I hate to say it...

but I was disappointed in the Domino issue. It really saddens me to say this, but it is true.

After seeing a friend on Facebook had picked up a copy, I went on the search for mine. It was not at my local grocery store, so I headed to Barnes and Noble. I had to dig through the stands to find the last two copies, or what I assumed were the last two copies, because everyone was rushing out to scoop this up, right? The cashier at checkout was intrigued by the magazine, so I told her how great it used to be and what a big deal this issue was, and also that I'd taken the only ones they had. Sorry, chica, these are mine!

When I got home I made a cup of tea and made myself comfortable on the loveseat. Being about 10 weeks pregnant at the time I'd become used to allowing myself lazy evenings on the couch. Anyway, there I sat. I was almost scared to open the cover. Scared to be disappointed. What if it wasn't fabulous?? And so I dug in. I read the whole thing cover to cover. If I had never seen the magazine before, I would have thought it was great. But I have poured through every issue, repeatedly, and this mash up quasi Domino didn't really do it for me. There was nothing new. It read like a homework assignment left until the last minute, and then smashed together from old content. As I read in another review, it was "repackaged", which is a perfect description. I think they could have done a better job.

Another issue is slated to come out this fall. My hope is they'll put a little more effort into freshening this one up, instead of just completely recycling from old issues. I'll be there to buy that issue too, but maybe just one copy this time.

Countdown.

One week from today marks the start of the wallpaper removal. I'm not sure I'm quite ready for the quick transformation our home is about to take. I need to get some artwork and photos ready to get up on all these freshly painted walls we're going to have.

This also means I only have one week to pick a paint color for the bedroom. No pressure, right? I'm sweating this one even more than normal since we'll be paying someone else to do the painting. I need to make sure we love this color. At least I have it narrowed down to blue, now to just pick a shade.

I'm thinking this will call for a mini makeover of the bedroom so I'll be searching for new curtains and curtain rods too. I've already printed dozens of wedding photos so we can plaster those in frames around the bedroom. We are obsessed with our wedding photos and can't wait to get them up on the wall.

Sometimes, dreams really do come true.

At least, they sort of do. Domino magazine will be making a brief comeback this month in the form of Domino's Quick Fixes, a single edition stacked with inexpensive spruce ups and DIY home projects. I will be checking newsstands regularly until I get my copy (or two).


Look what I found searching for old Domino covers! I'm not sure how I feel about those chalky neutrals, but I do spy a chubby little Boston in that photo.

Is it possible?

Could it be true? This might be, gulp, wait for it, the end of the wallpaper. We are finally taking charge. We have a few people coming over this week to give us estimates on wallpaper removal for the hallway and our bedroom, and repairs to the dining room and guest bath. I can't even imagine what it will be like to see nice, clean paint on those walls instead of this hideous wallpaper everywhere. It's going to feel like a brand new house again.

In case you forgot just what we're dealing with here.

I know what I'm going to be dreaming of tonight...

ETA: I just realized this means I'll have to decide on a wall color for the bedroom. Eek! We already have paint for the hallway (gray), but I've been having a hard time deciding on what to do for our bedroom. Now I know I want some soothing shade of pale blue, but narrowing that down? Oye! Time to break out the fan deck and my piles of magazines and paint chips.

Where did my painting weather go?!?

Now of course I knew that 80 degrees in March was too good to be true. That doesn't mean I can't miss it when it's gone. I was all prepped and ready for three painting projects, but now it's gone cold again. It snowed today! I hope everything that is blooming can survive this little cold patch.

Meet Oscar.

Oscar is our newest foster. He's been with us about six weeks now and is currently taking applications for his new forever family. Oscar was found as a stray before he was pulled into rescue. He needed to be neutered and brought up to date on all of this vaccines, but all of that has been taken care of. He is a wonderful dog and will make a great family pet. Half Beagle, half Boston Terrier, he is an absolute sweetheart. How about those ears?!

Trash picked.

Remember this little stool? Soon after buying it I decided that it would be better off as part of a pair. My intention would be to put the pair in front of the dining room window, assuming the dining room is ever finished, to hold most of my houseplants. The dining room gets great light through the huge picture window, so I'd love to make a mini botanical garden in that room. The height of the stool is perfect for in front of the window.

