Gearing up for a Country Pine Re-do

I've been trying to get a handle on cleaning out collections and brightening up my surroundings.  When we first built Bliss Ranch we had 4 kids, and then added two more in the early house decorating stages.  I picked things out by if it would show jelly or fruit juice, not by what I maybe really wanted.  I was being practical.  I also wasn't in my right mind (or body either!)  since I made those choices while pregnant.  And would you really trust anyone who might crave pickles and ice cream with your decorating?

 So I have these two pine pieces Mr. Bliss made with a big pine log, part of which was our Christmas tree, back when I didn't want white around for fear I'd constantly be cleaning it.  It's a nice piece, solid, and I don't hate it, I just want to update and brighten it, we have a lot of wood in our house.  It is top on my project list, along with the matching pine farm table.  My more rustic tastes from then have changed.  I plan to use something from the Graphics Fairy, along the lines of my all time favorite table designer Korrie at Red Hen Home.  I love her *chocolate table*, take a peek at her table, and she made some other ones too that are all my inspiration. 

Till I have a chance to pick up some of the famous Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, I added some white salad plates and some antique pine cone cups to brighten it up.  My daughter also makes those cute little stamped vintage silverware things and had a box of supplies sitting on my desk.  Soooo, in keeping with the cleaning up and decluttering going on, I took it off my desk, picked what I liked, fetched a metal tray that was heading to the Good Will, and put it all to use in a spot that has been famously empty unless there is a holiday.

The hardest thing around here is to say the words "painting wood".  Mr. Bliss loves the grain, the smell, the feel, the look of all things wood.  So I have to mentally prepare him for the assault on the dining room furniture.  I hope to start work on this next week if I can find a place in Minnesota with the paint.  What color ASCP would you use?

More Stones for Fiona

What a great name.... Fiona.  Fiona has a blog called Just paint it white here and she left me a comment to see more rocks!  So I went in to my photo albums to see what I have, because Lord knows I wasn't doing any dusting today so I could take photos.  I found a couple outside:

This is a photo of a patio pond Mr. Rough-Hewn Brawn got a wild hair to create.  I didn't really want anything else that needed to be maintained, but secretly I love it.  We have our own babbling brook to listen to on beautiful evenings.  Just not this time of year, it's cold in Minnesota and it's frozen!

On the left is one of the two stone pillars at the very start of the quarter mile long driveway into Bliss Ranch.  We had a wedding here a couple years ago hence the decoration thing hanging on it.  Then on the right, I have glass jars around the house that I didn't know what to do with, so for now they hold rocks.  Just like my head. ~Bliss~

I've got rocks in my head

Yup.  It's official.
 
I've got rocks in my head.

Why?  Because I'm the lady who doesn't like Facebook 'cause then everyone knows your business' - yet here I am sharing info on a blog!

On purpose.   Crazy I say.