Karla's Cottage

The ugly side of the cottage

We rarely use our front yard.  No one even uses the front door to get to the house, I think it has now officially become the back door.   The ex-front yard is just for the Dorkies to play in now.  And it tends to get neglected, see how back the picket fence needs painting? I try to call it "charming" but its really just ignored and peeling.

But since Agnes Rosebud is so tiny, we've had to line the fence with chicken wire to keep her in, which makes it extra hard to paint. All that would have to come down before I could scrape the peeling paint off. So, I think I'll stick with fooling myself that it is charming and rustic.

Same thing with the deck out there too.  I don't even attempt to keep flowers planted there, I know they'd just be dried up and forgotton.  This could be a cute area, but if no one ever sees it, does it matter?

I've learned over the years that sometimes, you have to pick your battles.   There is only so much time in the day.

But this was way beyond ignoring.  This was some major repair work that needed to be done, not just cosmetic stuff.  Our ex-front door way was rotting away.   While we were having other stuff done, we decided to have the guys repair this too.  We are getting better guttering, and had this siding ripped off, flashing installed under it, and then replaced.

 

See, better already! Now, I need to repaint this corner of the house, and my son is rebuilding the dog door area.  We have ordered an energy efficient one that should help our problem with drafts (and snow blowing in on blizzardy days!)

This is another problem area that the guys handled for us. A weird gap between the new addition and the deck, that leaked water into the breezeway.  More for me to paint....

Sorry, these aren't all that interesting are they?  I shouldn't show the ugly side of the cottage.   But its there.  Every house has issues of some sort and the older the house, the more there are. It felt good to have a crew here working on stuff and fixing problems.  Repairs are  not as glamorous as remodelling, but probably are even more important!

 

Almost Zero Dollar Decorating!

During my frenzy of de-mousing the house, I gave my bedroom a deep cleaning.  Sugarwings was spending the day with me, so it was her job to squirt the wax while I mopped the floor.  There is a short period of time when kiddos think that helping clean is more fun than just about anything.  Too bad it doesn't last longer. (and you should see how happy she was to hold the black light the time we went on a dog pee search- it was like treasure hunting to her.  I wasn't quite as thrilled to find the glowing purple marks as she was.  By the way, those black lights are the best tool around when you are housebreaking a puppy!!)

After moving all the furniture and cleaning under and behind it, I wanted to freshen the room up with a new look, but the way this room is laid out, if we want to lay around in bed and watch tv, there aren't many choices for rearranging. So, I did the best I could and moved around some of the mirrors and things on the wall. 

 

The mirror had been in the bathroom before, I switched around a few mirrors and traded them out.  Its not as fun as shopping, but it did make me feel less bored with the whole room. I kept the pillar where it is, but took the concrete angel out doors, and set an old vase with silks up on it instead.

The lamp came from the living room, and I pinned a blue millinery rose to it so it would match this room. I have a smaller alabaster lamp on the other side of the bed, so I kind of like having a near-matching set together. (both are from garage sales, years ago for about 5 bucks each)

Zero Dollar Decorating always gives me a lift, sometimes switches and trades are all I need to jump start a room and make me like it again. But, I can't quite call this mini redo that, because I did buy a few things for it.

While I was on my trip to Indiana, I found the alarm clock at an antique store ($11) and the new spread at either TJ Max or Steinmart for $40. 

I also bought two indoor/outdoor throw rugs at TJMax for $12 each, but I pointed the camera the other way, so you can't see them here.  They are a neutral tan with brown vines.

The most expensive part of the redo was a new sewing machine. I was too cheap to pay $25 for two shams to go with the new spread, plus I preferred using some vintage tablecloths and lace that I had to make some instead. 

Half way through the project, I seriously jacked up my 6 year old, low end Singer and couldn't get it to sew anymore.  I hate to admit that I am part of America's throw away society, but it would have cost more to repair than replace, so I zipped over to Walmart and got another $89 machine. Hopefully, I'll get another 5 or 6 years out of this one. 

