Sundial Cloth Covered Wire

 We purchased this sweet little clock at Springfield this past week-end.  So my husband, being the stickler for detail that he is, purchased some *VERY* cool cloth covered wire to add to it.

 If you're into the vintage look you have to check out their stuff!!!  Go to sundialwire.com --they have all sorts of color options and different gauges, etc.  This is a great resource for vintage electrical pieces.

 I was so excited to get going I didn't do photos of wiring up the plug.  It's pretty simple.  You strip the wires (I have those photos below) the same way you do to wire to the clock itself.  Only there are two little screws inside the case of the plug that you wrap your cord wires to.  Then you tighten those screws and put on a little plastic cover.

 Unwiring the old plug...the little metal wires are just twisted together...untwist those.

 Pull the cloth back and there is a plastic covering on these wires as well.  You'll need wire strippers to remove that and expose the wires.  You'll need about and inch or so to work with...

 Our wire was 18 gauge --your wire strippers are marked for different gauge wires.  You're cutting up to the wire without cutting the wire itself off...

 Put the cloth wire up through the opening in the clock...you can see the copper wire exposed at the tops of the cloth cord....

 Twist your wire together --splitting the cord wires so you have two separate pieces and then twist one to each of the cords coming from the clock itself....

 Twist on some wire nuts.  They cover the exposed wire and you tighten them until they won't tighten anymore....

 Ohhhh she looks good like this!!!!  Love it!  We actually wanted the red cloth wire but it was backordered in the size we needed....

 He sooooo deserves this...for those of you who know my husband he's pretty quiet and reserved in public....at home it's a different story....I'll leave it at that....

 And there she is....I've been rearranging living room furniture AGAIN.  Because I cannot be still apparently....The cool little lamp was a Goodwill purchase.  I just loved the tall shade for some reason.  And I stole the fern idea from Melissa at Cass House...love her blog...check out the beautiful home they live in, and have been working on fixing up if you get a chance!

 And I re-did the little table.  My uncle made it for me and I'm planning a post on that.  I used some blue wax....a pretty nifty little technique--tinting your wax with paint!

The bathroom is so close to being finished.  My husband is finishing up the big sink install as I type this....photos of that soon too!

Remodeling a Bathroom

SO what started as JUST replacing the bathtub and surround has become almost a total bathroom overhaul....we just remodeled this room about 4 years ago and this is how it looked...

We discovered a crack near the back of the tub a few months ago and knew we were going to have to replace it quickly because our home is for sale...

 So we bought a new tub and surround and my husband started tearing the old one out.  Then he and his Dad put this new one in ---on Father's Day week-end no less :)

 See that nice little gap in the flooring between the tub and the tiles?????  Yeah that would be because this tub is about 2 inches narrower than the old one....

AND you cannot buy our flooring any more...

So I'll be redoing the flooring as well...probably the same flooring we used in the dining room because we have 2 boxes left over from that project so it will almost do the whole bathroom.

It's the Allure vinyl flooring from Home Depot in the Hickory color/finish.

Which means taking the toilet out ---and then I'm thinking about redoing the floor and how I really don't like the vanity we have so we took that out too :)  Might as well go all the way right??!?!?!?

 Our bathrooms are small and I really like having the pedestal sink in our hall bathroom...

I'm shopping for a wall hung sink and something more creative for storage.
In my mind this is our bathroom!!!  Gorgeous huh?????

Dresser with Handpainted Design

 My most recent piece of artwork...

this little dresser with an attached mirror

Here she was before....

You can't tell in these photos but she had a couple of spots where the veneer was chipped or missing....but overall a very nice little solid piece of furniture.

 I knew I wanted to use the green Antibes color and originally I had a plaid design in mind for the drawers....

  Then my sister-in-law bought Mighty this cute little shirt with a blue, flowered pattern on it. 

You never know when inspiration will strike....

 I decided to paint the body of the dresser Antibes and then dry brushed a light coat of Old White over that before distressing it.

On the drawer front I only used the Old White since I planned on adding the blue design...
I free handed a flower shape on some heavy tag board, cut it out and traced it onto the drawers

The photo above is the flowers before I added the centers. I used two different blue colors.  One for the flowers themselves which is more of a navy and then a brighter blue for the lines and the centers of the flowers.

 Added a little green dot at each intersection to tie the drawers together with the colors on the rest of the piece....

I decided not to paint the hardware.  On this piece it would have been really distracting if they were painted white.  I used some red scotch brite to clean them up and now all those beautiful little details pop back out... 

It also reminds me a lot of the Annie Selke slipcovered chair I did for my friend this winter...
This little piece makes me long for a room for Mighty that I can decorate just for her!!!

Inspirations

 I have a serious addiction to looking at certain decorating magazines.

 I'm sure this has no influence on me always wanting to try something new around my house....right?!?!?!?

 The thing I find interesting is that once I look at something it gives me other ideas.

 All of these pieces are from Sundancecatalogue.com

I could decorate my whole house with their furniture---

 All of these pieces are gorgeous.  Although I 'd much rather have something that has some authentic age to it, I'm not against making something look that way.

