Picnic Table

Two weeks ago my wife wanted a picnic table for the garden. So I began the plans to build one. That very day we went for a bike ride and someone had a "free" sign on this one. It didn't look like this as the support rods were broke and it was peeling paint pretty bad. So we rode our bikes home, got the Jeep and put this table on top of the Jeep. We then drove two blocks home about 15 mph. I took it all apart and fixed it up. We might have ten dollars into it so it's a pretty good deal. Let us know when you want to come over for a picnic in the garden!

Arbor Paint

When we first came down here on our Summer vacation we purchased a can of oops paint for the outside of the back porch. Today while looking at the wisteria I thought I had better get that arbor painted as it was only a few inches from latching on. So the oops paint went on and here is the results. Not bad for $5.

A Bed to an Arbor

On Easter my wife and I saw this bed in a dumpster. At least the head board part above. Then we had these slats from another bed and I put two and two together today.
The stakes are to hold it while the cement dries.
It's only partially primered. I do not know what color it will be as of yet. We planted Wisteria last year on either side of it. They are growing so I figured I better get something for them to grow on. It is 8' tall and 6' wide. I think it will do the trick

This old chair

Before my bride and I were together she found this chair which we have had a green blanket thrown over. Today I decided we need to re do this chair. It is a well built chair, so I figured I could rip the fabric off it in an hour or so.
I did find out it was a well built chair and that at least five other times this chair has been redone as the multitude of fabrics left in the back show.
So rather than having this chair done in a day I brought it back into the house to sit proudly where it was until next weekend. You are welcome to sit in it now but I bet the springs will pinch.

Paintings of my wife sleeping with the dogs

The past two months I have been using my wife as a model for some of my watercolor paintings.
All the paintings are entitled "Lucky Dog."

I am the luckiest dog of all however as I get to be in the same bed with her every night and these dogs are just made up.

New Old dresser

It was our Anniversary last weekend so we went up to Kansas City as we heard they have some of the country's best antique stores. We were looking for a real wood dresser and we found this one for a very good price. It was made April 14th, 1950 in Nashville, TN. It is solid Appalachian Beech and is patterned after the French Provincial-Circa 1750. The reason we know that is it had the original brochure that came with the furniture explaining the Louis XV design, care of the wood and construction method. It is our first real piece of furniture we have ever bought together. I imagine some war vet and his bride purchased this shortly after they were married. After a life time the kids probably said sell everything in grandma's house, so it wound up at this store we found it. If God gives us 50 years more then maybe it will be found at another antique store by some recently married couple who just finished remodeling a house on a long summer vacation who will begin purchasing furniture for the house. In turn they will blog or whatever they do then about this 110 year old dresser they found the other day in Paris, France that was made in Nashville, TN. Wait you maybe thinking why would the dresser be found in Paris, France? Are they moving to another country after the summer vacation in Missouri? No, I just was writing that to get your goat. lol

1st project

Remember the commercial for "Life" cereal? They say let's see if Mikey will eat it! Well I say lets see if my wife will work in her new sewing room. Look she likes it, she really likes it.

Mirrors & Sewing

In the bedroom we had the main electrical box that presented a problem. So the other day we went mirror shopping. We want to find 5 or 6 more mirrors and add them to the collection.

The other thing we looked for was a sewing desk. We didn't find anything we thought would fit nice in the backroom. Yesterday while looking at the room we thought what if we made the rack into a desk. So I spent a few hours in the basement using left over wood and below is the outcome. Now we have a sewing desk and storage. It will be nice for my wife because now she has the sewing room overlooking the garden. She is going to make some type of table trim for the desk, which I will show when she is done.

Kitchen now has Pictures on the Wall

For most of my life I have waited until I have painted the perfect picture to go on the wall. Which means I never have art on my wall because I am never happy with the stuff I paint. Kind of like the plumber and his bathroom sink leaks, I am the artist with no art to provide my wife.
So yesterday we got the idea to go to The Goodwill and shop for frames. You can pick up $6.00 frames with art in them. We tore out the art that was in them and printed a few of our favorite photographs from the garden last summer. We then used some mats I had laying under the frame table and framed these three pictures up. So for about $20 we made a nice little grouping.

