Does everyone love chandeliers as much as i do?  I know my friend Patricia at White Cottage Chic loves them too - check out a recent post of hers about Chandeliers titled Great Design, you must go over for a visit and say hi.

Probably about a month ago i walked into Home Depot to pick up some paint of coarse and decide to tempt myself with some beautiful chandeliers.  I've been wanting one for my bedroom for like ever but even more so since i re-did it but didn't really have the extra couple hundred dollars so i was just going to snap some pictures and dream. I did do that, snapped some pictures and just wished i could take one home with me and of coarse i already picked the perfect one out.  Sadly i walked away from the lighting department and almost walked straight into a stack of clearance lighting.  You are not going to believe what i found..... MY CHANDELIER!!!!!  OMG i was so excited and i'm almost positive a little scream came out.  My new chandelier was originally priced at $179.99 and it was on sale for $99.99!!!!  So me and my new sparkly chandelier went home and called Kevin right away to ask if he could hang it :)

Did you know that these aren't already assembled in the box?  It seriously took me about 3 hours to put it all together but it was worth every penny and every minute.  I love it!

I hope Santa was good to everyone this year.  Honestly i'm glad the holiday season is now in the past.  Now everything can go back to normal again.  Well as normal my life ever is anyway lol.  

I'm curious ... what is your tool of choice?  Do you use a brush, roller or paint sprayer?  I was using a compressor and a high velocity paint sprayer - nothing fancy just a $70 sprayer from Princess Auto.  I have already been through 3 of them.  I loved it when it was brand new and working great but for some reason this gun didn't totally come apart and because of that it was really hard to clean out the clear coat after spraying it and it started to clog.  But this year Santa (a.k.a Kevin) got me the bestest present ever!  Introducing the Graco True Coat Pro - professional handheld cordless airless paint sprayer.  I actually found it used on kijiji, it was used only one time but we saved $100 so we were happy :)

I have used it twice now and it is amazing.  You don't have to thin the paint so you only need to spray on one coat...yes i said ONE!  And this is probably more exciting for me because i am the clumsiest person in the world but it is CORDLESS!  So, no tripping over cords, no cords hitting your freshly painted projects - its very cool and i LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Here is the link if you want more info on this amazing sprayer http://www.graco.com/Internet/T_PDB.nsf/SearchView/TrueCoatPro

Well its been a really hard week.  Last Friday night at about 3am my tummy started to hurt and then it was a trip to the bathroom every 30 min - i'll leave out the gory details and just say that i really wished i would have splurged on the really soft toilet paper.  Then lucky me at 9am i started puking my guts out, it was not a pretty sight let me tell you!   I was supposed to go to my work Xmas party that day but that didn't happen.  I had to work the next day and that was touch and go and by midnight that night i was puking AGAIN aacchh. I swear i have lost at least 10 pounds.  Then Monday was still really week, Tuesday i had to work and that was still really hard - i haven't really eaten much since last Friday than hurray Wedn i woke up with a nasty cold and a fever and i have not left the house since Tuesday i think.  Tomorrow i am going to try to be brave and go to the Butterdome Craft Sale - wish me luck!

I have a couple of finished pieces i need to show you but haven't pictured most of them yet but to tide you over for a couple of days (i've been such a bad blogger) here is the before and after of my stereo cabinet i found on kijiji.  It is now my TV stand at my place.

This is the picture that was advertised on kijiji - i think i paid $20

Just need to organize all those cables lol  boy they look bad dont they?

Wow, how did this month go by so quickly?  I haven't had a chance to blog in weeks.  I've been busy moving back to my house.  I know having your shop in your living room & dining room isn't the best choice but its the only one i have so i have made it work.  I had many many hours of cleaning and purging to do (that's what happens when you don't live in the house & leave the door open from the shop so the dust can travel to the rest of the house - plus many many years of having a shopping problem - both, not very smart choices) 

I now live in the same house as my shop which works pretty well actually.  The living/dining room is closed off with french doors and on the main level along with the kitchen.  Upstairs i have my bedroom, bathroom and two spare bedrooms so what i have done is turn one of the spare rooms into my living room.  I really am happy with how its turned out.  Small & cozy!!!  I haven't hung anything on the walls yet but i have a plan in my head that i just need to execute.  When i am finished i will post a bunch of pictures.  For now i will show you a before and after of my new headboard.

Before:

After:

(The paint on the walls aren't as dark as it looks like in these pictures)

One of my old employers called me to come back to work, so i am now working part time.  Thankfully my fingers remembered all the computer systems so i didn't really have to be re-trained after being gone for just over a year.  Thank you fingers!!  So weird that my brain didn't remember passwords but my fingers just typed them in, all by themselves lol.

I have more before & afters to show you later on in the week!!

I knew as soon as i bought my Canon T2i that my laptop would conk out and yup my computer is sick and not sure if its terminal :)  I am also in the middle of doing some clean up and cosmetic work at my house and then will be moving in maybe by the 15th so i will be back sharing my new found treasures, and some before and afters after the 15th.  Please everyone send good thoughts to my laptop!!

