Whining and waiting for spring!

Soooooo cold here. I am currently waiting for it to try and snow again tonight. What?! Yes.
Spring always takes SO long to get here. Yes, I know - if you follow my blog or FB page I have already complained
about this. I will continue until it is at least 65 degrees!

Yesterday was at least nice enough for me to get outside and do a little yard work. I cut back all my grasses
(including 10 foot tall pampas - ergh! What was I thinking?) and pulled some weeds that managed to make
their way through the dirt. I can't wait until it looks like this out there again:

Pretty blooms. Hurry please!
Ugh. I figure if it is going to be this cold I will try and be productive indoors some more. Time to tackle the
sunroom walls. I drove over to Benjamin Moore to grab my paint so I would stop hemming and hawing about
which color to use. Bah! They were closed. Duh. It's Sunday!

Instead, I added another coat of wax to my dining room corner cabinet I've been working on. I had painted in in
Annie Sloan French Linen. I wasn't loving the color up against my black dining room wallpaper (see that HERE ).
I let it sit for a few days while I decided what to do with it. So a little dark wax mixed with clear wax has
toned down the brightness of the color (Hubs asked me if it was primer. Thanks hon'. I've only been working
on this for 2 days. And it looks like a primed piece. FAB'!).

Well it looks better now and if the sun actually decides to show itself again over Spring Break I will take some pictures!

I bought myself some potted tulips from the grocery store to try and bring a little spring in my house.

I put them in a old pail I found at a barn sale.

I put a tupperware upside-down in the bottom and set the tulip pot on top.
Then I bunched some burlap scraps around the top to beef it up. Cute, eh?

Now I think it is time for another cup of coffee and some more Pinterest surfing! Sorry for being so random today!
How are YOU staying warm? And if it IS warm where you are just go ahead and keep that to yourself. Really!
=o)

Sharing at:
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Savvy Southern Style
Cedarhill Ranch-The Scoop
From My Front Porch To Yours
DIY by Design
Jennifer Rizzo
Blue Egg Brown Nest
French Country Cottage

Turquoise Jewelry Armoire!

I am SO freaking excited about how this piece turned out! I have been helping my good friend and neighbor do some accessory and furniture placement tweaking in her home. She was doing a re-vamp of her jewelry storage system and offered me her old oak armoire. I tried to convince her to keep it an just paint it since it has such nice lines. But she is a busy gal and found herself a new smaller one. I was SO excited to get this from her and start slapping paint on it!
(excuse my poopy iPhone photo!)

And here is the finished piece!

I couldn't take the hardware off because of the velvet lining inside. Painting around all that was a super-pain!

I just LOVE how she turned out! I am hoping Cheri does not want her back after she sees how gorg' she is now!

Hopefully she will not see this post - like I said, she's a busy gal!

I really like the sway on those legs - they remind me of my dog (he is a basset/beagle mix).

I need to do a little touch-up sanding underneath the top! (That will probably never happen! You know how lazy I am!)

I 

I painted this in Annie Sloan Florence and added a coat of clear wax. Then I sandpaper distressed it and added

another coat of clear and dark wax mixed together to deepen the distressing and the color.

See who is napping in my bed?

There! He woke up! My bed always looks horrible because I keep that old quilt on it so
that our two dogs don't ruin my nice duvet! So spoiled!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Join me at these fab' parties this week!
Thistlewood Farms
Between Naps On The Porch
Cedarhill Ranch
My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia
From My Front Porch To Yours
The Shabby Creek Cottage
No Minimalist Here
Julia Kendrick
French Country Cottage
Jennifer Rizzo
Miss Mustard Seed
Fox Hollow Cottage
Serenity Now Blog
Pieced Pastimes
Coastal Charm
Blue Egg Brown Nest

All signs point to...

Me not being able to just take a day and do nothing! LOL! We had a snow day. Or maybe it was a slush day...? It was just a very wet day. The kids were taking the time off school to just chill out. Dinner was cooking itself thanks to my wonderful crock pot. I love to throw a turkey breast in there with a little butter, salt and pepper and let it do its thing! It makes the house smell SO good to! End result?  I ended up with some time to spare in between loads of laundry.

I have a little space on the wall above my kitchen sink that I have been thinking is a perfect spot for a cute sign. At first I thought just "Kitchen" or maybe "Farmers Market".  But, hey - the town I live in is called Haymarket!  I mean really, what more do you need! It sounds like we live out in the country but we are really only about 45 minutes outside of Washington DC in the suburbs of Northern VA. But if I need more inspiration than that I am in some sorry shape!

