My Home #4 - The Entry

This is the 4th installment of my Home Tour....Today I am featuring the entry.  We live in a 4 quad.  I attended Herron School of Art (college) when I was 30 and was well established in a double (home) and there was never a time I lived in a dorm.  So when we first moved in that is what always crossed my mind when I came home to our condo.  It is funny there are 3 other people, soon to be 5 that live in this building.  I didn't see the man across the hall for over 2 months after I moved in.  Days go by without interacting with my interior neighbors.  Much more private than first thought.  Once you are in the building this is my home.....

 

WELCOME!  

 

Parquet wood floors.  Big solid wood door.  My husband's last name starts with an "A" so I thought it was fitting we are A.  Come on in..... 

 

 

My dear friend Robbie came from Louisville right after I moved to help me get settled.  She also gave me this tobacco stake star a couple of years ago.  It hung on our garage at our other home.  So now without a garage...where to put it.  Two heads equals great ideas.  I love saying to her okay lets put it on the ceiling and she is on a ladder seconds later and it is done.  I wasn't real happy with the light but, I can live with it now. 

 

The bench is a wonderful hand me down from a great grandmother.  The pillows are made from tapestries(by me) that usually feature deer or Elvis.  The one with the sheep was huge, I made another pillow featuring Jesus with the other part of the cloth.  My Mom found the little Basset Hound puppies at a thrift for $8- she couldn't leave them there.  I love them.  Years ago my friend Christopher was actively going to auctions and I said if you see a deer head I want one.  Christopher never disappoints.  Next auction, a deer head.  I have dressed this guy up many times.  Boa's, Christmas wreaths, lights, necklaces, a pez, hats, you name it. The large Woodcut was a gift from Kristina another classmate of hers did this work while in grad school.  The long ruler is a surveyor stick (old) and then to the side is a piece I did from art school (more to follow).

 

 

 

Here is a detail of the wood piece I made.

It's been 20 years since I went to school but, I have held onto a few key pieces.  Sold some and just had to let go of others.  I took a bunch of woodcut printmaking classes while in school and  I used the printing block for a cabinet door.  I made the wood box as well.  (I wouldn't even attempt that now).  The leaves were whittled by me using soft basswood.  Inside I copied the definition of nest from the dictionary on tan paper and collaged it inside.  I guess I have been doing collage much longer than I thought. 

 

inside.

  

 

Behind the door is a very old school chalkboard I can't even remember where I got that I have had it so.  A Catherine Thursby BIRD painting original hangs above it.  I love this piece.  I love everything that Catherine does.  Check out her Red Shoes Home Goods website.   The little table was my Mom's when she was a little girl and my dad bought that little chair second hand when my brother and I were little.  (I guess I got the repurposing-thrifting thing honestly) 

Catherine Thursby original. 

 

The door just seemed so big and blue so I threw a frame around the peep hole.  When my dear friend Lori came over she said "It's like Friends!". hehehe  The blue doesn't show very well in this picture.  When I first got married Ed was all about blue.  I wasn't feeling it but, now 11 years later I love turquoise and this color.  Just not a navy girl....but, it is growing on me.

I picked up this very old box of chalk at an antique mall a couple of years ago.  I love how someone scribbled white on the front the old box is even dovetailed.  The little block is my girl Dori and you flip her around for the holidays....she is waiting for Halloween.  I think the bowl is a Melissa Parrot piece.  Local artist here in Indy.

 

This is my heirloom china cabinet from my Great Grandmother Fuller on my Dad's side.  Story is my she was not healthy and they had to put her in a nursing home and she loved my Dad.  He ran errands for her and spent a lot of time with her.  When she went into the home my newly married parents rented her home and lived there for 2 1/2 years and when they moved they were told they could take what furniture they needed.  We lived with this furniture the whole time we were growing up. When my Mom moved at some point she asked me if I wanted it and I said of course.  Not too long ago my nephew said I'd like to buy that from you and I said Mark it is yours tell me when you want it.  I have a bunch of white pottery inside I have been collecting since I was 17.  I haven't bought much lately.  I was going under the I can only buy it if it is less than $2-.  I am winding down my love for it and I am sure it will be gone when the china cabinet is.  Lightening the LOAD friends, lightening the load.

Did you notice the beautiful gold leafed thistle above the cabinet?  My amazingly talented friend Kristina brought that from Minnesota on an airplane for me as a gift for my 50th birthday this June.  LOVE!!!! We met at Art school 20 years ago.  I love having it in my home.  I think she said she carried it home from another state before she gold leafed it.  I will share about her in the future here on my blog.  

 

Well friends, this is the tour of my entry.  You wouldn't think a entry would require so much wordage and pictures but, it did.  The Hallway is up next! 

 

Thanks for going on the tour! xo 

 

 

 

I forgot the before pictures!!!!!

