Our Vintage Home Love

Once in a while I run across a new blog that just blows me away.     The talented Diana at Our Vintage Home Love has such a blog.     Can I tell you how talented this girl is?    She can wield power tools like nobody’s business….she builds furniture people!     

Don’t believe me?    Here she is working away!

 

Isn’t she just the cutest thing?    You won’t believe the stuff she can do!

 

Here' s the front of her home….don’t you want to move right in?

 

This porch had me at “painted floor” and drop cloth drapes!

 

You have to read the story behind her dining room table….so sweet

 

Look at the headboard she  made for their master bedroom….are you drooling yet?

 

She also made this “island” in her kitchen

 

She just finished decorating her family room using things she and her husband collect

 

And she made these cute mini-breadboards and lucky for us….she is now selling them through her etsy shop….she’s sold out now but is making more to sell

I just love this girl!    She always leaves me such sweet comments on my blog….I can only hope to be half as talented as she is.     But talent aside, she is one sweet lady.   

If you haven’t checked out her blog, I urge you to get your hiney over there and check it out….you will not be sorry!   

This is just a small sampling of what you’ll find on Diana’s blog.      But be sure you have plenty of time to read each and every post cause once you get started, you won’t want to stop!

It’s A Zebra, Not a Cow(hide)!

When I posted recently about ordering a “cowhide” rug from Overstock, I guess I said that cause I want one so bad but when it was delivered this afternoon and husband rolled it out, he said “that’s a zebra, not a cow” and he’s right!     Oh well, I still like it (for the price) so I’m keeping it.    I’m going to give ya’ll a little peek of it in the sunroom but don’t want to make a full reveal of the room yet because I haven’t got the drapery panels made and I’m still tweaking things.    But I couldn’t wait to show you my cute little zebra rug.

 

It’s not very big, about a 4x6 (more or less) but I like it’s shape and the pop of black and white really works in that room of neutrals.   

Kinda looks like the flying nun  (anyone remember that show with Sally Field?)

 

His tail will flatten out in time….see those dark spots on my slipcovered ottoman….when I was staining something in the room, I got some of the stain on the slipcover…so I just turned it around so no one would see it!

 

I still want a real cowhide so I’ll just keep looking.    Do you like my little zebra?   I do!!

Fabulous Finds

I don’t know about you, but it seems like whenever I’m looking for a specific item, I never can find what I’m looking for at that particular time.    Then when I’m NOT looking, I stumble upon what I call “fabulous finds”.    In fact, when I had a booth at a local antique mall, that was the name of my business.    Last week was a good “fabulous finds” week!     

On my way home from a hair appointment last Monday afternoon I ran into a flea market that I used to go to quite often.     I found several old coffee burlap sacks that didn’t have a price.    I took one to the front where the cashier called the vendor (who owns the flea market) and asked him how much he wanted for it…..$8.00 Baby!     Sold!!!

Then on Friday I was in Penney’s returning some shirts for husband when on my way to the customer service desk I noticed an 80% off sale display and there I found some really great boxed faux plants…..for $7.97 each, regular $40.00!    I bought the last 4 they had.

 

 

I would NEVER have paid $40.00 for this (or even the $19.99)!

 

On Saturday I ran into a little outlet place that always has wonderful housewares at giveaway prices where I bought a huge lantern for $8.99…..some of the glass was missing but that that doesn’t bother me a bit.

 

 

 

I hate paying retail for anything and I also love the thrill of the hunt.    I’d say I did pretty good on all my “fabulous finds” wouldn’t you?

 

I’ve just got to share these pictures I took of the twins yesterday.     We kept them Saturday night and Sunday morning things got really quiet.    I found them in the sunroom playing with their DS’s (I think that’s what they’re called?)…..they hadn’t been up long so they have bedhead hair and the clothes on they slept in….priceless!

 

 

Check out those expressions!

 

 

Then Taylor got ahold of my camera and took her own pictures of her doll, her ankle bracelet (which is something that goes in her hair) and her handwriting workbook

 

 

 

 

Hope you all have a great Monday!

Dairy Queen & Cowhide Rugs

Last night after a quick supper of BLT’s, I told hubby I wished I had a waffle bowl from the DQ….he didn’t say anything at first but around 7:30 he said “are you ready” and he didn’t have to ask again!     To make us feel better, we shared this one!

