Mark this one off the list!

A few months ago I picked this little gem up from, yet again, a CraigsLister who just didn't have a spot for it anymore. I love our little town of Los Gatos, sweet people that have very cool things.



It's a White Sewing machine and it came not only with the booklet, but with all KINDS of little sewing feet and attachments. I really do want to plug it in and try it out, I'm hoping that all the little attachments really do work. I don't have a ruffler for my Brother machine, but this one does!

Oh, and look at the little built in bobbin and pin holder in the top drawer.
Love!

My mom says to just plug it in and go for it! I'm always so leery when it comes to electricity and electrical things, especially when they are super old.

So after I gave it a good cleaning, I just went ahead and started spraying. Yes, I am a spray paint kinda girl. My daddy probably isn't very proud of that, as he prides himself on his painting skills, and the man has painted his entire house, inside and out, with just a little 4 inch wide brush, but my patience level isn't as big as his.

Anyways, here she is!


The sides both still open and the original White Sewing machine is still inside, so for now, I'm keeping my machine on top. I'd like to get a thin sheet of Luanne wood (I think that's how it's spelled, I know it sounds like that : ) ) and when I need to open it up and use my machine, I can just put the wood over the opening with the White in it. If you haven't noticed, I seem to be into painting the "feet" of furniture. Lucky for me, there was a nice little trim edge around the bottom that just screamed, "Paint me like feet!" My pedi's seem to be all with black polish, but I sure do love it!

I love how my chair pops against the yellow.

I can't wait to sit down and start using her!

And find the guts to plug the original machine in. : )

~nic

I'm linking to:

http://www.domestically-speaking.com/

I can't seem to figure out the grab my button and link up thing this morning...

Should I open shop?

I didn't think it would happen to me.
But I think it has.
I've become a furniture collector!
I can't believe I'm going to show you these pictures of our backyard right now...but hey, this is what blog land is all about, being real.

Amongst all the free furniture I've collected and have plans for, our backyard is also in the middle of a transformation. Above picture is of one of the two free shabby chic nightstands, free round double tier table and free little 5 drawer dresser.


Two sets of drawers, one set (the two that are actually sanded down) belong to my hubby's dresser. Yes, I've got two of the six drawers sanded down. The other three belong to the little 5 drawer dresser.


This lovely picture above has our free white outdoor bar, the rest of hubby's drawers for his dresser($10.00 if you remember), his dresser under the canvas painters tarp on the right, three doors that go on my cabinet in my guest bath that my daddy built me, a little gray and blue child's rocker ($5.00 from Savers) and on the left, facing backwards, is a behind the door coat and purse shelf hanger thing my father built ages ago. I do mean ages, like I think I was 5 or 6 maybe. My daddy built it so that each of us kids, 4 including me, and my parents would each have our own hook to hang bags and coats and such. I've got plans to update it with a fresh coat of paint, add some cool hooks and hang hubby's collection of record bags on it. Also, you can't see them, one is under the tarp and one is keeping the tarp from flying up, but there are also two mirrors out here. One was free and all curvy delicious, and one was $5.00 from St. Justin's and is a HUGE bar style mirror.


Oh yea, and this little number, a very loved free wooden chair. It needs ALOT of attention, but I know I can do it. Ha, you know what else was totally free in the back yard? Our hammock! You can see it shoved up against our patio swing in the first picture. I guess I should give a big shout out to all you CraigsListers out there, you make my day complete! Without you guys, I wouldn't have a back yard full of free unwanted furniture that previous owners just couldn't see potential in. I thank you for giving me your unloved, unwanted children and allowing me to teach them how to act and feel. They leave my hands new children with a fresh, renewed outlook on life.

Okay, maybe I took that a bit far?

~nic

Give me a good weekend, and look what gets done!

After a month of prepping and then going on our summer family trip to Lake Don Pedro, I'm back! I'm relaxed and I've got the bug to get projects done.

Love it when a good weekend rolls around. Things like this get done:

Free chair on the side of the road...thank you!

Free primer and white gloss spray paint from my Big Brother CAP, thank you, Love you!

Free canvas tarp runner that my parents gave me because it was all funky shaped with a plastic slippery liner...thank you, Love you too!

Star material that I've had stored for years, so free to me now, thank me! hehe!

