Monday, May 24, 2010

Upcoming Projects

Lest you think I am only focused on this kitchen I've been discussing in pasts posts, there is much much more to be done. Following are some of my projects in process...

I'm buiding a raised garden bed on a slope. I also plan on building a sand/water play box for my daughter that is shaded somehow so that she can happily play along side m in the yard while I finish this project. Not sure if I'm too late on the growing season this year, but at least I'm laying the hardscaping down for next year. I tell myself this when I get discouraged about my lack of time. I need to make yet another trip to Lowes for more landscaping timber. I also need to get my husband to show me how to work the thingy he uses to cut metal. It's so scary -flames shoot out. It'd come in very handy to be able to use it though.
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Next, we have my attempt at making a large bed that will probably be filled with star jasmine vine (or maybe vinca vine); it needs to be fast growing because I am very impatient. I plan to cover areas of the yard that are ugly where no grass grows. I've posted off this area to protect it from Abbey, our Dane who would love to dig in it and also do her business in it I'm sure. I've been slowly collecting newspaper and cardboard boxes to use as weed cover. My mom lives in a retirement like home (she has early onset dementia) so I received permission to take home their newspaper from the recycle bins. There is tons and tons of it! I put it in my daughter's stroller when she's not with me and stroll around gathering paper. Lots of old people start to comment on "the baby" only to see I've got loads of paper in there instead. I get lots of funny looks. So far these cheap wooden stakes with yellow caution tape wound around them seem to be keeping Abbey at bay. I'm covering that with pinestraw. I'm wondering if bales of pinestraw often have poisonous spiders in them. I saw a brown spider crawl out of one last night as I was hurriedly covering some newly gotten papergoods from the independent living facility. Next I'll root cuttings from my flourishing star jasmine that grows out of control up a trellis support for the house or I'll buy vinca vine. The jasmine vine nearly attacks the neighbors when they knock on my front door.
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Here is Abbey eyeing the new bed. (Hmmmm....I must figure out how to pee in there).
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Another shot of the slow process of collecting newspaper and wetting it down, then spreading pinestraw over the top. I'm sure our old air conditioner will break soon seeing as how we are spending all we have saved on a new kitchen.
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This is where many projects are carried out. My husband is down there now cleaning out the basement in preparation for the cabinets we've ordered. Notice the large pieces of mirror I received FREE from a post on Craigslist. I am not sure what I'm going to do with these, but I'm thinking I'll make my own mirror with frame and use it to make some small room in my home look larger. I have lots of small rooms! I have seen mirrors that were pieced together and look pretty good. You'll see what I mean when I get deeper into this project.
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This is a really OLD frame I picked up at a church bizarre sale for $3. I showed it to my collector friend and he didn't think it was very valuable due to it's deteriorating condition. He guessed it to be over 100 years old though. The decorative pieces are falling off. So I turned it around backward and tried to make something...not going so well. Not sure what will happen with this project? Please submit some ideas if you have any? I'd make a mirror out of it and paint/guild the front of it, but the corners are falling off.
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You can see here what I tried to do (snicker) to the backside of the frame. I was going to install a mirror that would cover the chipped ledge. I am not happy with it though. Plus I hate the colors. What was I thinking. I am terrible at choosing paint colors. I was going to cut tiny pieces of wood and paint them various colors and glue them into the center recessed area that is white in the image below. I was thinking that wherever there was a nail in my way (you might not be able to see this in the image below) I'd chisel out that part of the little wooden block. Hmmm...this is definitely going to be in the backburner for now.
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Gave Mr. Buzzkill the stink eye after I described this pergola I spied at an estate sale on the way home from church. It was only $50. I sure hope it has all the peices to it. I can't wait to see what it looks like. The owner said is attaches to a deck. Well, we don't have a deck. That is yet another project I'm brainstorming on. The way I see it, I need to pay a couple of manly men to come dig me some holes with a two man auger. Or maybe my husband can be talked into getting a friend of his to help. I live on a bluff, which means there's lots and lots of rock everywhere I dig. I get so tired of it. If it weren't for that da*n rock I'd have a beautiful yard by now.
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Here is a painted peice of board left over from when we tore down the white wood above our cabinets. I painted it with paint that was supposed to make it magnetic. I had great idea for turning old frames into gallery for my daughter's artwork throughout the year. I have revised my plan because either the paint doesn't work, you need 13 or so layers of it, or the fact that it was dusty when I bought it should have signaled to me that it was too old. It was about $20 I think!!! Purchased at Lowes.
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This was a Japanese garden of sorts. It looked really good until the little short bamboo took over after 2 years. My husband made me kill it all before it leapt over to the neighbors yard. Then when we had some trees cut down, they had to break our gate (which I built mostly-my husband taught me how to set the poles in concrete) and apparently knocked over the landscaping timber. You can also see where cute little neighbor kid broke our hammock and now the frame lays there in my broken dream of always having a Japanese Garden. I am slowly moving some of this rock to a new garden I built acorss the stream. I'll have to take a pic of it sometime soon.
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Well, there are actually more projects believe it or not. But, I'll leave that for another time.

Wishing you success in all your home improvement ventures,
Michele

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

I'm Dreaming of a White Kitchen.....

Well, for reasons best kept to myself, I've moved on in my ongoing hunt for economical, yet attractive and well-made kitchen cabinets. I've decided to order some unfinished cabinets from thecabinetjoint.com. So far they've impressed me with excellent customer service, plus they carry Conestoga cabinets which look awesome and are well made. On our skinny budget, we'll be painting them ourselves. I'll be sure and update you on each major milestone.

As you know from earlier posts, the wall was removed between our kitchen and diningroom. The studs are still there, but we've decided it's best to knock them down and make the rooms look like one big one. Just like our living room...it'll be one big NARROW room. I swear, what was with these people in the 1950s. There are clearly so many better ways to have laid out this home within the same footprint.

I've obsessed over the colors....
Do I want colorful cabinets?
All white?
Black on bottom and white on top?
Stained on bottom and white on top?

At this juncture, I'm now leaning toward all white. I think we should paint our wall cabinets first, then see how the base looks as a light wood color. Maybe use a sample front to try out a few options. If it looks silly, we'll continue painting the remainder of the base cabinets white as well.

Mr. Buzzkill said he felt like he would be walking between two icebergs when I mentioned all white a few months ago, but I think I've worn him down enough now that he's fine with anything. Teehee.

Now for some dreaming....

Love the chandelier...
photo by ooh_foodvia PhotoRee


I have always wanted one of these knife magnets...
photo by thekitchendesigner.orgvia PhotoRee


Love the cabinets that sit on the countertop. Unfortunately, I don't have much space to waste. I guess I'll have to let go of this particular dream. I've thought about adding some corbels to make them look more furniture like though. In addition, I like the wood and stone countertops together. I am planning on adding some sort of rustic wood element to each room in my home.
photo by thekitchendesigner.orgvia PhotoRee