The table cloth I used on the top pillows was a little holey, so I patched it with lace, then added rows of sheer trim (a Bird Song Tag Book Swap hostess gift!!). The shams for the other set of pillows were made from curtains that I took down in the bathroom.

Yep, my redos had spilled over to the adjoining bath. Well, when I started moving mirrors around, it hit me that I'd never liked that curtain in there....  When we remodelled, I found it at the Goodwill for $5, it wasn't vintage, just second hand.  And it was always too long, I kept thinking that I would hem it and never did, so I just took it down, turned it into pillow shams, and made something else to hang there, while I was on a roll.

 

My buddy, Lisa, had given me a gorgeous netting and lace bed set that was too nice to use on the bed in a house full of dogs. So, part of it is hung as curtains in the living room, the rest I cut up to make a curtain in here.

Since netting isn't private enough for a bathroom window, I sewed the fabric over some of the table cloth I'd cut up for pillows.

It isn't quite wide enough, so I hung a curtain panel on each side to cover that up.  Everything is smoke and mirrors at my house, all made to look better than it really is...

But overall, I'm much happier with the "new" curtains I made.  They go well with the Victorian Trading Co. outlet store shower curtains ($20, then dyed with tea, coffee, and Rit)

My husband is of course, just thrilled with more frills.  (not really) But he rarely notices what I do to the house anyway, so its fine. He doesn't actually care. 

I know I've told this story before, but it was years ago, so maybe its okay to tell it again? My Mother-in-Law was visiting, and my darling was showing her photos of our home in a magazine that had been lying on the table.  He was very proud and telling her details about each room as he went through the pictures.

I was a little surprised to hear him so interested, but thrilled to hear him be proud of something I've done- like I said, I don't think he notices things around the house. So, I looked over their shoulders to see which magazine they were looking at.

It was NOT our house. He just thought it was since there were pink roses and chippy paint in the photos.

 
In this photo from earlier this year, you can kind of see the old curtains on the window.  Just enough to see what I mean, about them being a bit too long.  They hung down all the way to the rose trim around the tub, the new ones (next picture) are a better length.

(that rose tile is one of my favorite things about the room.  While tile shopping, I saw it at a store in Topeka, but it was discontinued. They happened to have a few pieces left in the back room and sold it to me for 75% off.  I had enough to put around the tub, plus one extra that I keep thinking I'll make a shelf out of.)

Here is the bedroom from a couple years ago. No, I didn't change much, but just enough to keep me from being sick of it. I'm easily pleased.

 

Here is another older photo. 

Maybe it is more "edited" now.  I was going for serene.  To cut down on clutter, I also draped a small table topper over an extension rod in the built in cubby above the drawers.  It was just a dust catcher, I had stuff sitting in there, not anything functional or really all that cool. Just a couple urns and a photo.  I like it better covered up.

I like the whole room better now.  I just hope that the bedding stays ivory. The first time it rains and the dogs jump up on it, might be the end of it.  White might be smarter, it can at least be bleached to stay white... wish me luck.

 

It all started with a mouse

Do you ever just put up with stuff around the house and let it bug you each time you look at it, till it gets to the point that you just don't look at it any more?  I never used to, but in the last couple of years, my house has been neglected. 

See what I mean? All of our shutters were peeling,  the worst were up on the 2nd floor, so I just never looked up.  But when the ones right by the front door started to get worse and worse, it became hard to avert my eyes.  

Then, we were invaded by mice.  Yes, what do mice have to do with shutters?  Well, I guess these nasty little poo droppers just seriously got my attention, and when I started to clean up after them, I got kick started into a deep cleaning mode and went berserk over all of my house, including those peeling shutters.

  I moved all the furniture, cleaned behind it, and then did a couple switcharoos with a few doodads and some stuff on the wall in my bedroom.  That got me thinking how much I always hated the curtains in the bathroom, so I whipped up a new set with scraps and lace.  I then ended up buying a new spread, and a couple of rugs for my bedroom and sewed some pillows to match.  While I was rug shopping, I finally picked up some paint to redo the breezeway and these shutters.