Free lessons on how to use our air compressor and staple gun attachment, from hubby, thank you, love you the best! : )

I can't believe that I did this one! I still have one item left to finish on it, but I was so excited about it, I had to post. I need to finish off the cording around the seat back, which I will have to go buy. I did buy one can of white gloss spray paint as my brother's didn't quite have enough, but if I can find a good deal on the cording, which I know exactly where to go for that, I should have a brand new French Provincial chair for less then $10.00. LOVE! This one is for our master bedroom, which is slowly coming together, piece by piece. But I don't mind, I can be patient and get a whole new bedroom set for less then I EVER imagined.

New dresser for me: 35.00
New dresser for hubby (still working on, it's a bear!): 10.00
New chair for us: FREE
Black crystal chandelier: FREE!! I think this one is my ULTIMATE score.

Two side tables that I picked up months ago from CL's (need to be redone): FREE

Wow! I'm so glad I have this blog to keep track, it will be fun to go back and really figure it out.

Okay, on to my next project.

I've got a girlfriend at work that has recently adopted a teenage daughter. They are actually still in the process of finishing all the paperwork and she mentioned that she is trying to get "her bedroom" put together.
I jumped at it.
I've been collecting pieces of furniture and needing to find homes for them before Hubby up and leaves. Okay, he would never, but you know how hoarding becomes a problem after a while.
I'm just sayin'.

Anyways, I found this darling little end/side table (not really sure if there is a difference) at S.A. for 12.00, again, a few months back. I didn't take a before picture, but it seriously was just a different shade of green, but with some love marks left on it. That sounds a little weird. What I mean is, it had some dings and scratches and a few dirt marks that I just couldn't get out. The two drawers were stuck together with the icky green paint they chose to use and not let dry before cramming the drawers in, so I had to do a little sanding on those. Oh, and it had some spilled wax on one side of it. The new teenager is wanting to use a bright key lime/florescent green color in her room. This is what I've come up with.

I love it.
I think it screams teenage diva.
Justin was walking by as I was staging these pictures in our hallway and said, " Cool colors mom."
Okay, I think I nailed it.
I also painted the candlestick lamp on the back of the table, and the little trinket box next to the lamp. I didn't however, paint the knobs on the drawers. Yup! I actually had two green star handles that fit perfectly! They were from one of Justin's hanging closet organizers that I used when he was a baby. The lamp shade is really a wire trash can that I picked up from the dollar store and wove with black ribbon and then glued on the white trim. I need to trim up the frayed ribbon and do that burning technique so they don't fray. Tomorrow I'm going to be picking up a free chandelier to go with this as well. I've been playing tag with another CL'r on a sweet little vanity that will fit in so nicely. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one! She's also got a dresser that is SOOO similar to mine that I just redid that I'll be taking too, hopefully! I think I've got a good start. What do you think?

~nic

I'm linking up to:

Office Lights

I've been wanting to update you about our office lights. I think you may remember the post about my Salvation Army lights I bought a while ago. They cleaned up nicely and I spray painted the chain and brass pieces silver. After hanging them, hubby and I both decided that the silver looks a little fake, so we may take them back down and spray all the silver black. But I really wanted to show you how they look hung...we LOVE them!





Aren't they lovely?
We really do need a better camera, or I need to keep practicing on how to take light pictures, but I think you get the idea. Funny, but the pictures almost make the silver look black.

Here's another funny about these lights. I had my daddy hook them up first just to a plug in power cord. I thought I was going to hang them somewhere else and not need them hard wired in. But, when hubby was out of town on business, I decided they really needed to be hung in the office. So, I called my daddy to come down and help me get them wired up. Mind you, I was trying to do this with out hubby's permission, but I knew he would like them.

Anyways, the lights worked perfect with the plug in power cord, but when my daddy had them all nicely hung and wired in the office, we flipped the switch....and nothing. No light. No flicker of light, nothing. I was horrified. Daddy thought for sure it was a bad wire running from the wall switch to the ceiling light outlet. Like as in, calling in the landlord to hire an electrician to come rewire JUST the office. Something wasn't right. I knew I had to fix it before hubby came home or he'd be a little upset. I told dad, let's start over. We did. He started taking the light down and when he had them undone from the ceiling, I noticed that wire to wire connection was not crossed over. I asked daddy about it, and he looked at me and said,"Why in the world did I do that?" Oh thank goodness! I simple rewire, no phone call to the landlord, and we have light!

Thank you daddy for the help and the teaching lesson! I love you!

~nic

Mission Project

If you have a California fourth grader, you know that fourth grade is the year for missions. It was our year. We had Mission San Gabriel. We built it. Turned out pretty darn good, I think. We'll see what the teacher thinks. Tell me what you think. : )

Tallow vats (above picture).


