Time off, Projects, Paint etc

*** this post is from  6 weeks ago.... turns out I never published it. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I forgot about, maybe never really finished it, not really too sure. Either way here it is, 6 weeks late I guess. Or did I publish it and now I just duplicated a post? Who cares, I'm really pregnant and anything goes and everyone understands...at least those who have been in my shoes does.***

At  33 weeks pregnant, it gets difficult doing many things. Things such as walking at a normal pace, breathing, or not peeing while doing the previous two to the best of my ability. But I am still able to craft and work on some DIY projects. And now that I'm on Mat leave, I have a little bit more time also. 

Our house number and mailbox were placed most inconveniently on our house. When there is mail in our mailbox, the lid of the mailbox hides our house number, but it's nearly impossible to get the mail out of the mailbox because of the light hanging in the way above the mailbox.  I want to change the whole front side of our house but for a start, I changed the house number display.

First I cut some planks and nailed them together for a base, which I stained using homemade wood stain

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side recipe:
home made wood stain:

place metals of your choice into vinegar. different metals create different colours. Coppers create a bluish green stain while iron creates a redish-brownish colour. I used iron shavings from my dad's workshop, and added old coffee grounds to darken it a bit. Let this mixture sit for about a week. You might want to seal this stain once it has been applied to avoid residue from rubbing off onto clothing.

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Next I found n image of a key silhouette, printed it out, taped it onto the wood, and then traced it with a pen to create an imprint of it onto the planks. I then traced in filled in the imprinted image with my wood burning tool. 

I removed the numbers from the house so that I can reuse them and nailed them onto the board.

 My only mistake in this project, is that I should have bought a new "7", since mine looks too much like my "1"

I also decided that the orange doors in my kitchen, though a bold statement, never really satisfied my style. so I changed the colour to a minty blue-green. Opinions?

this was the colour before.

the new colour.

Rockabye baby

This week has been an rather uncomfortable week. Physically that is. I am now just over 30 weeks, and some basic tasks have become rather challenging. For instance, my husband and I were parked in the grocery store parking lot, and before I got out of the car, I realized that my shoe was untied. ( I'm sure you know where this is going) without thinking I leaned forward to tie it up, only to realize that I no longer have the ability to lean forward or tie my shoes while they are on my feet. As Fritz finished tying my laces for me, I motioned to get out of the car ( a challenge on it's own) and I noticed a van full of middle-older aged ladies having a giggle at my situation. This being my first pregnancy, I am learning that many things will be challenging, such a breathing, walking and NOT peeing at the same time. 

This week as a nesting project, I did a small 30 minute project to fancy up my bassinet. I have an old wooden rocking bassinet, a road-side find, that required a bit of tlc. Not so much in terms of sanding, painting or repairs of any kind, in fact it's in perfect condition. It just looked really bare and cold. 

All it really needed, was some fabric and lace for a bumper pad and some bows. I kept it simple, because in reality Hansie will only sleep in it for perhaps 3 months until he moves to his crib in his nursery. 

No I have not yet blogged about the nursery, that will come soon enough though once everything is set up. It's almost done, but I just don't want you to see an unfinished project. There are several  projects in and of themselves in the nursery which I could have blogged about, but I really want to just share the entire room as one thing. 

Back to the bassinet. All I did was cut a strip of quilt insulation, over which I made a sleeve of brown plaid, over which I sewed a sleeve of lace. I sewed some lace ribbon to the ends to tie them together and some at the centres of the long sides to secure it to the bassinet. I weaved the finished product through the corners of the bassinet an then added some large lace bows to the ends of the bassinet and voila! the little rocking crib looks less bare. A simple fix to a naked bassinet. 

A New Spot in the Kitchen

the new project: kitchen cart/portable island/garbage
 and recycling bin hider

I have an older home with an older kitchen. It has no dishwasher, no fancy gadgets. MY cupboards are still the originals from circa 1950, and I have no intention of replacing them. I would like to update them with some fine molding, but I wouldn't replace them. About 1/4 of my kitchen is part of at later (c.1980's? perhaps) addition and was never properly insulated and so at some point we will have to address that issue. my main concern with it is that when we open the cupboard doors at that end of the kitchen, I am literally letting the cold air in and the warm air escapes. My mom used to say to us kids when we were young and we left her cabinet doors open to "shut the cupboards, you're letting int he cold air" . I just always thought it was an expression. Not in my house!
I love the look of 1950's kitchen's , though there is always something great about those grand and clean updated ones, I love the coziness of the older style with the mis-matched floral plates and little curtains in the window. At some point I would like to replace my baby blue laminate counter top with a wooden one and maybe re-tile the floor. I'm just not a fan of baby blue in the kitchen... or really anywhere for that matter.
This is my most recent project. At first it was a bit frustrating. I thought first that I would just purchase a cart off kijiji. I knew what I wanted, but none of them were quite what I was looking for or they cost more than I was willing to spend. So I decided that I was going to make it myself. I purchased my wood, cut everything to the appropriate sizes, got out the drill, with the battery pack that had been charging for three days to prepare for this project, .... and the battery was still flat. Well technically it had full power for about 10 seconds. then it was dead. I find it really frustrating when I want to work on a project and I can't because one little thing isn't working. so I immediately called my husband, and asked him if he could purchase a new drill set for me. It's a big request to make since they don't come at a small price, but he lovingly understood my terrible dilemma and purchased a new drill set for us. so I could once again continue to work on my project.
In this corner I used to have that tiered corner shelf that just collected things and served no real purpose. So I moved it into the basement and it's life purpose is to be a book shelf. In it's place I have made this kitchen cart/portable island. My garbage can and recycling don't fit under my sink, and I didn't like it just sitting out in the open. I wanted to cover it. so I built this over top at the same height as my counter, "antiquified" it  with some leftover paints I had sitting around, added a little curtain from the leftover's of my kitchen curtains and voila, a grand 1950's style kitchen shelf. I placed some nice things on it, including my utensils crate and it ended up clearing up my kitchen a bit. I left the one side open, because Olive's food dish and water bowl are also under there, and this way she can still access them.  And if need be, I can roll it over to my counter should I require an island.