the 1st of some of the changes

I’m currently going through the dreaded emotional rollercoaster
and the physical endurance test of clearing out mom’s house.
It’s a double-edged sword.
I get to at long-last bring my own belongings out of storage to make it feel like home for me, but it also means parting with most of mom’s belongings.
Which often feels like I’m erasing her.
Tears are frequent.

I feel like I should share the path of change, so,
first- mom’s room before & after.
I sold her [inherited] bedroom furniture. . . . . to a nurse.
And that’s probably the only part that she would have liked.
The next morning I had a meltdown~ “WHAT– did I do?“

• 

• 

• 

These were early pictures of setting it up and styling it for her~
no idea what happened to the pretty finished shots–?
The furniture passed to her from our beloved great auntie who bought it brand new to go in the house she was building in 1910.
Below is the way the room has been REdone.
With MY things, but, in her honor.

• 

• 

The foundation of the room got a fresh painted job because of all the holes that needed patching. This time the white has a warmer tone. The drapes were already changed to the soft, sheer white with lace, the hand-hooked wool garden rug remained.

The dresser, nightstand, and antique French bergère were pieces already dedicated to “her room” in my former house.

The bed was a long-ago project I posted on. It was an aMAZing mirror that had been broken- I bought the frame to make into a bed!

The looong cabinet was a $13, 5-yrs-ago Craigslist find that finally came out of my stashes, got a good cleaning, some repairs, and fresh paint job!

Many meaningful things have found their place in here–I just couldn’t let all her belongings go. I find myself sitting quietly in her room with regularity, and take comfort in being around her—stuff.

I struggled with letting a LOT of her things go and find I’m letting more of my own things go to strike a balance.

Missing you so much mom—
wish Heaven had visiting hours.

I love this last pre-cancer picture.

Want to see the “new” Living room?
That’s a big change, come on back—

Catherine

Read Full Post »

a couple more Nellie’s projects

I found some time to steal Saturday.

Besides some  –clean up and putting things away–

does that job EVER end?

I dug through my stashes for some EASY TO WORK ON things that could go to Nellie’s!  I REfound a pair of those small handkerchief drawers that used to be attached to the top of an antique dresser I deconstructed for “parts.”  Oh BOY!

They’ve been sitting on a shelf about 2 years now—I truly had no ideas for them until Saturday.  Sometimes inspiration comes  S L O W L Y.  I just thought “What if I just stack them?”  Totally simple, but it works.

UNfortunately- I only have “after” pictures to share—sorry, but here’s the long & short of what I did!

After simply stacking them together and deciding “VOILÀ!” I gave them a good look for which should be on top.  The one selected for the bottom then got its top pried off to also get moved to the BOTTOM… because…

Each drawer box was configured & constructed to support & guide its little drawer -complete with stops- which means you can’t

just turn it UPSIDE DOWN.

So, again, I pried off the top and REapplied it to the new “bottom.”

Both pieces were pretty disgustingly dirty so I took them in the house and hosed EVERY INCH of them in Clorox Clean Up, then rinsed.  INSIDE too!

◊ I affixed them together, found a matching handle to add to the top, and cut a back to enclose everything.

◊ I taped off the glass hardware and seal-coated the whole piece to arrest the incredible craqueleur from chipping any further and it’s DONE!

The other project next!

Catherine

Read Full Post »

what a skill!

I just have to share this!

In mid February I placed an ad on Craigslist looking for someone with knitting or crocheting skills who MIGHT be able to repair a couple of sweaters for me.  Fingers crossed.

I posted a general and close up picture with my ad.

A few days passed with 2 responses.  From a grandmother who was fairly confident she could help me—and from someone who thought I was RIDICULOUS for even asking and to “just toss the sweaters already!”  Thanks, expletive.

I picked up my TWO repaired sweaters this morning.

When we met I shared a 2nd also needing repair, but had no true expectation or hope for it.  Omg~what a surprise!

Can you find the repairs?

The green Spring-weight tunic sweater fell dramatically apart at the shoulder because of its weight and a bad hanger.  But I’ve had it more than 20 years and could NOT bear to let it go!  And now I don’t have to—yippie!

Again, can you find the repairs?

This lady has SKILLS!

Catherine

♥

Can you believe, it was the left side!

Now, back to a really cool Art Deco Nightstand I’m REworking!

But you already know that if you’re following me on instagram!

Read Full Post »

WoW have I been absent!

It’s easy to be

over-taken &

over-loaded

BY LIFE, in general.

And YES, I needed a blog-break.  But dang, I’ve just been outright neglectful, and even I’M surprised.  Well, a New Year is nipping at our heals…full of

Fresh Starts and a REfocus of Priorities and

I’m back!

Promise!

If you follow me on Instagram

you’ve seen a few things along the way, otherwise~

let me get REstarted with this quickie!

