In the Meantime.....

While I wait for the wood to finish my cabinet, I have several other projects I want to work on (of course!).....one of them is painting my kitchen island (remember that one? :-D)

When we built it, I wanted a different color in there, and I picked green.....

I've never been completely happy with this color....I color-matched it with a green from one of my Olde Century Paint color charts, but I still have never felt like it fit the piece, or the kitchen.
So when I saw this on Pinterest.....

I knew I wanted that color!!  This is a piece by David Smith, I think, so I know I have the right taste!  Haha!
Anyway, it's been all down hill from there!  I have purchased THREE different shades of black (samples, at least), and used others I already had, and I haven't been close! :-P.......

YIKES!! No way!!

NOPE!!
Tried this color on the right corner.....

YUCK!
This picture has my last two tries, the first is the light blue-looking color above the door knob.....

NO WAY!!! :-P  That color looks black in the container, and is called Licorice....WHY is it blue???
Anyway, I think I found it with the color over that electric-looking blue....it's called Lincoln Cottage Black (from Lowe's), and it looks the most like the cabinet on Pinterest, especially without the camera flash! :-)
Here's what my island looks like, struggling to find the right color.....

SHEESH!!! :-P  I was getting ready to start mixing my own color, from all the samples I had! LOL
The biggest problem with getting the island painted a good color is that it's right in front of the kitchen window, which faces south.....so the sunlight is always illuminating the island!  So colors that look perfect on the paint card or painted somewhere else in the house, look completely different on the island.  I'm just happy that I've found it (maybe...).  Tomorrow I'm going to paint more of the island with it, so I can be sure!

So that's what I've been up to today.  I did walk into my messy craft room to try and make some kind of dent in that pile of STUFF, but it's way too chaotic in there!  That's going to be a full-day job, that's for sure!!
I am still enjoying this gorgeous weather - all my windows are open, and the night air is so cool and refreshing!  Welcome, Fall!! ^-^

My Cabinet Is Almost Finished!!

Well, we only got the cabinet half-made.....I need another piece of wood, can you believe it??! :-P 
I already bought two more this weekend, but I guess I measured wrong....I'm not too disappointed, because it's still really exciting to see it standing there in the kitchen! :-D

The boards were 6 feet long, but I wanted it to be no higher than 5 feet, so that's what Brian cut them to, and then we had enough to make the main BOX.....

There it is, right in the spot where I want it to go in the kitchen!  See how the darker stained wood is on the inside....I definitely like the side that I stained with paint better for the outside of it.  Now all it needs is shelves and the door!  That will get done next weekend!!  YAY!!! :-D

SO.....last night, the cold front that we've been waiting two weeks for finally came through, and it's been a gorgeous day!  I've had the windows opened all day (and they are opened now, too), and I just love the smell and the sound of the outside.....it's bringing back memories of Fall, which I just LOVE!!  *Sigh!*
Oh!  And the Apple Festival is next weekend - I can't wait!!!  I loved it last year, and I'm saving my pennies to be able to buy a bunch of apples this year, and the Asian pears!  They also have wonderful craft booths, like wooden items and pottery, which are all handmade by local small business people - I want to be able to buy one or two things from them, too....oh, it's going to be SO much fun!! :-D

I think Fall has finally beaten Summer back, after so much heat and humidity....what a relief!  I hope everyone is enjoying this delicious fresh air like we are!! ^-^

A Very Special Day!!!!

Today is such a special day for us.....my baby, my dearest daughter, turned 14 today!!! 

 She's the little blond one! :-D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet girl!!

It has been so wonderful to be her mom! :-D

After a special lunch and cake, Brian kept his promise and started on my cabinet!  I'll post pictures of that tomorrow!!  

I hope everyone enjoyed their day like we did! ^-^

A BEFORE and AFTER Post!!! :-D

UGH!!!  This is Day 3, I think, of my hostage situation - me stuck in the desert of the Real World!!  If I don't get to break free of this soon, I'm going to go CRAZY!!!!  Today I had two appointments I had to be at, one for my husband at the dentist, and one for my son at the optometrist.....both of those appointments were late because both of those doctors were late, so I spent all of the morning, and half of the day, waiting..... Like I said, UGH!

