A Love Poem

Yes, this certainly isn't house related. Below is a note I received from my 6 yo. I'll cherish it always. These are things homes are made of...

Poem
I love you so much
I may never leave

"Ugly Dining Table Turned Cottage Coffee Table" Project

Update on the ceiling planks for our kitchen...they were primed all primed a few weeks ago and now sit waiting to be painted. We have to paint them in the garage (as opposed to outside where we primed them) to prevent the wind from blowing grass, leaves, and bugs onto our paint job. Painting in the garage required us to first completely clean out our garage to give us lots of space. We have close to 200 planks to paint and we need to let them dry in an upright position. We'll be starting on the painting this weekend.

Another project I'm working on now is converting a very beaten up but SOLID wood small dining table into an oversized coffee table for our living room. I purchased this table at Goodwill a few months back and had in mind that I would refurbish it, paint it shabby white, and resell it. But I really like it! We don't have a coffee table and I've been looking for a good one. I've started sanding it down and we'll be cutting the legs down to coffee table height. I want to paint it white or white and distress it just a bit. I'll probably end up putting a piece of glass on top to protect the surface.

Some will probably think that the table is too big for the living room. Lol, maybe it is, but I've always loved cozy living rooms with a big table in the middle. I see the kids playing games, putting together puzzles, doing homework, coloring or just playing at the table...I see hubs and his friends putting their drinks and snacks at this table on TV night. I see me having a pretty fresh floral arrangement, lit candles, and my favorite books and magazines stacked in neat piles. Lots of possibilities!

I'll be sure to post photos when I'm finished:) Hope you all are doing well!

Oh, I almost forgot, we found a cute little frog on our house the other day...we don't see too many around here anymore!

Blankety Plank Plank Plank

Seventy-seven ceiling planks primed!

Only 109 more to go...

Our plan was to prime *all* the planks yesterday, but we had to mow the lawn which took a chunk of time out of our schedule. *sigh* (Plus hubs and I decided to go and have a finger lickin' good lunch at Famous Daves Barbeque...Hot wings and rib tips to die for!)

We've decided to go ahead and put one coat of paint on all the planks after priming them. We tested a couple of primed and painted pieces yesterday and they fit together just fine without any force. So we're good to go.:)

Imitation Cottage Cheese Ceiling vs. Real Cottage Style Pine Plank Ceiling

Tomorrow it's back to work time for the Cottage Life crew (hubs and me). It has been so nice taking this long two month break from house projects, namely p a i n t i n g. After working on our kitchen cabinets for as long as I did, by the time I was finished I just knew that if I saw another paint brush, I'd find a dark closet and curl up into a fetal position...either that or I'd be fit for a straight jacket. But as of late, I've been antsy and eager to pick up the brush again. These household projects are a lot like childbirth...difficult and exhausting...but how soon we forget all of that after a bit of time has passed!

Tomorrow hubs and I start on our kitchen ceiling. Our current ceiling is horrid...just...gross! The rest of the ceilings in the house are covered with "cottage cheese", which is bad enough. But the majority of our kitchen is an addition which was built by the previous owner several years ago. The kitchen ceiling is not the same 'spray on' cottage cheese that is in the rest of the house, but is instead some type of plaster that was textured to look like cottage cheese. Yes, folks, we have an imitation cottage cheese ceiling in our kitchen!

What is worse is that you can actually look at the ceiling and see where the additions in the eating area and kitchen where added. In those areas, the "cottage cheese" just seems to look...festered? *gag* Look at the photo to the left...see what I mean?

So to rememedy the problem - and to add more cottage style of the non-cheese variety - we'll be intalling tung and groove pine plank ceilings and painting them white. The first step is to prime all the planks. Priming before installing will prevent any unprimed wood from showing when the ceiling expands and contracts. Hubs wants to go ahead and put the first coat of white paint on, too, before installing, but I'm afraid that a build up paint on the tungs will make them harder to install and might increase the chances of damaging some of them while trying to snap them into place. Plus, I'd really like to cover the festering cheese on our ceiling ASAP.

When the new ceiling is in place, we'll install most of the new lighting. We have some new recessed lighting plus oil rubbed bronze fixtures for above the sink, island, and dining table. I think, though, that I'll want to put back up the old brass fixtures temporarily until the dust settles from the rest of our projects here. The oil rubbed bronze fixtures have off-white linen shades that will just become filthy if we install them at this point.

But first things first, tomorrow we'll be laboring on Labor Day and will get our pine planks primed. I'm actually pretty excited about the thought of reuniting with my paint brush again!

Hundred Year Old Cottage Art Piece ... What a Find!

