Hip Hip Hooray for Me!

I know, I know I really should not be cheering for myself but after 10 days with no dryer and piles and piles of laundry building up I finally tamed the beast and fixed my dryer!

The story goes like this. About 10 days ago my dryer stopped heating. I noticed after I put towels in and ran the dryer 3 different times thinking I had forgotten to turn it on each time. Well after ordering a new heating element and replacing that my dryer still would not heat (Boo Hoo). So this time I bought two new parts a thermostat and a thermal cut off fuse. (I forgot to mention I don't have a parts store nearby so I had to wait for the parts to arrive via snail mail.) I first changed out the thermostat and I still had no heat but as soon as I changed out the thermal cutoff fuse I could smell the heating element going! It kind of smells a little when you put in new parts so it is a good idea to let the dryer run a few minutes before putting clothes in there so they don't stink when you take them out.

Why am I so excited you may ask. Well for two reasons. First, my husband will be out of work on july 30th and I am trying to be frugal these days and I also love the fact that I spent 85$ on parts to repair it and I would have spent 150 just to have someone come out and look at it. Second I love that feeling of knowing I don't have to rely on someone I do not know, to tell me what is wrong with something (kind of like when I bring my car in to be repaired). Dryer repair is not as scary as it looks. This is actually the second one I have fixed. The first was at my last house and the heating element went on that one.

I know it sounds crazy but I have never been so happy to see a load of laundry in my dryer!

A sweet little beside table

I have actually had this project done for two weeks and I am just getting around to posting about it.  I found  two dark side tables on craigslist a few months ago. They were pretty solid but also had some damage to the top. This is what they looked like before the new coat of paint. As usual I remembered to photograph them after I had started priming!

Now here it is after first coat of paint. Don't you love the pull out tray?

And finally here it is at home in my bedroom. I got some new hardware at Lowes to spruce it up even more!

Oh I almost forgot to tell you how much I love the vine detail across the top. I am debating about getting a black paint pen to fill it in. What do you guys think? Should I leave it as is or paint it?

Happy Mothers Day to everyone ! Thanks for your input.

Maura

Some Before and Afters

Well I have lived in my home for 3 years now, and we have done quite a bit to it since we moved in. I have my basics done like furniture and paint colors and drapes but I am still at work on the little bits that finish things off. I have been procrastinating a lot lately.  I will get a project done this week, but as of yet I have not done anything except clean my house. So since I dont have any current projects I thought I would post my before and afters of what my home looked like when we moved in and where we are now. I am also posting a picture of my living room (with the fireplace) to show a fellow blogger what the paint color she has chosen might look like on her walls. It is Benjamin Moore Ivoire. That is the color of my living room walls. I love it and I hope You do to. So without further adeu...

these are pics of my daughters room before we moved in and after.
Her paint color is sherwin williams Lily.

Next we have our front hallway before (narrow and flowery) and after (open and airy). I like open and airy, how about you?

our tv room had spongy blue carpet when we moved in and as with the rest of the house it got a new life with hardwoods. I also love fresh blue paint on the walls in this room

I promised Beth of The stories of AtoZ that I would show her my living room as I used the paint color in it that she is thinking of using in her kitchen so here it is. Before...

and after! I used Sherwin williams Ivoire for the paint color.

Things have changed a bit around here since these pics were taken... furniture layout and wall decor. However I am still happy with all the wall colors I chose.

I will post more before and afters soon of the rest of the house but for now that is all!

Hope everyone has a great day.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Well it has been a while since I posted last. I have been busy eating turkey, Christmas Shopping (yes I went out for a whole 3 hours in the am on black friday), watching my sisters kids, and tonight we are going to my husbands 20th class reunion. In between my husband and I put together a project I dreamt up a few months ago.

A while back I posted here about my husband and kids painting. So I had an idea to make a display shelf to put their artwork on display in my dining room.  So we started by buying some bead board, a small sheet of oak plywood, some liquid nails and some trim. I already had some white primer and paint so we did not have to buy that. We started by having

 my husband cut the beadboard to the height of the ply wood. After he cut them all to match we put all the pieces of beadboard together and used liquid nails to attach it. We did have a little over lap which we cut off with an exacto knife (ran the knife right down a bead and snapped it off).