There is relief in sight, however -- tomorrow life is going to be back to normal!  We are going to Lowe's (for my wood and maybe a paint sample - I've earned it! :-D), and maybe Hobby Lobby, and then I'm going to come home and do something.....Yay!.....but I don't know what yet!! LOL   That's ok, I'll make a list! :-D

1. stain my new wood boards (for my cabinet - that's what I'm getting a Lowe's!)
2. sand the last few stencils
3. paint my island (with the sample I'll get at Lowe's!)
4. finish painting the blue cabinet
5. put the small piece of trim board on my new kitchen wall
6. clean the craft room

There's the things that are exciting for me tonight, it could change in the morning!  I really want my cabinet to get started, but Brian's mouth hurts (from the dentist today :-P), so I'm not sure how much hauling, sawing, and nailing he wants to do!  He might surprise me, though! :-D
And cleaning the craft room is really a "probably not" item, because every time I've gone in there to start organizing, I see some of my crochet projects that start calling to me, and I don't want to get all caught up in crocheting anything until I get a few more of my important projects DONE!

Now for my Before/After pictures......
I want to show what we accomplished in what WAS our back hall -- it's one of my favorite changes that we made!!  First, I had this vision for my laundry room for over a year before we even found this house....I saw it in a magazine, and knew I had to have it!  Even when we were looking at houses to buy, I always checked out where the washer and dryer were, and if it couldn't be remodeled the way I wanted, it was a strike against that house! LOL  Of course, I never told my husband that, because I'm sure he would have thought I was being too picky!  But it didn't matter in the end, because we found our Perfect home!! :-D
Here is the magazine picture......

That is all beadboard above the counter, and a curtain hangs under the counter so you can close it and hide the washer and dryer.
Here is one of the hallway they have....

.....the curtain is closed on the right, and I loved the trim and hooks beyond the door on the left!

Now, of course, I didn't have that much room, and I wanted my back hall to end in a pantry, not a door out, so I was willing to change some things up, but I wanted the basic look!

Here's what we started with - BEFORE.....

That's me standing in the middle of that back hallway and taking a picture of either side....in the bottom picture, the doorway on the left enters the kitchen (notice the hateful white plastic floor!)
Here's the view from that kitchen doorway.....

In the top picture, you can see that we already added wood for the floor (that I painted)!
Here is where Brian framed the middle of this hallway to build the pantry....

Here is the beadboard going up.....

Here is the new pantry door that is hung in the new wall Brian framed.....

Here is how he removed the outside door that was then enclosed in the pantry room, framed it and covered it up....

We added new siding out here too, and painted it brown (that's a whole other post!)

And now for the AFTER!
Here is the laundry room.....

 You can see the pantry door on the right, I painted it (and all the trim) Old Village Rittenhouse Ivory (color-matched at Lowe's) -- GREAT color!!
Here is the other wall.....

I am going to put iron hooks on that trim board, just like the magazine! :-D  And you can see that we hung beadboard on the bottom, but on the top of the wall, I used textured paint (from Lowe's) -- you roll it on with a spongy roller, let it sit for about 5 minutes, then you use a putty knife to "push" down some of the texture!  Here is what it looks like up close.....

I LOVE it!!  I used it on the walls in the pantry, too!  I need to use antiquing glaze on it, to bring out the texture better (and to "age" the wall), but I'm waiting until I do it in the living room first, so I know what I'm doing! LOL
And here is the pantry.....

The wood paneling along the back outside wall (where the door used to be) is a terrific barnboard that I found at Lowe's next to the beadboard panels - it looks SO real, and has great texture and color!  I left it unpainted in here, and I LOVE it!!  Also, the tall blue cabinet is built in, and holds all of our kitchen gadgets that I won't let anyone keep on the counters! LOL
And don't mind the mess....this is a hard-working pantry!! :-D  Those are all my canning jar boxes, I store the empty jars in them to use next year!

PHEW!!!  This post took me about 2 hours! LOL  I hope you guys liked the pictures!!  That's about my favorite space in the house so far! :-D  And it was sooooo exciting to watch it all come together!  Now, if only I could get the REST of the house together! ^-^

Only A Bit of Painting.....

