Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

Favorite Things: Making Progress on Fixing Up Our Old House

September 21, 2017 by VintageMama Leave a Comment

Sorry I’m late to the party this week . . . it has been a MESS around here lately, and I can’t even get a good picture of all the updates we’ve made over the past couple of months. I’m working on it! In the meantime here are a few pictures of where we have come from and just a peek at how much progress we’ve made.

This is what it looked like when we first started working on our living room / family room and the sun room which has been used for my home office . . . . .

this really OLD cedar chest was a gift to me when I graduated from high school. You can see in the first picture how rough it was from all those years of use, kids playing on it, moving it from one house to another to another, from one side of the country to the other and then back again. It actually wasn’t a “true” cedar chest, it was just veneer which had been almost completely ruined over the years, but there was some sentimental value as it is probably the most expensive gift my mother was ever able to give to me.

So we removed all of the hardware and painted it black, and then spray painted it (with my hubby’s trusty new paint sprayer!) a really soft cream / ivory in a satin finish. With the pretty black hardware, I think it turned out beautiful! I am still planning to add a clear coat at least to the top to minimize future dents and scratches, but it looks so much better than before.

The walls are a light gray (Silverado) and the trim is country white (all from our local Walmart!) and I had a few odds and ends around here that I spray painted with the charcoal chalk paint. I did buy a new rug, but the floor lamp is really old, too, so it will need a fresh coat of paint and a new shade and we’ll be all set. I have a shelf that I painted with the charcoal chalk paint, too, as well as a few wall hangings to add, but at the minute this is as far as I got before I needed to get to work on other projects.

Here are a few of the “before” pictures so you can see what a really messy mess we had to deal with . . . . but we are making progress fixing up our old house!

Stripping old wallpaper is fun, they said. So I said, “Knock yourself out!” And so they did.

Then there was that fireplace that made me crazy! Everything was so DARK and gloomy in here, so Fashionista Daughter came up with a plan . . . .

We weren’t sure at first that it was going to work, but when it was all finished we were very happy with the results. More pictures tomorrow, gotta run to the next project that is calling my name. Hope you can join us for this week’s Favorite Things Linky Party. See you there!

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

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Favorite Things: “Unbusy”

September 14, 2017 by VintageMama Leave a Comment

I read something recently about a “new” trend to be “unbusy.” I’m thinking about what that means . . . .

It seems that in our quest to be successful in a career, as a volunteer, as a worker in our church or community, as a parent, or as a “perfect” woman, we are exhausted. That is truly a collective “we” in that almost all of the women I know are flying from one event, activity, commitment, appointment, lesson, class, webinar, or some such thing that we are always stressed and weary. Is that you? It is most definitely ME!

Even though I will admit that I’m not able to keep up with all of that quite like I did 20 years ago (or more!), and our lives are relatively simple compared to lots of others that I know, it still seems like every day is filled with things that are calling my name quite loudly. Like today. My TO DO list is hanging over my head with a long list of responsibilities for my home and family, my online projects including two blogs and a couple of Etsy shops. Oh, and a magazine that I am responsible to publish EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH. I did that to myself, and even though I LOVE to work on that project, sometimes I find myself scrambling to get all the last details just right. Because I’m like that, and won’t put something out into the world unless I’m pretty sure it has been done RIGHT.

Have you thought about how to become “unbusy”? I would love to hear your thoughts on how to minimize (I think that’s a pretty trendy topic, too) and calm down the endless demands of life. Which is really difficult if not almost impossible if you have kids. Which I still do, and saying “NO” occasionally is just as hard for me now as it was back in the day when my older kids were teenagers.

What is the benefit or the downside of striving to be “unbusy”? Or are we FOMO every day of our lives? “Fear of missing out” is certainly a plague among the younger generation, but don’t we, as parents, have an unspoken dread that our kids will miss out on something in life? And what if they do? I don’t know . . . . I missed out on most everything that was available to kids when I was a teenager, and it didn’t kill me. So maybe I need to stop already with worrying that my little darlings will be somehow dysfunctional if they don’t get to do EVERYTHING that comes along. Seems like there probably is value in being quiet, calm, rested and at peace in my home, my heart, and in my life. I’m still thinking about what this all means. I’m open to suggestions!

