The Turquoise Cabinet

Well, I finally finished painting and distressing my little cabinet in the living room.

I bought this like three years ago with the intentions of painting and it's taken me this long to get to it.

I might distress it more. I tend to not like things in my house super distressed so not sure.

My intention was to distress it more but the paint was stuck so tight it was taking tons of sanding 

and I just said - "that's enough"

I sanded for like 5 hours one day and still wasn't done. 

I sanded so much that I sanded my finger print off on my index finger and was not 

able to open anything by touch on my iphone!

For three days!!!!!

Super annoying.

Did you know that some people because of jobs they have had have no finger prints?

Yep, they wear them off.

It can be a job that you work with paper a lot...like a secretary or an accountant.

So for a few days I was afraid I'd removed my identity!

I still had two hours of sanding to do...but the rest I did with a rubber glove on.

That's the before. Ick. I am not into those kinda colors at all. 

Mom loved it and I would have given it to her but honestly, she does not have room for it anywhere.

I already gave her one sideboard I bought several years ago that was black and 

she didn't like it that I was going to paint it and said she wanted it. So I gave that one to her for 

her soon to be (I hope) breakfast room.

 

This photos shows up close the finish. The actual color is somewhere between this photo and the first photo. I don't know why I couldn't get the color to photograph more accurately.

 

I am fully aware that Fall is over and everyone is on to Christmas but with all I have going on at the moment I decided to go ahead and post this while I had a chance and then post again later decked out for Christmas. I can't wait to see it with my Christmas things on it. I think this photo shows the color most accurate.

It's brighter than I intended but I do like how cheery it is.

I used Waverly Chalk paint because it was cheap and I'd read good things about it. Plus you can buy in the middle of the night at Walmart which is how I like to shop. I was very happy with the quality of the paint. I mixed the color using blue, yellow and white plus a little brown craft paint thrown in. I might distress it a little more. I might tone the color down a little more with a wash and or I might leave as is. I have not waxed it yet. I'm waiting to decide if it's done or not.

 I picked up this adorable pillow at Michael's in October. I could not resist it. Michael's has been having incredible sales. This pillow I think cost me $9.

Now if you think I've been ignoring Christmas...I have not.

I have decorated two trees so far .... just not for me. 

I decorated a 9 foot tree for a client last week. What a chore! Just cause it was so tall!

She had great ornaments and enough of them. I was worried she wouldn't have enough.

My friend Toni who is a designer I worked with at the store and who recently quit same store because of crazy management came along and thank goodness she did because it took the two of us 6 hours to do the tree together. I also did the mantle.

I wish I'd taken photos but I was so tired and ready to get out of there I totally forgot. Plus the whole family had gathered for a pre-Thanksgiving night and I felt like I needed to get out of the way.

It was beautiful though. It was a Balsam Hill tree and she had all Balsam Hill ornaments in clear glass, white, cream and gold. Very tasteful. But not very creative for me. It's like you couldn't screw that tree up...with it's monochromatic theme. 

Very tasteful

Then on Sunday my BFF, David wanted me to come over and help him with his tree.

I had helped him shop for ornaments last month...making him buy way more than he thought he needed and keeping him on track with his theme. He was all over the place.

He wanted help finishing the tree up. When I got there I was like "Where are the rest of your ornaments?" He was like "I saved them the tree is full."

"Oh, no"...I said..."You need way more." I had told him you have to tuck the ornaments into the tree as well as on the branches. So he retrieved left over ornaments. About 150 and we went to town. 

Then several trips to the store for ribbon and floral picks completed his tree and he was happy.

It then looked as a tree should. He was happy. I was happy. I went home. 

I still could have put another 150 more ornaments on this tree.

This is David's first tree in his first house.

My first tree in my first house was like 3 feet tall with ornaments I made.

Still no tree up at my house however. 

Thanksgiving I spent with Mom and Peggy. That's my Mom, Alice in the floral top on the left. We ate at Ingrid's Kitchen. They have a huge Thanksgiving buffet every year. Peggy is an old family friend.

