The never ending dining room!

My timelines are wayyyyy off...I thought I would have been done this project ages ago by now!!! The bottom piece is done, minus the one door that needs one more coat of paint and poly, what do you think? The top still needs one or two more coats and poly as well, and the back is still untouched. What I need is a good solid day to tackle something, where can I send the munchkins...haha. By the end of the day it seems like way too much effort to work on it for an hour or two. I think I started the whole thing in January? Yeesh!
Love the appliques and new knobs. ♥♥♥

Here's another "adventures in sleeping" pose-seriously!!!??? I don't get it...We had to convince him to roll over so we could get him into bed. This, along with the one where he's sleeping on his drawer, cracks me up. I think I will make a little book and give it to him.
Tonight's a short one 'cause Grey's is on in 8 minutes...I figured I better write something for this week and motivate myself to get back to business! We're off to the "city" tomorrow, 2 dogs, 2 kids, and a trip to Costco...It'll be a squishy truck! We're pulling out all the class and bringing totes to put in the truck bed to hold the Costco goodies. Yep, it is straight up Clampett style...But after all those cramped trips I'm not sure why we didn't think of it sooner...LOL!

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Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday!

DIY Window dressing-$21

Before! My plain old window was calling me this weekend...I had plans to do this sort of treatment for awhile, so it was time to get down to business!!!! 4 yards of fabric at $3.50 a yard and 5 yards of shirring tape at $1.00 a yard, about 1 1/2 hours total, and we have a fancy schmancy new look in our living room! Yes, that is alot of brown on the couch, I haven't picked out a coloured accent yet...That couch will probably go downstairs in the playroom once the vintage 1960's couch is re-upholstered. It's all one big work in progress...LOL

After! I have happy news this week though, I have a job! Yay! Not in nursing, but at this really cool outdoor education lodge nearby-I'm really excited to start! I'm glad I have a varied resume behind me, you never know what you're going to need to pull out of the bag as a mountie wife in a new town...LOL!

It'll be nice to put on some work clothes and head off with a travel mug of tea everyday, crank the big girl tunes in the truck, and finally have a paycheque again!

The china cabinet is still in two pieces, but tonight the poly went on, so hopefully tomorrow night the hutch will go back up and I'll start working on that. I'm going to lift it up with some blocks and put a drop cloth underneath it to paint it. I've had to fill in and make way too many repairs with the pieces on the floor, little fingerprints and scratches everywhere! Grr. The new appliques from DIY Chic are on and new glass knobs are next. I filled in the holes from the old handles and can't wait to show you the new glass diamond shaped knobs...Yum! There will be two knobs on the drawers, on either side of the appliques.

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Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch!

Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts!

The DIY Showoff!

A Soft Place to Land DIY Day!

The Shabby Chic Cottage Transformation Thursday!

My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday!

We went to the beach yesterday, and we found some great beach treasures I can't wait to craft with...I have a plan for them!!! :-D

See ya next time! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Canada!

I love this video...It captures the sound of Canada winning Gold in men's hockey. Listen at the 1:20 mark for the cheering.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VMxt-MqTiI

Spring is spring-ing!

After a short Olympic break, I'm back...Congrats to all the athletes! Way to go, Canada...We had some incredible athletes. Joannie Rochette, such an inspiration, our hearts go out to her. Sidney Crosby is now a national hero, too. :-D The most GOLD medals by any country, EVER! The sea of red and white was so amazing, I think the Olympics brought a tide of change to Canada...We are no longer shy about our patriotism, and the fact that so many young kids were witness to it means it will stick around for a long, long time! Our three year old sees a flag now and starts cheering "GO CANADA GO"! It was great fun to cheer Canada on, I'm sad it's over now! :'(

We have been out in the garden planting bulbs, yes, very late...They were chilling out side all winter though so they should be OK, I hope!!! The crocus's are popping up, a sure sign of approaching spring in BC!!! I missed those crocus's...Funny thing, watching what starts growing in a garden that you didn't plant! This is our first spring here so we've been trying to figure out what everything that's popping up is! I took some pictures of the crocus's and somehow managed to catch a big fat bee having a snack! They are a little blurry, sorry! I was trying to get it on macro but I think I was too excited. LOL

Mystery green shoots beside the crocus...

