Lily’s new rocker!

Okay—they’re not finished.

:’ (

The chairs are only  ²/3 and ¹/3 complete.

Y E S–it was truly an ambitious timeline.

*Our little birthday girl is sitting in the chair 2-parts done.

THIS

was my plan…

1. The fabric store didn’t have enough of my chosen fabric so I decided to mix in part of a  Matelasse  coverlet  to fill the deficit.

2. Uh, yeah~what little girl doesn’t LUV tulle and ruffles so….I’m adding a ruffled skirt!

3. To customize the chairs for each of my little luv-bugs I’d like to add a silhouette -or cameo- of the girls!

SO—both chairs are  1. upholstered with the mix of red-and-magnolias and Matelasse, and one even has its ruffled tulle skirt.

Later this week I’ll run back up to their house to add the skirt to the other chair and apply their cameos!  I’ll share the final pictures then!

 

–Until then, here are “working” pictures of my project!

-albeit incomplete–

Catherine

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*Sorry if it’s a bit heavy on pictures, but it’s the best way to see all those sweet details! ♥

 

And finally—this last picture is to give you an idea of the CAMEO of each little girl I want to add to customize their chairs!

 

 

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some more kids’ rockers

My bf bought these rockers for her twins.

Now that they’re too big for them, she passed them on to my nephew’s two little girls.

However— they’re gonna  need a makeover.  Enter~ Great Auntie! (sucker!)

To make this big job more affordable I struck a deal with my favorite upholstery-girl Katie, and I spent  the day (literally) knocking down/stripping off the old fabric.  It took almost 4 hours per chair with lots of pain -BLooD- and the enduring memory of the worst knock-down I have EVer done.

I believe I can accurately say—the original upholsterer must have been PAID by the STAPLE—.

A few days ago I took one of the rockers to the fabric store with me to get some assist figuring out how much fabric each chair would require.  And wasn’t sure what I was looking for FOR the fabric yet!  So having the chair there was gREAT!

I found 3 really fab selections, but nothing stood out as the clear choice.  I was encouraged to bring the chair into the store to drape the choices over it—maybe it will help they all said!  So I did.

At this point I had 2 store employees and 3 other shoppers fully interested in how this would play out!

I laid the 1st and 2nd choices over the chair—everyone agreed they looked….N I C E….

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But then I laid out the 3rd choice and the whole area erupted with ooohs and aaaahs!   ~Clearly the winner!!!

Here’s a “taste” of the progress, they’ll be finished tomorrow and delivered to one birthday girl and her little sister!  Can’t wait to show you, but I think you’ll be surprised….

there are two twists to the finish!  ; D

Catherine

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What’s goin’ on~

We usually have the landscapers come deal with the Spring and Fall clean ups.

Their 3-man crew can knock out the Fall job in about 3½ hours—but the Spring clean up takes the same crew about 6½ hours of tedious work.  It’s a bit expensive…but worth it.

We decided this year to try to save some money because it’s going to cost sO much to deal with the tree.  So we’re trying to do the Spring clean up ourselves—with a little help.  We’re almost finished—YaY!  Clearly, we’re not as gOOd as the professional 3-man crew—c’est la vie.

*The Lilacs were sadly very short-lived this year, but the Irises are gor-OR-geous and make me think of Van Gogh!  And now the Peonies are just about to p♥p!

This is just one area of Irises!

My “little” great nephew LUV’d his rocker. (he’s camera-shy)

You can see by size it won’t last him very long.  But he really wanted it.

I also went to see the dance recitals of two nieces….

Now that Summer finally seems to be here -albeit a bit cOOl- I had a hankering for hard-boiled eggs and egg salad!

*Who says you can ONLY have colored eggs at Easter!?!  I color the eggs all year in beautiful colors!

And it’s summer— time for grilled veggies outside!  Don’t they look sO pretty?!  I love to keep a wide variety cut and at the ready to grill, drizzled with olive oil!

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I’ve been playing around with a fun chalk board for myself—but I’m stuck.  And I think I need some more tiles.

Only the upper left down and across is set—everything else is in the works.

