Home Improvement: Tips for Sellers & Scattershooting

Whoohooo....I dodged a bullet today!! Thanks for your prayers...a cortisone shot, a brace, some fluid removal and I'm back in the saddle...sort of. However, instead of a riding crop, I'm using a cane. The MRI went well...they positioned the nicest person in the clinic in the MRI room! She had great MRI-side manner. Ok, that being said, I'm doing a quick little post because I can't sit up at the computer long...still a little painful...but I could NOT not do a post! (After the dr visit, we went shoe shopping...WARNING: after a stressful morning involving your knee...that is NOT and I repeat NOT a great idea. Had to take a two hr nap to regroup the troops.)

So I am doing a rather disconnected post...scattershooting, I'd say.

Saw the canvas below in World Market in Spanish Fort, Alabama and thought I'd try my hand at it...I'll post results later. LOVE the colors and the designs...it was big...mine probably wont be quite as large.

Couldn't imagine what was holding up the traffic at the railroad tracks at Whitfield...whoa...it was just an ENTIRE house being moved down the road. My father did that once...years ago he moved two houses from Coffeeville, MS across the Grenada Lake levee..that gives people an eyefull! (And YES, there is a Mississippi town called Coffeeville and one named Hot Coffee, too.)

I am trying to do some research on these little dolls found at an estate sale. Especially the one on the far right. Aren't they cute?

From the left moving right: Celluloid, two bisques, and the last one is similar to a Patsy doll which may be composite. Anyone have any ideas?

Ran into this little book in the sale bin at Michael's..it's got lots of tips on how to make your house sellable. I agree with most, there are a few I'd be wary of.

Thought I'd share a few with you.

1. Did you know if you will find a bar of soap similar to the color of your walls and rub the slightly damp bar over holes in the walls they will disappear? It's true I do it all the time...sometimes I wonder if there's anything holding up my house sheetrock except soap, I've hammered so many times!
2. Flat paint hides imperfections on walls better than satin. (But it isn't as easy to clean.)

3. When using a color scheme in a room or on the outside of your home, use these proportions: 60% main color (sides of room or house); 30% second color (trim); and 10% accent (door or accessories like pillows.)

4. If repainting the outside of your home, choose a paint color one shade darker than you like...the bright sunlight makes the outside color appear lighter.

5. Dark shades of color make a room seem more serious and possibly elegant and paler shades exude congeniality...or so says this author.

6. Spend a little time attending open houses in your area...to assess the competition.

7. An attractive doorknob on the front door makes a good first impression.

8. Use trial size jars of paint rather than buying quarts or gallons! (Rather obvious.)

9. If you have a septic tank, don't opt for a garbage disposer...it may overtax the system.

10. Use a pumice stone to remove hard water or rust stains from the toilet.

There is a lot more to this little book than first meets the eye...I think the $3.99 I spent was WELL spent. I just wanted to give you a taste of the 11 chapters and 256 pages it holds.

Hope this scattershooting hits the bullseye,

One More Help!

This should have been a PS to Help, Help, Help!

1.For the moment Followers are back on the sidebar. Losing everybody sort of panicked me. I love my Followers and don't want to lose any of them.

2. Tomorrow I go in for an MRI on my "bum knee". I don't do sickness, take it easy, or MRI's very well. Would you mind just remembering me with a little prayer tonight or in the morning? I certainly would appreciate it.

Talk to you after while,

Help! Help! Help!

Oh, YIKES! I've lost all my followers in my sidebar and it has become increasingly difficult for people to post comments! Is this an issue with anyone else? What do we do?

Hope you aren't experiencing this, but if you are, will you let me know? Perhaps by email if you can't comment?

Thank you,

* "It's Close Enough"

It began with a simple statement, "I think I'd make more at the Flea Market if my presentation was nicer." One thing lead to another and yep, you guessed it...he came home with lumber, an 8 ft. sheet of plywood and a box of screws.

Now, if you read this blog regularly, then you will know that YKW (you know who) does NOT like to "fix things" or "build things"...it's just not his thing. But let me give credit where credit is due...he tries...WITH my assistance. So on the hottest day on the record books since civilization began...we got started building an 8 ft shelf for my FM booth.

Let the good times roll....gentlemen, start your engines...we are properly laid out and ready to rumble...HOWEVER...

Is it just me? Or do you, too, spot a potential problem? It's obvious that our sawhorses don't get too much use...but I don't know...wouldn't it help if they were at least sort of level? Especially if you are trying to build an 8 ft. shelving unit? So, it begins...

The electric drill I so lovingly and thoughtfully gave as a Christmas gift years ago... should have been charged..."Oh, it will be ready to go in about 15 minutes." Do you remember that song, "Help Me, Rhonda...Help, Help Me, Rhonda"? It began going through my head...

And I know the budget is tight, but can it be a good sign that the legs that will hold up an 8 ft. shelf which will be loaded to the gills with glassware has a number of knotholes? "Oh, it will be fine," reassured YKW.

