BUFFET SINK PROJECT

For the upstairs art loft I found a decent garage sale

buffet to use as my sink

Step 1

find your inspiration in both color and feel

I love this fabric..the colors and the light-hearted garden feel

I had it made into a duvet cover for the old day bed

I removed all the drawers, doors and hardware to give it a base coat

I used the the flat latex paint I used on the wall

my new favorite tool is this small roller

did you know you can make any color of paint with just three?

Red, yellow and blue...and of course white and black always help

for depth and light

I had considered "plaid-ing" the top of the sideboard, but changed my mind

for this you need several different size brushes, a few colors and 

then just relax...the lines look so much better when they aren't perfect!

Red bold line

other size brushes for smaller colors

this works on anything...even walls!  For large spaces like walls I use a wall paint roller 

blue and yellow make green!

grass cloth is so expensive, I never throw any of it away

I really like to use it on furniture for texture

you can even fold little pieces of it for cool tags!

The veneer was coming loose on the side...so some kind of cover up was a good idea here

Also here would be a good place for any kind of wallpaper or wrapping paper

I just happened to have the grass cloth on hand today

Let the furniture lines dictate your style

I just painted all the places a different color that were already different

I don't always seal my furniture

sometimes I like a glossy look

sometimes I don't

I haven't found the perfect sink to go here yet..that's why I left the top very plain

a cheerful little room with lots of light for my ferns

I kind of got bored with the project because I have so many to do...but in general

this is how it will look

I think this could be a cute baby changing table too

while digging around...I found Mr. P.V.'s 

id bracelet...it's tiny...he probably gave it some 3rd grader when they started going steady

I have been saving lots and lots of wine bottles this winter

I'm much too embarrassed to throw them in the trash...so I have to find something useful to do with them

whew...they sure seem to be stacking up!

Don't you love this color of glass?

We have barely had a winter this year...to all my friends digging out of the snow

I hope you had some fun artistic projects to help you make it through!

PRIVACY RANT

When I was flipping my 2nd house on Barkley, Mattie was 6.

One day I let her help me by pulling off all the blue tape around the room after I had painted it.

She came to me later in the day and showed me her "tape purse"...it had a long blue shoulder strap (of paint tape) connected to a wadded up ball (of paint tape) and on it she had stuck some money, dollars and coins, some chapstick, her library card, photos and various other items.

She said, "look at my tape purse mom".

I though it was pretty clever.

In light of all the recent blog comment infiltration it got me to thinking how vulnerable we have become as a society of communicators.  There are those that say, "you facebookers and bloggers deserve it" the way you post all your information all over the place"...and I say to them...

Facebook (which I only use as a tool to promote my business) and Blogger.com (which I use for decorating ideas and other amusement) is like Mattie's tape purse.  All the stuff is on the outside..all the stuff we post...is on the outside....just like Mattie's tape purse!

..make no mistake...you are naive to believe that these social tools are the culprit...nope...the culprit is much more simple than that...the culprit is the internet itself.  If you have emailed, if you have a website, if you have eBayed, if you have Amazoned, if you have Overstocked, or PotteryBarned, or if you have simply googled...then you...YOU...(who believe that facebookers and/or bloggers are idiots silly) have compromised your privacy just like all the rest of us!

the internet is not genius..in fact it is just a simple thing that millions of people like to use...like a hanger or a q-tip, or a dryer sheet...

kind of makes you begin to think that the one who creates a way to communicate when we all take a stand against www...will be the real genius

and just a message to you booger head hackers...

if I want to buy some speed...I will go down to my  local Allsups where I can at least support my own peeps who need to pay for diapers for their kids...so go engage in a real challenge and hack each other!

now...off for some fun looking at the blogs I love and adore!

MAGPIE

Last week out of town contractor friend popped in for a visit

He said our home was 

ECLECTIC

I find myself shying away from that compliment

even though it clearly fits us...(please refer to previous mantel post)
I find myself kind of liking
magpie

def:  one who uses a method or approach that is composed of elements drawn from various sources

This is the den mantel which usually has a 6x2 foot heavy knife impasto oil on board 

of the Spearman Parade, circa 1965, by Nelda Sheets 

who I took art from as a child

When I removed the Nutcrackers

Mr. PV said...

why don't you do something different?

(he's the bossiest thing)

I'm a theme girl...so I gathered the pots and baskets and weapons

and realize I should have done this in October

Mr. PV came home with this lovely pastel from his trip to Panama

the others he purchased (neon fish) are hidden in the far side and underneath

just kidding honey...it's not their turn for a  mantel yet

this basket came from Santa Fe

L.O.V.E. I.T.

You know how we love our owls around here

I could only pray this came from some Hopi or Anasazi Village

and will take the ranks of my Rothko as in 

"could it be possible and what if"

the small owls were discovered here at 822

and the large one I bought at a flea market because

no one loves owls like us

and 

At West End

Thank you Cross Bottle Guy for reminding me of our porcupine quills 

(from grandparent's mission trip...eclectic basket also from Panama)

candles...yep...they were left here too, and as we all know

orange was popular in 1976 

AND NOW...

hello...I'm a galumpher

**see below

I love to stack books to stack stuff 

make sense?

I'm still pretty smitten with this old rough hewn hunk a wood we like to refer to as

DEN MANTEL

Those quills are dang sharp and dang out of focus

(No..it's not your vision)

daaaaaaaaaaaaaaang I love this basket

and the word dang

and how do you feel about that pot?

the one I bought at.....

my grocery store!

and while I'm bragging...the afghan came from last week's estate auction

pillow?  eBay!

and my color inspiration for the den mantel

Thank you Loi for teaching me how to fold and chop...I hope no one will hold my technique against you

as you waste your time reading the 

definition of eclectic provided below

I hope that if you...like me..want another word for how wonderfully unusual you are

(I chose MAGPIE)

you will embrace the one that fits you

Let's all be creative...shall we?

use piebald in a sentence!

