The Morning Surprise

My sister....

... and her little boy spent the night last night. He just turned 6! Can you beleive it? Anyways, this morning I woke up with him and Boss Hogg to find this....

He lost his first tooth! Of course we had to hunt for the itty bitty thing. I found it though when I stepped on it. Thank God!

But tooth is now tucked away safely in Mom's purse waiting for the Tooth Fairy to come tonight.

Hopefully Grandpa does not parttime as the Tooth Fairy! It was scary enough when he did Santa a couple of years ago!

My Sweet Surprise!

Today was laundry and clean house day.

I hate Mondays.

So I was trying and trying to find something interesting to blog about tonight instead of dirty undies. There is nothing interesting about dirty undies.

Then, this came in the mail....

My treasure I won from Michele's giveaway!

Isn't it sweet?! And it was packaged so prettily! It even included a sweet little note!

Thank you so much Michele!

EEEK!

I've been tagged!

It's my first time being tagged or anything.

I've been tagged by Michele @ Tumbling Rose Cottage to do the following:

1. Open the 4th file where I store my photos
2. Pick out the 4th photo & publish it to my blog
3. Explain a bit about it
4. Pass this challenge to 4 other blogs.

Bless her heart the poor thing does not know I can't take a pic to save my life!

Well here goes...

Well that is not too bad. It's a pic of Lake Kensington. We took the kids fishing there last month and they loved it! Didn't catch anything, but had a good time. Kinda gross watching the kids putting worms on their hooks while slurping up gummy worms. I told them not to mix the two up!

Now I choose.....

1. Tara @ Blondiensc cause I love her photography skills and I can peek at what she has!

2. Jen @ Sanctuary Arts

3. Loretta @ The Purple Rose

4. Lori @ Wildflowers

C'mon girls I showed mine you show yours now!

The Color is In!

The new color is in the bath and it is a HIT!

I love it!

The Hubby likes it

Even my MIL likes it

It looks so fresh and new that it seems like a new bath. It even makes me want to clean it now!

I have to tell you that the more that I do with this wallpaper, the more that I love it. Last night I put on 2 coats of Ultra Pure White High Gloss by Behr. The seams of the wallpaper just disappeared! It looks so much like beadboard. Now I wish that I had finished my project in the old house.

My sister and I wallpapered the ceiling in my old kitchen with anaglypta wallpaper. The idea was to do a faux copper ceiling. I was going to paint the whole thing brown and drybrush with copper paint. After I was able to move my head down from putting up the wallpaper, I lost interest.

My kids have already given it a wash test too. I woke up this morning to find someone had wiped toothpaste on it.

Grrrrr!

With it being painted though, it washed right up!

I don't think I want to find out how easy it is to take off though.

I was going to put back up the hardware I had. Wait til you see what I found though! It's beautiful!

But you got to wait.....

TTFN!

Chair Rail DIY

So today is moulding day....

and painting day.

Painting comes later and is about as exciting as a root canal. So I thought that I would do some pics of the moulding.

First of all is your list of tools

Tape measure

Pencil

Saw (hand or electric)

Miter box if using hand saw

Hammer

Nail set

Level

Materials Needed

Moulding

Finish Nails

1. Decide at what height you would like the chair rail.

2. Mark and cut the chair rail at the length you need. If your wall is longer than your chair, you will want to make a diagonal cut in the chair rail. Imagine the chair rail on the wall. You will want the "seam" to be towards the corner end of the wall and the diagonal facing towards the corner. That way you are less likely to notice the seam when you enter and move about the room.

I am only allowed to use hand tools since I sometimes have accidents.

3. Now you will want to predrill the spots where you will be nailing on the moulding. Sometimes wood is prone to splitting when you nail it. This way insures that it won't split on you.

4. Position the moulding on the wall. Use your level to make sure that it is straight. This is something that I don't eyeball cause guaranteed it will be crooked and drive me nuts.

5. When you have the moulding in place, nail it. When you have the nail almost pounded in all the way you want to use the nail set to finish it off. I don't know how many decorative elements I have pounded flat not using a nail set. Don't tell my husband but in a pinch I use his screwdrivers as nail sets.

6. You can put a bit of spackle over the heads of the nails to cover up. You can also use caulk to fill in seams and corner joints.

7. Now paint and admire your handiwork!

I don't know why I always take shots of the pooper area. It's probably the least attractive spot in the bath.

Now to drop off the oldest at a slumber party for her BFF and back home to paint!

Woo Hoo! Another hot Friday night!