Its been a crazy couple of days, but worth it.   I think that since our remodel plans have been up in the air for so many months, I've been just letting stuff slide, thinking I'd take care of it all at the same time, after the remodelling. But then, I realized how hard it is to live with the mess of ripping out walls, and thought, I should have some areas that were all done and nice to make myself feel better while living through the horror of having half a kitchen.

 Sugarwing's Daddy dropped by while I was scraping the ground level shutters and offered to do the higher ones for me.  I have a terrible fear of heights and was going to just continue with my policy of never looking up when I pulled into the driveway. 

This kind of peeling is fine.  This is an old shutter that I have hanging on the wall of the house for decoration by the back door of the studio.  When I bought it to paint roses on, the peeling paint was one of the things that drew me to it.

But this is a whole different story.  This just looks like no one loves the house. 

Years ago, I made these shutters myself.  We'd taken down an old garage and saved the wood. I cut two pieces the length of the window, marked a triangle shaped notch in each, cut it out with a jig saw, then lined the notches up to form a diamond and screwed small boards across them.  It was simple, and free to do, since I already had all of the wood.

I know they aren't perfectly straight, but for me, the old wood and simplicity of them compliments our old house and helps make the new addition fit in with the older half of the house.

More redo pictures to come! 

And in case you were wondering, I think all of the mice are caught.  Twinkle helped, she is a good hunter.

All spiffed!

Its an amazing event, that only happens on very rare occasions. Its something so elusive and and fleeting, that I just have to snap pics when it actually occurs.

My whole house is all cleaned up at the same time!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I've shown millions of photos of my house. You are probably sick of them, but for me, its a beautiful and special thing to see- cleanliness.

Fresh guest towels are hanging, the floors are shiny, and nothing smells like dog pee.  (I'll always miss my little Bookie guy, but man, is it nice to have his pee gone. I was a non-stop mopper while dealing with his illness)

Soon, I'll be welcoming a flock of Birdsong attendees, and I just hope that I can keep the house spiffy till then. Wish me luck!

I'll be busy getting ready for BirdSong this week,sorry I won't be answering emails or comments, but I will be taking time to read them.  And I'll chose a name from commenters to give a Birdsong memento to later on.

A Case of the Januarys

Each year, after taking down the Christmas tree, I feel like my house needs... something. There is something about going from full on glitz and glamour to just plain back to normal that is a little sad.  Plus, the weather doesn't help. Being cooped up and staring at the rooms day after day doesn't help. Things that bug me just a little start to bug me a LOT when there is no escape from them.

  Last January, I spent a lot of time neutralizing and de-pinking my kitchen, and rearranging all my pretties in their glass fronted cabinets.

This year, I thought I'd gotten off the hook easy. After taking down the tree, cleaning the rooms and simply shifting a few things from here to there, I thought I was done and past it all.  I was so busy with the funeral and guests that I almost made it to the end of January without taking on a do over anywhere in the house.

I was content with my simple clean up and and it was nice just to have the tree and most of the Christmas foof hidden away for the year.

But then, I ended up watching Sugarwings for a few days while the flu attacked at her Daddy's house.  And while she was here, a bug got her too. Not the bad, spewing one that was going on at her Daddy's, just a cough and fever.  Enough that she was down, but not out.  Lots of cuddle time and movies.  But, still, I was cooped up in the house, staring at the things that bugged me.

Since I needed to stay near my sick fairy grand baby, and couldn't really start anything big, I decided to tackle the dreaded closet.

One door leads to the bath, the other to the bedroom where Sugarwings was tucked into my bed watching our new favorite movie, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians."  She and I watched it together twice and when she said she wanted to see it again, I simply had to get up and do something else.

So, Twinkle, Agnes Rosebud and I started tossing stuff out of the closet.

The room was too awful to show a before picture.  It was crowded, and you couldn't even see the floor. I had baskets, furniture, and who knows what cluttering it up.

Where the rolling hamper sits now, was a tall chest filled with too many old clothes.  I threw out 3 garbage bags of clothes not good enough to donate, and packed one boxful to take to the thrift store. 

Now, why did I have all those? And why would I even think they were fit to wear?

