Hummers in the Rain

As you may know we got a lot of rain last week!  Out here in the foothills we received 12 inches over 5 days!  Through it all I had hummingbirds at my feeders!  They are troopers and I would fill the feeders whenever there was a break in the rain.  Here are a few pics!

 

 

This is an Allen's, we have Anna's here year round, Allen's as well, but mostly Anna's

Here is a slideshow I have put together of all the different species we have visit us!

Enjoy!

Laura

Haiti and Rag Quilts!

Now I am sure you have no clue what these 2 things have to do with each other, but I do.

You see I make rag quilts, that is what I do.  I made my first one 6 years ago for DH.  This is before I knew what a rotary cutter and snips were!  Yeah I know ")

Here is a pic 

Once I found out how easy and fun they were,

I made them for the whole family!

Now I buy remnants and make baby quilts for preemies!  I will give you more info on that later.

Our church has an orphanage we support in Haiti.  Luckily, through God's divine grace, they were spared any loss of life or extreme damage.  Here is a link to them:

Childhope/Haiti

I have made it my mission to make a quilt, or have a quilt made for each of the kids there.  Now I know they don't need them now.  Now they need prayers and basic necessities.  But they will in a month or 6 mos, when they can return to some form of normalcy.  You see I believe that each child in the world needs something to cuddle!

That is where Jenny's website came into play.  I am donating a baby quilt for the raffle, should have it up tomorrow.

Check it out.

What do you do that can benefit Haiti?  Maybe not right now, well prayer is always needed, but maybe 6 mos to a year down the line?

Just something to think about.

Toodles,

Laura

Recycling!

One of my first post from 2008, was talking about a desk I purchased at the consignment shop.

We were in the process of redoing my office/craft room, and I wanted a new desk/hutch combo.

I found this one on a weekend when DH was away fishing, teach him to leave me alone!

But I forgot, it was solid oak, and how would I get it home, and upstairs after I refinished it!  Details, Details!

Here is a before pic or two:

The door on the right has been removed.

I took all the hardware off and took the whole thing apart!

The wood handles would go and the door on the hutch would have the centers cut out and metal pieces put in.

Here is the top.  I painted it a dark brown, I believe it is called thistle.  My contractor took the rest of the desk and hutch and sprayed it a soft ivory.  We added beadboard to parts of the hutch as well.

Here it is almost finished.  The beadboard is in the center of the hutch and on the back behind the monitor.

 

 Here she is all finished!

I added cork tiles to the center back then covered with a toile remnant.  I love how it turned out.  I got glass knobs from Restoration Hardware for the hutch and cup pulls from Lowes for the desk.  

Here is a close up of the beadboard and toile!  

I really love how it turned out, just wish it would stay that clean!  Oh well and messy desk is a used desk right?  I need to clean it big time!

Have a great day, and remember to try and recycle!

Toodles,

Laura


I am linking to

Jewels!

I remember seeing these jeweled ornaments at Target and thinking, wait till after Christmas!

Well I did!










So I got a few at 50% off, cause I didn't know if there would be any at 75%. There was!

Here is what I did with some of them.

I made an apothecary jar just like the gals at Shanty2Chic!

At Christmas it held candies, now it holds jewels!














And guess what else? I found these jewels at Michaels today 70% off!

So they were $1.19 each. I guess I will be 'jeweling' up my decor!

They would be great for Valentines and St Pats days!




Have Fun!

From old to new!

We live in So Cal, in a typical tract house. Have for going on 22 years now.

It came with wonderful wood fencing, that as you know over time weathers!

Here is a pic of our back fence, 22 years old.


Recently we had to have our side fence replaced as it was rotted and ready to fall down.
I don't know what the builders were thinking. Our neighbors lot is 12 inches below ours and they set the post in his yard and then backfilled from ours! Sure way to rot a fence post!

Anyway, I love my new fence!

We set it on landscape blocks so the post would not rot again! Still need to add gravel!









Anyway the old fence was looking quite sad, so DH said we could clean off the yuck and then seal when we seal the new fence. I didn't know that could be done! But done it is.

We used this awesome product we found at Lowe's, Olympic Premium Deck Cleaner. Awesome stuff. I have been told that bleach works the same, and it does smell like bleach, but when we tried the bleach solution nothing.

So this was it! And it works instantly!







As you can see, this is as DH is spraying it on. On the left is the old looking fence on the right is the new looking fence! Amazing!








Here is another pic. I am so excited as now the fence doesn't look so old and gray. Once we seal it, which is already purchased and waiting to go, they will all look the same.







Here is a pic of the other side yard fence DH did earlier today! See how great it looks. You just have to spray the cleaner on, wait 5-10 min then clean off with a good shot of water , and you have a new fence!






So happy to show you all my new/old fence!

Life goes on!

Don't you love how life gets in the way sometimes? I have wanted to post, but things just kept getting crazy around here, and during marching season, well you can forget getting anything done. So I am starting anew! This is the first decorating project we did.


The Powder Room. We began this in 2004 and it has evolved to what it is today!

Before: Builders Oak and blah counter and walls! And a door that opened in! Yes can you imagine being 9 months preggos and trying to use the restroom? It was not fun and a pet peeve of mine! Solution to come!

















Well not being shy I decided on a quiet little color 'Red Velvet'!
DH thought I was crazy! But I loved it, although he wasn't too sure after the first coat!



















After a few more coats, it was just what I had pictured! Now for the big surprise! I had decided I was going to mosaic the counter! Yes I am a little loopy, but what the heck, it is only tile, right!










ready to tile!







So I bought just regular white and burgundy tile at Lowes and broke them myself. Then I found some neat toile tile at Michaels already broken! And I just dug in, sort of like putting a puzzle together!

















See it wasn't that hard!


Here is the finished product, circa 2004! The gold is the family room color, this is the doorway looking into the powder room.
















Now fast forward to 2009. As my design sense has evolved I realized that there was much more I could do with this small little room. I had left the cabinet the original builders oak, but that just wasn't setting right with me. So, first I decided that I would white wash it.

Uh, not so much! DH really hated this!






So onto the full painting and embelishing. Now that is much better!







I also got on the beadboard wagon, although this was in 2008. I decided to make the back wall behind the commode all beadboard. We also added crown at the same time, see I told you I was evolving!









So now here are the final after pics, sorry this has been such a long post. It is my first big one, so I am sure it needs lots of refinement!


Here is my new chandy, I also added a medallion which you can't see :(

Here is our new door that opens out! Yes, so much more room!




I added an antique window to the back wall, luv it!







Lastly we had our contractor add sills to all the windows. Remember this was a tract house built in the 80's', there was no trim on the windows at all.





So there you have it, my 1st before and after! Thanks for reading and please leave comments!


Toodles,

Laura

This post was linked to the fabulous Metamorphis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. Check it out!


Also linking to A Soft Place to Land DIY Day!