PS I actually have a lot more to write about this topic, but guess what . . . . I have to fly out the door in a few minutes so I can’t finish this blog post until later!

I hope you can slow down for a few minutes this week and visit some of the other bloggers who link up to the Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party – making new friends is still a pretty important part of life, even in an “unbusy” life. Hope to hear from you soon!

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

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Fixing Up Our Old House: Laundry Room Inspiration

September 7, 2017 by VintageMama 1 Comment

Today we are having the living room and office measured for carpeting. I can’t wait for this project to be finished . . . so I can move on to the next painting project in our house. I finally finished painting all of the living room, my office, the hallway, and the entry way. Now we just wait for the new carpet to be installed and my sweet hubby will be putting down new laminate in the entryway. Next on the list: the master bathroom and laundry room.

In this old house the laundry “room” is actually a small closet area in the master bathroom. It’s perfectly fine although quite small, but there is room enough for both the washer and dryer with a cabinet above the washing machine and three shelves above the dryer. Sometimes you have to be creative when updating an older home, so we’ve been looking at lots of options. In this case, the original set-up had folding shutter-type doors that could be closed to cover up the washer and dryer which sat side by side. That arrangement made it really difficult to get to the cabinet above the washer (hanging on the wall to the left side), and almost impossible to utilize the shelves above the dryer.

This is similar to the way our laundry room was set up, but it didn’t look nearly as pretty as this one!

(Image via Pinterest)

The first thing we did was to remove the folding doors which made the whole room look much bigger without those doors either cutting off a whole section of the area when they were closed, or sticking out into the rest of the room when they were open. Then we pulled off the wallpaper border which was messy but it was good to get it out of there. The best part so far is that we turned the washer and dryer so that instead of sitting side by side, they are now facing each other allowing us to slide both of the appliances back under the cabinet on one side and the shelves on the other side – leaving enough room in between them to walk in and access everything much easier than before.

So now the job ahead of us is to paint all of the walls in the little laundry room and master bathroom; the cabinets, shelves, and trim will also be painted (probably white which will look nice next to whatever color we decide on for the walls). I’m having a hard time finding a color that we like because we are really trying to lighten and brighten things up throughout our house, but I would like a color that is cheerful and happy. That room does not have a window so it really needs to be something that will bring in a bit of homemade sunshine! Possibly yellow – but I’m kind of thinking a soft turquoise which would be really pretty with white trim.

This is the color I was thinking about . . .

(Image via Pinterest)

In the meantime, today I’m looking at ideas for a bit of inspiration and thought I would share that inspiration with you, just in case you are also in the midst of a home update. It will be fun to share pictures of our projects when they are finished. Right now, however, we are still in the middle of what might be considered “chaos” as the old carpeting is still here (YUCK!) and lots of books are still sitting on my cutting table in the sewing room, and a few old pieces of furniture are sitting in the garage to be refinished.

A little bit of vintage whimsy would be nice!

(Image via Pinterest)

Getting new carpeting is kind of a big deal for us as it is not something we have been able to do for several years – but this carpet MUST GO!!! Hopefully before Christmas I will be able to move on to other projects, but for now, this is my life. Messy, kind of crazy, and definitely “in process,” but I feel encouraged because we are making progress. One day at a time – and today I need to finish touching up the trim and sorting through the junk that got piled in my sewing room. And then a few trips to Goodwill to donate a lot of great books that we really no longer need. It’s raining here today, what’s going on at your house?

All images in this post are from Pinterest and do not belong to me. Please visit Pinterest to locate the original blogger / designer. The main image for this post is from Pixabay.

Hope you can join us for the Favorite Things Linky Party today!

