workroom moved up the to-do list!!

 I had planned to do my workroom last but all the other rooms now are waiting until we can move furniture and I'm kind of at a standstill for them. So the workroom is at the head of my list now that the kitchen is done. The room that I'm going to use for my work room is good-sized and really a blank canvas. My room at the farm just sort of evolved over the years. There was never any coordination between any of the pieces or the colors. It just happened. Now that I have this new space I want to give it more thought but it too will probably just evolve.

First of all it has a gray carpet. Whoever lived there before us had a thing about gray. At first I was going to take the carpet up and replace it with some kind of laminate flooring but after thinking about  the cost and was it worth it, I decided  to go ahead with the gray carpet. The walls are the same color as the rest of the house. Before we moved in they painted the same color throughout.  They left part of a can and  it's called "porcelain skin". It not really a pink and it's not really a peach and definitely not beige. It's almost a non color. It's certainly not a color I would have picked but it is growing on me. It seems to go with just about everything and I'm not about to start painting walls that have just been freshly painted.

First of all it has a lovely large window and that is where I'll put my painting table.  I paint by a window now and I love watching the birds and weather when I'm working. My new little garden will be just outside the window and I will put up a couple wren houses.




There is a large closet part of which I'll use for my clothes but there'll still be space for some supplies and books and whatever.

I had ordered kits for those tall storage units in the picture.  (I ordered several storage-unit kits during the black Friday sale with free shipping as well...a real deal) I'm also going to move three other tall narrow pieces that I have already. I use them for larger beads and supplies for jewelry.   I also splurged and bought a wall-mounted ironing board that I can lower when needed.  I have always wanted one of those.

I measured and my desk  and it is going to fit. I got some more pull-out shelves so that I can have my printer and scanner off the top of my desk.  I will probably make a cover for my old desk chair...  The lift mechanism has broken and I sit too low but it rocks and I love it.  Right now I am using my old laptop on a card table...
 


My computer table will face a blank wall. Right now I look into the living room as my desk is behind the couch so I know right away I now  want to have a long narrow low shelf for pictures of grandchildren and then above that I want favorite pieces of needlework.  

I'm dividing up all my crazy quilting supplies to give to friends.  It's giving me a chance to sort through and say goodbye to all my stash.   I will keep all my favorite laces as I can use them on other projects.
Purging as part of the move makes it a little easier to let go of some things even though I know I will never be able to use them again.

As I said this was going to be last on the moving agenda.   but winter has interfered with my plans as we don't know from day to day whether we will be snowed in...and I am flexible so I am moving what I can fit into the SUV.

3 near finishes

Had a good week but couldn't quite finish the three projects I had going.  Best and first is the kitchen island cart. This was a kit I got from Wayfair at a  great price on Black Friday.  I prepainted all the parts before I assembled it. I just love it and all went smoothly until I tried to secure the top and couldn't. 

The back side has the drop leaf.  I plan on keeping my kitchen aid mixer, bread machine, food processor and blender in here along with smaller electrical items. for the kitchen. So just stopped until I have help. It needs someone adjusting at both ends at the same time. Remember my goal is to fill this house with color, color, color.

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So just stopped until I have help.  Then I moved on the console table on the entry wall.  It too was a win.  The metal supports and tiled top gave a whimsical touch and I even used old shutters for the ends.  Looks great but it needs another shelf so I had to stop until I could bring another piece of wood from the barn.. Cost was just the shelf supports.
Not only do I see this as storage for mail, keys, gloves, sunglasses etc.  but also storage for dog grooming supplies, games and playing cards, etc.  .  It is only 12" deep but 5' long.

 Then I tackled the old shutters to fill the gaping hole in that wall.... They come within 1/4" of a perfect fit and I need to trim the edge of one shutter.  I have to set up the table saw in the garage to do that but I just ran out of time and energy.  Next time ...a quick finish then.. Cost - $0

If you look closely at this picture of when we had a booth at flower shows, you will see part of one of these vinyl shutters behind DH's left shoulder.  They were part of the backdrop for our booths and have been languishing in the barn for 20 years.  Great to put them to a final use.

Now I' m moving on to the door to that bonus room and I did get it primed before I had to go home to the farm.


And I had to add a box under the old trunk but by golly Morris has a grand view of the neighborhood as it all passes by his perch and he loves it.  I think I will put a sign in the window that says  " If Morris is watching, give him a wave!!!"

The barn and Amazon - what a combo

Morris has his bench at the farm where he can see out the window and watch the birds . He keeps trying  to look out the window at the new house so one of my objectives today was to find something I could  put a cushion on  so he could see out the window in the new house.

I had to go out to the barn anyway to look for wood and I found this old trunk   in pretty bad shape. It is quite large and very heavy.  I had to pry the lock to even get in into it.  It was lined with paper that was a little yucky but under the paper the wood was fine. It is made of wood covered with metal that was quite rusty in spots. So with some steel wool, elbow grease, and bleach I should be able to make a perch for Morris with it. I believe it is an old metal military foot locker... probably from WWII.  I have no idea how long it has been in the barn or how it got there. But I really need it about 4 in higher so I went on Amazon and found some wooden legs for it.    It will fill the bill until we actually move in February and it's free.....free is good.

