Blessings out the wazoo

This past year has been pretty eventful-families moving back home, 4 babies were born, new careers started and others in limbo, and 2 off to college. The only place I've blogged is in my mind. It is finally time to plant some words and paste some pictures of where we've been and where we're headed.

The most joyous revelation has been the addition of our little peeps. A year ago Little Master Zayden entered the picture with his blue, blue eyes. 

Miss Lucy followed with blue eyes and dimples.

Then, the Presidential family added a Brown-eyed-girl, Miss McKinley.

This Mother's Day, 6 weeks early, Miss Lauren Grace appeared. When she opens her eyes we'll know which camp she's in. 

I was never a star-mathlete, but in the last 5 years we've upped our grandchildren number by 10. Not 10 in all, 10 more. All are treasured and welcomed.  I think for a while, we are going to rest on our Laurens!

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A few days after Christmas, our good friend and Lucy's Grandpa John, left us suddenly to join her other Grandpa Howard on Grandchild-Skywatch duty. He is missed here terribly. 

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Our Tommy just finished his first year in Ohio at the company store of education, Tri C, where all of us started our college. Thank God for community colleges everywhere that allow us to get our feet wet in higher learning and not break the bank.

Liam just prom-ed with Gina, and in a few months is off to Ashland University with a soccer scholarship. I still remember his October game where it snowed buckets (hopeandsalvage And the boys played on)

All of the other grandkids are excelling in their school-work and sport interests. Will show them in their spotlight as events occur.

Had to include this photo of Miss Kate, who in honor of her new cousin, dressed as President McKinley for a class narration. Those aren't woolybear caterpillars, they are yarn eyebrows.

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[Disclosure: All of these photos are STOLEN from relatives cameras and FB posts. My newish non-flip phone takes crappy pictures (sorry, K&C) and I don't have a hook-up to download from Bethy's old camera, so have to use what is available/purloined]

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Amidst the move-ins and move-outs I have done some furniture repurposing. I don't get how the dictionary does not recognize "repurposing" as a word yet. Here are a few samples....

My youngest son LOVES Volkswagens. LOVES....loves. I was given two of these side tables and turned one of them into a brand name night stand. A little detail with tape and a paintbrush produced this result.

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My friend Ken found this little carved mirror on a curb and passed it on to me. It now looks like this. This photo was taken by my cell phone and I told you the resolution was crappy. The best camera I ever had was a Samsung so when I chose a phone I thought it would have the same resolution. BUT nooooo.

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Initially looking at this Ken-find bench one would question..."Okay, dump or backyard potting bench?"

After a little TLC it found its way to my kitchen. You just have to remember NOT to sit on the edge. It has a teeter-totter effect.

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My friend Mike discovered this piece in a hoarder's house. The top door was warped it had a musty smell to it. I first gave it a Clorox shower with a scrub brush and then sanded and cinnamonized the drawers. A coat of poly finished off the interior. I exposed some of the hidden color for a more industrial look.

Note: Before I hear from all the watchdogs out there who say "You already posted this a few months ago," I answer, "So what, I'm old and I like it."

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My friend Bob discovered this buffet along with a matching ornate dining table, on the curb of a house where he went to service a refrigerator. If anyone is looking for a truly magnificent matching duo, contact me and I will perform some magic on them.

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This is my brother Brian. In several states he is known as Byron. That is his birth name, and that is what I have always called him. Oh, and Uncle B, Uncle Bonneran, (not Uncle Buck). He is my 10 year younger. When a person is described as generous and would give you the shirt off their backs-this is a person that would give you his entire outfit AND pocket money to buy new underwear. He might ask that you find him a fig leaf until he gets himself a blanket though. His birthday is May 27th. He will be.....I'm not telling you that-then you will know how old I am. Have a great day B. [When he fishes, he even gives them back their life.]

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It feels good to be back. Pray for the young ones having trouble finding their way. Too many funerals in the past week.

