When Photos are Worth a Thousand Words

I need a bumper sticker right about now that says:

"I'd Rather Not Be Remodeling"

LoL. I only have a moment now (my youngest kidlet is with a friend, giving me some much needed time to C L E A N), but I thought I'd pop in and post a couple of pictures that show just where we are right about now. Later this week, I'll explain what we're up to and I'll also be be posting more "Bad and Ugly" vignettes of the house just so you'll know what I mean when I call this place a "glorified shack". You'll see:) In the meantime, if you've been here and done this, feel free to let me know. Misery does love company!

*clicking my dust covered shoes together and saying..."There's no place like anywhere else but here, there's no place like anywhere else but here..."

Plank and Beam Kitchen Ceiling Thus Far

I keep talking about the work we're doing on our kitchen ceiling and I realized yesterday that I haven't taken any up to date photos of our progress. I posted a couple of "after dark" photos last month, but they weren't that great, and since then we've added the final and third beam (it still needs a little work, the last beam). In this photo, you can see what we started with - a very ugly, outdated, weird plastered part "faux" cottage cheese, part "stalactite" looking ceiling. It's hard to tell in this photo, but trust me, it was very, very, ugly. Here's a close-up if you'd like to see for yourself. You've been warned, lol!

And here is how the ceiling looks so far. I know the beams may be a little over the top for this little ranch-to-cottage house, but I really love the feeling they create in the kitchen. We're going to add finishing trim to conceal any gaps created by our very uneven old ceiling, then we'll paint it all out white, even the beams. (I really like the look of wood and would love to just stain it, but hubs likes the look and airiness of an all white ceiling...I agree - I just like both looks, lol.) The wall you see beside the fridge and window is the wall I'm seriously thinking about bricking up and painting the same color white, then distressing.

And here is a shot from the other side of the kitchen. See the part of the beam we need to finish up? That's where the flu hit a few weeks ago and we left off. This weekend, barring a major emergency, we'll finish it up and add the trim. Don't you just love our slothlike progress?

A few have written me and asked what we plan on doing for our countertops. We decided to just go with laminate. In many ways, it goes against all I'm working toward in making our kitchen as old-fashion as possible, but sometimes you just have to compromise. I didn't want to clean tile grout and soapstone (which I really like) was way out our budget. Stained concrete would have been pretty, but even I wasn't up to the task of tackling that project. I had some crazy, inexpensive, and unique ideas like using pebblestones (you can buy them in sheets like small tiles are sold!) or something similar for both the counter and backsplash for a really cohesive, natural look, but hubs wasn't thrilled and thought it would be too hard to clean. So anyway, we decided on a neutral laminate.

And here is a glimpse of what the brick pavers will look like against our countertop choice. The pavers will go all the way up to the bottom of the cabinets. I was concerned that the laminate might be a little too dark, but the antiqued-white backsplash really helps to balance everything out.

This is a shot of the countertop with the cabinets in view. Despite my initial worries, I think they go together nicely and keep the natural feel I was going for. I think it will go well, too, with all the oil-rubbed bronze fixtures I've bought for the kitchen. Oh, by the way, I lugged a piece of the countertop in for these photos - we haven't actually installed them yet. *sniff* We also haven't installed our lighting which means we've been working and eating by the light of big ugly portable yellow heat lamp lights (or whatever they are called, lol.) Ahhhh - the joys of home renovation!

Thrifty Weekend Finds & Kitchen / Dining Paint Selected!

We had a very nice (cold) weekend though we weren't home very much at all. Our weekends stay very busy with other activities outside the house - and when I think about it, it's a wonder anything every gets done around here, considering the small frames of time we have to work on projects! A couple of hours here, a couple of hours there...:) Eventually the work gets completed:) My plans of working on the kitchen ceiling went out the window this weekend when we went to do some much needed shopping for the kidlets. Wouldn't it be wonderful if school clothing never wore out, lol, and things like all those socks and long sleeves shirts you bought at the beginning of the school year didn't just disappear? Well, at least that major household task is behind us.

