Harvesting Acorns

Hello out there.

A few years ago, our grand daughters were playing in our 

yard and brought me a handful of acorns.

I said,  "What!  Where did you get these?"

I think they thought they were in trouble, but I told them 

I always wanted some, and where did they find them.

They brought me to the front of our yard, where a scrub oak was

growing, and there on the ground they found acorns!

We checked all the scrub oak in our yard that year, but only the one

tree had acorns.  

This year as we came home from Georgia in September, as I 

was walking down the dirt road on our property, I saw more acorns,

this time on a different tree.

I certainly wasn't going to miss such a treasure,

and I spent a few minutes with a plastic bag in one

hand picking the acorns on the scrub oaks in our yard.

I was able to fill 3 silver bowls with this new found

treasure of mine,

Some had already changed to the beautiful brown color,

most are still in the green stage.

I knew if I waited longer they would drop to the 

ground and I would not be able to find them.

Remember in one of my last posts, I shared that I am on a 

silver hunt, finding silver pieces wherever we go.

Here is a tray and a candle holder I recently found.

Here are some fake glittered acorns,

that I have had in an arrangement in my bedroom for years,

so yes, I really do love acorns.

Such a fun fall find!

And I am able to use some of my silver treasures

along with these fun acorns.

Have a great fall day!

I so love the fall, it is my favorite season of all!

Pull out those sweaters, make a cup of hot chocolate,

and find a book to read, and watch the

fall leaves fall to the ground.

Happy Fall!

Ciao,

Robin

Second House Flipped

Hello!

Finally back with the living in Utah again!

We have been in Georgia again working on houses.

We went back the middle of July and just got home a week ago.

Yes, flipping houses, you guessed it.

Our second house turned out so amazing.

So here are some photos of the house.

For some reason I cannot find the before pictures of this house.
We literally had to gut this kitchen.  It had never been updated from
the time it was originally built.  So all the cupboards,
which were not that many, were horrible.

The stove is in the same place, but to the left of the stove was the HVAC
so we moved it to the hall closet so the kitchen could have
a larger area for cupboard.
I chose cupboards to the ceiling so that there could be
as much storage space as you could possibly get.


We also opened the doorway to make it an open concept house.
There originally was only a regular door opening,
and the french doors, well sort of french doors,
really just a converted sliding glass door, we replaced with
these beautiful french doors to go out on the deck.
We added granite counter tops, and glass back splash.



I love the look of the floors, and how they flow from
the living space to the kitchen space,
This really makes the house look bigger by doing this.
Of course new appliances, as the old weren't even in the house.
And all new lighting fixtures throughout the house.



The living area, was small, and the garage had been converted into a room,
but both rooms were odd.  Dana and Jeremiah brought up the floor from
the garage to match the living room, and then
took out the wall between them, making this beautiful large
living space. and next to the kitchen a wonderful laundry room space,
which simply did not exist in the house.



We updated the bathrooms, new vanities and sinks,
and right here where the shower is, used to be a closet.  Just the
right size to make into a shower.

Love how this all turned out!

Just waiting for a sale of this house now.

We painted this house in Sherwin Williams Azure Grey.

What do you think?

Robin

Flipping Houses

There are certainly different seasons in our lives when

 we decide to do something different.

Right now this is what I have been doing.

Since August last year we have been discussing 

new plans with our son Jeremiah, of working on buying and selling 

houses.  So I started looking for cheap houses in our area to

purchase and flip.  It is a very difficult market where we live,

we even had several homes we put offers in on,

But things just were not working out for us in our home state.

Jeremiah started looking for houses in other areas of the U.S., 

and alas, our partnership formulated and we started buying 

Houses together.

Jer found 3 houses, that we all put money in on
in the south and our adventure began.

It took a little time to get there, trying to get our schedules together,
and April began the trek to our newly purchased houses.
As we were planning this, Jer was sent to Germany for 6 months with
his job, and thus we were able to work together for a week,
and then Dana and I were on our own to finish the houses.

The first day we were introduced to a contractor, whom we now
really like, and we have been working as a team to finish the 3 houses
we purchased.
It took about a month to finish this house, we will name as
the Woodsman house, and get it on the market.

We have finished our first house, put it on the market, 

And 2 weeks later accepted an offer and we are up and ready 

to finish our first flip, and let the new owner take over.

It has been a challenge but at the same time very enjoyable.

I love to decorate, but I also love to work.

Some days we work so hard I get back to the house and crash

Not even thinking there could be anything else to do but stop!

But as a whole we are enjoying this new chapter in our lives.

Here are picture of our first house.

This house originally had green shudders and pink pillars!

We also added the arch over the front window.

The living area didn't have the arch window or the open doorways,

even though there were doorways there, they were much smaller,

the floors were vinyl, and the kitchen and living area

had 2 separate types of vinyl.

This room turned out awesome, love the floors, and we also had

a contractor come in and scrape the popcorn ceilings and paint for us.
Where the 2 hanging lights over the island now are, there was a
shop light, and none of the lights in the house had boxes in the
wall or ceiling to attach the fixtures to,
so Dana needed to install these for code.

This kitchen looks so awesome now!  It originally was completely wallpapered

in floral/fruit wall paper, as were both bathrooms, laundry room, and closets wallpapered too, but in

different wallpapers.  I spent 3 days just stripping wallpaper!

We used mindful grey from Sherwin Williams to paint the walls in the house,

We also had all new cupboard doors made for the kitchen and 

new drawer pulls and knobs for the entire kitchen.

New granite countertops, and a subway tile backsplash were added

to the kitchen as well.

