Category Archives: Home Goods

When Parents Purge

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Don’t you love it when your parents decide it’s time to purge their crap pass down family heirlooms?

Such was the unexpected case this week as we were at their house to eat their food because we love them and enjoy spending time in their company.

Dad had Junior over to help him do some work in the garage, and while doing so, unearthed some treasures. 

First, let me just say that as far as talent, creativity, and artistic ability goes in my family… my dad and brother got it all.  All of it.  Mom and I are just over here tripping on things and falling down a lot.

Tanner (the brother) argues that it’s a fair trade because as the oldest child, when I came out I took both metabolisms.  Whateva.

Dad carves.

Neat, right?!  Loving the owl especially.

And as an added bonus, he sent home a whole tub of these things:

He makes the spools and clothes pins into things like santa clause faces.  But since I’m lacking in skills, I’m thinking a garland of some sort.

Then he gave me a tool box my brother made in high school.

I love that he signed it in Sharpie.

Me: Dad gave me the tool box you made.

Tanner: Oh real cool.  I see it was really near and dear to his heart.  :/

Me:

Ahhh, there’s nothing like sibling love.

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Framing More Memories

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The older I get, the more sappy.

I blame Junior.  I was never quite so mushy and emotional before he came along.  I think part of that is the fact that he shows me every single day how quickly time passes.  I didn’t notice it before.  Probably because I wasn’t looking.  Every day he has been alive, he has grown, and he has changed, and I can’t begin to comprehend the pace.

And now he’s choosing a white pumpkin instead of the hundreds of orange, and fighting us about wearing hats.

He’s running around faster than we can keep up, and making Bill one exhausted doggie.

(But I think Bill likes it as much as we do.)

Anyway, a by product of my musings was the realization that not only is Junior getting older… We all are.

Makes me want to hold on to things, especially memories, a little tighter.  Thus, I framed another memory.  A memory made by my grandma, of her famous vegetable soup.  My favorite.

I love seeing her familiar hand writing.  I love the little cards she wrote on.  I love having this in the kitchen to see every day.

It’s really just for looks, because although the directions are right there… in reality all I have to do is call her up and tell her I’ve got a hankering for some soup. 

Because we all know a hearty dose of vegetable soup can cure any woe – even a case of the I’m-getting-old-and-have-eye-wrinkles-and-lip-hair-now blues. 

Especially the lip hair blues.

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It’s Nice to Be Nice

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I have people in my life who are better to me than I am to them.  Who send sweet text messages just to see how my day is going, or funny pics that made them think of me.  Who come over during the first days of the move just to clean and move debris from the yard.  Who make me handmade bracelets and barbed wire crosses, just because.

And who are funny.

Me:  I’m going to steal a pic of you off FB for the blog – I promise it’s nice.

Angie: Sure, if you think it won’t scare off your followers.  I don’t want to be responsible for the collapse of your blogging empire.  (Do you note sarcasm?  I noted sarcasm.)

Me: They’ll probably be all, “Oh dang, who is that?  Imma stalk her now.”

Angie: Sweet!  I’ve been wanting a stalker for a long time.

If you know of any handsome, cowboy-types looking for someone to stalk full-time, applications can be sent directly through me.

Anyway, we had a lunch date at delicious Chipotle and I wanted to give her a little something, so I made her one of my dryer vent punkins.  Trying to think ahead, I left it in the car so she wouldn’t have to juggle it AND her giant burrito. 

Stupid Kansas.  Stupid, dumb sweltering September heat.  Stupid, idiot me for leaving a hot glued item in an oven of a car.

Me, wailing and shaking my fist at that snarky sun:  NOOOOOO!!!

Angie: It’s totally fine.  I can just glue it back together when I get home.  By the way, I brought you this…

And this…

And this…

All I could do was humbly hang my head in shame.  A buffalo, because buffalo.  A horseshoe to place above our door for good luck.  And a rake head for my wine glasses.

Just because. 

