so long summer, renovations just around the corner

I have to face it, my bathing suit may not see the light of day until next year.  With the chillier weather comes the fairly long list of projects that we want to accomplish over the extended fall/winter/rain/slush/snow/cold weather of New England.

Although the table saw and chop saw have made a lovely addition to my hallway for the last few months, I am ready to move them back into storage! 

I've found that creating an overall list is just too overwhelming, so we are just going to take it room by room.  There are a few functional things that need to be done such as nailing in the baseboards in the office/guest room and laying the flooring in the master bedroom.

as well as a few fun projects such as building a tabletop for our antique sewing machine stand and antiqueing a mirror.



So needless to say we have a busy winter ahead of us, but what better way to spend a snowy Saturday than inside with our cats with the sound of a tablesaw?

back into the swing of things

Alright, so I redesigned my blog - gave myself a logo (Thanks Jonah!), deleted a lot of clutter and made it cleaner and easier to navigate - enjoy! Now I get to go through my piles of saved blogs, images and wesbites and share them with all of you - stay tuned for tons of inspiring ideas!

might as well face it, i'm addicted to design shows

I am pretty much hooked on watching anything to do with renovating and redecorating.  I must admit, I do get rather opinionated when I watch. While I love some of the ideas, I must say that I have gasped at a few choices made by the home owners and even the designers.  I understand there is a lot of pressure to always be creating something new and exciting to keep the viewers watching, but painting a couch or using a color the owner specifically asked NOT to use does not jive well with me. 

My latest fascination is with HGTV's Design Star. I would LOVE to be on that show with my husband to see how we would compete.  I would like to think we would kick a** and win, but put us in front of a camera and on a timeline and my whole opinion of that might change. I would just love to see how we would match up against these more professionaly trained interior designers!  I think I might email HGTV......

a decorating spoof

Just had to add this to my blog after one of my friends posted it on Facebook. Catalog Living is a funny spoof on the pages of well known catalogs.  Great reading for a little chuckle!

craigslist freebies

I check the craigslist free section every day to see what goodies I can find.
Found this today, want it, but no where to put it.......it was in Stoneham, MA if you are interested, just don't tell me if you get it.......I might come by and steal it!

attic renovation

I would buy a cape just so I could do this. Check out the details at This Old House

habitat for humanity's re-store (buy or donate)

"ReStore sells reclaimed, surplus, or recycled building materials—all donated—with the proceeds going to fund the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate."


Haven't been yet, but looking forward to checking it out.  Wish I had know about this when we were ripping out all of our kitchen cabinets!!!!


ReStore Locations
North Shore Mag Article 

ikea and black and blue fingers

3 things I need to remember about Ikea.....(1) I cannot just "run in" to get something (2) the boxes are always heavier than I think or remember (3) the great price of Ikea is off set by the fact that my fingers were black and blue after using an allen wrench for a few hours.

They do have some great stuff, but you do have to be willing to do the whole self serve thing....writing down the aisle and bin number, getting it off the shelf, maneuvering their "sliding" carts through the checkout lines and the parking lot, loading up your car (hoping that everything fits!!!) and then somehow managing to get it into your house........and then you can sit down and begin the adventure of putting it together.  I must admit the directions are very easy to follow and generally come with all the tools you need.