The bee is right inside! He was so fat I'm surprised it held him...I finally started working on the china cabinet and discovered some lovely green/yellow/barf fabric behind the mirrors! Wow, is it ever UGGGGG....I guess it's there in case the mirrors break...I'm putting a paint-able damask wallpaper on the back and painting it the same colour as the dining room accent wall, a aqua blue/green...Close up of the detail...The big ugly handles on the side doors are coming off, I have little glass knobs to replace them all with. Yep, that says GO TEAM CANADA...lolThis is what my upstairs looks like right now! Yikes! I have to keep them covered so the paint doesn't get scratched by the kiddo's during the day. They shall not be uncovered until they have poly!!!! They would be destroyed, and not in a pretty, shabby way...

Drawer with new applique and first coat of primer! The drawers now just need one more coat of paint, poly, and new knobs. The little salt box I was talking about earlier, had to show it off for a closer peek...It's so cute it deserves it! The wall behind it still needs to be painted so don't look! I love how it's all worn on the left hand side from someone lifting the lid while they're cooking to grab a pinch! It's a cool antique kitchen accessory I found on Ebay a while ago. This is a normal day around here. Dog napping on the back of the couch, kid's terrorizing the kitchen...I need to put some locks in there!!! It's a non stop, daily battle keeping them out...They were so cute though, had to take a pic! Kara taught herself how to put pants on by herself yesterday, but it only works with her big brothers since they are roomier...She goes around the house putting on all his pants, shorts, and underwear now...Funny!!!! Big brother's shorts he had just put in the laundry...LOL! So proud though!And away she goes...little socks and all...Cole wanted to show off his best bud's..."Blue Jay" and "Nice Puppy"

The bruise? I have no idea...

CHEESE, MOM!I was featured on a friend's local blog, click here to check it out! It's a "get to know your neighbour" profile, it was fun to take part! Thanks, Gold River Buzz!

Until next time!

Repurposing a vintage tablecloth into a window treatment!

Since my last post I sat down and got to work to complete the window treatment for our brand new kitchen!
OLD KITCHEN
NEW KITCHEN
I loved the old tablecloth pieces I found, very vintage, and HANDMADE-can you believe it...It's a great heavy weight, ivory with time, and in perfect condition...The hours someone would have spent creating it...It had already been hacked up and was for sale in two pieces, but it needed some reinforcement for a curtain rod pocket. This is one piece, I still have a smaller piece to use somewhere else! I hate seeing such a treasure go to waste, it needed a new life and purpose! How perfect to make into a window treatment with very minimal sewing...The window really needed more than boring old blinds...
TADA!!!!

I love how my kitchen looks tidy...I jammed the dish rack and other assorted stuff on the other counter to take the picture. ;-)

For the curtain rod to go through smoothly, and to make it easier to sew the pocket for the rod I had to add some fabric. I wanted the light to shine through the piece, so I just wanted fabric for the rod pocket, not to back the whole piece.

I started by serging a piece of white cotton muslin-type fabric to the back...An old sheet was perfect for this. Now I have extra white cotton on hand, too. :-)

I serged the sides and bottom for a nice finished edge.

Then I ironed the bottom muslin serged hem up, so there was a nice crease to follow, and folded the top serged edges once over so no edges were showing and pinned it together.

Fed it through the sewing machine fairly slowly so it didn't catch. That was it! I gathered it on two sides to give it some pizzaz. I tried it without, and it was just too long and plain. All I did was gather 5 of the circle "centers" together and a couple stitches, done. The stitches had to go on the "finished" side so it "fell" into a nice swag.

Sharing on the party circuit!!!

Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphisis Monday!

Cottage Instincts Made it for Monday!

The DIY Showoff!

Tales from Bloggeritaville Thrifty Thursday!

My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday!

Finding Fabulous Frugalicious Friday!

Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Night Special!

Hello, new kitchen!!!!

Here we go! Keep in mind, there are still painters and new lighting to come, plus more personalisation and a window treatment. I found a cool handmade vintage table cloth that I'm going to make into a valance. My windows are filthy, sawdust and other assorted goodies...Sorry. LOL!!! Check the last post here for the "before" pic's.

At the end of Day One it looked like this!New sink with pull-out faucet. And some flowers from my son. He had to have them when we went grocery shopping, he ran right over, picked them up and carried them around the store. They were dropped once and a leaf or two went missing, as to be expected...LOL

Light maple cabinets with satin nickel handles. Gross walls now, don't look...Do you like the little old salt box? I do...It's all grungy and adorable...(good grungy, not yucky grungy...lol) It has little worn spots where the lid had been lifted over the years. I have no idea how old it is, I would think at least 70 years judging by the construction...1940's...Somewhere around there?

I love how the fridge is framed in, the cupboard above even has room for my turkey platter!!! It had to sit on top of the cupboards before.

Finally a dishwasher after almost a year of not having one...HEAVEN...It was a freecycle goody!!! It works great, thank you freecycler! The window will be much happier with some dressing. The blinds are great for privacy, but I think a little window treatment adds so much more personality. I need a little rod. The old coffee grinder on the wall was a gift from my Dad a few years ago, it's a West German antique, and it now has a little Delft mold to accompany it. My sister brought back a cool black and white print of row houses from Amsterdam that will go above them. Darn, that's what I forgot...Something to mat around it, the frame is a bit big.

This area had a tall pantry, and a very low, small, useless counter top. I now have TRIPLE the counter space, I love it...I'm still getting used to the drawers on the bottom, there's one lazy susan on the other side.

So there it is! Any thoughts on paint colours? I have those delft blue accents, lots of taupe, the dining room has an aqua green/blue so I don't want it to clash when you look from one room to the other. Maybe a blue/grey...Yellowy cream...I have no idea!!!! Definitely something more exciting than white. LOL

This is a picture from the Olympic torch parade yesterday, a local ran with the official torch back in October and brought it to the elementary school, were they had a parade with it to the town square. My little and big Mounties are pretty cute! I love the way Cole is standing with his hands behind his back, just like Dad. Too cute. He had to run over and stand with him, everyone thought it was pretty funny...He grabbed onto Dad's leg when I went to go get him. Turkey!!!!

Until next time!

Rainy Day Kitchen

With the exception of some new paint, and light fixtures, which are coming at some future date unbeknownst to us, this gloomy kitchen is history! Yep, it was straight up 1989. Grey cabinets, burgundy handles and counter tops. Who had the bright idea to put grey cabinets in the rainiest place on earth??? Hey, we were fine with it, the rest of the house is great, rent is dirt cheap, no complaints from us. However, when a phone call comes offering us a new kitchen, and we know we will be posted here at least 4 years, HECK YES! We'd love a new kitchen! The cabinet man will be back tomorrow for some final touches, and then the reveal....I can tell you, it is a million times brighter in there! Don't mind the messy kitchen, it was right after we had moved in. Stay tuned, for some AFTER pic's!

Other than spending 2 1/2 entire days last week keeping the troops fed, out of the kitchen, and entertained, not much happened last week...I've been watching the Olympics like a mad person, right from that last torch day through Vancouver, we're having a great time, and getting the kiddo's to practice their "GO CANADA GO" cheers...We must be ready for those double gold medal hockey games.... ;-)

Freestyle Moguls have been added to my "must watch" list-they don't take all day, they're highly entertaining and Canada finished very well! Silver in Women's, and our first Gold in Men's! The hard work of all the athletes and some of their incredible journeys are so moving. They are super-humans in so many ways, not just their sport.

I discovered a little "junk-tique" store in town last time we were in, about 2 weeks ago. Lots of browsing for now, but I love seeing all those vintage displays and getting inspiration...There's a cool mix of the more traditional antiques, furniture, silverware, and retro finds, with a bit of west coast fishing lodge thrown in...

