Saturday, October 31, 2009
Giveaway reminder!!
Just a reminder to go on over to Jenn's blog - Bittersweet Prims.. and sign up for her giveaway.. but be warned, the count is up to over 240 comments.. stiff competition for her fantastically prim snowguy!!! Of course, I offered to meet her if she picks me, she's near Buffalo NY, I'd have to drive to Niagara Falls but hey, it would be worth it, not just for the awesome prim treasure, but also to meet my first blogger!! That would be fantastic, eh Jenn? heehee ;)
Here's a link to Jenn's blog:
http://bittersweetfixinsnprimitives.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-giveaway-time.html
Perfect?? Thanks Sarah ;)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A swap and an inspiration!!!
My inspiration was from another lovely lady, Barb of Dogmom Diva who left a comment on my blog :) I had a quick peek on her blog and it's obvious she loves dogs.. me too! So here is a picture of my little girl, Daisy. She is a purebred Chihuahua, will be 4 in a month and is such a joy. My daughter and I just love her. She is afraid of everything, hates my hardwood floors and doesn't bark... at all.. ever.. hurraaah!! I know, barking is natural but the ones who never stop can get on your nerves just a li'l bit.... so here is a picture of her sitting on my little hooked rug, I just bought it in May and couldn't decide what to do with it so I tried it on the floor and the next thing I new, Daisy was sitting on it. She totally loves carpeting!!
Well my dears, I am very tired and I apologize for this short postie but I need to get to sleep. I may not post tomorrow, but I will be working on something for the weekend if I do miss. Thanks so much to my followers, I really appreciate your support.. have a great night.
:) Hayley
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Happy Wednesday!
I thought I'd walk you through my kitchen renovation (actually these are just befores & afters, never thought to take "during" shots). The renovation was done in April 2008 but I didn't have a blog then ;) .. and I still love it and would like to share it with you.
When I bought my house 2 years ago, I swore I would NOT, I repeat WOULD NOT... buy a house without an updated kitchen as I had done one on my last house.. and I just didn't think I could live through another one.. So as I was signing the offer papers and calculating the cost of cabinets, sink, faucet, flooring etc. I was silently cursing my luck.. again. Oh well.. after months of planning, I called my kitchen guy.. yeah, who has a kitchen guy?? Moi! After coming to see the kitchen all my plans went out the window.. can't move the sink more than 5 feet without installing a new vent, can't install banquette seating because the kitchen is small and some people are not (his point not mine.. lol), blah, blah, blah.. lol. Anyone who has ever swooned over those awesomely perfect kitchens in a magazine, and smugly thought "I can do that!" will know exactly what I'm talking about. Reality brings you crashing right back to Earth.. *sigh*.
So, the before pics were taken on the day of the inspection .. shhhhhh... don't tell anyone! This is how the sink wall looked before. The only counter space is on this wall and most of the cupboards too.. not very user-friendly is it? Anyone see a dishwasher? Nope, 2nd house (actually 3rd, my first house was a condo), no dishwasher; I love the prim look, but seriously, I'm no Caroline Ingalls and I need to have a dishwasher!
So here is the after; I moved the fridge over to this side of the kitchen, you'll see where it was soon... my kitchen guy builds 2-ft deep cabinets to go over the fridge and for this kitchen, he installed baking sheet and platter racks inside. I didn't know he was doing that but it worked out well since it is a small kitchen. So this is a good idea for anyone thinking of re-doing their kitchens.
A before shot of the other side of the sink wall.. still no dishwasher! The door on the right leads to the basement.