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

Please take the time to get to know ALL of your hostesses

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Favorite Things: Painted Windows

August 31, 2017 by VintageMama Leave a Comment

I know this might not seem like a big deal to most people . . . but it is a really big deal to me! We’ve been painting, it seems like forever, and I finally finished the windows in our living room. There really is nothing wrong with them except that they are old and needed a fresh coat of paint, but have you ever painted shutters??? I love the white shutters on our windows (fortunately there are only three in this room) but painting the trim around the windows, around the window panes, the window sill, AND the shutters was a pretty big, time consuming job.

Fortunately we were able to use a paint sprayer for the shutters but I still had to touch up here and there where the sprayer missed. And then, painting around the window panes (or is that “pains”?) was a tedious, monotonous job that required a lot of detail work. Because I wanted all of the old paint covered and because I’m pretty fussy about making sure there is no paint left on the glass, AND because it took three coats of paint to get it “right” – then I had to use a razor blade to scrape off the paint that got on the glass – it all took a lot of time. But I think they are finished now.

We just need to replace the hardware on the window and on the shutters, which are painted black now, and I think I’ll hang up some ivory valances and THAT part of the project is DONE. I think. Unless I go back and find places that I missed or that need another “touch up.” Painting is just one of those things in my life, that if once is good, twice is better, and really three or four times is the best. It’s time to STOP and move on to the next part of this project!

I hope you are having a great end-of-summer and that your days are filled with fun and sunshine. Pray for our friends in Texas and Louisiana, and let’s find ways to help out if we can. Painting can wait for another day if there is an opportunity to help in the midst of this tragedy. If you have any ideas for how we can be helpful, I would love to hear from you. Hope you can join us at the party this week!

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

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I’m painting . . . still

August 24, 2017 by VintageMama Leave a Comment

It always amazes me how LONG it takes to paint a room . . . that might be because I am so fussy about how the painting gets done, but still. We’ve been working on the living room and my office for about three weeks now, and I STILL have to finish the trim around the windows, doors, and ceiling. But we are getting there, just in baby steps. So, as it turns out, I haven’t been blogging much lately – hope to get back to it soon and share some pictures with you of our progress. Maybe even tomorrow if I make good progress today! In the meantime, I hope you will join the Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party this week. I’ll do my best to visit some of you, in between painting sessions! Have fun and make new friends – talk to you again soon!

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

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The Rebellious Shopping Mama

August 17, 2017 by VintageMama 5 Comments

(This is my idea of a perfect place to shop!)

Don’t you just love shopping??? Perhaps YOU do, but I actually hate shopping for anything, under any circumstances, any time of the year, for any reason at all. So there are certain times of the year that wear me out . . . . Christmas being probably the time of year that really makes me stress out, but back-to-school is a pretty close second. But I do it anyway, because that’s important to my girls, so off we went TO. THE. MALL. I hate malls, too, because they make me feel claustrophobic, and the noise, chaos, and the thought of spending money makes me really kind of weird. More so than usual.

And with two teenage girls in tow, it was bound to get rather overwhelming. One is a quick-witted Fashion Diva and the other is more like me . . . . clothes? Just put something on and move along, there’s nothing to see here. So in one situation there was running commentary about how we absolutely NEED this and that and the one over there and two more just like it in the next store, and we need to go back three stores ago to get that dress I looked at that I absolutely must have – and the other situation (all going on at the same time, of course) is a vision of obstruction. Foot dragging, sighing, drooping shoulders, mumbling under her breath, “Can’t we just go home now?” And I’m the Mama in the Middle of all this cuckoo stuff, trying to accomplish something that doesn’t break the budget, and (indeed!) go home now.

(First Day of School September 2008)

Of course we survived and finally arrived back home about 10:00 p.m. and collapsed. Well, at least, I did, but they stayed up talking about their treasures, with Big Sister telling Little Sister what shirt she needed to wear with which jeans, or how unbelievably UGLY that skirt would look with that top . . . all kind of information that escapes me completely. It was finally the First Day of School and we all lived to tell about it. I’m pretty confident that no one is going to have a melt down over what to wear or what not to wear, but this Mama just might need a nap!

(First Day of School August 2017)

Hooray! It is Thursday, time for the Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party – hope you can join us!