I've been rather unmotivated of late, but now that the kitchen is no longer inhabiting my china cabinet I can start on that soon. All the supplies are ready, just waiting on me...

A $10 dining room makeover! (this project, anyway!!)

Hooray for mist-tints, a $10 makeover to the dining room! And enough left over for the back of the china cabinet and a million other projects. I also made those curtains a few months ago now, (that's why I didn't count them) for about $14, the fabric was $3.50/m. They have a really cool textured diamond pattern. I found the little scone curtain brackets at the thrift store for $2 and with some dowel we had already, we are trying out a new look. It will need some white paint and finials at some point, but it will work for now...I haven't properly introduced them so here they are...New window treatments by MOI. LOL

Yep, the dowel definitely needs paint and finials! Don't look... :-P

In the light of day before the curtains went back up. The long picture was sort of what we were working around colour-wise, so we're pretty happy with it!
The chandelier is straight up uggggg, we know...There are rumours all the out dated lighting is being replaced, fingers crossed!!!! Since they are putting in a new kitchen starting Monday I don't think I'll jump on that bus quite yet. (Can't wait to see what they are putting in-apparently they're maple cabinets, nickle hardware, and a taupe countertop-easy to work with that palette!) The cabinet installers will be here Monday-Wednesday so I'll post the before and afters as soon as it's decent again. We started packing up the cupboards tonight, so the kitchen has exploded into our bedroom to keep the kidlets out. Locks are a great invention. :-)

The taupe wall to the right of the window will be dressed up, it's on the list, don't worry...Since I can only work at night it takes me awhile to get it all done!
Just to prove I HAVE actually accomplished something...

The first pic is right when we first moved in. It looks so bare and lonely!

Before I started the "new to us" dining set transformation, and new curtains up...(the old metal curtain rod and hold backs seem to "light" for the look, but I have a new home for the hardware elsewhere.
Today! See, it's coming along...The furniture takes the longest, of course, but once it's done all the little finishing details will all come together for my shabby/beachy look.

Sharing at:

The Shabby Chic Cottage Transformation Thursday!

Finding Fabulous Frugalicious Friday!

My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday!

Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Night Special!

Check out all the parties for some great inspiration!

How can the little monkey sleep like this???? Crazy!

First coat is up!

Hopefully I'll get some pictures up tomorrow. The first coat is up in the dining room! Yay! Once I finally got around to filling the little curtain rod holes and taping it was really fast...It's looking a little dark though, eeek! Once the curtains are back up it will tone it down though I'm sure...
Nothing exciting to share tonight, so off I go...I'm going to go check on all the "parties" and see what you all have been up to though! I've been seeing some beautiful Valentine's decorations around Blogland-we usually don't decorate for the little holidays, but now that the kids are getting older it might be fun...Next year. LOL
Have a great night!

Paint help!!!

Think this will be OK in our dining room? I originally wanted a colour close to the middle of the store swatch, but when we were in the store awhile ago there was a big can of the top pop can swatch (thanks, creative hubby!) for $10. It was originally a $35 dollar can of paint, gotta love those mis-tints...I don't think we've ever bought a regular can! (oh-except for the dining set that needed to match the leather seats) More of a blue than the teal I was hoping for, but I think it looks pretty good, right? The taupe paint behind it will still be on the other walls as we are just doing a feature with the blue, and painting the back of the china cabinet blue too. The curtains are staying, I made them a month or so ago. I think the blue will highlight them, as they blend in more right now...It'll be a lovely shabby/beachy/vintage dining room I hope...That is the plan, anyway...
Beadboard would be awesome in there too, not sure if we can add it or not since we don't own the house. I think it would look fabulous but someone else might not! This little creation on my living room floor is the 3 year old's "train tracks". Made from his little sister's cloth diapers. (Fuzzi Bunz are the bomb, Mama's...They have both worn them, they're easy, green, and soft on those little bums!)
This picture also illustrates why I do my crafting and projects at night when the little "angels" are sleeping!
Perhaps we have a future engineer on our hands...
Until next time!