Repurposed Oar

A couple of weeks ago we found this old wooden oar at an estate sale.   Chablis and I have been toying with sort of remodeling the kitchen in the Kentucky lake house.  I've been putting it off because it's going to be a lot of work, but we finally decided to just jump in and get going on it.  When I saw this oar sitting in a corner of a garage, I grabbed it and immediately knew that I'd repaint it and use it in the Kentucky kitchen.

Here's a few before pictures.  The former owners had written their names and some vacation dates on the back and they had drawn with magic marker on the front....

We painted and distressed the oar and then stenciled Mess Hall on it.  It reminds me of when I was a kid and went away to summer camp.  We called the dining room the "Mess Hall."   This will be the first thing I hang in the kitchen once we re-paint it.

We've begun work on the kitchen, so stay tuned for updates!

Re-Painted Hallway

Eight years ago we bought our lake house in Kentucky.  Did I mention that it needed a lot of work?  Talk about your fix-er-upper!  We have slowly been making improvements and this spring we decided to repaint the back hallway.  Originally it had wall paper on it, then the former owner had painted over the wallpaper and rag painted over that.  I did not care for the paint job at all.  But it was one of those things that I could live with until we got around to it.

Don't mind the really dusty air vent.  It doesn't detach from the wall so I have to figure out a way to get it scrubbed.  It's no problem to vacuum the dust out of it, but it's hard to wash.  Any ideas?

We painted the ceiling and trim white.  The original wallpaper must have been put down with super glue and it was not coming off, so we just left it on and painted over it.  It turned out fine except for a few spots where the wallpaper was put on wrinkled. 

Chablis solved the lumpy wallpaper problem by making me a sign and camouflaging the spot.  LOL.  Not a bad idea, huh?

Louie's nickname is Nipper, so Chablis made him a sign and hung it over one of the doorways....

When I was growing up, being a Girl Scout was a huge part of my life.  I attribute my adventurous spirit and can-do attitude to the things I learned by being a scout.  I did a blog post about it here.   Several years ago I took all my original badges and framed them....

A couple of week ago I was at an estate sale and found an old Boy Scout leaders uniform shirt that had a bunch of badges sewn on it.  I bought it, took it home, removed all the badges and put them in a frame along with a Norman Rockwell print of a scout carrying a little girl.    Both of these scouting frames are now hanging in the Lake house hallway.

 

I'm so glad the hallway is finally finished.  Check that off the list.  Now on to the kitchen.  Stay tuned!

The Crappie are Calling

Spring is in the air, the daffodils and lilacs are blooming at the lake and that means one thing - the crappie are biting!!

Chablis had good intentions and started fishing, but then decided to lay back and enjoy the sun...

Louie and I however, continued to catch the fish.  Notice that nice big fish basket?  That's the one Chablis and I found a couple weeks ago on one of our excursions around the lake.    I told you we'd be using that treasure!

I smell a fish fry coming up soon.

Born of Persuasion - Free e-Book

 

 

 

 

Born of Persuasion is the first book in a trilogy and I did a review on it back in December.  Once I began reading it, I couldn't put it down.  Every page is packed with a punch, a twist, a turn or a revelation.  It was one of those books where you keep turning the page because you just cannot wait to see what happens next.

 

Well, I have a treat for you.  For the next 2 weeks, Born of Persuasion author Jessica Dotta is offering a free copy in e-book format.  Just visit her FB page here where you can click on the link that will take you to Amazon where you can immediately download your free copy.  I already did!  Want to know why?  Because book 2 in the trilogy Mark of Distinction is set to debut in a few short weeks and I want to quickly re-read Born of Persuasion.  I can't tell you the last time I so eagerly awaited the release of a fictional book.

 

And guess what?  There's more!!!  Help Jessica spread the word about the free e-book edition of Born of Persuasion and you'll be entered in a drawing to win a first edition copy of MISTRESS PAT by Lucy Maud Montgomery!  How do you like that?  So not only do you get a free e-book, but you also get the chance to win a first edition book. 

