Ye Olde Red Brick House

This little kitten was abandoned and was found meowing outside the door at work. Our store is outside of town and there are no houses, so pretty sure she was dropped off.  She made herself at home on my desk... Her contentment and stillness had me fooled. (sucker!) I brought her home and she is like a kitten on crack. She climbs on everything; kitchen counters, dressers, my desk, the table, etc. I am going to buy a squirt bottle and fill it with water as I heard that's the best way to train an animal to stay off of things. I have to shut my bedroom door at night because she climbs on my dresser which has a lot of not so cheap perfume. If she breaks my bottle of Christian Dior, I don't know if I will love her anymore. (just kidding, I think) Lily does not like her and growls at her every chance she gets.  At first, I did not understand, because Lily is the mellowest  cat I have ever had. (adopted from a pet rescue soon after I bought my house).  It soon became clear w...

I have not worked on the wood stripping since August 2nd.  This month has been hectic, to say the least. I babysit my grand-daughter Jewell 5 evenings a week. She started First grade on the 13th, every evening consists of making her dinner, giving her a bath, helping her with homework and then listen to her read 4 books. While we are getting a lot of bonding time, and she's getting smart, it does not leave much time for house projects.  We do however make time to do things like this: playing with chalk is even fun for grownups :) Okay, back to my excuses....  I watch Adalyn and Everly, my other two grand-girls every other Saturday. Since they live 30 minutes away, I am usually at my daughters the entire day. She has to be at work by 5:30 a.m., so I get up at 3:45 a.m. on Saturday mornings. The things we do for those we love. LOL  I bought Adalyn some little ladybug rain-boots and they were a hit for playing in the mud: Aww, to be 3 years old and have no worries or ca...

I have started putting more effort into getting the dining room completed, so worked on the walls last Sunday and again yesterday (Saturday). I have been babysitting my two youngest grand-daughters every other Saturday and that is way more fun then paint stripping!  Look at these adorable faces....  I am starting to see an ending in site... and I am thrilled! Just the thought of being able to sand the walls gets me all tingly inside. I have been stalking Pinterest almost daily... not that I need more inspiration, but because seeing the photos of COMPLETED dining rooms, gives me that extra push to keep going. Cause, I have to admit, laying on the couch watching Greys Anatomy sounded way more appealing then inhaling Citristrip fumes yesterday.  My progress last weekend:  One panel and one drawer Yesterday: The other drawer and last panel I still have to finish this colonnade and the middle beam and I'll be done with stripping varnish!  So, so close!! Someday, I ca...

Nothing better then Sunday mornings, with a cup of hot coffee, my journal and a porch swing.  Time to strip some more varnish off the redwood today! UPDATED w/ photos This is the area on the left hand side of dining room. BEFORE AFTER 5 hours the corners are the hardest.... getting all the tiny bits of paint out of crevices, is very time consuming and NOT FUN AT ALL This is what the dining room looked like during my walk through. (red arrow is the same area as photos above)

I have taken a month off from paint stripping....  in order to do Spring Cleaning!  I so hate showing the *before* photos... messy messy The craft room corner... *BEFORE* *AFTER*  Michaels Crafts had a killer sale on the  scrapbook paper containers  (the green, pink and purple plastic ware on the Right Hand side) They are originally $8.99 but I bought them for $2.99.  (Not in photo - 6 that are empty) I seriously love the large metal bookcases. They hold so much!  The photo boxes were $1.50 - $2.00 each at Michaels, so I bought a LOT of them.  They are absolutely perfect for craft supplies.  I still need to organize corner #2 of my craft room. I have a ton of vintage books that I need to find room for.  It will be so wonderful to have a craft room that I can actually find stuff in... someday.  I was up until midnight last night organizing my hall closet. It's where I keep all the girly products.  Please, to all the women out th...

I only worked on the paint/varnish stripping for about 3 hours today. I am so ready for this to be over with! At least I get to take a break from it next weekend, as it's Mothers Day.  I still have to clean 3 panels and the built in china cabinet. I'm excited for the day when I get to paint, because blogging about paint stripping is boring! 

I had this post in my drafts as Blogger would not let me upload photos or post for the past few weeks. I kept getting an error message pertaining to browser issues. After checking the help section of Google, I found that a LOT of people have had this issue lately. This morning, I decided to update my browser to Google Chrome; and now it works! My goal this weekend was to clean these four panels After lathering on the Citristrip with a paint brush and waiting for 30 minutes, I started scrubbing. Then cleaned off all the residue. It looks so much prettier now! I only have 2 side panels and 2 bottom panels to go before I'm completely done with this side of the room! I went and stocked up on Citristrip as is seems to be disappearing from my favorite stores. It is no longer at my Lowes or Orchard Supply. Walmart has the small bottle for $13, but I prefer to buy the larger bottle for $21 as it's twice the size. The only place I can get it now is at Home Depot. Hopefully they don'...