Ready for a long winter's nap.

Bedroom no. 3 is by no means done, but here's where it's at this holiday season.

The chore board and shelf were hand-me-downs from our youngest daughter.

I added a few hooks to hang vintage baby gowns.

I had planned to paint the dresser gray, but the yellow adds a bit of sunshine

to this room during our long gray days of winter.  We replaced the ceiling fan

with the same fandelier we hung in the other bedroom.  It still needs

 bobeches and crystals, but that will come later.

25 cent lampshade tops a pretty lamp from my Baba.

This darling deer was left in a dresser that I'll show you in an upcoming post.

Fish bowl view of this side of the room.  That's a closet door on the right

We made this shelf from lumber we unearthed in our garage.

The "hooks" (or hookers as our youngest grandson calls them)

are a mish mash of porcelain knobs I've collected over time.

The petite size of this smoking stand works well as a bedside table.

It's topped with one of my many doll dressers.

To the left of the door is the alcove that houses my yarn cubby.

I procrastinated so long that I had to resort to painting the bed indoors

with chalk paint.  I gave it 2 coats followed by clear wax and it seems

to be pretty durable.  The alternative was to spray paint in the snow.  :o)

After 5 years of kicking this buffet topper around, I've finally found a use for it.

I filled in the mirror opening with plywood cut to size and painted with
 homemade chalkboard paint.  Then I sketched in the art with plain old white chalk.
  I bought chalkboard markers, but they only work on a flat surface and
 I was not about to take this very heavy piece off the wall!

For those of you who will be sleeping under it, don't worry because

 it's attached with 6 long screws directly into wall studs.

  It's not going anywhere.

The deer I made decades ago have been spiffed up with new glittery wreaths.

I do believe this window has found its final resting spot.

Last year's ho hum candle ring has become this year's window wreath.

Well, that's it for now.

Thanks for visiting and sweet dreams!

Vickie

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Primitive cubby.

Ta da!

I finished my yarn cubby.

I asked my assistant to cut the wood on my pencil markings,

 but other than that, I planned and built the cubby all by myself.  Soooo,
 if it appears slightly off-kilter in the photo above.....well, it probably is.

Remember, primitive.

I've got Vanna White standing next to the cubby just to give you an idea of its size.

It will be screwed into wall studs in a small recessed area behind the door to the
 unfinished bedroom, but I took the photos against a brighter wall.

Over the past year, I've been selling or donating my vintage stash
collected over almost 4 decades, but here are a few things
 that made the cut to be used in said bedroom.

I painted it this past summer (big mistake), but my assistant was kind enough
to sand off the paint and dark varnish to reveal the soft wood tone underneath.
It still needs some finishing touches, but I think it's a keeper.

Here's how it looked when I bought it at an estate sale back in December of 2011.
Where has the time gone?!

You can't imagine how many times I stubbed my toe on this heavy,
 mirrorless buffet top while it was collecting dust under a bed.

Nabbed from youngest daughter's sell pile at our vintage sale in October.
The last line says "To Bed on Time".

I truly hope this leaded glass window works in the bedroom....

... because I'm getting tired of filling holes in the walls where I've hung it previously.
  And I'd really like to use it somewhere in our house.

I'm sure there are any number of tutorials out there for building a cubby,
so I'll let you follow somebody other than me who knows
what in the world they're doing.

It's constructed of 1 x 12 stock pine with a plywood back.  For a non-toxic, no VOC finish,

I aged the wood with steel wool soaked overnight in vinegar.  Beware!  The vinegar

solution permanently stains clothing and anything else it comes in contact with.
I should not have been wearing those 10 year old jeans anyway, but there you have it.
I've been forced by the hand of fate to update my wardrobe.  :o)

I attached horizontal slats with the rustiest nails I could find

and then added a little faux staining around the nails with black oil paint.

For a smooth clean finish, I applied 2 coats of wax, inside and out.