Its easy to cling to things that I might need.... but I realized that I never would need them.  And really, really shouldn't wear them even if I did think that I needed them. I had a wardrobe intervention on myself. Kind of like this summer when I emptied out that old shed.  Man, it felt good to get rid of stuff that was cluttering up my life.

Oh, I kept plenty of comfy tees and hoodies, because I am smart enough to know that I won't ever dress "nice" around the house, or to most places I go.  But I got rid of enough old clothes that I didn't  need and should never be seen in, that I was able to do away with a whole dresser and make the room more open and pleasant.

Then, I arranged all my clothes by color, just like they do at my favorite store, Goodwill. And I recycled all the wire hangers.

What I noticed while doing this, is that I dress myself kinda the way I do my house. My keepers were lots of neutrals with soft pinks, a few flowers and lace, and a touch of aqua blue.

The space is also our laundry room. When we were newbie empty nesters, we thought it was a brilliant plan to remodel one of the kid's rooms into a larger master bath for us, and turn it into a laundry room at the same time. It is really a nice concept.  As I pull clothes out of the dryer, I hang them up or put them on a shelf, there are no laundry baskets to tote into the other room, and we have more space in our bedroom because we don't need clothes storage in there.  (except  for Sugarwing's clothes- which I am too lazy to carry upstairs in her bedroom, we keep them in our room).

But, that was before we had one son and his family move in and out a couple times, another son move in permanently, and various other relatives come and go.  A laundry room off the master isn't as easy to share as one somewhere else in the house.

 

We have two walls of built in shelving, (hand made by Sugarwing's Daddy, who also built my kitchen) and this section of shelving was just the right width to slide in this small chest of drawers that I painted years ago. My boy built the shelf above it to pull out and use as a folding table. Its one of my favorite features.

The room is not very pretty.  It was done on a tight budget, we didn't even finish the floors, I simply painted the sub-floor white.  I guess I could fill all the open shelves with matching wicker baskets and hide away the laundry paraphernalia, but I don't think it is worth my time or the expense.  I did wrap an old crocheted table cloth around my ratty, rolling hamper, but that is about the extent of foofing that I did and that only took a minute, and was free to do.

For now, I am thrilled just to have it cleaned up and feeling spacious.  The trick will be to not fill it back up with junk again.

Yes, I know, this was not the prettiest of blog posts... but to me, that cleared out, naked floor in the walk in closets is one of the most lovely sites I've seen in a long while!  I'm glad I was struck with a case of January-itis and got this project done.

By the way, Sugarwings is better now, and back home with her father.  Her poor, little Sis-star has her first fever though and we are hoping she doesn't get the spewing flu. 

I'm back to the studio working on more fun projects, but every time I go in the house, I  take an admiring glance at my closet. 

 

Lucky

You guys are all pretty nice to have around, you know it? Thanks!

Its such a beautiful day here in Kansas, what a great October weekend. We are going downtown with good friends to hear some live music in the park, and to enjoy this weather. But before that....

I have to make a stab at cleaning out this.

It used to be my antique shop.  Before that it was a chicken coop. And now we are thinking about turning it back into a chicken coop again.

So, I've been trying to get ahold of people who I thought might want some of the junk that is left over. I'd like to have the building empty by tomorrow.  What no one takes will be on the curb, feel free to stop and look through my trash if you are driving by!

And this is only half the shed. The other side is just as bad. 

I'd thought about turning it into a play house for Sugarwings, but the idea of fresh farm eggs is just too tempting.  We already have some fencing we could slap onto the back of the building and we have some shelves  that would make good roosting.

No matter what we do with it, I need to get it de-junked. This stuff has sat here for years, unused and unloved. I know there has to be someone who wants it. I thought about doing a rummage sale, but it turns out that I am too lazy.  Cleaning it will be bad enough, but sitting out there early in the morning trying to sell stuff for quarters and dimes?  Its better just to find homes for it all.

I had to tell myself that I've already made my profits from that business, and now I'm out of the antique shop biz and the rest of the inventory has to go.  Do you ever hang on to stuff, knowing that its worth something?  Well, this is GOOD junk, that for some reason just didn't sell.  Wrong time, wrong place, I guess.  But even though it is "worth something" its worthless to me just rotting in the shed.

