by Wendy Scheel | Jul 2, 2016 | Life, Sidenote Saturday
“Roll out the barrel, we’ll have a barrel of fun…Roll out the barrel, we’ve got the blues on the run!”
Thank you Bobby Vinton for writing this festive song, The Beer Barrel Polka. 🙂
Although this isn’t a barrel of beer, it has probably supplied a lot of fun for a lot of people.
When Jack found this pristine original Jim Beam barrel advertised on Facebook at a local store, he rushed downstairs and told me that his Dad NEEDED this.
Wade is a lover of Jim Beam. His end-of-the-work-week celebration is always a fishing pole in one hand, and a cocktail glass in the other.
He always puts three ice cubes…..hold on, can I stop here for a minute? Thank you. I am not exaggerating when I say that he literally always puts three ice cubes in a glass. Not four, not two but three ice cubes in his glass every time and then he pours Jim Beam over them. Just enough to cover the ice, and not one drop more.
But here’s the thing, when we go to a nice restaurant he asks for a glass of Jim Beam with three ice cubes too.
And I always think “What if their ice cube maker makes larger cubes?” “What if they only have crushed ice?” “What if…” but then I just smile and listen to him order Jim Beam with three ice cubes. Gotta let him do whatever makes him happy. 🙂
Moving on.
Jack drove to the store, somehow loaded this beast in and brought it home. I tried to help him bring it into the house, but this thing is H.E.A.V.Y.
We ended up rolling it from the garage to Wade’s office and placed it between his two black club chairs.
Then we waited.
We waited seven long hours for him to get home from work. His routine is as follows: come in the door, put his keys on the key hook, take off his shoes and then walk to his office and drop off his briefcase. This man is a creature of habit **cough cough** three ice cubes **cough cough**
When we heard the garage door go up, Jack bolted downstairs and plopped himself on the couch. I was already strategically stationed at the dining table.
Again, we waited for what seemed like seven more hours as Wade came in the door, put his keys on the key hook, took off his shoes and walked into the office.
I was worried that he wouldn’t notice right away. That may seem farfetched, but this is a man who never noticed that I wallpapered this wall:
Or this painted dresser:
Until I pointed it out.
But he walked into his office and loudly said, “What is this???” Jack and I busted out laughing and explained to him that it was from us for his upcoming birthday.
He reminded us that his birthday wasn’t for two more months.
Ummm, yeah, we know, but have you ever tried to hide a barrel of bourbon, even if it is empty? 🙂
Wade is the strong and silent type, but from the look in his eyes, you could tell that he was jumping with joy!
That was our exciting start to the holiday weekend, and I hope everyone else has a safe and happy Fourth of July.
Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | May 28, 2016 | Sidenote Saturday
Happy Saturday!
I feel like I have been off the grid for way too long. My computer problems are fixed and my user error incidences are becoming less. 🙂
So let’s catch up.
When we were last together, I thought I had found “the one”. A stone tile that would add texture and a bit of color to my otherwise neutral kitchen.
But it’s a women prerogative to change her mind, right?!
I think I love this one.
Not the shower per say, but the brick shaped tiles in the middle of the shower.
The next logical step after finding the tile was to figure out how to tile.
And then I received a sign from above!
Technically this was not a sign from the heavens but a sign on the floor of The Tile Shop. But saying it was a sign from above makes for a good story.
I’m all about professionals teaching me a new skill and this sign had me at “Free”.
Last Saturday I arrived at class to find 3 other people attending also. I asked them if they minded being in a few pictures for my blog. No problem they said in agreement.
The couple on the right were DIYing there kitchen backsplash also. They were new to tiling and this was the second time they had taken the class.
What’s the unwritten rule? Measure twice, cut once, or in this case, Class twice, tile once.
The other gentleman in the photo was a little more seasoned in the world of tiling but he was taking the class to get some tips and tricks about installing glass tiles.
And then of course there was me who knows nothing about anything when it comes to tile.
You could say that this class is for all skill levels.
Chub had a very nice area for demonstrations with helpful instructional posters.
Chub choose the three different kinds of tiles each group was considering working with.
The DIY couple chose a porcelain tile, my tile was a natural stone and the other gentleman was working with glass.
Chub laid out a thin set mortar using all of the proper tools. The one thing I took away from this class is that you need the proper tools and materials to do the job right.
