A Quick Kitchen Table Primitive Makeover

Today Friends, we visit with the toilings 

That Were

The Projects That Were Started Last Week!

Like a lot of us, we have a room that is an odd size with 

maybe...

Just maybe...

Too many doors and walkways, etc...

And we struggle with its practicality and use,

&

Ability to have the size of furniture that we would prefer to have in it...

So, 

With a Semi-Functioning Adult Brain at the ready,

I Remembered that we had some old Ladder Back Chairs in the Basement!

Pictured Above is the Pintrest Inspiration that set all of this in motion!

And this inspo is the one that solidified it!

Going into the 'Ber Months with a gothic heart, how could I not, 

AND I MEAN  N O T!

I had never considered painting the rushed seats before...

Our chairs were originally purchased in the wild of the Olde Hadley Flea Market,

Which sadly is no more... moment of silence for those times of old...

I'm not crying, you are.

Okay,

We are all crying!

The song playing in the background as I write this is "Fix You" by Coldplay...

Oof...

Anyway,

The rushed seats of our chairs were not in the best condition, 

and they had been the subject of many scratchings of kitties...

so,

LET THE PAINT BE THE GLUE!!!

In our finest hour of the Fine For Now Mentality!!!

I started 

with the chair 

that I thought 

was the one in

 the worst condition...

Turns out that the Pink one there...

All along the back 

Most of the strands were completely broken!

oh noooooo...

*Here's my tip*

Get yourself a plastic putty knife

so 

That when you are plastering these types of things down

you can save your fingers by not touching the hot hot lava glue!

I knew this well enough, and it made the project of smoothing and securing

so much easier!

I kept onward!

Despite the issues with the rushing

and the Paint!

I said to Paint, "Why do you not like your topcoat? I stir you the way you like,

and still you reject your lovely top...?"

These small cans of paint were bought not long ago...

I just might change brands for all of my Satin Black needs...

But still

I kept onward!

This is just dressing it up 

in the fine way

 I wished!

kk we will keep going!

OH, this too, k thnx Pinterest!

I see you...

The Windsor chairs we have

will need a Satin Black treatment too I see...

More for me to keep my mind off things, sure, sure.

The finish of the Benches we have

Is to dictate the next step!!!

Finally taking their moment in the spotlight, 

because when we ordered them in white, they came in the darker finish with black legs...

Sometime you get what you need....

Now turning the top of the plain pine table from Ikea to match it...

You know the one, its a tiny table with the under $80 pricetag...

If we ever get around to demolishing that old pony wall in the kitchen, 

maybe we will buy a second table to tack on when more (any) people come 

for the dinners or the suppers.... IDK, 

ANYWAY,

I have never. Ever. Applied a stain to raw wood before...

Looks rustic,

I think it fits the brief.

Just don't look close...

I did not mean to say that... ;-)

Hey lookit all of the shoes...

any org tips, 

anyone... anyone...

Future me prob... LOL

Meanwhile

Back at the Pintrest...

Should our Guest Room Look Like THIS...???

Oh Goodnesses and Graces there's Inspo spinning all around me now.

Furniture Edit Coming....

To put in the Basement or to Curb Alert...

That is the Question.

Yes

Yes

Yes!!!!

Cooking up Historical-Adjacent Color Pallets!

Making a list of Behr Paints to get testers made....

Story Time!

My old Apartment was a Block away from an old Mom n Pop Paint Shop,

I used to go in and browse all of the tester pots at the front displays...

$3 bucks a pop, I would fill my arms with all sorts of hues...

I still have a couple left in the basement...

Doubt they're still good, but, if I were to be desperate enough...

I could probably add some water and stir them back into being...

oh yeah,

We came to the end of our over the stove microwave days, 

and...

Finally installed that hood vent that we bought on sale 

way back when we first moved here in '16.

A good old patchy patch job was required for the duct passage, so I got out the wee

bucket of spackle & got stuck in.

Letting that project finally come to an end, 

I guess, really sent me into full steam ahead with the thoughts of a 

"Primitive Styling" for the table and chairs...

I really want to try and give us a Faux Fireback 

type of Backsplash 

for the wall between 

the stove 

and "new" hood vent, etc...

we shall see...

And that's how it got done.

Really trying to get some fun projects done & dusted.

I've been finding it really helpful since we lost the fur loves last year.

