New Fireplace Built-ins

I have been working hard for the past couple of weeks.  Remember when I asked you what you thought I might be up to?

Well... I'm about half way there!  I have wanted built-ins for either side of my fireplace for a looooooong time, but we could never afford them, cause there were more important things to spend money on (new roof, new furnace, etc.). So I did what anyone would do, when they really want something.... I built my own.  Are you ready?

Introducing one side of the fireplace...

Here is a better picture...

Yeap I made it all by myself (with a little help from Home Depot and Rona.)

I started off getting my wood cut at Home Depot (the frame) and then I went back two days later to get more wood cut and they told me that their machine could not cut my size of wood (16" wide pine). 

Huh?  "But Pat just cut it two days ago!" I said. 

"Nope can't do it. Won't do it" Said John, the Home Depot wood cutting employee.

"Drats, now what" Thought I.

Off I went to Rona, and they had the same wood, same machine, and they cut the rest of the wood I need cut to finish this bookcase and

... the other side too.

(so, I don't know what Home Depot's issue was.  I even spoke to manager and he said NO".

So anyways, the bottom middle shelves on both sides still have to be re-cut because I cut them 1/16" too small, but I'm really happy how they are turning out.  I still have to prime and paint the one holding the t.v. but I wanted to give you a sneak peak.

What'cha think so far?

I'm linking up to...

A little love in the House!

Hello!!

As promised... I'm back with my first ever Loving My home Linky party.

As usual my projects never go according to plan. 

uuuuggghhh.

I actually blogged about this project a few weeks ago.

I was sooo frustrated with it, that I ended up just putting it aside for awhile.

But now it's done... and I'm sooooo happy with it.

Here's where I first started with this project.

And NO it looks nothing like what I first started out creating,

cause I saw something else that I liked even more on another blog.

(but now I don't remember where, so it's you, let me know, k.?)

So I painted the frame all-white.

(this is a before-before picture)

Then I picked out my scrapbook papers. (I have tons to choose from, cause... well... I'm a scrapbooker)

 For a little contrast I used one Fuschia scrapbook paper with the word "LOVE." printed on it, and I used the heart punch by Martha Steward that I picked up at Michaels to punch it out.

 (with a 40% coupon of course)

  

Then I marked out my paper, so that the hearts were all spaced out evenly and used 3D foam squares to raise them off the page. (you can get these anywhere scrapbook paper is sold.)

Here it is on a little table in my living room with a little dollar store birdie that I spray painted last year.

(I love that I missed the beak underneath. :-))

And here's the final project. I put it in my kitchen and it makes me smile everytime i walk by.

And now it's your turn.

How have you shown a little love in your house recently?



(please spread the love, and link back here so others can join in.)

I'm also joinning these parties:

 

The Last 12 Months!!!

Hello!! Hello!!

I hope you all had a merry Christmas! We ate wonderful food, made great memories and visited great family and friends.  It was perfect.

Kim and Rhoda are having a Top Projects of 2010 and I am joining in.

As I look back in 2010 I had alot going on.

January

I would say that in January, the most memorable part was meeting my nephew Daniel.  I was there for his delivery and was honored to cut the umbilical cord.

I also had a few home projects going on.

I changed up some old lamps for only a few dollars.


And added some art to my walls.



February

In February we visited with the Big Mouse in Florida.


March

In March , I changed up this small table from Goodwill.


April

By April I had Soccer on my mind and with three kids I was thinking of ways to stay organized.


May

In May I was dreaming of fireplaces.  And I'm still dreaming of them, since I haven't done anything yet.  I'm hoping that in 2011 my fireplace dreams will come true!

June

By June by far the biggest project that we've undertaken started.  We were told it would be 2-3 weeks and it last all summer long.  gaahhh

But it was worth it.


And I got my craft on.


July

July was probably the busiest month for the whole year!

I made some pillows and cushions. 



.


And we were almost finished wth the backyard Oasis.


On the family side, my daughter H who was diagnosed with hearing loss had ear tube surgery and we also celebrated little A.s 4th birthday and my parents visited from Europe.

At the beggining of the month we also adopted Max into our family.  But unfortunately he didn't fit in and by the end of the summer we found a new home for him. 

For some reason I never posted about it (probably because I was heart broken).

We visited him at his new home and he must much much happier there.

August

In August I showed you my Powder Room update.



And how I changed a coffee table into a Console table.



September & October

By September and October I was all about the Fall Decorating.  I love Fall!



November

In November we celebrated two birthdays: S. turned 12 and H. turned 10.

And my 5 minutes of Fame was on the newstands. Of course I'm talking about the Today's Parent Interview.

December

December has been a crazy busy month for us with a whole lot of Snow!

We also celebrated my birthday and Christmas. 

(And then I stopped posting cause I got sick, little A got sick and then I got sick again

and pinched a nerve in my neck.  And it was painful!!)

I'm looking forward to a bunch of new projects, family trips and a whole lotta more memories for 2011.

I'd like to thank all my "followers" on Google Friend connect.  I'm stunned and honored that I'm well over 100 followers.  I thank you and I hope I've made you laugh along the way.

