M-I-C-K-E-Y C-A-N-D-Y!!

A friend of mine is a HUGE fan of Mickey Mouse, and for her birthday, I wanted to make her something special. She works in a heavily-trafficked office, and I thought a Mickey Mouse themed candy jar would be a perfect addition to her space!

First, I gathered a terra cotta flower pot and drip tray, a glass fish bowl, two large white buttons, two styrofoam balls, yellow/black/red acrylic craft paints, and a black drawer pull.

I painted the drip tray all over, and the inside of the pot (just for a clean professional look in case anyone ever inspects my work!).

I poked the styrofoam balls with kabob sticks so I could get them covered in black paint really well. This took a few coats.

I used a special drill bit to drill a hole through the terra cotta drip tray for the knob. I used a washer under the lid to ensure the screw attached to the knob wouldn't eventually work its way through the hole. Then, I used some E6000 heavy duty craft glue to attach the styrofoam balls to the outside of the lid.

In retrospect, I wish I would have primed the terra cotta pieces before craft painting them. Since I didn't, they required more coats of craft paint to adequately cover the pieces, and it was tedious and maddening!

Next, I painted black, yellow, and red bands of color on the pot, and glued the large buttons to the red band with my craft glue. Then, I adhered the fish bowl to the overturned pot.

I suspect that if she keeps her Mickey jar full of good candy, she'll have folks "seeing her real soon!"

Let there be HEAT! ...and a place to put my DRINK!

I have to admit, this is one of my favorite before and afters!

We have those old cast iron radiators in our house to keep us warm in cooler months. They're big, and clunky, and take up precious floor space in homes with a smaller square footage like ours.

The radiator in our living room is under the big picture window flanked by the TV and our comfy chair and ottoman. I have a small plant stand that I was using for a little side table to place a drink, but after living with this arrangement for many years, I decided I wanted to have something nicer, and perhaps a little bigger, that I could place a lamp on too.

I scoured the internet for solutions on how to accomplish this, and decided on a radiator cover. I wanted mine to have metal punched screening to allow for heat to transfer out, and to give the impression it was built in, complete with fancy moldings, and in the same paint color and finish as the trim and fireplace in my living room.

I knew if I simply used nails, they'd eventually work themselves out of place with the heating and cooling of the radiator, so I used a Kreg Pocket Hole jig and wood glue to assemble my pieces. Using the jig ensured my cover would be sturdy and screw holes would be hidden. 

I had never used a Kreg Pocket Hole jig before and found it a lot of fun to use!

I used wood glue and my pneumatic brad nailer to assemble wood molding to the openings and around the edge of the shelf. Next, I primed it with two coats of primer and two coats of high gloss finish paint.

I picked up my metal screens at Lowes, and spray painted them with primer and then white gloss spray paint.

I wasn't satisfied with how the finished spray painted screens turned out—it was apparent to me that the white of the painted wooden frame was dingier looking than the white out of the spray can (...sigh... You wouldn't think WHITE could come in so many different shades!). Truthfully, I am probably the only person on the planet that would have known this, but since I have to live with them, I want them to be perfect, so I decided to paint them with the same high gloss finish paint I did the radiator cover frame in, using a small sponge roller to get nice even coverage. Finally, I had the look I was going for!

Lastly, I used my pneumatic stapler to tack the screens to the inside of the frame about every 4–6", and voila! A lovely radiator cover!

This has become a favorite sunning place for my two cats, and I accomplished having a place to set drinks, a lamp, and even remotes for the TV.

On a side note, my cats can get a little rambunctious and can be quick to wrestle spontaneously, including on top of this radiator cover! I was concerned about the welfare of the lamp—it's an antique and a super find, and I would be highly upset if it fell and broke.

To help keep this from happening, I screwed a small coffee cup holder-type of hook into the back of the radiator cover frame, and tied a knot in my lamp's electrical wire around it. Now if the lamp falls, it will only tip over to the left or to the right and only damage the easily replaceable shade. So far, so good—I'm happy to report that the lamp has been in its place for almost two years now, and hasn't budged!

Old Chairs, New Look!

