Those Summer Plans….

I am feeling very ambitious this summer.  Very ambitious.  Probably to the point where I will
over-promise and under-deliver.  But, I like to put these ideas out there and let them percolate for awhile (in other words, get Worker Bee used to the idea), ruminate on them, and then execute.

So.  What are my plans?

1.  Finish the Girls Clubhouse OR turn it back into my Potting Shed.

Ignore the dead plant.  You looked, didn't you!  C'mon people!  You had one job....

Before Baby Bee came along our house came with a playhouse.  Very simply built and we almost didn't keep it, but the idea of using it as a potting shed grew on me and, in fact, it was my potting shed until Baby Bee was about 3 or 4.  At that point it became her playhouse.  A few summers ago we had big plans to convert it into a clubhouse for Baby Bee and her friends to hang out in.  But they don't really go outside much when they are here or they just hang on the patio.

The current potting area - I'm afraid the wood potting bench is probably done for, but I found a great galvanized one I need to assemble.

So, I'm thinking about turning it back into MY Potting Shed.  I've got some galvanized things I would love to put in there, plus reuse a lot of what we put in there for the clubhouse.

This is part of the makeover for the playhouse - I think I can reuse most of these pieces in the potting shed, don't you?

What are the chances I get this done?  About 50/50.

2.  Change the Guest Room into Sweet Bee's Studio.

I've got all the supplies to build this desk/worktable.  I plan to use it for sewing and my cricut.  I am so stinkin' excited to get this project going, but Worker Bee needs to finish up some stuff for school before we can get going on it.  HURRY!  HURRY!  HURRY!

I think our guest room is a very cute and charming room with it's vintage plaid and sort of cabiny vibe, but it serves two masters - neither one of them very well.  It's also where I store all my craft supplies.  Worker Bee has already agreed to this change (and we can use Baby Bee's room for guests if need be and put her in the living room or studio to sleep - she's young - she can take it).  In fact, I went on a road trip to IKEA and bought quite a few of the supplies/pieces needed for this conversion.  However, it hasn't been tackled yet, because we need to completely empty out that room and PURGE!  Oh Lordy, do we need to purge.  Okay.  I need to purge.  Not a weekend project and not one I want to live with for several weeks as I work on it during the school year.

Inspiration for the studio makeover!

Chances of this being my first project and the one I definitely complete?  VERY HIGH.

3.  Paint and revamp our master bedroom.

It's been a few summers since we did this and I really loved it at the time, but it's just a little too dark for my beachy summer look I'm dreaming of.  The walls need to be repainted (they are currently a lovely mocha color) and the furniture we painted black now needs to be white or apple green or something more cheerful.  This will be a pretty simple project because I know what I want to do and I just need to do it.  Plus I'm pretty good at purging in there because it is so small and we have VERY limited closet space.

I do need to get a bedspread or dust ruffle/coverlet, some new lampshades, and I would love to find a comfy reading chair for the room (or clothes piling on chair - you know how that goes) but I pretty much know what I want to do so it's just a matter of getting it all put together.

And the chances of finishing this little dream?  Pretty good - better then the potting shed, but not as good as the craft studio.

4.  Stripping wallpaper - kitchen and bathroom

We bought our little cottage in 1997 and wallpapered shortly after we moved in - and I ADORED the wallpaper then.  The kitchen is a Waverly vintage cherry look and the bathroom is a gorgeous bright floral - all bright blues and greens and reds and yellows with white backgrounds.  But I am done with them.  DONE I TELL YOU! (I keep telling myself and my husband and other people and yet I still haven't done anything about it.)  I am going to look for someone to strip it for us and prep the walls and then we will paint.  I think we haven't done it because we DREAD the idea of stripping the wallpaper.  I think I would rather stick an icepick in my eye then strip wallpaper.  (Any my sincere apologies if I've brought up painful memories for any of you who have stabbed yourself in the eye with an icepick.)

There are many other projects we need to do with the bathroom/kitchen, but those are going to have to wait for a while.  In the meantime, I have to --- I HAVE TO --- make that kitchen reflect my current aesthetic.  Somehow.  Some way.

Chances of getting this job done?  VERY GOOD, if I can find someone to strip the wallpaper at a reasonable price.  And….I have no idea what a reasonable price might be.

5.  Replacing the bookshelf under the living room/sun room connecting window with a set of bench drawers (or would it be drawered benches?) that will be a long banquette kind of thing in the sunroom for the dining table.  Similar to this picture.