As you can see, I left enough room on top for a basket to hold 

yarn remnants and works in progress.  The cubby is only 12 inches deep, but the small
suitcase that holds my needles and pattern books fits nicely underneath.

I've got 2 coats of paint on the baseboard trim, but there are a few dozen other things
 to complete before I haul furniture into the room.  My goal is to have the room back together
 before the gang's all here for Thanksgiving, so I better get crackin'!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Vickie

*I took the photo above to use as an autumn screensaver on our home computer,
not really paying much attention to the squirrely details in the photo.

Our oldest granddaughter pointed out that it's a boy.
he he he.

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It's a cool, cool summer.

So far, our summer has been pleasantly cool and that's fine by me.
I just love cool nights when I can sleep with the windows wide open,
with a lightweight blanket or quilt covering me.

As you can see, I've got plenty to choose from!

Today is day 7, the last day of my vacation.
We had our kids here for the all-class reunion festivities and parade last weekend,
 followed by a short road trip during the week with lots of pit stops at antique shops along the way.

I think the cool weather during our drive through Wisconsin influenced my vintage purchases.

  Here's what I found.....

Classic blue & white "cutter" quilt as I've heard them called, stitched entirely by hand.
I honestly don't think I could bring myself to cut it up for pillows,
even though it's stained and the seams are coming apart.

Lap quilt pieced from wool and flannel. 

It's not vintage, but the colors are perfect (I think) for bedroom #3.

Here's a sneak peek of the "before" room.

The reveal should be in......oh, a year or three.

I confess, the unsavory wall color was chosen by me to match
an antique love seat and rug that are no longer with us.  That's a whole nuther story.
Who in the world painted the bed metallic bronze?  Oh, that would be me, too.
As you can see, there's lots of painting to be done.

Once again, I've purchased all the vintage accessories before I've chosen a paint color.
I call my design style, "Putting the Cart Before the Horse Decor".
I build the room around my favorite things.

As I was uploading photos, I came across this one taken right after I bought the bed in 2005.
I think it was $20 and we had to pull all the vines off the thing as the seller had been using it
for a trellis in her garden.  If I bought the bed today I would've just washed it up and called it a day!

I don't know why I took the photo, but until I uploaded it, I never really looked at it.
 I got all choked up when I noticed our little Fergie
 walking in the snow in the upper right corner.
  Memories.


Okay, onto the rest of my recent finds.

Oh-so-sweet crib quilt.  My favorite.

It's my goal to start sewing quilts and I'd like to start with one like this,
only with random fabrics, no actual design to it.

Another simple tied quilt.

This is the oldest of the lot and it's hand quilted.

I found 3 of the quilts in one booth in a wonderful shop in Cumberland, Wisconsin.

The owner was closing out and all of the items were marked.....

75% off the already low prices!!!  Yes, yes, and yes!
The others were very reasonable finds in the city of Spooner.
Both towns have shops that are well worth checking out
if you happen to be in that area.

A few weeks ago, I removed the shirred curtains from my old wall cupboard
and I replaced them with chicken wire to create a display space for my vintage quilts.
  My plan was to search for a few more quilts to fill the cupboard,
but I never dreamed I'd hit the jackpot in just one trip!

Here's the new look for my old cupboard.
I'm happy to say our daughter found the drawers,
but I still need to find some knobs.

Behind the cupboard is one of the newly painted gray walls.  I'm glad to be rid
of the beige walls that I've lived with far too long!  Although I love the weathered wood,
I've been contemplating painting the cupboard white.

Below are some of my inspiration photos from Pinterest.

Oh, I do love this white cupboard in an all white room.
Hmmmmm.......

   Crazy in love with this one.

Pretty cabinet in a pretty room.

Fun red cabinet from Petticoat Junktion.

Helen Philipps blog.
I like the white painted chicken wire and the heart, too!



I found one more item as we looped back into Minnesota through St.Paul.