From here I could go into all of the steps of tiling, but honestly, I skim over those parts when I am reading a blog and figured others do the same.
But let me tell you this, this isn’t as easy as it looks.
So when I actually do this myself, I will write that blog with pictures. Pictures of what not to do will be included.
You’re welcome. 🙂
The last thing we did was practice cutting tile.
I let the guys in the class go first so I could learn from their mistakes. When it was my turn, I perfectly cut my stone tile.
ROCKSTAR!!!
This weekend I will be purchasing the tiles for the backsplash and laying them out. (Step 1).
The process of actually applying them to the walls will not begin until after the fourth of June.
Our son Jack is graduating from high school next week and although I would love to have the new tile in place, the reality is that that is not going to happen.
Slow and steady is going to win this race.
Cheers to a safe and happy Memorial Day.
Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | May 14, 2016 | New Products, Sidenote Saturday
Working from home is a wonderful thing. My commute to the studio is 17 steps. Oh wait, what’s that? You would like to see another picture of my staircase? If you insist.
I love being in my home and sewing and staging photo opps. I can, and do do this all day, every day.
But one particular day, Alyssa text me to tell me that she made some grapevine wreaths that she would like to put in my shop. She was willing to bring them over to the house, but I suggested that instead I could come to her house and see them.
It was a totally selfish request. I wanted to see her cutest-ever little boys that I love dearly, not to mention a chance to see her beautifully decorated home. There might be an Alyssa’s home tour on the blog in her future.
Alyssa is one of the decorator contributors in my shop with items such as this, and this and this.
After playing with the boys, it was time to get down to working and taking a look at her grapevine wreaths.
The day was overcast which made for some great pictures.
Alyssa and her family live on a 3.5 acre wooded property. They are surrounded by birch, oak and other varieties of trees along with beautiful gardens. Also tangled within all of those trees are miles of grapevines.
We took a 2 minute walk down the lane to where there was a nice section of vines.
Alyssa is a petite but incredibly strong young woman. Those vines were tough to untangle and yank from the ground, but she did it!
Since it was just the two of us doing this, I was so relieved that I needed to take the photos. Because… well, somebody had to photograph and somebody had to yank. : )
Side note: You may be wondering where the boys were while we were outside? Grandma Kelly and Grandpa John were visiting for a couple of days and were inside enjoying their grandsons. Earlier while I was snapping away taking pictures of this little ham, you can see Kelly and John in the background playing with big brother.
Seriously? Those are smiles of pure love and joy.
Back to the grapevines.
After we, and by we I mean Alyssa, collected several yards of vines; the next step was to wrap them. She started at one end of a vine and maneuvered them it into a circle. She does not use any wire or twine to hold everything together. The art of wrapping holds the grapevines shape.
We have been brain storming about all of the ways these wreaths can be used. These are only the tip of the iceberg.
Other uses can be table centerpieces, teacher gifts, garden décor, and even home décor.
I have listed Alyssa’s wreaths here. So put on your thinking cap or in this day in age, warm up your Pinterest finger.
Have a beautiful spring weekend,
Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | May 7, 2016 | Home Tour, Sidenote Saturday
Two years ago when we bought our home, one of the reasons we fell in love with it is because it was finished. We didn’t need to do anything, it was move in ready.
If you have been following this blog for any length of time, you realize from that statement that the joke was on us. Or more on me since Wade hasn’t really been fully on board about the couple of changes I have made.
I prefer to call them tweaks. Technically, I haven’t torn down any walls or ceilings. There have been no demo days. And before you say it, ripping carpet off of stairs doesn’t count.
Okay, have I justified all of my tweaks?
Let’s move on. 🙂
Another thing we loved about our home was the property. Yes, we live on a lake and it is amazing and wonderful. We pinch ourselves everyday that we are fortunate to live here.
But we were so happy to find a home that didn’t have a lot of landscaping. You see, we are not big garden people. That is not to say that we don’t love to look at others flower beds and vegetable gardens.
Low maintenance is our thing.
Low maintenance is defined as trimming and mowing the lawn in less than an hour and turning the sprinklers on.
A couple of months ago we visited the Home and Garden Show to talk with different companies about creating an outdoor living space.
We haven’t settled on a design or company but we have made a little bit of progress.
