Story of the Little Teal Table That Could

I found this little guy a couple years ago.

It was an end table without the top part

It was cheap and sturdy so it came home with me

Enter Nathalie and all her creative wood projects and inspirations

So I almost forgot about his one. So busy trying to find 'deals' at thrift stores.

I didn't even take a before picture. But you've seen these 1000 times. Medium tan wood. blah blah blah

Found the turquoise/teal paint in the mismatched isle at Fred Meyers.

Made white chalk paint for the top. (after first doing a taupe crackle finish that was only so-so)

Such sweet colors!!

Finished the projects today. Took it out for it's 'head shots' and now I'm selling it for $30. Would this fit somewhere at your house?. Sweet little teal table that could!

Story of the Banker turned Beach Bum

It was just an old tired Bankers chair

With great lines and a flaking finish. But it spoke to me of negotiations, loans and corporate dealings. Of an influential man of importance to his community. The smell of money and hope all around him throughout his life.

I thought about that banker and his life. Where did he go when his banking days were through? Did he retire with his Gold Watch and fade away?

I'd like to think that he ended his days of counting money with counting sunsets instead. That he took his comfy, solid old chair with him and sat on some amazing beach of his dreams and spent the rest of his days in the sun, surf, sand and made every day memorable.

What a happy ending for the Banker turned Beach Bum!

Story of a little room part 1

Upstairs in Dodo's house, there are 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. When we moved into our 1912 farmhouse on the Oregon Coast, we had 1 daughter living with us and 5 sons. The largest room became the boys bunk house, the middle sized room became the boy students room, and the wee little closet of a bedroom became our daughter's room. She was 13 at the time. Now she is 30. The room has changed a lot.

Before unveiling the little room's makeover (which isn't complete yet so, you'll be waiting on this), I want to share some little snippets about it. It once was a wood panelled room, with a natural stain on it, floor to ceiling. A small aluminum sliding window looked out on our front yard and the bay (Coos Bay) beyond.

It was an odd shaped room, a square with another smaller square alcove that should have been the closet. The closet was tiny, under part of the eave. Several years ago, we took the window out and put in a bay window witha window seat. You can see the upstairs bay window in the background while grandson Sheldon performs on the trampoline.

We removed all the panelling except the lower part which became a wainscot. We raised the ceiling to the pitched slope of the dormer above it. The alcove became a real walk in (or step in) closet. The closet was absorbed into the new central storage closet on the other side of the wall. I painted the wainscot white. Mr. Bill had a heck of a time with the bay window because old houses are not plum and square. Plus matching the old molding and trim was near impossible. So that project was never quite complete (caulked, sanded, primed and painted). The upper part of the room I painted a soft butter yellow. Now you are up to speed on the little room. With family coming from Australia with our newest Grandson, Jacksen, and grown up kids temporarily occupying the 2 larger rooms, I knew I had to redo/finish the little room for them. I finished the woodwork, caulked, sanded, painted with a nice white gloss (it was free so it got used). Then I repainted the yellow, same color but in satin. Mr. Bill finished the closet door trim and the other door trim as well as the baseboards! I was most excited! In my mind I envisioned an old, cute distressed dresser, a platform bed with a big cozy quilt, some window coverings and cute nick nacks. I found the PERFECT dresser at the Salvation Army. It was priced at $249 and I had seen it a couple months earlier but thought it was way overpriced. After we got back from Kauai, I went in and it was STILL THERE only now 1/2 price! I worried and fretted and wanted that old dresser but I resisted the urge. About 3 weeks later, I earned some money selling sandwiches at the Farmer's market with a family friend. I took the $81 I earned and went to the Salvation Army to see if that old dresser was still there. Oh my heartskip! It was still there, 1/2 price tag from early May still on it. I went to the lady at the counter and said, "I have $81 dollars cash in my purse. Could I offer you that for the old dresser?" She said she'd see. Of course you already know the answer or I wouldn't have even included this in the story! They must have been tired of seeing that old thing for the last 4 months. Well I'm not tired of it yet!! Here is the before picture. There is no after because I haven't had time to do it yet....

Cool turned legs and wheels!

I love the details.

Even the handles are awesome!

I like the back details as well!

Can you catch my vision? Then I found this cute little side table, and a few nick nacks at some thrift stores.

A little yellow paint and some distressing and voila!

Now you can see the wainscot, baseboard, butter yellow walls and knick-knacks! I loved the oil paint by numbers picture with daisies and butterflies. The willow doll family was a neat find! The hair colors match my sons and his lovely wife!

Now wouldn't you go to all this trouble for a visitor like this?

This is the end of part 1. Part 2 is in the works....

Story of Imaginations

I've been 'reminded' into posting a new entry in Dodo's House (I won't mention any names, Margaret;) Things have been happening. Happy things and not so happy. I will focus on the happy. We have had lots of visits from the grandkids, including the newest one from Australia that arrived this week. It's been a blessing to see them all together and interact with them. One of the things they like to do most when they come here is sit on Dodo's bed and watch cartoons. They can do this for hours! Well after saying no, not today (Dodo actually said no?!!?), we went outside to see what we could do instead. I wanted to make a fort with them out of a bunch of cardboard boxes that I had saved. We didn't get very far on that but we did let our imaginations bloom a bit.

Caution: Imaginations at work

We had some interesting cardboard vehicles and a wonderfully creative 'Ipod' complete with earphones that I failed to take a picture of!

Sheldon and I found a little world in the grass

We found little critters going about their business.

Where are they going?

Are they afraid of us?-

Why did Heavenly Father make spiders?

It was a great day at Dodo's House!

And then we got a visit from THIS little cutie! Welcome to Dodo's House Mr. Jacksen Lamar Smith, 6 months old and cute as a button!

And Dodo's house was a happy house indeed!