Falling Back on the Hodgepodge

Happy first day of November!

Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend and I always look forward to it...

...I know, most people think I'm nuts (and they just may be right).

When I leave to go home from work it's nearly dark

and when I go to work in the morning, the sun is blinding me!

So why do I like it?
First of all, I really like having that extra hour on Saturday evening.
We turn our clocks back after supper and it's just enough to trick my mind into thinking
that I am actually gaining an hour...I never use it for sleeping purposes.
You see, I seem to have this built-in alarm that doesn't allow me to slumber more,
just because the clock says I can.
Most weekday evenings I'm just ready to get home and stay there.

The thought of coming home, gettin' in my jammies and all cozied in on a cold evening

is just one of those simple pleasure I enjoy this time of year!

So let's get on with the Hodgepodge, shall we?

It's where Joyce asks the tough questions and we answer them on our blogs.
But you already knew that, didn't you?

1. What does/did Halloween look like at your house this year? Did you decorate? Pick pumpkins? Carve pumpkins? Expect trick or treaters? Wear a costume to a party or event? Make a costume? Feel glad you didn't have to come up with a costume? Cook a Halloween themed treat? Eat all the leftover candy?

It's actually Halloween night as I sit here writing this post and this is what it looks like: The house is quiet, Oscar is lying next to me on the couch while Tasha is asleep on the love seat. Jim is working (as usual), I didn't carve a pumpkin this year and we have had zero trick-or-treaters so far. I bought a bag of Reese's Cups just in case. Each year the number goes down...so if last year was zero, we will have less than that this year. I do not decorate for Halloween and haven't since my kids were little. I will occasionally dress up (a little) but nothing too garish.

This was shortly after Jim and I were married at a party we attended. I'm the one in the deputy's uniform...in case you didn't recognize me.

And this was last year at the PT clinic, shortly before election day. I was "Ms. Patriotic" and the bright blue eye shadow is about as scary as it gets! I remember how much more fun Halloween used to be when I was a kid...we usually made our costumes from some old clothes and anything we could find but I do remember when I had a Casper the Friendly Ghost costume...oh yeah, and Heckle and Jeckle, remember them? Actually, I dress my dogs up more than I dress up myself.

This year. no costume for me and no Halloween treats were made and few were eaten. They came passing out candy at work today and after eating a few pieces, I felt sick. I can't eat too much sugar these days and that's a GOOD thing!

2. What are you waiting for? Elaborate

I guess I could say that I am waiting on many things but as the world grows more and more chaotic, I find myself wondering and waiting for everything to settle down a bit. I don't have a lot of confidence that it will happen but we can still hope and pray. I'm afraid I might be waiting until Jesus returns.

3. Do you wish you were friendlier, braver, more creative, more athletic, or something else? Explain.

Sometimes, yes to all of the above but I don't spend a lot of time dwelling on it. There is always room for improvement and the "something else" would most definitely be SKINNIER...and that, my friends, needs NO explanation. 😕

4. When it comes time to paint are you a do-it-yourselfer or do you hire someone? What was the last paint job completed at your house? What room most needs painting now? How do you feel about wallpaper?

I have always been a do-it-yourselfer. The last paint project that I completely finished would be my kitchen cabinets. Here is a photo from my post about it.

I was going to paint the hallway BEFORE we got the new floors last winter but one thing led to another and I knew there would be more painting to be done later so I just stopped. You see, I need a deadline and now I have one...well, kinda. By putting the house on the market hopefully in the spring, all of my unfinished projects shall finally be complete. So after the hallway is finally finished, I will start painting all of the doors and baseboards. And anyone who knows me at all knows that I still love my wallpaper...not everywhere...just here and there....like in the bathroom...

...the bedroom

...and inside of my hutches...

...and of course, my back splash in the kitchen which is textured wallpaper spray painted "tin".

5. What is one specific thing you felt gratitude for in the month of October?

I specifically am very thankful for the cooler temps that October brought (finally!) and as of the end of last week, water in the well in Tennessee! You just can't move forward without it.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

It is now 9:00 PM on Halloween. Not. One. Trick-or-treater. It looks like I'll be needing to get rid if that bag of Reese's Cups. Any takers??

Enjoy the rest of your week!

This and That

Do you ever open up your blog to write a post and nothing comes out?

This has kind of been one of those weeks for me...it's weird.

Oh, it's not that nothing has been going on...in fact, I've been quite busy.
Maybe that alone is the problem.

I've been working on a couple of redo projects for the past couple of weekends

and they both about kicked my butt!

So that's pretty much why I've been neglecting away from blogging this week.

I didn't really want to take the time to blog during the make-overs

so I will just show you a couple of photos...well, maybe more than a couple :)
~
First up, I painted my already white-washed fireplace bricks to solid white.
I've never been happy with the wall color against the previous paint job.



