What a busy week!

Things have been so hectic for the past week that I haven't even had time to post anything! That is very rare because I look so forward to sitting at my computer and catching up on my friends out in Blogland! I am in the process of adding an addition to our home. We desperately need another bedroom so it has been in the works for a while. Now that it is warming up, I think we may have it finished soon! Every day it seems I am working more on home improvement than crafting and blogging.

I had a plumbing issue and the plumber told me that he would have to bring out his Bobcat and dig up the pipe (which is an additional cost of $300!). I quickly told him to give me a day and I would dig it up with my shovel and save me $300. So, I spent a whole day digging in the yard to get to the pipe that he needed. It was a lot of work but with every dig I knew what I was saving.

I had also been trying to come up with another color for my shutters and front door. The house is a tan color and they were already painted a barn red color but it was just too much of a contrast for me. It had been that way for 3 years and I had enough of it. Yesterday I went to Lowes and stayed in the paint section for over an hour looking at paint samples. I finally decided on an Olive Green color. I immediately came home and started painting and I LOVE the new color! I think it looks more like a little cottage now! So homey looking!

I have been working on a few projects lately though . . .

I made these Spring Birds for my booth at Curious Cat. They started as a Robins Egg Blue color and then grubbied. I love how they turned out!

I have also been working on some large prim pears that still need a little finishing touch. I still have to put on their stems and leaves and prim them up!

I found this vintage table cloth at the Waxhaw Antique Mart over the weekend. I just angled it across my table and put this old wooden bowl in the middle. It really lightened up my dark table!

Well, guess I am off to deal with more Home Improvement issues! UGGGHH! Wish me luck!
Prim Hugs ~ Nicole

Tuesday Tweaking!

What a great day! The hubby had the day off so we decided to go out for breakfast this morning! This is rare for us! We aren't exactly what you would call "morning people!" We usually wake up, mumble a few words to each other, (I just usually grunt - it takes a lot less effort!) and go on about our day. Usually around lunch time we phone each other to see how the day is coming along. Not today! We woke up and decided to head into town for a bite to eat. After breakfast, we stopped at a small grocery store in town that we had heard ran pretty decent deals. We've never been to that particular grocery store so we just stopped in and shopped around. There were a few things that I found cheaper, so I picked them up, but not much of a savings overall.

Once we got home, I guess we had been bitten by the home improvement bug. We were going to work out in the yard but it was a little too chilly and my hubby is still recovering from Bronchitis so we didn't want to take any chances! He looked around the house and said "Honey, get my drill!" Boy, what great words! You know what that means ladies - a few things are getting scratched off the honey-do list! YEAH!

He hung my new towel holder in the bathroom, put in a new door stop behind the bathroom door, fixed a cabinet door in the kitchen that was loose, worked on a drawer that was sticking, changed out the ceiling fan in the living room, changed out the light switches to white ones (some of the rooms still had the ivory ones), and worked on the back door that seemed to have a little drag to it. WOW! That was a lot of one afternoon!

Of course, since he was busy, I started working on my own to-do list. I pulled everything out under the kitchen sink and organized it, organized the computer desk area, cleaned curtains, and then it started . . . I began tweaking. I started moving this thing to that wall and that thing to the other shelf. Before I knew it, I started bringing out Spring items from the attic!

So here are a few pics of my Tuesday Tweaks!

This is the top of my entertainment center. The old yellow jug was my grandmothers. It sat in the hallway for as long as I can remember!
This is my new little hand towel for my updated bathroom! I love it! I found it at K-Mart over the weekend. It matches my bathroom colors perfectly!

I just love these bright yellow flowers in my grandmother's old pitcher!

Now I can sit back and enjoy my Spring-filled home! Even though it is still cold outside, the heater runs constantly, and I am always wrapped in a blanket . . . at least it LOOKS like Spring!

I may start my own tradition . . . Tuesday Tweaking! I am constantly changing things around but maybe I can keep it to once a week! The husband would be so happy if I would just leave things alone - but, that is probably not going to happen! *wink wink**

Prim Hugs ~ Nicole

A craft area redo and a vet update

A few years ago, I installed some wire shelves in our hallway. It was a recess in the wall which housed the furnace at one time. Since then, it was a place to store our towels, sheets, and extra blankets. Now that I was finally finished with the bathroom, I had a better place for all of these. Yesterday afternoon I decided to make my former linen closet into a crafting storage area.
Over the past few months, I have realized that I had crafting supplies scattered from one end of the house to the other. Everytime I wanted to start a project, I had to hunt down my supplies. Sometimes I would give up and just go buy whatever I needed. We can't afford to do that anymore so I was on a mission . . . to find all of my crafting supplies and get them organized!

I our bedroom, I had 3 (yes 3!) of those plastic storage things on wheels. Each one had 3 drawers in it and it was the home for the bulk of my stuff. The rest was scattered in the dining room (which is where the sewing machine was), beside the recliner (I had a basket there with things that I work on while watchin TV), and in various drawers.