 

After the week I had with the painting situation, I thought I “deserved” this….however, this kept playing in my mind “a minute on the lips, forever on the hips”!!!   Alrighty then….moving on….

 

I’ve been loving the cowhide rugs I see all over and I have been wanting to buy one.    After seeing Kelley’s zebra rug I checked on Overstock.com (where I get all of my area rugs) and found one I loved so I went ahead and ordered it.    I had a credit with them so I got it at a really good price!  

 

                                                       (source)

 

Here’s the one I ordered.    You can find it here

I plan on layering it over my seagrass rug in the sunroom but if it doesn’t work in there I will be putting it in the 2nd guest room (which is also going to get painted soon).

 

I’ve got some great finds to share with ya’ll next week I found this week when I was out and about.     I hope to see ya’ll then.

Sunroom Finally Painted!

Fortunately I didn’t have to pitch another fit but I gave the evil eye a time or two to the painter brothers.     I will say that they did an excellent job and truth be known, it was their other brother who was originally supposed to do this job that deserves my wrath!   I’m just glad it’s over!!!!   (We have a wonderful painter that we’ve used for years that is fast, dependable and efficient and we only went this route because brother #1 owes us money).

Do you want to see how it turned out?   

 

This is in it’s very raw stage.   I had husband roll up the rugs (I had one on top of the other for some  reason but only one will be going back down) last night and I vacuumed but I’ll be scrubbing that tile today or tomorrow.    Also, I have no idea what the wall color is because at first the paint store mixed it wrong and I had to have it remixed.   I can get the formula if anyone is interested.     I really do like it!

 

I would love to hang a gorgeous lantern for the light but we really need that ceiling fan in there.    I’ll probably just change out the fan and light cause this one is from the 80’s!

Since painter guy had put the curtain brackets back up on one window, I went ahead and hung them….gotta see the whole effect, right?    (I was standing on that chair to hang the curtains)   I blurred out the background cause didn’t want you to see those ugly Adirondack chairs that are going to the lake.

 

These are some of my “custom made” curtains – ha!    They are a pair of full size flat sheets from Wal Mart with a 20” border of painter’s drop cloth.

 

Here’s my TV cabinet.   I’ve debated about painting it but really I love the rustic wood.    I bought this cabinet over 20 years ago when “country” decorating was real popular.    It came out of an old house in Greenville, Alabama and had been used on the porch to store jelly and the like.   The top and bottom doors are in storage and the knobs are old spools!

 

Here’s where it gets ugly…..I’m thinking about applying for an episode on Hoarders!

Am I really showing ya’ll this?    This is what it looks like when the husband clears out a room….he just puts stuff all over the place!   Plus the grandkids were here for supper last night and they had out their books & toys.

 

 

Don’t you love this chippy turquoise box?    I bought it two summers ago at the beach in an old timey general store for $14.99!    This will be my accent color in the sunroom.    (why am I seeing clamps and a bag of grout – geez!)

 

I hope to get the other curtains made for the windows over the weekend.    We’re supposed to keep the twins Saturday for their mama and daddy to go to Aquapalooza on Lake Martin so I won’t get anything done then.   

Thanks for bearing with me during this whole ordeal…..ya’ll’s comments made me laugh and believe me, I’ve needed some laughs this week!

I Threw A Hissy Fit And I’ll Do It Again (if I have to!)

Well, we’ve finally come to the end of Day 1 of the great sunroom re-do but not without  drama.      Let me refresh your memory just in case you haven’t been following this train wreck.      After debating 2 years on what color to paint (and I don’t know why….every color I liked was so much alike you couldn’t tell the difference in any of them) I finally decided on a nice, neutral color.    Okay, painter guy (let’s call him painter #1) was supposed to be here Sunday, that didn’t happen, then he was coming Tuesday but on Monday he called and was going to have to send his brother (painter #2) in his place (I’ll spare you the story).     So painter #2  comes over Monday evening to see what had to be done but he had no idea the extent of the job which he claimed was bid out too low.    I told him that wasn’t our problem, he’d have to take it up with his brother  (painter #1 – who owes my husband some money anyway).    We finally came to an agreement that he would do all the other work that needs to be done around here for the original quote (it’s a good thing cause I wasn’t going to pony up another $200!).     

