My laundry room has always been a challenge.  Well, let’s be honest.  This whole, old house has always been a challenge.  Yes, old houses have charm, but they also have bumps and dings, and evidence of remodels and permanent cosmetic fixtures that people thought were pretty in the 70s.  And when you are young and newly married and you feel like everything should be new, it’s not necessarily the most attractive project to try and take on, depending on what you thought you wanted.

I used to try and make this house into something it was not; like putting a new patch on an old garment.  Things only looked worse.  Then one day I decided to just go old.  I began to hunt for things at the thrift stores that looked like they came out of a house as old as mine.  I began to find old things that I actually used and loved using, like old coffee grinders and antique kitchen utensils.   Things began to look natural, even if they didn’t look new and modern.

I found that home began to feel like home.

Last night in the dim light of about 10 p.m., I stood in my laundry room working on some things.  I looked at the little corner in my laundry room that has become my little corner to look at when I sort clothes. 

I love the picture of the three children in bed, all smiles and happy, and I know that it was never new or old or any type of decor that made this house a home to my children.  It was being tucked in and reading bedtimes stories.  It was meals around the table as a family.  That’s what made my children all smiles and happy.

I look at the milk-glass lamp with the yellow and red toile shade and admire the soft light it casts on the pictures.  The old, framed needleworks, hidden behind dirty glass when I found them, cleaned up really well, and I think of the day I spent with my mom, finding these treasures for 25 cents each at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  How old are they?  Whose hands stitched them?  I’m glad they now call my home their home.   The tin lithograph was a thrift store find as well.

Next to the lamp, on a doily my husband’s grandmother made, sits a picture of a very sweet friend.  I miss her so much.  One day last summer, with a terrible headache, she lay down for a nap.  Later, her children could not wake her up.  She was buried that week.  I think of her while I’m doing laundry and I’m thankful that I am here to do laundry at all. 

After all, it’s the little, mundane household chores (done with joy, of course) that make a house a home.  I want to delight in my work here at home.  I want to never forget that it’s my job to serve with joy.

A few thoughts from my home today, a very rainy day with wind blowing gusts of rain drops into the window panes.   It’s a wonderful day to be inside with my children.  It’s a perfect sort of day for reading picture books and journal writing.  It’s a perfect day for Lemon Zinger tea with honey. 

Last night before bed, I straightened the house up so I could wake up to a nice clean house today and hopefully just enjoy a quiet day at home.  One of the things I did was to change out a curtain that covers a huge shelf in my old kitchen.  There’s not a lot of cabinet space in an old house, but this shelf I found a couple of years ago at the thrift store has been a lifesaver as far as space is concerned.  Thomas mounted it to the wall with brackets and we have enjoyed its expansive shelves immensely. 

The reason I am sharing this particular project is that the curtain is actually a king size duvet cover that tied at the open end.  It came from Goodwill for 5 dollars.  I took one look and said to myself that the ties would make it a perfect curtain. 

I love unusual things like this.  The pattern on the fabric makes me so happy!

On a Veteran’s Day note, we are thinking about my dad today, my children’s grandfather, who served in the Air Force in air traffic control, as a drill instructor, and in Vietnam as a combat controller. 

He was a handsome man with a kind, service-oriented way about him.  I miss him and think of him often.  I appreciate all of our veterans and active duty service men and women.  Thank you.

I hope you enjoy, as Pooh would say, this Winds-day, for around here it really is a “winds-day”

Lynn

Yesterday I was reading a post by Clarice at Heartfelt Thoughts from a Mother to Her Daughters.  It truly inspired me and it was exactly what I needed to hear read yesterday.  You should go read it for yourself.  It’s worth it.

One of our upstairs bedrooms, which my two oldest boys now share, had gotten ugly enough.  I mean for goodness sake HELP already!  We do vacuum and dust, but the walls were covered with the kinds of marks boys make through the years by firing lego pieces with a Nerf bow, wrestling, throwing things (gasp), and rearranging their furniture and dragging things across the walls.  Hopefully that sort of activity has died down a bit and we can expect this room to stay pretty now.