The stuff deserves a new home.  And I deserve a clean shed. 

Untill the chickens poo all over the shed, at least.  Not so clean then.

Have you seen the newest Somerset Life? Lots of blog friends are in it!

Including these pretty pages by my Texas shopping bud, Lisa. 

I was lucky enough to score two articles in it.  And that sweet Lisa actually called me to congratulate me on them! I don't think she has any idea how touched I was by her gesture.

See, around here, no one is very impressed by my work.

One article is about my peat pot frozen Charlotte fairies. The photography was really nice on this article, I loved the faded, blurred pastel backgrounds they used for the pics.

And I was excited to see that one of the upcoming challenges for artists is to use a peat pot in their own artwork and send it in.  The deadline is Feb. 15th if you are going to make something for it.

And speaking of good pictures- my friend, Carol, took the photos of my house that are in the current Somerset Home.

I'm feeling pretty lucky right now. Not just being in two magazines on the stands at the same time, but in having good blog friends who leaped to my defense about the deleted post without even knowing the story behind it.  Once everyone knew that it was the mom who didn't like what I said about the photos, everyone understood. Many of us were new moms at one time and knew completely how she felt.

And I'm lucky to have such a good family that pulls my foot out of my mouth for me every once in a while when I get it stuck there. And then they love me anyway, even with toe breath.

 

Blowing it all away, plus some Oz images and a tag swap deadline extension

Look what I found on Etsy!  I bought all the little plastic shoe charms that I could find, even though they weren't the right colors. I fixed them by using red glitter spray to get them wet and sticky, then tossed them into a bowl of red glitter.

I mean "ruby red" glitter. 

The first 50 people in our Dorothy Tag Swap will get one on their tag book. For the rest, I need to come up with something else....

The swap is still open, and I've had a lot of people say that because of Back To School, they are swamped. So.... we are extending the deadline.  Instead of Sept. 15th, lets go for the end of the month. You get a couple more weeks to work on them!

Also, we have a flickr group, please join!

Personally, I'm glad to have the extra couple of weeks too! I've been trying to get ready for Sugarwing's Under the Sea Birthday Splash Party.

Yesterday, I painted this mural onto a canvas drop cloth cut down to fit the wall above the bed in her big girl room at her Hippy Chic Mommy's house.

For the party, the mural will be nailed to the side of the house.  I'm setting up a tent for kid's crafts and this will be the decor behind it. 

Years ago, I used to paint murals for a living. It was a goooood living.  But hard. When I'd paint hotels and bars, it usually involved a lot of scaffolding, and that is heavy to move around, plus I have a fear of heights and really detested being up 20 feet  high. The worst thing ever is to be on a LADDER on top of SCAFFOLDING!  It gave me the willies.

Plus, not a lot of Kansans were open to murals.  But gosh, other states love them! When I was painting a public space in Florida, I'd get a ton of job offers and ended up working nights in private homes as well as days on the job I had traveled there for. 

My favorite thing to paint was kid's murals.  One thing I always did was to make sure that each character in the painting had a buddy.   Lots of conversational groupings make the picture more interesting for kids.

Painting "murals to go" sure is easier than doing it directly onto a wall! I liked using the drop cloth, I could work at my own pace, in my own home while playing with the dogs, snacking, watering the garden and taking breaks! 

I thumb tacked plastic to the wall of the garage, and then tacked up the canvas over it so the paint wouldn't seep through to the wall behind it.  I worked on the scene through out the day and was able to get other stuff done too. 

Sugarwings loves Mermaids, I hope she likes this birthday gift from me!

While I was taking breaks from the mural, I repainted this hutch in my studio.  Since I am the one who painted it in the first place, I knew that the top coat on it was water based poly.  So, it didn't need any pretreatment of priming or sanding.  I was able to simply dry brush a couple coats of white satin paint over the existing taupe glazed with brown.

