How I Tamed My Wild Hair, Part 1

I got a wild hair to write this post, and that hair is on my floor in case you were wondering where it was at.

You're used to stopping in here and seeing DIY, with furniture painting, wood re-purposing, sheetrock-mud slinging, and tidbits on how to take junk and make something useful from it.

But outside of those topics believe it or not I have a regular-irregular normal-abnormal life that I don't blog about.

Inspirational Sign For A Certain Boy

When I started blogging a certain little boy was just barely 4 years old.

He's aged a bit and lost those chubby preschool cheeks.

Now he swings a bat, rides anything with wheels, and plays with his little sister, but mostly he likes to hang out with his Grandpa.

I made a positive inspiration sign a couple years ago for his sister.

The kind of sign I hope she reads from time to time, especially as a teenager, and takes the words to heart.

So it makes sense that the certain eight year old should have a sign too, with words I would want him to read as he gets older, and to put into practice.

The sign started out as a smooth piece of MDF and I sponged a coat of Fusion Mineral Paint in Ash as the background.

Letters were cut and placed on the wood, (twice because I messed up but we won't go there) then another coat of Ash was applied to help with bleed under the vinyl before the top color goes on.

For the background color I chose Little Lamb Gray from the new Tones For Tots line of Fusion Mineral Paints.

Little Lamb is a soft gray, the paint goes on excellent, and sadly my jar of it is empty.

A rustic barn wood frame was whipped up by the grandfather.

The quote is said to be an old Indian saying, I didn't come up with it.

How many eight year old's do you know who has their grandfather as their best friend, and how many men do you know who can say they are their sons and their grandsons best friend? 

I hope you can answer "many" to that question.

I can.

The grandfather is still his own four sons best friend.

That is quite an accomplishment to have the people that know you the best, think you are worthy of the title.

It didn't happen by accident.

I believe it's because of the way that man has lived his life, which happens to be relevant to the words on the sign.

So for that certain eight year old boy, the grandfather is a wonderful example of the good wolf.

And that man - the father and grandfather - who continues to make a difference in the lives of his own sons, now has the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the grand kids he loves.

Because he only feeds the good wolf.

Simple Dresser Top To Hold Changing Pad For Baby

I think that's the longest post title I've ever had.  Probably unnecessary, but who cares.

I could have just called it Dresser Pad Holder.  Or Diaper Changer Pad Frame.

Whatever, it's the simple pine frame Brawn built to hold a foam diaper changer from moving around on top of a baby dresser that I redid for daughter #1 who's adding on to her family.

And that was a long sentence to match the long post title.

Decorative Suitcase Thrift Store Decor

Summer is here and so is Thrift Store Decor for June.

The once a month get together of jazzed up thrifted items brought to you by the Thrift Store Decor team of bloggers.

Now grab your travel brochure, because I'm packing your stuff for a quick trip.

There is this chick from Minnesota who knows her way around a paint brush.

Gentleman's Dresser For Baby

The thing about birthing six kids is that inevitably, one by one, they grow up.

Blink, and a couple are feathering their own nests with a mister or missus.

Blink again and you are converting a vintage gentleman's dresser into a diaper station for the new little man that one is preparing to welcome.

I'm pretty tickled about this, just not tickled pink.

I'm tickled Little Gray Lamb.

Cement and Concrete Projects

A couple weeks ago I did a post about This That and The Other Thing, which basically was a stall because I didn't have time to write a new post while we were working on outside projects.

Well guess what?  This is another stall, but with some photos of project progress.

Summer season doesn't really get started in Minnesota till June anyhow, and now that the wet leaves are cleaned up and winter washed away from everything, we can have at projects that seem to move from the to-do list year after year.

New Kitchen Hardware

Once upon a time there was this IKEA Rast hack contest.

Instructions; Hack a plain, unfinished pine IKEA dresser into something that could win votes, and if you placed in the top three you would receive a hardware makeover prize  for a room of your choice from Hickory Hardware.

Life's Ruff Dog Bed

It's a dogs life isn't it? 

Sleep when you want, someone brings you your food, and it's ok not to shave your legs.

Now I'm not claiming for one second I came up with the idea of turning a headboard into a dog bed.  If you look on Pinterest you can find a gazillion of 'em to use as inspiration.

Not only do I not claim stake to the idea, I didn't make this one either.

My ever increasingly talented #2 daughter got out the saws and used her skillz.

She trekked out for a day of garage sales with me and came home with this five dollar twin headboard, which was exactly what she was on the hunt for.

The Dirt On The Potting Bench Sign

If you go through our gate with the watch out for dog-doo sign hanging on it, walk straight toward a shed with a barn cupola on top, take a left, go past the patio with the rock pond, the play ground and the deck, across from the pool, on the far side of the yard at the edge of the woods, wedged between the empty squirrel feeder and some wood for the fire pit ....... you will arrive at the final resting place of my potting bench.

I can get dirty there and it doesn't matter.

This, That, and The Other Thing...

Inevitably when I don't have a DIY project to post for a week, emails start to arrive asking if everything is ok.

I happen to think it's really sweet that my readers, who don't even know me, take time out of their day to drop a note to check in on me.

Just so you know, if I have died, I won't answer the emails.

And I'm fine, but thanks for asking.

I could write a rambling post about nothing, but I've chosen to discuss this that and the other thing.  But really it's a rambling post about nothing.

This time of year we are just so happy for no snow and sunshine, we spend a lot of time doing yard work and removing the snow scum from everything.  Project #2.