I have some pre-cut 2x6 boards that I keep in my garage. They are actually for reinforcing my kids beds when they break the very insufficient supports PB provides. My boys are not small anymone!

Anyway. I grabbed one of those and blundered ahead in my usual unplanned way. I slapped on 2 thin coats of Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in Luckett's Green. Then I ran out the type on my printer - it took 3 sheet across to get the word the size I wanted. I transferred them onto the wood by tracing them on top of a piece of carbon paper. Then I outlined them with a Sharpie Paint Marker. I was going to use acrylic paint to fill them in.But I was already comfy on the floor and mesmerized by repeats of The Rachael Zoe Project. So I just went ahead and filled the letters in the rest of the way with the marker. For those of you following me you already know my middle name is lazy. Or shortcut. Or impatient!

The last step was to sand in some character with my fine grit.
I sanded down all the edges and across the letters to give it a old, weathered look.

I attached some hangers and ran immediately and hung it up. I am sure it was still wet. I have absolutely NO patience. If a project takes more than a day or two I may not finish it! I really like how it turned out. 

 

I have to digress here. Does anyone else get those looks from their husband? Most of the time he does not even ask what I am up to. Just walks through the room, stares at me, then continues on. I'm sure he is afraid he will be roped into moving or lifting something heavy! Best not to ask questions! LOL!

The green is in anticipation of a little redo that is coming for the sunroom! 

I love my orange but 6 years later it might be time for a change!

Here are some pics of my current island vignette too...

I am still just so obsessed with my new little woody pod flowers!

And my Coca-Cola crate. We are a divided house when it comes to Coke and Pepsi! So this is MY statement!

Meanwhile, I leave you with a little color thanks to my friend Monica!

Hope Spring makes it way to your house soon!

I am partying at these fabulous blogs!
Blue Egg Brown Nest
From My Front Porch To Yours
Miss Mustard Seed
My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia.com
Fox Hollow Cottage
Savvy Southern Style
DIY By Design
Cedarhill Ranch
Blue Egg Brown Nest
Pieced Pastimes
Serenity Now

Touches of Spring

March is here. Spring is coming! I can't wait for some nice, warm sun!
 In Virginia, Spring is painstakingly slow to show itself.
I love Virginia for its beautiful seasons. The Fall, while short, is so fabulously beautiful!

This is the view from a small mountain just a 10 minute drive from my house on a early Fall morning.

Winter is typically neither too mild or too harsh through the holidays here. Usually we will get one or two good snows for the kids (although not the past 2 years!). All the fun parties, the holidays, our twins birthday and our anniversary just help the first half of winter pass so quickly! But from January to Spring I just have the hardest time enjoying the weather. It feels like Spring takes for-EVER to get here. Soooooo slow.

 Here is my transition mantle for the rest of winter after New Years. I took all the Christmas-y stuff down and just left my wreath. I added the frames for a little interest and my big ole' barley twist candlesticks are a permanent feature on my mantle. I just love them so they get to live up there all 4 seasons! Around mid-February is when my itch for Spring hit me hard and I wanted all the evergreen and pinecones put away! Off to my lovely, organized storage room (you can peek in there here . You will be so jealous of my tidy closet!)

 So down came the winter wreath and out came some white stuff to lighten things up. I snagged a couple preserved boxwood wreaths from HomeGoods (xoxo) a couple weekends ago for only $39 each. I was SO happy since I have been searching for some inexpensive ones. HomeGoods saves me every time!

My birdhouse came down off the top of my kitchen cabinets. It had a green roof and sunflowers painted on it
and I was pretty much over that. So it got a nice coat of Annie Sloan Old White. I love that I can transform something
and just slap it into place in just a couple minutes!

I ripped a old silk rose flower arrangement out of this planter (originally from Pier One)
and threw in the moss and little robins eggs. Cute!

And my paper mache bunny was let out of his cage (previous vignette) and popped onto the mantle.
He came from Pier One a looong time ago too!). Oops. Forgot to hide my Yankee Candle during my photo shoot!
Clearly my assistants were NOT doing their jobs!

Hmmmm... I need better helpers...

Check out my books. I love that Schizophrenia one!

And my white finial came from HomeGoods as well. It says "Herbs" on the back but I didn't feel like having that show. That white globe thingie probably came from HG too. I've had it so long I don't evn remember!

I hope Spring comes your way soon! Thanks for stopping by!

This week I am partying at:
Domestically Speaking
Eclectically Vintage
Green Willow Pond
Savvy Southern Style
No Minimalist Here
Creative Crafts Thursday
The Shabby Creek Cottage
French Country Cottage
Jennifer Rizzo
Serenity Now