A Patriotic Purr

Happy Memorial Day All!

Please take time to remember why we are celebrating this day.

There are those that want to cancel this day now.

So sad our country is coming to this. 

A few of my customers asked me if I would

be bringing in any July 4th items.

Its been quite awhile since 

I created anything for this holiday.

So I put my Halloween sewing down

and created this patriotic kitty.

This oatmeal wool has flecks of blue and red in it.

Wool and fabric.

His USA tag is muslin with silver beads.

Working on a few more patriotic items,

and will share soon.

One week left of my vacation.

Time sure does fly when you are having fun.

Patriotic Purr Blessings To All!

Janice

 

Week Two

 Two weeks into the reno,

but who's counting?  

Hello everyone!

Chimney cabinet was painted in white.

I asked Bob if he could re-paint 

it the creamy white color I finally found.

He also changed the hinges and door pulls.

These will match the other cupboards once finished.

Remember the green cabinet?

Well the gal at our local hardware store 

helped me tremendously.

Unfortunately, my bunny was too round for

their color match scanner,

while the latch from the door 

that Bob took off was too small.

UGH

This gal was so determined to get me 

the right color, that she brought out the top guns.

A huge color book from a secret stash.

We took those colors and matched as best 

we could and she mixed 2 samples up for me.

One called  Benjamin Moore Palace White

 was a perfect match!

YIPEE

First wood bottom cabinet Bob was working on.

Now painted Benjamin Moore Whipple Blue.

If you guessed the color blue for the other

half of my color scheme...you were correct.

A French blue color for my French heritage.

Our wood floor was already here.

It is a hickory color which is throughout our home. 

Bob is now working on the wood top now.

Yes I will have wood tops.

We were originally going to go with quartz,

but Bob mentioned he might have enough of 

the wood left in which he made for a client.

Wood it is now.

Notice our new fridge.

So glad that it is here now.

Bob boxed it in with more beadboard

and painted it the same as the wall.

He just needs to trim it off on the top now.

Cannot wait to get the green light

to decorate this part.

Shhh dont tell Bob but I already added

 my blue trencher to the top of the white one.

Te He...he already spotted it.

Will have to take it down before

he paints the ceiling over though.

With my Summers spent on both

 my paternal and maternal

grandparents farms,

I wanted to incorporate my kitchen

with memories of theirs.

Both gramma B and gramma H had

white farmhouse kitchens...

before farmhouse became the rage.

The blue is a nod to

my paternal grandparents French heritage.

My farmhouse kitchen will not have the fancy

stenciled lettering, open wood shelves with black pipes, 

or shiplap.

Mine will have my prims, crockery and wood,

with my antiques.

Am looking forward to sharing my ideas

once it is finished.

Not much happened this week because

Bob had to set up for his antique auction.

So much going on.

Week 2 Blessings to All!

Janice

A Welcoming Spring Display

 Summer has arrived here in Eastern Michigan.

Hot humid temps and even a bit of rain.

Thank you all for the wonderful comments to my last post.

 My next will reveal the bottom color of our cabinets.

Stay tuned.

This is my last Spring display.

Something I put together pre kitchen reno

near our front door to welcome all that come in.

The portrait is that of my paternal gramma's parents.

Robert and Effie.

Tried to do a close up of my punched tin lamp.

Hopefully you can see the pattern.

Notice the layering up for the 

three grouped pieces I added.

The zinc vase I re-purposed again from

my Winter bath display. 

The other side is the cut out tree. 

One of my quilts underneath.

Last Wednesday Bob re-opened our antique store

for a special buyer of ours.

She was a buyer for the film and tv industry.

back in L.A., but was homesick

for her home state, so she packed up and moved

here back home about 12 years ago.

She lives a hop skip and jump from our home.

Mark Walburg himself begged her to

to buy for his new series he was producing.

You might have heard of 

Boardwalk Empire.

He did not care if she moved back to Michigan.

He wanted her expertise and would pay her

to do the job here.

Do the job she did.

She also did Pan Am the series.

Oh I cannot remember al the items she bought 

for that show.

She bought many primitives one year

 for a period movie...cannot remember the name.

However she did beg me for my own personal

black kettle I had.

There were others too.

She is now involved with  Disney.

She cannot tell us the name until it comes out.

Once she starts a new project,

She always comes to us first.

We let her shop both our store and garage.

Well off to work the gift store now.

Hope everyone is enjoying there weekend!

Morning Spring Blessings To All!

Janice

Week One

Thanks for following along with the chaos.

I know these new pics are not so pretty, but reality.

Bob has been working on this redo daily.

His cousin comes in every now and then

to check on the progress.

IE: electrical thus far and tile when that part is needed.

I wanted this opposite wall to have beadboard

like my Cupboardscape wall.

Bob thought it would be nice to also

 do this little wall on the right too.

I so agree.

He uncovered this 50's linoleum

underneath the original cabinets.

When I purchased this house in 2002

(19 years ago)

pre Bob...

the entire house was this brown paneling

(above pic which was underneath upper cabinet)

and brown linoleum.

They added a pink rug in the living room

over the brown linoleum.

I was told this house was built by the original

owner whom I purchased from.

He built the house just for a Summer home

for his family.

Thus the linoleum was there so when his

children came back from swimming in the river,

it was easier to clean up the sand and dirt.

I had to paint these paneled walls 

right away, because at night I was tripping

over stuff because it was so dark.

When Bob sold his house and we were married,

that was when we started the prim remodel.

We were a match made in heaven....

literally...which is another story I need to tell

in a future post.

Homes with fireplaces 

always had a chimney cabinet nearby.

They were used to store wood.

Bob made this one, but will hold

all of my seasonal plates and glasses.