One of the best things about being a “Construction-Girl” is that when you NEED something ~you can generally just go build it!

I realized I needed a VERY LARGE TRAY to cover my tufted ottoman during our Christmas gathering.  There’s always a minimum of 17 adults and 15 big-to-little kids.  So there’s a LOT of nibbles, goodies, and dinner food to make room for!

I’ll use the over-sized tray for nibbles, a 5ft sofa table will become the dessert bar, and the whole kitchenette becomes a buffet-styled dinner!  PLUS, a hot chocolate bar for the kiddos, coffee bar for the sleep-deprived adults, and/OR Christmas Spirits bar~where you’ll find me by the time I’ve finished all the work it takes to get this party ready!

This picture~  trying out service pieces for the What-Why-How!

The tufted ottoman is 41″ in diameter, the new over-sized tray is 37″!

Now~how I did it!

•I happened to have a former table top (Craigslist-find that was gutted for parts!) that was 31″ & also an octagon!

•I ripped a long pine board to 3″w, cut 8 generous sides,

•ran them through the router to create    1-a rabbet & 2-a finished beveled edge.

•Cut/mitered each side on a 22.5° angle, and glued & nailed each piece to the 8 sides.  The rabbet gave a stronger connection and the bevel gave a finished edge!

•Finished the wood to look as much like the ottoman as possible (different woods) and added over-sized lion head drawer pulls.

A N D, things are getting finished in the lower-level!

*aka~basement

Catherine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

the craziness before the show

Truly accurate.

*Doing my best to stay sane through the pace.

**Explanation for my absence.

Below are just some of my projects~and the display pieces built for (both) shows.  I’ll talk about them more after this last show—when the clock will not OWN ME anymore.  Well, for a while anyway.

—This was a super cute side table I found on Craigslist long ago.  It got parked in my queue when I had thoughts of keeping it, and came to light again when I took another look at things for Nellie’s Barn Sale!  I would have loved to leave it alone but discovered several “issues” upon closer inspection.

Commonly seen thrift store UGLY old wood lamps.  IDK~something struck me about them this time…?  I DEelectrified them, cut them into PARTS, REbuilt them, tried sanding the finish but bailed for stripping.

A variety of boxes, trays, and picture frames—I’ll be anxious to come back to these to tell you ALL about it!

How about a VALET from several misc parts!

Misc “things” for the sale!

 

These are our 3 main display pieces.

 

That columned structure is

8ft tall × 8ft wide!

The strapping is set at 1½ ft intervals and strong enough to hold some pretty heavy stuff—like that aMAZing mirror I REframed with chippy door casing!

Hope to see you at the sale this weekend!

Catherine

Read Full Post »

another Loooooong table

Not that I forgot about the exaggeratedly long table I built last fall for Nellie’s Barn Sale,

5ft long × 9½ inches deep

but I just so happened to run into the couple that bought it over the weekend.

Huh~ I still have the other pair of legs. . . and I happened on some pallet boards at an unusual 5ft 8 inches in length!  It’s the same spot I found the 2″ thick pallet used for the industrial-barn chic coat rack (also built for Nellie’s Barn sale) last fall.  I’ve been stalking that place ever since!

Since I’m no “Tom Brady” fan, I decided to forgo the super bowl and head out to my studio to work create instead!

Last fall,

someone was offering a dining table & chairs for FREE on Craigslist.  Uh, hello~I’m on my way!

I had no interest in the WHOLE—I saw PARTS!  *Although I did do a REglue & REvamp to sell the chairs immediately.

I knocked down the table into PARTS to make it easier to store.  But I used 2 of the 4 corner double legs right away.  Paired with some awesome free barn board, I made the first  looooong skinny table you see pictured above.

So, running into the folks who bought it got me thinking again.  Fast, easy, FUN project!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s my little overflow wood pile!

So I grabbed one of those really long pallets and knocked it down to individual boards, ripped what I needed to width and cut them to length.  This time though, I rounded the ends to match the legs.  It spans a long  5’4” × 10″.

I drilled for pocket screws to secure the legs to the table top, then was able to figure the angles to add the aprons.  I shot nails in from the top to secure the aprons~with extra supports.  A N D, you see I painted.

Here, you can see the few separate parts needed to bring it all together.

And you can see the bead detail I routered into the aprons trying to match the same apron/leg detail.

Yes~ I painted the table.

Farrow & Ball  Rectory Red #217

I have no passion for red, but I used this at Christmas and found I really liked it.  And I actually really like it for this table!

I’m just not happy with the top.  Yet.  But I’ll figure it out.

Behind a sofa, down a hallway, in a foyer, at the foot of a bed with a bench. . . just something for fun!

Catherine

And now it goes to the antique mall for sale~

Read Full Post »

do you see it?

