A Table Makeover And A Project Beginning

Before I show you my table makeover I thought I'd give you a little teaser regarding a exciting project for me that I started today. The project includes beloved beadboard - - A great place to start if you ask me. Here is the beadboard I have installed so far. I hope to complete this project within the week, so stay tuned so I can show it off!

Next up, my table makeover. Here is how it started out. The kids love to use this table when creating Lego towns and I thought it needed a makeover to fit in with my family room plans a little better.

And here is the table today, with a wonderful new coat of paint. I originally planned to use the black as a base coat to show through a top coat of cream but after giving it a coat of black paint I liked it so much I kept it.

Until tomorrow, Robin

Garage Sale Finds

Every once in a while you stumble across a garage sale that is all "you". Last weekend it happened to mom and I. It seemed every table was filled with vintage goodies just waiting for us. We spent a good half hour or more looking around, admiring items and dreaming up possibilities for the vintage treasures.

Want to see what I walked away with? Look at these beauties. A set of white plates with a red stripe, an enamel lid, an adorably shaped white pitcher with base, a covered pedestal jar, and a delightfully shaped small cream platter.

But that is not all. I spotted these two vintage bottle brush wreaths from across the room, I dashed right over and picked them up! Aren't they divine!

Hope you all have a great weekend. I have a few outdoor projects planned.

Until Monday. Robin

Another Piece of the Puzzle

After a slow start, the family room makeover is stepping up the pace.

If you recall, one area of the family room is the scrapbook desk. The desk itself is a hand-me-down from my mother-in-law and in my view, hands down the best desk ever! It's drawers hold ALOT and the desktop has lots of room to spread out and get down to creating.

Here she is before.

And here she is after: Sigh! I love it even more!

Oh My! Looks like my chair slipcover is going to need washing. Looks like someone let their creativity get away from them.

Vintage Finds

This past weekend munchkin #1 and I did a little antique shopping. My heart did a little happy dance when I found this:I heart old hanging match holders. It's nicely distressed and I adore the letter style. Not to mention they come in very handy. I always know where my matches are.

Today I hung my new treasure in the kitchen. Look my collection is growing, and looking all sweet and helpful.

Finished Project

After days of countless interruptions I happy to say the toy shelf update is complete and ready to share.

Here was my starting point. A nice hand-me-down wood shelf. It works hard as a toy shelf in our family room but the dark wood makes the already dark corner very spooky-like to my way of thinking.

And after. Three coats of white paint and this once dark corner of the family room is bright and cheery. I would love to have nice matching bins to hold all the toys but I have not found the right ones in my price range. So for now the old bins will do. Notice the top shelf?

OOOOO YA-HA!!!!! 3 weeks until PACKER TIME!

Also had time to find a new home for one of my favorite antiquing finds. You may recall I purchased an old black mailbox a while back. Today it is proudly hanging on the wall across the hall from my bedroom door. It's the perfect place for me to admire it as I go about my business and the kids love it too. Not sure if the poor thing will survive the day with all the "letters" being produced in my house today.

Antiquing Finds

Thought I would show you my new treasures from last weeks antiquing stop.


Found a metal Pepsi bottle carrier and this adorable toy phone. I bought the phone for the girls but now think it is perfect for me. I. Love. It. It is well broke in and the color goes perfectly with my decor. I may have started a new collection!

Camp Johnson: Day 1

Today marked the beginning of a annual tradition for the girls and I: Camp Johnson!

This year the event is four days long and we will pack in as many activities as we can. Field Trips, craft time, fitness time, and lots and lots of pool time will all be included. The girls look forward to this time with much excitement.

Today's Activities:

Chutes and Ladders (a HUGE playground)

Antiques Minnesota

Nicollet Commons Park

Pool time

Here is the play structure at Chutes and Ladders. The park is amazing! it has biking trail, boat rentals, and this HUGE playground.

Next up was Antiques Minnesota where we all found a few treasures. I was amazed how much the girls loved it, of course I was having a great time.

Afterward we went to Nicollet Commons Park. A beautiful place with fountains, waterfalls and streams for kids to play in. The whole thing is surrounded by a gorgeous garden. The girls loved it.

Afterwards we went to the gym so mommy could get in a quick workout and then off to the pool for some fun the in sun. Then after our busy day we went home for dinner and a movie.

Until Tomorrow, Robin

Garden Project Complete. Yippee!

A finished project? Amazing right! Seems I have been working on a few FOREVER. But today is the day and this is my favorite! I am tickled pink and can't wait to share.

This is what I started out with.

