Bedside Tables Furniture Redo

I bought a pair of these bedside tables from a local on-line auction.

I paid $22 each, which is more than I would pay if I were to 

want to fix them up for resale.

But these were for us,

to go on either side of our new bed.

I think they started life as a dressing table,

but I like them better separated anyhow.

Two coats of a light tan chalk paint,
and good to go.
Decided not to distress,
the tan turned a little yellowish when sanded.

Dark Armadillo Humor and Moving In

 I knew armadillos lived in southern Missouri,

but I wasn't sure they lived in our neck of the woods.

Until this morning,

when one appeared in front of our house (dead.)

Here is another wildlife sighting.

Did some research :
Giant Leopard Moth

I had just finished putting the vintage baseboard in this little nook

across from the laundry area.

As soon as my husband saw it was done,

he moved the antique kitchen cabinet in.

This is only the second major piece of furniture that

we have brought in, so it is a big deal.

LOVE that it fits so well, and is going to be great for storage.

Iris Farm Adventure

 We saw this little sign as we were going to a flea market.

So we decided to hit it on the way back.

 What a gorgeous location.

 In addition to irises.

he had two miniature cows --

Boris and Natasha.

And some rare chickens.

But the irises stole the show.

And we love iris,

they always bloom close to our anniversary.

 I bought six gorgeous varieties,

which we planted as soon as we got back.

Simple Steps To Whitewashing Wood Tutorial

These boards came from our 1895 cellar.

They are wide, "old growth", tongue-in-grove pine.

If they came from Texas we would call it ship lap.

We want to use it in back of our TV nook.

We wanted the wood white, but still be able to see some of the character.

And I have tried commercial white stain,

and it is pitiful.

First, plan on doing this outside, it is messy!

Mix a 1:3 white paint to water ratio.

Flat or satin paint works best.

Try a "test" board piece and let it dry completely before committing to painting a bunch.

Apply pretty liberally to all bare wood.

It will looks a bit messy like above.

Then go back over the entire piece from left to right in one continuous,
straight stroke -- until you finish the entire board again.

 So after going over the boards with the continuous strokes,

they will look like the above boards.

And heads up,

the boards will continue to absorb the paint for awhile.

That is why you need to do a test board.

If you want it more opaque you could add more white paint to the mix.

For more transparent, the options are:

adding more water / wiping wet off excess with a rag /

lightly sanding after your board is dry.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks -- May 16

Indigo Bunting, taken from my sun room window.

My favorite bird of the week.

Because spending 3.5 hours trying

(and failing) to get my car air conditioning fixed,

does not lend itself well to pics.

And a cute nocturnal visitor

on my kitchen window.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks -- May 15

I planted the pink yarrow and lambsear this morning

on the west side of the house.

This rose bush is the neighbor to the plants I put in this morning.

I am not a rose person,

in fact I am an anti-rose person.

But he gets to stay (for now) because he is healthy and 

grudgingly beautiful.

And I planted all of the iris I brought from up north.

It might be hard to see, but a bird started to build a nest at the top 

of one of our porch arches.

I hope he gives it up, there is not much foundation for it to rest on.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks -- May 14

 So today I loaded up a bunch of dead bushes that I had

purchased from Lowe's last fall.  Even though they were

covered by leaves in south Missouri, they didn't make it through the winter.

(It was a tough winter.)

Note about getting a refund on dead plants at Lowe's:

-- having the receipt is super helpful (and I didn't),

but they manged to find the purchase because I had used a Lowe's credit card,

and knew the month that I had purchased them.

-- the "one year guarantee" is not good for clearance plants,

which are different than sale plants (which do have a guarantee).

I still managed to get $120 back

And I immediately spent $50 of the refund

on plants.  They were having a sale on perennials. 

So I bought (and planted the same day) six of these.

I watered them with my sweat.

And I bought three of lambs ears,

and three pink yarrow.

It is pretty fun to buy flowers for sun,

after thinking shade for 30 years.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks -- May 13

Wildlife report:

Ground Hog sighting (sorry photo so poor, he was on the move).

And carpenter bees, which I am sick to death of.

They are ill-tempered and don't seem to even like each other.

I bought three traps off of ebay.

My son stopped by for a visit,

we went to a Braun's before tackling ....

 

more rocky ground.

We got five plants in the ground,

and some dead ones packed in the car for returning to Lowe's.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks -- May 12

 This is the (now) repaired and painted wall above the washer / dryer.

Getting some new lighting reconfigured,

and a shelf above that, will eventually complete this area.

 West side of the porch (which is the north side of the house,

but go-figure, is almost always in the sun.)

Done landscaping the front (for this summer).

 

Then to the irksome sweet gum trees in the front.

When we moved in, they were surrounded with stones.

And a nice selection of weeds and small trees on the inside

because you could not mow there.

We are almost at the mowing stage after today.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks -- May 11

 We were watching the sun go down together.

Other wildlife news:  I saw a very long black snake today,

but had just read about them and knew they were harmless.

Our neighbor had a white hummingbird last year

(very rare) so I told her to let me know if he shows up this year.

 I went to a (busy) rural garden center that was alot of fun.

 The colors of the annuals were so tempting...

 but I only picked up a few perennials.

And my son and daughter in law stopped by to

help me plant a couple of redbud trees off the deck.

(This soil is crazy rocky!)

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks -- May 10

 This whole week was supposed to be hot --

humid and high 80s.  So when today turned out a little overcast,

I really went to to town.  (Well, I didn't actually go to town.)

There are flowerbeds on the left and right sides of the front porch.

I thought that this one was finished, until a hummingbird about

attacked me because I was wearing pink.

It made me think I needed to insert a few bright annual flowers.

And I mowed!

I know the novelty will wear off,

but first time out I wore a silly grin while sitting on my rider.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks -- May 9

 The day began with a handyman giving a once-over

to the big ugly window-shelf in the living room.

It was nice just to have someone interested

and confident that they could do something about it.

 Box turtle central today.

Hanging out by the "gray water" drain.

Which is actually white water because of paint brush cleaning.

So I put a shallow bowl of clean water out for them.

 These two didn't care if the water was dirty or not.

There may be baby box turtles in my future.

 Then I worked on baseboard.

I installed it in two closets, there were big

ugly gaps that needed to be covered up.

Still working on living room baseboard.

Finally the poison ivy has leafed out.

When you can identify the enemy,

you can destroy the enemy.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks -- May 8

 Today I am back at our Ozark estate.

And I started working on baseboard.

Measuring, cutting (eek!) and painting.

Parts of the living room needs baseboard,

and a couple of closets.

 This is a portion of the plants / trees

that I need to get planted.

Our clay soil is 50% rock,

not easy to get them in the ground.

I did get most of the day lilies planted on the south side of the deck.

Wildlife highlights today:

A deer running through our property,

and several sightings of indigo buntings.

Saturday's Vintage Auction Finds

I went to a local auction yesterday.

The weather was perfect.

They sold all of the "yard" stuff first,

which was exactly what I was looking for.

 All of these pics are from my "outdoor store",

the only area that I am selling from currently.

I purchased tons of birdhouses...

 yard decor...

Paid $2 for the gnome, sold for $8. 

 a windmill...

Bought for $15, sold for $53

 a wishing well...

Bought for $5.

 this birdhouse bench and stoneware jugs...

Bought bench for $5.

and four concrete yard ornaments.

Paid $5 for each, sold between $14-$28.

It should keep my booth stocked for awhile,

while I am "down south".