As ever,

La Verne

Life on a tilt

Does the dust ever quit? Sawdust I mean. It's everywhere. My sister just parted with my dad's old industrial finish sander. It's the same one I used on her beach dining room table last year. It sands in less than half the time, and creates twice the dust. I can only use it every other day as it is so heavy my hands need a day to recover from lifting it.

This past Christmas I handcrafted these little sailboat ornaments in lieu of actual presents. Most everyone I know is aware that bucks are always in short supply here and scrap wood and creative ideas are plentiful. Each one had the name of the recipient painted on the stern and their birth date on the sail.

I wish I would have taken a money shot of a finished one, but this is all I've got.

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Friend Bob surprised his son Jake with this headboard I painted with the Union Jack for him.

This was a heavy dark pine headboard from the '70's that fellow artist Ken gave me.

As an afterthought I stenciled and hand painted a Def Leppard sign to go above his bed as he is a FAN.

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I needed more dressers when the relatives moved in so pulled this paint storage chest in from the coat room. It was a ReStore buy for $15.00.

G'daughter Rachel chose the colors and helped me paint this colorful piece. It now lodges in her bedroom full of Arizona clothes. Wait til we get a real temperature drop and some folks are going to have to go clothes shopping.

I love this dresser. I had planned to do something outrageous with it but no time. Rachel decided there were too many scratches on the top, so.....

Downstairs it came for a re-do. This only shows the subtle difference, but that same girl stripped this piece and restored it. By herself. 

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When I got this little chair with the broken caning I thought if I watched enough You Tube videos I could bring it back to life and pick up another life skill. Truth is...life is getting shorter and there is not enough time to learn that many new things.

I rebuilt the seat with wood and padded it. Tune in next week to see how I distressed and upholstered it.

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Kat's brother Mike found this vintage green cabinet in a hoarder's house that he was restoring and asked if I could refurbish it. No problem. It ended up looking better but still had no personality.

I removed all the hardware and wire-brushed it, planed the bottom of the door and mostly stripped the drawer fronts. Now it looks like this.....

I sanded down until I exposed a deep green and some of the old pine, but leaving some of the chippy-ness of the sage color.

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This desk was another $15.00 find at ReStore. I cleaned, painted, and stenciled it for a new look.  One of the teenagers took it over. Yes, sawdust on the top.

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Mike gave me this old oak dresser that was left behind in another house he was working on. I refinished the top and drawer fronts and painted the rest of it a dark linen color that was a combination of Oop's colors. There were not enough matching handles so I went through my stash and miss-matched for an eclectic look.

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This next one was a fun piece. If you remember last year I took apart a curb-find oak dresser and was going to use it for firewood but my daughter stopped me.

 I cut the top off the dresser and it became the new vanity for Craigslist friend Gina. We headed down to ReStore and found these old radiator parts and I fashioned them into THIS. I got some angle iron from HD and added a lower shelf of old pine flooring.

Gina's dad mounted a vessel sink on top for an industrial look. Here are a couple of finished pics.

I hope she is enjoying her mega sweet new bathroom.

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Lastly, this little ragged piece was begging to return to whatever decade it dropped in from.

Alas, Tommy needed a hanging cabinet to keep his manscaping equipment in so I re-fashioned it. I cut off the top and bottom and snagged a bamboo side to use as a top for it. I still hope to add some black pipe with elbows underneath for a towel hanger. Thanks Ken for the many surprises you always send my way.

My most favorite and dreaded amusement park ride as a kid was the Tilt-a-Whirl. I was thrilled at the prospect of riding on it, yet wanted to throw up at the same time.  It gave me a headache and threw me off kilter. Such is my world at present; exciting yet roaring out of control. If only I had a corn dog.

As ever,

La Verne

hope&salvage

PS I still have a plethora of projects that I worked on (on my year away). Now that I have a computer resource in residence I should get back to a regular schedule of posting. You know I'm kidding, there is no regular about me.