A New Look For The Front Door...

No matter what I hung on the front door after Valentine's Day, I wasn't satisfied. I wanted something classic to pull everything together once the front door had been painted by Mr. Molasses (my nickname for the painter) and the front porch is totally dirty after high winds (with blowing dirt) that never seem to cease. Apparently, blowing dirt and a drought go hand in hand together, as I'm pulling my hair out trying to keep anything at all clean.

I also have new door hardware to add when the locksmith finally has time to come install it. Then, I'll unscrew the old brass mailbox, sand it a bit, then paint it black as well. 

However, I'm hopeful that the exterior of  the house will be finished by Thanksgiving. A year to paint the exterior of the house, you ask? Umm... Not my decision, okay? You'd think we lived in a mansion for it to take this long, right? Wrong. So wrong. We just have Mr. Molasses. The. Bane. Of. My. Existence.

 So anyway, I spent an insane amount of time making my new (brown) coffee filter wreath. This time, I avoided blisters on my fingers by buying a not-so-hot glue gun. It worked like magic. I'm a total fan. I went through two large packs of brown coffee filters before deciding it was more than enough and I frankly didn't care whether it was or not. I. Was. Done. 

I didn't take pictures of the process this time so I'll show a couple of pictures from the last one I made since it's exactly the same as the one I made last year. And yes, I'm lazy like that, just so you know.

I'm still working on another wreath for the new guest room because I wasn't satisfied with the outcome of the first one. Yes, I'm stupid picky like that. I also bought a huge amount of unbreakable Christmas ornaments after Christmas and made another ornament wreath, which I have no idea what I'm going to do with. Really. 

I can't wait to see what everyone else has done this week! Oh, and I'll be sure to show pictures again after I get the hardware done....

Some Of The Old Is New Again....

As soon as I finished recovering my bench with the first fabric I'd chosen, I realized with much distress, that I hated it. HATED. IT. Seriously. That has never happened before. Apparently, the aging brain likes to play tricks on us and they really aren't very funny. Furthermore, my aging brain (and eyes) didn't happen to notice that the first bunch of fabric I bought was for wallcoverings. No wonder it was so impossible to work with.

 
So, I ventured back to Hancock Fabrics for the umpteenth time to look for suitable upholstery fabric, with no luck. Next, I drove across town to Hobby Lobby and BINGO! There it was. The. Fabric. It was the fabric I really wanted. No, it wasn't on sale like the first crop of fabric. This fabric was like $30.00 per yard. Yikes! The *go with* fabric was slightly lower but there was only 1-1/2 yards. I bought it anyway. I'll figure out a way to use it with this material for the window treatments in the kitchen. The first batch of material is up for grabs. If you want it, you've got it. Just let me know. What a waste of time and money!

Anyhoo, after painfully removing all the staples from the first recover job, I started on my second recover job to the same bench. Will I ever learn? I'm not completely sure that I had a lesson to learn here other than *LOVE the fabric you go with*. If you're not that excited about the fabric then you're probably not going to be very thrilled about the final outcome. Seems simple enough, right? Apparently not.

At this point, my hands, arms, back, and elbows are in *deep ache mode* so I just downed a handful of Advil while saying a prayer and asking God to remove my pain. I'm not sure which one worked but I'm thankful anyway. However, I am absolutely thrilled with my bench now, in spite of said pain and whining. Even my hubby commented that it was far better than the try before. He actually told me to throw away the first bunch of fabric, which of course, I can't do.That would be wasteful, right?

Hubby offered to help but I'm all too familiar with his whole *it's just fine* method of imperfection. No thanks. I'm bad enough on my own. Really. And, since this Queen Anne bench is the first thing you see when walking through the front door, I needed it to be absolutely perfect... sans Moi, of course (which means there are a few hidden minor imperfections I can live with).

Still, I'm just loving my bench now, as well as my *new* recovered computer chair. Trouble cat likes them as well, damn it! There is not a single piece of furniture in this house that doesn't have her signature all over them (as in massive amounts of cat hair, dander, and dirt).

I also plan to use the rest of the new fabric to recover the kitchen table chair seats along with window treatments for the windows and the door, for the first time in 15 years. I'd say this project is looooong past due, wouldn't you? Have you done any refurbishing lately?

I'd actually like to use this gold pillow rather than the red but black and white cat hair definitely trumps that decision. Think I'll go with the dark red pillow. It is shedding season. Nope. Gotta go with the gold.


My next project will be recovering the breakfast table chairs and the window treatments in the kitchen. I can hardly wait! So, the places I party are on my side bar.