The Finished Chandelier Lamp

A while back I turned a chandelier that I bought for almost nothing into a hanging lamp for Sweet Amanda but I haven't take the time to show the finished project. Click here to see the old post. Hubby took this chandelier

 

 from one that would hang on the ceiling wired in to a lamp with a twist on and off switch. This works great in an apartment that has no overhead lighting.

 

 

 

 

It turned out really nice and the lamp shades really add to the piece.

A Bookcase Table for Star Hill

Remember this hint from last week?

I found this little bookcase, end table, night stand... not sure what it is for the amazing price of $2.00 while driving through Coldspring a few weeks ago.  I wasn't sure what I would do with it, but it was solid and made of wood with no obvious wobbles or problems.

I brought it back to Star Hill and started thinking... I really need something small for my iPad, laptop, books, and my lap blanket by the couch.  That something has to be red.  I mean I want it to be REALLY red.  The little bookcase fit the bill.  Someone had even cut holes in the back so that I could run the electronics through without a problem.
I had this particular red table pinned for a while... just calling my name from You Are Talking Too Much Blogspot.

Before I settled on yellow for the hexagonal table, purchased some red paint that I knew would find its' way into Star Hill.  Behr, Red Tomato #170B-7.  This color is going to be used in my Christmas decorating this year too. 

I brought the bookcase back with me to the city because that is where the red paint is and this weekend I got the chance to work on it. I was home with a sick husband so the garage looked pretty appealing.
I Spackled all the holes and primed it.

Then I got busy painting.

I love the red color.  At Star Hill I remembered I had some red fabric that I bought for $1.00 at a garage sale a while back.  It was the perfect color.  I lined the back with the fabric.
I think it adds to the piece.
Here is my $3.00 book case.  It will not look this cute in the front room of Star Hill, because it is going to be a work piece, but I wanted you to see the size with my milk glass on the shelves.

 Nothing sits straight at Star Hill.  The hill plays havoc with pictures.

DIY Monochromatic 3 Dimensional Art

Remember this hint from the Roadside Rescue Blog?

I do love finding treasures in the trash. Two weeks ago on my way to work there it was. A giant framed art piece leaning against a trash can waiting for the truck to whisk it off to the landfill. If you know me at all, you know that I stopped and jammed it into the back seat of my car. I did not have an idea what I wanted to do with this piece. I already have a huge chalkboard and recently made a paint chip piece from another large framed print. I knew something would come to me if I would just be patient. While looking through Pinterest, ran across this artwork for sale.

 

Truly Madly Deeply
I loved it. Our master bedroom is a little lacking in artwork. Something like this piece would be amazing, but $515.00 plus shipping is way out of my comfort zone. I thought the idea of a monochromatic piece above our bed would be restful. I have  been happily married to my best friend for over thirty years. I think that the words from the Savage Garden song just fits in our room. I knew that I had found inspiration for the rescued art piece.
I developed a plan.  Use the frame and hopefully the print, look for letters that are the correct size, map it out, glue it down, paint it then ta-dah.  Oh how I wish things went this well for me...

The plan worked perfectly until I priced out the letters. It cost $40.00 for the letters and spray paint- and that was with a coupon! I was thrilled to find that the print in the frame was glued to hardboard and was stapled into place. I really thought this would go quickly until I discovered the frame was not painted, it was covered with a sort of wallpaper like stuff that had to come off. After I determined that the frame was solid wood and worth the effort, I peeled off the paper that came off easily then got busy with a wire brush on the parts that did not come off easily. Two hours later the frame was clean.

 

As I got ready to put the letters down I recruited the math teacher that lives at my house to help. No way did I want to mess up a $40.00 project.  I have whole pieces of furniture that didn't cost that much!  He mapped it out for me with a ruler. I carefully drew a pencil outline around each letter before I started gluing the letters down one by one with E6000 I already had on hand.

After the glue down process, I applied weight to the whole thing in order to make sure they were stuck to the board completly.
Next I had to fill in the holes in the bottom of some of the letters with painter's putty. It had the nerve to turn coolish this week so I did not get the chance to spray paint the picture for a few days. It was torture to see it sitting there not painted, but I have been feeling a little under the weather so being in the unheated garage was out.
Finally, Friday after work the stars and planets aligned.  Low humidity, no wind and warm enough to paint. I chose Krylon Ivory in a satin finish.

