by Wendy Scheel | Nov 11, 2015 | Life
Sometimes I have no idea what to blog about. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I have a list of things I could blog about but I mentally filter those ideas as to what makes it onto the blog and what doesn’t.
That filter has one question.
Would I be interested in reading about this? That’s it. One question.
For instance, today I was going to share about this little Christmas tree that I have set up. But, it’s 61 degrees outside and I’m not feeling it. By the way the average high in Minnesota in November is 41 degrees. Believe me, no one is complaining but it’s not normal. Last year on this date we had 3 inches of snow on the ground.
Wait, where was I going with all of this? Oh yeah, my filter.
Christmas décor didn’t make it thru today’s filter.
So I took advantage of the warm fall day and went on a walk with Nikki. Nikki as in Jimmy and Nikki.
When we returned I had a text from my Mom.
She saw on my Instagram account (OldLakeGeorge) that people have commented on the green glasses that are in this picture.
These were given to me by my Mom. And now that I really look at that picture, so was that duck, the lamp and the card catalog. 🙂 My Mom has great taste.
The day that she gave me the glasses and decanter, I was at my parents house and my Mom asked if there were any dish sets I wanted. She has so many beautiful sets of dishes. The set I wanted is a blue and white set that for me represents the many loud and festive family dinners we shared. BUT, she was not quite ready to give them away. That only makes it more special for me knowing those dishes hold great sentimental value for her.
So as we moved on to other things, I spotted these green and gold glasses and decanter in her glass front kitchen cupboard.
I thought they were pretty but I don’t remember seeing them around our house as we were growing up. Reason for that; my Mom had recently purchased them at a garage sale.
So, the text she sent read, “Hey, I just saw the comments about your gold and green glasses I gave you. Did you look up how much they are worth? I got them at a garage sale for probably $10.”
I read the Instagram comments, which I love getting and someone mentioned that they might be Culver green and gold glasses. So I googled Culver green and gold glasses and yep, that’s what I had.
This is a set of 3 double Old Fashioned and 6 Old Fashioned glasses along with a decanter. The pattern is called Valencia. The gold is 22k and I found prices from $10-$20 per glass up to $250 for the decanter and 6 glasses.
Told you my Mom had great taste!
In honor of Veterans Day and green and gold cocktail glasses, let’s raise our glass to all of the Veterans, men and women that have served and are currently serving our country! Thank you!
See you on Friday,
Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Nov 9, 2015 | DIY, Life
This will come as a shock to no one.
We went to two Estate Sales this weekend. Two amazing estates south of the metro.
The first house was a downsize from 4000+ square feet to a condo. The second house was….I don’t really know what the second owner was doing except selling a lot of big furniture. 🙂
Wade always heads straight to the garage to find his treasures while I tour the house. For me, the best part of Estate Sale is the house. I love house tours and then while touring, shop.
At the first sale we bought white beach chairs that still had the tags on them from Target. The tags said $21.00 each and we bought two for $16.00. 62% off, not bad.
At the second sale, a black granite topped hickory table had tipped over and chipped the granite top. So the owner removed the granite and sold the hickory table base. There were a bunch of busted granite pieces in the garage and I grabbed this piece for $1.00. This snowman needed something to stand on. 🙂 It’s the little things that make all the difference.
Wade bought a carpet cleaner for $10.00. Booooring. 🙂
Back to me…..In the sitting area, this snowman sits on top of the card catalog which sits beside the mate to the chair I recovered. The Pocahontas slip cover epic fail chair. I decided that the chair in the sitting area needed a stool. But, the stool I wanted to put there needed different fabric.
Plus the fact that I needed to boost my upholstering ego and make something awesome. 😉
First I collected my tools: Scissors, Staples, staples gun, Phillips screwdriver, regular screwdriver and pliers.
Then I flipped over the stool and removed the base from the top.
After this it was a matter of removing the staples from the fabric. I carefully popped up each staple and then pulled them out with the pliers. That left me with the original fabric to use as my pattern for the new fabric. I simply laid the old fabric on top of the new and cut.
Now everything is done in reverse. Replace the fabric, wrapping the edges from top to bottom and place a couple of staples to hold it on. Make sure the pattern is centered on the front of the stool and then staple on the black upholstery mesh to the back.
Put the base back on and WAHLA!! Moroccan rope fabric cover complete.
Before and After:
Neutral, calm and relaxing.
