I started it! I did, I did!

 No brickwork yet but I got a good start on the prep work. The porch is mostly finished. The wood was so damaged that I panelled over the old wood. I also built the porch foundation and added "wrought iron" porch supports to replace the damaged original posts.

 The door and shutters may become solid blue but I want to see how they look against the brick first. Some of the shutters didn't survive the original demolition so neither of the bays will have them.

 The trim is painted for all of the windows but not put in place yet. The bay windows will be white at the top and brick from the window sills down.

Some days just don't go quite as planned

 My planned task for today was to work on the exterior of the house after running a few errands in town. I ended up spending a good part of the day with Daughter#1 and running the errands. By the time I got home I didn't have time for starting a big project so I did a couple of smaller ones instead. The kitchen project was a very simple one. I put in the trim piece to separate the linoleum from the wood floor of the dining room. I also added yet another coat of paint to the stairwell wall and added a trim piece to cover a large slot in the stairwell where the two stories connect. I don't have a photo of that, though.

One of my stops while I was in town was Hobby Lobby. I bought an unfinished hutch and turned the top half into the bookcase for Davy's room. The top shelf will actually hold books. The other shelves showcase some of his favorite things.

If there's time tomorrow I really am planning to work on the exterior. I think it will go fairly quickly if I like the brick I plan to use. I guess we'll find out tomorrow!

Just a bit of color

 Most of the pole lamps I've seen from the 50s have colored shades - usually in pink, white, and turquoise. I wasn't sure how to make them colored until I used nail polish on the canisters.

The polish worked well on the lamp shades, too. It's all coming together, detail by detail.

Teacher In Service Day...

...is a lovely thing when you are an instructional assistant rather than a teacher. I got the day off so I conquered some of the household chores and spent time making the inside of the Westville look lived in. I know, I know, I said I'd work on the exterior today. There were just too many other fun things demanding my attention so the fun things won. ;-)

Pie from my friend, Brenda, recipes from pinterest, and I made the recipe box.

I made the lamps last night. Today I made books and the alarm clock. The drinking glass part of a pencil from the dollar store.

A closer view of the alarm clock - made from a hearing aid battery and a scrap of  wood.

 The living room looks a bit more lived in, too.

 Until I can find just the right cat, the scotty dog will fill the spot on the television.

 Looks like it's game night at the Sherwoods. No wonder Davy is so excited to see Dad. The Monopoly game came from a printie I found on Pinterest.The Lone Ranger game was made from a photo of the vintage game. It doesn't open.

I found some of the things I'd purchased for Davy's room. The cowboy boots are buttons. The little blue house is from a Monopoly game. The fishing pole has been in my stash forever. The baseball, glove and bat were purchased for this project. I used permanent markers to spruce up the car and cannon game pieces. I still want to make a shelf for this room.

There is still room for more things to make this house look lived in but I'm running out of excuses to get started on the exterior. Hmmm, maybe I'll make that shelf now...

Creative repurposing

 I used 4 small desiccant canisters to make enamel canisters with stainless steel lids. Both colors are nail polish. The "pyrex" were made from white measuring spoons. I cut the handles off, sanded the rims and bottoms, and painted them with nail polish.

 Here are the canisters in place.

 The bowls on the counter....

I sanded off the pie top and turned it in to a bowl of soapy water. I will have touch up painting to do once the glue is dry but I am much happier. I have a beautifully scaled apple pie made by my friend, Brenda, that will look much better in this kitchen. Brenda also made the apples in the bowl on the counter.

My next project this evening will be lamps for the bedside tables in the master bedroom. I'll be back tomorrow with updates.

It's starting to look like home

 Thank goodness for curved manicure scissors! I wouldn't have been able to cut the flying ducks out with my regular craft scissors. You can't tell in the photo but I embossed them to give them some dimension on the wall.

 While Davy and the dog greet Dad at the door, we can just see the new art piece on the wall to the right of the bay window.

 Mrs. Sherwood is dabbling in a bit of modern (mid century modern, anyway) art. She's not too sure about it even though the colors go beautifully with the rest of the room. That's why it's hidden a bit from the first view of the room. Of course, that lamp is going to highlight the piece but we won't point that out to her. I really like it. ;-)

The bedroom picture is of flying sea birds. The pinks and blues look nice in this room.

There's still a lot to do inside and I haven't really done much with the exterior. Monday is a teacher in-service day at school so I get a day off. Yay for play days! I hope to make some major progress. I love working on a new project but I'd like to have my dining room table back again. Fingers crossed for a productive Monday.

It's the Little Things

 The kitchen now has curtains and a few more small details.

 Mrs. Sherwood's ginormous pie is really starting to bother me. If I grind out the bowl with my Dremel what would be better in such a large bowl? I'm not sure I can get the inside smooth enough to make it just an empty bowl. Ideas?

 I made a brief visit to Hobby Lobby today and found a few more pantry items. It's full enough to seem like a real pantry but I still have room if I want to add something later.

 The last project for this evening was these nightstands for the master bedroom. I still need to seal them but I'll wait until the glue is completely dry.

I think they look good in the room.They will look better with lamps, books, alarm clock, etc. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Shedding a little light on the subject

I didn't have a lot of time to mini today so I worked on a tray project (something I can do while sitting on the couch with a tray on my lap.) My little boy's cowboy room needed a table lamp. The Monopoly cowboy/horse piece was perfect for what I wanted to do. Hubby was not a fan of me using the one from our game so I bought a set of pieces from an Etsy seller. The other pieces will be used as toys in this project or in some future one. The first photo is my inspiration. The second is the lamp I made. I used a different shade that I found in a photo online.