BEFORE:

Keep in mind that this is an old BEFORE photo.  The bunkbed has long since caved in and been discarded.  The high shelf on the wall is long gone, the walls were horrid and I’ll stop there.

While their room still needs work (ceiling, carpet, trim) it is SO MUCH BETTER today than it was when I woke up yesterday!

AFTER:

The paint color,  Jamaica Bay by Behr, was chosen from the fabric of the thrifted orange and blue curtains.

The quilt hanging on the back wall was also thrifted ($5.59) and I think matches the paint well.

I really like this little corner of the room.  It belongs to Big Joe.   

One of my favorite things about this corner is this framed print I found at the thrift store yesterday for…  Are you sitting down?  Only 3.99.   I think the print is actually really old.  The frame is not. 

I’m not sure you can see the detail of the print, but the top corners are a bit worn and there are faint “cracks” in the finish.  I love it!!  And the blue dress is lovely with the blue paint!

Perhaps it does not look exactly like a boys’ room, but how about a grown boys’ room?  Yes?  The boys still have their clutter and their man cave stuff, but the room is a little more mature.  After all, they’ll likely be married one day so they best get used to this type of decor, right??

One last framed print I purchased at Goodwill yesterday for 3.99.  I thought the yellow bird was also pretty against the blue paint.

This room actually needs a COMPLETE OVERHAUL, but that will likely not happen until the boys move out.  In the meantime it didn’t cost much to make it look presentable since the boys are older, and enlisting the help of the children and several paintbrushes and rollers, it only took two hours to wipe the walls free of dust and paint.

TOTAL COST:

Paint:  21.00
Thrift store curtains:  3.29
Wall quilt:  5.59
Curtain rods:  23.00
Thrifted framed art:  8.00
_________________________

Total: 60.88

Sometimes you have to let go of the scheduling and cleaning and worrying (yes, I worry) and have fun.  My mother came to visit me this week and we spent a couple of fun-filled days together.  Even though she lives only an hour and 20 minutes away, we still don’t see each other nearly enough.  She’s the best mom in the world, by the way!  Would you be surprised if I told you one of our favorite things to do together is go thrift shopping? 

First let me tell you about this blue shelf.  I am so happy with it.  The weathered cabinet on top came out of a local barn, I bought it at an antique store a few years ago, and until recently it was sitting on a wooden nightstand that had a scarf over it.  I knew that someday I would find something thrifted to “fit” as the bottom to make a cupboard-type look.

This week I found it for 10 dollars at The Scrap Exchange!  My mom loves to go there but doesn’t get the chance until she visits me, so we went together and took two of the children with us.  This cabinet started out with yellow shelves and a dark reddish-brown outside.  I should have taken a before picture, but time just flies around this house (does it fly at your house too) and I wanted to get so many things done so I jumped right in painting!

The yellow shelves inside the cabinet were actually a decent color, so I used a candle to wax a few areas of the shelves that would naturally get heavy traffic.  Then I spray-painted the entire cabinet blue.  Once done, I used an old cloth to wipe over the areas where I had waxed and the blue paint came off, showing some yellow from underneath.  Having old paint showing through in areas like that makes it look old.  (I think I first learned this from Kimba).  I love the way it turned out.  The top and bottom cabinets are the perfect size to put together and make one piece! 

I’ve been trying to focus more on healthy breakfasttime around here (thank you, Diane), so the lower cabinet became my breakfast cabinet.  The top shelf houses my aprons, but then I have oatmeal, grits, peanut butter, jams and jellies, syrup, pancake mix in an old container, and more in the lower shelves.

Another really wonderful find was a pair of quilts for 5.59 apiece at Goodwill.  The one with bright colors will be perfect in Michaela’s bright green room!  I didn’t get it in the picture, but I also found her a bright April Cornell pillow cover for her large reading pillow.  Her room will be so exciting with these new linens!

Because of the lighting, I don’t think you can fully appreciate the lovely rosy color of this comforter. Looking brand new, it was another 5.59 find.  This evening I’ve been laundering linens to put up.

The little ceramic pomander was only 69 cents at GW, and I got out a jar of my lavender to fill it with.  I collect birds for my office and this will fit perfectly.  Is it possible that smelling lavender throughout the day will cause me to enjoy working even more than I do now? 

