It all started when my life-long buddy, Laura, from Sewin’ Sisters came down for a visit. She is so motivating to me. God love her. She was looking over my old house and the curtains that decorate it, most of which I’ve made over the years. Of course there was no hiding the fact I stole her some of her designs. It’s really hard to hide when you call her up and question her at length about how she did it. By the way… If you need some great curtain ideas that are simply wonderful click here and check out her web site…very cool. If you don’t sew and want some custom curtains at a great price, she’s your gal.

So I started in my bathroom. This is before.

Again, Laura’s design that unfolds to sheild your naked body from the world.

I love them, but it’s time to change it up and now I want my bathroom to be simple and airy. So here’s after.

The cost was $4.90 and I only had to hem them on three sides because of the finished bottom. I could get used to this kind of sewing. Then, my sewing machine died… DRAT!!! Thank God for neighbors with nice sewing machines. So, I guess it’s on to painting. *heave* I sure don’t like to paint, but the outcome is just so prudy.

What are you doing while the weather is stinky? Exercising? Painting? Spring cleaning? Hibernating? What’s your poison?

Simply,

Sis

PS ~ Laura’s sister, Donna, is a heck of an artist and website designer and her prices are reasonable. I guess talent runs in the family. You can check her out here.

So I have this artist friend, who loans me books. Creative ones, that make painting look easy. I read them in bed, with coffee and when I shouldn’t.  They make me feel creative and artsy.

They let me dream about what my house would look like, if I ran a mission in Mexico… a fantacy colorwashed in my mind.

Or my vacation villa in Tuscany, complete with Limestone walls and trompe loi. I love them. But I hate them. They make me crazy, but keep me sane.

Just hours after borrowing them I tore off my old back splash, primed and painted my countertop in the kitchen. “This is going to be so cool,” I thought as visions of earthy marble rolled through my head.

I sponged and washed on terra cotta. Cause who can’t live without terra cotta?

 Me. I can live without it, now. It was orange. Dang it! Who knew terra cotta was orange?

I was fading fast by this time. I needed another color.

 Brown and blue followed.

I was starting to panic. My friend said, once you get your colors on, if they are too much you can always make a wash and go over it to soften it.

So I washed a watery green over it. Six hours later…it looked like a tarnished copper marble piece from Mars. Not to mention it clashed terribly with my floor.

Besides the sweet words from Ben and the kids I fell into a deep depression, let the kids eat cereal in front of the TV and crashed into bed.

The next morning I got out some metallic coffee colored  paint and started sponging. Figuring if a little was good,

a lot was better.

I was happy then. Until I saw this… Kitten scratches and paw prints from the two culprits had been band from the kitchen.

As if my faux pas weren’t enough. I didn’t know which one to straggle. So I got out my flash light for some bright light interrogation…but they didn’t talk.  No confessions. They are hard eggs to crack I’ll tell ya.

So I sealed it. Like a murderer buries the bodies, I put on five coats.

To forever end my faux painting endeavors.

Until next week, when I start on my back splash.

Simply,

Sis

Moving on.

I thought, I would show some before and after pictures of this simple (and cheap) farmhouse bathroom makeover. So you can play which of these things is not like the other thing if you’re bored.

Here’s a recap…I decided to break my all time rule of never painting wood and paint some. You know, branch out a little. So I starting by painting the cabinets. I had a pretty beige picked out, then ran into this taupe at half price so I bought it. And decided I could learn to live with it at half price. (Note to self…if first husband doesn’t work out…this probably won’t work for picking out another man.) The taupe is fine.

The counter tops that I painted didn’t cost me anything. I painted them with what I had. I posted about that here. Here’s before.

Here’s after.

I love the depth of color and how finishing with a sponge full of metallic takes it to a whole other level.

We bought the light new, but that mirror came from Salvation Army. It was ten bucks. I tried to dicker, but they didn’t budge. I felt pretty good about the price, though, after pricing them new at Lowes.

The backsplash was just simple wainscoting, twenty bucks total there.

The dad-gum deal killer was the pulls. Grrrr. Pulls are expensive.  Sigh. But they cover up the holes bore out from others who have mismeasured in the past. Mistakes do have a price, I guess.

So that’s it. Here’s what the total looked like.

Light…$40

Back splash…$20

Pulls…$44

Paint…$16

Which brings the grand total to $120.

Getting it done and being able to brush my teeth in the bathroom instead of the kitchen….PRICELESS. This was much funner than spending our entire emergency fund…thanks for asking.

I still want to wash a light coat of robin’s egg blue over that sage green, but that will have to wait until the snow flys or I get in the mood for more painting. That probably won’t be any time soon, so don’t hold your breath.