See you in 2011!!!

Bette





Adding pizzazz with fabric

How was your weekend?

We went apple picking... I'll show you pics later in the week.

Today I want to share with you my latest (ongoing, pain in the booty) project.

This is what my old dining room chairs looked like...

ewww... look at those gross stains



This the back of the chairs. Plain-jane-cream fabric 

(which I loved for a long time)

I added this taupe/khaki/greeny-chocolatey coloured fabric to the front...

And the seats.

(and I've protected the fabric with Scotchguard)

The Fabulous new back!

I tried to centre the fabric on the back of the chair frames.

Doesn't it add pizzazz??

Here's the before and after of the backs again...

 

BEFORE



AFTER

I still need to finish two of the chairs and then I'll show you the rest of the Dining Room.

What you think of my chairs so far??

I'm linking up to some of these parties.

A Powder Room Update

When we moved into this house 5 years ago, one of the very (many) first things we did was change all of the sinks in the bathrooms.  For some reason there were rust holes around the all the sink holes, that had been patched up but still looked awful. 

We also 'splurged' and updated the light fixtures and a couple of the counter tops.

I wish I had the before-before of powder room to show you the loveliness that we had.

WARNING: Do not spray paint in small non ventilated rooms!

This is a picture from around Christmas, when I decided to spray paint directly unto the cabinet.  Not a smart move!  I nearly passed out from the fumes! And the smell lasted for a few days weeks in the house, since there is no window in that bathroom. Yes, it's been like that since Christmas, don't judge!

I'm not sure if you can tell but the door handles (which were removed the day we moved in 5 years ago) were smack dab in the middle of the bottom cabinets and were u-g-l-y!! I replaced the drawer handle with some I had brought from something from our last house.  I only had two which was perfect.

Like I said we replaced the counter tops.  This one in particular is faux black granite (I don't know what it is called) We bought it off the shelf at Home Depot.  As you can see it is not as wide as the old counter and back splash.  The walls are painted with a textured Ralph Lauren paint... I think it's a suede technique that they used on it.  I can't find this paint and I haven't got a clue how to remove it other than sanding.  Hubby likes the colour and suede look, so I've left it alone, but what do I do about those patches??!?

So I finally got around to painting the cabinet and patching those bottom cabinet holes.

 (and getting rid of the spray paint patch).

Here it is now...

I love the new black colour!

So any ideas of what I can do about those patches on either side of backsplash?

Next I need to frame out that mirror. 

I've seen it done in a bunch of places in bloggy land and I think know I can do it too!

On a sad note... my parents left today.  They are spending the next couple of days at my sister's house who lives a few hours away from me.  I won't see them again for another year or so.

Here they are on the rocks in front of my house with the grandkids, taken this morning. Although we have been doing this long distance thing for the past 12 years, it doesn't get easier, especially now that they are older and facing some health problems.  I will miss them.  And I will miss them not being around for creating memories with the kids.  And I will miss my mom's cooking and dad's handiness. 

I wish them a safe trip back to Portugal!

I'm linking up to some of these parties

Old Keys and a Frame

Hi there!

How was your weekend?

We had H's final soccer tournament this weekend.  She played two games.  In the first game she scored 3 goals out of 10 and the second game, she was goalie for the second half and although they did not win she didn't let any goals in.  She was quite pleased with herself and I am glad soccer season is over. YAY!!

(they were the Red Chillies)

I think I might have mentioned somewhere that my parents are visiting us from Portugal this summer.

With all the old key projects all over blogland, I was determined to do something too. Problem was though that I didn't have any old keys lying around.  So when I heard they were coming to visit this summer, I sent my dad on a mission over in Portugal.  I asked him to go check out my grandma's abondoned house.  My grandma passed away in 1987 and no one has lived in that house since that day (other than mice, snakes and some other choice rodents). Well, he found these...

A bunch of old keys still on an a string.  No idea what they were for, I'm assuming they opened the various doors on my grandma's farm house.

Whohoooo!!  I can finally do my old keys project!

This weekend between soccer games I managed to pick up this frame for 25 cents at a garage sale...

First I cleaned the frame and the keys with my favourite, Shaklee's Get Glean

Basic H2 Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate.

( I used the window & Glass spray on the frame glass and a drop of full concentrate on the keys)

( you can order Basic H here through my website)

Then, I grabbed some scrapbook paper, and some scrapbooking glue dots that I had on hand and voila!

(the glue dots are super sticky and super strong) 

It's now hanging between the basement door and the powder room door.

The frame is a tarnished silver colour.

What do you think?  Not bad for 25 cents, huh?

Oh yeah, and my dad was quite impressed with it too. 

He couldn't quite figure out why I needed those "rusty old keys". 

ohhhh dad... The treasures I would find in granma's old house if I wasn't deadly afraid of those snakes!!

I'm linking up to some of these parties.

Don't forget that Friday I will be having a Bloggy Friends Weekly Party link party. 

I will have badge for it, if I can figure out how to do it. :-D

Have a nice week.

Bette

Please visit my online Shaklee site here.