Busy as Zs...summer update {sigh}

 **DISCLAIMER: I am ADD in person. {Get a little distracted lately??}**

I have had this typed up and ready to post and actually thought I HAD posted it already....so as FALL is here (today is 10/1/12) I will finally post the SUMMER update from July. {sigh}  

So far this school year, I have been busy preparing and placing items in my Etsy shop (keep watching, new things regularly :o) )  Steven is working 3 jobs and going to school, the kids are in THREE separate schools (elementary, middle and high school), after school sports, scouts at church and Tallen is a Tiger Cubscout at school, and activities.  BUSY!

OK - so here is the now OLD and informative post.  Info is still valid...  
_________________________________________________________________________________
Summer is upon us and we are busy as bees here.

I have to start with LAST summer to lead into this one.
This is what we did in 2011:

• The MAJOR project : Steven took OFF the hideous front deck and replaced it with a huge dining room/craft space. It's really the biggest room we have beyond the living room, but it's close I think. Mostly FREE. Got the metal roof at Habitat for Humanity Restore, walls at Home Depot. OK maybe $150?  I'll update cost when I post about it. 
• Built the girls a queen sized loft bed & reading nook. So COOL.
• Built a queen sized platform bed (I guess that's what it is...we raised our bed high enough to have 10 totes under it and Missy has to have a set of steps to get on the bed.)
• Put in a cute table next to the washer and dryer. I know. big deal, right? No, this is a big deal.  We were blessed to be able to get a stackable washer/dryer set in the spring. The magic lies in the fact that they share the bathroom with a tub, vanity and toilet. So a CUTE - and FREE - table is great. Someplace to fold clothes and the litter box lives under the table. (That alone is awesome. Not out in the open as much. yuck)
• Put up a fenced area around the trash cans so they are not seen from the street. I hate that! And the grill hides there in the off season as well.

What we have doen THIS Summer (so far):

• Papered the dining room walls - some twice in fact! More about that another time. Cost of papering $10 - see? you want to hear this!
• Brought in & assembled the craft area furniture (YEAH!!!! I'm a bit excited about this.) I was able to get the IKEA Expedit. LOVE!! I got the 5x5!! 25 Glorious squares to use! Now comes the tough go-through-and-sort-and-make-everything-pretty part.  Also got the 2x4 (8 blocks) and the desk that hangs on to it. HeAvEn.  :o)
• Put up a rustic wood headboard in the master bedroom - interesting story. FREE!!
• Painted a few pieces of furniture to better suit our nowness (I know, I made that up but it suits me)
• "Built" a "stair" garden and planted it. FREE.
• Helped my in-laws tear off the porch and roof (we put the roof ON last summer...sigh) of their summer abode. They have a smallish 5th wheel they stay in in a campground in southern Michigan while escaping the heat in Florida.  They bought a new largish 5th wheel they are moving into place in the next few weeks so we were helping prepare for the removal of one and movement of the other -  SO worth it. (update - as this is being post AFTER move in; I will tell you that my MIL reported that she could live in it YEAR round if FIL would let her.  It's roomy - with the living room and bedroom opening up and coming out of the sides.  Light bright and lovely.  A very tiny home)
• I have sewn some SUPER cute ties for Tallen, a few shrugs for the girls and me, and a maxi skirt. I am LOVING skirts this summer. Swishy and feminine.  I have also knit a pair of baby socks for no one in particular, several pair of Mary Jane booties, worked on a pinwheel blanket for my newest Great niece, and made oodles of stitch markers and row counters to put in my Etsy shop. You can find it here: browniesforbrunch.etsy.com   **also - you can click the link to the right --->
• I have been attending (with glee) my monthly craft night with the girls from church!!  Lots of sewing going on right now.  I love that little bit of girl time out.  Time out for me is important. I come home refreshed and inspired.
• Does making a 4th of July display count?? I think so.  I took an old dresser outside and (still) plan on planting flowers in the drawers. I then put my beadboard flag and the "land that I love" blocks I made (at craft night) on it with a lantern - so cute!!

Plans still for this summer:

