Re-vamped Stereo Bar

Boy it's been a long time since I posted anything!  I guess with the holidays, and all of the pieces I've been working on, blogging just got left behind.  I found this stereo last summer at an estate sale.  Now I know that some people like to hit up sales the very first thing on the first day to get the best stuff.  I'm more of of the type that gets there later in the afternoon of the last day to get the best bargains.  This stereo was one of those late in the game purchases and only cost me $15.  I knew right away that it would be a great bar, and a good puzzle for my husband to work on this winter.  

Christmas Wreath 2014

This week I have a quick project and a short blog.

I started out with a cheap estate sale wreath, a broken ornament and some turkey feathers picked up in my front yard.

I bought these cute ornaments at a garage sale this summer and used them to decorate at our Christmas in July weekend.  Unfortunately this one got broken, but he was so pretty I kept him. 

So a little hot glue and voila!

I have it for sale at Paris Antiques, but won't be too disappointed if it doesn't sale and I have to keep it.
 Linking up at beyond the picket fence

Christmas Picture 2014

A couple of years ago I showed a Christmas picture that my genius husband put together for me that I love.  http://chickinthestyx.blogspot.com/2012/11/christmas-art.html  It is just a gift bag that he framed, but I hang it up every year.  What really cracks me up is how many times that post has been pinned.  This year I found a great show poster of a Christmas play done in 1993 in Seattle.  The only problem was finding the right frame.  I finally found this ugly 1980's picture at St. Vincents, it wasn't an exact fit so I made my own matting, painted out the frame and ta-da! 

I really like it and wouldn't be to sad if it doesn't sell, it could be a new addition to my decorations.

Linking up at these parties:

beyond the picket fence

savvy southern style 
diy by design

Great New Kitchen Chairs

I had the best day yesterday!  I went with my sister, nephew and his wife, to A Very Vintage Whites Christmas Market in Kalispell Montana.  Now this wasn't a little jaunt.  According to Google it was 288 miles, and it took us about 4 hours to get there.  Now if you lived around here you would understand that to most of us, eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana are unofficially one state, so the drive was no big deal.  Well let me back that up a second and give a huge thank you to my nephew Jeff for driving.  The trip itself was a great part of the day, just think of chit-chatting, a little serious discussions, and sharing some religious beliefs for eight hours.  The show was great, there were 104 venders and they all had great stuff.  I saw a lot of things that have been posted on different blogs and pinned on Pinterest, plus many new things.  And then (key the lights and music please) I found these chairs!!!!!

Mid-Century Beauty

I LOVE mid-century modern furniture.  It doesn't fit in my decorating scheme at home, so that is why I love revamping different pieces to sell.

The Soulful Sparrow

Well, as I said in my last post, I just got back from visiting my daughter in Chicago.  While I was there we went to a farmers market in Elgin and had the best chocolate almond croissant from Katic breads.  You have got to try these if you are ever over that way!   We needed to walk off some of that goodness so we explored downtown Elgin.  We stopped at a great store called the Soulful Sparrow.  I absolutely fell in love with this place.  This was an old house that owners Judy Walsberg and Mary Pierce transformed into a wonderfully eclectic gift store.  They were nice enough to let me photograph it so I could show it here.

 They had great displays,

 Fantastic Halloween Stuff,

 Nice clothes,

My beautiful daughter showing off one of the scarfs,

And a few ideas I might have to borrow.

Make sure to check out the Soulful Sparrow if you are ever in the Chicago area.

 
Linking up at
a stroll thru life
savvy southern style

Chick in Chicagoland

I haven't posted anything for a long time because I spent three weeks in Chicago with these beautiful ladies; my daughter and granddaughters.  They just transferred to Chicago this summer, barely got moved in, and my son-in-law had to leave for training for a month.  It was great to just hang out, shop (a lot!), eat great food and explore new places with my daughter.  Of course there was some junking, and revamping going on too.

Star Light

So what can you get for a $1.25?  Well I got a pretty cool lamp.  I found this lamp for a buck at a garage sale.  The shade was banged up and scorched but that was OK since I found this strainer a week before for a quarter.

I knew the strainer would make a cool lamp shade so I had hubby remove the feet and handles, then drill out the center of the top star.  All I did was screw on the finial and voila...

I couldn't capture the fun star lights this puts off but it is pretty cool.  Best thing is that I just found another strainer just like it this weekend, had to pay a whole $.50 for this one - oh well.

partying at:  beyond the picket fence
funky junk interiors

Rainy Day + Pallet = Potting Bench

This is my husband and my first pallet project.  Before he thought pallets were just garbage (silly man!).  Our brother-in-law gave him one to take home and throw on the burn pile.  This wasn't just a little pallet it was huge, they had to saw it in half to get it in the truck.  It was used for siding for a shop.  Well I guess a little of my junking has rubbed off on hubby because he didn't throw it on the pile to burn, he made a potting bench out of it.  

It rained last week for the first time in about a month and it felt so good.  I worked on cleaning out my treasure shed where all my soon to be fab furniture is stored, and Mr. in the Styx cleaned out the shop.  After that we really didn't have much to do so he decided to make a potting bench.  I'd suggested earlier that maybe he could build one out of the spindles, legs, arms and backs of a couple of old chairs I tore apart, guess that will happen later.  Anyhow, he measured, cut, squared up, and screwed together this great bench.

I couldn't wait to paint it.  I've been wanting to try a technique that Becky at Beyond the Picket Fence does (please check it out here http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-did-you-paint-that.html )  I love all of her stuff!  So I went through a bunch of old paint, threw some out, mixed some together, and did a couple of test boards.  This is what I came up with.

Sorry, I'm not great at photography so the lighting isn't good.  The blue is layered and duskier then it looks, and the pop color is a bright spring green.  I also put some cherry stain over the blue, then finished it off with some Defthane.  I was planning on selling it next spring at the Fancy Farm Girls show, but my sister-in-law saw it sitting out front and wanted to buy it for a wedding present for her son and future daughter-in-law.  Well I couldn't let her do that, so it will be our present to them next month.  Congratulations Skyler and Heather - Plant some Love and watch it Bloom!

I will be linking up to:
beyond the picket fence
miss mustard seed
funky junk interiors

Christmas in July and the Family Chopped Challenge 2014

Merry Christmas!

Our family has gotten so big that it is difficult to get all of us together in one house to enjoy Christmas, so six years ago we decided to celebrate Christmas in July.  My sister, brothers and myself take turns hosting each year.  The host finds a campsite, plans activities, chooses a theme for the present exchange, and sets the meal plans.  My brother and I switched turns this year because of a glitch in our campsite reservations.  We live in the woods with a good location for camping, so we were happy to host at our home this year.  It was kind of a blessing in disguise to only have two months instead of a year to plan.  We quickly came up with all of our ideas, and sent out the invitations.  We were also blessed this year to have our daughter and her family visiting.