She handed me the rake head and I immediately dropped it on the ground.  That’s why they call me *Grace McSuavey.

*No one calls me that.

The moral of the story is this:  It’s nice to be nice. 

Because of Angie, and so many others in my life who are better to me than I am to them, (you know who you are) I want to be better.  More thoughtful.  More giving.  Nice for the sake of being nice.

Just because.

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Framing Flowers

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Or weeds, whatever your 17 month old picks out of your yard and hands you.

Like everything else he does, the gesture made my heard explode and I wanted to hang on to them.  So I dug around in the basement for a frame I wasn’t using.

I graduated.  Go me!

Yank the photo, insert weeds memories just like Lindsay.

Find a spot to display said memories. 

I wandered around for a while when I realized I’ve never shown you guys the half bath.  Probably because it isn’t finished yet.  But that’s where I sat my weeds memories so I guess I’ll go ahead and do that now.

It’s behind this barn door.

Cedar wall, old timey light, Hobby Lobby mirror (that isn’t hung yet, but just balancing on the faucet), special order faucet that comes directly out of the wall, $7 Hobby Lobby bucket turned sink, and one really old carpenter’s chest on a set of claw feet.

It’s actually already one of my favorite spaces.  It needs trim, and the paint touched up, and a few other details before I can call it finished.

 But for now it’s a good home for my weeds.

I mean memories.

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Punkins

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I swear, it is impossible for anyone in my family to say “pumpkin”. 

So today I’m going to show you how I made “punkins” out of dryer vents.

Last week, I posted about a few of my favorite things and included this picture.

(via)

So there is no confusion, this is not an idea that I had – simply one I stole off Pinterest.  ;)

What you’ll need:

Dryer vents – I used two sizes, 4×20 and 3×8.

Spray paint – I used RustOleum’s “cinnamon” and “stone grey”.

Decorations – I used moss, rattan, and ribbon.

Sticks – that I picked up out of the front yard.

Hot glue gun.

Merlot.

Measure off enough vent to allow some give.  I didn’t do this with my first set and the seam pulled.  (Sorry, Mom!)

Glue, glue, glue, then take outside to spray paint.  Away from anything that you don’t want to be orange.  Because this stuff does not come off.  Just ask my hand.  :(

Anyway, while you’re out there, grab some sticks out of the yard for the stems.

And stab ‘em in.  I did add some glue to make sure they held.

Then add the moss and whatever other decorations you’d like.

I added some curly green rattan to mimic vines, and a sweet little bow.

And that’s it!  So easy, and they won’t sit on the front porch for way too many months and rot to the point that D has to scrape them off for you…

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Did You Know I Am a Master Carpenter?

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Just kidding.

What I am, is able to wield a screwdriver and follow instructions.

Even when misspelled.

Junior is glad for the new additions, so we can join him when he feels like front-porch-sittin’.

I know what you’re wondering. 

The answer is yes.  Yes, we do put pants on our kid… sometimes.  Just never when the camera is out, evidently.

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I grew up directly across the street from my grandparents.  They lived in an old farmhouse on what used to be the dairy farm for which our street was named.  Every Friday night, my mom would pack my little red “I’m going to Grandma’s” suitcase and my dad would walk me to the end of our driveway.

From there, I would beat feet fast as I could to avoid the werewolves I was sure were stationed in the shadow of each of their huge trees.

But as soon as I hit the light from their front porch, I knew I was safe because Grandpa was there waiting on me.  He’d take me inside to where Grandma was slicing apples and “popping corn”.  We would pass our evenings in various ways, but the nights always ended up in exactly the same way.

We would trudge up the stairs to the bedrooms, Grandpa taking the spare so I could sleep with Grandma.  We’d watch the 10:00 news only through the weather report, then we’d shut the TV off and Grandma would read to me.

I can still feel the fabric of her nightgown under my cheek as I rested my head on her belly so I could follow along.  We read through the Little House on the Prairie series more times than I can count.  Which was quite a feat, because we only read one chapter a night.  Even when I begged for just one more, she would laugh and remind me that we would have next Friday to read the next chapter.