Almost forgot! I had the nails but I did spend $6.40 in moulding. So far my cost is.....

$6.40

A little bit more

I got a bit more done on the bath today.

The wallpaper is up. I forgot what a pain in the buttocks it is to go around the pooper! Yeesh!

Now tomorrow is a trip to Lowes for some stuff to finish it off then it will be ready, with the kitchen, to paint.

Sure does make the tiny bath look alot bigger.

I'm also going to pick up that surprise.

And a new shower curtain rod!

Watching Paint Dry

Okay, step 1 is done. I got the bathroom painted on the top part. Now to let it dry and then hang the wall paper.

The color is Familiar Beige from Sherwin Williams. I had it left over from painting my room. So for now this has not cost a dime.

Tomorrow I will hang the wallpaper which is left over from the kitchen. Again, no cost.

But there is a few shopping trips to Home Depot and Walmart.

Also, a surprise element that will have a DIY as soon as I figure it out myself.

Hopefully it will turn out as nice in reality as it does in my head. Things have a way of looking waaaay different than I imagine.

Makes projects more interesting that way!

Heehee

Switching Gears!

You girls are so sweet with all your sweet comments! Shucks! You make me blush!

Good news is that the wallpaper DID stay up all night! The directions say not to paint for 24 hours so I am being good and obeying the insdtructions. I also would like to repaint the yellow and put up the rest of the paper so's to paint all at once. Trying to think logically makes my head hurt!

For those of you who know me, this will not suprise you. I have put another room in total disarray. The bathroom!

Those of you with a weak heart/and or stomach might want to look away since these pics are pretty graphic.

Without further ado, my bathroom.....

I should also mention that these were taken AFTER Hurricane Maggie hit.


This is a shot of the vanity area. I was inside the bathtub to get it. It's a blurry pic cause I was afeared of the amount of junk that has accumulated in this tiny room.

This is my sorry excuse for a linen closet. I got something in mind for it though.

A shot of the seating area. The patch above the toilet is a color that I was trying out. Don't care for it though.

Another patch I was trying out. I decided this color is too dark. I think I have settled on the same color I used in my bedroom. I am going to do the beadboard in here 54" up in the hopes of making the room seem larger.

Did I mention that this is the ONLY bathroom in the house.

Yeah....

My husband has been on me since we moved in to do something with this room. He even bought some stuff for it also at Christmas.

I can take a hint.

So this is what I am working on til "Clean House Week".

I bet that I pulled out about 60.00 worth of stuff to sell in the sale also.

Mr UPS Man and a Wallpaper DIY

I love the UPS Man. I will sit and wait all day at the window like my big goofy Great Dane looking for him to pull up in my drive.

This is definitely my fav site in the whole world. You would think that someone called and said to look for him cause they sent me something and it should be there today. No, this I know is coming, I ordered it and I bought it. I don't know why I get so excited.

This came today...

My wallpaper!

I told myself that I was going to be a good girl and not do it til my "Clean House Week" but I am very impatient. This is a special wallpaper though. It's anaglypta wallpaper. For those of you that think wallpaper is only for granny's house, let me enlighten you. Anaglypta wallpaper is way cool. It is a heavy embossed wallpaper that was created by Thomas Palmer way back in 1887. It is made by stenciling a design on paper with cotton and/or pulp. It is paintable and has a spongy feel to it. I love this stuff!

It's as easy as regular vinyl wallpaper to put up also. I chose to do this cause I wanted beadboard in my kitchen. Have you priced out beadboard? It's expensive. So this is my cheap answer. I don't have to reinstall the moldings either. No power tools required either.

So let's get to it.

This is the area that I am starting at in my kitchen. For right now I am going below the chair rail. I have some moulings to install above the chair rail and there will also be the wallpaper in that area also.

To do this you will need:

a yardstick to measure

a pencil

scissors

a craft knife with a new blade in it

a wallpaper smoothing brush

warm water

a wallpaper trough (or you can use the bathtub and drip water across the house like I did)

1. Clean your area you are going to wallpaper. This paper will smooth out imperfections in your walls but it does need to be clean.

2. Measure how long your strips of paper need to be and cut your first strip.

3. Now for prepasted wallpaper you will need to run it through warm water to activate the paste on the back. If it is not prepasted you will need to spread wallpaper paste on the back of it with a paste brush. I like the prepasted kind. Less messy.

4. After running it through the warm water you want to "book" your paper. This means simply to fold the pasted sides together for a bit to let the paste activate.

