Postcard from Hibernation #4

Happy November! I truly can't believe it's been over four months since I've sent you all a "postcard." I think about you, and blogging, frequently. I still sit on the couch after the kids have gone to bed and read about all the wonderful things you are doing. But I am still very much smack dab in a season of life that takes all my attention. Blogging continues to take a back seat to Nina (who is loving kindergarten!), Henry (who still attends "mama school," as he calls it!), supporting Brent, and building a life here in California. I admit that I often daydream of living in my forever house, close to my family and back in my Ohio hometown, but for the time being...I am here. So.

That doesn't mean I haven't been busy! Just that my teeny tiny California ranch house is bursting at the seams, filled with projects that I do in hopes of giving them a more permanent home someday. Here are a few examples!

I found this ship at a local resale shop for $5. Though Henry is enchanted with pirate ships right now, I didn't so much fancy having one in my living room.

I took off the metal sails, covered the red bottom with a dark walnut stain, and stitched up some simple blue ticking stripe panels for some new sails. Cute!

Next, I searched for this table for about six months, biding my time on Craig's List. I wanted an antique that I could refinish to match my current dining room furniture, which I inherited from my grandmother years ago. Here it is (before), covered in at least three layers of brown paint. Pretty.

After many...many...many hours of stripping paint, I finally got it down to bare wood.

A few coats of dark walnut stain, a few coats of polyurethane, and I finally have a sideboard that is worthy of the rest of my grandmother's furniture!

Of course, the California ranch doesn't have a dining room to put it in, but a girl can dream!

Lastly, here is a lesson for all your husbands. We were out one Saturday afternoon and passed by a garage sale. Just that morning, my husband had said to me "We are not buying any more furniture while we live here!"

Um. You can see where this is going.

We spotted this huge, sturdy bookshelf for $11.

Let's pause a moment to take in it's ugliness, combined with layers of blue goo.

I cleaned. He sanded. I painted. He added new beadboard backing. It was a joint effort!

But Nina now has a home for her growing collection of books. And I just love the beadboard and cream paint combination!

Just remember this story when your husband tells you to stop acquiring projects. :)

Well, that's about it from around here. I'm sorry it's been so long! Here's hoping you're all doing well...I miss you!

Postcard from Hibernation #3

Once upon a time (15 years ago, to be exact), I purchased this dresser for $20 at an estate sale. (I blogged about it here if you'd like to know more!) It was a horrible shade of green, and I spent the whole summer stripping and refinishing it.

My dresser gave me a lot of good years in it's refinished state. One day, however, I started wondering if, perhaps, it needed a little makeover. After all, how good would any of us look if we hadn't changed our style in 15 years? Don't answer that.

(And yes, that is a photo of me in overalls, circa 1996. See? We all need a little upgrade sometimes!)

About this same time, I stumbled across Miss Mustard Seed's blog. That girl is a genius! She does some amazing things to furniture, and I fell in love with this dresser:

So, when I had a few days of nothing on the calendar, I whipped out my paintbrushes and got to work.

My dresser looks like a whole new piece! I used leftover off-white paint in my garage, as well as some wall paint from my kitchen (Sherwin Williams Comfort Grey). Then I just sanded the edges and roughed it up a bit.
This girl's got at least 15 more years in her now!

Postcard From Hibernation #2

Hi everyone! I have done some research on behalf of us all, and I just had to share. First of all, let's revisit a photo of my humble little rental house in California, right after we moved in:

Ah, the green outdoor carpet. The abandoned flower beds. Lovely.

This spring, I've been trying to clean things up out there, on a very limited budget. I don't need Buckingham Palace here, folks. I'm just going for inhabited. So here's the look today, with some flowers, hanging baskets, and updated accessories:

And speaking of accessories, here's my new discovery: how to age a mirror (specifically the one now hanging in my outdoor entryway). I bought the frame below, complete with six individual mirrors, at a local thrift store for $12. And I love it when the original price is still on there. ($99.99 at Cost Plus World Market!) Please excuse the glass cleaner spray on the mirrors. I was impatient...you get the idea!

I took it apart (unscrewed the backing and took out the mirrors) and painted the frame with some off-white paint (Krylon Gloss Ivory), followed by rubbing on some stain (Minwax Dark Walnut) to age it. So then I had a situation where the frame looked all cute and vintage, but those mirrors were winking at me, all shiny and new. Can't have that!

So I looked up a tutorial of how to age a mirror (this one), and came up with this process. It works!

I started with some paint stripper (Ace Extra Strength Stripper) to scrape off all the paint on the back of the mirrors. Then I switched to paint thinner and scrubbed the backs with a steel wool pad. Then I washed them all off with some water. The last step was splattering liquid bleach on the mirror backs to get that spotted appearance, then blotting it off after a few minutes. (For more detailed instructions, follow my link on how to distress a mirror.)

Can you see how the individual mirrors look all beat up and old now, slightly foggy and age-spotted? Not bad for $12! I already had the rest of the materials on hand, but even if I hadn't, this project is much less expensive than all the other adorable-but-out-of-my-price-range antique mirrors I have seen out there!

Give it a try if you want the antique look without the price tag!