Here's what it looks like now.  

Again - it was perfect when the sunroom was like a little family room, but when we kicked the dining room out there so we could have a library, it didn't quite work for me anymore.  (yes, I used the pronoun me, not us, because frankly these are all my ideas and Worker Bee is just along for the ride).  That room was so cute - I had it filled with bent willow chairs and tables, a cute tan and green striped couch and floral pillows and the bookcase was filled with books.  Didn't have a blog then, so I never really took pictures of it - or if I do they are in another project box - so you will just have to trust me.

And will I actually get this project done?  The odds are on this one are the lowest because Worker Bee is not on board.  He is worried that one day we will have a very entertaining dinner party and someone will throw their head back in laughter and go right through the window and die.  (He can be such a party pooper.)  But I have gently reminded him that we have the same set up in the kitchen and no one has found us to be so hilarious that they have thrown their head back into the window and shattered the glass and died.

Plus I have lots of furniture to paint!!!  

Please wish me luck on at least getting the craft studio done!  I'm itching to make some things and I don't want to start if I know I'm tearing the room apart!

Thanks for buzzing by for a visit!  It's always so nice to know you stopped by.  

I've Got Time to Play!

So I played with dishes in the backyard!

I saw on Instagram there was a #summerdesignchallenge for a garden party and I thought it would be fun to play along.  Of course, I missed the deadline, but oh well, I had fun and I took enough pics to share with you!

I started with this table runner I picked up at Home Goods earlier in the spring.  It's perfect for where I'm heading with my sunroom/dining room.  

We have my parents old chippy picnic table and I love the way it looks.  However, Worker Bee is fed up with it.  He is worried about ingesting paint chips.  I told him it's good for the digestion, but he disagrees.  I just might have to repaint it this summer.  

Then I used my thrifted vintage Wedgewood Hedge Rose plates.

I added my vintage, probably antique, silver-plate flatware and napkins I bought at World Market.

I used the sweet aqua glasses I got from Pottery Barn and wine glasses my mom picked up for me at the pharmacy she used to work at.  They are made by Tag.

Finally, I used these aqua bowls from World Market.

Who knew?  My wine bottle even goes with the beachy colors!

And I am such a rotten friend.  I texted pictures of my little imaginary garden party to my friends teaching summer school.  Don't worry, I promised to have them over for a nice garden luncheon.

Now, can I serve you a lovely gazpacho soup?  Or perhaps a cold berry soup?

Thanks for buzzing' along!

Linking up to Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Glorious Junk Days

Over Memorial Day weekend, I met up with the ever so talented More Creative Bee to start planning our fair tables and trees and whatnot.

Lucky for us….Glorious Junk Days was just a few blocks away from where we always do our planning (it's always Panera Bread - great inspiration spot) and I just have to share with you one of the best finds ever!

Nah!  It's not this great bread box! (Although I DO love it.  Twice the size of my old one from World Market – of course – and it's a fun beachy blue.)  I'm pretty sure this is not vintage, although it's got that great vintage style.

What I did find and what I wish I'd splurged on are these whimsical (you know I such a sucker for whimsy) and quirky (seriously, quirky too? how can I possibly resist - I even named my iPod Quirky Tunes) ROBOTS!

I KNOW!  

Of all things….ROBOTS!

But seriously, you guys are going to be charmed by these too. 

(And maybe a bit creeped out by a few too - I was so fascinated by them.  I hung out at the booth for quite awhile, but I WAS NOT acting creepy.)

You know you're charmed, right?  Who can resist a strawberry robot?

I loved the colors on this one and the biscuit tin!

Can you see the kitty and its mouse?  I mean c'mon!  Robots that amuse you! I love folk art that just charms you!

I was really drawn to this one - you know how Worker Bee and I love globes.  (Okay, it might be me that loves globes, but Worker Bee needs a collection and I need an excuse to buy globes!)

And this interesting one was the one I couldn't take my eyes off of.  I like it and then I'm creeped out a bit by it and then I like it again!

So.

Do you want to know where you can find such fun and funky and whimsical and quirky treasures for yourself?

Well, you can go here…

owbots.com

or

you can find their etsy store here…

Old and Weird Robots etsy shop

or

you can find some of their creations here on…..

their pinterest board.

