Sandy

Last Monday I was just about to post on my Blog that I was bracing for Sandy and would have an update shortly, when the power went out and then stayed out for the next 6 days.

It was cold, and we ate out alot, and we are so very, very lucky considering.

I will have an update soon on just a few things... but the more important work of gathering donations to send down to LI/Staten Island with my neighbor who is a NYC firefighter is priority #1.

Be thankful, stay warm, and donate if you can.

And thank you to those who checked in on me/us and were wishing us well... I'm sorry I could not let you know that we were ok.  Could it be time to get one of those newfangled phones that have internet AND who's batteries hold a charge?  Could be, could be.

Something just for me, one more [small] step forward on a couple projects

Do you remember the headboard I was working on for my Master bedroom redo?

Before

... aaaand this is what it still looks like though I do have all the materials to finish her.

Just below that trim at the top I am upholstering it in dropcloth, 

adding braided baling twine to the edge of the upholstery.

The whole Master Bedroom Makeover thing is going to take a while, but I made one small leap of progress last weekend when I found a small book case that I redid for the Master Bedroom

Before:

Love the shape....

... these stickers?  Not so much.

Scuff sand, and primed...

Here's the controversial part:

I generally know where I will distress an item, and my way of adding colors under the topcoat is to simply paint a few, thin, very feathered edged bits of color where I will distress so that the color will show through once I sand.

I've had some people roll their eyes and suggest this gives a lumpy appearance from layers under layers of paint.  I have no idea what they are talking about, if you feather the edges and sand, you get no lumpy-ess.  *shrug*  It works for me.

And here she is in my room... *squeal*

And I've since tweaked the shelf displays a bit:

I picked up the two floral framed pictures at Salvation Army this week.

I never find frames or art I like there!

The helmet is mine, it's the one I wore riding my now retired horse... both are now retired.

The metal VW Bug was my dads.  

He had a 1956 VW he had shipped over from Germany, such great memories.

My grandmothers Punch and Judy bank is perfect here where I can see it, 

but little hands can not get to it.

Chippy details....

I've had these Cupid bookends forever, finally they have a place to sit and ponder whatever it is they are ponderin'

They were originally metallic... I like them better this Antique white.

I just got these little books from my mother, they were her mothers.  The red ones are a set of Shakespeare, and the plaid one is a book on Scotland.  Love them!

Interesting what books, besides my Grandmothers, I chose for these shelves, 'eh?
These are some of my favorites, and they have pretty covers....

On the far left is 'Horse Diseases' [romantic right?], then the red book is my Millbeck Hounds book.  The illustrations are fantastic!

I discovered I have two copies of Horse Sense.  If you have never seen it and like horses and have a sense of humor you have to get a copy!  [Betsy Speert I am lookin' at you!]

In the middle of those two copies is my Nimrod on Hunters that is a personal treasure.

The green book and the grey book are dog books I found at a sale at the local trotting track to help support the horse rescue.   Those dog books too, have fantastic illustrations.

This was hanging on the wall here before the bookcase came along.  For now it's leaning against the wall on top.  

This one and the other one in my room [below] are actually magazine pictures someone [either my Grandmother or Aunt] cut out of magazines and attached to cardboard and put into these homemade frames.  They are attached with mailing address labels that were my dads'.  I guess we know where I get my 'use whatcha' got handy' thing.

Here's the other one in my room

I also found some fabric at Salvation Army this week [I never find fabric I like there!] which I am going to use in my Master Bedroom Re--do:

These will get incorporated in pillows and such

The girl at SA laughed at me when I admitted I had no idea what this was.  

Turns out it is a valance, by Ralph Lauren.  

Ripped apart, there's enough fabric for it to top the dropcloth curtains on all three windows in the Master Bedroom.  I love it, and I was searching for something to add oomph to the nice, but plain dropcloth.

So, there some small progress on my Master Bedroom.

In the Bonus room, we have chipped away a little more at the floor installation:

These photos [above] represent about 3 hours of work... pick a piece, place the various pieces in place, check the fit, and the pattern... reshuffle... finally approve the row.... glue, and then staple in place... next row....

One more strip of wood to go in that dormer, one more along the long wall, and then bits and pieces to do the nook all around the stairwell, and well.. then I gotta' figure out what I wanna' do with the stain.

The man who sold us the floor, hearing how frustrated I was with the stain samples I had played with, suggested beating the floor to get some distressing, staining it dark all over, then sanding that dark stain off so that the dark stays just in the dents/dings.  

Then stain the entire floor the lighter, golden color I want.  

Sounds like a whole lotta' work, but it also sounds like it would be the look I want.  

If I play my cards right [ie I procrastinate long enough] it will be too cold to stain up there soon, and I can put it off until spring, when I either have more confidence or the money to pay someone to do it.

Join me at the link party over at savvy southern style, wow-us-wednesdays #86  and at

missmustardseed