Can't get motivated...

It has been a long dreary day and I've been slobbing around for the most part of it. This weather makes me do absolutely nothing but lay around. I did get up this morning and take Isabella to sign up for basketball. She really doesn't know how to play but hopefully they will teach her and not use her as a bench warmer. I think every kid should get the chance to play if they are willing to learn. We will see what happens. :)

There are so many projects I'd like to do. It's hard when you live in a small house to do what you want to do for the lack of space. My husband is a huge procrastinator and he frustrates me because of it. I will start a project, he will take it over & then it just sits there. I've been waiting on closet doors for over a year now, my chicken yard still needs finished, and I still don't have doors on my stand up pantry. I think I'm going to just have to do it myself. LOL Sometimes I just want to sit down and cry though.

I really should be doing the dishes or folding the clothes but I just don't feel like it today...bah humbug.

Reviving Grandmaw's house...Part One!

My grandmother, Evelyn, lives in an old house in a little community not too far from Nashville, Arkansas. It's called Center Point. The area was once a thriving community & was the original county seat, complete with a court house, post office, doctors office, orchards, stores & a plethora of beautiful old homes. When the railroad came through, everything moved to Nashville & only a handful of the old homes remain. My grandparents moved to Center Point in the 1950's when my dad was a baby. They bought an old house & an acre of land for $1200 from a member of the Reese family. The Reece family was a very prominent fixture back in those days. I know they were property owners & had a couple of businesses. The house was built around 1880. She had her flaws but 70 some odd years after her birth, my grandparents started remodeling, not out of vanity or to "keep up with the Jones'" but out of necessity. My grandmother told me she originally had high ceilings, an original foyer, no cabinets to speak of, no indoor plumbing & there were drafts everywhere. She also said, when she first walked in the house, there was wallpaper falling down everywhere, including from the ceilings. This house had no wiring whatsoever. She told me that it was so cold in there in the winter time that you had to sleep under a six inch pile of quilts just to keep warm. My grandpa hurriedly put up old sheet rock, built home made cabinets, wired the house, lowered the ceilings removed the foyer to make the living room bigger & put in a full functioning bathroom complete with the cast iron shallow square tub. He also added a back porch, where I always remember them sleeping. Some years later, they got the wood paneling bug & put in some DARK walnut paneling in the living room & old light colored paneling in two of the bedrooms & bathroom & ARGH the covered the original hardwood floors with some old school type tile but later it was re-tiled with peel & stick.  The paneling has always been there as far back as I can remember. The house was old & shabby but held an inner beauty we wouldn't appreciate until the summer of 2013. Make a note of this last sentence because I will be posting appropriate pictures later. 

Two summers ago (2012), my dear friend Karen, (who also happens to be married to my first cousin, John...who is more like my brother, so that would make her my cousin-in-law or sister-in-law depending how you look at it :)) & I decided to redo the living room. Paw has been gone for about 7 years now & Maw, being alone most of the time, well...she just needed new scenery. So we went to Wal-Mart, bought us some paint & hooked her up! 

I will have to dig for the before pics but these are the AFTER! 

This is the front door....it's where the original foyer. Had to repair some of the facings but it wasn't a big deal. I know it looks crooked...that's because it is. This house has been standing here since the 1880's. :P  Pardon the junk around there...we had stuff piled on there while we were working. Notice the overhead light? It came from the old newspaper office (The Dierks Banner) in Dierks, Arkansas. My great aunt & uncle ran the paper for a few years. 

This is the other side of what used to be the foyer. Both doors go into bedrooms. We made the shelf from an old king sized waterbed headboard. My hubby had to cut it down to make it fit but I thought it made a good shelf. We originally had a sewing center set up there for her but...well..she had other plans. 

Here's another side of the living room. She has her daybed in there. She mainly lives in this room & uses the bathroom & kitchen these days. See Mr. Thumper sitting there in the chair? :) 

I'll try to upload some before pics & a pic of the mantle. I had to pull these from Facebook & the others are on the phone I had before I got the one I have now...stay tuned! 

Fourth generation cabinet!

This cabinet started out in Okay, Arkansas, in the house my grandmother grew up in. Some years later, it moved to my great grandmother's house in a little community we called Midway.  It stood in my great grandmother, Della's, house for as long as I can remember, & in her bedroom is where I always remember it being, perched tightly on some orange-ish mottled shag carpet. Once it stood beside the closet, then it moved beside her bedroom door some years later.  It held various things, I can kind of remember it having books & maybe some glassware in it. I also remember the odd smell it had in it when I was little & it still has the same smell. I'm quite sure that it has something to do with the type of wood the shelves were made with. It smells like memories to me. :) Anyway, this old cabinet has watched us all grow up. When my grandmother, Margaret, was a little shaver, she climbed on it and broke a few things. When I started peeling back the layers to restore it, I found an antique white color & some little flower decals. I stood there & imagined my Mammaw looking at those same little flowers. Maybe those where why she climbed on the cabinet, trying to get a closer look! :) When my great grandmother sold her house to another family member, my Mom inherited the cabinet. She had me store it in the old farmhouse on my husband's family farm because she didn't have a place for it in her house & when we moved in our house, I couldn't stand her down there alone so I brought her into my home! I wish Mom could have seen her restored because I know Mom would've loved how she turned out!