I’ve been an avid reader ever since.

There is just something about an old book, isn’t there?

The creak of the bindings protesting as you open their pages for the first time in what has likely been decades.

The musty smell of the old pages, still holding on to their secrets.

The comfort they give off at a glance, the escape they provide when given the chance.

I still love nothing more than an hour curled up with a good book.  My methods have changed with the times, which provides the true luxury of having an entire library at my fingertips.

But somehow it just doesn’t have the same appeal, does it?

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Moooove over, Martha Stewart!

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Just kidding.  I know I could never hang with the likes of her.

After all, I’m not even a felon.

It’s time for another installment of Blogging without Borders!

The next to last, as a matter of fact.  Since really working on the master bedroom fell apart early on, I decided to roll with the schizophrenia and just focus on trying new things, wherever they may land in the house.

This week – painted drop cloth rug.

I’m in sore need of rugs in both our great room and dining room, but I 1) can’t decide what I want, and 2) don’t want to spend thousands of my dollars.  So I thought a small trial run was in order.  I decided to make a “cowhide rug” for Junior’s room.

What you’ll need:

1 – Canvas drop cloth from Lowe’s or Home Depot.  I got a lined 5×5.

2 – Acrylic paint.

3 – Spray sealer.

4 – All the rest of your typical painting supplies like brushes and red wine.

The first thing I did was throw my drop cloth in the dryer on the wrinkle release setting.  (I still don’t iron.)  Then I googled images of cowhides and free handed my sketch on the drop cloth in pencil.

 I had stitch witch on hand, thinking I might need to fold the edges under to keep them from fraying, but as I started cutting it was obvious that the liner was going to hold it together just fine.

Snip, snip, snip, and I had my hide!

 

 I penciled in my spots, used a brush to outline them, then filled in with a sponge brush.

 The liner held in the paint perfectly, and I didn’t have any bleed-through.

About an hour and a half later – or one nap time, in mommy terms – I was done!

 

I sprayed one coat of sealer over the whole thing.

When you turn 31, even your thumbs wrinkle.

And then I left it downstairs to dry.

…..And totally forgot about it until after Junior’s bedtime so I wasn’t able to take pictures of it in it’s new home.

So instead, I had Bill model it.

And then threw it in the kitchen.

Aaaaand then decided to leave it in the barren spare bedroom until I could put it in Junior’s room and take pictures without waking him up.

 All said and done, I have about $10 in this.  The drop cloth was $6.50 at Home Depot, and a big bottle of black acrylic paint was $4.

Try it!  Then go check on all these gals doing their cool stuff.

Amy @ Buffalo Roam, Dana @ Crafted Niche, Jaime @ Crafty Scrappy Happy, Heidi @ Décor & More, Tisha @ Delectable Home, Shannon @ Fox Hollow Cottage, Kirby @ Kirb Appeal, Holly @ Life as a Thrifter, Cassie @ Primitive & Proper, Debbie @ ReFresh ReStyle, Jessica @ Stay At Home-ista, Karah @ the space between, and Laura @ Top This Top That.

 

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Nighty Night Light

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I’ve mentioned once or twice that D is rather handy.  But have I also acknowledged his genius?

I’m in the kitchen, minding my own business when I hear: “ahem”.

When I look over, D is Vanna Whiting his newest creation.

A glass insulator night light!

This is actually just an insulator sitting on top of a single under-cabinet light.  It does get a little warm to the touch after it’s been on for a while, so if we were to make some for Junior’s room, D said he would want to switch to LED.

But it works perfectly in this little nook in the kitchen.  The single lights like this are on their own cord with a switch, so I can leave it plugged in, and just switch it on at night. 

Genius, I tell you!

Hey, Junior, I know you’re really enjoying some delicious beefaroni right now….

nommity nom

But check out what your dad just made!

What sorcery is this?

Happy weekend, all!

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