And, by the way…it's been a pretty stressful school year.  But….it's almost over!  I hope to visit with you a bit more now that there's only 7 more days of school!!! (Can I hear an alleluia?)

Thanks for buzzin' in!

And Here Is What the Guest Room/Craft Studio Looks Like Now…(Before I Turn It into My Studio)

My last post was about inspiration for my future craft studio.

Here is what it looks like now.

It's sort of cabin-y, rustic and has always been one of my favorite rooms.  I used to have a wing chair in there for sitting and reading, but we moved it to the library and slipcovered it in white denim.  I'm on the hunt for another one though, because I think a room for inspiration should have a comfy little reading spot.

I use a quilt as an inspiration board - I just pin things to it that make me smile.

The new space will be bright and colorful and those barn reds will be going away.  I'm going to miss them though.  The walls will no longer be grocery bag brown.  Well, that's what we called that color.

I love all my Scotch Plaid picnic pieces too. 

I really don't want to get rid of them.  But I don't think they'll quite fit in the new room.  Hmmm…..Baby Bee is a few years away from going to college.  Maybe I'll save them for when her room becomes the new guest room.  (It was the old guest room before she was born.  It was cute too and cabin-y.  I had two beds with white coverlets and red plaid dust ruffles and shams.  Somewhere I have pictures of it.  I'll have to find those someday.)

One of my favorite things in here are the curtains and the "rods."  

I bought those two bent willow fence pieces to use as headboards in the old guest room (before Baby Bee was born) but when that room became her nursery, I just couldn't part with them.  Sound like a familiar theme?  The chambray curtains I think I picked up at Target, but then never really used them.  Then one day, the inspiration fairy came for a visit and she made me think I could use those fence pieces as a valance and then tie the curtains onto them.  Seriously.  That is one of my favorite things and it will not be going away.

Did you notice the duck phone? When it rings it goes, "Wank, wank, wank, wank…….wank, wank, wank, wank."  Frankly, it scares the (you fill in the blank) out of folks who aren't expiating it.

 (Well you will now since I just put a picture here.)  When Worker Bee and I were first married and we lived in two bedroom apartments, the second bedroom was always an office.  This was in the early 1990s and Worker Bee decided he wanted a duck theme in there.  We even found a wing chair in hunter green (remember, it was the early 90s) with embroidered ducks on it.  In fact, it's the other wing chair in our library that's also covered with a denim slipcover.  (Don't tell anyone, but Worker Bee thinks ducks will come back in fashion one day and he'll get his duck chair back.  Ha! Ha! Ha!)

Eventually I will find a bigger china cabinet for out in the sunroom/dining room to store my dish hoard and when that happens, the old china cabinet will come live in the studio.  

I'm not sure if I'll keep the little armoire or not.  

(True story - in one of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion issues they used this same armoire for one of the cutest cottages ever and I was obsessed with getting one.  I believe it was from Wal-Mart.  Worker Bee went to every Wal-Mart in the valley trying to find one of these for me.  Isn't he a sweetheart?  So.  Maybe I can't get rid of this piece.  Too much sentimental value.  I originally used it in the kitchen to put the microwave in and the dream machine and other kitchen supplies.  It was great! Wow!  That was a very long parenthetical passage!)

So.  Now you know the story of the guest room/craft studio.

This is going to be fun!  

The Guest Room/Future Craft Studio

Worker Bee and I have been talking.  That's a good thing.

We have a guest room that has also been functioning as a part-time crafts studio.  I love the room, but it doesn't quite function completely as either room.  

So, Worker Bee and I have been talking.  Okay, I might have been doing most of the talking but he nodded in agreement.  

We are going to turn the guest room into a full time craft studio!  YIPPEE!

And if you can't find it in a store, you can find it in this etsy shop.

I am so glad I picked up a copy of this magazine 'cause it has provided some SERIOUS inspiration.

In particular, this little work table set up is perfect for my little room.

It will involve a road trip to Ikea.  

This studio used this set of drawers from Ikea…

a hollow core door…….

and a trestle from Ikea.

And hopefully I'll be able to pick up one of these there too….

 And I have to get one of these from Harbor Freight.

And, of course, here are a few more images of studio inspiration….

All images from my Pinterest board: For the "Studio"

The project will get underway during our Spring Break.  That is if I can talk Worker Bee into that road trip.  There might have to be some serious bribery involved.  

Serious bribery.  

Do you have any suggestions or idea for my new studio?

Thanks for buzzing in!