 

Go, now, and download your free copy of the book.  Start reading and thank me when you're done.  It's such a good book!!

 

You can also access her pin on Pinterest here.

 



My Cedar Chest Found a Home

Last summer I found an old Lane Cedar Hope Chest at a garage sale and I had to snatch it up.  It was in pretty rough shape, but we cleaned it up, took the sander to it, re-stained it and made it look like new.  You can read my original post about this work-in-progress here.

Last week we took the chest down to the lake house and it's now in the front room....

I always wanted a Lane cedar chest so I was very excited to get this one.  It's all the more special because I waited so long for it and because I refinished it myself.  I know I'll get years of use from it and it's spot at the lake house is the perfect place for it to be.

My Vintage Desk is at the Lake House

Last year I found a great vintage desk at a garage sale that a woman gave me for free.  Free!  I love free stuff!  It was a beautiful desk that just needed a little TLC, so we threw it into the back of the truck and took it home.  Here's what it looked like. It was very banged up, scratched, water damaged and missing a drawer handle....

The funny thing about the desk is that at around the same time, another blogger picked up an almost identical desk and refinished it for her daughter.  You can go here to read the whole story about our desks and my refinishing project - it's so coincidental that its almost unbelievable.

Here's my refinished desk....





Anyway, we finally got the desk down to the lake house and put it in the sunroom where I had originally envisioned it going.  I am so happy with it.  Before we just used a crappy old table with the computer sitting on top of it.  Now I have a nice desk with drawers to put all my stuff in.  The desk fits perfectly in the space.  What do you think?

Happy, happy, happy!

Estate Sale Finds March 30, 2014

The estate sales were plentiful last weekend and we found some great bargains.  Want to see?

I snatched up this super crate.  I love crates that have advertising and graphics on them.  This one was in really great condition too...

I barely walked in the door with it before I had washed it out and attached a vintage license plate to the front of it...

I added toilet paper and some lotion and it's now in my bathroom...

I'm always on the look out for interesting tins and I loved the color on this one...

Who remembers old wooden hangers from the dry cleaners that had their advertising on them?

This wooden cutting board is huge, heavy and I loved the handle.  I have plans for this and I can't wait to start on it.  Stay tuned for this one...

Is anyone else familiar with Handy Andy or was that just a Chicago area store?  Chablis beat me to the punch on this awesome tool box.  Damn - if I had just gone down into the basement of that house first, this beauty would have been mine...

Check this out - brand new, still sealed in the box - score!!  And for a great price. 

Who remembers American Crayon Company?  I don't, but Louie found this wooden crayon box at a sale and picked it up for me.  Read the interesting history of American Crayon here and here.

Isn't this doll cradle adorable?  Don't mind Petey - he was very interested in it.   Maybe he thinks this is going to be a bed for him.  I don't think so!  I am leaning towards re-staining this piece, but then, I could paint and distress it.  Ideas anyone?  I don't even know what I'll do with it when I'm done, but I thought it was so cute.

A huge recipe box.  I'm thinking this may end up in the Kentucky kitchen.

One brand new fillet knife and 1 brand new bread knife.  Both were still in their original packaging.   I like the old, heavy wooden kitchen utensils, so I always grab those when I see them and check out these little wooden shoes.  I don't know what I'll do with those either, but they were too cute to pass up.

Chablis found this old coffee tin shoved in the back of a shelving unit.  Did you know that Chase and Sanborn coffee was established in 1862 and was the first coffee company to pack and ship roasted coffee in tins?   This tin has such great graphics and colors.

And last, but not least, an old sewing measuring tape and two old buttons.  I really liked the one from Foreman High School because I had friends who attended that school.

That's all the finds for this week.  I have some projects I'm going to start working on and I'll show you what I did when I finish them up.  Have a nice day!