Saturday, May 19, 2012

Projects

I know its been a while since I've posted. I've been home for at least three weeks, and my original plan was to take a week off, and then start the editing, writing and blogging marathon. What I didn't anticipate was the amount of work that our new house and unpacking required. I never got that week off.  We hit the ground running as soon as we arrived. Unpacking a house is tortuous, and tedious. I'm pretty sure I'd  choose water-boarding over unpacking this amount of stuff. It should be given the same level of respect and accomplishment as a marathon. Its a monster that just can't be beaten with a special shaking of the controller like in mario cart. It takes patience, endurance, and a mind for organization. Basically, I'm failing at this game the house and I are playing. It beats me into submission every single time. I come out looking like a domestically abused woman. I just can't level up and the more I unpack and take more things out that don't have a place, the more I get discouraged. I've begun to slouch so far over that people mistake me for Egor. There's just too much stuff, and the stuff doesn't have a home, and I don't know where to make it fit in. So basically, instead of facing the house head on, in a face to face match off, Kyle and I are going in on a side angle sneak attack, stealth-like; projects. We may not be good at finding stuff a home, but we're good at making certain things look better.

What have we done???  Oh so many, its hard to count....well, I have enough fingers, technically to count them all, but, really, you don't want a number...(read not enough to really brag this much about but I need something to feel good about).
Below are three of our accomplishments.
1) chalkboards for the kitchen
2) pot hanger
3) makeover on an old drawer


These first few pictures are of the chalkboards.  We went to Goodwill and bought some cheap frames.  I sanded the paint to give it a bit of an antique look, painted the glass with chalkboard paint, and turned old spice containers into chalkholders.   We're pretty happy with them so far.




These next few pics are of the pot hanger which doesn't have any pots yet.  Another find from Goodwill, we took it home, painted it black for a primer, painted turquoise blue on top lightly and hung it up.  I'll put up final pictures of the ladder when its complete with the pots hanging decoratively from its posts.


This last project is of a drawer my mother couldn't let go of because it was from her childhood.  There was nothing endearing about this drawer.  It was simply misplaced sentimentality. But against my better judgement, we kept the horror.  But in order for me to keep it in my kitchen where I'd have to look at it daily, it was decided on high, that decoupage was in its future. It was hideous. I really should of taken pictures of this wooden heinous fiend with aging, curling yellow lining previous to its transformation.  But I wasn't thinking that far ahead. I'm pretty pleased with the finished product, although I'm not sure decoupage is the best way to go for kitchen things that occasionally get wet.


4 comments:

kay said...

Oh wow, the pot holder turned out great!! Very impressed!!

Peter said...

From what I know about the braun/rogers households, I'd say a good place to start tackling unpacking would be to get a moving van, fill it up, and drive it directly to goodwill! Okay, maybe not a full-sized moving van but at least a mini-one. But please, never, ever give away any of the winter wonderland stuff. Have you found a place for all of that yet?

I love the chalkboard idea, I've been wanting to do that too. It's on my to do list.

Vanessa Rogers said...

Oh...we did, and there's still too much stuff. That first weekend we were here, we had a garage sale and everything that didn't sell went to charity. It was boxes upon boxes. There will be enough to fill a truck by the end!

K.Pete said...

love the chalkholders!!! :)