The house flows really well with the laminate flooring that flows

from the front door through the living room to the kitchen and

all the way to the back door.

We also added the island to the kitchen with granite.

Both bathrooms got new vanity tops and fixtures.

I love how the house turned out.

I will see if I can find some original photos of the inside of the house.

Our first house is a great success!

Here are the before pictures of the house.

Enjoy!

Robin

On a Silver Search

Hello today!

I have been on a search for silver!

I keep seeing these cute ideas on pintrest with pieces of silver.

I grew up with silver in our home, polishing it every 

few months or so, as it became tarnished.

When it was time to pick out things for our wedding, I told my mom,

I don't want any silver!  I never want to polish silver again!

Seriously sounds like a youngster doesn't it?

I still over the years was thankful that the silver stayed at my moms,

I gave her a few pieces of silver that were gifts to us

at our wedding, never thinking once that I would ever want them 

back.  Mom passed away a few years ago, and I have 

polished her beautiful pieces for dad a few times.

Not regretting any minute of the time.  An act of love really.

I always thought that it was way out of my price range to even 

consider ever even purchasing a few pieces for myself,

even it they are showing silver tarnished and not polished

in the magazines.

I learned a few months ago, not true!

We came across a few pieces at a second hand store,

and the first one I bought was this silver plate.

I could not have looked any worse!  Someday I will

show how it looked originally,  it was $2.50.

So I looked up on the internet how to clean it, when it 

looked so back, lots of corrosion on it.

Not bad or too hard, just lemon, vinegar, and a lot of elbow grease!

The result was this beautiful platter.

I have since been on this vigil looking for old pieces of silver for my home.

I love how it looks, polished and unpolished.

And it just depends on where it is or what I want to do with it

as to weather I polish it or not.

Here is another piece, under $15 that I found for my kitchen

to put wooden spoons and silver kitchen tools.

These pieces are not silver, they are just metal,

but I still liked them.

The heart dish is silver.

But they make a fine addition to the corner of the counters

in the kitchen.

So over the last few months I have picked up some really fun pieces.

and continue to do so.  Here are some of my 

treasures

This old box was found in our shed,  I asked my husband if there
was an old box or fruit crate around and
he came up with this,  Not use what I am going to do
to it, but maybe a decal of some sort to look
Parisian.  I keep thinking on it.

I will keep looking,

I didn't realize that in a few months I had found so much!

Our youngest daughter loves silver too,

so there are even some pieces we have purchased for her 

too.  Some really nice pieces.

Til next time!

Drop a note on and off and let me know what you 

think!

Ciao,

Robin

Pot Rack, Clock, Light Fixture in the Kitchen

We have been working on updating the Kitchen.

I will share with you the beginning of our kitchen to the 

end result of it in the next few months.

The first post on the kitchen is the pot rack light that hangs

over the top of the island.

We purchased this light/pot rack 6-7 years ago at Lowes.

It didn't have the clock, but it did have everything else,

it was just all the same color of bronze.

We found a clock at a outlet store that I thought might work in the middle

of the lamp.  I hummed and hawwed around trying to decide

if I wanted to get it, or if it would really work.

It came looking like this if I put it on the clock,

so I thought I would have to take the clock face off and turn it around.

I asked the fellow at the store how much?  Of course it wasn't marked.

and he said $10.  I thought ok, mm maybe I can make this work.

He said, did you know the nice thing about 

this clock, as I brought it to the counter, I'm,  no,

He takes the clock, pulls the face off, it is attached with magnets,

and I realized I only have to turn it so it would work!!!!!

$10  SOLD!

Dana took the bars off from the original base

and attached those bars with screws to the top of the light.

I sprayed parts of the lamp with silver spray,

to lighten the light/pot hanger.

I sprayed the leaves silver and left the wide edge bronze.

The addition of the clock to the light fixture is so fun.

Not that I really need another clock in the kitchen, but the fixture 

needed updating to what we are doing with the kitchen.

I will add more updates on the kitchen as time goes on.

Ciao!

Robin

Zebra Lampshade

Hello there,

I have been working on a few rooms in the house

that need a little updating, and as I was working on the

guestroom, I sewed new pillows from old

clothes, put them on the bed, put up new curtains, and

thought I was done.

On the end table was a clear bubbled glass lamp with an older

lampshade, it matched, I thought it looks good.

Sat back on the chair in the room, and kept on thinking,

something needs to be changed.

I changed the picture above the bed, added

 dimensional angels blowing horns and sat again and thought

it needs something else.

Then it occurred to me the lamp was still the 

shabby Victorian look and needed to be updated,

so here is what I did.

It needed lightened,

so I chose the Cream Glitter Zebra CS.

I needed 4 sheets to cover the lampshade.

I drew the edges of the shade on the paper, 2 12x12 sheets glued together.

Cut out the shapes.

Then with a glue gun, glued the Zebra CS to the lamp shade.

I did have to do some trimming with scissors to 

make it lay flat.

Here is the covered lampshade.

I then glued from the dress I used to make the cheetah pillows from,
the tie from the back of the dress.
I glued it to the bottom edge of the lamp shade.

I then added dew drops to the top and bottom edge of the lamp.
I alternated colors and shapes.

Here is the lamp sitting on the end table in the corner of the room.

These are shots of the lamp close up, with the dew drops glued on.

The lamp with all the accessories.

The room is so much more complete!
The lamp shade needed to have less of a pattern and color to it
to make the room feel good.

Just a few photos from the guest room again.

The pillows made from a dress and a skirt.

So inviting!

Have a great day!

Ciao,

Robin