I'm really not bouncing back as fast as I thought I would, so I am finding myself taking time to concentrate on the big projects that aren't involving social media. And they are exciting new things, things that are a hope for fullfilment on a very large scale. So, with getting into the grove on those fronts, more writing and music, and videos will be made. And of course I have this new fever for the Primitive decor to drive me into fun - which is so needed for this point of the journey. 

Luck to all, for we are searching now more than ever.

x~JM

Landscaping Wrap Up ‘22

 I’m glad it’s almost over!

We are ending year 6 of living in our lil corner of woods.

Plans have evolved over the years…

Some things have drastically changed…

Some have unfortunately stayed the same…

And we have added more tools to our arsenal...

The lightweight battery operated Ego self propelled mower was a real game changer for us this year...

When we first got here there wasn't really any grass... sand and some moss in the frontage, and mostly weeds in the back... but those pine needles etc... kept most things from thriving...

Now the grass is growing and spreading, along with red clover, wild violets and creeping Charlie, which I think smells like fresh basil when mowed... mmmmmm....

Here I am placing some planters. Trying to create focal points, and a bit of a wall to prevent our Old Charli Girl from roaming. Now that the foliage is dying back, she goes looking for whatever smells the best (to her), and she went deaf over a year ago, so recall is tricky. 

If she gets the idea of bolting we have to scramble to reach her thru the brambles, its a whole thing.... that we would like to keep to a minimum...

~lol~

Anyway~

We’ve had an amazing amount of volunteer plants 

And trees come in since we had nearly 100 eastern white pine

Removed from the immediate area around the house.

When we first moved here, there were no extra plant growth 

Events, or many animals… rarely would we even see a squirrel…

Only drama & jump scares when large branches or 100 foot pine trees would snap in half in as little as 14 mph winds...

And yes, I still think our house should be painted black...

And...

Now that we’ve cleared out so many of those monoculture/water sucking pine trees…

We have a huge amount of flora and fauna that have made their way in…

It’s overwhelming to list, but if you are like me, and had no idea that things like this could just spawn thru seed or rhizomes etc… here’s what we’ve seen so far…

I added some pics, not all, because the blog would in fact go on forever...

Mullein or verbascum

Rudbeckia

Wild roses 

Queen Anne’s Lace

Fleabane 

Ragged robin

White campion

Goldenrod 

St John’s Wort

Cranes bill geraniums 

Tall garden phlox 

Milkweed

 Thistle- which I pulled out all the fluffy seeds from the other day to help them spread! 

Service berry tree

Bebes willow 

Poplar tree

Oak

More eastern white pine 

Maple

Birch river, silver and paper

Aspen

Buckthorn 

Pagoda dogwood 

And several types of cherries 

There’s more, but, they aren’t beneficial, some, in fact, invasive… bittersweet, for one… we have been battling the whole 6years now… 

While I do love feeding the birds in the winter, I know, they eat the berries and then distribute them liberally… 

We pull it, cut it, mow it, cover it, and at times think we have it bested… but then we end up having to start over and keep going… 

Oy.

Let’s just stop thinking about that source of overwhelm now…

The diversity of animals caught on our wyze cams & what we have seen, has increased this year as well...

Fox, porcupine, black bear, possum, moles, voles,  mice, turkey vultures, deer, and a skunk!

The first we have seen since moving here... 

And Ed said he saw a Moose down the street!

Lets not forget the Red Squirrels... They are so loud! Most of the time we don't even see them. but we can hear them... As soon as we go outside, they sound off! lol its a whole lotta personality in those wee bodies!

So, to mostly help my sense of accomplishment...

We have managed to maintain this year, and gain a very modest amount of ground with the invasive species…

And now, hopefully, in the next week, all of the winter prep will be done. 

Although...

The current warm weather conditions have us fooled…

One might think that it was early October… 

And especially this weekend… maybe even early September…

69 degrees in the evening and muggy…

Contemplation of putting the air conditioners back in…

Supposedly, it is changing today… should be 35 degrees tonight.

And we are expected to have the first snow, which won't really accumulate, or stick... in the next 10 days!

And... Attempting to calm an anxious mind...

And as we head to bed...

Knowing that our chores outside are almost done...

And the leaves are off the paths and backyard…

Just a few more things to put in their place for the winter...

And get the bulbs in the ground…

Then...

