Browsing Beautiful Images Beats Doing Taxes Every Time

Ohhhh...my brain hurts.  I've been working on taxes, which is why you haven't heard from me this week.  Motrin has been my best friend the last few days.  The headaches have been intense!

I am almost there.  I'm just poking my head up from under the mountain of paperwork to let you know I haven't kicked the bucket...although taxes usually make me want to kick something!

I had to take a wee break because my brain was freezing up worse than our oldest computer.  Grab a cup of joe and feast your eyes on these random gorgeous images from Pinterest.  Ok, everybody now, Ooooooh...Ahhhhhh!

I just want to climb up here, pull the covers over my head,

go to sleep and forget there is 

such a thing as tax returns.

When I wake up I want to
create something in this space.

I want this snow and ice outside my window 

to go bye bye, 

and summer to arrive tomorrow.

I want to light some of these, 

send the family off to do their own thing, 

put on my music, and break out the good chocolate.

I want to take my laptop out here,

 browse blogs and pinterest all afternoon, 

and maybe take another nap.

I want to drool over this mirror turned headboard. 

 Oh...hey! I got that wish. 

 Excuse me while I wipe off my keyboard.

I want my family to make me this card

 to show me how much they appreciate 

the time and brain cells I'm putting

 into doing everyone's taxes myself.

If you stuck with me to the end, thank you for allowing me to indulge myself in this self-centered little "I want" party.  Now I think I can go kick those taxes in the butt so I can make at least one of these "want's" come true...primarily the nap!

Craft Room Dreaming

If you missed previous craft room updates, the links to all are at the bottom of this post.  

I'll be working on taxes and paperwork for the rest of this week (blech!), so it's doubtful I'll get anything done on the craft room until next week. But I wanted to give you an taste of what I'm going for. Of course everyone's craft space is as individual as they are, but it's the general ambiance I am going for here.

One thing I do know, there won't be a lot of open shelves, well some, because I love the look, but not too much.   It's way too dusty in our house with a wood furnace, and since I would rather clean toilets than dust, I prefer doors. There is enough open shelving upstairs for me to dust. I want to spend my time in here creating, not constantly dusting. Just in case I didn't make myself clear, I HATE TO DUST! Ahem. Excuse the shouting.

Moving right along. Take a gander at these lovely craft spaces. These are from Pinterest, so please, don't pin them from my page. Follow the links and pin from the original source or from Pinterest. Let's give credit where credit is due :) I'm going to shut-up now and let you just enjoy.

One of the things most of these spaces have is lots of natural light. I have zilch. So I'm going to have to get creative at making it appear that I do. Hmmm...the gears are turning. Let's just hope they engage.


Basement Craft Room - Humble Beginnings
An Entertaining Sewing Center
Craft Room Dreaming
Craft Room Update #1 - Prepping the Walls
Craft Room Update #2 - White Walls
Craft Room Update #3 - Framing the Walls
Craft Room Update #4 - The Floors

An Entertaining Sewing Center?

If you missed previous craft room updates, the links to all are at the bottom of this post.  

The first project for my new craft room is a sewing center. I will be creating this space with almost no budget at all, so I will be scrounging and repurposing what I already have. I am fortunate that I can get all the MDF I want from the company my husband works for. He can have any dunnage that the company can't use. Dunnage is waste material that is too small, cut wrong or leftover cuts from a company order. You might find contractors that would be willing to give you their dunnage.

My first reuse is our huge old entertainment center. It's been sitting in the basement for the past two years waiting for it's makeover. Here's what it used to look like. It took up this whole living room wall.

Here it is taken apart and stored in the basement.  In fact this is another shot of the area I am turning into my craft room.  It's where the boys used to watch TV and play video games.

The only part of the middle section I am using is the top piece.  The bottom part (where the TV sits) is too low and my knees would hit the doors.  I'll be making a new shelf for my sewing machine to sit on.

I started by papering the sides with some beadboard wallpaper I had leftover from the kitchen cabinets.

I removed those doors in the middle and primed the shelves.

This is after a second coat of primer.  The backing is just papered cardboard, which I will be replacing with real beadboard panels.  

Just so you don't think my projects always go perfectly, take a look at the next picture.  I took a chance and applied the wallpaper to the sides without sizing or priming.  It didn't stick very well, then my cat sat on those stairs behind the shelf and chewed a corner of the paper and pulled it partway off.  The little stinker! 

Since I won't ever want to remove it I think I'll just glue it on, after I patch the cat damage and tie his lips together...here kitty, kitty, kitty.  Just kidding!  I really love the little stinker.  

In this picture you are looking under the stairs and into the pantry area on the other side of the stairs.

There will be a wall there eventually.  I plan to frame in this part of the basement to create the room. Right now it is all open, with a stairway in the middle on one end, and the utilities and wood furnace in the middle on the other end.  Once I get this space prettified, I don't want to be looking at the rest of the ugly basement.  I want to be able to close the doors and forget it's there.

It doesn't look like much yet, but it's a start.  Stay tuned for more exciting episodes of "The Dungeon vs Debbie."

Basement Craft Room - Humble Beginnings
An Entertaining Sewing Center
Craft Room Dreaming
Craft Room Update #1 - Prepping the Walls
Craft Room Update #2 - White Walls
Craft Room Update #3 - Framing the Walls




I've linked to these fabulous parties.  Go pay them a visit and party on!

Basement Craft Room - Humble Beginnings

My basement craft room is underway, way under. It is in the bowels of the house, or as we affectionately call it, the "dungeon."  To the untrained eye it is dark and creepy.  To the trained eye it is...dark and creepy.  Click the play button to set the mood.





However we love our basement.  Not because there is anything beautiful about it.  On the contrary, it's uglier than a mud fence.  But it has stored our treasures and our trash (recycling).

