a little bit of this and a little bit of that

Oh my gosh…I been busy, busy, busy!  I’ve started a new daycare child and it leaves me with no time for extra things at naptime.  There are things that I HAVE to get done and once those are usually done baby will wake up from her nap shortly after.  Naptime was usually the time I sat down and was able to write or start a blog post.  Now I need to reevaluate when I can write.  I am SO not a night person mainly because I’m wiped out from the day I can’t think straight.  I already get up early I don’t know if I could do any earlier.  So I need time to think what will work mainly because I do like this blog thing and sharing.  How can I get it all in?  I just need a few more hours in the day!

Anyway, over the past 2 weekends I have gone to the Goodwill.  I like going there and seeing what treasures can be found.  My trips usually take me awhile to comb through the items on the shelves and what they possibly could turn into. 

I went into the furniture section of the “slinkiest” Goodwill (as my children call it) and I came upon this chair.

Since we installed our bookcases, I thought a side chair in a wood finish would look nice.  It’s a barrel chair with a cane back and sides.  I absolutely love the texture it gives this little space.  My thought at the store for it was that it could act as a side chair but then be pulled around to use at the computer.  It was a nice thought but the seat height is too low!  It had a small cushion attacked to back of the cane that I cut off.  The seat cushion is a grey woven fabric.  At first I was not in love with the fabric and thought I could sew another cover.  But the grey seat has grown on me and seeing that I would like to incorporate more of that color it will stay.

My second purchase was this picture.  What caught my eye at first was the gold-copper frame.  But as I walked closer the artwork was really quite nice.  It looked like something that I might have drawn in my rendering class in college.  The mat was discolored and I simply just painted over it as close as I could get with one of my acrylic craft paints.  I’ve never painted mat board before and who-knew it would turn out good!

I rearranged a few pictures in our living room and BOY! handy-husband was not pleased!  There were holes that needed to be patched and painted.  It definitely was not something he wanted to do on a Sunday afternoon. 

I got a second pair of antlers from my Dad that I have hanging above my new Goodwill picture.

The deer antlers had a red velvet fabric covering on the plaque.  Well red just would not do.  I changed it to a gold crushed velvet that works much better in our living room.

This past weekend I took a trip to my Grandma’s house to pick up a few more books for my bookshelves, (I’ll show that later as I’m restyling them for Christmas) but I picked up a few unexpected items.  One was this picture…

I really love the frame but don’t know if I’m exactly in love with the artwork.  In an odd turn of events, handy husband was in love with just the opposite.  I really shouldn’t say love for him, because I don’t think he could be in love with artwork.  But in other words he didn’t like the frame – way TOO much for him.  Well we hung it anyway.  Don’t tell him this but it probably will come down in awhile, we’ll just see.  Here’s a close-up of the detail on the frame.

I also got this brass faux bamboo coatrack.  I wanted something to fill both sides of my entry cabinet to give it more of a presence.  I think this is working for one of the sides, plus it gives guests a place to hang their coat. 

In the mist of all this rearranging and shuffling of pictures I took down all my fall stuff.  I’ve never started this early decorating for Christmas.  December has always been a busy month and I want to be able to enjoy it!  I don’t want to be hanging Christmas ornaments one night and then the next going to a holiday program.  Last year I didn’t have ANY posts in the month of December.  I want to enjoy my children’s excitement and not be bogged down with trying to get something done.  I don’t have my trees up but here is a sneak peek at my entry table.

I painted a bunch of curly branches last year and stuck them into glass candle hurricane holder.  So simple but it adds height and just fills out the space.  I added a few ornaments and sitting next to it is a gold cone beaded tree.  The mirrored vanity tray was once on my dresser in my childhood home.  I brought it out onto the entry table and placed a grouping of white, gold and silver ornaments within a decorative bowl.  Again so simple and sparkles so much whenever I walk by.

I hope to be back soon with a tutorial on how I made my fabric covered Christmas ornaments.  I’m shooting for Friday but it more likely be on Monday.  So let’s just say Monday.

I started this post on Monday and geez….it’s now Wednesday.  I guess I will just have to piece my time together and write when I can and when I’m not so tried and feel mentally ready to write.

Thanks for reading.

Bye for now!