Simply,

Sis

The kids went back to school and I went into mourning. If you missed that self-realization post, you can read it here.  While in mourning, I like to do home improvement.

Ben giggled and said, “The kids haven’t been gone for two hours and you already have the house tore up.”

That was a true statement.

I’ve talked about  the way a woman’s homes looks inside and out is directly related to how that woman feels about herself, here. (Guys read this and understand.) This time, it was this old farm house bathroom. A fresh look for our throne room would make me feel better.

The counter tops are just plywood covered in laminate. To remove and replace  would mean demolishing the whole upper cabinets. Well, I don’t have that much time or money, so I thought I would just paint them. I poured over the internet, called my friends who own this depot (Debbie has painted about everything known to man) and got the scoop on painting counter tops. I finally found the perfect thing to paint them with and discovered I couldn’t get my hands on it that day. This news threw me deeper into my spiral and I ended getting really mad and using what I already had in my old paint collection. I primed with Kiltz first. Then painted this next.  

It turned out Barney–eggplant purple. I fell on my sword. Cried outloud, ’but it says rust…how do you get dad-gum purple from rust?’

I gave up pondering THAT and sea sponged

on some of these… instead.

I started with Terra Cotta and alternated Burnt Umber and Rich Espresso metallic. I finshed by putting three coats of Polycrylic on 

and let dry for three days.

Here’s before…

Here’s after…

I love it. I want to do the kitchen countertops after the bathroom is done. My transformed countertops brought me out of the blues of missing my kids during the day and motivated me to do the rest of the bathroom. 

About the cost… It cost me a lot less than our last project, that’s for sure.

Painted countertops: Zero Dollars. Having the kids in school all day so you can finish the bathroom: PRICELESS.

Stand-by for more before and after pics of cabinets, mirrors and more. All on a budget, of course.

Simply,

Sis

My life is no different. Our septic system failed, leaving us with little choice but to spend five to seven thousand dollars to bring it up to working order and code. I’m beginning to hate that word: code.

This so depressed me, I decided to throw a party instead. So in case you need some alternative ideas on how to spend your emergency fund… here you go.

Step one: Invite a friend over to help you plan your party.

Make sure he brings his beautiful wife (or part-time as she refers to herself.)

And a backhoe. Backhoes get lonely if you don’t bring them. And a round of gloves cause…

Ewwwwwe.

A honey wagon wouldn’t hurt either. Actually, they are usually the life of the party.

And heck, while we’re partying, let’s just get a whole new tank, shall we? This one is at least 40 years old and it’s proving a little canTANKerous. (You gotta laugh…)

And just cause I’m a bored, lets dig another hole, my in ground pool is wants a sister.

And since, there’s not enough people at this party, lets invite more friends…tell them to bring their remote controlled crane thingy. It will be better than a mechanical bull.

Tell them to bring a big cooler to put in the ground to ice our drinks down in. Oh and bring more friends. Friends are good.

There, getting tanked with help. That’s better.

Hey I’ve got an idea. Why not call the sand man, I know it’s early, but he gets enough sleep. Tell him to haul us in some sand for, oh, I don’t know, a sand volleyball pit? Sure why not. I’ve got plenty of money. No problem.

Then lets get this party rocking and dig a pit to roast the hogs in.

Four pits at 100′ long and three foot wide ought to do it.

Then we’ll call the rest of the town, and sit back and enjoy the party until life has to get back to normal.

Don’t worry about helping with the clean up. I understand the dirt has to settle in by itself. So, if we can’t put it back the way it was, don’t worry. I’d hate to have my yard looking nice, anyway.

Perfect. Our kids have always wanted a motocross track.

And digger guy, if you could leave your porta pot here a couple more days… this snake hunter thinks it’s much funner to poop in it, than in the house. Don’t worry about the cost. I’ve got it covered.

And that, my friends, is how you spend your emergency fund in two days, just throw a party.

Here’s a recap.

Throwing a two day party with friends–$4,000

Learning all about the new improved government codes for your county–$1000

Grass seed and water to get your lawn back–$1000

Mud and sand being tracked through the house all summer–$0

Still having a vacation fund and banjo fund after your new friends leave–PRICELESS.

Did I mention, everyone needs an emergency fund?

Still in the BLACK,

Sis

This is the tenth day of the kitchen cabinet remodel. It was supposed to be done by now. I think I’m going to fire the contractor.

Yaw, dang! I AM the contractor.

Everything is mostly done, but we did hit a snag. Snags happen in home improvement.

Especially at my house.