It has kept us warm in our freezing Michigan winters with it's wood furnace. 

 It has kept us well stocked with food to keep our tummies full, with it's freezer, extra refrigerator and basement pantry.

Our boys roller-bladed round and round it when they were younger.  It was the only indoor space they could throw darts at a target.  There was even an old TV down there, with a beat up recliner that one of the boys or Ken would sit in to watch it.  My daughter and I preferred our TV upstairs, thank you very much!

Now I will love my basement for a different reason.  I am going to transform a corner of it into a beautiful craft room for me...or die trying.  I plan to transform this dark, depressing, dungeon into a light, bright and airy getaway for muah.  Think it's possible?

We've been shuffling boxes and bags around to clear out that corner of the basement.  We removed most of an old piece of carpet and piled this mess on one side of the room, to make room to start working.

The ceiling has that rustic Munsters charm.

Tomorrow I will show you what I've started on.  Hint, it involves the piece below, which is the side of, well something.  Two more hints...it's fake wood, and it's not going to stay that color.

For continuing posts in this series, follow the links.  They will be in order as I post them.   I promise, no monsters will eat you.


Basement Craft Room - Humble Beginnings
An Entertaining Sewing Center
Craft Room Dreaming
Craft Room Update #1 - Prepping the Walls
Craft Room Update #2 - White Walls
Craft Room Update #3 - Framing the Walls
Craft Room Update #4 - The Floors

Refurbishing a Purse

This is one of my favorite purses.  My daughter got if for me for Christmas a few years ago.  It is still in perfect condition, except for some spots where the finish had rubbed off.

It has a what looks like a black glaze, so I decided to try my McCloskey asphaltum glaze.  

Using my most expensive and elite glazing tool, I applied the glaze to the bad spots, then dabbed it off.

That is my pointer finger ladies.  No birds flying on this blog!

I was amazed at how well it worked.  It's just like new again.  

Will it wear off?  Probably, but my finger and bottle of glaze are ready.  If you are not impressed I can't hear you...talk to the finger.

I've linked to these fabulous, fun parties. Come on, let's party!

Blog Hop with the New Linky Follower

Yesterday I posted a little about the new Linky Follower tool. It is a great replacement for Goggle Friend Connect that is going away for non-Blooger blogs on March 1st. There is a great blog hop going on at It's So Very Cheri. I decided what better way to introduce Linky Follower. I am finding some wonderful new (to me) blogs.

It's a great opportunity to get your blog "out there," find some new blog friends, and get a lot of inspiration. Join in the fun below.

You can sign up for Linky Follower here.  It's easy and it's free and it's growing like crazy!

A Little Love and the New Linky Follower

Happy Valentines day to you my friends. I truly have been blessed through your comments and friendships. Even if you just "lurk" as they say, it is an honor that anyone wants to read this humble little blog.  I hope all of you have someone to love and hug on today. Here's a big hug from me.

Source: Uploaded by user via Assumpta on Pinterest

If you haven't heard yet, Google is discontinuing it's Friend Connect service to all non-Blogger blogs.  If you have a blog with Word Press or any other service, and have added me or any other Blogger blogs to your follow list using Friend Connect, they will all disappear on March 1st.  Poof!  Just like that.

If you still wish to follow me (I hope ;)  you can follow by email, RSS feed, or the new Linky Followers.  It's in my sidebar, directly above the Google friend Connect.  It's a free service with some great features.  I'm new too it, so am still learning it.  If you want to learn more, Cheri at It's So Very Cheri has a great post here.

I would hate to lose any of you because you make my days with your comments and friendship.  I am also thinking of adding a facebook page and follow button soon.  If that is a better option for any of you, please let me know and I will make it happen sooner.

Love and hugs to you all!

White Washed

It is interesting to look back and see how my decorating tastes have changed.  As a newlywed, I was all country.  Remember the country red and blue?  That was me, along with the teddy bears, baskets and hearts. I even used to make country crafts and sell them at craft fairs for awhile.

We lived in rentals, moving 7 times in 6 years.  We could never paint so as soon as we bought our house I couldn't wait to paint.  I was never afraid of color.  After the blue and red stage I moved to Victorian pink.  Then later I moved on to my burgundy and evergreen phase.  That's where I got stuck.  The kids came along and life got crazy busy.

I'm not dissing any of these styles.  I liked them all at one time, but it was time to move on and I was so ready for change.

I've come full circle now, and after years of color, I am back to white.  There is something so refreshing, yet calming and soothing about it.  I'm not a fan of stark, modern white, but I love the play of soft whites, creams and light tans against each other, along with some texture and a few wood pieces.

I can't afford to go out and buy everything new, but a can of white paint can fix that.  If I don't like it, I'll white wash it, which brings me to the subject of this post.  I found this little galvanized pail at a Goodwill last year.    

I also white washed (sprayed with white primer) the wreath, which I recently posted here.

 I love galvanized anything, so I snatched that little pail up without blinking an eye.  I wasn't so crazy about the brown basket rim however, so I gave it a white wash.  

  It now holds my frequently used tools by my sewing machine.

Oh, you want a tutorial?

1. spend 10 minutes looking for masking tape that should have been in the desk drawer
2. tape off under rim
3. unearth white paint from the boxes of craft supplies stacked in the basement awaiting the new craft room.
4. ditto for the paint brush.
5. slap a bit of white paint on the rim, not too much, you want some of the original color to peek through.
6. rip off tape
7. make a chalkboard label from chalkboard contact paper...love that stuff!
8. using chalk, write on said label, erase, rewrite x 10 until you get it right, or throw the chalk against the wall because you can't stand your writing.

Easiest remake I've ever done...relatively speaking.

I've linked to these awesome parties. Come join the fun!