The original dark brown bricks looked gray after I white-washed them a few years ago
 and I didn't think the two tones went together well.

I like this much better...

...and painting the fireplace was way easier than having to paint the whole room!
By this weekend, I hope to have it all decorated with pumpkins and leaves!
Bring on the fall decor!!
~
Next on my to-do list was to give a face lift to the hall bathroom.
Now, just so you know, I am still a fan of wallpaper, yes, that's right...
...and this bathroom has had about four different patterns on it in the past 24 years.
So on Labor Day, I was laboring hard, getting this done.

 I heard that wallpaper is making a come-back, although it never really went out of style for me.
GOOD.....that means I'll be on the cutting edge...again!
(hehe....cutting edge....get it???)
I love the look, the feel and even the smell of it.
So off with the old and on with the new!

Actually, I have had this "new" wallpaper in my closet for several years.
I think I paid $2.00 a roll...it was in a clearance bin at Lowe's...there were four rolls,
which happened to be just the amount needed to paper this room.
The bathroom is not big but the paper had a 24" pattern repeat...
...that means lots of wasted paper.
Why do they do that??



So here's the finished room...old school and traditional?
Yes, that's me!
And if the Lord is in agreement with our retirement plans,
this will be the last time I ever paper this room as long as I live...
...there is one tiny corner between the sink and the wall that is a bear to get to!

Now I am just trying to decide which lampshade.
This one...



...or this one...both Goodwill finds.
I'm leaning towards the red one...maybe :)
~
So now that I got these two projects out of the way,
and believe me, there are many more where those came from,
I am counting the hours for next Tuesday to get here.
My sister (next to me in the birth order) from Ohio is flying down...
...her first flight, I might add,
and just the two of us girls will be heading to the beach for a long weekend!
She's coming to help me celebrate my birthday next Thursday.
We've been planning this for nearly a year and just I'm so excited!
That will be another post for another day :)
~
The weather here has been totally glorious the past several days...
...cool in the mornings and evenings and gentle breezes during the day.
As I walked out onto the front porch yesterday morning,
the sun peeking through the woods filtered the light on the ferns in the most beautiful way.

I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots.
The vivid greens will soon be replaced by oranges, reds and golds
It won't be long now.

Let's see...I think that's about it for this week.
Oh wait...one more thing...
...I had the joy of getting my long overdue colonoscopy last Friday.

These were waiting on me when I got home :)

What better reason is there to deserve flowers?
~
Well, I guess that's pretty much it for now.
For someone who didn't have much of anything to say,
I sure said a bunch! :D
 

Paint is GOOD

So this cute little sign came across my facebook page the other day.

Knowing what my next project at hand was going to be, I thought how appropriate!

~

When I last posted, I was about to embark on a journey.

A journey to a "new" kitchen, so to speak...

...and the dreaded, yet oh-so-exciting road ahead.

Let us first take a peek at what once was.

This was my kitchen about a year ago.
(please excuse that glaring light in the ceiling, if you will)

Actually, I had removed all of the fruity things and replaced them with a few roostery things

when I brought all of my chickens home to roost after selling Ray's Roost,

our beloved cabin in Virginia last September.
(Man, that was a lot of roosts in one sentence!)
~ 

So many of you have wondered how my cabinet painting has turned out.

Let me just say that this Nuvo Cabinet Paint by Giani has really impressed me so far.

It went on smoooooth like butta and dried (quite quickly I might add)

to a silky satin finish.

{It seems to be really hard to get good photos in here without a flash
so I apologize for the quality of some of these.}

By the time you paint your first coat on the area you are working on,
it's ready for the second coat...not even tacky.

My goal for last Friday was to get this part of the "L" completed of this L-shaped kitchen...

...and I reached that goal.
I removed all hinges, numbered them relating to the doors in the proper order,
and spray painted them along with the screw heads (I stuck them all down into cardboard)
with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint.
I had already replaced the knobs when I painted the counter tops so no update needed there.

BUT...I had to have these new cup drawer pulls!
I really like them a lot and just had to try them on as soon as the paint was dry.
Now, please don't go looking at that ugly green tile floor.
It was already ugly and worn out and the new paint just made it scream...
..."HEY, LOOK AT ME!
I'M UGLY, GREEN AND WORN OUT...
LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME!!"

Oh well, I'll only have to live with it for a couple more months...
...new wood flooring will be a much welcomed replacement!

~

So now...........drumroll please............

da-da-da-da-da-da-dummmm....

I am a happy woman...

...tired...but happy.

I am amazed at the brightness.

It's like someone put a 300 watt light bulb in the ceiling fixture.

It also makes that old almond colored stove that came with this 30 year old house,

look pretty ratty too.