  I found this simple leaded glass window.  I made a super-low offer
 because there's a small crack in one piece of glass near the bottom.......
and the dealer agreed to my price!  It was too good to pass up.
He even said I could return it if it didn't work out.  Huh?
No need to worry about that.


Well, all good things must come to an end.
It's back to work for me tomorrow and it looks like our
cool summer nights may be over until fall.
It sure was nice while it lasted!

Until we hoist the a.c. units into the windows,
I'll be utilizing my many vintage fans that still work.

I've nicknamed this one Slice & Dice.

Thanks for stopping by!
Vickie

Come join the parties at:
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Time flies!

It's been 3 months since I last published a blog post, and
who woulda thunk?  The blog world has survived just fine without me.  : )

I took a much needed break for various personal reasons
and to finish up a laundry list of projects around 911.


  When we bought our house back in 2004, I set a goal for myself to have everything completed
 within a decade, and my deadline is just around the corner.  Ten years sounds like an eternity,
but when you factor in putting our girls through college, two weddings, the arrival of 4 grandchildren,
thousands of miles in our car traveling back and forth to visit them,
  and trying to juggle it all while working full-time most of those 10 years.......
well, the time has literally flown by.

Guest bedroom.  Started Feb. 2011.  Finished May 2014.
(I may be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records
 for the slowest room rehab in blog history.)


Sooooo......have I met my goal?
No, and it's entirely possible I never will.
  I was stuck in limbo for years because my master plan was

 to fix all the plaster walls and ceilings in this old house.

Once I let go of that idea, I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Over the past few months, I've painted right over the cracks in the master bedroom above
 (more photos in an upcoming post), so I have only one bedroom left to tackle.
  It's not so daunting now that I've embraced
 the imperfections that are an integral part of this old house.

 Flat finish paint covers a multitude of sins.

It's my new best friend!

 You've seen bits and pieces, but the guest bedroom is finally done.
A six month project that took over 3 years.

Come on in!

My resident carpenter made me a small wood shelf to display my red sewing machine.
The cuckoo clock was a $3 steal from my favorite local antique shop.
Unfortunately, it was a going-out-of-business sale.

I found an old green dress at to "hang out" with the red one.

 I was kind of stumped when it came to dressing the windows.

I tried floor to ceiling curtains, but I didn't like the way they covered the trim detail
 around the windows, not to mention, a guest could get hopelessly tangled in all
that fabric stuffed in the measly few inches between the bed and the wall!

When I came across jumbo red rick rack at Hancock Fabrics last winter,
I bought a few yards and tucked it away for a rainy day.  I cut up a vintage
tablecloth and a few pieces of mismatched fabric and trim and stitched it all together
to make simple valances to cover the roller shades.

  The rick rack grabs your attention so you don't notice
 the vintage food stains on the tablecloth......I hope!

I painted the $1.50 estate sale 1960's wood mushrooms to add a spot
 of quirky landscaping to the dollhouse shelf.

Mini gallery wall featuring Smirky the Bear.

What's that I see reflected in the mirror?

This dollhouse was a $10 fixer shoved in a crate in the basement of St.Paul Antiques.
You know it had to come home with me!
It's painted in my favorite colors (never mind the rust)
 and fits perfectly on top of my old cupboard.

I hope to find an old braided rag rug for the room,
 but other than that, the room is done.  Top to bottom.
 Done.   I love that word!

Sigh.

Lastly, I've come to the conclusion that for me, working 3 or more days a week
 and blogging on a regular basis leaves me very little time to DO the things I love.
Since I'm not retiring in the near future (unless our crew at work wins the lottery),
 I've decided to cut back on computer time at home.
There are just not enough hours in the day to do it all,
 so if I'm gone for weeks or months at a time, I'm not going to sweat it anymore.
 Life is too short!!!

Case in point:

 On Saturday our baby turns 30!!!

Happy Birthday Megan!!!

As always, thanks for stopping by and I hope you do something that makes you happy today!
Vickie

*I'm joining the parties at:

Mod Vintage Life Mod Mix Monday
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