What I Plan to Do With Two of My Finds

The first item is the little bench thingie that I already showed you a few weeks ago. I scored it for $40 at the Christie Lake Antique Show.

I have some nooks and crannies around the house that are kinda bare so I thought a little bench could fill up one of those spots pretty nicely. The only problem was that once I brought the "bench" into the house it looked more like a little table.

But then the lightbulb went off. I'd been eyeing these little table/bench things from Pottery Barn forever:

Let's compare the two bench/table thingies:

Small Pottery Barn Bench: $169 and fake-old

My Bench: $40 and authentically old

Now, my next purchase was this chippy old piece of architectural salvage:

The minute I saw the chippy white paint and dentil moulding I knew I had to have it. The images that crossed my mind right away were also from Pottery Barn:

The Pottery Barn shelf is large and chunky enough to use as a sort-of headboard. We currently have a double bed in our guest room with no headboard. Cha-ching!!!

Here is the other image from Pottery Barn:

 

Now let's compare my version with the catalog versions:

Chunky Pottery Barn Shelf #1: $525 and fake-old

Chunky Pottery Barn Shelf #2: $591 and fake-old

My Chunky Shelf Thing: $125 and a real piece of architectural salvage

What I love about buying antiques and old things is that with a little bit of creativity and elbow grease you can turn them into your own version of a catalog item. The best part about that is the catalog versions are usually five times the price!!! And we all love a bargain, don't we?   

Now, all I need to do is actually get one of these projects done. Not today though. It's beautiful and I'm off to the cottage with the two pups. And Alex, if he's good. :)

MIA

I know I've been MIA but it has been ca-razy land over here.

I didn't finish my list of yardwork jobs last Saturday because we dropped everything at about 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon and went to pick up this little stinker at our local animal shelter:

I had found her stuck on the playstructure at our neighbourhood school two weeks ago. She stayed with us for a few days but then we brought her to the shelter so that she could be claimed and reunited with her owners. But she never did. :( No-one claimed her. No-one adopted her. So then we decided that we realllllly needed a high-energy puppy with a double-coat of fur to make our lives that much more interesting. Heh heh heh.

So this week has been filled with lots of training, walks, bike rides, dog brushing, and tennis ball throwing. The shelter named her Lexie. And now Roary has a friend. Yay!

Work has been triple-crazy-busy, too. My report cards were due and so I spent every spare minute this week typing like a lunatic. They're finally done. Phew.

Also, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but I was surplus to my school this year and got bumped to a new school with a new grade and a new classroom. You're looking at a new JK/SK teacher. Kindergarten!?!?!?!??! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Just kidding. It should be a fun little adventure. However moving schools, grades, and classrooms has meant that every other spare minute has been spent staying late packing up my classroom. It's a huge job and I'm about 10% done as of right now. Waaaaah!

Sooooo, the countdown is on and in T-minus 4 working days I'll be able to post to my hearts content, even on weekdays. I'm so excited!!!

Don't worry, you'll be sick of my million and one projects and posts that I'm getting ready to tackle soon.

P.S. I haven't been able to read any of your blogs lately, either. I miss youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. :)

If You Need Me I'll Be Working On The Yard

Isn't she pretty?

I am so going to get caught up on my yard/garden work today. Here's my list:

- mow front yard

- mow back yard

- trim front yard

- trim back yard

- weed corner garden

- soil / seed side yard

- fertilize front and back yard

- plant hydrangea shrub in front garden

- plant climbing hydrangea at side of house

- build trellis for climbing hydrangea

- plant lilac bush
- trim droopy trees

- weed-b-gone dandelions in back yard 

- rearrange and add annuals to front windowbox

- plant annuals in side windowbox

- plant annuals in tiny basket on side gate

- plant annuals in containers in front yard

- plant tomato plants into containers on back deck

Eek! Is it possible to get all of that done in one day? I do have three items crossed off already and it's only 11:00 a.m. Maybe if I keep crossing them off as the day goes on it will motivate me. Project ADD always needs a bit of motivation, right?

Hopefully I'll be able to give you an update on how my garden is coming along sometime today. Add that to the list!!! :)

Adorable Etsy Shop Print (That I Must Get)

Image: f2 Images on Etsy

I haven't been on Etsy in a long time. It's been so busy around here! Well, except for the past weekend when I decided to mope around and be ultra unproductive.

So I was clicking away on www.etsy.com yesterday when I found a little shop called f2 Images. I found the most adorable photo of an old typewriter that I just love.

I kind of happened to love all of the photos, actually.

Image: f2 Images on Etsy

They are so, so, so pretty!

Image: f2 Images on Etsy

I love the muted colours and simplicity. Some people are just so talented!  

