And the winner of my One World One Heart giveaway is.............................

BEV COFFARO. Congradulations to Bev and thanks to all who participated in this years event.

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One World One Heart Giveaway

In honor of OWOH and the Grand Opening of my new selling blog I am offering a set of primitive bowl fillers. This set includes 4 homespun hearts, each with a button tufted in the center. This set also includes a punch needled heart with a plaid homespun back. I have stitched a twine hanger to each heart so you have the option of using them as tree ornaments or removing the hanger to use in your favorite old bowl. As a surprise I am including one additional punch needled ornament which you won't get to see unless you win my drawing.

I only have 2 rules for you to follow to enter my drawing.

1 - You must have a blog account as this is a blog event

2 - You must leave a comment on this blog by February 15

then be sure to click on the pink ticket above to check out the other blog giveaways in this massive and wonderful event.

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Be sure to check out the Grand Opening of my selling blog at http://www.willowridgeprimitives.blogspot.com/

Before and Afters

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Before and After's

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These are just a couple of the before and after's I worked on just before Christmas but didn't get around to posting. The little triangular table cost me a whopping $17.00 at Somewhere In Thyme (antique/ re-sale shop). The size and shape of the table were a perfect fit for my space but the maker fell WAY short when it came to the finish. I gave a good sanding, staining, and matt finish and added the pine top to give it a new life.

The little candle holder is faux pewter (sounds so much better than fake, LOL) that I got for $1.00 and the little tin box was all of .25 cents.

We put in a 9 ft bay area when we moved in 1 1/2 yrs ago. We couldn't (still can't) afford to put in all new carpet but we needed to do something to the ply floor in the bay. A friend of ours (BHL Woodworking) had a pile of old barn wood in his work shop he let us have. Hubby planed it down, routed the edges, and walla! Beautiful new flooring in the bay. Originally we thought of it as a tempory solution till we could get carpet. But, we love it and plan to keep it. Kinda of makes a nice little staging area for both my antiques and the koi pond outside the window.

This is tacky faux brass wall sconce I got in a re-sale shop for $1.00. I gave it a very light sanding and sprayed it with some matte nickle paint. Next I gave it 2 rubs of ebony stain. The finishing touch was a light coat of matte finish clear spray. I have to say, it is a pretty darn close match to the real pewter hurricane on the sideboard below.

This cheese box isn't a before and after, but I thought I'd post it here anyway. In my last post I pictured another little cheese box with 3 candles and some rose hips in it. This is one of the other boxes I got in the same lot from the free column on Craigs List. Great dove tailing and patina on these boxes. Now that she is out of the drawer, my poor little dolly needs a dress.

Well, I am off to see if an antique ladderback rocker I've been eyeing is still there. Hubby told me to go get it for my birthday pressie. He's the BEST! And I am a chair addict. Big and small, full size and miniature. I love the lines and construction of chairs and they make a nice resting spot for other antiques and prims to sit on. Also picking up some stripper so I can honor one of my New Years resolutions and finish all the little 1/2 done projects around here before I buy any more project pieces. I also need some linen for a mini cross stitch. It's sort of qualifies in the New Years resolution. I bought a little easel for .25 cents at a garage sale with the plan of putting a small cross stitch on it on the side board in my front entry. I'll be the evening project while I am watching tv.

Until next time.......................

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PARDON MY DUST

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It feels like we have been working daily to remodel "something" for the past 30 years. Always living under a blanket of plaster dust. First there was the big old house in town. Not the best neighborhood but it was our first humble abode. It got some new walls, loads of paint, new carpet and a new bathroom. It was a big, old (built 1920's), city house. Hard to heat and even harder to pay the heating bills. We installed a new furnace and built a chimney and installed a wood stove which helped a lot. But, it needed way more than what was worth putting into in that particular neighborhood.

Our next house was also our next project. A cuter, smaller house in a better neighborhood in the neighboring city. It too needed a lot of work. I mean a "LOT" of work. More knocking down and replacing walls and ceilings, gutting a bathroom and kitchen to the studs, new furnace, roof, windows, and siding. But that house had the most beautiful woodwork (which of coarse needed to be refinished), a great floor plan, double lot, and a small post war house in the backyard. We were able to keep that rented out to pay for all the remodeling. Then we leveled that funny little house and put in a goldfish pond. We might have stayed there forever but we had CraZy neighbors on one side of us and a CraZy pit bull on the other side. So, after 20 years, we decided it was time to move on, and out, to the burbs.

The old house of 20 years

Now we feel like we are living in paradise, except of course for the snow. No more 2 stories with flights of stairs to climb for every little need. No more CraZy neighbors with loud parties and domestic disputes. This is the neighborhood I grew up in and for the first time in 30 years I feel like I am finally home. But even 70's ranch's need remodels and walls knocked out, LOL. At least they do if I am going to live in them!

