Crafty in Canada

Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Daycare Organizer!

One of my best friends runs her own daycare. You know, to help make ends meet and be able to stay home and raise her own kids. She works hard in order to do the best for her family.

BUT...as all you parents know. Being a full time mom, running a day care and running a small business (she also does that and more) doesn't leave a lot of time for organizing.

Now remember this?

It's an old dresser I picked up from the lady who has that barn...furniture..you can read about it HERE
So I wanted to do something special to help my friend out.
And this dresser was begging to be used for something other than sitting in a barn..or for that matter in my workshop.
It was low enough for her kids...but it only had two drawers. Not completely ideal for a daycare and the space she wanted to use it in.
She needed something in her entrance way. Something that would help organize all the kids and her stuff, and still look good.
Then the other day I stopped in at the ReStore. If I don't find things I can use, I often get ideas there.
Well wouldn't you know it..I found something I could use, I mean something my friend could use.

Do you see where I'm going with this?
I thought you might.
I married the two pieces.
She requested Black...so black is what she now has.

Amazing what a little bit of paint can do!

The lettering on the drawers are for her own children.

I added lettering to the rest of the boxes instead of the expected numbers.

I know the pics are not the best, but it's almost 11 pm and I really wanted to share with you.
Hope you had a productive Wednesday!
:)

Sharing:
Uncommon Designs Online
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Decorating Insanity
The 36th Avenue
Redoux
Stuff and Nonsense
Miss Mustard Seed
Two Sasters

Sunday, 11 March 2012

Some great finds.

The weekend is over again. Tomorrow I'm starting a few new projects and will hopefully remember to take before pics.

We had a great weekend at the cottage, opening it up and getting it ready for the season. Unfortunately the weather didn't allow me to spend any time in the garage working on the things that have been waiting my attention since last fall.

BUT we did get out to the Re Store and a couple of thrift stores. Picked up a few things.

We found this simple but wonderful mirror at the Re Store. It's going to get painted white and have a bit of distressing. It will be replacing the mirror in our half bath. $10 SCORE! :)

Found this wonderful old wine bottle at a thrift store. I thought the shell design was perfect for the cottage.

Now these I bought at an auction sale last fall and left at the cottage over winter. They are completely hand carved. Even the lines that make you think are planks of wood are carved. They really are an incredible piece of art.

Now this is an old milk can I picked up almost 2 years ago and have used it as is for our umbrellas. Very 1980's isn't it? Time for an update I think :)

I am super pleased with this find at a thrift store this weekend. I'm not going to change a thing about it. It's a stone bottle from Holland (the land of my birth). It just brings back such wonderful memories and I consider myself lucky to have found it :) Yup...sentimental for some things. :)

So blue was my colour of choice for everything.

Soooo much better don't you think?

I did a bit of highlighting with a simple white. This isn't done, but it is so much better!

I used a primer on this then painted it and when it was just about dry I took some of the paint off to let some of the glass show through.

Then I let it dry over night and did a very light sanding in order to just remove a bit of the top layer of paint to allow the primer to show through. I think I'm going to add a bit of wax next weekend to just add one more layer to it. But I really love it and it's just perfect for the cottage.

I really struggled with painting this, but after doing it, I think I made the right choice.

I highlighted it and left it. I'm not sure what else I should do with them. I'm open to ideas. I really think they should be framed, but not exactly sure how, or what would enhance them.

The details are simply amazing. I wish I could have taken better pics of them.

That's all I have for today. I hope your weekend was as wonderful and relaxing as mine was.

Sharing:
Momma Hens Coop
Graphics Fairy Brag Monday
DIY Show OFF
Embellishing Life Everyday
Knick Of Time
Adventures of a DIY mom
Uncommon Designs Online
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Stuff and Nonsense

Friday, 9 March 2012

Cottage time.

I was going to write a blog last night, but it was a busy day with opening the cottage. I literally started, then went to sit down with my husband for a min and fell asleep!

I think my body needed it.

But I'm back..better late than never.

First. I want to say a HUGE thank you to Mr. Smith of The Smith Garage for honouring me with the Liebster Blog award!

What is that? you may ask.

Well.

For those who haven't heard of it before, the award is designed to recognize and promote blogs that have less than 200 followers.

I can't tell you how blessed I feel whenever another blogger appreciates my hard work!

1) Thank the person that gave it to you. THANK YOU Mr. Smith!!

2) Link back to their blog

3) Put the award in your blog

4) Present the award to 3-5 blogs with less than 200 followers

5) Leave a comment to let those blogs know that you've recognized their awesomeness!