These you won’t believe!  They are old and you must pardon the dirty glass in the frames, I have not cleaned them yet.  They look to me like they are at least 1920, if not older, based on a needlework I have that I know was done around 1920.  They were 25 cents each at the Habitat for Humanity store.

Again, poor lighting and probably angle too, but this basket is the most delicious shade of blue, with just enough chipping to show through a hint of red here and there.  It’s great!  3 dollars. 

And the large picture I fell in love with for 2.99! I am planning to paint the frame, and I may use the same aging technique, I just don’t know what two colors to use. 

• Black and pink? 
• Pink and white? 
• Black and white? 
• Blue and white? 
• Blue and black? 
• Green and white? 
• Green and pink? 
• Or use the gold to show through a paint color? 

And which color would be best just peeking through in a tiny amount?

Help me out!! What do you think?

The frame has little roses on it (yes, that what’s all around the edge looking like little circles) that would look great with a contrast, old-paint-showing-through thing going on.

I must go upstairs and read to Michaela now.  Every night we hide away in her room, close the doors and let the bunnies out to run around while we continue on through the Little House books.  Tonight we’ll finish Little House On The Prairie.

Lynn

Did I mention curtains in my last post?  Was it yesterday?  The day before?  Ahh, I lose track of time on my days off.

Maybe you’ll remember the duvet cover that I found quite a few months back.  I had the idea of curtains for Princess of the Universe.  However, after painting, her room is not quite the right shade of green for this fabric.  And she lets out a mortifying gasp when I mention putting flowered fabric in her bright room   Oh well.  I was tired of what was in the den anyway, so into the den the new curtains went.

Today’s a work day, but I love walking into the den and looking at the curtains I made on my days off this week!  Did I use a pattern?  No.  Are they perfect.  No.  Will they do?  Yes!  Because I think they fit right in with the frayed-elegance look of Shabby Chic.

Of course there are other aspects of the room that are so not shabby chic, such as deer heads on the wall (Thanks, Hubby), and don’t forget that this is our science and nature room, with microscope, etc.  Little shabby chic touches here and there make me happy though.

Hubby would really be in trouble if I was the kind of woman who had a hard time living with a mix-and-match decor. 

Happy Friday!
Lynn

Ha ha ha.  It was moved again.  But you knew that already. 

I am SO happy.  It’s finally where it belongs.   Hubby may just cry tears of joy.

As you can see, Princess of the Universe now has TWO desks in her room.  And the tall cabinet that I purchased awhile back.  All three of these pieces are used — the cabinet from an antique store and the desks from thrift stores.  In fact one of the desks was less than 10 dollars. 

Maybe you’re thinking that her room is a different color?  You are right!  It’s Behr Japanese Fern, 400B-6.   And we love it.

Princess of the Universe wanted her room to be green from the start, but when we remodeled her bedroom we used up some expensive-but-never-used paint we had put up.  Maybe we saved some money, but it never was what she wanted.  So today when my work computer went on the blink and IT couldn’t do anything about it over the phone, my work day was suddenly cut short.  What did we do?  We painted!

Did I say already that we love it? 

Oh.  Yeah.  Okay.

Japanese Fern.  Two craft desks.  All the art supplies.  Doll house rooms galore.  We may never come out of this room now.

Have a lovely evening,

Lynn

Instead of Bedroom Redo, I should call this Bedroom Redo on Small Budget.   

I did not really intend to redo the bedroom, but our new mattress was delivered today and that sort of inspired me to do a couple of extra things.

You can see the mix-match of various fabrics and colors, but I think it’s all rather country when put together.  Besides, I don’t have the money to do anything except love what I have and upgrade a little at the time.  That’s quite the fun way to do it, anyway.  My pink bedside table, if you’ve not seen it before, has this top.   (For more on how it was made, see this post.)

That absolutely stunning quilt on the wall was made by my sister, who is a dear person and also a talented quilter.  Hanging the quilt was one of the things I accomplished today, in addition to hauling out the old, very-shot mattress in preparation for the delivery of our new mattress today!  Hubby is asleep on it at this very  moment.  He cried himself to sleep with tears of joy.  Ah, the sight.  Makes me wanna cry too.