I really should be heading to bed

...but I have to share the living room with the knotty pine paneling. I also did some staging in the kitchen.

 First, the kitchen - Mrs. Sherwood is happily cooking away in her new kitchen. She still needs curtains on the windows, a clock, and some artwork but this room is nearly complete.

 I even started filling the pantry. I was asked about the cabinets and appliances today. For anyone who hasn't been following this project from the beginning, I purchased the basic lower cabinets and appliances but everything was all white. I sanded, painted, and redid the pieces to get the 50s look I wanted. The two upper cabinets were kits but I made the corner shelves and joined the two cabinets.

 The knotty pine paneling looks so good. I'm happy with the color and the thin wood was very easy to cut with an exacto or even craft scissors. The curtains were made from coffee filters and the carpet is scrapbook paper. This room needs artwork and I need to finish the front door. The tables need "stuff", too. I want the house to look lived in.

Mr. Sherwood approves of the makeover. He was getting tired of coming home to renovations. I'm not sure he's going to be too happy when the exterior brick work starts. :-)

Have a great week!

Pining away...and kitchen update

 I'm using a brown Sharpie to add knots to my panels. They are cut to size and I used the back of the knife to score the planks. I mixed a custom stain. Once stained I lightly traced the plank lines with a pencil and sealed the wood. I'll finish the others then see how easy or difficult it will be to work around the windows and door. I'm pleased with the look, though, so it will be worth the effort.

The upper cabinets are installed, as is the range fan. All that's left is the detail work in this room. That's the fun part!

The upper cabinets are finished

 After playing around with the upper cabinets I decided I liked the open shelves on the outside.That makes the doors open backwards from normal but I am going with it anyway. I found a wood scrap from a previous project with a nice shape to use as the separator between the cabinets. Rather than a range hood I'm planning to use a photo of a vintage wall mounted fan.

I also made the counter tops a bit more gray to give more contrast between the counters and the wallpaper. I may have a finished kitchen to show later today. The current project is turning thin birch ply sheets into knotty pine paneling. I should have something to write about later, anyway. :-)

Early morning progress

It's a white out...

Or at least it was for a short time in the Westville. I got rid of the dreary colors and dirt with a couple of coats of Gesso in both lower level rooms then got started on the kitchen. I made great progress today.

 Even with one window boarded up the kitchen looks ten times brighter. The ceiling had never been painted and the staircase was left the plain plywood color with no sealer or anything on it. The wood was so dry it just soaked up the paint.

 Please excuse the blue tape. The living room bay was falling off. I don't have photos but the porch had some demolition work done today, too. After some research, I am excited about the exterior now. I don't know what I'm going to do with the living room floor but I am currently leaning towards knotty pine on all the walls. (I know - what am I thinking?) It's a lot of work but it's appropriate for the time period and I think it will look really cool.I love the knotty pine I did in the wall house that represents my inlaws home.

 I love the kitchen! Once I get the upper cabinets and shelves in place with a range hood the large expanse of busy wallpaper will be toned down. I am pleased with how bright and cheerful this room is. I plan to make some gingham valances or cafe curtains for the three windows. I got some canned goods from hubby for Christmas but I will need to make more food to fill up that pantry.

The dining nook has white washed plank flooring. The replacement windows look good, too. I was pleased to find three window frames that survived the demolition. That made at least that part go quickly.

Tomorrow we are helping our daughter and her family move so I won't be doing any mini work. I will get back to it next week. Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

While Hubby's Away, I Get to Play...With the Dollhouse

 Today was very productive, at least in the Sherwood house. (I did go to work then come home and run and unload the real dishwasher and make dinner so all was not lost in the real world, lol.) Sometime last summer my husband found some nice sized pieces of very thin tree bark that he thought I might be able to use. I chopped them into nice plank size using my paper cutter. I glued them in place and weighted them down with cookbooks while they dried. Then I sanded them down and put a light coat of matte Mod Podge on the floor to seal it. It looks great! I also finished the hall window - although what possessed me to wait until all the walls were in place before putting the trim on, I'll never know. I'm glad my hands aren't any larger or the window would just be trim less.

 The master bedroom may be my favorite so far. My carpet piece wasn't quite large enough to cover the entire lumpy floor so I laid more of my plank flooring around the outer edge of the floor and fastened the carpet down in the middle. No more ugly zebra felt! I am changing out the windows as I go. The ones original to the house were in really bad shape. These look a bit more contemporary as if the Sherwoods replaced all the windows as they redecorated their home. This room has the new windows and trim and all the baseboard in. I need to make nightstands and then add artwork and accessories so it looks like they really live here. The decor is fairly traditional except for the colors and bedroom set. I'm very happy with the drapes and cornice.

I got a start on the kitchen, too. The pantry shelves are in place and I did some work on the stairs. No pictures of that yet because it's still really ugly. I have to think on that problem some more. At least I have the gaps filled and the steps no longer move. That's progress, I guess.

Hubby has quartet practice tomorrow evening so I will have time to work on the kitchen. I'm still pondering about the living room. The interior is coming together very nicely. I hope I'm as happy with my brick exterior as I am so far with the inside. Fingers crossed!

Stay tuned for more progress.

Davy's Room

 This room is mostly finished now. I still need to do baseboard, glue the door in place, and add a lamp, ceiling fixture, and toys and books and other little boy things.

This photo is without the door so you can see the window shutter. I decided on that rather than a curtain. I think I will add a small bookcase at this end of the room on the door wall. There's not really room for a desk but I can fit a bookcase in here.

The cowboy wallpaper came from Jennifer's Printables.