bodner006

Meet Jacob. Jacob was in very nice condition (minus the drawer that I couldn't find at the time and me being too lazy to attach the mirror), but fairly boring, and I was not in a boring mood. Now Jacob holds his head up high and is loving his new duds.  He now gets second looks when he walks into the library trustees meeting. I loved the finish on the drawers, so all I did was clean them up and add some wood conditioner. The base received my own custom color of chalk paint, topped with a heavy coat of glaze.  I sealed the top with layers of polyacrylic and base with wax. The hardware was very nice, and only needed a coat of paint using this method . Jacob will have no problem charming the ladies at the weekly tea party. Have a sunny day, Debbie Sharing with: Finding Silver Pennies DIY By Design The DIY Dreamer Saavy Southern Style Not Just a Housewife Adorned From Above Cozy Little House Our Home Away From Home Kammy's Korner Knick of Time My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia A Strol...

"Mommy, when can we start a garden?" "Now?" "Is it time yet?" "Now?" "Are we ready yet?" My five-year old has been asking for a garden since last year, so I thought it was time to dig in.  But there really wasn't anywhere to dig in our yard.  No worries.  If you are looking to start a garden with limited space, just start one on a wall or fence. If you search "gutter garden" on the web, you will find endless examples.  Just know you will be limited with the kinds of plants you grow, as you need ones with a shallow root system.  Strawberries, lettuce, and herbs are great choices. I decided on two 10' sections of vinyl gutters.  I also purchased the end caps and gutter hangers which I thought would help keep the shape of the gutter after it was filled with soil. Our fence is kind of ancient, and I felt we needed to reinforce where the gutters would hang, so we screwed in a few pressure treated 2 X4's.  Tom's gett...

Meet Blondie. Blondie had enough of the years showing and decided it was time for a tune up. Now she is proud to show up to the weekly ham and bean dinner at the local Elks club.  She shows off her newly painted hardware to anyone who will listen. Blondie had a lot going for her, with 11 drawers, an enclosed jewelry keeper, and wheels to make moving much easier.  She just needed a little refreshing.  After sanding it down, I added a very diluted paint to the drawers and top, then wiped them off, creating a "blonde" look to the wood. I would have loved to use all the hardware, but there was some missing and replacements were no where to be found.  So I decided to make some rope pulls for the bottom drawers, adding some beachy quality to my Blondie. She is for sale at Robin's Egg in Milford, NH if you have room for her in your home. Thanks for reading, Debbie Sharing with: DIY By Design The Happy Housie Cozy Little House Nancherrow Boogieboard Cottage French Country C...

Meet Sunny. She has a beautiful design, but began to show her true colors as I went to move her into the garage. And I had some damaged veneer that I had to take care of. But she wanted to shine.  Like the sun. Sunny tackles life.  She wakes in the morning to half an hour of meditation, enjoys fresh fruit and cottage cheese before her daily yoga class. She reads every book that her book club prescribes and has the full discography of Peter, Paul & Mary.  She is just a ray of sunshine in your otherwise rainy day. This piece was picked up by a customer and I was given the opportunity to brighten her up.  I stripped and stained the top and all doors, as well as the side wood panels.  The customer really wanted to keep the wood top, and since I wasn't sure what I would get under the veneer, I just added some wood filler and stained it along with the top (forgot to take a photo of the repair). I made my own chalk paint and distressed lightly so the super cool tri...

Our family just returned home from visiting the most wondrous and magical place in the world. And I hope you never have to go there. Before you start thinking about what a wack-job I am, the place I am referring to is a wish granting resort.  It caters to families who have children with terminal illness or life-threatening ailments.  So, I do hope you never have to go.  We are grateful that Jack's leukemia is in remission and we waited until he felt healthy enough for such a trip. But if you have a child who unfortunately has to deal with what no child should have to, and they are granted a wish from the many wish-granting organizations, like Make-A-Wish, and they dream of going to Disney World, I hope you get a chance to stay at Give Kids The World. You see, one person can make a difference.   Henri Landwirth , an amazing man and Holocaust survivor, is the founder of Give Kids The World, a resort where these children and their families are treated like royalty....

We do the best with what we have, right?  I would love another kitchen, but I've got to make do with the one I have.  And that's exactly what I did. We have one central ceiling light and when sitting with your back to the light, your body would cast shadows on the table.  Not cool when the kids need to do their homework and straining their eyes to see it. I decided I wanted lighting over the kitchen table, but didn't want recessed or track lighting.  To me that just seemed like harsh lighting for the space, plus I had my eye on some pretty awesome pendants. Yup, these were the winners. I love Edison light fixtures , they were a great price and free shipping was included.  And although our main light in the kitchen is white, I have black accents with the kitchen chairs, curtain rods, some appliances, wine rack, etc . . . so I wasn't too afraid of adding "non-matching" lights. Here they are in their new home (Thanks Scott!). They don't bother me one bit that...