After we let the liquid nails set my husband cut the trim using the miter saw.  I then used the liquid nails again and glued the trim over the beadboard. I then used our staple gun (loaded with brads) and nailed the trim onto the beadboard. Oh I should mention the trim I bought is made to go over beadboard or panelling. It does not have a flush back. I think it was called panel trim.

Ok so now we added our "shelve" which is actually another piece of trim. The kind you would use to cover your drywall corners so they don't get chipped. Yet again I don't know the name. I promise next time I will do better! We again used liquid nails and brads to attach to the beadboard and plywood. I filled all the wholes and cracks with wood filler.  We let the whole thing sit over night and the next day I took on the priming and painting. Just 1 coat of primer and two coats of white paint.

Finally we hung it in our dining room(that is a weird shadow on my wall, not a bad paint job) We used large wood screws and finishing washers - right into the studs as this is rather heavy. We added some art and now we are good to go. Obviously the art showing is a little small for the shelves. I have given directions for 5x7s, 8x10s or 9x12s for future artwork.

I think it turned out pretty good, but let me know what you think?

Crafty Me!

My house is a work in progress and I guess I am too. I like to procrastinate but as of late I am hard at work on projects around the house. I was driving through the center of town the other day and noticed someone was getting rid of a brass coat rack. So being me, I grabbed it and threw it in the back of my car. I brought it home primed and painted it and now it is a place for my daughter to hang her robe, and scarf collection (they always seem to be on the floor). My daughter loved it! Even after I told her I took out of someones trash.

The next project I saw on http://oursuburbancottage.blogspot.com/2009/10/diy-monogrammed-doormat.html

and I just had to try it myself.

I did it a little different but the idea is the same.

I used contact paper (which I had already) and taped the printed letter (which my husband supersized for me) to the contact paper. I then used an exacto knife to cute through both layers. Then I pressed the contact paper down firmly and spray painted the S, my rug already had a black border around it.. I love the way it came out.

 Last but not least I did a simple switcharoo to my candles. Just a change of color from black and white for halloween to cranberry  and white for fall/ christmas.

Hope you like my projects!

Oh and here is one interesting one of the vacuum truck coming to pick up our leaves. Of course one of my trees lost all its leaves today!  A day late. Oh well! I know how lucky we are to have this available in my town.

Painting Frenzy

I went to maine this weekend and even though we had family things to do, I did make it into 2 antique shops both in Windham Maine.  The first was the Ruby slipper where I found some great milk glass, and the second was pendexters antiques where I  found a few cute things. I found a really cute plant stand/ table there. It is just small enough to leave at my entryway. It was a dark ugly brown stain and I just primed and painted it today! Yippie! I love the way it turned out and cant wait to accessorize it when it dries.

Some cool finds!

Had a nice outing with my neighbor the other day. We stopped by a favorite antiques market place and I found the best wreath to hang in my stairwell. I also went to homegoods that weekend and found this cute mirror to hang by my front door. I am still looking for a little table to put underneath it. I am also thinking of doing beadboard in this hallway. I am not sure I am up for the task yet. My big project coming up is painting my kitchen cabinet. They are old and dark and I can't afford to tear them out so I am thinking a coat of paint will help. I only hope I can pull it off. I am thinking it will take me a week or two to do the whole project and my kitchen is going to be in turmoil for that period. Looks like we will be doing a lot of take out. I am hoping to do this project in the next few weeks. I will keep you posted In the mean time here are some pics of my cool finds.

New Bannister

Here are some pics of my new bannister. I can't wait to decorate it for the holidays!

Finally

Well my family has been in our current house for three years. Before we moved in we had hardwood floors put in throughout our home(my youngest has asthma and both kids have seasonal allergies). However we ran out of money when it came time to do the bannister. Then this spring, I finally got around to calling about a quote. When the quote came in we found out my husband was losing his job so yet again we put the job off. Finally today the guys came and installed the bannister! I absolutely love it! I can't wait for the holidays to use it as just another way to decorate. I am also glad for safety reasons to have it. I have already fallen down the stairs 2x. The first time was a small fall from a few steps up but the second fall was from the 2 step at the top of the stairs. Lets just say my rear end was sore for weeks after that!

While the guys were working I made cookies- some for them and some for my kids- they love homemade cookies and milk when they get home from school. I also got around to making my first pie of the fall season. I am having company tomorrow and wanted to make something nice for dessert. well thats all for now!