Open fire pits and the grapevine behind (above).

The cemetery (above).


Inside the church (above).

We started off with a basic foam core kit and then added all the extra touches. We built everything we could by hand. I used some left over items from my doll house kit which really helped give it that authentic feel. We also used real wood stucco for the outside. All of the little rocks we rolled, or pinched really, by hand and glued them down. There is even real melted candle wax in the tallow vats. Oh, and to get the authentic looking fire pits, hubby stepped in and helped out. He burned the outside of the little clay pots and then we used the burnt matches for the "firewood". I think those are my favorite part, they really turned out cool looking! There is even a handmade wine crate. I hope you enjoy it!

~nic

Due to the weather, I'm still stripping

Yes, you read that right.
I am still stripping.
I'm sure we've all done it at some point.
Maybe we aren't proud of it, or maybe we are, but either way, we suck it up and do it.
But I really thought I would be done by now. I thought, this job will be in and out fast.
Well, I was wrong.
First, I didn't realize JUST how many layers there were to get through to the bare nakedness. Second, I probably should have started with the spray on stuff first.
And Third, this DARN weather just won't cooperate! I need SUN people!

Yes, I am still working on removing all the nasty black paint and crappy wood stain to my hubby's dresser.
Oh my gosh!
What were you thinking? : )

On a brighter note, I love it when rich people donate to thrift stores. They just don't care what things initially cost. I found these beauties for only $1.60 a piece! I KNOW!
I've been pricing "bun feet" online and holy cow, they are Uber expensive! But not if you find them, when you need them, at your local S.A.! These are going on hubby's dresser, if it ever warms up enough to start on it again.
*Does the sunny weather dance*
They are actually already painted a nice glossy black, those did get finished in amongst one of the nice days weeks back. And yes, there are four of them, you may not be able to see the other one in the first pic, but it's there. Love them!

The other day my oldest big brother (I have three big brothers), CAP, came over and brought me a present. I was so excited! We had talked about this gift a while ago, when I asked him if he still had it. He said he did and that he would love to give it to me as he doesn't have room to display it. Well, it took him a minute and I had forgotten about it, but there he was on a Saturday morning bringing it over. My first ever chess set! And down right GORGEOUS!
Just look:

It does lay flat, but I like how it looks propped up for display.

This has a back story. My daddy worked for Atari back in the 80's. Yup, it was AWESOME! Even had my 6th Birthday party there, but that's another story.

Anyways, my beloved daddy had to do a lot of traveling for Atari, and most of that was over seas in Japan, Hong Kong, and China. He always brought us gifts, which I still have most of. Oh my gosh, this just brought back a memory of one of the gifts he brought my brother and I, matching little cream colored Casio keyboards. I think they may have been one of the first portable style, we LOVED those things. But I don't think we have those anymore.

Okay, back to the chess set story. (Sorry, it's late, I get a little crazy...)

So, my dad was overseas and in this "flea market" style shopping area when he ran across a stall that was selling these. Hand carved Ivory and something stone (dad and I are still trying to research what the dark colored pieces are made of), in these cool wood cases with drawers that hold all of the pieces in these little elastic loops. He couldn't find one that he really liked in the stall, so the gentleman told him to come with him.

This is the part where my mother starts to freak out and tell him what a fool he was to just follow this man down some alley.

But he did.

He followed him down an alley, up two stories and down some dimly light hallway.

Only to end up in a room, filled with more of these chess sets. That's where this one came from. I think it's special that it wasn't out in the stall, being looked at picked over already.
I love the story of my dad taking a chance and finding the best of the best.
So I'm only ever so proud to display it in my home.
Thanks daddy for the memory and thanks big brother CAP for letting me have it.
I promise to love it and pass it down the line.

~nic

A sneak peek...

Found this little gem on CL for $10. This is the original before picture from CL. It also came with a huge trifold mirror, super cool but not part of the original dresser. Needs some TLC, which I've already started by sanding it down and pulling off the "rubber" deco piece lining the front. You can't see it in the picture because they painted over the whole thing. I can't wait to finish this one up!

This will be my second dresser to refinish. I just refinished mine that I found last weekend for $35 at an Estate Sale. An awesome estate sale I might say. Nanny and I happened to stumble across it and hit the jackpot. And again, she talked them down a bit, thanks Nanny, Love you!

Sorry, I didn't take any before pics, but you can picture the old stained wood look. The minute I finished it and put it in place, hubby was all over it and wanted a new dresser for himself. Stay tuned to see how his turns out. This one, is MINE!