Oh, I just can't get motivated!!
I painted a little bit yesterday, but can't get myself to finish it today.....I should be cleaning my craft room or working on my stenciling, BUT I just feel like looking instead of doing today! :-P

I painted the cabinet that we put the legs on, from a previous post......

Remember this picture??  It was from a while ago!  I couldn't think of what color I wanted it to be....I already have a black cabinet in here, and the trim is mustard-gold.....hmmm!! 
Here's what I picked, but of course, I'm still not sure (am I ever???)......

This is OLD paint, it's the paint that I used for my front door before I changed it this spring - I love this color, I had Lowe's color match it from my Old Village Paint Colors, it's Dressing Table Blue!! 
And it might be time to toss out that chip brush, ya think?? LOL  No, no -- I can use it for one more job!! :-D
Here's the first coat.....

I haven't "distressed" it yet, and I didn't even paint the top yet (so Brian could use it for his drink while watching TV after work), and I love the color, but.....I'm not convinced!  Not that I ever would be....when I started on this Prim-ifying journey, this is the part where I'd paint it another color, then another one, and then wish that I had stuck to this first one!! :-P  So I am following my dear Marlene's advice and waiting for a few days, it always works!  That clears my head somehow, and then even if I don't stick with this color, I have a clear idea of the color I really want!!  It's one of the best pieces of advice I've ever heard -- THANKS, as always, Marlene! ;-)

Well, THAT is IT.....I keep walking around and looking at everything I could do, but I can't seem to get myself to start anything....I guess I'm just feeling a little bit lazy! :-P  And actually, I've had to be on the phone for the past two days working out appointments for everything - eye doctor for my son, orthodontist for all the kids, dentist for my husband, etc, etc!  And of course, I've been talking to insurance people, too, to figure out copays and qualifications, etc, etc!!  I guess I feel more excited about my projects when I get to float around in my dreamy little Early American world, NOT when I get dragged back to reality, here in the 21st century, where I definitely don't belong! LOL
In my defense, I have tried to dig in to that craft room of mine, that is such a disorganized mess, but every time I've been in there just figuring out what to put where, the phone rings and I get thrown off track.  So I guess today should be a LOOKING day! :-D  I've been looking through some of my older Country Living magazines and my Colonial Homes, tagging things I like.  It's funny how looking through them at different times causes me to notice different things -- like, I tagged a gorgeous blanket chest and a fireplace mantle arrangement that I didn't notice or like the last time I looked in there....how did I miss those??  This is why I always enjoy looking over my favorite magazines, I always see them differently!

I hope I'll have something exciting to report tomorrow, I'd better be over this SNAG by then.....I have to take the kids to the orthodontist in the morning, but that might refresh me to get it out of the way, and I can come home and feel motivated.....at least, that's what I hope will happen!! ^-^

Cross It Off My List!!

I painted the new kitchen corner today!! (cross another thing off my list! :-)
It was so fun to do, because two years ago is when I plastered and painted the kitchen walls, so I've been waiting that long to get this corner done, and now it's almost finished!!  YAY!!!
LOL  I know I get way too excited about these things! :-D  Here it is, all painted.....

Now it only needs the trim board up, then I'll stencil over it, and it's finished!  Of course, there is no door trim on any of the doors in the kitchen, because we have to wait until the tile floor is put in to be able to measure the length right....so I wait.... :-P  It's not one of my strong points!  Well, we are planning to put the floor in this winter, when we get our tax return money....I've figured it will only cost around $400 for the materials, and we will do it ourselves.  THAT will be a great post to read, won't it!! :-D

So, I promised to share what I did with my cabinet wood yesterday!
Here was my dilemma....I wanted to "age" the wood, and I already stained one side of it but not the inside because I ran out of it, but that was ok with me because it just looked too dark with the Early American stain on it - I should have used Ipswich Pine or Colonial Pine, they are lighter - but it was too late for that.  Anyway, I was trying to think of what to do about the inside....I didn't want solid paint, and I didn't want to buy more stain.....so I decided to mix some paint in water and try brushing it on - I've read about people doing it all the time, but I've never done it so I wasn't sure what would happen!
Here is how I started.....

