bait and switch it on

 just popping in to say hi,

i've missed you all,

and i so appreciate your sweet, caring comments regarding

my dad's passing and the grieving process.

mr. 1829 and i were able to get away for 8 glorious days

to sarasota/siesta key, florida the last week of april. 

it was just what i needed to regroup,

get some much needed vitamin d and rest.

now that spring has finally arrived in the northeast, 

(our area had a record rainfall in april of 8.53 inches)

we are getting our lawn mowing caught up,

 flowers planted, gardens cleaned out, veggie's planted,

and so on.

i have a long list of to do's to finish before mid-june,

so i am up and going every morning to

git er done!

 and now to show you the reason for the title and what i've been up to...

 i've created a few things this past week. 

it feels sooooo good
to get my brain and hands working on a project!

and this happens to be a super easy one.

a peek inside

socket attachment

love the red handle...

illuminating dontcha think?!

 our screenhouse...

a repurposed corn crib

our summer set up

a new light fixture...

all because of some spring cleaning

and a desire for a more vintage look.

necessity is the mother of invention!

still have some tweaking to do but for now,

the screenhouse is clean, neat and ready for use.

my daughter said she'd consider sleeping out there this summer.

let the fun times begin.

linking up to

 

S is for simple

sim.ple: adj.
elementary: easy and not involved or complicated

here's an idea for those of you who love anything metal or galvanized like mu-wha.  i have these red, rubber coated "s" hooks in my pantry/closet that i use to hang bags and other sorts of periphernalia. they are quite handy, however, i wasn't lovin' the color or the coating...

just wasn't me

i'm sure you know what i mean.  

i got to thinking...."hmmm...i wonder what's underneath that rubbery stuff?"

so i grabbed me some scissors and hacked away at them to find

this

wonderful.raw.steel

much better!

i'm not sure where i bought these as they've been here for years incognito,

but i do know that i didn't pay much for them.

an online search (plastic coated s hooks) showed most to be about 50 cents

LeT ThErE Be A LiGhT!

I have been diligently working on a "junk marriage" of sorts for our kitchen.  We have had an old vintage light fixture above our sink which use to have a schoolhouse-style globe on it.  However, the light wasn't, shall i say, very illuminating.   

First, I removed the globe hoping to find a clear alternative but due to the age of the fixture there wasn't any to be found with the right neck-size opening.  Then  I removed the 20 MeeLLION layers of paint with my trusted friend, Multi-Strip, to reveal a beautiful patina of metal...possibly brass mixed with some other silver metals.  

Here's the before and after in the pre-shade state:

We lived with the fixture stripped and globe-bare for many months UNTIL I had a "light bulb" moment.   I purchased a lot of 3 vintage metal light fixture shades last year off ebay that were horribly coated with latex paint and chipping, no actually they were shedding they were so bad.   I again took my trusted friend, Multi-Strip and behold they too were beautiful underneath all that ugliness.  Now, the next step was to figure out how to connect the two parts together.  Enter another fav: JB Weld to the rescue!

Here's a test run for alignment.

 click on pics to enlarge

 

I then took the part of the electrical light socket that screws on and JB Welded it to the shade as seen in photo.  This way the shade would be secure and easily removed for any possible electrical work in the future.  Once the weld was cured (allow at least 15 hours) it was ready to hang.  (Mr.1829 helped with this part - remember to ALWAYS turn off power to the outlet.)

Here it is in all its loverly, vintage, industrial, patina'd goodness:

Total cost: $5 (for shade-everything else I had on hand)

What do you think of this repurpose, re-use and marriage of a vintage fixture and shade?

 

For me it is a perfect match of industrial, farmhouse & thrifty goodness!

1950's Schooldesk

This 1950's Heywood-Wakefield schooldesk was found stored above garage when we moved in over 27 years ago.  Painted a tacky green, written on with black marker and stuck with stickers, it has been patiently waiting for a makeover.  The paint was removed but the wood was not in the best shape so I opted again for a little black satin to spruce her up.  A can of spraypaint for the metal legs and frame along with painting & distressing of the wood got the job done.  I may go back over the desktop with chalkboard paint so it could be used for a message board in an entryway or for a child's use.

Closeup of detail

Here's the only before pics that I took.  But you get the idea.   

Note the lovely shade of green-what were they thinking!?

As you can see, the seat was discolored and needing some coverage.

For paint removal I use Back to Nature Multi Strip. It's a "greener" product and will encapsulate any lead paint. We've been using it in our kitchen renovation of an 1829 farmhouse- works great! Most of the time it comes off like butter. The key is putting on a thick enough layer and waiting 24-48 hrs.  It is well worth the wait.