Monday, July 18, 2011

chicken crate

 this weekend my friend kim, cousin victoria, aunt pam, and i headed to lakewood 400 antiques market for a little shopping and girl time! i was on the hunt for one thing...and one thing only. 
an antique chicken crate...to make into a coffee table.
ever since seeing this post from layla...
and her cute finished product....
theletteredcottage.net


i knew that is what i wanted. but a search on craigslist came up with one...about an hour and a half away...and ebay had several...the cheapest being $75 with either shipping(ummmm....not cheap) or pick up only(no thanks illinois).
 i neglected to tell brian what i was longing for...he wouldn't understand. when he asked, i just told him i wanted some of those blue glass seltzer bottles...and even that got a funny look. so i knew me and the chickens had to keep quiet.
 to make a long story short...we had only been there about 20 min. when i spotted the golden egg. and y'all. i promise. my heart skipped a beat. THAT'S how excited i was. i gasped, grabbed victoria, and we both stared at it with our hands over our mouths...while the angles sang gloriously around us. then i looked at the price. $45. ummmm...SOLD. i seriously have NEVER bought anything so fast. ever. in my life. 
 i did see some more things that were pretty awesome...but i was happy with my crate. it was what i came here for...and i had been successful.
here is my conversation with brian while shopping....
b: any finds?
h: yes! bought a chicken crate for $45!!!!! i am in love. it is awesome.
b: does it come with a chicken?
HA! 

so when we got home and i pulled that sucker out...SURPRISE...i think brian thought i had lost my mind. he hated it. and he couldn't figure out for the life of him why i would pay $45 for a used chicken crate...with a tiny bit of poop on it.
after i showed him the pictures of my vision...
meridianroad.blogspot.com

homespunliving.blogspot.com

i think it helped a little bit...but i told him he will just have to trust, wait, and see...
for now...i'm off to scrub down my crate. the first step in bringing out her hidden beauty.

isn't she pretty? :)



Wednesday, July 6, 2011

project time

today i completed quite possibly my MOST favorite project ever(and there have been more than i can count!).
 i have always had a love affair with signs...the older and more beat up...the better. a while ago, i started seeing the word grocery and/or groceries on signs placed in the kitchen and i  L.O.V.E.D. them! 


frugalfarmhousedesign.blogspot.com

bringrestoration.blogspot.com
i wanted one. but...i didn't have one of those fancy silhouette machines that many people use to make their words...and when i try and paint a straight line(even when tracing something) it comes out looking like either...
a. hutton did it
b. i had one too many glasses of wine while painting
but today at the goodwill, i came across a plain good sized board(the tag said ikea and i think it was supposed to be a shelf because it came with two brackets)for $1.81 i decided i would attempt to make my OWN grocery sign. can't never could, right? :)
 i started with this...


 first i stained the wood a walnut color.

 next came a coat of white paint that i brushed on lightly.
 (oops..i guess i forgot to take a picture of that...in all my excitement)

ok. that was easy. then i just stared at the wood...trying to figure out what to do next. 
 i went into word on my computer and changed my font to 500, printed out one letter(G) and placed it on the board. it looked about the right size..so i continued with the rest of the letters.

 then i attempted to space them out evenly...bahahahahahaha
(not my strong point)

 the next step was my experiment. i THOUGHT i had remembered reading on a blog somewhere that if you rub the back of the letter with a pencil, when you flip it over and trace it, the pencil comes off and you have a perfect letter. 

crossing my fingers...i started tracing. and when i pulled that letter off and there was a perfect G...i screamed. IT WORKED.

 i continued with the rest of the word, and when i was done...i had to admit...it looked awesome. for my first time, the spacing was pretty accurate and none of the letters were much taller or shorter than their neighbor! 

 all i had to do now was paint. which was hard. and took me about an hour(maybe more???).
 but when i was done...my sweet sign looked like this!

 and after some distressing....


 i am TOTALLY in love...
 not bad for $1.81 and some time!

Friday, July 1, 2011

shower caps, sunsets, and sweet babies

 have y'all seen these? i saw them first at my mil's house and couldn't figure out what the heck they were. i thought they were tiny shower caps...for dolls. hahahahhahaha
isn't that what they look like?? but actually, they are even better! shower caps for your food! and they are perfect for people like me who get into a fight with saran wrap every time i use it! :)  it's the little things....

 one day soon i will post more of our vacation pictures...but check out this sunset from our balcony one night! awesome!!!


 and look at this cutie...my nephew lukey! i love his chunky butt so much! this is after he and hutton raided the doritos! :)

hope everyone has fun plans for the weekend!