Finally Sold

This was one of the first purses I made for my Etsy shop. After relisting so many times over the past 2 years, it finally found a buyer. I think it was mostly due to the fact that my pictures never did it justice. The white-on-white brocade made it difficult to photograph and even in this photo the color of the lining is way off.

It was made from a vintage 1930's McCalls pattern that was my mothers. I hope the buyer is please when she sees it. Thanks so much for your order.

Brick Wall Attempt 2

Wall attemp 2, a photo by b-a-boop on Flickr.

I've attempted 2 sections of brick painting. The 1st I tried a beige grout color, it came out OK, but I thought it still looked too close to the white. The 2nd section I tried a gray grout (think it's too dull and muddy) and tried to get a bit darker on the bricks. Will be experimenting a bit more in the future, I'm a bit persnickety, want it just so, although I'm not exactly sure what that SO is.

New Summer Bloom Bobby Pin just listed on Etsy

I just listed this lovely summer fabric flower bobby pin on Etsy. It’s made from a vintage 70’s floral print shear voile fabric and a vintage orange button. Brighten your summer wardrobe with this sweet hair accessory.

Dream Kitchen may NEVER be realized

As we’ve been interviewing & getting contractor quotes for our kitchen renovation, a problem has arisen over the electric. The kitchen was renovated & electric updated in the 70’s, but we knew it would need additional rewiring, as there aren’t enough outlets, not enough dedicated circuits for appliances & some appliances are relocating. There is a panel/fuse box in the kitchen that has a cabinet mounted over it. We knew this was not to code and planned to not put one over it. We had planned to put a base cabinet below it. We were told that also couldn’t be done.

We’ve known for years that our 1947 home had some areas with very old wiring (non-grounded, cloth insulated) and we knew there were issues with an old meter location & some strange old panels & boxes outside, but weren’t planning to deal with all that yet. One electrician told us if we wanted to permit the kitchen it would most likely trigger a complete rewire. He suggested we relocate the panel in the kitchen. His quote was $11-13K for the electric alone. We had another GC out who told us he thought that price was very high & referred us to another electrician. His quote just came in and is even higher.

We can’t afford both the kitchen & the electric. There’s no sense adding to the fire hazards that exist by not permitting the kitchen, so we’ll have to work on the rewiring. Also adding to my blues, I went to the website where I planned to order the cabinets to price a revised layout if we move the panel & found the prices had jumped in the past 4 months and I’m now looking at an additional $1500 for my cabinets. Guess I need to win a lottery.

Faux Painting a Brick Wall

We have an existing brick wall at the edge of the kitchen which is painted white. We plan to add a counter on top of it when we renovate the kitchen. Today I’m attempting to paint it back to a reddish/tan brick color. I first used a beige color house paint on the grout lines. Then I’m sponging on some various shades of tan to terra cotta to simulate the brick. Hoping it will look good.

Existing Wall

Approximate Look I'm trying to achieve