Dining Chairs update

I've been working on my dining room chairs for what seems like years but its really been weeks.  I wrote about this dining room set months ago in this post.

I finally got to work on them and it's way more work than I anticipated on.  First they sat in the garage like this:

 Then they looked like this with primer on: 

And this:

I have now put the first coat of paint on and sanded them again, hopefully for the last time.  Here is a sample of what is to come:

Mind you, the above still only has primer on it.  I can't wait until they're finished.  

Here's a side by side of the progress:

I was going to paint them black until I saw this inspirational pic:

As soon as I saw this pic, I new I was going white with orange fabric.  I found my fabric on line at Spoonflower.  

Here's a close up of the fabric:

Hopefully I'm finished first week of September once the kids go back to school!

I began working on the vanity I wrote about in this post.  When I purchased it, it looked like this:

Which looks quite nice but when you get close up, it was in rough shape. 

Here's a closer picture, you can see the damage and the missing knobs:

His another view:

It's very rickety (is that a word?)  I'll have to seal it before I paint it.

This is what I have done so far:

Those above pictures are the mirrors.  I removed them and completely dismantled them.  They were so rickety (that word again) and painted horribly.  I completely stripped them to the wood.  I threw away the mirrors and will have new mirror cut to replace them.  Now I hope I can make them look good because this is the first time I have ever done anything like this. 

I'll post the completed pics ASAP!

I'm Back

I'm back and it's been ages.  My laptop has been down for 3 months and I just got around to getting it working again.  Having an IPhone, I really don't need the laptop anymore.  Except for blogging of course.

Anyways, here's what I've been up to:

Today, on Kijiji, I found this:

(Kijiji is just like Craigslist)



So, I drove over to the lady's house and offered her $50.00 and she took it.  It needs some sanding and repainting though and it is also missing 2 knobs but that's ok. 

I'll have to decide if I want to keep it white or go crazy and paint it turquoise or something!

I know, not much of a post but I'll update the progress ASAP!

Updated, dated light!

Here is a pic of the lovely light that was in our diningroom when we purchased our latest house.  Keep in mind, the house was built in 2000 and this is the light that the original owners actually chose to install at that time.

Not the best pic.  She actually sparkles a whole lot better in real life.

Here is what the room looked like when we purchase the house.

But, the best news is that they didn't just want the diningroom to have all the lighting fun, so they added her match to the front entrance.

Yep, that's her shiny plastic twin sister, except she's bigger!!!  And since the owners loved them so much, they must have decided that dusting them would have ruined their image.

                                          

So, I decided that this diningroom light had to go.  So this is what I came up with:

I hope everyone agrees that it is much more pleasant and up to date than that original plastic thingy!

I'll show you how I did it in my next blog.

P.S.  I haven't done anything with the one in the front entrance.  I don't think they make drum shades to cover that thing.

Spring is springing every where!

Wow, it can't get much better than sunny and 22C or 72F in March!  Our kids are on March break here, so it works out great.  I'm so excited that I just had to drag some patio furniture out to enjoy it.

My youngest, Michael, in the reflextion

My parents are even stealing my idea!  

I want to take you on a tour of my bridge in my backyard, and what better day could we do this on?

Here is the entrance to the bridge

                           

This is the sign at the entrance of the bridge 

Isn't it cute?  It's the previous owners doing.  I love it but, I never would have spent the money on this kind of stuff when their's so much I would rather have inside.  But, I'm sure not complaining they put it here!

This is the little deck that the previous owners built overlooking the creek and next to the bridge.  

                            

I'm standing on the little deck, looking down and enjoying the rapids my youngest built.  Isn't it awesome?  At the bottom of this post I'm going to insert a little video so you can hear my babbling brook!!

                             

It really does babble!!!

                             

My oldest son Matthew (in the blue) and his buddy, crossing the bridge to take the trails to the store!

  

Check out our gate at the other end of the bridge!  Isn't it cute!  Again, I wouldn't have spent the money myself, but hey, it's mine now!!!

Closeup of the gate deer!

Now this sign is at the other end of the bridge.  On the walk trail side.  This is what everyone can see when they walk by.  I remember year's ago walking by this bridge and just imagining, but never expecting it to be mine one day!

The entrance to the bridge from the trail side.  The previous owners put this bench and pots here for people to sit and enjoy.  I could really spruce this up somehow.  Any idea's for me???  Maybe paint the bench a nice bright colour?