This table,

Craigslist $5

–

Do you see what I see?

Parts!

Lots of CHEAP parts, no less!

So I chased off to pick up this guy, and, handing the lady my $5 she was so concerned to highlight the water mark on the top.  So sweet.  I didn’t have the heart to tell her not to worry about it because I was cutting it all up.  I just said THANK YOU.

On my return, I stood at the back of the car knocking it down into all those parts.  Easier to store •until further notice• too!

I now have:

#1  the top could become a large clock face, replace a table or dresser top, line a pair of wooden tray designs I’ve been mulling over…  I’ll strip it first.

#2 and #3  I think I’ll just RE-miter and make into frames.

#4  a wonderful wood turned post perfect for another world globe base!

#5  FEET!  For another table design I’ve been sketching in my head!

#6  Small CORBELS!  This is what –for me– solidified buying the table.

Someone once wrote me how they wanted to open up the top of my head and have a look inside to see what I see—Well, there ya’ go!

Happy Day my peeps~

Catherine

Read Full Post »

a Bird Song amended

–

Oh how this Craigslist dresser gave me such…

heart burn.

–

Don’t remember?

Read about THAT nightmare HERE.

And then it never sold.

It had  g o o d  exposure—?

But no one pulled the trigger.  :’ (

It got bounced from the antique mall to make room for other things, but I worried it would be abused in my over-flowing workshop (garage), so in the last few days before Christmas I put it into use in the LL. It gave me last minute storage of misc. ribbons and sewing supplies. . .

AND~became a coffee station during our Christmas lunch!

To -even temporarily- put this here, I had to remove a tilt top table and booster chair.  This dresser will still go for sale, but I’m really sold on the extra storage!    I see a future project!

Having opportunity to really LOOK at this project—I think it NEEDS something.  And I have an idea!

I turned to the –googler–  (as Wendy Williams always calls it cracking me up) and searched for phrases and bible verses with birds in it.  I found some cool stuff that I’ll probably use in the future!

I played with some graphics on the computer.  Hmmmmm. . . I don’t know.  How ’bout translating it to french?

I block printed my text.  I played with placement on the dresser front.  Slept on it—REarranged it some more. . .

then used tracing paper to transfer the image.  Pulled out a silver leaf pen and “wrote” over the top.

–

Fini!

An amended project.

I like it!

Please let someone else like it too.  (fingers crossed)

I might lightly sand the lettering…I don’t know…

Catherine

–

–

“Comme deux oiseaux dans le ciel ouvert, des âmes incassables, toi et moi.”

“Like two birds in the open sky, unbreakable souls, you and I.”

Read Full Post »

project #2 (stinky-nasty dresser)

I took another look at the pile of PARTS.

Zoned in on that scalloped bottom apron~

& thought about building  another shelf.

Hmmmm…

Sorry~forgot all about the camera.

–

Essentially—I left the full length/width of the piece, but mitered each end to add a return.

I took one of the long stile-leg sections to cut next~because it had the “matching” craqueleur and was the right return width.

Then I went back to the pile in search of a backboard and top.

–

The dresser’s original top showed a “crack” in it,

which was actually the tell-tale sign of being two boards glued together—so I broke them back into 2 pieces and, voilà!  A BACKBOARD and a TOP!

1— the apron front

2— from the long stile-leg

3 & 4— from the dresser’s top

5— edge detail cut offs from the top I cut shorter for the backboard

Out of a nasty-stinky dresser~

to a great mantel shelf!

Catherine

Read Full Post »

what. a. day.

–

Remember that STINKY-NASTY dresser I got off Craigslist?

The one that an animal peed in~ and has been sitting on the driveway since late June?

And STILL stinks~in part.

Well~ I DEconstructed the WHOLE darn thing –and surprisingly– THAT seemed to help!  So I grabbed some of its parts to work into some projects!

–

–

The 1st project-

was to rip two parts of the dresser’s side panels that could be paired together, then secured them together using maple door stop material creating a frame.

Afterwhich, I took the whole thing into the house and scrub-brushed it down.  I even bleached it too!

It gave the whole piece a great patina!  And look at that natural, aged craqueleur.

–

In lieu of the standard wreath, I’ve created something different!

I went on a Christmas-pinning tangent about 3 years ago and recently went back to look at all the inspiration.  This project stood out once AGAIN!

That star was SO much easier to create since learning how to make a perfect pentagon—I made another to use as a template.

~I centered my pentagon, then followed the 5 fold lines outward to mark the exact points to pre-drill for the pegs.  THAT EASY!

~I glued and hammered in each peg, and let them set up before wrapping with my ribbons.

These will be going to the Holiday Show!

Next up~

the 2nd project coming out of the

Stinky-Nasty Craigslist dresser!

Catherine

Read Full Post »