A day's worth of work complete with an aching back and what do you know. . . . Ta-Da . . . .

What do you think? I think it is amazing and just what was needed to pull the whole area together. I made it extra wide so that I will be able to place a few pots of my favorite blooms on either side. Or maybe some mums and pumpkins, or little trees at Christmas time - - my mind it going crazy with ideas and I can't wait to try them all out. In the mean time, I'll enjoy my new bricked pathway and smile on my way to check the mail.

Until tomorrow...

Front Garden: Then and Now

Whew! What a week!

Buckaroo #3 came down with a cold so between taking care of her and normal daily activities my projects have not received much attention. I am hoping tomorrow I will have something to share.

Thought you might like to see how my front garden it doing.

Here it is in May of this year...look how bare it is!

Then came the fence...

And here it is today in all it's floral beauty. Here is the back view
And one side of the back.Hope you enjoyed. Until Tomorrow, Robin

Sending a Shout Out

Today while reading a post over at Mabel's House I was deeply touched. Please head on over and be inspired by this amazing lady: Mabel's House

Garden Tool

I'm currently in the midst of a few projects around the house. Here is a peek. . .
Since I have no completed projects to share I thought I would introduce you to one of my favorite gardening tools.

Meet Bucket....Isn't she pretty....
I enjoy hearing the clang of her handle when I set her down. I enjoy giving her a slight swing as I walk around the garden looking for weeds. She helps me imagine I'm a country girl instead stuck in suburbia. I can't help but grin as we work side by side. She's useful and handy - - she's quite possibly the best garden tool ever.

Changing Things Up

It's raining here today and I spent most of the morning roaming around the house trying to figure out what to do with myself today. I didn't want to clean, didn't want to organize, and I was already caught up on my blog reading. After much thought I decided my accessories needed to be changed a bit.

I started in the Living Room. . .

Changing the pictures in the frames above my bookshelf.

Here is a close up. The images are digital brushed purchased from Designer Digital. I enlarged them, had them printed and now they look sweet hanging on the wall.

Next came the kitchen . . .

Changed the accessories on the counter behind my kitchen sink. Love my white rooster picked up from Target about three years ago. Never quite know what to do with him though. I think this works well.

Next came the hallway, then the hutch. My camera decided to play dirty and ran itself out of juice so I'll have to show you more tomorrow. See you then!

Family Room Revamping: the prep work.

Since last May when we purchased this new couch I have been dreaming of updating our family room. The wall color is so dark and the kids have put the room through some hard times. Its a great big L-shaped room but the wall color makes it very dark and yucky. The room includes many activities: tv, scrapbooking, kids computer station, toy room. The room is in desperate need of some help.

I've picked my colors and window treatments. Have thought out furniture placement and am now beginning to tackle spray painting projects that I won't be able to do once its cold outside. My plan is to have all accessories rounded up and update before I paint the walls. Sewing, spray painting, and updating will all happen first. This is a new approach for me. I'm hoping it will work out.

I plan to have one wall contain a casual grouping of framed year in review scrapbook pages and family photos. Gathering up all the spare photo frames I set out to paint them all black.

THEN..... I changed my mind.....painted them white.

After drying I took out the sand paper and roughed them up A LOT making the black show through and chipping big chunks of the paint off. I love how they turned out. (did you know that if you mist the paint with water while it is still wet you get a great crackly effect! Maybe that is old news to some of you but new to me. I have to thank my kids and their love of playing with the garden hose!)

Here is one of the frames I picked up at a garage sale: Before
And after. I love how they turned out, the small one most of all. It doesn't show up in the photos' very well but it has just the right amount of black showing through to make it look like it's been around awhile. The large frame is one I had sitting around for ages. It didn't take to painting very well, but the turned out OK in the end. Big chunks of paint chipped off and I think it is perfect. Hubby is going to think I've lost it once again - -but I can live with that.

Whew! that was a lot of words just to say I painted some frames. Wow, I must be talkative today. Hope you enjoyed.

Useful. Handy. Pretty.

I have a confession to make....

I own a bulletin board, See...

Its ugly,

Its useful,

Its handy,

But it ain't Pretty.

Until Now . . .

Now she's a looker! She matches my kitchen/office area perfectly. I painted the frame with craft paint and added fabric to the front. I am amazed how easy this project was. After months of procrastination I'm glad I finally forced myself to get it done. Silly me.

Once school is back in full swing the board will fill up fast with the girls stuff so I painted a couple magnetic memo strips I picked up from Ikea a while back, and hung them above the bulletin board for my stuff.

Pretty. Useful. Wouldn't you say?