I pulled EVERYTHING into the living room. Fabric, buttons, paint, sanders, candles, floral stuff, all of it! Needless to say it was a MESS! I didn't want to go buy more plastic bins so I took the drawers out of the ones in my bedroom. This eliminated a lot from my bedroom and I didn't have to spend any money!

It took several hours but I got it finished. I know it doesn't look like a lot but it is all packed in there! Everything except my fabric. I have it stored in a cabinet in the dining room.

Living in a small house means that you don't have the storage that you would like. I have had to find creative ways to store things so they aren't just lying out for everyone to see.

I have so much stuffing and batting that I needed a place to "hide" it. This was my solution . . .

Can't even tell it's in there, huh? It works great because I don't have those big bulky bags showing! Since I became organized - I have started on 3 more projects. I am not a one at a time type gal! I'll try to show you those projects later.
I think one day I am going to do a post and show off my hiding places! I have things hidden everywhere since there is not room to store them!

We took our English Bulldog, Cane, to the vet yesterday. He loves going because he gets to visit other dogs. We got to sit near the scale so he thought that everyone was coming to see him as they were going to weigh their animals. We knew he had an ear infection because of the way that he was acting. Turns out, he has a bacterial ear infection, skin allergy, and Entropion in one eye. Entropion is an inward rolling of the eyelid edges. He said it is a painful condition because the hair on the lid constantly scratches against the cornea.
They gave us meds for the ear infection and he got an allergy shot for his skin. We also got a cream to put in his eye to help with the discomfort but he has to have surgery. We were not expecting that at all!
The vet said that other than the eye, Cane was very healthy. At least we got that good news! So we hope to have his surgery scheduled in the next few weeks.
Right now, he is in the recliner snoring louder than my husband! Makes it hard to watch TV when they are both dozing! I think the curtains are gonna pull off the windows! I am gonna record it one day!
I hope everyone has a great day!

Nicole

Finally . . . A completed bathroom!

I have been mentioning my bathroom remodel project in my last posts. It has been a long time coming but I can finally say that it is finished! We live in a older home that belonged to my grandparents and it has one small bathroom. When we first moved in, it didn't even have a shower! I remember taking long hot baths in that little bathroom over the years. It still had the old cast iron plumbing so let me tell you, it took FOREVER to fill up the bath! I would start the water, go finish my homework, and then get in the bath about 30 minutes later! Seriously! The water ran that slow!

After we inherited the house, the plumbing was the first update we had completed. We had that done before we ever moved in. I knew there was no way that the four of us would ever be bathed at that rate! We had a shower/tub installed at the same time.

In the corner of the bathroom, we had a chimney. Back then, it was the chimney that went to the furnace. When I was a teenager, my grandparents had the furnace removed and installed Central Heat & Air. Boy, we thought we were something then! The chimney remained and was eventually painted the same color as the bathroom. You really couldn't even tell it was a chimney. It was in the corner and you basically just passed it by when you came into the bathroom.

It is a small bathroom with the basics . . . toilet, sink, tub/shower. However, there was no place for towels or all of your bath essentials. The entire house didn't even have a linen closet. My grandmother kept all of the towels and linens in a hutch.

Fast forward several years when we moved in. I thought to myself, "We could remove that chimney and build a cabinet in that corner to store our towels and stuff!" Sounds easy right? OH NO! REMOVE A CHIMNEY??? WHAT WAS I THINKING! What about all of that soot? Chipped cement? No, I never asked myself that. That would have made way more sense than I had at the time I guess!

The hubby and I go into the attic and start taking apart the chimney. Luckily, it had been capped off years ago so it didn't go through the roof. Brick by brick, my dear hubby chipped away at the cement - breaking them apart so we could get them down the attic stairs (yes, the pull down kind) and out the door into the bed of his truck. We had an assembly line going. He broke them apart, I took them to the stairs and passed it down to Miranda, she passed the brick to Colton who took it out the door and threw it in the truck. It was a little messy up in the attic but not too bad. We get downstairs and get the chimney 1/2 way down. Then we seen it. Black soot was packed full almost 1/2 up the chimney. PACKED FULL! We started shoveling it into trashcans. Sucked it up in the Shop Vac (BAD IDEA) Needless to say, by the time the chimney was gone, the bathroom was black, we were black, the CARPET was black, the porch was black, the poodle was black and the children were black!

In the weeks to come, we had to rip up the carpet and put in new flooring. I had tried everything to clean the carpet but nothing would get that oily soot out! We cleaned ALOT of molding and walls. Had a poodle BLEACHED! Then we built the cabinet for the bathroom. Once that cabinet was in place, I didn't want to be anywhere near that bathroom for awhile - seriously, awhile! Because of the disaster that I call, Hurricane Nicole, we have been working on cleaning up for about a year!

That brings me to the bathroom makeover. I finally got up the courage to give it another try. My daughter and I worked on it over the weekend. We got the old molding torn down and painted. I painted the ceiling a bright white to lighten it up. The rest of the house has more prim colors to it but I wanted something light and bright because of it's size. I still try to bring in some prim pieces so it doesn't look like it completely belongs to another house. Once we got it painted, the hubby helped me hang the wainscotting and new molding. I am very pleased with the results!