I couldn't even wait for the Christmas tree to come down before starting the current project. The livingroom was separated from the front hall by 2 perfectly awful half walls. For 18 months I've been dreaming of the day that they would come out. Any pictures I took of the room were carefully take, like tunnel vision, between the walls so they didn't show. And, of coarse you can't "just" remove walls and be done. There is always that snowball effect. Where the walls stood there are blank spots with no flooring. Hmmmm......... guess I must now replace the ghastly navy carpet and stick on tiles with a new wood floor. But the flooring should be the last thing we do so it doesn't get damaged. I guess we better wrap the plastered support beam with wood to look like a wood beam and install crown moulding around the room first. Right? Now if only the budget allowed for new windows. Oh well, maybe next year.

Goodbye Walls! Bring on the dust.

No more tunnel vision

photography

The beam that needs

to get wrapped

Now it's time to start shopping for the new wood floor and trim work. I'm realizing it's not easy to find an affordable wide width plank. I know now that it will definately be engineered flooring in order to get a wide plank but I'd rather go that route than settle for a narrow one. Personally, I'm so happy that the walls are gone that I could tolerate the floor just as it is for some time. Just don't tell hubby I said that.

It hasn't been all work around here since christmas. I got a nice little bank roll for Christmas between my mom and my in-laws. Mom, sis and I started out the day after Christmas looking for some bargains. Not seeing any in our first couple stops we quickly turned our attention to antiqueing. The black chair in the front hall is actually a nice early potty chair I found at my favorite antique store. It took my Christmas money and then some but it was very reasonably priced I thought.

This past weekend there was a really wonderful indoor antique show downtown. The entrance fees were a bit steep at $8 ea plus $7 for parking. By the time you pay all the fees to get in you are already broke! I always wanted a porringer table to set in front of the sofa. I couldn't believe when I found one for just $100. BUT - right beside the porringer table was this other little table that just captured my heart. It had been refinished (as all his pieces were) but he had left much of the character and charm in what hand been a very well used and hand hewn table top. As the snowball effect goes, I now need to find a pewter (or Armetale) tea set to go on it. The coffee set on there now is on loan from my mother.

This dove tailed cheesebox sitting on the table is just a lucky little find from the free column on Craig's list. I am a huge fan of Craig's List. I have several items I have either purchased or gotten free there. I have also sold and given a great many items. It's a great way save some money, clear out your clutter, and keep usuable items that you would otherwise throw away out of the landfills. I highly recommend it.

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Sorry to say I am way behind this season. But better late than never I guess. I've had the house decorated (mostly) and pictures taken. But, of coarse, photobucket keeps changing their format on me. Not being very tech or computer saavy this means I have to figure out how to work things all over again. On top of that, we have just been so busy building a new game room in the basement to have ready in time for the family holiday gatherings. We didn't even have plans to do so. Hubby got a free pool table from Craigs List just before Thanksgiving and put it in our completely "un"finished basement with hopes of one day having a finished mancave. Then we had the opportuinity fall in our laps to purchase a 42" tv for 1/2 price. I had just gotten a new sofa and chairs so how could I deny Hubby his big tv? Then the big Christmas ads started coming with great deals on game tables. Well, needless to say, that "free" pool table snowballed into a full blown game room with lighted air hockey, table shuffle board, dart board, "re-felted" pool table, and the big tv. We built the entire basement out with studs and drywall to divide the furnace room, storage area, workshop, and future bathroom (already plumbed), navy and white paint, and oak chair rails & door trims. We got some great white windsor bar stools from Craigs List and hung my old oak clock, an antique "style" working phone, an oak tavern shelf, complete with tavern puzzles to hang from the pegs. What a job and what a CraZy month to decide to take on such a challenge. But we got it done! Oh sure, there are some things still on the to-do list. A slip cover for the green SW sofa, new lighting, and (when the weather warms and the windows can be opened) a stain finish on the concrete floors. But what a change from that cold, empty basement with shocking dirty apricot pink paint on the walls to the best mancave on the block. No one can say we haven't done our part to turn the economy around this season!

PS - The best part of the mighty mancave is the giant Barbie House in the tv area, LOL. Mancave or not, the grand daughters come first! At least the house isn't pink.

Here is my annual Christmas Open House. Enjoy!

The Merriest of Christmas's to you and yours!

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My Beautiful Grand Babies

(otherwise known as Nonee's Brag Post)

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Posing Pretty for Nonee

Ava pointing out what she would like her 1st

grown up food to be.

Forget the peas & carrots!

Sienna pulling silly 2 yr old
faces for the camera.