The few lighting elements for the dark times of December and January get placed or batteries changed etc… 

We have a new remote/app control splitter for the outdoor plug in lights coming… 

We did get our café lights mostly situated last weekend, which was great… 

Now the farthest reaches of outside lights will need testing and arranging… 

And then place the black oil seed for the bird feeding in the winter~ somewhere safe from bears...

And get the epsom salt for the icy conditions that hit between January and February ...

And...

And...

And...

lol...

So, we can put this years landscape to rest, knowing that we absolutely did as best as we could. Made some headway, tried not to get discouraged by what we couldn't control... And we have hope for aiming for the gravel and goshen stone hauls for next year... maybe ... 

I have to make some big decisions next. Do I continue giving you ghosts for poems, or go to another collection...?

Maybe you will have to employ your ability to delay gratification... 

There are several more collections from the last two years, plus some from the vault...

The End.

x~J

The Desperate Search

 

Kids

I’m on a desperate search for inspiration!!!

Remember all the way back to 2015?

It was our last autumn season in the old apartment…

We were beginning to pack things up to move to our current home…

The planning stages for the move 

Feel very similar to the current state of affairs…

There was a lot of energy being spent in preps for total upheaval and change 

And that resulted in very little energy leftover 

For living in the moment.

Every cell in my body 

Revolts 

Becoming the tantrum spewing 3yr old

Who has no conceptual ability 

And no angle on coping 

With this odd

And uninvited 

Alien feeling 

I have on a regular basis 

Become robbed of speech 

Decision making becomes insurmountable.

What’s for dinner 

Who cares…

I am the sort of being who experiences physical 

Ramifications 

If my instinctual flow is disturbed 

It proverbially Clips My Wings

BUT

I’ve found that a lil bit of Adrenaline 

Kickstarts my whole system again…

Which leads me to my studio

Above was my studio from the old apartment 

Here’s my current view from the writing desk…

And as I was setting up the desk…

The the contents of all of the drawers for sorting upon it 

Lol

I saw it! 

Darker walls!!!

Just one wall???

Or keep going…

Which is what I’m leaning towards…

It was only one wall painted in the old studio 

Lookit Charli Girl, so cute

Imagine if 

I did the whole room… 

And added some chalky fun architecture 

Like Rajiv Surendra does so well… 

https://youtu.be/4rmwQIL4W0Y

His tutorial breaks it down so well! 

I have to go dig around in the basement to find me chalky board paints now… 

The real work will be moving the furniture to get to the walls… lol 

Wish me luck, 

XOXO 

Jen

Studio Makeover: Chalkboard Flower Wall!

Yay! Studio Makeover Fun!!!

Its Spring! Everything is in Bloom! Even my Studio!

I'm not quite finished yet, but its a chalkboard mural... are those ever really finished?

Or Permanent...? ;-D

No Doubt, Pinterest was my inspo! While searching for Flower Walls or Black Rooms this Sweetie popped up.

So I got to work! 

I took everything off the wall, filled all the nail holes & slapped some satin finish black paint up.

(I used the cheapest paint I could find! If you wait around for a project to become affordable, chances are you won't ever start it... so...)

I started with a satin finish because I wanted a thicker coat as a base so the top layer of chalkboard paint would have something more solid to stick to. Knowing that I would probably need to wash it down (maybe multiple times) I wanted a solid barrier between the black & the white under it.

Here's the big test! 

I put a good coat of the chalkboard black on, (which looked fab btw, I want to paint an entire room black now, thanks!) and I seasoned it with a big stick of chalk. 

Rubbed it down with a rag & started to sketch where I wanted the design to go & flow!

Taking pics as I go helps me make decisions about where things are going & where they need to go!

Sometimes stepping back is not enough, you need to take pause & go away from it, study it, nurture it... see how it feels, etc... Instincts should be listened to.... blah, blah, blah...

Think about the space used & not...

Gawk at the parts you appreciate most...

Some things get added, some get taken away...

Have fun with taking the chances...

I don't usually draw flowers... Let alone in chalk, in a mural...

Getting to know the materials, playing with the textures, Making something Fun!

I will have time to finish it completely over the next couple of weeks... fingers crossed ;-D

Until then I will enjoy the creativity that poured out...

Spilling into every nook and cranny of  my room!

Taking it in... the new lights twinkle in the Fire Flies in a jar fashion...

Get Out Some Paint!

Get Ready To Scribble!

Get Ready To MAKE SOMETHING!!!

XOXO
~JM

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