Have a great Monday, see you Wednesday,
Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Sep 26, 2015 | Quick Thoughts, Sidenote Saturday
Wade and I went to yet another Estate Sale. I like to go on the last day when they typically list everything at 50% off.
Estate Sale + 50% off = things I never knew I needed. 🙂
So I made a change. A décor change within 24 hours of Spencer taking The House Tour 2015 photos.
This….
Now looks like this….
With this right around the corner….
Luuuv it!
I will have Spencer take better pictures next time he comes to the house, but I was so excited to share.
So I did!
Have a great weekend! See you on Monday. 🙂
by Wendy Scheel | Jul 30, 2015 | DIY
Incase you have forgotten, I love estate sales. And for some reason I am always drawn to the chairs.
When I first started going to estate sales I would buy all wood chairs, no fabric on them. I would clean them up and usually paint them. But I wanted to branch out. I wanted to try re-upholstering a chair. This is the chair I branched out with. Go Big or Go Home Wendy!
How hard could it be to take off each piece lay it out on some new fabric and tack it back on? Seriously, how hard? So I started and I removed all of the fabric and then painted the wood.
So far so good and only a couple of hours of work. Then I put the old fabric on top of the new fabric and started cutting. BUT, I didn’t mark anything down as to where the new pieces were suppose to go! I had so many different size pieces and no idea how to put it back together. Ugh.
Instead of trashing the whole thing and losing the $40 I had into it, I cut off the arms of the chair so I didn’t have to re-upholster them! Bra-ill-ient!
Now it was just a matter of sewing a couple of square corners and, done.
(I will share more about this chair on another day. It is now part of my daughters first apartment. )
Since biting off more than I could chew in the re-upholstering department, I have reverted to buying chairs that aren’t so difficult to re-upholster.
Exhibit A: This chair that I painted and re-upholstered the seat.
Exhibit B: This rocking chair. It needed a little TLC and an update of fabric. And here is how I did it. The right way.
After removing the fabric, I washed the wood with water, dried it and polished it up with Hemp Oil from the Miss Mustard Seed line of products. Instant beauty.
I knew I wanted to go with the French Farmhouse fabrics to replace the not-so-desirable fabric that was on the chair. Here is the line of pillows made from French Farmhouse style fabrics in my shop that I chose from.
The winner for me was the beige/khaki line fabric.
So, I removed the old fabric pieces and laid them out on top of the new fabric to cut them out. With only two pieces I figured I would know where to replace them.
Self explanatory right? The same process was used when the head rest part of the chair needed a little padding. To hold the padding and fabric in place I used some basting adhesive.
Incase you were wondering, this was the brand of basting adhesive I used to hold everything in place. Incase you were wondering. 🙂
And now for the big reveal…..always my favorite part.
And one more beautiful collage.
I haven’t attempted another large re-upholstering project. Going Big or Going Home! wasn’t the best choice. 🙂 Have any of you miscalculated your skill set when trying a project?
And as a side note, Spencer my product photographer didn’t take some of these pictures. I think it’s pretty evident, but in full disclosure, wanted to point it out. 🙂
by Wendy Scheel | Jun 3, 2015 | Business, New Products
I posted this title on my facebook page. And I should’ve used 10 exclamation marks because I was so excited! And to add to all of that joy, I bought it at an estate sale. I love me a good estate sale.
My family was the first to respond with comments like, What are you going to do with a drill press? You bought a what? and my favorite, Do you even know what a drill press is?
All very valid questions. Silly, and not that far of a stretch considering how well my family knows me .They know I didn’t take shop in high school, and they know I’ve never worked with any sort of shop tools that need to be plugged in. They are forgiven. 😉
Last year I listed tree branch slice snowmen for the Holiday Buying Season. I had my nephew slice the branches and drill the holes. I didn’t have him make enough as they sold out quickly. He did not live close to us and having an overloaded schedule himself, I didn’t want to ask him to slice and drill more branches for me.
So back to the title. I bought a drill press! What my family doesn’t know is that from a different estate sale I had purchased a miter saw. That would’ve been too much information for them to handle.
So I have been practicing slicing and drilling. I have mastered the slice and drill so well that I have expanded my wood items. I. now. have. two. items. Crazy, right?
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wood slice, wood button
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wood slice, wood button
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wood button pillow, wood slice, farmhouse fabric
Snowmen ornaments and wooden buttons. I am unstoppable!
Have any you seen other cool things that could be made using a drill press or a miter saw?
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