Friday, April 29, 2011

A Warning to Blake

Dear Blake,
Watch out. The competition is warming up.



I do have cabin update pictures on my camera.... but I misplaced it. It's here somewhere...

Monday, April 11, 2011

More Furniture and a Frog

Good day for a little boy, bad day for a frog...



Before: My mom bought this table around the time I was born at a JC Penney sidewalk sale for 10 dollars. This is one stout table. We used it my whole life, then it went to college with my brothers, then me, then on to married life with Kyle and I. Kyle regularly performs adjustments on this table! It deserved some TLC.

After

Kyle brought this chair to the marriage, and it will now be my little office chair. The office is going to be the tiny space under the stairs, so we need to get rid of our big office chair.

I thought a pop of color would be nice, so I chose an antique red. It turned out more like shrimp, though.
So, I put a dark walnut stain on it, which I think helped a lot, and then distressed it. I'm afraid I went overboard on the distressing. What do you think? Good? Or should I repaint and stain with less or no distressing?

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Furniture Redo and Cabin Update

Here is one thing I am learning fast: I am not a cabin girl. The experience of living there, yes. Cabin decorating, no. I don't want to decorate with Coca-cola products and sconces with a moose on them. I will not be buying drapes with pine trees and sunsets or pillows that say "gone-fishin". My plan is go for a more cottage look. Kind of Shabby-Chic. When we bought the cabin, it had been abandoned, fully furnished, for 7 years. We have already filled up a 40 yard dumpster and are halfway through another one! Most of the furniture we got rid of, but there were actually a number of salvageable pieces. Along those lines, while I love wood furniture, all that wood against wood is depressing to me. So, for the cabin, I am repainting lots of things. My first project is this sideboard. I am going to refinish and repurpose it for our entertainment center.


I love the way it turned out, and this was my first time to distress and stain something. I loved it! I may have found a new hobby... I was picturing the color a little more blue-green than it turned out, but I still like it.

This is a little better pic of the color

My fabulous husband's first job at the cabin was to build my vegetable garden! I have so missed getting my hands in the dirt.

The fence is now up and he is building me an arbor in front of the gate. In other updates, the pier and beam foundation is fixed, and they are working on rewiring the electric and fixing the roof. Won't be long until I can work on the inside...

Our dear friends Mark and Amy Porter came to see us during spring break. We had a great time, as always. By the way, see my shirt? I'm an idiot. Really. I saw this shirt at Bless Your Heart and thought it was so cute. I bought it to wear to the Tejas Rodeo that night and loved it. My thinking was, "I love red! I like the way I look in brown! I'm a Texas girl!!" So, fast forward to yesterday, when I was hanging it up in my closet, when it hit me: Holy cow, I bought a beer shirt! How did this obvious resemblance escape me? I have no idea, except that I've never drank beer, it smells gross. But I've seen the Lone Star beer logo and it should have rung a bell. Good grief. It's not that I think beer is evil or anything, but I wouldn't wear a Budlight shirt, would I? Now what am I supposed to do with it? You'd think my husband would have told me but he likes to laugh at me to himself and let me figure things out on my own.


This little fuzzywumpled guy was eating his breakfast with his toes the other day.