~MORE OF OUR ROMANTIC WHITE COTTAGE~

 Today I'm showing you a little more of my La Chaumière de Briarwood now that we have some of our remodeling work completed!

We've finally finished a big chunk of our home makeover and now that the wall we opened up has been trimmed out and painted I thought you might like to see it all together instead of bits and pieces!  Before the wall (on the right) was removed there was nothing to see except a big over-sized TV cabinet and a lot of closed-in space!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this wall opened up and so glad we actually thought about it and planned it out before installing the wood flooring!  Since it was load bearing it took a little bit more time to finish, but well worth the effort.  We now get the north and south sun streaming directly through the windows and so the entire house is lighter and brighter!

One thing you MIGHT find interesting is this...

Almost everything in our home was purchased USED.  

It's true!

Almost everything!

Oh there are new things like ceramic white dishes, candles, lampshades, freshly made pillows, linens, etc., but nearly all the furniture, lamps and complements were purchased second-hand or were pre-owned like in CARS!  In the downstairs area of our home, with the exception of our formal dining table set and the occasional chairs in my den, nearly everything you see was purchased either at tag sales, estate sales, garage sales, auctions or Craig's List.

When my Mr. AGPMan installed the vintage French Doors directly off our entry a couple of years ago I never dreamed one day they'd be visible from the family room.  When the wall was closed up it made for some pretty decorating on the dining room side, but it was very crowded when all my family was over!  Now with the wall removed we have lots of room to move about on both sides!

I took some new shots of the downstairs CAREFULLY omitting our ripped out kitchen (you'd faint if you saw it!).  You can't tell it in the photo above, but I'm standing just outside of our torn-out kitchen.  It's functional, barely tho!  My stove is in place and so is the sink and fridge...but nearly everything else looks like, well...kinda like a war-zone!!!  Even the ceiling is out and the original studs are showing!  It's making me crazy, but we have to live with it like that for now.  Still lots to tear out and when you are do-it-yourselfers you work when you can and then leave the rest until another day.

Lots of another days lately!

Lots more coming, too!  We hope by next year at this time we'll be done!

For Friday, May 11th, I'm linking up with Kerryanne at
Shabby Art Boutique 
for the very first
Shabbilicious Friday!!!
Hop on over there to get some great ideas!  We are sure to be totally inspired!

Hope your day is fab!  I'm off to work!

Love to you...

~MY NEW THRIFT STORE FIND...A ROMANTIC ANTIQUE BED~

For all of you who are die-hard tag sale and junk store shoppers this little beauty will surely make your heart sing!  This is my latest thrift-store find...

A GENUINE ANTIQUE IRON BED!

Can you believe it?

SCORE!

  Now...I'm NOT kidding you when I tell you this but last Thursday while out junking around in the great state of Oklahoma I snagged this antique iron bed for $45.  At first I couldn't believe my own eyes.  

A real live antique iron bed at a thrift store for $45?

NO WAY!!!!!

When I saw her propped up in a bin of truly crummy 1980 particle board beds I had to blink a couple of times before I realized I was looking directly at a antique-vintage headboard and footboard.  After looking her over from head to toe (and realizing the rails were missing) I still didn't miss a beat when it came to pulling her out from her hiding place and dragging (literally) her to the front of the store.

This particular junk store (Value Village/Payless Thrift on Penn for all you OKCity peeps!) runs everything half off the price marked (weird, but they do)!!!  So the bed was originally $89.96 but half off was $44.98!!!!

The missing rails were no big deal to me because I see them all the time in antique shops.  The rails can be found...the beds on the other hand are a lot more difficult to locate...

Anyway...as you can see I wasted no time in painting her with a couple of coats of my favorite paint.  The bed had already been painted at least once...  Had she been in her original white condition I wouldn't have repainted her....but the gold and green....um, not for me!

Another great weekend snag was this vintage shelf.

Oops!

