A Vintage Radio Dollhouse Begins

Soon after a certain five year old was born, I started to think about the dollhouse I would craft for her in a few years.

Before - front of the dollhouse

And it didn't look anything like this dirty dusty vintage radio.

Pink Play Kitchen Featured At Bob Vila

When I was just a young pup - so long ago now I don't even remember when that was - Brawn and I would tune in to channel 13 and watch This Old House.

That was long before DISH, Direct TV, cable, the internet, and the plethora of home improvement shows.

Norm and Bob showed folks the tips and tricks to do DIY the right way.  Their show was how I learned what dovetailing drawers was, and how tedious renovating an old house could be.

Painted Pinstripe Wall

Choosing South Cypress For Tile

One of the hardest things for me in decorating has always been picking colors.

You too?  Well I've done the legwork for 'ya on choosing a tile place. 

It doesn't matter what it is - carpet, wood, tile, walls, counter - the color selection agony doesn't change for me.

Putting patterns and colors together does not come naturally to me.

I've gotten it wrong as many times as I've gotten it right, and it is not a wonderful thing when you choose the wrong tile only to make that observation after it's glued and grouted.

Or painting dining room walls four times in three days because you are SURE the color is perfect.... each time.

Yes that really happened, I'm surprised my husband even lets me pick paint anymore.

Stuffed Dog House

Last weekend a certain nine year old wanted to build his little sister a dog house for her stuffed dog.

He rounded up some 'additional help' and they discovered he didn't have enough raw product.

At least that's the way the 'additional help' - also known as #3 son, told the story.

So #3 son rounded up #1 dad, who located scraps of wood to make the toy dog house that the certain nine year old wanted to make for his little sister.  Got that?

A dog house is a pretty straight forward design, and I was not consulted in the least on this.  Probably for the best as I would have over complicated the job.

The completed dog house showed up on the dining room table with the instruction, "you can paint this if you want".

Well I wanted.

DIY Sink Forms for Poured Concrete Counters

If you are following along you might recall that we are redoing a Jack & Jill bathroom,
{here} & {here}, which was really a Jill & Jill set up that we are now making into a Jack & Jack bathroom.

Confused?

Don't be.  All you need to know is that we are taking the mid 1990's out of the bathrooms and putting in a bit of the new millennium.

One of the updates will be poured concrete counters. 

Brawn has done these many times before; we have a concrete topped small entertainment center, two other concrete bath vanities, and he poured kitchen counters for a friend.

How I Clean Old Furniture Hardware

Have you ever bought a vintage or antique piece of furniture and the knobs and handles look like they have been around since the dawn of time?

Me too.

The thought of scrubbing all those doo-dads used to turn me off to making the purchase or if I did buy, I wouldn't reuse the knobs it came with -  I'd just buy new hardware or search in the garage for old hardware that was less cruddy looking.

Perfect Linens Perfect Sheet Set Winner

Someone is getting a Valentines Day gift and

it won't melt or add inches to the thighs.

Cupid shot his arrow through number 42 for a win on a

set of Perfect Linens Second Skin Sheets.

 Congratularions to Gail, #42.

Didn't win?  You can still order a set for yourself with a 15% discount 

at Perfect Linens by using the code in red below.

Being Married To A Blogger, A Valentine Q&A

Last year Cassie from Primitive and Proper and myself decided to host a bunch of bloggers and do something fun where we had our significant others answer questions about us titled "So I Married A Creative _______".

It was a hit and this year the torch was passed on to a new group of ladies who interviewed their Valentine to see what they think of being married to a blogger.

Those ladies graciously invited me to participate in this man torture with them, thank you Claire for including me.

Upcycled Birthday Calendar

Welcome to Thrift Store Decor for February, where every month a group of talented bloggers turn a cast off item into a treasure.

This month's project is one of my favorites, I tend to like personalized ones.

A Sweet Perfect Linens Perfect Sheet Giveaway

Last summer I was given the opportunity to review a sweet sheet set from Perfect Linens.

I loved my sheet set then, and I love it now.

And my best-friend-forever Thomas - who is the big Kahuna at Perfect Linens - wants to give one of the Bliss Ranch readers the chance to get between a set of his sheets.