I’ve been having fun watching a series on The History channel called The History of Slang!  Fun-funny-interesting!  Ever wonder about some of the weirdest sayings and where they come from-??

Lastly—I got in a 1st bicycle ride—8 miles!  Unfortunately my bike needed big repairs from sitting so long in storage, and I just got it back this morning.  *It’s gonna take a while to get used to the seat again.

Catherine

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a little rocker (and a little sass)

My bf found this little project in a thrift store, but having no time to work on it—it was headed to the curb…but went to my car instead, and I’m just getting around to it myself.

It’s from The Bombay Co.  Remember them?!?

Looks like it had arms originally, so I need to putty some holes.  And it’s WoBBLY in just about EVery direction, so I have a lot of gluing and clamping to do too.  You can also see that the front rocker treads were cut down, so I’ll reshape/sand it down a bit more.

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1-I taped off this edge before gluing so it wouldn’t drain out all over the place…

2-I pried the two pieces apart just a little extra from the under side, shot the glue in and clamped it up for the night.

3 & 4-You can see the good job the tape did for me~you know Gorilla Glue is m-e-S S-y.

I needed to glue and clamp it up in 5 different directions.

While the chair set up, I moved on to creating an upholstered seat using a shirt-sleeve left over from some other project.

I dry-brushed multiple layers of two different grays to achieve a  streak-y’ish  worn finish.

I really just didn’t want the standard solid color or painted~distressed look.

I have a 6yr old great nephew who really wants this rocker—he spied it from deep in the middle of all the chaos of my work studio, and looks for it each time he comes over. ♥♥♥

Catherine

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So—an update with a little sass.  Forgive me.

The “hillbillies” next door continue their “awful neighbor” antics.  Over the weekend they got out a chainsaw and cut down an entire loooong row of mature Arborvitaes and a very large, old lilac bush in FULL glory.  Yes~all those beautiful-aromatic blooms —went to the dump.

They have systematically removed EVERYthing now but two trees and the grass.  There are NO remaining obstacles left in their way to FULLY ENJOY EVERYONE ELSE’S HARD WORK AND LANDSCAPE.

I’m seriously thinking about planting at least one new bush—what do you think?  Yes–No?

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my own year in review~

I’ve been reading a lot of “Year in Review” blog posts…a great look back at some really inspiring projects out there in blogland!

I started thinking about a couple of mine—and was surprised at how many of my own projects I’d forgotten all about!

So I thought it might be fun to

RE-share them with you too!

But I’m going to start with one from Nov 2012 and something I never thought I’d be doing…TAKING A SPACE IN AN ANTIQUE MALL.  What a surprise–that I did it, that it went so well as to expand in this year, and the many projects it propelled!  Like~ building this new display cabinet from odd parts and its outcome!

January~

~found me constructing a dresser-hutch for my very 1st G-G-nephew Brody.
~Then I finished off another children’s cabinet for my cousin’s little baby girl Emma  before traveling to Atlanta to deliver it AnD take a little birthday getaway!  Woo-hoo!

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In February~

I decided to make several changes in my mother’s master br as a surprise while she took a winter’s rest in Florida with a friend!  It started with a fire place…

During the year I worked on a variety of projects, big & small~

1. My vintage White Globe sconces
2. Princes Aleigha’s lamp
3. A thrift store lamp and an anaglyptic-covered shade
4. A lace-y chandelier
5. A vintage bed lamp re-fashioned

1. the Atlanta trip windows
2. my auction mirror
3. making a mirror from cabinet doors
4. a decoupaged chalkboard
5. two more decoupaged chalkboards

And there were lots of  miscellaneous projects….

But you all know my very favorite thing is construction!

Hmmm, I guess I make a lot of benches   ; D

1. The other half of the 1st Craig’s List dresser
2. The neighbor’s curbie
3. A quilted slip-covered curbie!
4. The ReStore “bench”
5. Saving history!
6. The 2nd Craig’s List dresser
7. The sewing cabinet bench
8. The Christmas built-in banquette

And furniture~

reviving some curbies, an old camp chair, rattan chair makeovers, a thrift store dresser and bed re-furbished, the farm table, the outdoor china hutch, a 2nd Craig’s List dresser re-do, a decoupaged dresser, a bit more decoupage, re-working a curbie, Grandpa’s rockers, the antq mall armoire,

And of course–charity projects.