This is the back of that house that faces the lake.
This is a drawing by one of the companies we met at the Home and Garden Show.
The living space on the left is where the hot tub is now. In front of the outdoor couch is where the fireplace would be built. To the right of the living space is where the hot tub would be re-located.
In the upper left hand corner of the drawing is a view of a potential fireplace. In living color we are leaning towards something like these.
Over the hot tub would be a pergola. Maybe something along these lines.
Now lets chat again about landscaping. I took a picture of the side of the house yesterday.
There are no plants here because we have not planted any. The opposite side of the house is similar with a few hostas evenly spaced.
The amount of landscaping in the drawing we do not consider low maintenance. It is very pretty, but something we will need to think about.
Thinking, creating and planning this outdoor space will be so fun!
I’ll keep you posted.
Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Apr 23, 2016 | Sidenote Saturday
My brain wasn’t hitting on all cylinders yesterday. And it should have been. I mean I have a great nights sleep, a casual morning and a filling breakfast. Things weren’t improving by mid morning so I decided to switch gears and paint.
Paint a dresser, not paint something Van Gogh-ish.
On the blog, you have seen this dresser several times with different seasonal décor arranged on top of it.
I bought it from a friend of a friend. It isn’t antique or vintage. It was not hand painted. It was mass produced.
And I liked it.
But, today was the day that I finally took a leap of faith and decided to fall in love with it.
Not trusting my cylinder skipping day, I sent a picture of the dresser to a friend of mine (Karianne from Thistlewood Farms, maybe you have heard of her) 🙂 asking her what her opinion was about painting this piece. She responded:
Hmm….what about a light blue? Or gray (of course)! hahahaha!
Gray it shall be. Thanks for the suggestion Ms. Thistlewood Farms Blogger Extraordinaire.
The handles were easily removed and I lightly sanded the fronts of the drawers.
Trophy from the Miss Mustard Seed milk paint line was my gray color choice. It happened to also be the only gray milk paint I had, so, win-win on that.
At first I was thinking I would only paint the drawer fronts but as the project progressed, I felt that the entire dresser, not including the the top needed to be painted.
One coat of paint easily covered the two drawer dresser. I then finished it with a top coat of MMS Hemp Oil.
It took me less than 2 hours from start to finish to finish the dresser makeover.
Putting the before and after side by side, makes me giddy happy that I painted yesterday. A sign of love.
Have a lovely Saturday!
Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Mar 26, 2016 | DIY, Sidenote Saturday
One step at a time is all about………
Re-doing my staircase! How creative is that title!
Earlier this week I met with a plumber about helping me put my staircase back together after I rip it apart for my biggest attempt yet to DIY something.
Yep, you read that right. Steve is a plumber by trade and also a very talented handyman with everything else. He is also our friends Dad and Grandpa to our little buddy Logan. This is his wife Pam and their granddaughter Addie. (Since this picture their family has added 3 more grandbabies. They are so blessed.)
Steve bought me 16 pine treads to replace the particle board that is under the carpet. I choose pine because I want the steps to be a little “not perfect”. I want them to seem that they were original with the house. Our house is almost 10 years old, so not perfect will be….well, perfect. The pine boards were about $10 a piece as opposed to the $30 oak boards. Saving from the get go.
From here on, this is all me. So I made a list. I like making lists. They keep me on task and help me feel that I am accomplishing things.
- Put a thin coat of pre-stain on the pine boards with a foam brush. This will help them stain more evenly.
-
- Lightly sand each board with a 180 grit sandpaper in the direction of the grain.
-
- Apply a good amount of stain in sections to each board top side and about 4 inches in on the bottom side. The bottom of the tread overlap will be visible when standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up. Wipe of each section of stain remembering that the longer it sits, the darker it will be.
-
- After letting the stained tread thoroughly dry, add a water-based top coat of polycrylic/polyurethane.
- While waiting for the stain to dry, remove the carpet, pad, all nails, carpet tack and staples.
- Paint the back of the step (riser) and add a top coat of poly.
-
- Set an appointment with Steve to replace the treads.
- Take after photos. 🙂
Looks pretty straight forward and simple on paper. I’ll keep you posted on all of the drama. 🙂
Have a Happy Easter weekend!
Wendy
You must be logged in to post a comment.