Here's the old girl right here. :)

When I got the cabinet, it had these Magnolia flowers. I forgot to take a picture of it BEFORE I started peeling the layers. From what my Mother told me about the cabinet, my great grandmother had her put the Magnolias on there. At some point in time between the 80's & 90's, everyone went crazy with the decorative contact paper! Blah! Poor girl fell victim to this decoration disaster! You can also see at some point earlier, someone else found some type of stick on floral covering. It appears to be 1960's from the print, but I can't tell you for sure. After peeling that layer back, I found the little flowers. :) I contemplated saving them & working around them but they just didn't fit into my decor. Hey, at least I have pictures! I'm not sure at what point in time or who put the doo doo brown color on there but...YIKES! 

Here's what she looked like after I did a rough sanding. I really wanted to leave her like this (THINK PRIMITIVE!)  but I kept on going. Notice we had to add a little replacement piece to the bottom of one of the doors. Honestly, I like when pieces might be missing, as long as a piece is still functional, because it adds character, but I decided that it would keep the door sturdy if we fixed it. 

After a light coat of primer she ended up like this. I love the whitewashed look but I was trying to match my home decor so I pressed on! I started loving the little handles at this point. :)

Americana Heritage Brick...my favorite color & at this point, my new best friend. I used 9 of these little bottles to paint this cabinet. It covered the back as well. Keep in mind, this cabinet is 6 feet tall & about a foot & a half wide. That's a lot of coverage & I coated it twice! It literally cost me around $10 to restore the cabinet. I had primer on hand & the wood to repair it. I never throw wood pieces away, they ALWAYS come in handy! Always remember, if you're going to be painting something, make sure you use a good quality brush! It's just WORTH it! I used a 1 inch Purdy for this! 

And here is the finished product! I love her & she cradles all my John Wayne movies & some of my picture albums! I keep a basket of Raggedies my mom's friends made for her on the top of her! 

Old habits die hard...

See, I told  you I'm bad about starting stuff & not finishing them. Blah! I'm going to try this again. I get busy & things just don't go as I plan. However, I can post a few projects that I've done over the past, er, year & a half. I'll just have to put them in separate threads because I'm still new at this blogging thing. ;)

Fun day with the family (well some of them) & Hobby Lobby score! :)

Saturday we took our Isabella on a little trip to Hot Springs. She wanted to ride to the top of the mountain so we took her up there. She loves mountains. My brother lives at the foot of Mount Magazine Check it out here :) & she loves going to visit him & riding up to the top of the mountain. 

Anyway, we had dinner at Applebee's. Not my favorite place but his folks got us a gift card so that's where we went. Actually, it was really good. Our waiter was awesome & he was doing some Motown Trivia & singing. My EIGHT year old got the Motown question! Keith & I were racking our brains & boom she got it! I guess she pays attention! The waiter brought her ice cream & a brownie for getting the question. We had a really good time. 

Oh, yeah, my Hobby Lobby score... I walked down the clearance aisle. All their Christmas items were 80% off! Cha ching! I got a bunch of tin canisters with lids & handles & a bunch of metal baskets & some metal pails. Just need a little paint & instant storage! Also got some scrapbooking sheets to play with. I don't scrapbook...yet...but I'm thinking I'm going to decoupage my grandmothers coffee table & make it look cute! :) I love doing stuff for my grandmothers! 

I'll post pics of my score later, because Keith is snoring in his chair & I feel quite certain he wouldn't appreciate me clanging cans around! lol Next on my list, I'm going to be redoing a cabinet that was in my grandmother's house when she was growing up. My great grandmother gave it to my Mom, who passed it to me. It's really cute but the paint is outdated and has went through tacky old 60's wallpaper & then some magnolia type contact paper. Ick! Peel Peeel Peeeel Sand Paint! It will be a chore but...I can't wait to get started. I'll post pics as I go. :)

My girls & the love of my life :)

Kaitie

Ashleigh

Isabella. She was a fairy in her Christmas play. 

And the love of my life, Keith. I love this picture, he's helping me look for patterns in Hancock Fabrics. :)

Ahhh the carseat makeover...

I didn't get a before picture, but it was basically a dingy blue stained old cover. My bestie needed a carseat for her baby so I got out my fabric & bias tape and went to work. :)

I added a pocket for toys & also some ribbon loops for the hook on toys. A nice redo from a hand me down carseat. New again! :) 

This is Hailey Bug, I call her Agnes, just to aggravate her mom, the lady in the slime green shirt who also happens to be my best friend. :)