Then brother #2 calls me this morning saying he couldn’t be here at 8:30 a.m. as we had agreed on at 10:00 last night but would meet me at lunch.    That was not good for me but I made it work and met him at 1:00.     The paint store had mixed the paint the wrong color so he had to take it back and bring it to my office for my approval.    Got home at 3:00, the wood piece to replace some baseboard damage was the wrong piece, well, I won’t go on any more…suffice it to say that he finally got the wood piece replaced and the whole room caulked.    He left at 7:00 (after promising he’d have a primer coat on before he left – which didn’t happen either).    Now he and his other brother (painter #3) are supposed to be here tomorrow and if it’s not finished by tomorrow evening I will be their worst nightmare.     I “acted out” and told him if it had to stretch into Thursday I didn’t care what other arrangements he had to make or what plans he had to cancel it WOULD BE DONE!    (I probably looked like that girl on The Exorcist when her head was spinning around when I had my hissy fit)!

Here’s how the room looked this morning after hubby and I cleared it out last night from all the “stuff” – not the furniture mind you, just the stuff….

 

Look at all that loot piled up in the corner in the den….and that’s not all of it!

 

 

 

French doors going out to the patio/deck area…I plan on cleaning up out there whenever the temps go below 100+ degrees!

 

 

I’m going to soak in a nice hot tub now.    I might even live on the wild side and shave my legs (cause I just noticed they really need it).

Stay tuned for part 3 of the nightmare at my house…

Quick Adirondack Chair Makeover

Okay, so Sunday afternoon while the hubs was cutting the grass I broke out my number stencils and paint and stenciled the back of my Adirondack chair.    

 

I know the number is a little small for the chair but it’s the largest stencil I had so I’ll just work with it.   

 

 

This morning I hauled it from the front porch around back, moved another chair I had, and placed it next to my unresponsive hydrangea bush and in front of my blooming crepe myrtle.    (My hydrangea has lots of leaves but has not produced any blooms….I must be doing something wrong!)

 

I’m going to make an outdoor pillow for it….probably out of either burlap or drop cloth, but I didn’t have time to whip one up last night or today so I just put one of my porch pillows in the chair for purposes of these pictures.

 

                                                      

         

 

What do you think?    I’m pretty happy with how it turned out even if my number is too small!

 

And again,  here’s my inspiration photo.     I think I came pretty close to copying replicating it! 

 

Ya’ll know my painter was supposed to start painting my sunroom on Sunday and then he called Saturday to postpone until Tuesday.    Well, today he called again and can’t come at all so he sent his brother over here this afternoon to look at the job.     I’m just a little put out with this guy but I think the brother is going to do a better job.     He’s supposed to start tomorrow morning and be through by Wednesday…..keep your fingers crossed it finally gets done!    If I have too many more delays I’m going to start second guessing my color choice and I don’t want to even go there……

Adirondack Chair Makeover

A little while back I posted about wanting to strip/sand/stain and/or paint my Adirondack chairs.   I pressure washed the heck out of those chairs but some of the paint refused to come off!   So my idea of staining them was off the table and I’ve been trying to figure out what color to paint them to LOOK like stain.     Right now they are sitting on a wood platform in my backyard baking in the hot Alabama sun while I try to get inspired to finish them up.     So far that hasn’t happened!   

Here’s the inspiration photo I posted that I wanted my chairs to look like:

 

The other day I got an e-mail from World Market that their Adirondack chairs were on sale for $49.00!     I had a store credit for $20.00 so I decided to just go for it and buy one.    Here’s part of the reason why:   (1)  I’ve lost my desire to finish up those chairs; (2) hubby says they are in the way when he cuts the grass and (3) my sister wants them for her lake house!       Hopefully I’ll get a number stenciled on the back in the next day or two and this will be a quick and easy project I can cross off my “to do” list.    

 

 

I got the last one in this cappuccino color and it needs to be cleaned up but I can just see it with a number stenciled on it.

 

What do you think?    Would you have taken the easy way out and bought this chair?    For me, it was a no-brainer.   

In my last post I told ya’ll that my painter was coming Sunday to start on the sunroom.   He called this morning and “something came up” so he won’t get started until Tuesday !    Oh, well, maybe it will be finished by next weekend.    He is only available on Tuesdays and Sundays so that limits his time to paint.    

See you soon!