I did make a Goodwill run on Friday night and found a few little sweet things. The stack of fabric that you see above is just different pieces of clothing that I found. I loved the colors and patterns together and think that someday, someday, I may try my hand at making a quilt from clothing scraps. Isn't that the way many women did it long ago? So I'm starting a mish-mash of a fabric collection. If I don't use the pieces to make a quilt, I may sew something else...we'll just have to wait and see what strikes my fancy. As you can tell, I love the bolder colors and patterns:)

Honestly I didn't find much this week at Goodwill at all. It's a good thing - I don't need to be spending the money. My Goodwill hardly ever has anything old and vintage - but I never let that stop me from picking up things that are simple in form or have an "old" feel. I found the wire basket above for .99 and like the way it looks with food in it. Here I have apples but I was thinking it would be cute loaded to the top with (faux) eggs.

I did use real eggs for this photo, hehe...I found the sweet little black metal bowl(?). I'm not sure yet how I'll use this versatile piece, but maybe I'll put my faux eggs in it instead! (What's with the egg kick?) Someday, when the kitchen is finally complete, I look forward to adding homey little touches like this. Maybe I'll be tempted to bake more?

It's funny - I picked up two black pieces this week. I've always loved black - and I love white, too. Just when I was thinking that I had made the transition to white accessories, I'm lured back in by black. I think I may just use both!


And speaking of white, these two little birds sat on Goodwill's shelf for a couple of weeks. I had them in my cart the first time I saw them, decided not to get them, decided a few days later to buy them but could only find one, didn't buy it, a couple days later was wishing I had bought them the first time I saw them, found them TOGETHER my last trip to Goodwill, and finally brought them home. Lol, I do try hard to not buy items unless I'll really use them - but sometimes it takes me a few days to decide if I will or not!

And lastly, I bought this simple little glass jug. Milk has never looked more yummy!

Well, those were my little finds. Oh, by the way, if you don't know where all the thrift stores are in your area, check out this nifty site called The Thrift Shopper! It has a National Thrift Store Directory - just plug in your zip code or city, and it will produce a list of nearby thrift stores for you. How neat is that!

On the home front, I found a paint color for the kitchen! I bought a sample and it looks great! I took photos, but they look nothing like the actual color, so I'll do a virtual room so you can get a better idea. It's a Sherwin William color called Hearts of Palm. Heard of it? It's very pretty - not too sagey, not minty, not too limey...it's just right! Ok...my hand is frozen now. Until next time!

Thank You

I wanted to thank you all for all the nice comments and emails that I've received over the last couple of days. Hearing from visitors always makes me smile:) I am working on replying to these lovely emails and it's taking me a little longer than I prefer! You see, our home computer is in our office/sunroom. It isn't cooled or heated in there (yet another future project!) and I find myself shivering to the bone when I try to get anything done on that computer in the winter. So, I've been waiting until later at night when the house is quiet, the kids are tucked in bed, and I can use hubs laptop when he returns home from work. I do try to read my mail during the day, though (wrapped up in a blanket, no less), and then respond in the evening by the comfort of a warm and cozy fire. I'm quite longwinded, as you know, so I manage to get a small handful of emails off in an evening. What's the saying? It's quality, not quantity, that counts? Thank you all for your patience. I really appreciate all your thoughts and comments!

Last week, the temperatures here were in the mid-60's. My sweet little hyacinth bloomed in our otherwise empty flower bed like spring was here to stay. I just left her alone until the cold weather was at our back door. Finally, the night before the big freeze, I grabbed an old pot from the garage and replanted her. Now she'll enjoy being inside all winter, just like the rest of us:)

Cherry Red and Lime Green Cottage Kitchen???

