Not much to post about. I spent the weekend painting my corner cabinet, but I didn't want to put anything on it until the paint had hardened for a few days, so I will post a picture next week. I forgot to take my other paint, so I didn't get all my projects done. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions ...
Meanwhile, it's a holiday week! Wow--can it almost be 4th of July already?
I've been inspried by DonnaLynn over at Blushing Rose Antiques. She spent the weekend painting everything in sight -- and boy is she good at it. I aspire to have a yard like hers (weed free with lots of flowers) and a gorgeous house.
To that end, we did some major weeding yesterday, and hung the plants we bought over the weekend. This is the first time we've had hanging plants. I don't even know what they are, but they are pretty. We also planted tomatoes and the first of our annuals (really late this year).I'm getting psyched to spend the weekend painting. I've got my corner cabinet (mentioned yesterday), a small hanging shelf (which is currently blue and will soon be Ivory Silk), and we're going to paint the cottage bathroom. It's currently got paneling halfway up the wall, and then embossed (white) wallpaper. We're going to paint it "asparagus" green. If we hate it, we'll replace the paneling with beadboard. (Yeah! That's what I really want.)
I also want to seal our home deck. It's been years since I did it, and it really is in need. First I have to scrub off the green, which isn't really mold...is it? Anyway, it needs to be cleaned.
The weekend yard sales were a bust! I must have gone to at least 10 of them and hardly bought a thing. I did get four beautiful old handkerchiefs for my mother (for a buck), and two heart-shaped cake pans for the same price, but the real prize was 8 issues of the old Victoria Magazine for 75 cents. (Such a deal!)
The truth is, I already HAVE all but one of these issues, but I figured if I left the duplicates at our family's cottage, I could read them again on a rainy afternoon (with a cup of tea, and a cat on my lap).
I have projects I want to accomplish, and most of them involve painting. For instance: I have an old display piece from my antique co-op days. A corner cabinet. This cabinet was painted a god-awful shade of forest green, with a high-gloss finish. I saw in a magazine (Country Home?) a dresser painted a vivid green, so I decided to go for that color for the cabinet. I started the job by painting the cabinet's door with a white primer, and then did two coats of the bright green, but didn't get a chance to take a photo. If the weather cooperates, I'll paint the rest of the cabinet next weekend.
In the meantime, here's the before picture. 
All the items on the shelves were bought at yard sales for $2 or less. (I love a bargain!)
Yesterday was kind of sad here. We reluctantly decided to have one of our trees taken down. It was a soft maple. In the spring it shed seeds, and then afterward, seed stems. In the fall, leaves. The seeds and stems played havoc with our gutters. They were always full. You'd clean them of seeds, and weeks later they'd be full of stems. When we had our roof replaced last year, the gutter problems were at the heart of it.
The tree was also planted much too close to the house. We'd have to pay to have it trimmed every year just to keep it off the roof.
So, tree man came and the tree went.
The walk from our enclosed porch to our deck was getting hazardous. At one point (before we moved in), I suppose it was landscaped. We yanked a rug juniper out several years ago. But because of the nearby maple tree's roots, and some pavers that had sunk and were sticking out at all angles--and because it was a weed patch--we decided to put in a little brick patio. (It would also discourage the critters that like to live close to the house. Toads, mice, whatever.)
Here's what it looked like this morning at the 90% completion stage. They should finish up later today. And then there'll be no more tripping hazard.
I've been having a lot of fun finding new blogs to read. One I found yesterday is YARD SALE BLOODBATH, which shows a lot of weird and wonderful things found at yard sales. Since I also love reading mysteries, I was drawn to the name. Okay I don't read thrillers where there're serial killers and a lot of blood and guts, but I can imagine that fistfights might break out at a yard sale.
Meanwhile, where am I going to find the time to read all these new blogs as well as some of the old? You'll see under my favorite blogs that I read several that pertain to books. I love to read Mary Kay Andrews's blog. She often talks about her junking expeditions and her vendor's booth on Tybee Island (Maisy's Daisy--the same name as her character's shop in Savannah Blues.) I've read all but her newest book--will have to get my butt to the bookstore soon to get it.