Perpetually at my house.

See anything missing?

It’s like looking up some one’s skirt, isn’t it?

I don’t know… I kinda like it.

Now that’s a plumber’s crack, if I’ve ever seen one. (It’s not the only thing with plumber’s crack around here…)

Moving on…One of the cover plates that goes in front of the sink is rotten. After 60 years of water being dripped on me…I would be rotten too.

We are having a custom one made. We would make it our self, but it’s not worth the time or money to buy a huge piece of birch plywood for such a small piece. The custom piece will probably cost as much as the whole cabinet redo. (I’m in the middle of negotiating price on that.) But, hey, I’ve always wanted a custom kitchen.

I’m happy to report, negotiations are going better with the cover plate, than when SINthia bailed Russell out of jail. For that, I’m thankful. I’ve had enough of THAT kind of drama for a while.

In the mean time. We’ve moved back into the kitchen, are eating healthy again and are starting to look ahead at what to  do with the counter tops, lighting etc.

I’ll be asking for your opinion on color and material, after we narrow our options. Stand by.

Simply,

Sandhill Sis

Yesterday, I took 26 doors down, removed the pulls and got them sanded and stained. At this point my arms have quit working and I’m down to blinking once for no and twice for yes. Whose idea was this anyway?

Here’s a picture of what it looks like this morning, warts and all. Just keeping it real.

As you can see, it doesn’t function as a kitchen anymore, just a shop-type work space.

For supper last night, the boys and I had a candle light picnic in the living room. Dreaming about our South Dakota vacation this summer. Very relaxing and fun. Until. W got burned with hot wax while putting the candles away and flung wax from here to over yonder. Poor guy. He looked like something out of a horror film with red wax all through his hair, his shirt, not to mention what fell on the wool rug and the carpet.

Needless to say, the time I was going to read library books and shine as a mother was taken up with ironing the carpet covered in paper towels to get the wax up. An hour and a half later, it was bedtime. I had most of the wax off the carpet and only one scorch mark…sigh. Yaw dang.

Add to that, when the cat’s away, the kids sleep with me in our king size bed. That used to be fun, but morning leaves me to ponder why they call it a king? I certainly didn’t sleep like one.

No worries though, our ten year old coffee pot still works, my workout partner called and canceled and the weatherman has promised a beautiful day, perfect for a kitchen cabinet redo. Life is good.

The goal for the day is to give all the doors three coats of polyurethane, sanding in between. I’m sure it will be poetry in motion.

Tomorrow marks 14 years of Ben-filled bliss. Tune in to hear why I should have ran, fourteen years ago, when I had the chance. It’s one of my favorite memories of all time.

Simply,

Sandhill Sis

Sphnicker. Sphnicker. Sphnicker.

Ben’s gone.

He left me for the week.

It’s our anniversary week too. (At least it’s not for another woman.)

What’s a girl to do?

Play with power tools.

We don’t fight much. But, Ben has been known to say, ”Why is it if I bought another $500 gun you would throw a fit? But, if I came home with $500 worth of tools you wouldn’t say a word.”

That’s because, your princess loves power tools, Honey. Lowes is my mall. I love to go to the lumber yard.

In high school, I made my mama proud when I dropped out of Algebra II to make a water bed in wood shop. It’s been downhill ever since.

That explains why my second kitchen is in total shambles.

W came in this morning and said, “Ohhhh Mom, what’s that smell?”

I love the smell of paint thinner in the morning, Baby.

That’s right! No make-outs this week, just make-overs.

Here’s a couple of pictures of how the kitchen looked the day we looked at this old farm house.

She had a thing for the Pillsbury Dough Boy!

It’s too cutesy and 1950′s for me. I like leather, hides, skulls, cast iron, and rustic stuff. I’m heading for the Sandhill Sis’s Ranch Kitchen look.

I’ve been working at this for three years now little by little. But while Big Daddy Tom Cat is gone this week I want to redo the cabinets and maybe even the counter tops. We’ll see. When I run out of time, money, or both. I’ll stop. As you know, we pay cash for everything. 

Rhoda has pounded sand to for the week, too.  She left a few recipes, I might share. But mostly the fare will be simple, fast and hopefully microwavable.

So that’s what I’m doing. Forgive me if this week is filled with posts on how this love story got started, power tools, make-overs and of course, SINthia. SINthia has come and gone and what a tail tale she has to tell this time. Just one more reason to barricade myself in my house this week and hope it’s not the law that comes knocking on my door…I’ve she’s had enough of them.

It ought to be interesting.

Stay Tuned!

Simply,

Sandhill Sis