After it dried, I lightly sanded it all for a distressed look.  Silly me, I was too lazy to run to the store to get a coarse sandpaper, and now have a sore arm from sanding with with a fine paper. It took way too much work and too many sheets to rough up the hutch!  I have a bad habit of not stopping until I am done, and really should have just quit yesterday, until I had a chance to pick up another pack of sandpaper. 

 

Another thing I got done for the party was to get a start on cleaning the studio. Its such a mess and this is spider web season.  Why does my home get so cob webby every single July and August??? This year, it is so bad, I am tempted to leave them, let them spread a couple months and just throw a Halloween party.

While I had the garage cleared out to do the mural on the wall, I used the leaf blower to clean the room.  I dreamed of being able to use that to just blow all the cob webs away in the house too.  If I were a minimalist, it wouldn't be so bad, but as a collector of junk, I have too many things that would blow away along with the mess.

I did clean the stair way that goes up to my husband's office with the leaf blower. There was nothing that could be ruined or blown away, and I have to tell you, it was a magnificent thing to do. What a great idea!  I cleaned the breezeway and my car while I was at it. 

Are you wondering what the pictures of poppies have to do with cleaning my house with a leaf blower?  Nothing at all.

I just thought that you might like these.  I used a lot of these vintage greeting cards with poppies in my Oz tags.

I've also scanned more pages from my 1920s Oz book for you.  You don't have to be in the swap to use them, help yourself if you want some.

All you need to do is click on the picture for it to pop up in a larger size,save, and print it.

Some of these are edited into sepia for you, too. 

 

 

A cottage tour

I will be away from my computer for a few days, but have some fresh posts scheduled for while I am away. I won't be able to answer comments, and all packages will be mailed on Monday the 14th.

But please do leave a comment if you'd like to be entered in the JUNE GIVEAWAY.

Before I had everyone come to visit for my Creative Cottage Girls Weekend, I actually cleaned my whole house.  All of it! at once!

While it was spiffed up, I took advantage of the tidiness and snapped some photos.  I thought that I'd post them while I was out of town.  This is the back door of my studio.  I  found this table (at a garage sale) made from an old grate that matches the round grate that I use as a welcome mat. 

The shutter is an old one that I painted for a design show house that I was part of a few years back. Its been out in the shed, because I don't have a lot of red and black around here. But I kind of like it in this outdoor spot.

A month or so ago, I did a major over haul on the bathroom and posted about it then. But it got a few more switcheroos recently.  Some of the mirrors that were in the dining room got moved into the bathroom. Not a big change, just some bigger mirrors.

Its a small room with no windows, so an assortment of mirrors is good for making it feel bigger and lighter.

On the side of the built in cabinet, I hung 2  old bird pictures from a flea market, that were under $1 each and a $2 framed picture that I got at Bottoms Up market.

The redecorating that I started after Christmas was mostly a lot of editing and lightening up.  I've removed most of the colorful things from the downstairs of the main part of the cottage and gone all neutral. 

I'm finding it very calming. And with a houseful of puppies, a couple of elderly dogs, and a 3 year old, calming is not bad.

When I repainted my dining room furniture and redid a buffet that had been in my son's room  as a dresser, I showed you some photos of what I'd done.  But here is a final look, with it all pulled together and cleaned up. You won't see that often around here.

Well, mostly cleaned up, kind of looks like I was in the process of cleaning, see the mop?  Which reminds me, have you tried the Mr Clean Magic Eraser mop??????  It is beyond wonderful.  I have light floors that are always all dog tracked and dirty. This mop cleans the tile with one light sweep across the floor better than all the scrubbing and scouring with my old mop ever did.

This is the last of our peonies for the year, I already miss them!

Most of the peony bushes that I have are white with a blush of pink.  They were planted years ago by the farm wife who lived in this home way before we did.  I owe her a thank you!

 

Finally, I have found the right chairs for Sugarwings' table!!  These are pastel, old, and just the right amount of chippy.  I sanded them up so more paint wouldn't chip off, then sprayed them heavily with poly to baby proof them, and painted her table white to coordinate.  (lots of poly on it too) I'm thrilled to have her plastic and vinyl Disney Princess table and chairs gone now. There was always something disturbing about dining off of Cinderella's breasts.

