My Dining Room Shelves

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas.  We did here at the Homestead.  It wasn't until the next day Steve got really sick and the day after that I came down with it.  I didn't get out of bed for almost 2 days.  Of course now my kid's are getting it.  Thank goodness they don't have school!  The great thing about it is that Steve is a day ahead of me feeling better and I came home from work yesterday to a clean house and he even did my laundry!  I was so surprised!!!! So today I'm going to take it easy and maybe do some crafting.  I have a few projects started waiting to be finished.

Anyway, I had a question about my shelves in the dining room from one of you so I figured I would do a quick post on it so everyone could see. 

I bought this shelving unit at an antique store for less than $30.  I figured I couldn't pass it up because I wanted the "buttery" look at the time for my kitchen and this was perfect.  It already looked old and I didn't have to wait for Steve to build it. Needless to say it's not in my kitchen and it's not really looking like a buttery now. lol.

The overall height is 58 3/4 inches tall by 46 3/4" wide by 11 5/8" deep.  It seems pretty tall, but for me it wasn't quite tall enough so I put a riser under it.  It's the green thing under it.  Plus I didn't think the bottom shelf flat on the floor looked quite right. Now, I must tell you that this is actually two pieces.  It's a top and bottom as you can see in the picture below.  The top is 32" tall and the bottom is 26 3/4" tall. 

Oh and I have to say the height is from the bottom to the top of the back edge.  The top is a bit tapered.

The shelves on the top part are spaced about 11 7/8 inch apart and they are about 7/8 inch thick wood. If you look in the second picture up top the bottom shelves are spaced about 12 1/8 inch apart. The same thickness of wood was used at 7/8 inch.

I LOVE my shelves, however, they don't back up right against the wall because of my baseboards.  There is always the chance of something falling behind it.  That being said I like the color of my walls as the backdrop.  I also like it being in two pieces for ease of moving.  You all know I move my furniture around a lot.  So, if you are looking at building or buying something like this keep this in mind.  I hope this helped :-)

I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year.  I know I won't be able to post before then since I am working New Year's Eve.  I'm hoping my next post will be a How To make your own fishtail swag window covering.  I have also had a question on that too.  So keep your questions coming :-)  I'm happy to help if I can.

What I've Worked On

Here it is noon and I'm just getting up.  Truth be told I worked a 24 hour shift yesterday and my partner and I only got about 3 hours total sleep and that was interrupted sleep.  So, I came home and slept for a few hours. You know I'm getting too old to do this. lol. Anyway, since I can't get motivated to do much else I thought I'd show you some of the things I made for the Christmas season for the booth.  They are no longer available and I won't be making anymore until next year.  I need this time off between now and New Year's.  I'm re-evaluating things in my life and deciding on where I want to go from here.  All I know is there will be some major changes all around come next year, but that is another post.

Anyway, let's of course start with my stitching...


Both of the following are my own patterns...

This one was a free pattern that can be found here.  I also have a bunch of other free Christmas patterns on my Pinterest page Free Christmas Cross Stitch Patterns. Anyway, I added the the top part.

Next were some of my own patterns and designs Christmas goodies...  The only thing I have left is two of the Christmas trees at the bottom last I looked in the booth.

And of course pictures from the booth...  I stocked the booth quite a bit from my own collection.  I actually went through and condensed my decorating a lot!  I went from 6 totes to 3 totes.  Who knows next year it may get even smaller. :-)

I'm sure you remember my faux redware plates.  If not I have a tutorial for them if you go to the top of my page under my header in the tutorial tab.  Anyway, I had a Christmas blow out sale on Facebook to sell them.  I ended up making a ton more because of so many requests.  I'm so done making them for right now it isn't funny.  lol.This is the second batch I made.

The ones below are the ones I initially sold just to get rid of.  Then people asked if I would make more so I did.  All the ones above.  

 

This last picture was a special order for a customer. Can you see why I'm tired of making them? lol.  This is why I haven't made regular visits with all of you.  I've been one busy beaver!!!!  And of course working both jobs and trying to keep up here at home.

