The Snowball effect.

Whenever we start a project it always seems to snowball into more. I think thats because we live in old houses and you never know what's lurking behind those walls.

In this case, before we did anything, we did a whole lot of "what ifs" before we moved a single thing, so the few surprises we found doesn't change a whole lot. Just how to rework them.

So yesterday we started doing this.

Those ceiling tiles had been up there since we bought the house, and although I looked at them everyday I kind of forgot about them.

But I don't live in an office, so they had to go.

Then we had this.

A door, a window, and a new ceiling!

This used to be an old porch before the previous owners closed it in. The I played Scott McGillvray and gave us Option One and Two. One was to keep going with original plan and leave this alcove part of the kitchen, or two, turn it into a screened in porch. Option one won over.

A long time ago I mentioned we bought an old tin ceiling, which is what we are going to use to recover  this.

And this.

And the rest.... I'll keep you posted :)

Welcome to the Sixties!

I adore all things old, but once in awhile I get drawn to a more "modern" piece. The date on the back of   this dresser was 1968, meaning I was one when this was made. ( you can do the math to figure my age ;) )

I made this colour up with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. But I'm seeing this shade, pop up all over the place lately.

I saved the handles from another project. They didn't suit it, but I thought they'd work well with this dresser.

Then I raided my stash and found fabric to match. The lighter of the two is an actual vintage piece, the other is new, but I like how they go together.

Considering it looked like this, I'm quite happy how it turned out.:)

Warm Woolies.

For Christmas, M'lynn had an idea for Amy's present that came from pinterest. She's had the idea for a while, but decided to finally let her inner fashion designer out and just do it.

She started with a sweater that we had picked up at a thrift store. The arms were to become leg warmers, the tops of the sleeves, head bands, and the body of the sweater a scarf.

And sooo.......here's Amy, all decked out.

I helped M'lynn out by crocheting new tops for the leg warmers and headbands, and we lined the scarf with polar fleece. We also took the buttons from the sweater and added them to the leg warmers for a little detail.

The nice thing about this sweater is, it was 100% wool, making her new outer wear super duper warm.:)

The Occasional Chair

For one whole week we set off  North to enjoy some r&r. I find it hard to resist the chance to have a real fire and a good cup of hot chocolate.

Before I left I finished this chair.

Sad little thing isn't it.

M'lynn thought it might look nice in blue and I was itching to use my milk paint again.

So we picked the colour " Laurentien" by Homestead House.

At first it didn't look very blue, it looked more gray, but we waited it out and this was the result.

It's now a cute chair, that can sit in the corner to be used when needed.

I've also been itching to use this fabric. It has all new padding, which gave it a little more umpf then it had before.

  

I like the way the rustic chair, meets up with the classy damask, making it a great chair for any occasion. ;)

For the love of Junk.

We have junk day in our town. That's when everyone can put out as much junk from your basements, attics, garages, you name it, it can go out. What makes it fun is watching how many people drive around, bike around, walk around looking for salvageable junk, including me.

This was one thing I found.

 This mirror is actually off a dresser, which may be long gone or the dresser made it and the mirror didn't, but what I did know, it was all mine now. It was all duct taped together and the wood was split in a few places, but it had character. And if it didn't turn out the way I thought it would, it was after all, just junk.

                      So after some cleaning, gluing, clamping and painting this is it today.

Here was the fun part. I got to see where it was going, and got to take a picture of it in its new home.  It's hanging in The Music Box in Ms Aimee brand new studio which opens TODAY!!  Her whole studio looks fabulous and I'm super happy I could be a little part of her transformation of what is now a beautiful space.:)

The Tale of Willy Black

Willy Black was an immigrant to Canada, back in the late 1800's. He came with a dream of one day having his own little business. But first he had to make his way by keeping the books for a little store in a little prairie town. When he had enough saved, he hung out his sign.

Annnnd....... I just made all that up. What really happened was, I was watching Salvage Hunters and Drew had bypassed a sign, but I thought it was kind of a neat. I jotted down what it said and quick sketch of how the lettering looked.

In my version I made up the name Willy Black, and kept the lettering the same simple design, from the show.

First I stained the wood a dark colour, then used a crackle medium and painted it white. The trim was painted black, then green. The word "bookkeeping" is black, and is outlined in gold. I gave the whole thing a light sanding and sealed it with my homemade beeswax polish. Originally the sign was meant to go in my upstairs hallway but for some reason I was drawn to use green. Maybe its because waiting in the wings to be rewired and hung in my kitchen are these.

We found them on our anniversary trip back in September, and I can't wait to see them hung. But I guess right now I'm going to continue to gather things for the kitchen. So far I've been lucky enough to find some pretty cool things, which I can hardly wait to show you.:)

Jenga Anyone?

This was Ashley's gift to Isaac, a giant Jenga set.

Now, its supposed to be played outdoors, but who can wait for the snow to melt.

Ashley made it using simple old 2x4 cut to a length of 10 1/2 inches or some number in metric.
She sanded and painted the ends and made a cute little die. You just have to be careful when it falls, or at least thats the moms concern.

Dad-e-o got a beautiful and I mean beautiful Kubb set from Darryl. It was made from cherry wood I believe, and right now is one of those things you just want to look at, its so pretty.

I love winter, but right now I can't wait till spring to get out and play these games outside.:)