Notice the rug? Its bamboo and can be mopped. Which is good because I have a dog about to turn 17, is senile, and he can't be trusted to know where he is peeing. No other rugs are allowed in the house because of him.  Probably more than you wanted to know about my house... But I am diligent about keeping the dog pee cleaned up and gone. I clean the floor with vinegar and orange peel, so unless I am just fooling myself, the house doesn't stink.

I'm pretty paranoid about that, but besides keeping that old guy corralled most of the time, there isn't much I can do about it.

Next post while I am with my sisses and away from the computer will be Sugarwing's room.

I could use some friends... be my friend and have a chance to win a prize!

Have you seen this post of Amy's?

She posted it a couple years ago, and it was so good, I'm glad she recycled it.    It gave me an idea for a craft night project that was simple and fast and really cute.  I had friends coming over to hang out in the studio and thought I'd offer supplies and a project for anyone who wanted them.

I glued vintage paper on plastic eggs, and my little buddy, Adeline Grace, a friend's daughter, made these.  No one else was in a crafting mood.  Addie was prolific, and got more and more creative as the night went on. I asked her if I could be her Grandmother, we seemed to have a lot in common.

 

It was nice of my friends to indulge me and let me make things while we talked, sipped wine and ate treats.   And good to catch up too. I've had the most AWFUL week, just a lot of drama going on behind the scenes that you don't want to hear about.  An evening to catch up with friends was just what I needed.

And it spurred me to clean up my studio, which I also needed to get done.

Do you ever find yourself starting a project as part of a clean up? I'd got this shelf at a junk store for $3 and wanted to make it over.  While I had the spray primer out, I thought I might as well paint this statue too. Someone had added some garish colors to it at one point (so I got it for half price at an antique mall). 

Using the steps in my side bar on how to paint furniture (listed under tutorials), I sprayed primer, glazed and top coated them.  If you don't count drying time, I'd say that it all took less than 20 minutes to do.

When I first saw the shelf, I knew it would be a great space saver on my desk.   It allows me to have more supplies within reach, since I now have two levels. 

 

The desktop is not quite done, I'll rearrange things a bit better when I have more time. I was more concerned about clearing the table tops off for my guests to have a spot to work at.

The big work tables really aren't very  attractive and the plan was just to use two smaller tables, then bring in the folding tables when I had company and needed more space. But it has become a habit just to leave all the tables up and keep them covered in clutter.  I might rethink that plan after my next two craft days coming up this week.

When there is that much flat, open space, its hard to contain myself.  If there is a spot empty, I fill it.

It would be easier to plan craft days if I had the tables stored in the garage and could set them up just when needed.  Which is the opposite of what I had been thinking before, that I should just leave them up so they would be ready for guests. Nope, if I leave them up, I have to spend a couple hours unloading them before guests show up!

 

During clean up, I took a break to blog browse and saw that my friend, Mary, had added Google Friend Connect to her blog. Now, for some reason, I thought those were only on Blogger, not Typepad, so I never added one. 

She also is having a bribe gift to readers who sign up.  Well, I'm not shy about bribes, so I'll offer one too! 

If you sign up to be my Google Buddy, I'll enter you in a drawing to win one of these Peat Pot Pretties with vintage millinery.

Like I said, I've had a VERY rough week. I could use all the friends I can get. Thanks!

A fun little helper

Well, I think I am ready today for Carol to come over and do pictures of the cottage.   I had planned it for last Monday, but got the flu instead and had to reschedule.  Too bad, because cleaning and redoing was much harder this week, it was our weekend with Sugarwings.  She really, really likes to help. She rearranges my flowers, cleans the toilet with a feather duster, and finds much more interesting displays than I had planned myself.

(the "Joy" banner I made for Christmas has been switched out to spell "Fun" for springtime.)

We waited until it was time for her to go to her mommy's before I banished all of the kid stuff to the porch.   My kitchen seems twice as big now!

 
Actually, it was Sugarwings who put the flower vase on her piano.  See what I mean? She did come up with some good ideas. Not all were as successful as this one. 

I'll have more photos later if you are interested. I'd better get to work now.