Cottage Memo Board

HI,
The cottage memo board, photo holder, jewlery display is done! What ever you would like to call it.
The distressed teal frame with Chicken wire oh wait it's not called that anymore... Poultry netting.
is here for sale. you can see it here, on my pinterest and Esty! oh and my fb page too.

Everyday kaos

Pfew, yesterday was appropriate that I ended my day with unraveling my Chicken wire (now sold as poultry netting) it was a run around like a chicken with it''s head cut off day... This all occurs after my full time day job ends.
First I had it all planned out. I found a SUPER Great Armoire on Craigs list  the day before and it was not in tim buk too. However  the days schedule was jamb'd and the Craigs lister had a time frame too. Since the item was "hot" she had lots of requests for it and wanted it gone ASAP. She said I was the first respondent but others could get there sooner, If i could tell her when I'd be there she would give it to me. Now I did not want to involve the hubby he's getting a little concerned about the amount of items I'm accumulating and the Space in which we have to keep it all in... (not enough space, for anyone who's seen Beyond Thunderdome think the ending runway scene.. put your thumb and index finger together and go up and down..not enough space). That being said I planned to bring my two oldest boys with my husbands Suburban after removing the seats... Sounds good right.. We'll here is how it went after I arrived home with 30 min to get to the field.
1) Me.  get 6 yo who was at a friends house to  baseball practice for 5Pm so making dinner is now not an option. after the 1  hr. practice  I'll come home and grab the suv, the two oldest. Take one to his doctors appt. wait with the other then after shoot right over to the CL pick up which is about 15 min from the doc's office  and walla be home. (I had to have the muscle I was told the item was VERY heavy and there were 12 stairs involved)
2) Hubby you will have to take the other baseball playing son (9 y/o) to his practice a different field after you finish giving piano lessons to your Wednesday students. have kids take out rear bench, Ok Check can do .
Remember I'm going to come home get the SUV the two older boys and go.
3) 6 y/o baseball runs late it's now 6:11 and I'm leaving the field. I have to be 20 min away for 6:45 appt.
Get  home... guess what no suv hubby forgot and stayed at Baseball practice with the 9y/o Older son called when are we leaving... I'm walking home from school  he fogot! can you come get me? It's 6:20 now I have to be 20 min away for a 6:45 appt. still waiting for the SUV and the seat has to be removed.
Hubby arrives back, we've got one older son, no seat out and time is quickly ticking by. We decide Hubby will go instead , go get walking son from school, take other to the appt. maybe he and older 1 can go get the armoire while older 2  is being seen? He decided no. I grab the 2 smallest children  and run to the other field to grab the 9 y/o from practice. hubby calls he's still home It's 6:40! Our daughter needs a ride home from school track meet is over .. he was just there ! I call to cancel the doctors appt. Email the Craigs lister to say My hubby and the two boys are coming instead of me and the two older boys. nearly 7 pm now- and he's still home.  I pass him on my way back from the field. He's off ! I'm home now it's feed the kids I have at home, get homework done take the dog out feed the dog. Get the 2 little kids in bed, make sure the 9  y/o has done Homework and get him to practice his cello, Break up disagreement with the oldest child and 9 y/o.
Just a day in the life..  Get kids in bed, have discussion with 9 y/o on attitude and actions, pick up dog accident in the house, he's not house broken yet!! Work on Two projects I've got going, hubby arrives back at home, brings armoire in I'ts great! and sitting in my foyer. Hubby's beat it's been a long day. i work on projects hop in the shower, now it's finally time for Wawa! Hooray. Our day winds down.
I'll post pics soon.

The Round Table is complete

Well almost complete I need to pick up a buffer, I think my new favorite store is Harbour Freights.

Anyway here are the before and after  pictures of my $10.00 craigs list find. OH and the top was not solid Oak, turns out it was plywood.

Antique Spool bed

I Scored an antique Spool bed from Craigs list last night! and I didn't get killed LOL. You never know when you meet with someone from Craigslist. So I brought my body guard with me, aka my 16 y/o who studies martial arts! There were no rails with this so.. I either have to find them, or alter something if I want to use  this as a bed. There are pleanty of other options open if  i can't get rails.

I can see it in white or teal... with a rose applique in the top center. what do you all think?

My experiments with DIY Chalk paint

So like many of you out there I love the Chalk paint idea... no prep work just get to painting. I found the Annie Sloan to be out of my budget for the time being.  When I have any extra $50.00 after shipping and handling  to spend on a quart of paint rather then gas and grocery and perhaps entertainment for the kids then I may drop the money for the paint, Until then I will work out my own DIY batches. The first batch I have to say I was disappointed with. It did not seam to live up to the hype of the DIY'ers. So I kept experimenting.  The second Color a warm soft brown came out much better I think. Photos will come soon. I put the brown on a old window I scored on Craigs list to make into a picture frame.

The Hope chest is nearly complete or it is if I don't put the Disney princess decals on it.. What do you think?princess decal or no princess decal? If you recall from my previous post this Lane hope chest belonged to my mother who passed away when I was Small. I have to keep the chest for sentimental reasons, but it reminds me of a casket so I didn't want to see it. Quite a dilemma  there. I decided I could paint it to make it appear happier. My four year old daughter loves it and is anticipating the day it's put in her room. We'll be re bed rooming the kids this summer.

So  here's my thoughts on Chalk paint I've made myself... I had two recipies for making chalk paint yourself. The first one I tried called for  1 cup of paint, 2 tablespoons of product weather  you use plaster of paris or un sanded grout or Calcium carbonate. I used Un sanded grout. I was not happy with the result I acheived.
It took a long time for the paint to dry, I could see the finish underneath even slighty after 2 coats...  and I had brush marks. SO since this is the hyped Chalk paint that you can paint on anything I mixed up a second batch and put it on over the first attempt. I used the other recipie that called for 1 1/2 cups paint, 1/2 a cup product ( in this case still the un sanded grout) and 1/2 cup hot water. I mixed it up and was pleased with the out come. I still need to sand and seal. I am using minwax paste wax in clear for the top coat. 

What i patined was a  Lane Cedar hope chest from the 50's. It belonged to my mother and has sentimental value, so want to keep it in the family but I do not necessairly want to own it.. It remind me of a mini casket so I had to paint it in the hopes of making it look less like a casket. Let me know what you think. I have a decal on the way to put on the lid I'll put up picures when it's totally completed but for now here's in progress pictures.