It looked pretty rough afte the first can of paint.  Why oh why do I think I can get away without priming?

 

Sooo after a trip to the store for spray primer and more paint...grrr.

 I ended up with this beauty.  I just couldn't seem to get the picture taken straight, but you have to trust me, it is straight and square.  As soon as I finish the bedroom, I will show it to you on the wall. I love it.

Road Side Rescue

Wow! I hit the lottery tonight.  Solid wood, super-long and it is going to be this color blue.  It will happily live in my den in the near future.  Even Hubby thought this one was worth saving.

The blue in this leaf will be the color of the dresser.

It will go on this long, lonely wall.

 

 Here she is!

 

 It even has hardware!

 

The only piece we broke getting it into the truck was the center leg.  It looks like an easy fix.

 

I have been super busy and haven't finished the three projects I have started. Here is a glimpse of what I am working on. I left the camera at The Lovebirds' house so the pictures are from the ipad.

I have a week off with time on my hands. I promise to get busy.

This weekend I will be working on a habitat home. I have a few things lined up there too.

Decorating for Thanksgiving

This weekend I was a total city girl. Hubby got the stomach bug going around so we were home bound. I did have a few projects at the city house so there was no worry that I would be bored today. My main order of business was getting the house ready for Thanksgiving.

This is what I assembled to do today.

I got busy last night with candlesticks. I found these candlesticks in Onalaska, near Star Hill, for 25 cents each. I purchased the round bases at Michael's for 68 cents each after the discount.

  I am a fan of the E 6000 adhesive.  It works great.

 

Here they are connected together.

 



 I used Valspar Whipped Apricot spray paint to unify the wood colors.I am really addicted to yellow right now. I love this yellow particularly. For just over a dollar a candlestick including the paint, I ended up with a something I really like a lot.

I used the spray paint on a frame that I got for  25 cents.  sprayed the liner of the frame with chalkboard paint but I should not have tried to write on it yet.  I will be repainting. 

The frame started out in a maroon color.  It is a good thing I used primer.  Here is after the first primer coat.

There was a lot of pink bleeding through the primer.

I did convince hubby to go with me to get some youpon holly from the ditches near our house even though he was sick. As the roads get busier this is not as easy as it used to be. Here is my table before I got busy and here it is after.

I need to bring my white plates home for the table from Star Hill.

 



  Here is my buffet finished.

 This is what my farmhouse table looks like.

I had a very productive weekend. More to come.

Cutting Edge Stencil Sale

The stencil I used on the guest room wall is on sale today only 50% off.  I have had several people ask about the stencil I used.  When I purchased it I only got free shipping.  Bummer. 

Here is the link.

Cutting Edge Stencil

Farkle With Friends

About once a month I have the opportunity to get together with a great bunch of ladies to eat, laugh, eat some more, oh... we do play a dice game too. We tell our husbands that the reason we get together is to play Farkle but honestly it is a chance to get together, laugh act silly and enjoy being together. This month the big game was at Marcie's beautifully redone home. Her husband is quite the handy man. He has renovated every room in the home over the past few years. Her kitchen is great and functions so well for large groups.
This time the meal was sort of a potluck menu that centered around the social planner's taco soup.

Yummy!

My social planner made the soup, but her big sister had to stir the pot.  Big Sister has us all thinking pink right now.  We are in her corner.

No chance of going hungry at Farkle.


During our "very serious" game time our mathematician, Sharon, keeps up with our points until someone reaches 25,000 points. 

The rules are very complicated but we are in good hands with Sharon keeping the score.

The winner gets to keep these amazing fuzzy dice until the next time we meet.  They must be hanging from your rear view mirror.

We had a rare roll during the game.

1-2-3-4-5-6

Marcie made cute napkin rings for us.

She is so creative.

Martha won the Farkle gift- she rolled Farkle the most times.

Guess who won and is sporting a fancy set of fuzzy dice this month in her car? 

I am so glad that I have group of ladies who are fun, funny and accepting of me and my crazy schedule.