It has been months since I've done any yard saling but hubs and I decided to hit a few yesterday...and I'm glad we did! I didn't buy much yesterday but around 10 am, we found a particular yard sale and as I was walking up the driveway, an old oil painting instantly caught my eye. What I noticed first was that it was a painting of a cottage:) It was just beautiful and full of details...and just the kind of cottage that I'd live in if I could. There are swans and a trellis and a garden pathway and if you look hard enough, you can see the sun peeking through the sky. The painting has a lot of reds and greens in it, too, and you all know how much I love red and green. The next thing I noticed was just how old the painting was. The paint is crackled and when I turned it around to see the back, I could tell that the canvas was very old, as well as the frame. I asked the lady hosting the yard sale if she knew how old the painting was and she went in the house to ask another family member. She returned and told me that it was over 100 years old. She said it had been painted by a family member. Why they were selling a piece of their family history, I don't know. I bought the painting for just $25!!!! When I got it home, I examined the signature more carefully and it says "McClark". It now sits propped up against a wall in my dining room. I'm not sure where I'll put it. It needs to be cleaned and I don't really know how to go about doing that. It does have a few scratches here and there, but overall, it looks great. Here are a few photos and close ups...

For a brighter smile and fresher breath, click to enlarge:)

Partying and School Shopping

Folks, I've been scarce, I know. Thank you so much for still visiting to check in on me and our little cottage. We had a farewell party here on Saturday night (which I think went great!) and then I've been up to my ears in school shopping for the girls. They register on Thursday on their first full day is Monday! Though my little one has one more year at home, we shopped for her, too - and clothes shopping for three girls who have definite opinions on both fashion and comfort...whew - it is not easy! For instance, I always start shopping at my favorite childrens consignment shop. They carry loads of really nice quality barely used new looking and often *brand new* items. I like to try to find the girls jeans there (jeans run from 5.50 to $12 a pair...can't beat that!) So I found tons of jeans for my middle girl to try on...probaby about 15 pairs. Of *all* of them, she found *one* pair that she liked. ARgh!!! There were many others that I liked and that looked great on her, but I knew that if I bought them, I'd have to listen to complaints everytime she wore them. After the consignment shop (where we saved $20 off our total purchase because I had a completely stamped frequent shoppers card!), we headed for The Children's Place, Ross, Old Navy, and Kohl's and found lots great deals. Oh, and we shopped on the state-wide "tax free" day (no taxes on clothing, school supplies, and computers) which saved us a lot of money. Today we have to shop for shoes, a zip up sweater for my oldest girl,...and more jeans.

The farewell party here on Saturday was nice. It was warmer in the house than I wanted it to be, but other than that, everything was perfect. Oh, except for the part where I was *getting in the shower* at 6 pm (guests were to start arriving between 6 and 6:30). Hubs was here to greet guests, so it didn't bother me too much, that is, until I came out of my room at almost 6:30 to find that hubs was not here, lol. He had left to go and pick up the guest of honor and our children were the ones that greeted the guests instead. I was wondering why they kept coming to my bedroom door and saying, "Mommy! Somebody else is here!". I would say, "Oh, ok!", thinking that hubs was present all along. Oh well, these are are dearest friends so I don't think they thought much of it...and I had appetizers out, lol.

Dinner was lovely and guests brought great food! The food theme of our party was "comfort food" and I made "Chicken and Cheese Corn Chowder" and "Potato and Bacon Soup". We had garlic parmesan bread, fresh veggies and dip, and my oldest girl made herbed tomatoes. She also made fresh lemonade:) Of course, we had sweet tea and champagne, too:) Someone else brought chili, and we also had carrot cake, a yummy cake with coffee liquor, and Mississippi Mud Pie. Silly me forgot to take pictures of the two dining tables we had set up, but I was so pleased with how it all came together, I'm going to "recreate" it and take photos to share. I found some photos of friends that I had printed up (lol, just a couple of hours before the party!) and I strung a long piece of wired twine across the mantle and attached the photos with little wooden laundry pins. Under that was the table for gifts and cards.

It was very cozy sitting around our little living room with all of our friends after dinner, sharing funny memories and thoughts from our hearts. One of my favorite sayings is, "Friends are relatives you choose for youselves" and I truly felt like we were having a family reunion, which made the "farewell" part of the party a little less sad.

So...that's what we've been up to as of late! Hope everyone is doing well:)

Even If Things Get Heavy We'll All Float On

Hubs and I are still on our month long hiatus from house projects. It has been nice just spending lazy days with the kids, who, by the way, go back to school in a little over a week. Where did the summer go?

Currently, I am planning a Farewell Party that will be held here on Saturday for our best friend that is moving across the country. I've mentally put the party planning off for a while now (and literally moved the party date back a week) so as to absorb the reality of it all. Now I can't procrastinate any longer. Today, another friend called to see what she could bring to the party and I was doing just fine until the end of the conversation...then the floodgates opened...again. I know, though, that once I get into all the preparation, everything will be ok. Meanwhile, if you have any great Farewell Party ideas, please email them to me at onewomanscottagelife@hotmail.com. Oh, and the food theme for the party is "comfort food". Everyone will be bringing their favorites...:)

Take care, everyone:)