Yesterday while tidying up the kitchen, I was looking at the color of some apple green/ lime green plates, cups, and saucers that I picked up recently at Goodwill. These dishes sat on the same shelf at Goodwill for a couple of weeks. I always oohed and ahhed over them, but because I had decided that I would paint my kitchen a softer, muted sage green, I knew the dishes really wouldn't match. When they sat at Goodwill for a while, I finally snagged them thinking I could use them somehow somewhere. They were very cheap and brand new - if I couldn't use them, I could find someone that could. But it was yesterday that I realized that this pretty lime green could possibly work as a wall color in our kitchen. Our cabinets are painted a shade by Waverly called "Cherry" and the colors really seem to work together.

I set up a few of the green dishes and some other cherry colored accessories I had to see how well they meshed together. For some reason, Sweet Pea the Cottage Cat thinks she's the only reason we ever pull the camera out, lol. I didn't have the heart to move her as she started drifting off to dreamland shortly after settling herself next to my color scheme. Maybe she's trying to convince me that black is the new white? Anyway, I'm thinking that the color looks great with my plaid curtain fabric and my red cabinets - not "minty" like the previous sage color I picked out. The yellow paint swatch pictured is my living room color, which is also in the plaid curtains.

So now I have to decide whether I want to go with a muted sage green, a darker browner/olive green, or a fresh apple/lime green. I'll probably be buying a quart or two of sample paints when we finish up the ceiling, much to my husband's chagrin (we have so many from past projects!).

Here are the dishes against a red backdrop. I got all those dishes, plus three other green cups that I didn't stack, for about $5!

Five Things

How Fun! I've been tagged by The Litter Box House to write five unknown things about little old me:)I've been writing for quite a while now about this house remodel and cottage style but very rarely reveal much about the girl behind the scenes. I did write a couple of other entries about this One Woman last year (you can find them here and here), so I'm going to try to come up with five things that aren't even on those lists (if I can!). Here goes!

1)For a couple of years, I ran my own web design business. I taught myself HTML somewhere between the births of my last two children (born 15 months apart!). I was highly attracted to the design aspect of web design, but the coding end - and I only could create webpages by hand coding - was very tedious and everchanging. It didn't take long before I lost the time and desire to keep pace. After we moved into this house 3 1/2 years ago, I gave up the business and spent more time on a more hands on design project - this house! Here are some of my favorite site designs (these aren't the official sites, just the designs I created(... Coffee Shop, Primary School, and Photographer.

2)I had all three of my children in three completely different settings: a hospital, at home, and at a birth center(the birth center was just a quiet and comfy birthing suite in the back of our doctor's office). They were all textbook births, all three labors lasted less than six hours each, and somehow I was able to live through them all without pain meds and without strangling my dear husband. My last child was born at 1 am and by 7 am, hubs and baby and I were sitting down to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

3)For years, I felt it was very bizarre that someone named "Anita Stockman" worked at every Wal-Mart, K-mart, or any other big store I visited, for that matter. I was in my mid-twenties before I realized that it wasn't "Anita Stockman" that was being paged to aisle 12, but "I Need A Stockman on aisle 12". Lol, I made A's in school but can be very, *very* dense at times. Hmmm, and there was the time I tried to send several rolls of quarters up the air tube thing at the bank drive thru. I just couldn't understand why they-would-not-go-up! They started to go up...they tried to go up...then down they would come. Then I'd push the SEND button yet again. Finally, the teller, who sounded quite exasperated, told me that the sign says "NO ROLLED COINS!!!". How embarrassed I was when I had to then take those coins into the bank and face the teller in person. So, yeah, I'm a little ditzy, but I'm trying:)

4)I know most renovation bloggers don't talk about religion, but I would like to say that I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses. My family and I spend time each week preparing for and attending five different Bible based discussions at our local place of worship called a Kingdom Hall. On the weekends, we participate in a door-to-door work where we share encouraging thoughts from the Bible with those in our town. We don't participate in holiday activities or get involved in political affairs, but we are very interested in what the Bible teaches about the times we're living in and what it says about the future. Incidentally, my not taking pain meds during childbirth has nothing to do with religious beliefs - that was strictly my personal choice at the time:)

5)And lastly, I'm in the process of creating and building up inventory for an online cottage shop that I have a goal of opening this summer. I'm not going to spill any details right now, but I'm having loads of fun creating my products so far. I've reserved a domain name, an Etsy shop, and a shop blog to keep everyone updated when I add new items. Anyone else thinking of opening a store anytime soon?