I've been really busy lately trying to clean up the house that my shop is in because i will be moving back into it in a couple of weeks.  My plan is to turn one of my spare rooms upstairs into my living room and my living room and dining room downstairs will remain my shop.  Because i will be living in the same house as my shop i should be able to get alot more furniture done!  That's my hope anyway :)  I just picked up a couch tonight and am having my wing back chair slip covered.  I have a couple of pieces i need to finish in the next couple of weeks - i am working on a coffee table, tv stand, & headboard and am on the lookout for an awesome bedside table.  Yesterday i picked up some pretty white curtains from Ikea for the living room and have decided on the paint colour.  I just have to sew some curtains for my bedroom (i bought some fabric a couple of years ago that should work) and pick a colour for my bedroom.  So lots and lots to do but i am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I wanted to show you some pictures of the most recent piece i painted for a client - i forgot to take a before picture oops - i was waiting to post finished pictures until she purchased the hardware so here they are.  This was her desk from when she was a little girl - the inside of one of the drawers even has crayon scribbles all over it :)

Well i turned 27 oops 37 yesterday.  Did i honestly just type 27 oh boy that is funny, i guess it is wishful thinking :)  Anyway, i bought myself a birthday gift and thought i would show you what i got.  I don't really know how to use it yet but hopefully that won't take too long.  Cross your fingers for me.

Canon T2i

A couple of weeks ago i finished an old french door that i transformed into a unique headboard for a client of mine.  She had this old door in her garage and didn't know what to do with it so i came up with this. 

Before:

After:




This is how i did it:
  1. Removed all the glass from the door
  2. Sanded, then primed it
  3. I painted it a dark grey
  4. Next was a couple coats of white
  5. Some distressing of coarse
  6. Then clear coat!
  7. I asked Kevin if he could cut me some pieces of plywood to match the size of the glass
  8. Then i cut out 15 pieces of batting and 15 pieces of the white fabric my client picked out.
  9. Next was several hours of going staple gun crazy!
10.  Last step was to nail in the fabric covered wood pieces & TA-DA a new headboard!!!!

All it needs are some King size pillows to prop up against the headboard with some pretty decorative pillows and it will be fabulous!

I am so sorry for being such a bad blogger - it hadn't felt like that long since my last post but the last post was September!  Oooops!

I have a couple of pictures of new items from my new friend in Mannville!  I took my little RAV4 this time so i was a bit limited in space.



Garden Ornament #1



Garden Ornament #2

Galvanized Tub #1



Galvanized Tub #2

Galvanized Tub #3 ( also have #4 but forgot to take a picture)  That's my ginormous kitty very curious with the new shabby stool.  I also got an ice cream pail full of antique thread spools, an 80+ year old Bread box, and a Robins Egg blue coffee pot!   Pssst i already have a box started for next time - a bunch of old milk glass for my collection!  Have i mentioned how happy i am that i met this awesome lady?  Thanks Charlotte!

Well on Saturday we made a little road trip out to Mannville to pick up my next batch of goodies from this really nice lady i met recently.  I had no idea when she said "Why don't you come here to see everything i have?" that there would be soooo much stuff.  Seriously my jaw almost hit the ground as we were driving up her driveway.  Umm i think i might have squeeled too :) What a sweet lady she is, we get out of the truck and she was like do you want to come in for coffee first or look at the stuff and do coffee after.  Anyone who knows me would laugh because they know i would say no no no we have to look first.  I started running before i was even done talking lol. 

I'm sure i was looking around for a couple of hours and picking and choosing what i could fit in the truck and since i am unemployed i had a limited amount of cash so it worked out ok.  Have i told you how sweet she is?  Well she said anything else i wanted she would save for me until i had the money.  So i already have a list started with things i will pick up next.  Once we were done she had us come in for coffee and snacks.  Wow, she had made tuna sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, home made brownies, home made coconut raspberry squares (that were to die for!), veggies and dip, cookies, chips and pickles.  We did not expect that at all - i honestly was in heaven and would have moved into one of her sheds in a second lol  She is also taking 2 of my cats to live with her.  I've been trying to find a home for them for a while & hoping that someone i knew would take both of them - they are going to LOVE it at her farm.

Anyway, i better show you the pictures of my new shabby chippy treasures.

We might use this one as a bathroom vanity for our basement

This cabinet is really cool cause it has shelves on both sides of it - this one is option #2 for the bathroom

These shelves are on both sides of the cabinet shown in previous picture

I got 2 of these :)

The fan & vase already found a home - and the vase was made in Italy!

This one needs a good cleaning before it can be used

Antique Medicine Cabinet #1

Antique Medicine Cabinet #2

This rickety mirror also found a home

3 turquoise jars right next to my new Dolce Gusto Coffee maker!

 Can't wait to show you the next batch of treasures :)

My very good friend Michele and i decided a while back that we were going to have a garage sale - actually i have been talking about it for years and years but every summer it just never happens.  Wow its alot of work!  Maybe that's why i never made the time in the past.  Well this past weekend we finally took the plunge.  We got rid of alot of stuff but honestly the tables still look full with stuff (after Thursday night i ran around my house looking for more things to put in the sale - Wednesday night you could not fit in another item and that is no joke) and were actually thinking we might do another one before the snow comes because i really do NOT want to pack up everything that is left.  We made pretty good money but if you could see my garage now you would think it hadn't even happened yet.  I wish i would have taken an after picture but i do have some before shots.