5. Place your first strip on the wall and smooth. You can use a plumb line to make sure the strip is hanging straight. I just usually eyeball it.

6. Smooth flat against the wall with the smoothing brush. Be careful not to rub off the embossing.

7. Trim off excess with your sharp knife and cut your next strip.

8. Your next strip you will want to apply in the same manner except you will want to butt the edges up against each other. You don't want to overlap the strips or push them hard against each other so that you get a lump either.

9. Once all the strips are up you can paint this any color you like.

I hope I made this clear for everyone. If not feel free to ask any questions.

Fly Shop?!

Yeah, you too have that same quizzical look on your face that I did when I was told that a certain someone wanted to go to the fly shop.

Fly shop?????

FLY SHOP MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay......

After 5 minutes of this exchange she started to get nasty with me cause I didn't know what the fly shop was. I even got kicked in the shin for it. She is not called Boss Hogg for nothing. So I humbly ventured to the dark side to consult the Cave Boy. He is all knowing and so far the smartest of the tribe.

He laughed!

Yes, he laughed at me! Can you beleive it?! Then he wisely informed me that the "fly shop" is the FLEA MARKET!

Yeesh!

Course, I guess that is payback for my convo with my darling hubby the other day. We were driving and talking about his upcoming hunt to Canada. He informed me that he needed to buy a bug suit for the trip. The normal loving wife would have nodded and politely said "Yes dear".

Not me. I just laughed hysterically for 15 minutes. I laughed so hard that I started to cry and almost lost a contact. I laughed so much that he started to laugh. He didn't know why, but I guess it seemed like the thing to do.

So, you might wonder what was so funny?

I just got an image of him dressed like this, hunting a bear with bow in hand.

I was dreading seeing a story on the net of killer bumblebee spotted in Canada.

Okay, now you have the same "the woman is nuts" look that my husband had.

Gimme gimme gimme!

Another giveaway has reared it's giving head!

Tricia from Boutelle Family Zoo is celebrating her 200th post.

So run on over and check them out!

Tell them the White Farmhouse sent you and you will be treated like royalty!

Just kidding about that last part....

Another Giveaway Yet!

Please visit Michele @ Michele's Treasures for her giveaway.

All she asks is that you answer 3 simple questions for her to be entered.

How easy peasy is that?

My Own Clean House Show!

My husband is going away at the end of the month to bear hunt in Canada with some buddies for 10 days.

You of course know what that means?!

Yup, he is not coming home to the same house he left. In trying to decide what exactly I was going to destroy, I decided to do this.....

... my own version of Clean House. With no Neicy though. (Sniffsniff)

.....or Trish....

... or Matt...

....or Mark.

But don't think I DON'T have a cast of characters to help me out though. Names will be withheld to protect the innocent.

So, the Clean House week starts Aug 21st.

My 3 rooms I will be picking are the kitchen, foyer and living room. I know, foyer?! The incredible thing about this house is that all the rooms were tiny sized so a honking huge foyer could be in the floor plan!

Yeah, mind boggling isn't it?

And don't think I am going to post any before a major cleaning on these rooms pics either. You get to see it after it is clean but before it is done.

So now I need to make my wish list and total up how much I need to make off my garage sale.

Without the $1000.00 match.

My sister did say she would match up to the first $10.00 though!

So let all your friends know and come to join in on the antics here. The way I do things, I am sure there will be plenty of laughs!

Another Giveaway!

Jen at Sanctuary Arts is having a giveaway to celebrate her 100,000 hits and 2 year anniversary.

All you got to do to enter is leave a comment!

Hurry though, contest ends Aug 9th.

Congrats to Jen!

Home Sweet Home!

She came home today!

Isn't she beautiful?! She is all sleek and black and gorgeous! A perfect fit for this tiny eating area.

She needs a freshen up coat of paint on her top. I'm thinking I will call her Tabitha like Sam from Bewitched's daughter. She is magical. She put my husband under some crazy spell.

He likes her as much as I do...

AND...

He said I should do some distressing on her top like I did on the bench!

She does need a runner on her to protect her beautiness.

I thinks I got me a project tonight!

Also, the wallpaper for the kitchen is in flight as we speak! You know I can't keep a secret so I will be blabbing about that ALL next week!

The bestest news of all is.....

Carole had her first grandchild! She is absolutely beautiful! Such a gorgeous angel! If you too would like to drool over the precious little Malaika please visit Carole and give her best wishes. I am soooo glad that something as wonderful as greeting her first granchild into the world happened to her. I think she needed it. Congrats again Carole!