I thought it would take me a while to track one down, but I got lucky on a trip back from the store recently. Driving down a fairly busy street I spotted a little twin stool on the side of the road. I got myself turned around and quickly scooped it up. It was dusty and dirty and in need of repair, but hey, it was free! It still had a moving company sticker on it, so I imagine that maybe the caning was damaged in transit and it was relegated to the basement until it was time to be tossed. Or maybe it was already broken and just didn't make the cut in the new house. Either way, score one for me.


The stools aren't 100% identical, but they are close enough for me. My plan is to paint them both, either black or cream, put a piece of glass on top and then top them off with the plants. Since I'm going to put glass and plants on top anyway, I'm not too worried about fixing the broken caning. I may try to glue the ends back into place, but at this point in time, I won't be replacing it.

I'm taking off Thursday and Friday this week to work on some projects around the house, including these. I'm so excited to have all this warm, sunny spray painting weather so early in the year. My front yard is going to be a little furniture factory the next few days. Wish me luck!

I almost passed this up.

This antique dressing table is another lucky hand-me-down from my aunt and uncle. Beautifully hand painted by my aunt, it had lived in their guest bedroom for as long as I could remember. Actually, it shared a room with the full size bed that we are now so happy to have in our guest bedroom. Clearly, my aunt and uncle were ready for a change, and luckily for us, were ready to give up these great treasures.

I was going to pass on this dressing table, as the faux finish was not really my style. My sister encouraged me to give it another thought, and my aunt reassured me that I'd of course be free to do with it whatever I wanted, no guilt, no worries. And with that green light, I moved quickly (before I changed my mind).




I knew I wanted to use a cool aqua to pair with the gray walls in the small guest bedroom. I picked a color, and at the last minute changed my mind to go one shade darker, and I'm so glad I did. I used Benjamin Moore's Oceanfront, and the color is exactly what I wanted. I used a paint with a built in primer, to make sure I got even coverage over the existing faux paint finish.




I still have to finish painting the knobs and put them back on. I dressed it up with a few accessories, including this Boston Terrier piggy bank from Urban Outfitters and a stack of books we picked up at a local antique store. It also makes a great place for the latest addition to my vintage hat collection.

Greenery.

I'm really enjoying these little miniature shrubberies I found on clearance at the grocery store after Christmas. The pots they came in were cheap felt, made to look like Christmas stockings, so I quickly covered that up with a bit of craft paper and some twine. Best part is, they smell like lemon. Here's hoping I can keep them alive awhile!

I'm mobile!

Blogging from my shiny new iPhone. Who, by the way, does not like it if you don't capitalize the "p". I'm not at all sad to have given up my crappy old Blackberry, and I'm looking forward to using this fantastic new phone to be able to upload pictures straight to Blogger.

Shop Local Saturday.

I did my part, did you? While my stop last Saturday wasn't exactly local to me, it definitely counts as a local business. It just happens that it was two hours away from my home. I spent Saturday morning driving a rescued Boston Terrier to meet her new foster mom. On the way to our designated meeting spot, I saw a sign for an antique store a little up the road. After I saw Madge on her way, I headed for the store.

It was a combination craft and antique store, and I supported both. In the craft section of the store I found a few reproduction iron work pieces. Reproductions don't bother me, as long as they are well made, and of course, well priced.




The sailboat key hook was $7 and the reproduction wall hook was $10. The key hook will be easy enough to find a spot for. I'm not quite sure about the latter, but I'm sure we'll figure something out.

As for the antiques, I waded through booth after booth of random crap. There were some interesting things, but nothing that really struck my fancy, except this...



I picked up this little cane top bench for $20. It's a pretty common piece, and I'm hoping I can find a twin to it at some point in the future. It's been painted and distressed, which is not really my style, but it is in otherwise good shape. Once I decide where it's going to live, I'll give it a nice clean coat of paint. The caning on this also matches the chairs we bought over the summer at another antique store.