This bedside shelf for hubby was also another really cool project I got done today.  The wood — I love it — is just some old stuff that we had out behind the house.  I washed it with Murphy’s soap today and then let it dry in the sun.  I love the chipping paint.  I cut each board to size with my hand saw.  Yes I did.  The shelf is actually the very heavy, old top to what was once a baker’s rack.  What hubby used to have on his side of the bed was horrible.  A little wooden shelf that was full of dust.  Yuck.  This has much more personality!

While I was cleaning, I decided to take a few more shots of some of the clutter things I love.

A little area with girly stuff.

Remember my recent find — seemed like a jewelry roll — that I wanted to hang brooches on?

It turned out great.

I mean, really, a girl’s gotta change to a new purse every now and then, right? 

And what’s a bedroom without hats?

Or a nice picture of Thomas Jefferson?  (We’ve also got a great one of Lincoln that I really love.)

Now this needle work is really old.  My mother-in-law was born in 1918, in April.  Her mother made this for her when she was a little girl. 

On another wall hangs another, store-bought quilt. 

I guess that’s enough for today. 

By the way, this has been the week for rescued creatures, I suppose.  Sitting in my mudroom right now in a large box is an injured bird.  The cats got it and nearly did it in, but Princess of the Universe saved it.  The bird is yet alive and is sleeping, but I have no idea what we’ll find when we wake up in the morning.  I’ll be sure and let you know.

Lynn

Yesterday afternoon was fabulous.  I completed all my grocery shopping for the week, had accomplished my trip to The Scrap Exchange (having found exactly what I was looking for and then some), and came home to a quiet house in which to finish two projects.

Here is what I brought home from The Scrap Exchange.  It’s like opening Christmas to take it all out!

Believe it or not, this big thing (or something like it) is actually what I had hoped to find.  It is the perfect thickness and texture to cover with fabric and use as a bulletin board, and as much as I was not going to do a big bulletin board in my office after the re-decorating, I’m gonna have to.  My children are just going in too many directions for me to remember everything without help. 

The lamp shade was 75 cents.  I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with it, but I like the vintage look with the metal around the top.  And that’s my grab-box of words.  It had a few cute things in it.  And the greeting card I just liked enough to buy to put into my stationery drawer.

These books were 1 dollar each, The Country Home, The Country Kitchen, and The Country Garden.  They are full of beautiful pictures, among other things!

Their magazines are 25 cents each, so I couldn’t see not getting these, especially since they had a Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion that I didn’t have.

Oh, the spools!  Yes, I got four of them, and you’ll soon see why.

Oh my, would you look at this wonderful fabric?  3 dollars.  Yes.  3 dollars.  Over 4 yards.  And it, too, is what I was hoping to find — for the bulletin board project.  You see where we’re going here, I’m sure.

And their loose pencils, through which I rifled around and found some really good Dixon Executive, Ticonderoga, and Berol Eagles.  Two for 5 cents.  Can you beat that?  Oh, and little upholstery pins are great for making doll house stuff.  They will screw neatly into a cardboard wall to hang doll art and doll curtains from.

So what do you think?  Tell me!

The large board already had a hanger on the back.  Could I do any better than ready-to-hang for 3 dollars?  It is extremely lightweight but has a great thickness and texture for push pins.  The fabric fits in with the roses and birds theme in my office and has just enough redeeming blue and pink to fit into my color scheme.

And last, but not least, there they are – the spools!  In my previous post about The Scrap Exchange, in about the 10th picture you’ll see a metal shelf from a shelving unit sitting on top of the stuff in the plastic bin.  I had visions of a little table when I saw it.

A walk over to the bin with the spools confirmed that they would indeed fit perfectly into the holes on each corner and stop snugly in the top before pushing through.  4 spools = 4 table legs

I love details like this.  I painted the shelf a glossy ivory and then sanded it just a bit after it was dry to give it a bit of an aged look. 

I had been wanting a very small coffee table to put my tea mug on when I sit in my living room in the early mornings.  I had a foot stool, but nowhere to put my cup of very hot tea.  Voila!