We spend every holiday together.

I am still caring for my sister's little Isaac who had back surgery a week and a half ago.

He is doing great but is a handful. He's very smart and strong willed. He has figured out how to get out of his crate. Which is exasperating! But I really can't complain. He's super sweet and all the weenies get a long just fine. It could be worse. 

I just feel like I'm practicing the fine art of dog juggling.

It's hard making sure he doesn't run out the back door on his own. He wants to so badly. But he's not allowed to yet.

That above is Maisie, I rescued her two years ago.

She's about 11 and very scrappy. She acts like she is 3. She loves Franklin and Franklin loves her.

She's very independent. I'll write more about her later. She came from a situation where she was living in the backyard and never got to come inside. Her name was Heidi at the time but had been also Fiona and Fifi. She'd been in rescue situations a couple of times. 

I renamed her Maisie because she didn't know the name Heidi at all. She learned Maisie immediately.

It took a year for her to feel secure here. She's a happy girl now but she had anxiety at first.

Well I tell more about her later.

Next week Isaac goes back to back doctor. I know he's doing very well. He is walking fine. Doing everything fine but I have to make sure he doesn't over do. He is not allowed to run or wrestle with the others. Not sure how long he'll stay here. He seems ready to go home but he gets better supervision here than he will at my sister's. 

Sorry, to go on so....can you tell I'm alone a lot these days?

No one to tell all to.

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A Little Spring in My Life

 How is your spring going? 

All I can say is I wish I had more time to smell the roses or tulips for that matter.

That photo and the one at the bottom are from my Pinterest folder entitled "Spring"

Today I was off from work but went to a client's house to help 

her freshen up her french country home.

Something that is right up my alley.

We hit it off when we met last week and I knew we were on the same wave length

when I was greeted at the door by a very similar concrete statue 

to the one I have at my own door.
A large dog with a flower basket in his mouth.

truly a classic
 

The rest of the week I'll be busy coming up with a plan to freshen up her home.

That is the best part of my job as an interior designer...all the nice people I meet

and when I go to someone's home and discover I love the same sort of things they do and 

I can help them give it that little extra it needs.

That said I truly enjoy doing rooms that are totally not something I would live

in either. That is what is fun about the job...I get to live vicariously through others...at least

design wise.

 

We are having a big sale at the store right now - 60% off all floor models and 50% off all special orders. It's cause we are getting ready to redecorate the store and get lots of new things in.
Sale runs till the end of April.

Come in and see me! Or email if there is something you are looking for or if you 

need my help pulling together a room or your whole house!

So that little loveseat above? I designed it for the floor. But it sold super fast!
Can't wait to do something similar again. Of course if you need one like it...I can order
for you.

  I love that white china cabinet in this photo.
The table is already sold but the chairs are still available and so is the cabinet.
All can still be ordered too.
 
Here you can see that the loveseat was in the same room on display.
That's certainly enough about work...
I'm currently trying to get my yard in shape.
I hired a new yard guy who is someone I worked with who went out on his own
with his own landscaping company.
Need a great guy to do your lawn?...email me and I'll share his name.
He's very easy to work with and does a great job!

Last year when Franklin hurt his back...my back slider door fell off it's track and could not
be fixed.
I went without a door for about 2 months. Thankfully, the weather was mild the whole time.
But I never showed you the garden doors I got to replace the slider.
This photo was taken the day they were installed.
Mom snapped it. The deck is a mess...cause things were just pushed aside.
But it was an immediate improvement to the house.

I am loving them...but now really really want a matching pair on the back bedroom too.

The dogs are happy going in and out.
And speaking of dogs. Here is a current video taken last week of Franklin in the yard.

Very, very proud of this boy. He was totally paralyzed last August and now look at him!

He's a very happy boy again. 

I'm hushing Harvey in this video because my neighbors have complained about his barking.

Although this is about all he barks and it's for like two minutes a day.

