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My sister, Margaret, celebrated her October birthday with us this year. The centerpiece for her birthday dinner was a row of votive candles surrounded by holly branches from a berry abundant tree in my yard. I started the evening with good intentions of getting pictures of the guests, the table, and the food. Those intentions went by the wayside rather quickly as the guests began to arrive. We started with an appetizer that somewhat resembled the picture above.  (No glitter stars for sure)  Oh, and I had the mint leaves but I forgot that was part of the recipe.  I was making these and putting them on the tray as the guests were sampling them, so, I was doing my best just to keep up.  I discovered the mint in the fridge the next day.  Blackberries and goat cheese recipe can be found on my Special Event Recipe board. I snapped this shot of the kale salad with thinly sliced Granny Smith apples and blueberries, before I ser...

This is where the previous post ended.  I had stripped the top of this nightstand and experimented with a new technique on the painting of the base and drawers.   I was not thrilled with the results. I was especially disappointed in how orange the original finish looked next to the black top coat.   I sanded most of the black off the drawers.   Next I painted the top black.    I repeated the wax rub-off technique used on the base but only on the edging around the top.    I think this pulled it out of the "oops" pile.  So don't give up on a piece that isn't working.  You just aren't finished with it yet.  

When it comes to painted furniture, one of my favorite blogs is qisforquandie.com. I saw this dresser on a recent post and was intrigued by the technique. First of all, it is a beautiful piece, and the finish is perfect for her setting.  She even divulged her "secret" method for achieving this look.  So, of course, I had to try it.  She recommended a practice piece to get the hang of the technique. I had just picked up this three drawer nightstand at a thrift shop.  It is a very heavy, well made piece and, because I love drawers in a nightstand, I could not pass it up.  This became my "experiment." I started with the drawers thinking if any thing went really wrong I would only have to redo one drawer. I sprayed with the black satin spray paint...easy enough! Next step was applying the wax and wiping it off.  Not too bad.  It seemed to be working the way it was supposed to work. Getting the right amount of wax onto t...

 Normally my hydrangea bushes are lush with blooms all summer long and into the fall. But this year, due to a harsh winter, there was beautiful, abundant, huge foliage.... with just a smattering of blooms in late summer and early fall. I have five bushes and together they produced 10-12 flowers. It was interesting to me how much I appreciated that smattering of blossoms. Not that I didn't appreciate the huge bouquets from previous years.  I loved sharing the abundance of blossoms with my friends and relatives. And I certainly enjoyed gathering huge bouquets to enjoy inside my own home. I also had plenty to dry for winter bouquets. In previous years the bushes were sometimes so loaded with flowers they looked crowded and weighed down.  I had them in vases everywhere in an attempt to keep the bushes thinned out.  This year every single flower had my attention.  It was nice of nature to tip the balance and remind me that too much...

How long does it take to complete one simple project?  My answer to that is, "It all depends how many "life" interruptions you have, and how many people are ahead of you on your helper's schedule." This post picks up where  this post  left off. As you may remember this flue wall used to have have a gas fireplace that had been decorative (non-functioning) for the last 37 years that I know of, and probably way longer than that.   This is the piece intended for that wall after the mantel had been removed and the firebox hole was covered over. I am happy to report it is now in place.  ( Not a one person job for sure, and considering I was post surgery, my brother had to handle the bulk of the job by himself.) The two windows that flank the bed are on a diagonal in the bay.  I have had venetian blinds on these windows for many years.  Somewhere along the line I broke the wands. Since then they have remained perpetually open. ...

This was an accidental alley find that turned out to be just what I needed for my bedroom. I must admit I tried it out in the bedroom without even wiping it down first.  And then it sat there for a really long time before I thought about it again.  I was expecting company so I decided I better wash it down and at least coat it with primer. As you can see most of the decorative trim was missing. So I removed what was left of it. After a good cleaning and a coat of primer it went back to the foot of my bed....and stayed there longer than I would care to admit. Finally I decided on a color and pulled it out again to apply the first coat. And a second coat. And a third coat. Here we are eleven months later.  I am searching for this post so I can reference it in a post I'm working on about my bedroom.  I see it in the post review but when I search for the November 2013 date, it is not there.  That's because it is still in "draft" stag...