Here we go...lovely molded sawhorses...steady hand, good intentions....wrong saw. Let's try another one...we have several that are still in their original boxes in the garage. While we are at it, maybe we should bring out another drill...the cordless ran out "of gas" after a few minutes...at this point, the backyard was looking a little like a war zone...Bun T. Wabbit was hovering under the birdbath...fearing for his life...I was hovering in the shade...fearing for mine, too. Sawdust was a'flyin...


But, "Houston, we have a leg!" One end of the leg isn't exactly level, but no matter, we'll just use the end that came from Home Depot cut correctly as the bottom..."it will be just fine".... hmmmm. I dared question.."What about where the unlevel end has to join the top?" There it goes again...that phrase..."It will be just fine." OkyDoky. (sp?)

Then a new phrase began, "It's close enough." Really?
It began to get a little warm...my polyester capris were not exactly what I needed for this ordeal...I sat down in a lawn chair until I was summoned to come hold the leg taunt...my leg was beginning to feel a bit taunt,too ..as well as my head. But I held the leg AND my tongue.

A mere hour and a half had passed...oh, it just seemed to fly by...then we decided to live dangerously and add two more legs in the middle...why not? Surely 6 legs and three braces were enough for 1,000 lbs of glassware. "What about the fact that some of the lumber we were using for braces is a little, well, warped?" I pondered. "Oh, it'll be fine."

We ran out of purchased lumber and rather than drive to HD, we just used some we had "stored for a rainy day" in the garage..."Yes, Virginia, that IS an giant upward swoop on the left." But "it will be fine."

Oops. Maybe not. (That's my Princess Reebok you see at the bottom of the pic...I am in the lawn chair almost passed out.) I am watching this circus in the shade.

Until my foot was needed...yes, in our family two feet are better than none...

Six legs, three braces down and one long back one to go...I see a light at the end of the tunnel. (Hope it's not an oncoming train.) We are now into the third hour of this saga.

After a few more hiccups...another size screw was needed for the back brace...a few flares of wood (and tempers) here and there...I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight...."It's close enough and to all a good night!" Oh, that's another story...anyhoo... we loaded her up, covered her with a cute table cloth and stacked her high with glassware ...AND GUESS WHAT?

"It WAS just fine!" I have a GREAT husband!

I am attending Boost My Blog Friday at Design It Chic and Frugal Friday at Shabby Nest...come on by!

Hope all your building projects go this well,

"Twittering and Fluttering"

I found two new blogs today and they both use lots of birds' nests! Well, that attracted me right off...they had the cutest ideas...who are they? Well, one is Liberty Biberty and the other is Treasures From the Heart Gifts. I liked their "stuff" so much that I pinned several things on my Pinterest boards! I've really had a great time on Pinterest...I hope you are using it. It's just the greatest virtual bulletin board I've ever seen.

With all the "twitter" about birds' nests, I decided to "tweak my leaf pictures from yesterday...see below AND photo some of my bird nest collection. Some nests are purchased, some are my own creation...if I were a bird, I'd use mine because they are crocheted from the softest prettiest yarns. They even have built in feathers and moss! (You do know that if you have a nest in your Christmas tree, that good fortune follows you all year, don't you?) Wonder what happened to my good fortune? We had two flat tires on the same day, my brakes went out and my dishwasher said Adios, and the knee catastophe... all in the space of a month.

Some of my bird related items....old bird pencil box. Wonder who the sweet little chickadee was who used this box to hold all her pencils and treasures?

Nest watercolor I picked up at the Flea Market, Peter's bluebird and straw and pine cone nest.

Living room arrangement of dried florals and a small feather nest in right bottom corner.

Small signed, handcarved and painted Chickadee that I also got at the FM. (I am like a bird detective.) The next three pics are my crocheted nests. I sell these at Christmas. Each has added feathers, moss and a small egg.




I love the look of the golden eggs in the nest in the compote...some people may be getting the idea that I have bird fever...or are some kind of loon...that's bird humor.



Entertainment center nests...hummm, this is sort of boring. I promise, just a few more...

White porcelain birdie I picked up at an Estate sale...ok, I'm stopping. This has made me question my sanity...no wonder people think I'm always "fluttering" as the hubster calls it...I need to re-evaluate. But before I do...I changed out the pictures in the guest bath...remember this mini makeover? Well, those leaf pictures looked sort of out of place and since I had two from the previous "red" bohemian look...I began to "think"...uh, oh.

Once before the boho look, they were oriental prints from Kirkland's. I took out the pics and cut up a beautiful placemat and framed the pieces for the red guest bath. Now, what could I do with them? Tear them apart again..cover the mats with tissue, Mod Podge, paint on white swirls, spray paint the frames Hammered Brown, copy some free bird related (yikes!) prints from The Graphics Fairy and whala...

Now, I'm not bragging, but I think they are just plain pretty.

They look much better than those leaf prints...so if anyone thinks I'm a little over the top with my collection of birds...then the look below is what you will get from yours truly...that's one mad chick!!

Come by and party with us At The Picket Fence

and The Shabby Chic Cottage

and at I Believe In Love click here

and Frugal Friday at Shabby Nest.

and Funky Junk Interiors.

Hope all your collections get you all in a flutter,