 

  And I liked the look of this piece on Pinterest  that had iron work on it  and filed it away.  I do have a piece of old wrought iron fencing that I could use but if you put the iron in the front you can't have a shelf and if you put the iron in the back you can't see it. Since this has to have storage value I have to have the shelf.  So I thought if I could find some decorative iron metal legs and some decorative metal shelf supports  I think I can come close to that look.  I love the old boards on top but I love my tiled board more.  So I once again went searching on Amazon.

 

The nice thing about Amazon is that they show you what other people bought or things that are similar and I always find things just about the same  but cheaper which appeals to my thrifty nature.  First I had just looked at one shelf support for $30 t and then I found four for the same price and then four for $15. I spent a little more than $30 for four legs and four supports and I think it's going to work.

I'm still cleaning the tiled board and I found some old boards for the ends and the shelf.  I may even be able to work in a shutter or two.  When it is all done it will definitely be a OOAK entry piece...

 

the bathroom is coming along... now

I had a pretty clear image for how I wanted to do just about every room in the new house except for one bathroom that everyone will use. To begin with it had grey floor, grey countertops and a mirror with grey trim. Too grey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved the wallpaper border that I had in the farmhouse bathroom. It was wide and die-cut and country but funky.   But they don't make it anymore.   I've searched and searched and I finally bought this die-cut border but it just wasn't quite what I wanted. Then my  granddaughter Leigha in Alaska sent me an email that she was sending me a thrift store shower curtain for my new house. I couldn't imagine a shower curtain worth shipping all the way to Spokane.

 

 

 

It came today and what a treasure!  It is beautifully  embellished with ribbon embroidery and old lace.  This photo does not do it justice. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I hung it today and put it next to the wallpaper border and   it was a match made in heaven. Once I get the curtain pressed, the wrought iron braces up and a few more finishing touches the bathroom is going to be just great.

 

 I took down the gray mirror and brought a white one from the barn but it's the wrong size so I  have another one I'll bring from the barn the next time I come and I think it will work. What would I do without my barn.  It is better than Lowes and Home Depot all rolled into one. 

 

 

 

  I just need a piece of artwork in place of the cupboard the wall .  I think maybe I will frame a piece of crazy quilting .

 

 

 

 

 

I brought the little gray angel  and with the pink flowers it livens up the grey  I think I'm going to have a winner here.  I do wish the bathroom had a window.  Maybe I need to put a faux window in there....

Where there's a will there just might be way.

 I have enjoyed doing the blog all these years but it's getting harder and harder to handle the type on the computer and I was thinking I was going to have to give it up. But I have that will and I might have found that way.

 

 Last summer I learned how to use the voice feature on my phone to send texts and emails and because I couldn't see the letters on the phone.   It worked great. So I was wishing that there was some way I could talk to my computer to do my blog and I think I found it. So today I'm "talking" my post to my phone and sending it to me in an email and then I can cut and paste it from the email to the blog. The only problem is the voice feature doesn't always get some words right so I'm hoping all of you will be a little forgiving if there are more errors doing it this way.  When   I was just out of high school I worked for a law firm and one of my jobs was transcribing from a Dictaphone.  When I said Dictaphone to my phone it came up "dick to phone."

 

 I'm trying to get as many hours as I can  at the new house getting all the little touches done that I love done before we actually  move in. My main goal  is to  add as much color and as much light as I possibly can to my  new house. I have also ordered several storage units to help with the problem of space and getting  room for all my kitchen stuff  and this included a island cart and an extra pantry.  They are here and I'm trying to paint them both unassembled at the same time. It is a challenge to keep all the pieces separated and I'm hoping when I start to put them together that I end up with what I wanted.  The cart has 8 pages of instructions.

 

We went to see Tom Hanks in Mister Rogers and I really enjoyed it.   Especially the little song about the neighborhood. Now when I'm at the house and looking out the window I'm thinking that it's a lovely day in "my" neighborhood. I never felt I had a neighborhood at the farm

Not my home without a sampler

Anyone following this blog over the years has seen my collection of samplers show up in photo after photo.  Most were stitched in the 60s and 70s and have moved from house to house over the years.  I have given most away and this fall sent one to GD Leigha and gave two more to DIL this last visit.






They were hung here and there as I did not have a wall large enough for all of them   in the farm house but I do have a lovely large wall in the new house.












So last week I took them all down and cleaned them and made any necessary repairs to the backing,  Then I loaded all my favorites  in laundry baskets and spent the day rehanging them.

I always start organized when I do this and lay them all out on the floor like I would like them on the wall.  But as always, after the 3rd or 4th one goes up the plan goes awry but somehow it works out in the end.

Years ago I learned the best thing to hang them on with the least amount of damage to the wall are sewing machine needles.  They are strong and if you need to move them the hole is almost invisible.  And it does takes several tries on some of them.

















 It to almost three hours and they still need a bit of straightening and tweaking but they are up. Most of the time was spent getting up and down the ladder.   But this is the last time I'll move them and they're an important part of what makes a house "my" home.  I did also get another wedding ring quilt up on the living room window this time. Today I am off to get some additional base cabinets and start looking at possibilities for new countertops.  This will be my biggest splurge.