• finish the floor and ceiling in the dining room.  I think I will paper the floor as well and then stain it.  It will be lovely. Perhaps fabric on the ceiling?  We'll see what I find online to try.
• Make a banquet seat with storage from cabinets. I'm thrilled to have more storage!  We are half way through this project right now and so the cabinets are blocking my crafty table until Saturday when Steven returns from High Adventure.  He took off this evening with the boys to go to Pictured Rocks in upper Michigan. * As it was 100 degrees last week here, it was 72 there.  Beauty and fresh cool air sounds great. * 
• Make a farm table to replace the big oak table we currently have.  It seats 10-12 people and has 8 chairs. If you need a table soon....keep me in mind. Facebook message me. It will probably go on Craigslist otherwise.  
• Paint the teenager room.  THIS must be completed next week so as to have it finished BEFORE said teenagers return from visiting their Dad.  I want it done and pretty so I can take pictures.  They love the loft bed that Steven built them last summer. I know, no pictures yet...gotta have a clean room for that.  
• Make curtains for all the bedrooms, kitchen and dining room/craft room.  The heat just bears down sometimes and this will help.
• Make a cushion for the banquet and the chairs on the other side of the yet unmade table. ;o)
• Build a wall of  "built in" storage.  Our home is SMALL. Really small, and we need as much storage as we can get.  The Habitat for Humanity Restore got in an entire apartment complex worth of cabinets! So they are 75% off right off the bat because there are so many. We have two 6 foot strings for the banquet seat and plan to get more to cover the entire back wall of the living room. What else would I do with that wall???  I will then pass the shelves I have there now, on to someone else...Craigslist again?
• I so need a pot rack in the kitchen. That is on my (wish)list as well.  Actually...
• ** Put in the new kitchen** THAT is on my (NOW)list. We were able to get a great deal on some floor sample cabinets while Steven was at Home Depot last summer and have yet to install them.  That will be a major gut and redo. The cabinets we have now STILL have no doors and haven't for 2 yrs now (OF COURSE NOT!!!) A friend was stripping the nasty DARK BLUE and BROWN paint and priming them (that took about a year - they are NASTY and troublesome), then we got the new cabinets and they were going to be put in with a new counter and back splash and all, so I never bothered to put the doors back on. Not that they would fit anymore. I took down the trim work at the top and so the uppers are all too short now. We were GOING to put the new in but Steven felt we needed to make space to take the kitchen things out of the kitchen, so built the dining room first. That makes sense. That is done, so NoW iT Is TiMe FoR ThE KiTcHeN. (please oh please Honey??)
• Replace the tub and fixtures is on my list, but may not happen right away. Unless I suddenly find a white tub, facing the right direction, and the perfect size and price at the Habitat Restore. Then it moves up in front of the kitchen again.  {sigh}

I'm sure there are more I have forgotten.  Needless to say - we are busy Zs around here.  Lake visits, swimming in the pool, playing with friends, seeing Grandma & Grandpa, family reunions, etc., etc. !!

Have a great summer!!

Money in the Banquette

We have a cute house – it once was an ugly house, but it is coming along. Steven built me a 13x13 dining room/craft room in place of the front porch last summer!! I LOVE it.  I  finally got the IKEA shelves I had longed for for so long.  But that’s not what I’m all excited about right now. (I’ll show you those another day, when they are better organized.)
I am excited about the banquette we made! I like my table. It’s been through a lot in the last 11 years I have had it.  I WANT a farm table and Steven has said we can build one, but not today. (I feel like a little girl being stalled at the grocery store candy isle.) The table is big – seats 12 pretty comfy – we have 8 chairs. The chairs are getting tired as well. 
We need more storage. And WHO on earth doesn’t need more storage?? SO we built a L-shaped banquette to use instead if these chairs.
I went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore near us. (LOVE that place!) They had just gotten in a HUGE bunch of cabinets. An apartment complex was changing them all out at the same time = lots = discounted right off the bat!
     75 percent off!
yay!! OK, I can be calm. {breathe}
I was able to get 2 6’ strings of upper cabinets (17 inches tall = perfect seating height)
(2) 6’ cabinets: 60 dollars each = 120
             75 percent off:  – 90
final cost for 12’ cabinets       30 !
amazing I know!

I got them home and cleaned up. They looked good to begin with.
I needed 8’ of seating on one wall and 4’ on the other. I had 2 6’ cabinet strings.  So, Steven cut them for me. Then we attached them together at the right lengths. (inserting inner boards where needed)


We grabbed some 2x4’s from the stash (free) and made a frame. I wanted the seat to be a certain depth so as to have pillows behind the back while seated. My sweet man made up the frame so fast I didn’t even have a chance to help. 


We bought a piece of hardboard at Home Depot 20ish dollars (I don’t remember, it’s been a few weeks in process) and we cut it to fit the top. LOVE the feel and the ability to router the edges. NICE.
Truffle approves of the bench, as does Steven. Doesn’t he look so pleased with himself?


before the router
(after the router and preparing to paint. I didn’t want the doors getting painted.)
The best part, I think, is the painting. (free paint – left over from craft night a year ago. So not actually free – probably 5 dollars worth of paint was used.) We did 2 coats on the edges and 3 coats on the ends and top.  I think it looks GREAT!

And I must add – NOT bad for (let’s add it up…)
12’ cabinets        30
2x4’s from stash    0
hardbaord         20
paint               5
TOTAL PROJECT COST 55
$ + $ + $ + $ + $

The DIY Dish: Make Valentine Placemats and Paper Crafts

I love The DIY dish. program.  They have the perfect combination of paper crafts and sewing.

LOVE IT!!!! watch and enjoy.
I am making the placemats - with the vinyl covering - to be able to NOT ruin them the first time out.
I don't know if I have linked it right, but here's the site so you can check out the rest of their stuff. The DIY dish.