The five blogs that I so ~~Drool over~~ follow are:

Decorating Insanity

Chic Staging and Design

Adventures of a DIY Mom

Full Circle Creations

Art Is Beauty

There are so many other blogs I follow or love that it was really hard to pick just 5.

And on top of that, a good friend of mine just started her own blog. She makes the cutest things for kids, so I'm going to add her to this list as well.

Check her out at

Shelby Styles

Now onto the main event....the COTTAGE!

We've been cottage owners now for 7 years. I can not imagine NOT owning one now. A year and a half ago we sold our old cottage and bought a different one. There is a long story behind it..but I won't bore you with those details today.

We LOVE our cottage. BUT we want to make changes to it. However our budget isn't huge :(

Ohhh so many things I would love to do. But this no money thing is forcing me to get creative.

First order of business this year is our kitchen (and bathroom upstairs)

This is what our kitchen looked like last night.

Please don't mind the mess. We were just unloading, unpacking and getting set up for the season.

The fridge is going to be moved! I am thinking of putting a hutch in there or a wardrobe? What do you think?

We are also going to paint the cabinets Dark lower and light upper? The counter is being replaced..I'm thinking tile? And the tile on the wall is going. More tile.

That opening is wonderful, but we are going to make it go right down to the counter.

Obviously the window covers are getting replaced and a new colour is getting picked for the walls. The door fronts on the drawers are getting replaced as well.

We already have a new microwave (thanks to a friend of mine)

The stove is ugly, but it works great!

The Fridge will go in this corner and I'm going to try my hand at making an island out of an old dresser :)

This is the back entry. My father in law made that shoe holder thing. My husband does not want me to paint it...but I'm still hoping to change his mind.

What do you think of the American flag? I bought that at a yard sale last summer for 50 cents! It's paint on canvas! I sooooo want a Canadian one (since we do live in Canada) LOL

That's it for today. We've done all our measuring and we will be heading to the re-store this afternoon to see if we can get inspired!

Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

Sharing on these wonderful sites:
Pandoras Craft Box
Decorating Insanity
Five days Five ways
Two Sasters
The Shabby Nest
Fingerprints On the Fridge

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Dresser to Bench

Have you ever been just so excited by a project you couldn't stop till you had it done? and then done just right?

The other day I was looking around at all the blogs and something caught my eye.

The wonderful women over at

Chic Staging had created something that just made me itch to try it.

You can see it HERE

Isn't she just the cutest bench?

I was soooooooo in luv!!

So I contacted Kamille and asked her if she minded me "stealing" her idea. She was so gracious and kind and gladly gave me her blessing.

Lucky for me. I didn't have to search any farther than my own workshop for a dresser that would work wonderfully for this.

Isn't this wonderful?

Top was all cut up and one of the drawers was missing.

Honestly I felt bad for the guy selling this. He had no idea what to do with it and it was strapped together with wires. I wish I had taken a pic of it in it's original shape. This was after a bit of fixing up.

I'm getting off topic here. (I do that at times...lol)

So here she is all dressed up (don't mind the pillows. I ran into my daughters room and stole some from her reading nook.

Isn't she sweet?

I primed, painted, glazed, then distressed and sealed it.

These handles came off another project, and are at least 100 years old. I thought they went perfectly with this.

I decided to finish the back as well so it can be put anywhere and still look good.

Original wooden key holes, and the locking mechanism still works! I love that :)

I added lots of trim to dress it up just a bit. :)

So what do you think? Even my 22 year old 6'3" son loves it! That is saying a lot! lol

Now I have another one that I was thinking of doing the same thing to, but different colour. However my husband just informed me he has his own idea on what he wants to do with that one.

This could be interesting...lol

Sharing on these wonderful sites:
Knick of Time Interiors
Not Just a Housewife
Uncommon Designs Online
Momma Hens Coop
Thrifty Decor Chick
Crafty, Crappy Happy
The Vintage Farmhouse
Adventures of a DIY Mom
Pandoras Craft Box
Decorating Insanity
Miss Mustard Seed
Mom 4 Real

Monday, 5 March 2012

Dresser turned Credenza

Remember me posting that I had picked up a bedroom set? HERE

I painted the bedside tables.

Now it was time to move on to the dresser.

Here is the semi before pic.

Very dated and ugly and well you get the picture. The legs were ho-hum and the doors just didn't make sense.

So I took off the doors, painted the inside and had my awesomeness of a husband cut the whole bottom off. Then...... it turned into something I can only describe as amazing!