Wednesday, March 30, 2011

A Proud Wife

Hi all!
I had to share what I woke up to this morning.  I started to walk completely past, then turned back to stare, then woke my Greer up with a thousand kisses.

He made me a stencil of the (modified) flag of Spain!!!!

He is so talented!  As soon as I find a home for it (probably kitchen, maaaaaybe studio), I will post a picture.  I just had to share. I love his work and creativity and patience for the kind of painstaking detail stenciling requires. 

And for anyone interested....he does custom orders ;)

The only modification he made was of the toreador (bull fighter) and toro (bull).  That makes it even more symbolic for me because bulls are a big symbol of southern Spain, including Salamanca (where I studied).  I don't know if he knew that ahead of time.  Maybe, because I but a (rather ugly) bull belly button ring when I was there.  Don't worry, I didn't wear it much and I have let that hole close up!  Still fun to have the bull though.

Back to the modification... the crest on the true Spanish flag would be way to intricate for him to stencil, at least in one night.  This is what it looks like:


I like mine better.

:)

Monday, March 21, 2011

Ideas I love

Hello again!

I found some wonderful posts while catching up on what I've missed in blog land.  I really have to share...

Cate at A Tree Lined Street is not helping my "I want a baby" mode with her freakin' adorable nursery re-do.  I love trees and birds and watercolor and she just pulled them all in!



Please visit her blog to see the rest of the nursery room and read her story about the wall paintings.  I want to keep this in mind for 2.5 years down the road when we have a nursery to decorate.  I might use pages from Beatrix Potter or The Giving Tree.

I would love to better organize my closet... although it is semi-organized right now.  But check out this closet re-do showcased at High Heeled Foor in the Door:

I also stopped in to my favorite website Ana White Homemaker, the beauty who designs and maps out DIY furniture.  She had some good additions that I would love to build.  I don't have any room for this Washer/Dryer organizing, but I want to make a mental note of it for when I do, because I love this idea.

Lots of people like their washer/dryer raised a little bit.  Why not sort and store dirty laundry underneath?  GENIUS!  If only we had that kind of washer/dry area.

I also want to add these nightstands onto my list of projects.  Greer and I need some nightstands, but it's not my main priority at the moment.  I like the look of these "Cabin Collection Nightstands" from Ana White Homemaker.


Perhaps this would be a nice little peice for the upstairs landing.....
From Ana White Homemaker of course!

And lastly from Ana White, I will be making this little number to store my sewing machine...


It's March?

My goodness time is speeding by, which is good and bad.  Good because I cannot WAIT to start grad school (June 13!).  Bad because my projects have fallen by the wayside.  Between work and Zumba, I have almost no free time.  The free time I do have is usually spent laying on the couch napping.  I shouldn't complain, though.  I'm lucky to have a job, especially one that is flexible with my Zumba career.  And Zumba.. how many people can get paid for the hobby? Paid to exercise and dance?  Yes. I am lucky.

So... update on projects:

1. I did finish the dresser.  Just need to screw the handles back on (holding off on specialty knobs) and I'll throw a picture on here.  I think it came out pretty well, 3 coats of paint though!  I don't think I'll use glossy paint again.  I don't like the stickyness of it. 


colors are funky with my camera

2. I just need a few more tiles of the shelf I've been playing with and then that will be finished and posted here.  I still don't know where I'm going to put it.  I'd put it for sale, but the wood is kind of junky and it was just a fun project.


you guessed it...colors aren't right

3. My co-worker's custom bench is nearly done!  My dad and I worked on it for a long time yesterday and got the rest of the peices cut, sanded and assembled.  I only stripped 2 screws! Wahoo!  All that's left is sanding and painting.  I can't wait to give it to her- I think she'll love it.  I'll post that up here too when it's finished.



4. While I've been crazy busy, my dad has cut a lot of the pieces for Greer's and my hutch base.  A little back story: We have a DVD shelf that is just the old shelf my dad built for me in college to put on top of my flat desk.  It's come in handy, but we have used up all the shelf space and then some.  So I had the idea to make a base for it with some doors and turn it into a hutch.  More DVD storage and perhaps some record storage for Greer.  He doesn't want doors, but I'm afraid I will insist.  The top can stay sans-doors.

5. The dollhouse is nearing completion.  It has been the. biggest. pain. ever.  I do believe I now hate Greenleaf dollhouses.  They do not assemble easily.  It is not just shove the tab into the notch.  It does not just take wood glue.  It took multiple tries and an different solution to get the main walls and floor assembled.  I will go into more detail when I post it.  I don't think I will ever make another dollhouse. 

7.  The $5 end table I purchase from Seed for the Nations Thrift Store- I have done one thing.  Pulled of the old leather.  Eventually I'll get around to completely stripping the thing.  I'm kind of nervous about the intense chemicals I'll have to use.  Part of the hobby I guess!

6.  New project on the list!  My parents are re-doing their laundry room and they got rid of the big old hanging cabinet in there.  Where did it go? Me!  They know I love finding peices to re-do, and always need more storage.  So that giant is in our storage shed for me to play with when I wrap up the other projects. Which gives us plenty of time to decide where to put it.  Here it is...



7.  Downstairs storage bathroom- just an idea.  What was supposed to be a pantry was converted to a half bath when the house was built.  So we have 2.5 bathrooms and just Greer and I live there.  Right now that half bath is a scary thing to open, with Greer's laundry literally falling out the door and the vacuum balancing on top.  My goal to straighten this up?  Install some high shelves for storage and a TALL laundry bin for Greer.  Turn it into the pantry it should have been (and possibly usuable as a bathroom?).

I think that's it for now.  Share what's up in your world!