Painting wood

We have a wood stove in the basement which we have used the last couple of years to help heat the basement and first floor.  We also have a stove in the living room that we haven't used much...Duh...  We have decided to use both of them this year and see if we can get our heating bill down ~~ The 2nd story is basically closed off, since that's where the kids's rooms are.

ANYHOO...Hubby built a box for me to store wood in upstairs.  He had to buy some of the 1 x 4s and 1 x 2s, but the main large pieces of wood are just cheap, thin plywood.  He actually told me I could PAINT IT!!!  This from a man who cringes over painted wood. I was so excited I almost peed myself.  Ahem...  Now, 3 walls of the living room are a light brown, and the 4th is a darker brown.  I first painted it the light brown.  Hmmm...

This is the back side.  After some thought, I decided it looked too "hi, I'm a painted cheap box!"  I wondered what would happen if I decided to paint over part of it with a dry brush the darker brown.  So this was step 2:

The last one is just so you can see the inside.  After looking at it for awhile, I decided I really looked the "painted over" look.  My next decision was whether or not to paint the whole thing with that look, or keep it as is, to make the lighter brown areas pop.  I spent quite a bit of time pondering, wondering, debating, questioning...  Finally I decided I liked the painted over look, as my living room is somewhat rustic, and I thought that look was softer and not so much "look at me!!"  So, I went ahead and did it all:

What do you think?  I like it much better this way.  Even hubs likes it, and he usually rolls his eyes at these types of things.  It's drying right now, and I can't wait to bring it in.  Below is a pic of the living room.  This will sit to the left of my throne chair, to the right of the fireplace (in front of the window.)  The box that is sitting there will be moved:

What do you think?  How would you have painted it??

Fall

I love fall.  I love fall this year more than ever before.  I'm not sure why that is.  When I was teaching and the kids were younger, I was so busy with starting school and all their activities, I never paid much attention to the season.  The last couple of years, I've worked and been so busy helping with the HS football team (feeding them, that is,) that I still didn't realize how beautiful the season was.




This is the first year I've been able to step back and really breathe in the season.  I've done all this decorating, and I can't seem to stop!  I've been out walking in our woods and found things growing I never knew were there. 




I've been savoring the apple cider, and I can't wait to bake some pumpkin muffins this weekend.  I love opening the windows at night and burrowing down into the blankets. 

Here's the bottom line.  I never thought of fall as a great season.  Now I think it's my favorite.  How about you?  I'm off to get some more apple cider :)

Why we clean

I have been gone/subbing/busy for the last week.  Thursday was my only day off.  I made a list, turned on my timer, and got it all done!  I was so pleased when it was all done, and felt like we all feel when we've done a good job.  Why is this important?  I always think "...it will be clean if someone just stops by."  How often does that really happen? And, I don't know about you, but people only "just stop by" when my house is a mess, anyway!  What's up with that??  Anyway, I am working on not worrying about that.  I'm worrying about how I feel.  After all, isn't it all about me?????  Being in my home makes me endlessly happy.  Being in my home when it's nice and clean, well, that makes me feel just short of heaven.  Where did I ever get the idea that I was working for people who stop by?  The only people who 'just stop by' are my friends, and their houses are semi-messy, too.  So, I need to learn to relax about my house-cleaning.  It's done for me, and if it's not done perfectly or always, that's ok.  It's still home.

Crafty Fall

Reading my blog, one may have noticed I just might be a bit ADD...Oh look, a butterfly! I have finally brought everything together and am going to show you what I've been working on to do some cheap fall decorating.  I'm really proud of myself, and find that I'm starting to get back into crafting...Danger...All it took was 20 years and the kids out of the house!

First of all, I found this great idea over at Sassy Style.  Lo and behold, I had a small vintage red wagon that was sitting on my hearth.  I had planned on doing something cool with it, but it just sat there.  Also, my ds tried to ride it like a scooter and broke one of the wheels (really?  a 260 pound lineman could do that??)  Since my living room has red in it, I thought this idea would work great.



The top picture shows the little wagon in it's original state (cobwebs??   must be just a fuzzy picture...)  I started by removing the wheels and such.  The front nut and bolt were so rusted together, dear hubs ground that part off (can you see the sparks?)  He just rolls his eyes when I start these things, but fortunately he goes with the flow!  The last picture shows what it looked like after everything was taken off.  I decided not to paint or anything, just scrubbed it really well.



Here it is, the new tray on my coffee table.  I didn't add the handles.  The pumpkin is a Dollar General find, and I just love it!

I went to a thrift store and a fabric store with a friend yesterday, so here is the next project.  Pumpkins made from toilet paper rolls covered in fabric.  So easy, even I can do it (directions - google "toilet paper pumpkins").  These took about 2 minutes each, and I think they are so cute!

How cute are these?  I made a couple for friends as well.  I also found some dead branches in my wooded yard, and used those as the pumpkin 'stem.'

I finished up what I wanted to do with my little table in my dining area:

The little runner was some fabric I found that I really liked.  I bought 1 1/2 yards, ripped cut it in half lengthwise, folded it, then tied it with some cute ribbon on both sides.  Voila!  The candle was 25 cents at the thrift store, and there is one of my new little pumpkins!  I am so excited (easily amused...obviously :))

So, that kind of wraps up the current house reformation and crafting.  Stay tuned for more!

 

Redneck fire pit

So I got a bunch of cool projects done this weekend and I was going to blog about them, but then something else happened tonight that I knew I had to write about instead!  My dh is one of those people who like to keep stuff "cuz I'll use it somehow again," and he actually does.  He can build and fix most anything.  I'm lucky, I know.

We were sitting out on our pergola (that he built about 3 years ago,) and the temperature was dropping.  We have talked about getting a fire pit, but the pergola has a roof structure over it, and we were afraid of the fire getting too high.  He was talking about getting a new grill, and as he walked off, I thought 'he could take that old weber grill and make a fire pit out of it!'  Lo and behold, he came out of the woods with the old, old Weber, and an idea was born.  



Enter, the redneck frugal fire pit!!

That's right, folks.  The bottom of an old Weber grill set inside a large truck tire rim.  Hubs is loading it up ;)  Yes, it's still daylight out, but the temp was dropping.





Yea fall!!!  Yummy warmth :)



This is a shot from the deck looking over the porch (ribs smoking on the grill. yum yum) ~ and the bucket was the first try at the base of the fire pit, but hubs decided that would be too tall.  Past the deck is the pergola, where we live in the warm months - redneck grill ready to go.

So that is my post of the day.  We are both challenging ourselves to 'do with what we have,' and hubs came through on this one :)  I take back anything bad I might have said about him over the last 21 years...