Now here's the video of the babbling brook I promised.  I sure can't wait til everything blooms and turns green.  

I added this pic of the window in my kitchen that looks into the pool room.  I took it first thing this morning.  Something about it just made me think of summer days.  I love my two new life rings that you can see through the window, hanging on the pool room wall.  I purchased for $4.99 ea at Michaels.  They're actually  made of wood but you can't tell.  They somehow cheer me up when I look at them.  (They look really tiny in  this picture but they're really not)

Well, thanks for coming on my bridge tour with me on this beautiful day!  Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Canadian Prices vs. American Prices

Today I want to write a blog about the difference in pricing from Canada to the United States.  I live on a border city to the United States.  Here, we know first hand how much cheaper everything costs in the States.  The dollar in the U.S. used to be worth much more than the Canadian dollar but, today the two dollars are virtually worth the same thing.  This is why it bothers me so much that the U.S. get everything cheaper than we do in Canada.

I want to give you some examples today of what its costs us here as opposed to purchasing it over there.

Here are kitchen cabinet pull handles by Martha Stewart from Home Depot in Canada and Home Depot in the U.S.A.  The name varies a bit but I can't tell the difference between the two.  You can click on the name and price below to see the product on it's web page.

Home Depot Canada $5.49                                                                    Home Depot U.S.A. $4.49

(Sorry, apparently Canada can't even get the picture larger)

Here are some more examples....

Home Depot Canada $179.00                            Home Depot U.S.A. $149.00

Again, the two have different names but the product # is identical.  Now how can it be justified to sell the same chandelier to Canadians for $30.00 more.  This kind of money adds up!

Lets continue.....

Lowe's Canada was $498.00 on sale for $398.00    Lowe's U.S.A. was $370.00 on sale for $341.10























That's $56.10 more for the Canadian to pay.  Are you starting to feel my Canadian pain yet?

Let's look at Pier 1.  That store just kills me.  First of all, we do not have the same selection as the U.S. stores, and secondly, I would never shop at the one in Canada because of the prices.

Pier 1 Canada Clearance $409.98                          Pier 1 U.S.A. Clearance $279.98

OK, they don't even try to change the name on this chair.  $130.00 difference?  How can I justify paying this when I can just drive across the bridge and buy it there?

The list could go on and on for ever but for now, I'm going to stop here.  I think that every time I come across a discrepancy in price, I'll add it to this page just so that everyone can feel my pain.  

Secretary Desk Tutorial

A blogger asked me some important questions about my Secretary Desk.  She suggested that I was assuming that people would just know on their own what I was doing, and she was right.  I'm still learning at this Blog stuff so I have to learn not to assume and be specific.  My apologies to everyone.  Therefore, I am now correcting myself and giving a tutorial on how I DIY'd my Secretary Desk.

Firstly, this tutorial is referring to this post that I did in February.  

Here is a pic of the desk when I purchased it. 

In order for me to give it the look I was looking for, I began by sanding it.  Then I decided to try to spray paint it.  This was the first time that I had ever tried spray paint.  This is the Spray Paint that I tried from Home Hardware (Canada)

I did not like the results that I was getting.  As you can see below, it was too blotchy for me.  Maybe if I would have kept it up, it would have turned out but I wasn't willing to try.  

Here is how it was looking with the spray paint.  

So, I decided to switch things up.  I went to Home Depot (Canada) and purchased a gallon of Behr Premium Plus Ultra Interior Semi Gloss Paint and Primer in One.  I bought this because the girl at the desk told me that the spray paint I had used, has oil in it.  Therefore, I now needed to use the primer mixed with the paint in order for it to adhere to the desk.  

I continued painted and let me tell you, it was a lot more work than I anticipated on.  Plenty of coats of paint over and over (I didn't sand in between coats and I probably should have)  I used a new foam roller brush everyday so that I would not have to clean up any rollers.  And, it was difficult to get into all of the cracks and make sure the paint didn't drip.  

When it was finally complete, I add these Cabinet knobs from Home Depot (Canada)

Then I decided that the back of the shelves needed some pizzazz.  I choose this wallpaper from Home Depot (Canada) but I cannot find it on their website.  This website shows the exact same wallpaper.  

And that is how I got this....                                          To look like this.....

Here's a couple more after pics....