Fun shopping day

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Re-Sale Deals & Trash to Treasure Day

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With all the health troubles I have had over the past summer and fall I haven't had much opportunity to get out to garage sales and antiques markets. So, now that I am back on my feet and looking to get out again I decided to take advantage of a sunny November day and check out a new re-sale store and a tried & true antique mall near me. I found some really great goodies, some really good deals, and a couple of make-over projects to work on. Now, it's not as if I don't have enough projects that have been waiting for me to get to them, but I just couldn't resist and these are 2 very quick and easy make-overs.

So first off I got this adorable little antique chair for just $18.00. With the new red plaid chairs in my family room I thought it was perfect. And won't it be adorablewith a bear in it by the x-mas tree this year?

Next is the reproduction candle mold. I've wanted one for years but was always too cheap or poor to get one. But today's find was just $12.00 and very nicely made!

The book, "A Century of Dolls", has a bit of a beat up dust jacket on it but the rest of the book is in perfect condition and the photography inside is just beautiful! I paid all of $3.00.













These are my make-over projects. I couldn't believe my luck with these. I went shopping with the hopes of finding a tiny triangular table for a tiny space at the end of my sofa. It needs a little aging and the legs shortened just a bit but for $18.00 who could resist? The metal candle lamp was truely the bargain of the day. It cost me all of $2.00. It has a funny black and blue spongy finish on it at the moment. I think, when I am finished with it, it will probably have a rusted finish on it. I just don't think I could do a convincing job of making it look like aged tin. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

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Grandma's Favorite Little

Trick-or-Treaters

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Sienna (2 years) and Ava (1 month)

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A Grand Affair in Miniature

Grand Rapids MI

Miniature & Dollhouse Show

October 2009

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My mother and sister have been attending the local dollhouse show held in October each year for many many years now. My mother bought a custom built dollhouse from premiere dollhouse builder "The House that Jack Built" 17 long years ago. It was just a plain shell of a house with holes where the windows and doors would be and no chimneys. Slowly (very slowly), over the years, she has been collecting furniture, making most of her furniture from kits, and buying accessories and architectural bits and pieces, all with the dream of one day displaying her house at the miniature show. But, that poor house sat there unfinished. All the supplies to get it done were sitting in boxes. She always talked about getting to it but, being a festidious (and obsessive) housekeeper, the house continued to sit unfinished. After a serious illness and a couple weeks in the hospital last year, I decided it time to light a fire under her to get it done. I boldly told her that she was 75 and not getting any younger. I pointed out that with one bad fall she could find herself living in a home and unable to ever make that dream of hers come true. So finally, after 17 years and a lot of encouragement (and badgering) she got it done. She has added stone chimneys and cedar shake roofing, divided windows and a beautiful front door with reproduction iron hardware. She wasn't terribly pleased with me and my prodding at the time but she is so thrilled and relieved to finally have her dream house complete.

To make the occassion even more special for her, my sister brought her dollhouse up from Atlanta for the show. It was a mother / daughter dollhouse display. "Laurie's" house is her childhood dollhouse. A dear friend of my folk's built it for her 36 yrs ago. The furniture has all changed over the years but childhood sentiment won't allow her upgrade her little old house. She has traveled far and wide from Atlanta to Chicago and even Toronto to dollhouse shows. She's not the do-it-selfer that mom is, but rather a self-described "Buy-it-Yourselfer". Being a professional career woman she can afford the very best and when she sees a piece she really loves she spares no expense. She has some really beautiful artist made and signed pieces of furniture and dolls. Their favorite miniature artist would be Jim Ison of Traverse City MI. He makes the most incredible and beautiful miniature pewters and they both have their houses well stocked.

Finally. the 3rd item entered in the mother / daughter showing is a dollhouse cross-stitch which I made for my mother several years ago. It was actually a pattern my sister had bought. But handy crafts and stitcheries are not her thing and she never even attempted to make it. While cleaning out her closets one day she came acrossed it and passed it on to me. I redesigned most of the furnishings and decor in the dollhouse stitchery as it was all done it bright colors and not very well decorated. I seldom follow a cross-stitch pattern very closely and this was no exception.

So, come along and take a tour of the mother / daughter dollhouse display!

Be sure to click on each picture for a closer look at all the tiny details.

Laurie's Childhood Dollhouse Redecorated

The Kitchen
(momma doll was removed so the back of the room could be seen in the photo)

Momma Doll Back in the Kitchen

Office

Gorgeous Little Boy in Office

Formal Sitting Room

Little Girls Room

Playing in the Nursery

Master Bedroom

Dollhouse Cross-Stitch

made for Mom Many Years Ago

Mom's 1700's

Colonial Dollhouse

The Kitchen

Formal Sitting Room

1st Bedroom

Home Office

Master Bedroom