 

 

My Home #3- The Half Bath

Here is the 3rd installment of the home tour.  The half bath.  This guy is pretty big for a half bath.  I have had many a full bath with less square footage than this big boy.  Yes, there is a handrail in this room.  This community we live in has been know for housing the older folks.  Part of the "charm", part of the "charm".  I'm posting the after first this time.  I guess people thought that the before was the after on my #2 post. 

This is the after.  Here's what I did:  peel and stick tile, painted vanity, painted the towel rings (oil rubbed bronze), had a cheap $35- faucet installed, and touched up the walls.  I was fortunate that the previous owners left the lid of this color and so I took it to Sherwin Williams and got some more.  When you use a roller with touch up paint it looks like the whole room has been painted.  It is a real time and energy saver.  Notice the vintage Lion's Head pull knobs.  Those were here.  The community we live in is called Lions Head.  Perfect touch!!!

 The before.  The original tile was original to 1973 and there were a bunch of cracked tile.  Flooring is so expensive but, the peel and stick is very affordable.  I spent under $40-.  So if at some point I want to change it to something else in a few years it wasn't a big investment.  The folks we bought it from were older and didn't do much to the place so it was a blank slate for that I am thankful.

 

 Hanging on the outside of the bathroom door.  There are 8 doors in this hallway.  I didn't want anyone to have to guess.  I found this little brass sign on Dot & Bo.  A great little new online home furnishing store.  It did take quite awhile to receive but, when I inquired they were super nice.

 Close up of the wooden shoes.  I have had a few pairs over the years.  Once when my Mom went to Holland, Michigan a place we love to go to.  She came home with a life size pair of shoes for me that I could wear and I wear a size 11 womens.  They are hanging on the wall.  The 3 row from the top where the mirror starts.  I had picked up a lonely green one a long time ago while thrift-ing and then I kept noticing more and more and I recd a few as gifts and before I knew it I had a collection.   

 These tiny had soaps were my first etsy purchase years ago.  This is the first time I have had them out.  But, no one dare uses them.  HA!

 I needed big piece of art in this room and I had nothing so I made this one.  It is my favorite girl that I use over and over "Dori".  She is saying "We love wooden shoes, it's true, we do!"  Goofy I know but, it is how "Dori" feels. 

 Best trash can in the house.

 One of my favorite pairs.  I love that Jane Tatman wood engraved her name on her shoes.

 This one has a matching brush.

A friend who lives in another state heard of my collection and was purging and so I got the plain pair she had gotten on a trip to a real place where they actually wear them  I also recd these Mary Janes as a gift!  Who doesn't love a good pair of wooden Mary Janes.  I have to say that the collection is closed.  Once the wall was full I have put a full ban on the wooden shoe. :)

 

Thanks for going on the tour! xo

My Home #2 - the Dining Room

I promised a "tour" of my new place.  We moved into our  circa 1973 condo on March 12th of this year.  We don't have a lot of natural light in this room partially because it only has one window and partially because there is a huge pine tree outside.  I don't mind, I like the tree.  Here is the way the condo looked when we came to see it with our Realtor back in February.  BEFORE:

AFTER:

 Okay so here is what happened.  (other than it became dark...I wonder what kind of lens their Realtor used.  I can't get a wide picture) So, I had painted a room in our other house the same Cracked Pepper paint it is a Behr color from your local Home Depot store.  I also, sold the light fixture that the previous folks had and replaced it with a Pottery Barn fixture. I normally never splurge on anything but, when Ed was on some heavy duty pain killers I asked him if I could buy this.  When it arrived and my handyman put it up for me Ed was like WOW that is really cool.  (he had no idea permission was given...Im bad)  I LOVE it though!  I also added a gold curtain that I used in a house 2 houses ago and a rod I bought at JCP.   The beautiful parquet floor and the paneled walls and crown molding were already here.  Now the close ups.

 Sharing the wall. Obviously, I have been collecting and making work for many, many years. Some things have been given to me, inherited, made, traded, gifted and purchased.  Lots of original art, outsider art, a doll by Mimi Kirchner, old school map, wood cut print, art by Josh Johnson, an old A from a screen door and more....  

 There are a couple of pieces that I have done over the years.  A great painting by Judy Jarrett, my fav ironstone platter, a nest, a basset hound, a print of Abraham Lincoln with sunglasses on and another favorites is a framed autographed hankie from July 18th, 1900.   

 I bought this primitive cabinet before I knew my husband for $200-, the luggage came from an old friend of my Mothers and the little dress a day painting was a treasured gift from a friend.

 Such a sweet painting by Liz Tran.

 I love folk art.  This wood carved beauty is a creation of outsider artist Harry Jennings from Kentucky.