My mother in-law has had a lovely little 4-chair, glass tabletop dinette set in her eat-in kitchen for at least 15 years now.

The chairs have really been starting to show their age lately. The cushioned seats are covered in a well-worn cream-colored duck cloth, which have been stained by spills here and there over the years, and some of the seat covers have rips or have come loose from their frames.

Enter a pneumatic stapler, power drill, and some blue chenille upholstery, and voila!! An updated look!

I ripped off the old seat fabric, and used my pneumatic stapler to attach the new fabric to the cushioned plywood seat bottom. I used my drill to replace or tighten screws that held the seat bottoms to the chair frames.

Let's eat!!

OMG... HAS IT REALLY BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE I WAS LAST HERE?

So much has happened in five years, and amazingly enough, so much hasn't happened in five years!

Take for instance the bowling ball project... never finished it. It pathetically adorns my garden, albeit with adhered ceramic and glass pieces periodically falling off of it.

And the kitchen project... another relatively stagnant project. But there's hope for this one... I'll tell you more about that soon.

Part of the problem with this blog, and lack of projects, and lack of finishing projects is this—I haven't been sleeping well for a couple of years now (oh... and I broke my arm). Consequently, I have been extremely tired and fatigued, and have lost interest in doing the things I enjoy. All I've wanted to do is sleep, and then sleep some more. I had at least one nap a day, sometimes more.

Finally, I got tired of being tired all of the time, and decided to go see a sleep specialist. I had a sleep study done to see what kinds of issues I'm having while I try to sleep. As an adult, I have always been a snorer, although I know my snoring has gotten progressively worse with age. I suspected that my snoring might be interfering with my getting quality rest, but I didn't realize it was as bad as it was.

The sleep specialist's report indicated that I was experiencing a 'sleep disturbance' (aka being wakened) on average 30 times an hour—THIRTY TIMES AN HOUR!!?! That's every other minute! It was no wonder I was always so tired.

This, and other revelations in my sleep report, qualified me for a CPAP machine. Ugh... a CPAP machine. How was I going to be able to sleep comfortably with this THING attached to my head all night?! Very well, apparently.

I've been using it for about two months now, and I can tell you that now I only experience about three 'sleep disturbances' in a hour. And I'm sleeping more hours during the night. I feel so much better and well rested! I finally have the energy and the enthusiasm to do the things I enjoy most like sewing, painting, crafting, building, and DIYing! ...AND, I'm not taking as many naps anymore!

Now mind you, I haven't been completely idle these last five years... I have continued to create things and take pictures of my projects, but only now am I getting around to posting them, as well as getting around to finishing old projects and starting new ones!

Welcome back, and I hope you enjoy seeing my projects!

More Progress!

This week I have been busy getting my door trims nailed in place and trimmed out. I caulked all of my seams, wood-puttied my nail holes, and primed all of my new wood.

Can't wait to see the woodwork with a finish coat of paint! These walls are going to need hit with paint again too!

This is the same style that the rest of the woodwork looks like throughout the house. That door might need repainted too when this is all said and done!

Today I installed some baseboards. These are just 1"x 8"'s with an additional detailed decorative piece that sits on top—still need to install that.

Need to hit this wall with another coat of finish paint too!

I love the new look! I think Hubs likes it too. Can't wait to see it when it's done!

It's Coming Together!

Whew! It's taken me a while, but I finally have paint on the walls!

I tried a number of sample colors, but couldn't find one that I loved! One was too cheery, another was too taupe… they all had their issues, so finally I decided to mix my own color with the various samples that I had. I finally settled on the green color shown here—I call it "Amazing Grace"*.

*On a side note, Big Goonie was with me at the paint store when they mixed my final color. We agreed that it was a brilliant color and she asked, "Do you think they'll add your color to their collection?" The paint man silently chuckled, and I smiled and replied, "If they did, it would surely be their most popular seller!"

My beautiful ceiling! THANKS, Dad!! 

The green wall looks a little yellow with those fluorescent lights on, but I think you'd agree in person it is quite lovely.

Today I started on the wood trim that will outline the doors and border the floor. I want to restore the woodwork to how it appears in the rest of the house. I can't wait to caulk it and paint it!