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

Please take the time to get to know ALL of your hostesses

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Fixing Up Our Old House: Getting Started

August 10, 2017 by VintageMama 7 Comments

Right in the middle of the mess! Here we are, every day, making a little progress here and a little progress there, on this long journey of fixing up our old house. We LOVE our old house, but the colors and decorating style that we inherited when we bought it two summers ago were getting rather annoying. Not that there was actually anything wrong with the colors and decorating style – all of this was pretty popular back in the 80s, with the golds and yellows and burgundy and dark green. The birdhouses on the border, and the quaint vintage village on the kitchen wall paper, and the country cats and birds on the bathroom border, and the elegant florals in the master bedroom and half bath, and the primitive dolls on the dusty pink and dark blue walls in the girls’ bedrooms were all very “cute.” 30 years ago.

So we wanted to brighten things up with lighter colors, and a simpler, cleaner feel to the rooms. Old house, here we come! Check out some of the “in process” pictures and you’ll see what I mean – I can’t wait to show you some of the finished projects! But it all takes time and energy, so if you’ve been waiting for me to answer your email or even answer the phone, please know that I’m up to my neck in paint, old wallpaper, and dusty, trashy remnants of Our Old House. In the meantime, please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop where you will meet new friends and discover any number of creative and inspirational ideas for your home and family.

Down comes that old, icky wallpaper border . . . .

In one of the girls’ bedrooms we had to sand the texture off the walls and then cover the dark, dark blue paint . . . more pictures next week.

Here’s the really great built-in dresser with the dark blue walls sanded down and ready to be painted . . . . .

Guess who got tired of all that messy work of sanding the walls? But the inside of this little alcove above the built-in dresser is finally painted a soft ivory.

Can’t wait to show you what we did with the drawers!

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Favorite Things: Joy in the Journey

August 3, 2017 by VintageMama 6 Comments

Some days I just have to remind myself to relax . . . slow down . . . breathe . . . and stop believing that I am Wonder Woman and I can and should get everything done right now. Except, that there are quite a few things that really do need to be done right now, so it is hard to choose unless something is really shouting quite loudly, “DO THIS RIGHT NOW!”

As we have been working on painting and redecorating our “new to us” home, I’ve found myself feeling rather annoyed that I can’t just get every room painted, reorganized, and tidy all in one day. And then there is the yard – we’ve worked on it as we have been able to this spring and summer, but now it is heading into autumn and there is still so much we want to do.

We want to get the outside storage shed painted yet this summer, and the flower gardens need to be weeded and a few more landscape blocks put in place, and there is a section by the driveway that is bricked to keep rainwater running away from the house that needs to be leveled – but it really is about all we can do just to keep the lawn mowed once a week!

We’ve made great progress on the inside projects, with the studio completely painted and one bedroom finished. This week we’ve been working on stripping wallpaper (YUCK!) from the half bath and hope to get that painted and put back together this weekend. Then the next project is to paint the big living room. That is going to be a pretty big project so we bought a paint sprayer – that should make it go faster, but we still have to move all of the furniture out into the garage and tape everything off. Makes me tired just thinking about it!

But the good news that I keep trying to remember is that once all this ugly wallpaper is gone, it is GONE. For good. In the future if we decide to paint a room a different color, that’s all we’ll need to do is paint. This other messy stuff really wears me out! I’m trying not to get frustrated with myself when I am tired. But I’m not very good at that, and always think I should be able to do it all, yesterday, and as Ginger Rogers said, “backwards and in high heels.” That’s how women have to dance, you see, so she was explaining why women are actually better dancers than men who get to dance forwards and in regular ol’ flat shoes.

Anyway, that’s how I feel about life sometimes . . . I think I have gotten a few unhealthy messages throughout my life that make me believe it is my responsibility to “fix” every problem, take care of every situation, and make the whole world beautiful. Well, I do try, but I’m also trying to let it be OK if I just can’t get that blasted wallpaper all off TODAY. It will still be there tomorrow – but then, there’s the problem, isn’t it. I don’t want it to still be there tomorrow. Enough philosophy for this Thursday. Guess I better get back to work. Pictures coming soon of some of these projects . . . . today I’m finding joy in my journey. How about you? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all of the responsibilities on your plate? I’d love to hear how you handle it all. Thanks for stopping by! Hope you can join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party!