 The bust was Ed's from before we married.  It made the cut!!! :)  The pear is a heavy metal sculpture (another gift from my friend) it is covered in wax.  The little doll table was a thrift find that I can't part with.  My cousins and Aunt and Uncle have always lived in Florida and these starfish just remind me of them and all the fun we had on our annual trips to visit them when we were growing up.

 I am realizing that everything I own has a story.  I found this old chair years ago and I had held onto my dad's denim jacket after he passed.  It is upholstered on the back of the chair front and back.  The upholster added the Polo label that wasn't me.  She also made the little fur pillow.  (I have a little fur thing, no judgment)

 I bought this years and years ago on a trip to Chicago.  It's a great little light.  Who doesn't love MONA!

 China Cabinet holds my Dad's wooden tool box on top.  A head by James Kelly, some hand carved birds, thrift store wood log coasters and green wood candleholders and an heirloom parrot lamp.

 I made this table while I was in art school.  My heating and air conditioning brother was able to take my plans and have my 2 legs made at a sheet metal shop.  The wheels came from an old shopping cart. 

 The is our salt and pepper "trolley"  They fit perfectly on there.

 

Thanks for coming along for the tour! xo

 



It's a GOD thing.....

I don't remember not knowing her.  She is my friend Yvonne.  Friend seems too casual for her.  She was Family to me, to my Mom even to my brother.  She was always at our little "country" church with her two girls Leslie and Denise.  Partially because she lived right across the street but, I think she would of been there anyway.  Now looking back to when I was growing up, the church because of the people that were there at that time gave it almost a magical quality.  I didn't know it at the time but, I have never had those kinds of friendships since. 

 

There is so much to say about all the fun times we shared.  Birthdays, Holidays, Lake House, Nightcrawler Trips, Youth Fellowship Meeings, Fundraisiers, Corn Roasts, Games, Trips, Showers, Weddings, Dinners, Lunches and so much more.  We were Family.

 

At the end of May this year Yvonne, had a routine surgery that most women have.  Within a few days it was evident that this wasn't routine for her.  She had many complications.  Spent many days in the Intensive Care Unit and on June 20th calls were made and all were told that today would be the last day.....I had just arrived before the girls were to talk to her about stopping meds and taking her off the ventilator.  I asked her minister to walk down with me to tell her Hello! before I tell her goodbye.  As I was walking out of her room and down the ICU hallway back to the waiting area I see someone from way back in my past.

 

An old classmate from Center Grove whom I haven't seen since 1982. (I have moved from the area and never been to a reunion, my bad)  We hugged, we cried. She was with her husband who had been fighting a long illness.  I felt moved to contact her when I got home.  Another reason Facebook is wonderful.

 

 I know a GOD thing when I see it.  I felt like he had a hand in all of this.  Yvonne was such a dear friend and it has been a big loss and there has been much sadness that she is no longer here.  She was always so pleasant and friendly and I truly feel she in on   this reunion with this old friend.  :)

 

Today I attended the Memorial service of my old classmate's husband.  The services couldn't of been more different but, they, both Yvonne and Chris were generous, loving and funny people.  So many stories that made everyone laugh in both services.  No doubt these 2 people who are not here on earth loved so willingly and deeply. 

 

I want nothing more to grow my friendship with my classmate and to keep in touch with Yvonne's girls.  In these days of doing too much and feeling stressed to keep up.  I hope we all make time for each other.  Hug your people tightly.  Do things that make you happy and love deeply.  xo 

 

 

From the service today.  (49 years old) smiles!

My Home #1 - Wooden Work Bench Entertainment Center

When we lived in an our old house in Irvington we had hung our big 52" Television on the wall above our fireplace.  When we moved to our condo this March I really didn't want it on the wall. We also wanted to be able to move the TV to see it from our desks.  I had previously been inspired by a Pinterest pin of a wooden workbench someone had made.   I knew I wouldn't be making something from scratch when you move you are doing good to unpack. But, I knew I wanted something with a primitive look and I didn't have the money for an expensive one.  But, I wanted to really like it.  So I looked and looked online at all the standard places, Pottery Barn, West Elm, Crate and Barrel...I looked at Amazon, Target and more.  Then I hit the online Hardware stores and B I N G O!!!!  I found it. 

 

This is my Harbor Freight find.  I paid $139- during a sidewalk sale In March (2014).  Bought the casters there, too.  Of course it comes knocked down in a flat box.  But, luckily my Step Dad is always up for a challenge and he put it together for us.  Added the casters and we were in business.  I later changed out the handles to these black ones that were bought in the hardware area at Lowes I think they are usually used outdoors. We had to drill a new hole for one side of the knob but, it hid well.  The extra hole that is.     

 

 

Here's what it looks like without a TV and casters and new knobs.

 

 

Here is another view.  Everything fits and we love it.  Especially the price!!!!