[Easter, Thanksgiving, July 4th and Christmas]

It is standing on the side of our fireplace. 

No more window... and I dont even miss it.

I had it covered anyway.

Old silver insulation.

Bob hit a bit of a snag after putting up

all of the drywall.

The plugs on the wall were no longer working.

UGH.

In comes cousin to the rescue.

Bob went underneath the house,

while Cuz Jimmy stayed up to pull the wires.

Come to find out a mouse chewed through

the neutral one and once Bob

jiggled the wires because he moved

 one of the sockets, this wire completely

 fell apart.

Glad it happened before paint.

Hubby Bob mudding the drywall.

Corner almost done.

The walls will all be Benjamin Moore

Moonlight White.

I do not like green primitives....

so sorry to those who do.

I have saved this upper prim cabinet 

for 10 years...stored in the garage.

It hopefully will be painted the same

white as this primitive antique cabinet.

Early white cabinets were really more

of a creamy yellow color.

This cabinet has been stored 

in our laundry room for years too.

Hopefully I can color match this white.

Fingers crossed as this is the next chore

I need to do.

So believe it or not, the cabinet color

matches my bunny.

I looked desperately around the house,

looking for something close to the cabinet color.

This bunny matched perfectly.

I knew there was a reason why I like bunnies.

YIPEE!

Oh yeah, one more thing.

Most of you are probably thinking 

I am now going a farmhouse 

white look for our kitchen.  

You are half right.

The bottom cabinets will be another color,

a bode to my heritage.

Wonder if you can guess that color?

Week One Blessings To All!

Janice

Pre Chaos Display

Happy Saturday all! 

I managed to get in one Spring display

in our back room pre chaotic kitchen reno.

Our back room is now part kitchen,

with no room to even sit in there right now.

Oh the joy of remodeling.

I so love my faux dandelions.

Bob actually made the shelves in here

behind our couch.

I do apologize for these dark pics.

Did not realize it at the time....

cannot take then over right now. 

LOL

Mixing it up for a lil Spring display.

With my bowls and pitchers with ginger bottles.

A bit of Spring flowers completes the shelves.

Again so sorry for these dark pics.

Am off today to my granddaughters birthday party.

She is 14 now.

Where did the time fly?

She came early and Bob and I were on a bus tour

in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan when she was born.

Was on the phone constantly with my

son-in-law for updates that day.

She came to the store with her dad

two Sundays ago and raided grammas candy.

Took some home for her brother too!

Pre-Chaotic Blessings To All!

Janice

And So It Begins

Still cold with frost warnings here at the homestead.

Even had a fire in the fireplace to take off the chill. 

Well folks...and so it begins.

Here are the before pics of our kitchen.

If you notice my dipper swags in the window.

The seed sorter was on the side of the cabinet.

See the orange strap on our fridge?

The tech who was supposed to come out and fix

our ice maker, broke our freezer door.

With weeks of Bob and I complaining

to the company who broke our freezer door,

the actual appliance company we bought the fridge

from will be sending us a new refrigerator.

It comes tomorrow.

The store manager knew Bob eons ago...

and could not believe the hassle we were given 

by their contractor.

We did not want another fridge, but now will get one.

We still are not sure if we will add anything 

to the left of the fridge.

The drieds probably won't stay.

However the window will go bye bye.

Cannot wait for my farmhouse sink.

Notice the big box in our living room?

That is our dishwasher.

In back of that is the freezer we were given

to put our frozen food until our fridge comes.

Our sink is in the back room,

along with everything else now that was in the kitchen.

Bob is going to start in this corner first.

Window will be gone soon....

Sorry, meant to post this morning.

Had to take Tundra to the vet for his neuter.

Then Shadow had to go in for an emergency.

X-rays showed he ate something,

but is passing it now.

Ugh, probably something Bob left on the floor.

Both puppy kitty are sleeping at home now. 

And So It Begins Blessings To All!

Janice

May CupboardScape

Spring has returned back again with

some much needed rain for those May flowers.

Still chilly though.

I must confess this was not the CupboardScape

I had planned for May.

However when your hubby says clean out the kitchen...

you clean out the kitchen if you want your redo

to start happening. LOL

I use this crock for my wooden spoons...

which I do use.

However the one with holes is an antique

top of an apple butter paddle.

Used to crush the apples.

The blue enamel piece is a milk jug.

Therefore I moved most of the counter goods

over to my cupboardscape cabinet,

as this one will not move.

The big wood item is a pie peel. 

These were used to take bread and pies out 

of brick ovens in the day.

Dried okra in the white colander.

This is a wood seed sorter.

The good seeds would go through,

leaving the chafe.

It was hanging on the side of one of my cabinets.

Although Hobby Lobby sells these jars,

these are originals that I found.

Glass coffee jars from the 1940's without their labels.

Much cheaper than Hobby Lobby sells them for too.

These hold sugar, brown sugar and flour.

I have another one for coffee.

All of the dippers were in my window.

I use to hang them to mimic 2 swags.

Here I could not do it because some

have holes and wont work on my tobacco stick.

All nice old ones.

Not sure if I will keep these in the new scheme.

Kind of like the window free of its

tobacco cloth curtain and dippers.

I only covered it because of the ugly window....

but now that we will be getting new ones...

well they might go.

The metal one on the right reminded me of the one

my gramma B had on her farm.

Gramma H always had white ones.

I may just keep these.

Once Bob is ready for paint....

this will need to be moved.

All of it.

But after the other part of the kitchen is finished.

Still deciding on a color.

Decisions Decisions Decisions

                          Dried okra that hung on the opposite wall.

Along with my other drieds that are now

on the spare bed.

The lil wood box holds my dish rags.

Well hopefully I did this display some justice.

On The Fly Blessings To All!

Janice