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

Please take the time to get to know ALL of your hostesses

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Favorite Things: The Crazy Days of Summer

July 27, 2017 by VintageMama Leave a Comment

Whoever described the “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” certainly did not live at my house! “Crazy” for sure but “lazy” and “hazy”? Not so much around here!

This week it looks more like the Crazy Grammy’s Slime Kitchen – among other things! It is also the best week of the summer as it is VBS at our church so we’ve been over there every evening, and during the day we’ve been just hanging out a while so that this Grammy could actually get some work done – BUT between trips to the store for the ingredients to make GOOP, trying on every article of clothing to determine which ones will be “hand-me-downs” to the 7 and 11-year-old grand daughters, an afternoon at the park, swimming at the YMCA, and in between everything else trying to feed everyone, this Grammy is having more of a CRAZY week than and LAZY week. But we’re having fun, so that’s what counts!

How’s your summer going? Mine is more “crazy” than “lazy” but that’s OK!

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Don’t we all think that summer should be endless days of walking through a sunny meadow, wearing our Sunday-best dress and hat, chasing butterflies with a matching pink net? Carefree and clean, safe and happy – that’s what summer should look like, right? But in reality, even for those of us who are pretty organized and structured with our summer days, kids can be kind of messy, loud, and always unpredictable. Like the 7-year-old who thought that it would be impressive to climb all the way to the top of the monkey bars at the park and stand up to declare to all those boys down below that she was in charge. It was impressive. And it also scared this Grammy enough to order her to come down before she fell and broke her arm.

No worries that her mom will read this . . . she did that kind of stuff all the time when she was 7 years old, so she understands. But I still can’t bring myself to feel all calm, cool, and collected when one of my little darlings is in danger. I guess I never did do that very well.

Last night, after coming home from VBS, all the girls (with my two, there are a total of four little – and not-so-little – girls here this week) decided they wanted to make GOOP. OK so we had the ingredients, and of course it had to be purple, and we mixed up the GOOP. They played with it long after this Grammy escaped into the other room to read for a while – and they made a mess and they had fun, and they cleaned up their mess. They covered the dish when they were finished so it wouldn’t dry out, and now they can play with it again today.

And right now, as I am working on this blog post (which is now almost two hours late being posted), the 7 year old announces: “Hey, Grammy! I can jump really high and land without making a sound!” Up and down she goes, indeed without making a sound (I love it!!!), and then says, “Isn’t that AWESOME?” It is absolutely AWESOME, says this Grammy. And off she goes to discover the next amazing adventure in Life at Grammy’s House.

It’s been a good week so far, tonight is the last night of VBS and then tomorrow we drive a couple of hours to take them home. It will be quiet (er) again, so I will be able to get my work done with fewer interruptions – but it is truly a blessing to have this time with two of my beautiful grand-daughters. I was so exhausted last night while they were playing with their GOOP that I didn’t even take pictures – here’s one that comes close to what was going on here. Courtesy of The Cubby House Preschool.

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Join us for this week’s Favorite Things Linky Party! Make new friends and discover some amazing creative ideas.

Favorite Things: Making Progress on Fixing Up Our Old House

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

Favorite Things: “Unbusy”

I read something recently about a “new” trend to be “unbusy.” I’m thinking about what that means . . . .

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

Fixing Up Our Old House: Laundry Room Inspiration

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

Favorite Things: Painted Windows

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

I’m painting . . . still

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

The Rebellious Shopping Mama

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

Fixing Up Our Old House: Getting Started

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

Favorite Things: Joy in the Journey

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Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

Favorite Things: The Crazy Days of Summer

Whoever described the “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” certainly did not live at my house! “Crazy” for sure but “lazy” and “hazy”? Not so much around here!

Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party

Please join us this week for the Favorite Things Blog Hop!

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