I intended on making another Shop Local stop, at our favorite cupcake shop, but errands got in the way. I'll find another day to support them ;)


I almost forgot! This is Madge! I picked her up from City Animal Services on Wednesday and she spent a few days with us. Poor little lady was picked up as a stray, and due to her old age was scheduled to be put down. She's now settling in to her permanent foster home. Good luck Madge! We'll be thinking of you!

Don't try this at home.

Mostly because, I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm just faking it, and I think I got lucky with this one. My aunt and uncle brought this old table to us on Thanksgiving. After a long useful life, it had been relegated to the barn for the last few years. When my aunt learned we were looking for a table for our eat-in kitchen, she gladly offered this old gal up. I love the style, and the grain of the beautiful beech, but it had seen better days.



Being that our garage is already full of pressure treated timbers, leaf blowers, miscellaneous chairs, a fire pit, etc, I needed to get this out of there asap. Also, I absolutely detest the little table we had in the kitchen, so I was plenty motivated to get this one done.

There was no shellac, polyurethane or any other coating on the table, so I started to clean it with steel wool and some denatured alcohol. My brother in law told me about the successes he'd had using it on old furniture, and so I'd picked up a can a little while ago.

I was lucky that it was another warm day here, so I was able to work outside in the garage. I wore gloves to protect my hands from the alcohol and worked in small sections. As I worked across, I scrubbed gently with the steel wool and sloughed off the dirty residue. Then wiped everything clean with a damp rag and warm water. When it was dry I took my orbital sander to the top, using 220 grit sandpaper.

I'm pretty happy with how well it cleaned up. The watermark you can see here is the only spot still visible. Not bad considering how it started out. To finish it off, I ran to Home Depot to pick up a can of Minwax Finishing Wax. It went on easily, and buffed to a nice sheen. I almost went with Tung Oil, but was afraid an oil might highlight any leftover imperfections. I'm glad I went with the wax. It came out exactly as I'd hoped.

This is the table we had in the kitchen. I hate it, but it served a purpose. We don't eat here ever, but still needed a little something in the space. This little oak table just looked so cheap, it drove me crazy.

And after, with the new table in place...

Maybe approves!

Oh hell to the No.

We have bees. More specifically, yellow jackets. What started as one, quickly grew to two, to five, to twenty. And then I called the exterminator. After a dose or two of some very unhealthy and not-so-earth-friendly poisons, most of them were dead. I say most, because it can take anywhere from 3-7 days for the nest to die. The most fun part is that as the nest dies, the queens come out, and the queens are enormous. shudders

I have learned way too much about yellow jackets this week, by the way. Aside from the lack of sleep from being so paranoid, this whole fiasco has had me praying for a frost, which would help kill these things off for good.

I'm giving it until Saturday to go back into the master bathroom, which is where they've been coming in. I have a feeling I'm still going to be looking over my shoulder for a while in there.

Out of chaos...

It was a cold rainy day here yesterday. Strangely sunny and windy at the same time. The oak leaves are falling now, reminding us how quickly the seasons change on us, and that snow (yes, snow) will be here before we know it. We're coming up on two years in the house. Unbeknownst to us at the time, but the day we closed on the house, was the same day our sweet little Maybe was born. She's sitting next to me now, all knotted up with Rulloff, and I can't tell which one of them is snoring louder.

Anyway...coming up on two years here, and of course we still have a zillion projects to finish, but we're also still getting organized. Today was paper day. Sorting and sifting through piles of old mail, file folders and general mess that needs to be dealt with. I hate mail. It just keeps coming, and 75% of it goes straight into the recycling bin. Mostly because it seems the former owners of this house never forwarded their mail.



This little area is in the corner of the kitchen. Rulloff's crate sits underneath, and the counter is generally a catch-all for mail, keys and miscellaneous junk. The bulletin board I installed last summer is not really functional as it falls off the hook if you touch it, and we'll pin things up but never go back for them. It also doesn't help solve the issue of the mail.



I found these wall hanging files, which are also magnetic and chalk friendly, at Target for $4.98. They've been working well so far.


I repurposed a few photo frame magnets as reminders for the dog's heartworm and flea treatments. Business cards and gift certificates sit in the tray for quick access. I'm pretty pleased with this quick little revamp.