Buckle up, it's a fairly long post...... :)
I will begin with a few things about the house........
This is the living room BEFORE we painted and changed some furniture etc. You can see the various swatches I had in trying to find the right color.
Here it is right now. The color is BM Gray Wisp and is a lovely blue, just what I was looking for. BohoHandyman mounted the TV to the wall so it can swivel or pull out or tilted. The cabinet below was previously red but I painted it to look distressed. the black chest was previously white but I also painted it and added a bit of gold to the drawers. The sphere above is one we purchased and is made from straps from wine barrels, inside we hung a glass blown "witches ball" that catches bad energy. The armless chair is one of two from my parents that I had recovered and painted the exposed wood and I made the pillow that's on it. Right now we have NOTHING on the walls, the birdcage hanging there is temporary....I want to find the absolute right art and photos.
AND I am not happy with the lamp or what's on the chest.....see....things will keep changing until like in Goldilocks..."it's just right". I did recently make 7 throw pillows...to be shown later.
And you wonder why I haven't done art in a while......
Things change around a lot in my house as I live with things for a while and something tells me it's not right or this should go there and that over there. SOON I hope to finally settle in and leave things alone. Another example:
This Amish made dresser we bought years ago and it's been in our room but it's proven to take up too much room (and we will be changing things in there later anyway). We put in on this wall in the living room and I use it now for tablecloths, platters, extra bowls etc. BUT eventually this wall will have 2 bookshelves made to look built in like I saw done here. We will then cut the bottom "legs" from the dresser and it will go against the pony wall so that it fits and will still be used to store the contents. I haven't made up my mind if I will paint it (thinking not) or just changing out the hardware. (I'll show you when it's done so you see what I mean) For now I was able to add a few more Autumn accents.
I sent for plans from this place to make our own ottomans for the living room but I haven't found the perfect fabric yet. We also need a coffee table and plan to make one or repurpose something so you can see how the TO DO list is ever present. Time and money always being a factor.
These are some changes to the kitchen, with more to come. What will happen is the 2 black chairs are going away and the table will have the finish sanded and made more old pine looking. We have an old 7' bench we bought at a salvage place that BohoHandyman is going to cut in to two benches that will go on either side of the long sides of the table. It looks crammed but it's really not. The hutch was one my parents had since I was a child, back in the day they painted it some icky color brown. It has a shelved top I painted a deep red/claret and we hung on the living room wall (will show another time). I had painted this black and white at one time (ick) but recently painted it and distressed it a bit in the duck egg blue, added different hardware to the drawers and set in bead board in the doors. I didn't paint the top because eventually we are going to have a distressed galvanized top made to fit over it. Just recently BohoHandyman added the shelves on the wall and right now they aren't "merchandised" AT ALL how I want them but it's fine for now so it's not some bare shelves. I need to find some vintage items. It looks so blank below but that's because I am also working on "merchandising" that area as well. Eventually I also want to replace the mirror with one slightly larger and more unique. It really helps to bring more light in to the room.
Tried to bring a bit of Autumn in to the kitchen in various places.
I even cooked............
an all veggie soup that is low in calories but super delicious!! The only thing I may leave out next time is the cauliflower...just don't like it. With the weather changing FINALLY I like to cook which I don't normally.....something about a cold day and something hearty seems satisfying to make for me. Do you find you're like that too?
OK NOW TO SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:
Back on September 3rd BohoHandyman went to Half Moon Bay for the day and for dinner that night. It was our anniversary. We went to some fave places and then on detour route we came across this store.
Well you know I had to stop. The place is packed with all sorts of antique furniture and things, and when I say packed I mean you can hardly walk around. The proprietor is a rather eccentric fellow who anytime you pointed something out would say "oh that's from Europe" or "that's from France" thus making the price outrageous. I have to say perhaps that was the case for some of the items but not all. It seems that's the buzz at shops like this or even higher end flea markets......the prices are HIGH because they say "oh this, this is from France." Hmm. Anyway, I came across something in the middle of a crowded table and asked him about it. Turns out he collects old costume jewelry, beads and bits and bobs and covers things with it. He pointed out a few more he had done so of course I asked if I could photograph them. These are those pieces:
This piece is in the shape of a cactus and is covered in bracelets, none, he said were worth anything
The base of the piece had some Native American references but in all honesty I can't remember what he explained about it. Needless to say it's a lot of work.
This was a piece he had way up high, he covered an animal skull with what one can only assume were thousands of beads and bits.
This was a statue of I am not sure what underneath but again, you can see how many items he used to cover it
This bust he covered in masses of beads and I believe he shallaced over all of it. Amazing isn't it?
This was a set of antlers covered similarly to the skull above
I was pretty blown away by the amount of time each piece must have taken AND how much he has collected over time to be able to cover all these. I don't remember if he said he sold these things but something tells me he doesn't. I, personally, think they should be in a gallery. What do you think?
Oh, I ended buying a drafting table from him, the top has an adjustable tilt and a small set of drawers for supplies. I got a good deal.....it wasn't from France.
So this concludes my ginormous post.....this is what happens when you haven't blogged for a while.
I cannot believe it's November already! Today begins a major cool down here with wind and expected rain.....it finally feels like the proper season after all the summer weather we've had up to now.
I hope all is well in your worlds!! See you again soon!