I could go on and on about my interactions with these neighbors.

They think dogs should never bark. I asked my neighbors on the other side

if they had a problem with my dogs making too much noise and they said..

"What? We can't hear your's - our's bark all the time!"

Their dogs do bark but it doesn't bother me at all. 

It's not a mean bark...it's a saying hello to the world bark. 

Same as mine.

Anyway...we are on pins and needles here trying not to bother my neighbors on one side.

Closing with another pretty photo of spring tulips.
All I managed to plant this spring so far is some bright pink phlox.
I've always admired it when it comes out in spring around the neighborhood and this year...
I finally got a little in the ground.

Hopefully, next year it will look like this.

Happy Spring!

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Daisy Too

Introducing Daisy Too!

Two weeks ago my Mom adopted a little 10 year old dachshund that needed a home.
A friend at work knew about her and asked if I wanted her.

With Violet being sick I just couldn't take on another...but I mentioned her to Mom

and when Mom heard her name...she couldn't resist.

Her name is Daisy.
 

You know we lost our own Daisy in February.

She looks very sad in this photo and she was very sad.

But each day she is happier and happier at my Mom's house.

The first night she slept in a dog bed in the kitchen, her choice.

The next night she came in and slept in a dog bed in the bedroom in the middle of the night.

The next night she followed Mom's other two to bed but again slept in the dog bed on the floor.

After two days of that...she decided to join the others in my Mom's king sized bed.

Mom says now she has claimed her spot in the bed and can be found there all day 

when not awake.

She had so much to learn in her new home. How to use a doggy door. How to eat off a spoon.

She has the softest ears. She is just the perfect little dog.

She does love to eat and weighs almost 30 pounds.

That is why Mom is hand feeding her to limit the amount she eats.

But Mom says she wakes her at 6:30 am each day asking for food.

At first Mom thought it would hurt to call her Daisy since we'd had our own Daisy.

But Mom said she really did seem like a Daisy so she is calling her Daisy Too.

Mom's Marcus really likes her and Rosie thinks she's ok.

I'm sure it's confusing to them that Mom is calling her Daisy when they KNOW it's not THEIR 

Daisy.

But all are adjusting. 

It's good to know that even though we lost our little Daisy...we've been able to give another Daisy

a happy place to live out her golden years.

I always say...

There is nothing better than a puppy except a dog and the only thing better than 

a dog is an old dog.

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Indian Summer

 Sorry, Mod Mix Monday didn't happen this week. I'll just do it next week.

Too much going on with starting the new job. 

Which is going really well. 

I'm spending this week just getting to know all the lines of furniture.

Last night when I came home I came around to the back deck and the geraniums, though it is October 22, looked the best they've looked all year.

I couldn't resist taking a few photos.

 Silly Sally running around the deck. 

My deck needs to be cleaned and refinished so badly.

That's a project for next year!

I've been saying that for several years.

 Coleuses went nuts. I think you are suppose to keep them from blooming 

but the bees love the blooms so I just let them bloom.

 Harvey and Sally

 My wall fountain looked better earlier in the season. 

But it's still blooming like crazy.

 I was going to replace these geraniums with pansies the other day but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. 

They are super healthy. So I'll wait till after it's really cold to put out some pansies.

 Sweet potato vine shows no signs of slowing down. 

One day I'll come out and it will be all dark and withered when it gets cold.

 I tried to get some good photos of Franklin but he was busy hunting squirrels.

 Here you can see how long his fur has gotten. 

He's got a very beautiful coat and it's very very soft.

That's a show worthy stance.

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Christmas is for Dogs

Christmas Morning was lots of fun for the weenies.

They had a great time tearing into their pretty stockings from MVL reader, Karla.

Thanks again, Karla!

Oh...the dogs loved all of this.

Violet is the best at opening packages.

The other's watched her to see what to do.

Then they all settled in to chew on their new bones.

Yes, a very good time was had by all.

Today I bought them a bunch of toys at 75% off!

Christmas...continues...for the weenies!

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