 I just like to look at all of it.  And appreciate the simplicity of it.  Less is always more.

Kids' room Inspiration

This is a photo of my kids' room.  When I painted it the first time I was pregnant with Doodlebug and we thought the development company was going to be buying our home and tearing it down.  That was 4 years ago.....

So here it is today...very little boy.  And I'm ready to make it something a little more neutral for both kiddos.  I already changed out the curtains to white cotton duck tab top panels and threw the mini blinds in the trash ( I am ashamed to say they were coated in dust ) and I was SOOO excited to see them actually IN the trash can!  It's the little things people :)  I'm also trying to do this on a teeny tiny budget....
But here are some photos that *inspired* me...loving this color scheme...

Home and Garden website

Love the cool blue/grey with those bright little pops of red!

hgtv website

And I really like the idea of the gingham or maybe some ticking which I love too....

Home and Garden website

My sweet Doodlebug already has a bright red Fokker Tri plane hanging up...and I'm working on some really sweet little red vellum flowers I want to hang from the ceiling over Mighty's bed....And I think I even have enough paint left over from the kitchen that I can mix with some white to lighten it up even more...stay tuned on this one!
I'm linking this to a party at Modern Country Style



Don't forget about my bracelet giveaway...drawing for the winner on Tuesday March 15th!!!

Knock down that wall!!!!

Once we decided we had to replace the flooring in both the dining room and kitchen (tears in the linoleum and water damage in front of the side doors) I started thinking about repainting the cabinets.  I was pretty set on just doing them white.  Then my husband says "you know we could knock this wall out...." (it's where a previous owner added on to the whole back half of our house).  "It won't really add anything to the cost" ----------  this is where all people who have remodeled chuckle knowingly!!!!    We had a bank of cabinets on the kitchen side above the opening....

Doodlebug thought this whole thing was just too much fun...We also had a bar here which is already torn off in this picture.  I had painted the cabinets yellow about 6 years ago when we got married.  They were originally a lovely dark "faux" wood....

I should explain a little bit here at the risk of starting a really loooong story.  We had both been through a divorce in former marriages and each had a house.  Mine was easier to sell and smaller.  And this house was under contract with a developer.  They were supposed to buy our house and tear it down to build a huge shopping center.  "No longer than 2 years before we close..." they told us....and here we are 6 years later....so.....GOD has used this to really teach me something.

And then there's the oh so attractive soffets....In a house with 7 foot ceilings....and that little scalloped trim over the window.  This picture is taken from the dining room side looking into the kitchen.  It's a little dark in this photo but you get the idea....

I started praying for the LORD to really change my heart.  I wanted us to have a place that was OURS --and we kept saying things like "When they close on our house we'll            " all kinds of things filled in that blank including starting a family.  I finally realized I need to STOP waiting.  And that we needed to just be content with what GOD had blessed us with.  It was time to turn our house into a HOME.  So we got pregnant with our son, Doodlebug. I quit my job the summer he was born and that same summer---just days after he was born the development company called to tell us they would not be buying our home.  They had declared bankruptcy.

  So we asked my talented Brother-in-Law to remodel both bathrooms.   Decided to repair things in the kitchen and dinning room thinking about putting it up for sale ourselves in the future.  And started thinking about what God had in store for us next...

And I'm looking at the Country Living 500 kitchens book late at night :) when I can't sleep because I'm thinking about all of it....worrying about paying for all of it on one salary, wondering why it didn't all work out....flipping and flipping and renewing it from the Library.....thinking about the kind of home I want for our family to live in.  Something peaceful and organized and comfortable.

(the photos below are from Kitchens.com)

(Look at the knotty pine flooring...just gorgeous.  And look at the sink!  Totally unique....Also really digging the pendant lights...like something from Barnlight Electric...all these beautiful images look so peaceful and inviting...I just want to have a cup of coffee and stare out those windows.)

 And what I realized was that we had a home already and just needed to be good stewards of what GOD had given us....

Remodeling the kitchen/dining room

  I have trouble controlling my creative thoughts-- once I see something or have an idea I just cannot rest until I try it.  My husband understands because although it's in different "areas" of interest he's the same way.  Sometimes we drive each other crazy but in a good way....one thought leads to the next and then we start giving each other ideas...

The phrase "You know I was thinking...." strikes fear in the heart of my husband....

We have put our house up for sale.  So it has been a real balancing act when it comes to "fixing" it to sell. 

We remodeled 2 bathrooms.  But my brother- in-law does this sort of thing for work so he did those for us. Once those were done I started looking at the kitchen and dining room....and said 

"You know I've been thinking...if we're going to put a new floor in maybe I should paint the cabinets again...." and the picture below is what happened...

One thing leads to the next....this is in August people WITH NO AIRCONDITIONING.  In OHIO.  It was hot, humid and my son's second birthday was at the end of the month....

But I'm looking at pictures like this...

And this.... 

And thiiiisssss......

These are MMMMMYYYYY colors people!!!!  I adore this peaceful blue green gray feeling....and LOVE the clean white cabinets....the dark wood...the whole combination I love all of it....One more "before" picture to leave you with until I post again...