Today was cleaning day for the bathroom! I put my hair in a ponytail, put on some sweats, and went at it! The floor still had remnants of black soot! That stuff was in every nook and cranny! I felt like Cinderella . . . not the cute gal heading off to a ball . . no . . . the one with her bucket, on her hands and knees, scubbing the floor. That was me today. Can you picture it?

The hubby cooked dinner tonight so that I could clean the bathroom. (Not sure if he was being nice or if I was being punished! lol) So, after over a year of waiting . . . it is done. I spent the past hour decorating it and moving things from other rooms. I still have a few things to buy to give it that finished look but it was so clean, I wanted to show you before my kids wake up tomorrow and there is toothpaste on the walls! lol

Keep in mind that this bathroom in small so I could not stand back far enough to get the entire picture so I had to take them in sections.

I picked up this shower curtain a few months ago at Curious Cat for $5! It has been sitting in a box every since then.This is the pan I have hanging over the commode. I bought this from Beth at Olde Tyme Marketplace. She has a booth at Curious Cat also and this little gem was there calling my name!

I am going to use the blue jars for my essentials . . . Q-tips, cotton balls, and tweezers/fingernail clippers. I just thought they fit perfect with my new blue! I am going to get some brown fabric to put them on. Just to break up the blue and white. I guess something with texture.

I put this little gathering together on top of an old wood hamper. The brown pitcher belonged to my grandmother. The set of shutters are another of Beth's treasures!

Just a close up of the old wooden hamper. I love it! It holds our sheets and things (shhh!) I am going to put more brown fabric here to cover the hamper lid.

This is the vanity that we purchased last year. I think it is so cottagie (I know that isn't a word!) I allows some storage underneath - thank goodness! Also, see the Maple candle on the sink - another of Beth's treasures! The best smelling candle . . . EVER! I hung this wreath over the wooden hamper. Great brown against the blue!
I took down the medicine cabinet and hung this mirror instead. It was a wedding gift from my Aunt Dot. She even wrote "We love you" across the back. It was a centerpiece at our table during the reception. She had it covered with lit candles and flower petals!
Yes, this is a picture of our floor. Nothing special - except it has NO SOOT on it anymore! Can you believe it! I also wanted to show you . . . it really is a small bath huh? I was not kidding! Thanks so much for taking the tour of our bath remodel! Sorry for the long post but I really felt I should explain why it took so long to remodel our tiny bath! I am sure I will be tweaking it in the coming weeks - but for now . . . IT IS FINISHED! (You should see the dance I am doing about it!)
Thanks to everyone's well wishes for Cane! He goes to the vet in the morning so I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!
I hope everyone has a great week!

Some Thrift Store Goodies . . .

I had to show off some of my weekend Thrift Store finds! The hubby and I took off early Saturday morning on a mission. I needed a piece of furniture to display my handmades at my booth at Curious Cat. We actually found so many good deals that I couldn't pass them up! The first store we came to had a lot of great things sitting out front. I immediatly pulled in because I seen a hutch top sitting there all alone. We got it and a great bathroom cabinet! It is solid wood and looks great! I can't wait to slap a little paint on it!

The second store we went to had a lot of old prim looking pieces tucked in behind the newer stuff. Everytime I go there I have to look back behind the "nicer" things to find what I am looking for. This time I found this old metal bin - it has a great pull out door on it. It is made like a tater bin (just so you can picture it). It looks like it went in a bathroom or something. I am going to research and see if I can find out what it was for. It is the white cabinet above. I had to have it - only $5!
I found a table that had a handful of wood picture frames - had to have those - $1.00 for all. I use them for my stitcheries - that way I don't have to charge an arm and a leg for the finished product!
Last but not least, I found an old porcelain coffee pot. It is perfect! In great shape - just needed a little cleaning.

All in all, I think it was a great bargain day! I am going to get my finds "prim-tastic" hopefully this week.

We have been making a few changes in our main bathroom. It is a little small so we needed to brighten it up. My daughter worked until late last night repainting. We had a custom built cabinet installed but I never got around to painting it. Miranda took care of all of the white painting - the door, trim, and the cabinet. I decided to go with a lighter blue. It is not really prim but I wanted something a little more lively in there. It always seems so dark and gloomy - had to brighten it up! I will take a picture of it when it doesn't look like such a mess! Hopefully, later on this week I will share it with ya.

I have to take our dear doggie, Cane, to the vet on Wednesday so I won't get a lot done that day! He isn't feeling well lately. I think he has some type of ear infection. He is still running and playing but we want to get it checked out before it gets worse.

Better safe than sorry I guess! I take him to a vet about an hour away because they are a lot more affordable than the ones around here. They have seen Cane since he was a puppy so that way they know his history.
I hope everyone has a great week. I will share my bathroom pics and my thrifting makeovers as soon as I can!