Fitting is going well so far!

This area will be next! Hoping to replace this door next spring!

There's my bog ol' dog checking on my progress!

Here's my other door waiting for a little more wood. The weekend just wasn't long enough! Alas, my project is coming together nicely and I couldn't be more pleased!

I want to get this area finished up before I move on—I want to slowly move my way around the room.

GREEN LIGHT!

I mentioned in a previous post that my kitchen renovation project had stalled due to the reservations of "a fellow unnamed resident of the house". Well the kitchen renovation gods must have heard my prayers because I received the green light to move ahead with my project!

Hubs was leaving town for a few days and my dad was coming over to help me with my kitchen! Our plan was to attack the drop down ceiling from the stairway landing above and to tackle the wall I had started to strip of paneling a year ago. It was my goal to have the drop down ceiling drywalled over by the end of the weekend.

About ten years ago I attempted a plumbing project in the kitchen which ended up—long story short—causing the toilet to explode and water to come down to the kitchen through the ceiling from the bathroom above (hence the reason why I am banned from plumbing project to this day). The water entered the kitchen through the drop down ceiling/stairway landing shown here. Naturally Hubs and I were concerned about mold being behind the paneling, and there was no telling what condition the plaster that surely encased it would be in!

The drop down ceiling is a landing for the stairway above

While I waited for my dad to arrive, I began to rip down paneling from the wall I started last year. Imagine my surprise when I found a void in the wall! What on earth is this? It only spans between the studs and was trimmed out with wood moulding at one time.

What the...??!?

What used to be here?

Dad arrived shortly thereafter and we started to work on the ceiling. The plaster was in better condition than I expected, and there was no black mold—Hooray! Despite our findings, we decided that we'd knock down the plaster on the drop down ceiling rather than patch it and put up some drywall instead. We were concerned about the plaster eventually failing.

Well, well… looks as if someone else has also had an issue with flooding from upstairs in the history of this house… Meanwhile, here's Dad busting up plaster. What a mess! I love this!! PROGRESS!!!

And... VOILA!! We've got DRYWALL installed!!!

And DRYWALL MUD!!

I can't begin to tell you how excited I was that this was happening!

The Paneled Abyss

When we bought our house in 2003, I was with the understanding that one day, the ugly dark paneled kitchen would someday be renovated. Unfortunately there was always some reason it never happened—expensive repairs on something else, etc. 

Nine years later, I decided I had looked at the old dark paneling in my kitchen long enough. It was time to come down. The biggest question I had was, "What was the paneling hiding?"

Our house was built in 1925, and since there are plaster walls throughout the rest of the house, I knew there would be plaster behind the paneling. What kind of condition would it be in? I started with the wall above the door leading to the dining room...

Not too bad of condition so far… why would someone have installed this wretched paneling and ripped out the thick beautiful woodwork that used to be here? You can see where the old woodwork extended to.

Ugh… more paneling...

Now the walls are starting to look a little rougher. The one right next to the refrigerator is an old brick chimney that's been plastered over.

An exciting Craigslist find! Someone was giving away drywall scraps! This could be perfect for a ceiling repair I am going to have to make!

I've started to do some plaster patching. Lots of unevenness and busted up plaster to repair!

Unfortunately, I didn't get very far with this project. Someone else who lives in the house (a relative of mine who shall remain nameless and doesn't deal with construction chaos well) found the condition the walls were in to be especially alarming and put a stop to my progress.

This is the state my kitchen would remain in for the next year...

Now I Crown Thee, and Thee, and Thee, and...

It's school play season again, and I have been tasked with making FIVE crowns and FOUR headpieces for some of the cast. You may recall that last year I created an extravagant crown out of paper. This year my crowns will be made of lace!

Here are three cuts of Venise lace that I will be using to make some of my crowns with. So beautiful!!

After spray painting with metallic and glitter paints, this is how my strips of lace look.

I can't wait to see how the stage lights will make them twinkle!

Next I adhered some corded bias tape to the edge of a piece plexiglass, then the lace, and formed it into a circle. I also sewed some loops to the bias tape so the crowns could be affixed to actors' heads with barrettes or bobby pins. Some crowns were adorned with rhinestones.