Postcard from Hibernation #1

Hi everyone!

I am greatly enjoying my hibernation, but thought I might send you a "postcard" now and then to say hello.

We've had a fun couple of months. In February we drove to southern California and paid a visit to Disneyland. So much fun!

Then, last month we were lucky enough to go on my husband's company ski trip to Tahoe. I love being within driving distance to all these cool places! (Don't know why the kids look so bummed out in this photo though. Too much snow?)

I promise it hasn't all been about fancy trips around here. I also discovered something new that's only 30 minutes from my house. The Alameda Point Antiques Faire! I could have spent hours wandering around this place, but probably would have gotten in lots of trouble. As it was, we fell in love with this antique farmhouse table. It took some budget rearranging (and a large delivery truck), but it came home with us!

I also made a lovely discovery on Etsy and purchased these two whimsical prints from The Black Apple. I love the colors and the vintage quality!

What else? Spring is here in northern California, so I was inspired to pull out the summer bedding last week.

I must admit that TJ Maxx helped me by selling those two blue ruffled pillows for $10 apiece on clearance!

I dug around and found my robin's eggs to add a little splash of color on my dresser.

And to finish it off, I painted our master bathroom Sherwin Williams' Comfort Grey. (And please note that when I say "master bathroom," it is in the loosest sense of the word. The only mastering that goes on in there is mastering our annoyance as we bump into each other trying to get ready at the same time!)

I have been having a wonderful time, and appreciate all your thoughtful comments and emails to me during my "hibernation." I hope you are all doing well too!

"Art" for the Poor

What I am about to share could be considered sacrilegious to some of you. But I'm going to risk it, for the sake of the rest of us.

What in the world am I talking about?

Art.

I constantly rip out pages from magazines to use for inspiration. The pages above and below both have unique wall pieces that are real art. Like, from people who are artists.

Unfortunately, our budget for pieces of real art from real artists is nonexistent. But what I did have was two of these oval frames. With nothing in them.

I really liked the look of some of those line art drawings in my inspiration photos. But, alas, I am not an artist, and, well, we've already discussed where my budget is in that department. So, I went to Michael's instead and bought a piece of nice artist paper and some charcoal pencils.

I found some free clip art online. (I just Googled things like "free" "images" "bee," "bike," etc. until I found something I liked.) The bike is for my husband, whose garage is not complete unless it holds at least five bikes at any one time. And the bee is for me. :)

I used graphite tracing paper (also from Michael's) to transfer the line art onto my fancy paper.

Then I went back with my charcoal pencil and traced over the lines.

I mixed my knockoff bike and bee art with my family wall in the kids' playroom.

Thank you free clip art!

Dealing With My Dated Den

Sorry for the silence last week, girls! I had some kind of flu bug rip through our house and it took us all down with it. Feeling better now, and I have saved the best for last in my new house Before & After series!

Behold, the horrific Before photo of the den, from the day we toured it:

And the same room, minus the laundry, clutter, huge television and dated wood paneling:

From another angle, here's a During shot:

And the same wall, after three coats of primer and one coat of "Pearl" by Olympic:

I love the built-in bookshelves and the iron chandelier I got to hang from the ceiling. (Note: I did not love the built-in bookshelves when I had to paint them all four times!)

This house was built in the 1950s, and I'm telling you, those fifties chicks knew how to work the storage. I have lots of cabinet space in here for all my crafty business, plus a cubby that holds all the over sized stuff. I just sewed a few squares of fabric and hung them with a tension rod to hide the messiness!

This bulletin board was part of the room already, and I really like how it looks now that the wood paneling above and below it is painted. I've already used that work table for a few projects, but it also doubles as a catch-all for mail and the usual junk!

A close-up of the bulletin board, with some of my inspiration clippings, fabrics and paint samples. I love having a place to hang up all this stuff!

I also have a little basket for my latest magazines, with a pen handy to circle stuff I like. I know, I am a big geek who gets all excited about a marker and a pile of magazines! I realized that as I was typing it.

So there you have it! How I Made Over Every Room In Our House With Paint for Under $500. Too bad there's not a House Painting Olympic Team. I would SO try out for that.

But now I'm off to take a nap!

Master Bedroom Changes!

Hello again! Today I'm sharing the updates we've made to the master bedroom. Just like in Henry's room, you're gonna have to look closely to see the changes, because I didn't get a true "before" photo. But here's the master bedroom with it's white walls and general messiness.

And here's the same room, after a little lovin'. The walls are painted "Bristlecone" by Olympic (just like Henry's room; I am nothing if not frugal!).

As you can probably tell, the room isn't all that big. Compared to my master bedroom in Colorado, or even the one in our previous California house, it's a tight squeeze. And would I love some crown moldings or hardwood floors? Um, hello? Do you know who you're talking to? Of course I would! :)

But it's a comfortable room, and at the end of the day I feel safe and cozy there. That's got to count for something, right? The patchwork quilt (Pottery Barn) adds to the general coziness, and it's nice for the winter.

But I've already tested my "summer look" and definitely plan on rolling this out when it's time to open the windows again! Like it?

A girl's gotta have options, right?