Artsy Fartsy

This past week has been a blur of activities!  There's lots going on at the house but it's a little here, a little there--maybe not as thrilling as it should be to earn a blog post...however, people are grumbling to me, at me, about me and my bloggy absence.

The absentee concrete guy finally showed up to rip out the remaining stumps and posts with a bobcat that we weren't able to manhandle on our own.  By absentee, I mean I wrote him a check THREE weeks ago on the day he was supposed to show up.  So this past week he did tear out some things and hauled one load away.  He ended up leaving two of the largest stumps (that touch the house) and a huge pile of debris in my postage stamp back yard, but that's okay because he was coming back the next day to chainsaw down the stumps and haul everything away...

I should be grateful this much was done

That was Tuesday.  He should stick to concrete and not demo.  On the plus side, I never gave him the check for the extended delay, half-work he's done.

Tom and I had artsy fartsy day when the yard was being demoed.  Remember the ugly exterior door that went to the dilapidated-porch-turned-fab-bath?

Old kitchen exit door

I decided I needed to save every bit of the old house that I could and that a sliding pantry door would be a perfect purpose for this gorgeous, dust and grime covered piece of history. We Tom took an hour or so to scrub it down.

Eww--the outside was cleaner than the inside

The door is white...those aren't shadows

Next I slapped on contact paper and free handed a Louisville staple, fleur de lis.  It took another hour or so to cut away the design.


I heart X-acto blades!

 Then we sprayed it down with frosted glass paint.


Not too shabby

Nick and his helper, Cameron, installed the finished product over my newly finished pantry and chalkboard wall in the kitchen.


The hardware was epoxied in place and there's tape covering it here.

Lots more happened last week, but I'll leave you with the thought that the countertops have been installed and they're being stained and finished today!



Oh. My. Gawd. Becky...

Moving day is fast approaching!  I'm not even a tiny bit prepared at the rental house.

I spent last night touching up the sconces for the living room and the thrifted fixtures for the dining room and hallway.

I had to try something with these monsters.  Lime green seemed appropriate.

These sconces were a disaster.  They were two-tone faux bronze and the century of living in that house was not kind to them.  At least with a funky paint job they can have a kitschy story to tell of their history.  Right?

I scrubbed them with TSP solution and sanded a few rough spots before I sprayed them with Rust-Oleum Key Lime in gloss.  They still turned out sorta sketch, but I don't hate them.  Just don't examine them too closely.

This nod to mercury glass is pretty tame compared to my other light .

I bought this guy for $8 at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  This got the same scrub down as the sconces and two coats of nickel semi-gloss with a final coat of Looking Glass paint.  It's supposed to look like mercury glass...I'm interested to see how this looks in the hallway when it gets wired.  Thoughts?

1 TSP scrub + 4 coats Mambo Pink + 2 coats high gloss poylurethane = Barbie Fixture

Remember the 1980's special?  Who can resist polished brass swoops with yellowed lampshades?!  I must have search five different stores looking for a good coral color spray paint.  Everything was too red or an orange-y puke mess.  Finally, at store number 782 six, Hobby Lobby, there were still no good coral contenders.  The Bobcat suggested...Mambo Pink???  Sure!  Who doesn't want a Barbie chandelier?

Nick text today to show me the finished back steps:

Way more substanial  than I thought they'd be.  Nick is da man!

Then he sent this.

No.  

Wait for it.  

It's a HOLY MACKEREL moment.

You're not very patient.

It's worth the wait.

Promise...

Hence: Oh. My. Gawd. Becky...