The after shot.. a dishwasher!!! Also a new sink, I bought the deepest one I could get since I only wanted a single sink, and the sink base cabinet was custom-built to fit; this leaves more room for the other cabinets. Another cool thing the kitchen guy came up with is the shelf above the cabinets. In my other house, my daughter and I took the bulkheads down and it was a difficult job.. the solution? Create this shelf that is attached to the underside of the bulkhead. A groove was cut to hold things and this is the result.. ingenious and I love it!! It completely made the bulkhead disappear.. and it gave me more space to display things I love.. who wouldn't want that?? :DDD One thing I want to point out is that there are no drawers right under the counters. If you want to re-do your kitchen this is a great idea, the cabinets end up being so huge you have to find stuff to fill them up! I did this in my old house and it worked so well that I had it done in this house too.. love it!
Ok, this before shot is where the stove and fridge were, side by side.. notice the lovely brown range hood ;) .. putting these two appliances together just doesn't work for me, there is no counter space to put things you take out of the fridge or to place things you need for cooking.. so the fridge got moved. Oh.. notice the wallpaper? It was like removing cement.. so this wall now has a "texture".. LOL.. (I also SWORE I'd never buy another house with wallpaper.. this one and my last house appeared to have been put onto bare drywall .. sheetrock for my US buddies).
And here's the after: I love, love, LOVE this wall, it's just such a fabulous transformation!!! Here's a little note on the backsplash - I've struggled with each house I've owned with the backsplash, I like tile but am too afraid to commit, I thought of getting beadboard or stainless steel, etc.. but finally decided on anaglyptic wallpaper. This is that textured paper that you paint, mine is a tin ceiling pattern. I think this would be a great place to put Graham & Brown beadboard wallpaper! I used a simple semi-gloss paint in the white that I chose for the rest of the house (doors and trim). Notice the awesome bank of drawers!! They are custom made to about 31" wide and they hold so much.. love 'em!
Here is another view of the after, showing the basement door and a tiny bit of the island that I purchased unfinished; I painted the doors and sides black and stained the top and the shelf at the bottom.. love it!!!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Travellin' Tuesday - N'awlins!
First pic is my hotel in the French Quarter, Hotel St. Pierre... it's a bit off the beaten path, on Burgundy, a few blocks from Bourbon Street. This building is where my room was. I opted out of the first room they assigned me.. it just didn't feel right. Now since this hotel is well over a hundred years old and there are old slave quarters here... maybe it was a ghost?? lol.. um, don't believe in them, don't want to start now :S
I went for a walk and took pictures as I went. This one appears to be taken in the fog, but nope.. this is my LENS on my camera fogging up! LOL. My room was so cold with the air conditioning that when I went out into the 800% humidity it steamed up. Took me 2 days to figure it out.. :P .. makes a great pic though!


Store in the Riverwalk Mall, Mardi Gras Madness I believe it's called. Got some cool Mardi Gras mini-lights here last summer... stay tuned as I create a mini Mardi Gras Christmas tree for my bedroom (which has a *sort of* Mardi Gras theme.. no, I don't mean it's a booze-soaked party.. haha)
Ok then.. now onto the Steamboat Natchez.. didn't get to do this last summer as the river was shut down for an oil-spill clean-up so I did the river cruise this year... this is such a cool boat! You can just see the calliope at the very top, it plays as the boat leaves the dock.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Thanks for the lovely comments!!
Have a great day ladies :)
ps.. Lex, you are very welcome, I love your sweet prim items and I tend to rave when I find something I love... so be warned! LOL
Hayley
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Microwave board!
I just love those stove boards (a.k.a. noodle boards, stove covers etc), don't you? They are somewhat pricey so I'm going to attempt to make one at some point, but until I do that, I came up with an idea to make a board for my microwave. I started with a yard sale tray which I paid $1.00 for. It fit nicely on top of my microwave, but it was a very bright red, definitely not in the prim colour wheel! Well maybe it is but not in my world :D .. here it is before:
I then took my jigsaw and cut it along the groove that runs horizontally. Due to the wobbly jigsaw and the fact that I was holding it in place with my foot on top of a small stepstool.. it's a bit uneven in spots.. to say the least.. lol. No problem!! I just made a few little dents in the rest of the tray... after all, I'm trying to prim it up, right??