madonna: to paint or not to paint...

This is one of my icon statues....

I love this one and I love the colors of it but, 

It just does not go with the other icons

in  my small little collection.

But I can not decide if I care if it fits in perfectly,

or if I should embrace the perfectly imperfect way it goes

with the other.

So, the question is...

to paint or not to paint!

What do you think? 

the bathroom...

This is our main bathroom...

the one that gets most of the use.

...a piece of furniture that my hubby

turned into a sink.

he had to cut it into almost half

in order for it to fit in the bathroom.

He took one of the boards he cut off and attached

it to the back to act like a back splash.

And, some of the drawers even work!

So talented is he!

This piece is a very old store display case

that came out of my store.

It fits so perfectly snug back in the little alcove.

You don't even want to know what it took to get it in there.

It may look a little cluttered,

but this is a main storage area in the room.

 apothecary jars

holding my soaps from different trips

and Q-tips.

a glass compote

holding sponges, brushes

and some other toiletries one of my sisters

brought me back from a recent trip to France.

a stack of bath towels...

...a solution to

 ugly toilet paper holders.

the walk-in shower....

there was room enough inside

to put a Japanese garden stool in the shower,

so that I would have a place to sit and shave my legs.

Most days, the legs don't make it to shaved,

but when they do...

another apothecary jar on the sink

that holds old grooming brushes.

and a decanter with mouthwash.

another view of the shower...

It is huge.

We took out an old porcelain

bathtub to install this.

I think there is like room for six in here,

but I can say for sure,

that I will never be showering with five others.

So, I will just have to guess at that number.

I hung this old fireplace cover on the wall.

I just love it,

and it goes so well with the tile

and fixtures.

Wasn't ready yet...

I posted about painting this clock in this post...

But it kept looking like something was missing...

I couldn't figure out what it was,

because I really liked it lighter.

Until I slapped some stain on a suitcase,

and realized that, that is what my clock needed as well.

So here is the after {above}

and here is the before {below}

You really can not tell much difference in the pictures

{worst photographer ever here}

but believe me,

there is a HUGE difference.

It looks softer, older, and more professionally done.

Yeeeeaaaahhhh, stain!

Utility room re-do

This is what hubby and I did all weekend...

This once had the oddest half wall,

and old, outdated cabinets,

and was not very user friendly.

That was until this weekend,

and then it became this...

{no before pictures, I am the worst before taker!}

I think it is so funny that my washer and dryer

are actually going while I am taking these pictures!

and check out the dust on the light fixture.

Did not even notice until I posted these.

Oh well, such is life after a laundry room

has been out of commission

and when there is construction dust.

this is my trash can in this room...

It is an old ALL brand cardboard detergent bin.

It is actually full.

 I cropped the photo down

 so you wouldn't notice that.

But since you can see the laundry and the dust,

I figure why not just come clean!

{pun intended}

This is my pretty apothecary jar

that hold the oxiclean.

and a ball jar that holds the bleach pen

and any random items that fall out of

pockets and such during the wash or dry.

This is an enamel platter

that I use to hold the lost and lonely socks

until their mates are found.

{Some live here forever}

This is where I keep my

liquid laundry detergent.

It is actually a drink dispenser, 

but it works great as a detergent dispenser

and it looks a whole lot better than the store's container. 

My basket of ironing...

{There are things from last summer in there}

This is a metal milk bottle basket

that holds my stain remover, bleach, tonic water, etc..

My shelf of lovelies,

so that I have something pretty to look at while I

do the dreaded laundry...

This is the wall behind the washer and dryer.

There you have it...

A fresh and clean utility room.



where my goodies went, from my day with Tot...

I shared with you in this post

my treasures that I picked up at Tot's shop,

So, I thought I would share with you where some of them went...

Another member of the Madonnas...

remember the wicker that was around this demi john?

It is gone now,

 and it fits in nicely

with the other goodies

 on the mantle...

And this was the old cabinet door

turned sign...

in a vignette with the

cloche covered shells...

Isn't it just dreamy!

and my clock collection

got another piece added...

I try my best to distract you

from all of the technology

in my home,

but somethings you just can not disguise...

Remember this post?

One of my chippy old mirrors came from Tot...

Remember my pile of lovely junk

before it was disbursed?

and now it all has a place to call home...

some befores and afters...

Some before and afters...

This was a cool little old suitcase,

 but the color was not the best for me.

So, I painted it white and

brushed a stain on it,

that I wiped off immediately.
I had a hard time deciding if I should paint the
handle and the hardware,
but I decided to leave it and I am glad I did.

Now it works for my growing stack....

Here is the before of some gold frames...

And here are the afters...

I used the same white paint

and stain as I did on the suitcase...

assembly line style!

I love my afters!

Big project this weekend,

come see what it is on Monday!