The stained board is in front, and the other boards are turned over, you can see how light they are.  I sanded them on both sides, trying to make the stained side lighter, but it didn't work!  You can see my little plastic bowl of water, that's what I poured my dark brown paint into - I didn't measure, I just poured some in, maybe 2 or 3 tablespoons....I don't think it has to be exact.
I used the foam brush and stirred the paint in the water, and then wiped it all over the first board on the unfinished side.  Then I took my cloth and wiped it off......

Here it is wet, you can see that it's yellowed, I didn't notice a big difference yet, but I thought it was good enough for the inside and did the other boards the same way, dipping the foam brush into the paint water and swirling it around to the bottom every time.  It only took a little while for them to dry out, maybe 15 minutes, and I loved what I saw.....

The stained board is on the left, and the "paint" board is on the right - look at how it has a grayish-brown tint to it now!  I love it, it looks like the kind of gray I see on old wood boards!  I've always wondered how I could get that color into new boards that I build things out of....well, here it is!! :-D  Boy, that Molasses paint sample has sure proven itself to be useful, right?!
I decided to see what it looked like if I brushed on some polyurethane, because it brings out color and depth in wood - I don't like shine, so I only lightly brushed on one coat, and it looks exactly how I wanted it to.....

Here they all are!  That paint/water mix made them just dark enough and added the grayish tint that I always want!!  I am so thrilled with them! :-D  Although.....I do have a slight problem -- now the dark stained sides are going to be inside the cabinet....how is that going to look??  Oh well, we'll have to see.....

So there's my new technique for "aging" new wood boards!  It's cheap and easy, too!! :-D

I'm going to leave you with one last image.....I bought some fruit at the grocery store today, I had never seen them before, but they looked so delicious I had to try them!......

These are pluots - a cross between plums and apricots!  Aren't they beautiful?!!  I had to take a picture to post here, because they look so much like stone fruit in this wood bowl, don't they?  I wish there was a way to preserve them exactly like this....could I dip them in urethane? LOL  Nope, there's no way, but at least I have a picture!  I can't wait to try them and see how they taste - they are not quite soft and ripe enough, but maybe tomorrow.....I'll be sure to report back!!  If they are really good, I'll have to get some more and CAN them!!! ^-^

Checking My List!

So.......what do you do when you've made a list of projects you want to accomplish, and you have some time to do them....?

Why, you work on something else, of course!!! :-D
Remember this?.....

I bought this at the thrift store for a dollar or so, but I didn't get around to painting it until today! 
Look at what I did with it......

I painted it (with a sample)....
Then I sanded it.....

I LOVE that color!!
Then I stained it and rubbed some of my favorite sample, Sweet Molasses, over it....

I love how it turned out!  I was hesitant about painting this, because I loved the wood look of it (except the huge bunny on the cover! :-P), but I'm so glad I did!!  Now to find a place to put it....hmmm.....

I did actually DO some things on my list -- I finished stenciling, and I started sanding them....I'm not sure I like how it looks......

It looks like something is missing in it....doesn't it look like a washed out stencil?  I want an aged look....I don't know....! :-P  Well, I'm going to keep sanding them, and I'm thinking it might look better when I get the antiquing glaze over them....we'll see!!

Tomorrow, I'm going to paint the kitchen wall - I have the paint all ready - and I've been working on my cabinet boards!  I've been sanding and I discovered the perfect way to age and darken them!!  I'll share that tomorrow night -- I'm SO excited about it! :-D  I did find out that I need one or two more boards to get it finished, so we won't be putting it together tomorrow, but that's ok -- I got Brian to promise to put it together with me next weekend!!  It's going to be great! :-D

Well, it's Sunday night, and I don't even feel sad!  Brian has the day off, so we'll be able to be together and go places, if we want - I'm thinking of going to the thrift store again, just to see what they have.  Plus, it's right across the street from the grocery store that I have to go to anyway!  I bought some Fall garden plants - broccoli and cauliflower - so we can plant those too....although, it's still kind of hot here this week, so we might need to wait.  I didn't get any of those plants to grow this past spring because it was too warm, and I really want to get some frozen this year!  My green bean plants are also finally producing - a bunny got in the garden in early July and ate all the leaves off the top of my bean plants (how did he hop through the larger fence holes that are higher off the ground?? :-P) - that slowed them down for two months!  I won't have as many as last year, but at least I'll have some! ^-^