It's a great reason to go out and get that new black smooth top I've been wanting :)

Oh, and I do need to tell you that I hit one small road block on my journey.
I ran out of paint...right before I got to those final two little tiny cabinets above the fridge...
wouldn't you just know it?
I didn't realize until later that I didn't need to apply the paint so liberally...
...oh well, another quart is on the way to finish the job and have some to spare for touch-ups.
~
So there you have it.
I really do think change is good...
...and you can really change things with paint.
Therefore, paint is...yes...GOOD!

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Well...here goes nothing!

  

So the Memorial Day weekend is upon us.

It looks as if I won't be chickening out.

The cabinets have been scrubbed and prepared...

...the paint has been opened and stirred...

...and I am hoping that Coconut Espresso will look as good as it should taste.

Pray for me.

I'll need it.

I'll keep you posted :)

Painted Counter Tops

Well, here it is May of 2015 and I am just now...finally...getting this post published!

This is an old DIY project from way back in 2009...or was it 2010?

 Let me check my Facebook page...it was actually 2010...so back in 2010,

I got to where I just couldn't stand these ugly butcher block-ish laminate counter tops.

Not. One. More. Day.

The bathrooms were just as ugly with a boring white laminate.

Here is the main bath in the hallway.

I had heard of products that you could use to paint counter tops but was always skeptical. After checking out our local Lowe's I saw they had a few products but was not impressed...with the price or the sample of the end results they supplied. So I started checking the internet and that's where I found GianiGranite. (And just so you know, I am doing this post totally on my own...Giani did not pay me anything or ask me to advertise for them. They have no idea who Debby Ray is as far as I know!)

 I can't tell you how many testimonials I read on several different websites that were so favorable along with photos of the finished product.  I decided this would be the product for me and I ordered 2 sets...one in Bombay Black and one in Chocolate Brown. If you click on the link to the website, you will see that there is a wide array of colors to choose from.

The price was also right...each kit was $49.95 and I needed two. New counter tops for a hundred bucks? You bet! I will say that due to the popularity of this product, the price has gone up a bit. I just checked on Amazon and the price for a kit is now around $70. I ordered this from the Giani website five years ago, quite possibly when they were first marketing this product. Oh well...it's still a reasonable price to pay for new counter tops!

****************** 

Preparation is key!

I purchased a heavy duty cleaner and scrubbed the heck out of those old ugly counter tops.

Masking everything off is always the most time consuming step, but oh so necessary.

******************

The kits contain elements for 3 basic steps:

1. Roll on the black primer coat with the little roller that is provided. You will need to let this dry several hours, preferably overnight. One coat does the job.

2. Next you decide on the look you want to achieve. Each kit contains 3 colors of mineral paints that you sponge on, sponge included. The three colors included were silver, copper and white. A black piece of poster board is also included in each kit for you to experiment on first! Once you decide on the look you want, let the fun begin. The lighter color is generally sponged on first, then adding the other two to enhance it. You are the artist here. Work on about a 24" area at a time, blending each area as you go so as not to see lines of demarcation anywhere. Most of us have probably done a sponge painting technique on something or other so just have fun with your design.

3. The last step is applying the shiny acrylic finish. This is also applied with the roller that is provided and a smaller brush to get into the corners and detailed areas. It has been so long that I don't remember if it is just one coat or two (very good directions and a DVD are included) but I do know that you do not want to use too much or it will dry with a milky appearance...especially on the very dark colored kits.

I also did the hall bathroom's vanity using the Chocolate Brown kit.

 I was very impressed with these color combinations...

...the three colors of the mineral paints included were gold, copper and dark bown.

 The base of all both of these kits were the flat back, pictured above.

As you can see, it has a brilliant shine! It's probably a good thing that I postponed publishing this to be able to tell you how it has held up. It has now been five years and let me just say, I have been amazed! Now, the kitchen counter gets more wear and tear of course and you will not want to set hot pans or dishes directly on it...nor will you want to leave standing water or moisture it on it for long. It will create a temporary milky spot but nothing more than wiping it dry is needed and it will disappear in a matter of a minute or two.

Here are photos showing more detail of the granite look on both countops.

I do apologize for the qualityof the photo...as you can see, it was dark outside...

...but notice the shine still?

Five years later, it's still there!

Below is the counter top after I gave the back splash a faux "punched tin" makeover,

also an older project from a couple of years ago.

You can read about it here.

I am just so glad to finally get this post published!

 

My next project will be HUGE and I keep putting it off!

Giani now makes a cabinet paint that I have researched and finally purchased.

The kit has been sitting in the closet for a few months now as I work up my nerve.

The paint is a soft white...

...and with the new hard woods floors I will be gettiing soon, it should look really good!

I have a four-day weekend coming soon on Memorial Day weekend.

The hubby will be working the whole time...

...hmmm...

...will I be able to fianlly get my nerve up??

If I do and it turns out good, you'll certainly know about it, won't you?

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