Well, that's it! I'm going to tag a few folks now...it was difficult choosing who to tag, there are so many lovely cottage and renovation blogs out there!

I tag Pink Cottage,
Prairie Rose House,
Folded Gingham,
The Old Painted Cottage,
and Under a Blue Moon.

Oh, by the way, it goes without saying that one thing about me is that I love thrifting. Everything you see in the photo above came from a thrift store (except the boots). The whimsical black and white wallpaper, the skirt, the green sweater...Yes, I'm a thrifter through and through!

Canned Veggies Have Never Been So Charming

Work on the house has slowed due to the flu last month, and this month, we've had car maintenance issues to deal with so our renovation budget has been slim...otherwise we'd be finishing out our kitchen ceiling trimwork right now. So in the meantime, I've had to find something creative and fun to work on. What would I do without a project? Go nuts, probably:) It's so much more interesting to wake up in the morning and say "What am I going to make today?!" instead of "What do I have to get done today? :)

On to the subject of charming canned veggies...I guess I should say that a very long time ago, pretty much all canned foods were charming and pretty. What happened between now and the 'time of use-to-be' that caused product manufacturers to stop using such artful and eyecatching labels and packaging? I don't know about everyone else, but I'm such a visual person and I would be more likely to buy a pretty can of corn over a plain, run-of-the-mill can of corn anyday. While I know I couldn't keep every can that I use, collecting the labels and using them for projects sure would be fun:)

A few weeks back, I wrote about a Classic Vintage Label Cd I bought on Ebay. I've had so much fun with it this weekend! Let me share with you what I've done... I enlarged a few of the veggie labels to about 4 inches tall by a few inches wide - just big enough to fit on a can. In a word editor, I inserted the images into a document and printed them out on "fine paper" (I bought a package of "Textures of Ivory" paper at Wal-mart...it contains Granite, Linen, Opaque, and Parchment papers. For this project, I used the "Opaque" paper.) The next time I do this project, I'm going to rotate the image sideways in the middle of paper and only put one image per sheet. This way I can cut a longer, can-sized label that will wrap all the way around the can. Anyway, I used a ruler and an exact blade to cut out the labels.

As far as the cans themselves go, I just used regular cans of tomatoes right out of my pantry. I did not empty them though you could. I didn't want to deal with the sharp edges, plus it just looks more authentic to use real, unopened cans. I decided to first spray paint the cans with "Expresso" brown paint. I'm sure cans of long ago were not brown, lol, but I think that brown makes the cans look more old-fashioned, plus the paint hides the ugly blue computerized codes that are stamped on the top of cans nowadays. It goes without saying that you won't be able to use these cans for food after you paint them - these are strictly for decorative use only. So what you'll need for this project: cans of food sans label (now is the time to use that can of pumpkin that has been sitting in your pantry for two years!), brown spray paint, vintage food labels printed out on good quality paper, an exacto knife, and a craft stick glue (I used Elmer's Craft Bond acid free, extra strenth, non-toxic, goes on blue but dries clear glue - Whew, what a mouthful!). You'll also probably want to spray prime the cans first before painting them brown and then spray a clear protective coat over the entire can after the labels have been added (or else the ink on the labels will run if they get wet). The bowl of beautiful giant pine cones sent from a dear friend in California and the sleeping kitty are purely optional, but not necessary to complete this particular project:)

After cutting out the labels and applying glue to the backs of them, just gently apply them to the cans, smoothing them from the center out to get rid of any bubbles. Then VOILA! You have some really pretty vintage cans to display in your kitchen! I discovered the perfect place for mine. The sides of my island have doors that open to narrow shelving with a beadboard back. I think my new "old" cans look great there! Now I need to create some cans of fruit to complete the collection:) I better wait another day to that, though, or else hubs won't have any tomatoes in his chili tonight!