Definition of ECLECTIC

: one who uses a method or approach that is composed of elements drawn from various sources : one who uses an eclectic method or approach 

Examples of ECLECTIC

1. The collection includes an eclectic mix of historical artifacts.
2. eclectic

collection has everything from a giraffe skeleton to medieval musical instruments>

All around us, fishers galumphed past. … They carried an eclectic array of rods, nets, buckets and coolers. —Stephen C. Sautner, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2000

Her witty, mordant and splendidly vinegary observations were informed by broad and eclectic reading. —George F. Will, Newsweek, 24 May 1999

The polo crowd is eclectic and dangerously hagridden with narcissism and treachery, and that is the way they like it. —Hunter S. Thompson, Rolling Stone, 15 Dec. 1994

… big wheels of country bread and eclectic selections of pâtés, hams, cheeses, honey and all sorts of homemade cookies and sweets. —Per-Henrik Mansson, Wine Spectator, 28 Feb. 1993

Related to ECLECTIC

Synonyms: assorted, miscellaneous, heterogeneous, indiscriminate, kitchen-sink, magpie, mixed, motley, patchwork, piebald, promiscuous, raggle-taggle, ragtag, varied

Antonyms: homogeneous

Related Words: manifold, multifarious; multiple, multiplex, myriad; disparate, divergent, diverse, sundry, various; chaotic, cluttered, confused, disarranged, disarrayed, disheveled (or dishevelled), disordered, farraginous, jumbled, littered, messed, messy, muddled; amalgamated, blended, combined, commingled, commixed, conglomerated, fused, incorporated, intermingled, intermixed, merged, mingled; composite, conglomerate, hybrid; unclassified, unsorted

Near Antonyms: monolithic, uniform; alike, identical, like, same; distinct, distinctive, individual, separate

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Rhymes with ECLECTIC

cachectic, cathectic

²eclec·tic

noun \e-ˈklek-tik, i-\

SPRING MANTEL

My Dear Mr. PV has taught me to put away my stuff

for anyone who knows me (kids)

they know I love me some stuff 

I love art, vases, statuary, plants, books, baskets, 

well...you get the idea

822 has 4 fireplaces with 3 mantels

which, as it turns out, seems to be a good place to

display all that stuff

my favorite fireplace mantel is in the music room/dining room

I think because it has a huge mirror surround and so

you guessed it..

*double stuff*

For the cold months of winter

I love to force bulbs

this year I used all the blue stuff I could find

(oh don't be shocked...I have more...I just needed to hold myself back...

Mr. PV quote:  "you don't have to use it all..just put out some of it and store the rest"..

he's not that much for stuff, unless it's Spearman Beer Bottles/Paraphernalia)

He has a growing collection of this stuff..his own stuff 

which I often have to remind him when he's quoting to me

something about the blue and green on the white mantel

seems so cheerful and begs you to look forward to spring

the bulbs are getting a little too big for their britches

as we say in Texas

The paperwhites are still blooming nicely and have some flowers yet to pop out

but they are a little wild

 I'm going to move them to the atrium

and put them in some tall glass jars or tie them up with burlap

next year I'm going to try that gin trick

the one where you drink gin and the flowers stand up straight or at least you think they are because you've been drinking it instead of pouring a teaspoon in your bulbs

and this mantel will take on an all white look

as I have been inspired by sweaters for my vases

Miss Kopy Kat

unless I just go to the store and buy about 4 or 12

plain white prayer candles

which I think will look smashing for now

since I have  no idea where I will find this many white sweater sleeves

I am considering tube socks

GOOD MORNING MR. OWL

While Mom is on the movie set of

Hot Bath Stiff Drink

with the most colorful character in our family

(except Uncle Bobby)

(while the stagecoach meanders past the Heritage Square)

WE...

are busy getting ready for school

OUR WAY!

and that is with 

pink binoculars 

that match our curlers

 greeting Mr. Owl

 and of course the

documentation of such

The owls have been living in our trees for a couple of years now

and can be heard hooting in the middle of the night

through dawn

it is our goal around here to become 

seekers of the birds

all birds

We don't really have the Barn Owl,

but she thought this sticker was prettier than the owls we do have...

and no need for me to argue at 6:30 am about such details

this is the group that hatched two doors down this spring

it all started out so innocently

....

"um..hello mom...I think I have a Cedar Waxwing on my right shoulder...and

have you heard the call of the Red Headed Downy Woodpecker?  Um...are you coming home today?"

SMOOCHY SMOOCHY

17 points for the kitchen window! (and me!)

because ya'll, it's 

half past kissin' time and time to kiss again!

which means that

the arrow is near

and the hearts are too!

looks like these got a little smashed in all the eagerness!

that's ok...we'll just bake some real sugar cookies

maybe during the super bowl commercials!

at the baking station that nobody bakes at

and maybe enjoy those with a cup of tea and the pink plates

that silver pitcher sure makes me wish I'd bought those sweet roses yesterday

I'm so ready for spring...are you?

last summer's basil seems to be hanging in there

and this pretty little hyacinth is bursting forth

I got this heart shaped ivy at last year's chamber banquet in February

it loves the morning sunshine

this week I'll be moving around all the pretty blue and the fading paper whites

to make room for the spring mantel

love is in our air...I hope it's in your air too!