Aqua Blue and Party Pink

The time has come for the "after" shot of my tall brown chest of drawers (and the little tray I bought last week), the painting endeavor whereby I threw out my back while standing in front of said chest holding one of the drawers out to my right. That's all it took. The back is much better, I'm no longer leaning like the tower of Pisa, but my back is only happy with constant movement or when lying down. I thought I was healed but this morning, it is still sort of calling the shots.

Brown Chest of Drawers Turned Blue

Now, I didn't despise this chest being brown. I stay on good terms with my furniture whenever possible. There was no animosity toward its dreariness. Its rustic look had a certain charm. However, I was in a mood and tired of the brown wood with the terra cotta floors. And mind you, there is also an Ethan Allen desk of a similar color wood to the left just outside of the picture. There was enough of that golden/orangey tone going on, so my other list of paint to-do's got tossed and paint gave this a similar look to the little chest in my kitchen that I also painted.

 Now that I've altered this, there are a whole lot of blue and aqua tones in the room. Not overwhelming though, unless you have an aversion to color. The pink "Give us this day" tray has been moved off of the blue chest and resides across the room now, so there's not quite so much pop there. I generally have such flowers there, so they do the trick already.

So that's that. I'm not unhappy with it at all. It adds a fresh and soothing feel to the house when you walk in. (It's straight ahead when you enter through the front door.) It adds a nice bit of "cool" to the room. It might just be the shade I'm unsure of, maybe it's a bit too blue for this room. Maybe it's just what it needs. Maybe it needs a dark wax. Maybe I just like both looks and wish I didn't have to give up one to get the other. Then again, maybe all the paint brushes should be removed from the house until I can get my painting arm under control. Because, now I'm thinking of tweaking. Heaven knows, tweaking is my MO. As long as I have paint and brushes, I cannot guarantee what this will look like in the near future.

For some time I have wanted to give my home a more colorful and interesting look. This is the process. I think maybe I just need time to adjust to the realization of my own decor desires.

Enough of that. On to another "before and after". Let's recap:

This stuff was snagged at Goodwill one day a couple weeks ago or so. The wood items were purchased with the intent of painting them; they were quite dark and sort of sucked the life out of whatever room they entered. I already showed you the Give Us This Day tray redo in pink.

Here's the cute little handled bread or fruit tray (I'd rather it be a candy tray.)

after I sanded some of the darkness away.

It was better already, but I had a paint brush at the ready...

Party Pink 

Hello party pink!  Again, this looks a tad brighter than reality - I think - It all depends on the lighting.


This little tray can do many things now that's is all hyped up on pink. It can scoop up a batch of seed packets...

 ...cradle a handful of little flowers from the patio.

 It's so talented and versatile, it can nearly catch a sunbeam...

...and then smile real purdy doing what it does best...just being bright and cheery. It begged me to let it hold and serve me some candy, and believe me there was plenty of that here in my stash, but it would have been a bit messier than I felt like dealing with. My candy stash is heavy on melty chocolates and sour patch kids, which come with lots of sour sugar that I didn't feel like cleaning up after the photo shoot.

The Small Weekend Haul

On Friday evening I got my car back AGAIN, and this time it seems to be steady and ready to roll, so we (me and the car) hit the road and went to a few sales. At one of the first ones, I ran into a friend from high school and it was so sweet to see him. He and his wife were helping his parents with their yard sale. They had a lot of good stuff, but it was early and I wasn't sure I wanted to let go of my cash yet. I was poised to buy the little Bible and the Thesaurus (below), but they insisted I just take it. They wouldn't take no for an answer. Good deal! Saved me $1.00 for the Bible and at least 50¢ for the Thesaurus. (Did you catch that Tracy? See, I needed that cents sign. Thanks!) I could have also purchased a Road Runner cartoon book from 1972, but passed it up along with a jig saw I now realize I should have gotten that was in a cool old rusty box. I don't know what I was thinking not snagging it, except that I had hoped to spend under $10 all morning, and that alone was $10. So I hesitated. 

Ah. well. Luckily, rusty boxes and jigsaws seem to abound at yard sales lately. I also passed up a galvanized bucket for $2 or $3 (seemed too much so early in the morning) and a small wood step ladder that the man wanted $3.00 for as well. Couldn't do it. All those prices would add up way too fast. I should have spent a few bucks more though, because these folks have lived in their house since probably the $60's and have lots of stuff to look through. I purchased something (I did not need, but couldn't resist) from them a year or so ago and paid a good sum more than my $5 limit. Impulse buy. I sometimes try to make up for that purchase by keeping my dollars away from my itchy spending fingers for smaller things when possible.

Here's this weekend's little bundle of stuff. There is a Bible (can't tell how old it is because that part of the page was ripped out - maybe 60's), thesaurus, Brookfield cheese box, Yale padlock with two keys, another dreary wood item (I'm on a dreary wood roll). It's a mail sorter made of wood that seems to have been fashioned to look like it was from an episode of Gunsmoke or Wild, Wild West or something, and I also got the white rusty bike basket with the tag on front. This basket is cool because it comes with a removable hanger. It's made so the basket unhooks and a handle lifts up so you can ride to the store or wherever and carry your basket inside to hold your groceries and such. Then you attach it back on and ride away. Love it! I hung it out on the patio on a pallet I have out there and put some puny little yellow weedy flowers in it for now.

I made two of these arrows (one white, one aqua) a while back but never showed you because I couldn't decide what words to put on them. They are currently just pointing here and there, in indecision, like the one who made them, and for no apparent reason.

This lock is very heavy and works like a well-oiled machine. It's so well made and has a cool feel to it when it locks and unlocks. So smooth. Made in the USA.

The Bible had some handwritten words of wisdom in it. I love to see what other people had on their minds that they took the time to write down. Handwriting is fascinating to me, like having a part of someone around even when they are not present themselves.


The illustrious sorter.

I know I said the other day that I wasn't going to start painting everything pink, but I did decide this needed to get as far away from the brown as it could. Brighter pink and coral with white seemed a fitting contrast. It has already been painted, but I'm currently scratching my head and lying awake sleepless at night wondering whether to add some scrolly words or numbers on each bin, or whether to put a metal tag on each or a white porcelin type tag. I found some old locker tags online that might look cool with the pink. What would you do? (Aside from not painting it pink to start with.) I'll show you that result later, along with the result of the pink test wood with the white flower I painted last week. I turned it into a sign and am happy with the results.

A Guessing Game

Now for a little fun; here is my weekend haul again. See if you can guess what I spent on each of my Saturday goodies. I spent $6.50 over all. There are only four of the items to guess about. Come on, you can do it!


1. Bible - Free

2. Thesaurus - Free

3. Yale padlock -

4. Brookfield cheese box -

5. Mail sorter -

6. Wire bicycle basket with handle and hanger -

Your prize, should you be the one who is closest to the right numbers over all, will merely be the satisfaction of knowing you are the smartest guesser in the room.

Perhaps I'll begin a weekly guessing game and start awarding prizes. For now, this batch is pretty small. Take a stab at it just for fun, if you feel like it.

Let's see that competitive spirit. Who's got game?

I'll be sharing at these link parties:












What We Accomplished Wednesdays @ Green Willow Pond






The Weekly Thrift @ Young Heart Old Soul