The china on the second shelf belonged to my grandmother. The china on the next three shelves are called "Silver Maple" by Royal Albert. My mother had a tea set of it, and I always loved it. So one year with my "bonus" money from work, I bought various pieces from one of those "replacements" houses, since the company had long since stopped making it. I have to admit, I rarely use it simply because it has a silver band and isn't dishwasher safe. But I never tire of looking at it.
The stuff on the top shelf is mostly stuff I've picked up at yard sales and junk shops.
Those little metal corner pieces came from an Emperor clock kit. The buttons, needles, lace, and hook and eyes were yard sale finds. I figured they might come in handy some day--and they did.
Last year we had to have the roof replaced. We kind of waited a bit too long and had some water damage in our entryway. We didn't get around to fixing it until now. So all the spackling is done and what are we left with?
Choosing the paint color.
Unfortunately, hubby and I had a bit of a disagreement. I wanted a lighter tone--still in the terra cotta range, but he wanted something darker. (Sinister?) And you can forget the yellow and green range 'cause it ain't gonna happen.
The chips were up for a couple of weeks before he made up his decision (bottom row, third from right).
Oh well.
That said, he bought a gallon and is now hoping he'll like it on the wall and if not ... well, it was only a gallon, right?
The garden is coming back to life. It's wonderful to go out there every day and see something new has popped up or is blooming.
These are one stand of our Irises. Every year they seem to change color. Last year they were a deep purple. Aren't they pretty?
Okay, I admit it. I like kitschy stuff. And I like cute. And I'm trying to declutter my life while accumulating more. Go figure!
I was thinking about that $1 box lot with all the figurines I got on Saturday. Definitely kitsch. And very little I want to keep. So why did I buy it? (Yeah, the little bride and groom, but I could have offered them a quarter and not taken the rest.)
I wonder if I filled my (former) booth at the antique co-op with too much kitsch. I admit it, I often felt the need to "rescue" kitschy things. And since I made my rent on smalls, I didn't have to invest a lot of money in this kind of stuff. (But then it turned out I often made my rent on used books. First Romance was hot for me, then it cooled right off and Mystery took off.)
I find myself buying too many things to hang on the walls. And decorate shelves. I find it hard to part with some stuff. But junking is a release from my "day" job, and I sure miss having a booth at the co-op. *Sigh* I've tried to sell stuff on Craigslist, but my first two forays haven't been entirely successful. (In fact, my first listing was for something that's absolutely free. I had a taker, but she never came to pick up the item.)
But I won't give up--at least not yet. I have too many leftover pieces from my booth to part with--and hubby is getting sick of looking at my old display pieces.
I'm still getting used to downloading pictures from my camera. Mind you, I've had this camera almost three years, but hubby always downloaded the pictures. I decided it was about time I learned to do it myself.
We hit a Community Sale first thing Saturday morning. All the "press" said it began at 8 a.m. We got there at 8:10 and there was no one there. Including people selling their stuff. I glanced at the few offerings and back home we went to wait for 9 a.m. and the other sales listed in the Shopper.
Not a great day for junking. As a collector of wedding cake toppers, how could I pass up this little girl and guy, Made In Japan salt and pepper shakers on their little wooden bench, and a steal at a dollar.
We went to several other sales and there was just nothing worth getting. (Bummer.) Then we stopped at a pretty big sale in Wolcott. They must have had several hundred Avon perfume bottles, glasses, whatever--still in their original boxes. And since they were cleaning out a house, they'd put just about everything else in box lots that ranged from $1 to $3. I ended up with two box lots. The first didn't have much. I bought it for the five vintage pennants (which I neglected to photograph)--the rest went right in the trash. Cost: $1.
The second box was a lot more fun. I bought it just because it had--what else?--another bride and groom. (Also Made in Japan--and probably older.) But what a treasure trove! The little kid figurine walking the dog, the parrott, the two metal coasters, the Made In Japan Indian, etc. Of course, I'm probably not going to keep them all. (Although I am partial to that green dog coaster.) There was a LOT more than this in the box, too, but it wasn't worth keeping. Cost for all this stuff: $1.
I also bought some cake pans. You know what that means...
