The Great Dining Room Challenge

Been feeling sorta down and out again, like "Granny" in the photo above. Angela from West Virginia Treasures and I decided to add another 'Challenge" to our Git R Done projects. If you remember, we had the Great Gardening Challenge not long ago, and it worked out wonderfully well for both of us!
The garden area viewable from my dining room got a new look, and I'm loving it! It was so successful that Angela and I decided to work on our dining areas...BECAUSE....they collect clutter. They are a dumping ground for mail (read and UN-read), craft projects, purses, kiddy klutter, and a multitude of other things that really need to be put away in their rightful homes! So, here's MY "before" photos:
Our dining area is rather small, like the rest of our house. It might not seem like a huge deal to keep it organized, especially with only 2 adults living in our little cabin in the woods! It gets full of mail, car keys, and items for sorting, and then 'Sidetrack-itis' takes hold; and when that happens, I seldom get back to sorting any time soon!
We plan on finishing up our challenge and celebrating our success next week Friday, so be sure to check back! And, we'd like to invite anyone who might have a cluttered dining area to join in with us for our Great Dining Room Challenge! Just leave us a comment to let us know you're "in", and link in to this post with your before photos. Deadline for completion is next Friday. No prize, but the feeling of accomplishment is WONDERFUL! Click HERE to visit Angela's Dining Room!

Too MANY Projects!

For us 'crafty' individuals, it just isn't possible to have too MANY projects! Or IS it??? After starting to tackle my crafting and storage area, I've made a firm resolve not to take in any more projects before I complete what is already on my plate! I enjoy working on a variety of things, but the room is threatening to overtake the entire HOUSE! Starting the GET R DONE FRIDAY meme has definately helped me finish some needful projects, but the majority have been projects that Mr. Wonderful needed help with. Now it is time to do MY stuff, and since we typically close off the upstairs area in winter to conserve the heat, I need to get things organized, and do it NOW! If you think of me today, say a prayer that I make it out alive, please....Yesterday I cleared a 'path'. Today, I'm jumping in with both feet! Hope to see you again by Friday.....

Projects

Are you working on any projects? Hope you will take pictures of them, so you can post them here on GET R DONE FRIDAY this week! This is what Mr. Wonderful worked on all weekend.
How about taking a peek at the ideas of these industrious individuals who also were able to Get R done? Enjoy, and hope it will bring you some smiles!These images are courtesy of http://www.thereifixedit.com (visit that link for more funnies!), with the exception of the last photo - I forget where he came from, but I saved the picture of his adorable indiscretion, thinking it was the guilt-riddled look of the century! I would give credit, but I just don't recall where it came from!
Have a great Monday!

Labor Day - the Mantle Shelf is Complete!

A short post today, as it is a holiday weekend - - Mr. Wonderful finally got the mantle shelf finished and installed above the corn stove. It is Labor Day, so he labored till he could labor no more! Here's the finished product, all decked out with some rustic, vintage, and primitive goodies that we created :Have a Great Labor Day - rest from your all your labors!

Painting, RE-painting, and RE-painting yet AGAIN!

I've continued working on my bathroom painting and redecorating, as I didn't 'quite' GET R DONE last Friday. The ceiling needs a touch up yet, and I thought I was finished with the walls and cabinets on Saturday. WRONG!

Mr. Wonderful decided it would be a superb idea to install a new vanity top! He has good taste and enjoys picking out things for our home. He chose a dark brown patterned top which reminds me of granite, and it goes well with the paint, and then he spotted a sink on clearance that he loved - only $30 for that, so, why not?

As he worked on the installation, minor scraping and bumping of the walls resulted in painted surface damage. When it came time to remove the old counter top, it didn't come off as easily as it should have - the former owners put it all together with 3 layers of cheap OSB, and screwed it all in place with huge screws - he found that out when he had to take the Sawsall to it! And, if you aren't watching carefully enough, the Sawsall can take off in another direction and saw through the vanity, too. I learned that when I heard some "not so very nice" words echoing out of the bathroom. Hmmm. More painting and re-painting for me to do in the morning, I figured. It is so true - a womans' work is never done....This project has been no exception!
Monday I spent re-painting parts of the vanity, and then I started on the fun stuff - the hanging of the decorations! Remember I told you about the "hospital theme" I was going for - until Mr. Wonderful informed me that the pan I thought was a metal basin for hospital patients was really a WORM BOX??? Well, the blogging scoffers that picked on me so shamelessly (could it be Penniwig and Lady Jane??) will be eating WORMS soon, as Friday I will be showing off my wall decorations, and everyone will be able to see the unique bathroom concepts I have come up with! Very different indeed! This has been a fun adventure! I will have everything completed (except the flooring) for Friday.

