When two loves meet....

 Do you remember this piece of furniture? I plan to sell it at the Michigan Antique Festival coming up on Sept. 24-25. Well, this piece of furniture hit a bump in the road.

Enter our foster puppy Ya ya, available through 4 Paws Animal Rescue. People who know me know I have a couple of passions in life, one includes reviving junk and the other includes rescuing animals. Sometimes passions are hard to balance.

Puppy meet project. 

Now, I don't want to malign Ya ya, she's a really great puppy and is not overly destructive, but she needs constant supervision...a little like a toddler. Needless to say, this happened when she wasn't being watched carefully enough. 

After I cried, I decided everything is fixable. I just made her chew on the other side so it would have matching corners. 

I jest. I did sand the other side to make it curve a little down too. I also fixed the drawer a little bit better since I had to get the sander out again.

I'm pleased with the results.

And don't worry, puppy and project will never meet again. 

My two loves can coexist as long as I'm watchful.

The house is just destined to be a mess in Sept....Sorry honey.

 

As many of you know, I have a thing for refurbishing furniture. Sometimes that means I have far more furniture than I possibly need. My mom came up with the idea of selling it at the upcoming Michigan Antique Festival in Midland Sept. 24-25. 

 I've been busying myself getting projects together for what I'm calling "Attic Rescue League: giving old stuff new life."

 I found two of these chairs, which I kept in mostly as found condition, though I cleaned them up a bit. I didn't want to cover-up there charming details, which I think have an early-American vibe.

Ugh. I hope I can get enough done to make it worth our time. I'm so glad that my mom came up with the idea. I know it will be hard work, but it will also be fun.  If you are in Michigan, you should consider going to the festival, there are over 1000 vendors and Elephant Ears!

I was planning on keeping that...

 

So I picked up this nightstand/side table at the thrift store. Of course I didn't get a before picture. I know, I know, bad blogger. Anyway...I was planning on keeping it, but it turned out so cute I might try selling it.

 

I'm trying to decide if this guy might be disappointed. I originally picked it up for his room.

 

This piece weighs a ton. It is a good solid piece of furniture, though it did have some veneer issues. I decided  to make the damage work in my favor and paint and "age" the piece. 

What do you think, should it stay or should it go?

Less time for projects...

We've had some extra visitors this summer. They are all rescued dogs from 4 Paws Animal Rescue who are living with us temporarily until they find their permanent homes. Lucy, Honey Bear and Yaya are great house guests but puppies aren't always great at allowing you to divide your time. They demand cuddles...and frankly I haven't minded...but just in case you've wondered where I am, I've been busy getting puppy kisses.

My friend is having a baby girl!

I've passed along many a cute outfit to friends who have younger little guys than my Jack. I love seeing Jack's old duds given new life on other cuties.  I found out a close was expecting a little girl...I thought I was out of luck on passing-clothes-along front. Her son had looked so cute in some of Jack's hand-me-downs, that I was disappointed I couldn't do the same for her daughter.                                         

When I found a cute pair of red pants for the little one, I decided this old shirt of Jack's had potential.

I added some lace to the front. Cut off the collar and used some bias tape  to give it a rounded neck. In a last little tweak, I decided to make the sleeves cuter by running a bit of elastic through the sleeve hem to gather them a little. I made a pair of matching shoes using this great tutorial by Prudent Baby.

 It's not the typical baby-girl pink, but it's girly all the same.



HAPPY JULY 4th

May God Bless You

And

May God Bless America!

Well, that project spiraled out of control...

We live in the city, where lots are small, so I use every inch I can for gardening. The most usable space is actually along our driveway, but since our dogs and my son like to hang out in the backyard, that leads to a lot of lifting Jack, 4, over our gate because I don't want to risk the dogs getting out. Frankly, he was just getting too heavy.

My solution was making a movable fence. It's not perfect and not exactly what I had in mind, but this hodgepodge is my creation and believe or not, it's working...well it's working for our little dogs...a visiting foster, recently jumped our backyard fence and then made quick work of this "little obstacle."

When I need to move it, I can simple pick it up and put it too the side. My son has enjoyed going from the backyard to helping mom with your garden without having to rely on me lifting him over the fence and my back has been very happy.

This may look like a random picture, but it's actually the table I used to create my fence. It was really too big for our family room, but I really loved it and didn't want to get ride of it. I started disassembling it with the idea of using the components in the future, when I realized that the frame, cut in half would work for my movable fence.

This was definitely a trail and error project and it shows, but it's made my life easier. I think it has some charm to it...I'm sure there will be some tweaking in its future...I was trying to do it without having to buy much...like pickets (which would have been my first, but too pricey, choice.)