All I need to find now is a little vintage coaster on which to put my tea mug.  Oh, I bet I have a few put up somewhere.

So, now, please tell me what you think of The Scrap Exchange?

Have a delightful weekend!!

Lynn

I was not sure what to do this morning.  A beautifuI day.  A day off in fact!  I was in the mood to slip on a skirt and T shirt, grab my purse and go shopping, but then I remembered, oh yeah, I’m trying to stay home more.  

I asked Fluffy what she would do if she were me and she said play around the goldfish pond.  So I did that.

After killing and eating a few goldfish, I decided to go in and wash some clothes and just enjoy being home.  (Just kidding about that first part.)  I went into the “laundry room” (you’d have to see it) where I saw dozens of paint cans and I had an epiphany.  I look at these paint cans every day, but today I actually saw them.  You know what I mean?  Anyway, my epiphany.   Me.  Off work.  Unused, perfectly-good paint.  Yucky cabinets in the kitchen.

Remind me to go ahead and go shopping next time, okay?

Well, my cabinets are nice and clean and bright now, but I do have paint in my hair.  And painting the cabinets still doesn’t hide the crack in the linoleum.

Somewhere over the rainbow, my carpenter husband is a man who finds joy in coming home after work and doing even more carpentry in my house.  Things like pulling up cracked linoleum and restoring the 80-some-year-old wood beneath.  Be still my heart.  But until then, I guess I can live with it.  Yeah.  I can. 

Let’s go back to the garden where I find it easier to live with my old linoleum.

I never get tired of these.  Never.  I shall be blowing the seeds off of these when I am old, I hope.

A sweet little bloom.  So perfect. 

Lynn

Awhile back I posted about the arts and crafts area we set up in our living room.  A bit of history:  way back when, when we very first set up an art center, it was set up in the bedroom of Princess of the Universe.  It was a huge success.  She spent many hours creating and crafting.

Then we remodeled her bedroom, the art center came down, and it was not put back up right away.  Other things crowded in and took its place.  I thought I could live with it in the living room, but it was just too much.  And yet, I think little girls and boys need a place to do crafty things. 

So last night we began the process of rearranging her room and setting up her new art center.  (I’m allowed to work at it also!) 

It is simply two plastic storage-drawer units with wheels under them, so the entire “desk” rolls easily in case we want to pull it out and have someone work from the other side of the desk.  (Me.)

The little doll clothes chest we painted not long ago is the perfect seat for the desk.  The top of the desk is a very smooth 1/2″ piece of board we got at Home Depot for 5 dollars.  The drawers are filled with all kinds of craft materials.

We had to move the furniture around somewhat to accommodate the new art center.  And, the play kitchen that Princess of the Universe has outgrown (wiping back tears) is being moved outdoors to a covered area where the neighborhood children can play with it together.  They’ll have so much fun with it that way!

Goodbye little kitchen.  You’ve served us well.

The art center is set up not far from our dollhouse so we can create things for the dollhouse and test them out right away!  It’s going to be so nice.

There are plenty of pens and markers, lots of paper, crafty items such as buttons and pipe cleaners, glue, and we will be adding more when we make a trip to The Scrap Exchange this week.  (Everyone needs a Scrap Exchange!)

Princess of the Universe keeps her doll house so neat and tidy.  I really think there’s a lesson in having a girl do that. 

Our verse this week is from Proverbs 14.  Verse 15:

“The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.”

I have noticed that with the multitude of neighborhood children riding bikes and playing and talking, sometimes an argument of some type arises.  I hate to say it, but there is one child in particular who seems to always be at the bottom of it.  Sometimes some of the children feel the need to then gang up on that child and ban him from play.  The child is a long way from his home, so there is little parental involvement when it comes to him.  I do know, however, that it would be prudent for my children to come home and talk to me, avoiding any type of “correction” that the other children are trying to implement.  In addition, sometimes things that happen get talked up and turned into a mountain when they are really just small things and probably because the boy needs attention. 

I want my children to learn to stop and think and look well to their going.  I want them to learn the difference between simple and prudent.  We’ll be talking about the definitions of these words this week.  And I”m sure the dolls may have a lesson to teach.  More later…

Lynn