I should tell you as I was sleeping this morning I was dreaming of hearts.  You all know I don't do hearts! However, I think I'll make a few for Valentine's Day to sell.  I have several ideas and different mediums I'll be using to create them. Ughhh!!!! Why can't I just not think crafty things for awhile? Oh well... I do have a quilt started in my craft room right now, but this will be for me :-)  See it never ends!!!! lol

Christmas Decorating Part 2

As promised I will show you my dining room decorated for Christmas.  Again I really tried to simplify.  I'm still not there completely, but it is less than most years.  So instead of talking I'll just post pictures. :-)  Most of these pics had to be taken with a flash and this room is not this bright.  I will be adding a few close up shots on my Picturetrail.  I'm still working on it since I worked the weekend I didn't have time to update it.

 

 

 I did end up giving in and bought a new tree for the living room.  The boys like it now so I guess it was worth it.  I ended up moving the German twig tree to my bedroom and decorating it how I wanted.  So all of us are happy. :-)

Christmas At the Homestead

I have started decorating for Christmas believe it or not.  I have been so busy with the booth and special orders I haven't had time to breathe in the last few months.  I told you I'd be back and I haven't I just wish there was more than 24 hours in the day.  Anyway, you will notice I don't have a Christmas tree picture because, well, it still isn't decorated.  I have a German twig tree that I LOVE and put in my living room.  Steve made me get rid of my other tree when I cleaned out the garage this fall because the lights were starting to go out. Now, as of last night, both Steve and my son said they think my tree is ugly and that we need a bigger one.  Really???? So I said fine let's go look.  Then he said it has to be less than $100!!!! I'm sorry but most of the trees that I've seen for a $100 look cheap!!!!! So, he says fine we'll keep this one. Grrrrr.... men!!! lol.  I think just to prove a point I'm taking this one to the bedroom and leaving an empty spot in the living room.  I wanted a tree in the bedroom, but I either gave them all away or I'm using them in the booth or selling them in the booth.  Yes, I was decluttering the garage this fall. I'm off today so maybe that's what I'll do is move the tree. 

Anyway, this is my Christmas decorating so far in the living room...  I will add the dining room on Monday :-)  I tried to simplify this year.  I only kept the Santas and snowmen that I loved and sold the rest. I used greens, pinecones, and faux fruit.  I told myself I was not buying anything new this year to decorate with and I didn't  I condensed from 6 totes to 3 of Christmas this year.  That my friends was a great feeling! I will also try to update my Picturetrail this weekend, but I'll let you know for sure when it is :-)

The green apothecary is one of my newest purchases from a new friend I met on Facebook. 

Alright this is the tree undecorated of course.  But now you can see what we are arguing over... lol

The Kitchen

I'm back as promised, but I thought I'd show you my "new" kitchen before I show you my projects.  As you all remember I live in a rented duplex, so I don't have control over cabinets, backsplash (though I have an idea that I might be able to do to change it) and appliances.  However, I have fantastic landlord's.  I asked them if it would be possible to change the flooring in the kitchen.  It had ugly light colored berber carpet before.  Let me tell you if you've never had carpet in the kitchen it's horrible!!!!  It's even worse when you have kids.  The landlord said at the time when he bought it at a foreclosure sale 13 years ago that it was cheaper to put carpet in than linoleum.  Yuck!!! Anyway, Steve and I did pricing on flooring and took the quotes to them and said we would pay half if they would let us put the new flooring in and Steve would even put it down for free.  They decided they would pay for all of it because it would only be around $380.00!!!! Woohoo!!!!  You didn't have to tell us twice.  So, we decided on Swiftlock wood flooring in Fireside Oak at Lowe's.  It turned out gorgeous.  I LOVE it!!!!  So, I thought I'd let you be the judge.  The "island in the middle is an old table one of Steve's tenants left behind that he did some re-engineering on and added wheels to be able to move it.  I'm undecided whether I need to make a skirt to go around the bottom of it.  Steve thinks a skirt in the same color as the curtain under my corner cabinet would look good.  I had him build it because as you can see I have very little counter space to bake and cook.

I work the rest of the week so I'll be back next week with another post.  Have a great weekend.