I bookmarked the site so that as soon as I collect enough toonies from Alex's pockets I'll be able to order one. Hee hee hee.

Which one is your favourite? Know of any other good Etsy shops?? I'd love to waste a whole night surfing the net ('cause I don't do that enough already) so send any links my way. ;)

At Least I Did the Groceries

Alex was out of town and I was all by my lonesome. The weather triple sucked. I didn't do any yardwork. I forgot to clean the house. I had to eat Kraft Dinner for supper. I didn't work on my report cards like I was supposed to. My DIY bench project was a disaster. The laundry has been sitting in the washing machine for the last five hours. I didn't practice taking any pictures. The dog jumped on my clean white slipcovers with dirty paws. My computer got a virus.

At least I did the groceries. Right?

Aperature Priority Mode Is My New Best-Friend

A few weeks ago I linked up one of my photos to a link party over at Milestones and Memories. I was super duper flattered when the author of the blog, Andi, invited me to do a guest post about aperature.

Who? Me!?! (Looking around wildly to see if she's looking my way.)

I'm no photography expert that's for sure. But I'm sorta, kinda getting it. So I shared what I've learned about aperature so far and you can check out my totally random very technical explanation over on her blog today:

Photo Friday Link Party - Aperature Basics

I included a few recent pictures in my guest post if you want to check them out. They're of flowers and dogs. Just a heads up. ;)

A Subtle Dresser Makeover

Yesterday I hauled an old dresser from upstairs into the empty corner in our breakfast room (more before pics here). It looked perfect in the little spot except for the fact that the walls were green and I had painted the dresser a different shade of green a few years ago.  

Makeover time!

Before:

I added two coats of Simply White on top of the green and when it was dry I sanded the whole thing with fine grit sandpaper and an electric sander. That's it!

After:

I love the two-toned look it has now. I kept the original drawer pulls as-is. They are so cute!

I think the little shelf I picked up last weekend will look perfect on the wall over top (as soon as can get around to painting it, that is). Hope you're having a great weekend!

Linking to:

Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home, Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors, The Sunday Showcase Party @ Under the Table and Dreaming, Masterpiece Monday @ Boogieboard Cottage, Amaze Me Monday @ Dittle Dattle, Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch, Furniture Feature Friday @ Miss Mustard Seed, Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest, Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints on the Fridge, All Things Furniture @ Perfectly Imperfect, Best Furniture Projects of 2011 @ Primitive and Proper

An Old Dresser Is About to Get Another Makeover

An old dresser is about to get another makeover. I just hauled this thing from the spare room upstairs down to the breakfast room on the main floor all by myself. Just call me Hulk.

I love the size and shape of the dresser in this little corner of the breakfast room. However the green on green look is not working. My plan is to paint it white and distress it so that some of the green still shows through.

It shouldn't take too long since I can just throw the white paint on top without any sanding or primer. I'm doing all of this while Alex is out of town so that he won't call me crazy for repainting it again while I have about ten other projects lined up.

Hopefully it'll be ready to show you tomorrow!

Three of My Old, Chippy Finds

Last weekend I mentioned that I brought home a few finds from the Christie Antique Show. I was finally able to snap some pictures of them!

I was looking for brackets/corbels so that I could make my own shelf for the breakfast room (I wrote about the breakfast room here, here, and here). The prices for corbels at the show were pretty ridiculous. So when I saw this little shelf with thick, chunky brackets (at a decent price) I knew I had to have it. What I also like about it is how wide the actual shelf part is. It'll be great for filling up with, you know, stuff. The colour of it right now looks absolutely hideous with the wall colour in the breakfast room so it will be getting a makeover asap. Prob'ly white. (I know, what a shocker.) 

I was also looking for a low bench to place under the four botanical prints in the dining room. Some of the benches I came across were too plain, some were too long, and some were just too expensive. I thought I found the perfect one but it was already sold. Boo hoo. Finally, I came across an odd-shaped bench and thought it would be cute with a little TLC. The price was right so I went for it. Except that in a great big field it looked like a small bench but in the house it looks more like a table. Oh well. I'll have to find a new spot for it.... I'm thinking maybe under the window in the stripy nursery.

I was also on the hunt for a ladder. I have three possible spots for one but haven't decided where it's going to go yet. I really liked the grey and white colour on this one. I also really liked how it gets narrower at the top.

Oh and yes that is a tealight stuck under the bottom of the ladder. Our floors are that crooked.

I still have a few more finds to show you but I wasn't able to get pictures of them tonight. I also want to show you the inspiration pictures for my finds. We'll see if I can get any of these pieces looking as cute. :)