Many irons in the fire!!!!

I'm not all that keen on the open concept that is so popular now. In every home makeover show they knock down the wall between the kitchen and the main living area... In earlier days only the wealthy had separate dining rooms and everyone else just ate in their kitchen. Then when people became more affluent they had separate dining rooms like the wealthy.

 

 Now everyone wants to eat in the kitchen again. Personally I like having my eating area separated from my kitchen when I have company. Maybe it's only me but when I am doing serious cooking I make a big mess and I'm glad to sit someplace where my guests can't see the kitchen.  In the new house when you walk in the front door you have a clear sight line to the kitchen counter. I'm going to try to break this line of sight with a divider of some kind using all my stained glass I gathered together.

 

That old tiled shelf from the barn I hauled over the other day is going to work just fine near the entry area when I figure out how I'm going to add a shelf.  At least it is the right length and depth.   And the shutters that I was going to use in the big open hole in the bonus room wall  are also going to work nicely just as well.  They are just 1/2" from being a perfect fit... lucky me. I salvaged the shutters from a display unit we used when we did a booth at shows. I love to be able to repurpose something I already have.   So things are going along quite well on all projects. I really wanted a door on that bonus room but the opening is 36" wide and such a big door would be awkward.  I originally wanted to bring the bathroom door from farm but it is only 30" wide and using it requires some extensive framing.  So I have settled on using a bi-fold closet door and will paint on it....maybe a farm landscape with sheep!!!  It will be delivered next week.  Hopefully by then the kitchen island will be done.

 

 I finished  painting the drawer fronts of the island today and I'm happy with all the little bees. Since painting is difficult now I have to settle for a more rustic (folk art) look to my work. The end of painting on the kitchen island is in sight and I will soon be able to assemble all the parts.  It has turned into a much larger project than I envisioned....which  seems to be the norm as I get older. 

 

And today when I put up a white mirror in the bathroom the counter did not seem as gray. It actually looks more steely blue. After it was up I realize I put it at a comfortable height for me....5'1" so a really tall person is going to have to stoop to see themselves because I am not changing it.  "short person revenge".  I still haven't got the border up in the bathroom as I'm a little nervous about being there by myself on a ladder. I'm waiting for someone to come and hold the ends of the wet border for me and hand me what I need so I don't have to climb up and down so many times...... 

I have really done nothing in the one room that will be my workroom as I am waiting for the internet to be installed in there.  I did assemble two storage cabinets except for the doors as they are easier to move without the doors.  I have started to bring some stuff over but it is still in baskets in the closet.  CenturyLink has made two appointments to install the internet and did not show up for either.  So any real progress in that room is on hold for now.

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

Going gypsy chic!!!

 I can't believe I didn't blog a picture of my little drop leaf table when I finished it about a year ago but have searched photo files and blog to no avail....   I had some problems with using the tiny stencils but since I was going for an "well-used" look, it really didn't  matter. "Well-used" is my go-to-look for everything now that the vision is such a huge problem.   I posted a photo of the top but not the legs when I finished.


I didn't really have a plan and made it up as I went along.  It is very light weight and easy to move about when I have to vacuum.  Mostly DH has his reading material and wine on it but it is small enough that it doesn't get out of hand.

I started with this small drop leaf table from the barn which had seen better days.  I did have to modify some hardware from Amazon to work with the leaves on  such a small table.

And my basic color palette was rust, sage, and mustard and I was really happy with it....so happy
that it is the basic palette I am using for the new house and many items have been ordered ... storage cabinet, bathroom cabinet, kitchen island cart, etc. and they will all follow this palette and have decorative painting on them. They all have to be assembled so I will do most of the painting before I put them together.  It will be at least 2 months before we can actually move so there will be time to do a lot of fun stuff.

I have always been in love with gypsy wagons and now this is my last chance to go "gypsy chic"

But mine will have a lot more white included.  I want lots and lots of patterns and color but enough white for light... Now doesn't this sound like fun.