This has been a huge project, and I will be glad to finally GET R DONE!

GET R DONE FRIDAY

I started blogging on GET R DONE FRIDAY, and the past few Fridays have been a success! Barbara Jean at Treasures From the Heart was my inspiration, and so I continue with projects here today.
The project pictured here was actually completed on Thursday, so my MOM could "GET R DONE" and out of her house by FRIDAY! I helped her, and here's the story.

Mom agreed to help out one of the priests at her Church by repainting 2 of his angel statues that graced a shelf in his apartment. They were dark and dreary, and all he could think of was to spray them with white paint. Mom and I thought they would appear boring, so we put on our thinking caps and came up with a novel idea - - why not paint them white, put sage green over the top of the white, and accent with GOLD PAINT!!!! (where have you heard THIS before - I wonder ---could it be from the last 2 projects I posted on earlier Fridays???) We got busy with them, and this is how they turned out. They are holding pillars to place a candle on - pretty neat, huh? (The angel below was 'started' - you can see where we painted her white, and where the green and gold begin on the wings and the pedistal she holds.)As long as we had the spray paint, I nabbed mom's old mirror - she got it at a rummage sale during her 'early marriage' years, and it was gold - the original color. It looks to be a plaster molded design over a wood frame - pretty old. So, it got sprayed white, added the sage green, then the gold highlights...and VOILA! A whole new look for this tired old mirror!
Mom is going to hang it in her hobby room, I think - unless she changes her mind. It's a woman's prerogative, you know!


NEXT Friday - will be one of MY projects - and it won't be a green and gold highlighted one!

GET R DONE FRIDAY

But it's Sunday NIGHT, you say! True - but I did get my project done on Friday afternoon - but Friday and the whole weekend was a whirlwind and blew on by, so I didn't get a chance to post about it! So, here's Friday's project I completed in record time - rejuvenating yet another garden statue. This time, it was St. Francis of Assisi. I started out with a coat of black spray paint. Then, a coat of white spray paint, leaving some of the black in the curves of his robe, and behind the animals near him. Next, the green acrylic paint, then some light brown acrylic was added - and the final touch, gold highlights, as I did with last week's metal bunnies! Click picture to enlarge a bit. He looks so much better! (Mr. Wonderful is now worried that if he stands in one place too long, when he next looks in his mirror to shave he might be green with gold highlights!)

I took more photos of the bird nests under my covered porch, and thought it might be interesting to see.

It looks sort of blurry, but there they are....baby birdies, and you can kind of make them out. I had to put the camera almost right on top of the nest, as there was no room hardly between the nest and the top of the cubby hole that mom built it in. Those babies are well protected!

I glanced at the screen display after I snapped this picture and -- YEOWSERS! No mistaking what THIS IS! I guess baby bird thought the camera was mom ready to feed him some vittles! How adorable is that! These are photos from only one of the 3 nests under our porch! I bet they have all hatched by now, sweet little things!

Have a great rest of the evening - and tomorrow, I will show you Mr. Wonderful's project that was finally completed Saturday and Sunday! It is absolutely supurb!

GET - R- DONE

I was inspired by Barbara Jean from Treasures from the Heart who posted about "Project Friday" today. She has pictures of creations that she has completed, or nearly so, and it got me to thinking of how many unfinished or just-thought-of projects I have sitting around! So, today I'm going to show you a project I am going to complete TODAY -so it will be done on FRIDAY!

So, Let's "GET -R- DONE!"

Several years back, I found these neat metal bunnies on clearance. Click on the pictures to enlarge. They have been sitting in my flower garden every year, getting worn and faded by the sun and the rain. It kind of added to their character, and I didn't mind. But this year, I was thinking they needed a face lift! So, I found some latex paint in a shade that was a little closer to their original color and wiped it on over them with a Handiwipe cloth. In the picture below, you can see the faded green towards the left of the bunny, and the right side has been lightly coated.

Latex paint dries pretty fast, and I worked on the other rabbits while the previous one was drying. When they were each coated, I got out my acrylic craft paint and chose a metallic gold, to highlight the raised body features like the cheeks, eyes, ear tips, shoulders and hips of each bunny, as seen below.

Tne next thing that could be done is to spray a protective coating over the top of the piece. I chose not to do it - I think I will let it weather for another year or two - to add to the character once again! Now that my project is finished, the next challenge is to decide where to place them!

I
GOT -R- DONE!