2 Hall Trees for 2 charities, The Habitat for Humanities Hall Tree and children’s cubby.  And one more currently in the works for mom’s neighbor who is battling breast cancer, but I haven’t posted on any of it yet.

It felt like I was so busy all year, but it’s only 50’ish projects!

I did leave out a handful or so because I abandoned them (-didn’t like how they were taking shape, but I’ll come back to them…).  There were also many “other projects” that occurred throughout the year not listed above…

like TRAVEL and meeting some of my FAVorite bloggers!

Which you can neVer do enough of!

Catherine

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My donated pieces!

I tried so hard to get a good REVEAL picture for you to see my contributions to the Habitat for Humanities and the ReStores’ HARD HATS & HEELS auction—

but the chA-os of my jam-packed work studio was not working for any “pretty” pictures.  Okay~although I wasn’t pushing for those BEAUTIFIED, IN PLACE, STYLIZED shots, I still just couldn’t show the dreaded chaos that abounds for the moment.

And you know it’s even tougher when mirrors are involved—you have to think about the background AnD their reflection~yikes!

Now that my Hall Tree & kid’s cubbie are boTH delivered, and their chaos is much less than mine—at LaST I can show you their outcome!  ; D

And there they are!

Their request was very flattering, I’m happy with the outcome of both, and sure hope they fetch a pretty price for this worthy cause!

Catherine

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Ow–ie! And another quick project!

I finished up the last details of the Hall Tree (door)

this morning to take to the ReStore for their upcoming

Habitat for Humanities Auction~Hard Hats & Heels.

It’s such a good cause and I’m happy to build a contribution for them, and incredibly flattered that they sought me out to ask!

: )

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I decided kind of last minute–

“hmmm~why not make a kid’s cubbie as a companion piece!?!”  

–so it’s been a veRY busy day!

I grabbed a “pattern” to cut out a pair of sides, and routered a beveled edge on both interior sides.

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Next, I cut the bottom-top-and seat, and put the carcass together.  Then added some base and coved-crown moldings, and finally, made some decisions about the decorative details before quitting for the night~whew!

Okay~had a little accident along the way (Oooops).

While I was nailing that small-scaled coved-crown, it would seem I hit a crossing nail.

And it ricocheted out.

And through my hand.

O-w–I-E!  Hurt like the dickens and took my breath away for a minute. Well~stuff happens.

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Unfortunately it happened once before.

Through and through both fingers~yeeee.

Again~stuff happens~ooops.

Have a SAFE DAY everyone!

Catherine

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~disarray coming together

This is the left side of a “3-parts project wall.”

Aleigha just came to give her “approval” and select some color.

I’m trying to “uSe whAT wE’ve gOt~mAke it whAt wE nEEd!”

Catherine

 

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2 parts disarray, a pinch of leftovers~

I know the finish line.  The finish line will be beaUtiful.

But gEtting to the finish line~ nOt so pretty.

Disparate parts coming together,

to create something that wiLL bE. . .

Yes—leftovers and cast offs.

Just trust me, it’s gonna be. . .

uh, well~just wait and see!

Catherine

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“Emma’s” new home!

How much FUN it was–

Atlanta, and back now!

While I sort and edit pictures to show you,

and recover from the little bug I picked up traveling -dang it-

“Emma” traveled home!

-It was planned that the cabinet would be placed in Emma’s room, but a pair of Big Brothers intervened with another arrangement!

A few REvisions to the original design—

My cousin asked that it have a combo of hooks and shelves.

I thought small, simple, corner shelves would be cute!

Since she mostly wants to put books on them–I created “book stops.”

B.U.T.  Ultimately– I didn’t quite like the “visual balance.”

–The final REvision and design.

I grabbed more wood, duplicated the side contours (with a few alternative cuts), and routered in the bead detail–

closing in the shelves!

*None of these cabinets have exceeded 48″ in height– until creating this arch.  This cabinet tops out at 55″.  Yikes!

Catherine

I’m sharing “Emma” with these linky parties!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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