekend.

Have yourselves a Great, Inspired Weekend!

Before and After

Who doesn't love seeing a transformation?
I know I do and since I just sold this Welsh Hutch recently I thought I would show you all what it looked like before, and after:

Here it is, in parts, before:

Paint, distressing,  and new pulls that I also painted:

I also sold this one last fall, and thought it came out very nice.

Before:

After:

The 'counter' on that one was just sanded and sanded and sanded until it was super smooth.

And this one was my first, and is in my kitchen, 'After':

During:

And 'Before':

And Another.... I was in a real Hutch Funk for a while there...

I decided [after my husband used it as a spot to cut something and ended up cutting off part of the top] to redo this hutch I had already redone.  Cause, you know, there's no laundry or vacuuming or cooking to do around here.  OY!

Here it is redone 1st time:

The top is now sanded down to wood, and super smooth.  Now I have a hankering to take it a step further and paint the entire hutch, minus the powder blue interior, either black or grey.

Votes?

Nothing is ever, truly, 'Done' around here I guess.

If you are a Hutch Addict, don't go to that 12 step program, embrace it and join us at:

Jennifer Rizzo's Hook up your Hutch Party!!

What to do with an Ugly Dresser, Part II

Sing it with me:

What do you do with an ugly dresser?
What do you do with an ugly dresser?
What do you do with an ugly dresser?


Make it into a dog bed!


Yes, it took alot of convincing to get my husband to cut this dresser, but as I said, there were 2 bottom drawers that weren't.
One was completely missing, and trying to find oak to match this old piece was next to impossible.
The other had no bottom.

Here's how it turned out:

It makes a nice nightstand in my guest room, with storage for items [but not too much storage that guests get the idea that they can stay long].  I am debating putting little feet on it of some kind.

This guest room is a nice mish mash of family items- the bed was a gift from my Grandma Mary.  The cross stitch above is a prayer she made for my sister and I.  The pitcher and bowl are from my fathers barn which I cleaned out this spring/summer, I am guessing they were my other grandmother Ceciles'.

The wall opposite the windows was the perfect length to hang my riding ribbons on, apparently I quit showing my horse at just the right time;  when I had earned just enough to display on this wall!  I spent way too much money to get those to have them folded up in boxes!  Going through them and ironing them was really eye opening, I did not realize how many firsts and second [blue and red respectively] my horse actually earned- I thought he had way more green [6th place], which really was his color anyway!

The remaining part, the bottom drawer and original legs became a dog bed:

Right now it too is in the guest room, because my dogs are too large or too old to use it.  

It is for sale like half the furniture in my house, unless of course I happen to get another dog who it would suit.  [Biting tongue]  

It needs a few tweaks.  I am thinking of making a bolster to go around the 3 sides, in the same pretty fleece fabric.  I think that would make it ultra plush and cozy.  A contrasting skirt would also be cute.  There's always a chance I'll stencil something on that square bit that hangs down in front as well.

Suggestions appreciated.