I forgot to snap a picture of it before attaching the applique (this one is metal from Hobby Lobby).  This shelf was $8 (Goodwill) and the metal trim was $2 (half off).  That makes it $10 before paint.  I opted to brush paint this one as spray painting can get very expensive!

 Here's a picture of it up-close.  Love the distressing!  After brush painting her I lightly distressed her edges before applying a light coating of wax....skipped the dark wax on this one.  Loved it just as you see it!

Remember the lamp from last week???

I love how she came out!  Generally I paint roses on lamps such as this, but not this time.  I love the lamp just as you see her here as well! 

After thinking about it and mulling it over in my mind for several months I've finally decided to jump back into the retail world and rent a booth space at a local market here in my town.  I know this will be shocking to some of you because when I gave up my previous space in the summer of 2010 I was pretty sure I wanted to take my business only in the direction of on-line sales.

I think it's amazing how some things can change in the course of eighteen months!

I suppose much of my decision is based on there being so much fabulous, sell-able product crowding up the storage areas in my home and that includes both my Mr. AGPMan's workshop and a sizable storage unit.  Now that our own home is about where we want it to be (save for our kitchen makeover) I'm better able to see what all we have and what we can and cannot use.  Besides that, I LOVE direct selling and always have.  I love the physical displaying of merchandise as well as window dressing so when the opportunity arose for a great space with old wood floors...well I snagged it with my hubby's blessing.  The extra money will come in handy with our kitchen remodel (which is CA-CHING $$$).  My new space is honestly five minutes from my house (or less) and that made the idea of returning to booth-space-selling all the more appealing.

I begin moving in on the 15th of May...

The bed, lamp and shelf will all be a part of my new booth space....   I'm sooooo excited!  I hope those of you who are local will come see me....(more about it's location soon!).

Look how big my Miss K is getting?  She spent the weekend with me and ALWAYS loves helping me transform my junk into junque!  She's my painting QUEEN!

I promise to share more pictures as I go!  Right now the framing of my previous space is being reworked and I hope it will be a killer-looking-display once it's transformed.  

Hope your day is wonderful!   I'm finishing up the last of the special orders for Mother's Day and so happy I can finally breathe again!

Today I'm linking up with Kathleen at Faded Charm for 
WHITE WEDNESDAY

Love to you...

 

~THOUGHTS ON A SUNDAY MORNING...Your Own Unique Calling~

I think my two children are brilliant.  I'm not just saying that either...I really think they are!  Both are highly gifted and amaze me with all they do with the talents God has given them.  One is a math whiz and makes a living at a well known university as a computer programmer.  The other one has learned a second language and hopes one day to master a third.  I'm a proud mother for sure!

I always wanted to be good at
A*R*I*T*H*M*E*T*I*C
and longed to make good grades in Spanish as well.  Sadly, I nearly flunked out of both of those subjects and to this day don't like either one.  I did love music though (still do!) and each and every art class I ever enrolled in.  So I guess I shouldn't be too terribly surprised that my best grades were earned in those two classes.

Yesterday morning I read a little devotional by Max Lucado (The Applause of Heaven) that gave me a clearer understanding of some of the blessings that come directly from the Father.

He called it:

~PLAY SUBLIMELY~

"Antonio Stradivari was a seventeenth-century violin maker whose name in its Latin Form, Stradivarius, has become synonymous with excellence.  He once said that to make a violin less than his best would be to rob God, who could not make Antonio Stradivari's violins without Antonio.

He was right.  God could not make Stradivarius violins without Antonio Stradivari.  Certain gifts were given to that craftsman that no other violin maker possessed.

In the same vein, there are certain things you can do that on one else can.  Perhaps it is parenting, or constructing houses, or encouraging the discouraged.  There are things that only you can do, and you are alive to do them.  In the great orchestra we call life, you have an instrument and a song, and you owe it to God to play them both sublimely."

"I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.

Psalm 139:14

 Do you believe you are called?

I do.  I believe we all are!

Blessings to you today as you seek His EVERYTHING for your life.

Love to you...