And, …VOILA!! Here are some of my beautiful crowns!

Fairy godmother

Queen of the South

King of the South

Queen of the North

I also needed to make some headpieces for some fairies. The fairies wore fancy party dresses decked out in sequins—I thought they resembled short prom dresses. Anyways, I wanted the fairies to have headpieces that had a similar look and feel to them. I aimed to create a 1920s-flapper type of vibe with them. Here's what I came up with:

The girl that wore this had on a greenish teal colored dress similar to the teal color in the peacock feather.

The girl that wore this had on a bright royal blue dress the same color as the bright blue feathers in this headpiece.

This headpiece was worn by an evil fairy. Its darker tones looked lovely with her black sequined dress.

The fairy that wore this had on a navy blue dress. The bendable butterfly added a nice whimsical touch.

In the end, the headpieces looked really nice in the play. I can't wait to see what they task me with next year!

Door Update!

My beautifully painted new old door!

Click on the door to see the original post!

Bowled Over with Inspiration

A while back, I was perusing Pintrest and came across a novel idea—tiled bowling ball garden ornaments. This looked pretty neat to me and I thought it might be a good project I could do with my kiddo.

So last summer we shopped garage sales and thrift stores for an old bowling ball (only $3) and colored dishes. Family members donated to the cause, giving us their old chipped and unwanted dishes—Sis even gave us some lovely iridescent purple glass beads that adorned the tables at her wedding reception! To top it off, my MIL found a nice gazing ball stand at a garden center that she picked up for me!

Here's Big Goonie aka Bill with our bowling ball. We've taken a Sharpie and drawn some swirly lines on it on which to put our glue (heavy duty construction adhesive) and adhere our glass beads.

Bill helped me smash some dishes on the sidewalk, covered with an old towel. We decided to put purple glass beads on the swirls, turquoise tile pieces on the third top of the ball, green in the middle, and yellow at the bottom third.

Here's our supplies, neatly placed in dishes that will one day become part of another project!

Tiling is going well!

Still a work in progress, but too excited about our progress to not share the project!

And this is where we're at! Just a little more tiling to go! Thank goodness I have another matching green bowl—we're going to need it! I found some ivory grout at Habitat for Humanity for just a couple of bucks. Might have preferred white, but I think it will do! Stay tuned for the final reveal!

When One Door Shuts, Another Opens

“Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.”

― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

I live in a Colonial-style home that was built in 1925. The doors in my home are from the 20s with glass door knobs and heavy brass hinges. They are lovely—all except one door, that is.

The door leading to the basement/laundry area is the abnormal one. It is a hollow-core door with peeling laminate from decades gone by and I positively hate it. For a while now it has been my goal to one day change out this door to match the others in my home.

The door to the basement. YUCK!

One day, about a year ago, my neighbor (who had done extensive renovations on her home prior to moving in a few years ago) happened to mention that she had a door that matched mine laying in the rafters of her garage that I was welcome to have. I couldn't believe my luck! It was the perfect size! And it was already stripped of all of its years of paint! I rushed it home before she could change her mind! :)

The new old door! In this shot you can see I've been doing some repairs—wood glue here and there as well as wood filler in spots.

The door leaned against my kitchen wall for a year until I was finally ready to install it. I've never done this before! It took me a while to work up the nerve and sort out my plan as to how I was going to do this, after all, this was the only antique door I had on hand—no room for error!

In the meantime, I scoured antique stores looking for hinges that matched the ones throughout my house. I picked up these beauties for a couple of bucks! I also picked up a new antique-style doorknob set for the door at Lowes. Now I had all of my parts! Let's get to work!

The paint was on thick and cracked and came off without much encouragement.

Woohoo! A stripped hinge!

And... VOILA!! My new old door to the basement! I did it!! I am so pleased with it!! It even has a lock—THAT WORKS! So exciting... Now I just need to take it back down and get it painted.

My new old door to the basement with gorgeous glass door knobs and working lock!

For a future project, I've got that wretched paneling in my crosshairs... stay tuned...