As you can see above the wall was in need of something. We have been waiting to really decorate the place until the construction was finished. It is nice to finally start the next stage of the project. We were on Room & Board.com the other night. We played a game where we add to the shopping cart all the furnishings we need. We came to a grand total of $11,282.00. We hope to do the same buying second hand and building things, but yet not spending anywhere near $11,282.00. If you want to see what we would pick out if money was no object, please send your check to us for $11,282.00 and we will show you. ;)

Our Christmas Story

Christmas Eve my wife pulled out her sewing machine to make Boo Boo a present. Using left over red fleece from a jacket she made she created a "Mo Mo."
At least that is what we are calling him.
Boo Boo did leaps for Mo Mo. (Say that five times fast.) I think I even heard him say, "all I want for Christmas is a Mo Mo. If I could have a Mo Mo I would never want for anything ever again. I won't chew his eye out, I promise."
So we gave him Mo Mo and if I were you I wouldn't stick my hand under that desk and try to take it away.
Growing up in California I never saw a real white Christmas. (Living up North snow was on the ground already when Christmas arrived.) On Christmas Eve we dropped from 50 to 27 degrees and this white stuff fell from the sky. Christmas morning our garden was covered. I have storm windows over the spinach however so it is still providing food for us under that snow. One of the nice things about Missouri is, all that snow will be gone in a few days.

How to Make a Coat Rack in 30 minutes or less

When we come into the house we throw our coats on the couch. When we want to sit on the couch we throw our coats somewhere else. So we thought, "hey lets buy a coat rack." Everything was made in another country. We use to make stuff in our country but now we just buy stuff and other countries make stuff. In fact I hear they even borrow us the money to buy stuff from them. So anyways, before I go off track, here is a simple guide on building a coat rack yourself.

First thing is to go into your basement and find a scrap of wood.
Set up your saw horses made in China. Cut the wood to size on your Chinese made saw that you bought for under a $100 at the Home Depot.
Notice the sticker on the back of the wood that you bought at the Home Depot. This is going to be a multi-national project.
Cut the ends at 30 degrees with your saw made in China.
Mark a hole with a pencil, made in Indonesia and tape measure made in the USA of all places, every 4".
Drill 1/2" dia holes, 1/2" deep into the wood, using your drill made in China, that you bought for under $100 at the Home Depot. Sand with your $50 Black & Decker Belt Sander made in the Philippines.

Glue 3 pegs from Indonesia into the coat rack and insert two pegs into a scrap board from Sweden, but do not glue these two pegs. You will need them later.

Using a can of primer spray paint made in Korea, apply two coats.

Ten minutes after the primer is dry, spray two coats of finish color on.

Finally using a level, mark the two outside holes, pre drill and attach to wall. Glue in the last two pegs and hang your hat, made in China and your jacket made in Bangladesh.

In the end this guy would never buy an $8.00 coat rack made in China. I would make it myself because I am part Irish!

This posting and coat rack was proudly made in Missouri.

Pumpkin Pie

For Halloween we purchased this pumpkin for the table.
My beautiful wife cut it up today and made a few cups of
this orange stuff.
Then she poured it into this homemade crust and stuck it in the oven.

Out came the best pumpkin pie I have ever had. I didn't know pie could taste so good!

Being the seed saver my wife is she set aside all these for the garden next year.

Wow! I am so lucky.

It was a great Thanksgiving!

Paint & Treasures from the Dumpster

This past weekend we painted the back room, installed the light and the face plate covers on the outlets.
Yesterday I drove by a dumpster and spotted two picture frames next to it. One of which we took the cardboard painting out of and replaced it with foamcore, covered by fabric. We cut a hole out for the thermostat and now my wife has a place to stick ideas right above her desk. It is nice to have a frame shop in the studio because of the tools that makes quick work of a project like this. We thought about showing a "how to" demonstration on the blog, but you know how you feel when you watch New Yankee Workshop and Norm has all those cool tools that you don't have. (yeah me too)

The Finished Desk

Today the desk was finished. We put a little cabinet door, with some screen that we painted with the same color as the desk top.

The door knob came from an auction that I went to in Wisconsin. Who knew at that time it was meant for a desk.

My wife found this fabric that we outlined the desk top with.

Here is the finished product, right off the kitchen. I am now finishing up a printer stand that matches the desk.

Bikes & bricks

There is a bike trail by our house that we try to do 8 miles a day on. On this bike trail there are plenty of old bricks and rocks. Every day we pick up a brick or two and cart them home on our bike to put around the garden beds. Some people think we are placing them on the bikes for resistance training but now you blog readers know the truth.

The desk

So here is the desk from the floor boards that came out of the back room. The top of the desk is a section of moulding that came out of the house as well. I figure my wife can put pictures of her favorite guy on there. Maybe she will even put one of me up there. :) Now we still have a few more things to do to the desk but this is as far as I got today.

Storm gifts & washing the desk

Today we had a great storm, in which the power was out, trees were down and most schools were closed. As far as I know everyone is ok. It was a blessing to us because last year when I trimmed the trees there were two branches I couldn't reach. The storm did it for me. I took the branches and made something for the tomatoes to grow on. My bride replanted some uprooted plants and weeded a few of the beds. It always looks so nice when she is done with that. Here she is working on the sweet corn bed. While she did that I scrubbed the floor boards that use to be the floor in the back porch. You can't tell right now but those are actually a desk for my wife.......well, just wait until tomorrow and you will be able to see that a little easier.