Memorial Day

Today we celebrate all the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country. 

God Bless America

Why I Love Living In New Orleans

Yea, it's hot as hell here. Our crime rate is at the top. The termites are eating our homes and we're not sure what's gonna happen to us when the next "Big One" hits us. But we love living in New Orleans, dawlin. Why? Because wherever you go there's someone you know. 

I walked my dog to the neighborhood snowball stand tonight........that's snow cone to the rest of the world. While I'm at it let me explain the diff between snowball and snow cone. Snowballs are a fine ground ice in any flavor you can think of. Snow cones are shaved ice. BIG DIFFERENCE . Sorry, but I've had snow cones in a few other states......no comparison to a snowball. No pictures..........I ate the snowball on my way home.

Back to topic.........I ran into a high school friend of my daughter whose currently living in Boston. I haven't seen her in 8 years but it was like I just saw her yesterday. She's just as beautiful! I also ran into a grade school friend of mine. We gave each other that "I know you from somewhere look" and then it just clicked. Mind you I'm talking 45 years ago! 

Everyone here knows someone who knows someone. It's just the way we are. No 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon here. We're all 1- 2 degrees away from the person standing in line at the snowball stand. 

Company's Coming

There's one sure way to get me to clean the house from top to bottom.....

Have relatives come for a visit..........

I've been going crazy trying to get the house together but haven't seemed to make a dent in it. I feel like I'm just moving things from one room to another. 

PLEASE.....tell me you do the same. It's OK if you lie to me.

      

It's just been a hard week for me. I look around and see so much that I want to do. Not the stuff I need to do like dusting, cleaning the fridge (which by the way was not fun) or washing the dog's bedding. I see all the fun stuff I want to do in the house. Like recover the dining room chairs, get a new sofa, finish the garden, repaint the kitchen cabinets, make those darn cute French towels I've been dying to do.  It's overwhelming. My brain goes from one project to another. There's so much creativity in my brain trying to get out!

So until I have the time to create, I'll have to settle on dreaming of those pretty French Towels........

After Katrina Style

It's been almost 7 years since Katrina hit New Orleans. A lot has changed.......some good.....some not so good. One of the things that I've noticed in the burbs is a "New Old Style Home". We call them the "built after Katrina home". They all have the same style, elegant and classic. Most of them are painted in a white to creamy off white, some are tone on tone. They all have shutters, high ceilings, and porches. Of course you never, ever and I do mean ever see anyone sitting on the porch. It's to hot and the mosquitoes will suck every ounce of blood out of you. These homes bring back the feel of the Old New Orleans Uptown area. 

Here are a few examples. 

This one doesn't have a porch. 

Not only is this house beautiful, look at that garden.

This beauty is a beautiful green/grey color. It has the look of an old New Orleans Uptown home.... shutters, balusters, and even the blue porch ceiling. I love that it doesn't look "new". 

This is one of the tone on tone looks. Simple but elegant.

Now this is a porch........Not only is this one a beauty but it sits on a large piece of property. Well, at least large by New Orleans standards. It's a little different than most of the others. It has a metal roof and no shutters. Love the lamp post in front. 

Another one on a great piece of property and on a secluded street. Love the upstairs porch.

I hope you enjoyed a look at some of the post Katrina homes.

Getting Motivated In The Heat

It's May 9th and the temperatures have already reached the high 80s low 90s. In the south that mean humidity.....lots of humidity. If you're a curly haired girl that means frizz. If you're a straight as a board girl that means stringy wet hair. Either way humidity is hard on a girls hair. We really need an air conditioned garage to work in............

Yes, we're spoiled.......just a little. 

We started working on our latest project this morning. An antique double bed. We gave her a good cleaning.......she was one dirty girl. She has a lot of nicks and dings and she's missing part of her laurel wreath. When we're done she'll be a knockout. 

Here's a picture of the headboard. 

Here's the foot board. Notice the missing piece of the laurel wreath. We're going to try to mold a new piece. 

Side view of foot board. 

I think she's going to look beautiful in an oyster white with an asphalt glaze. 

 First she needs a little surgery. 

We Call Her Lola

We know it's silly but we've decided to name our pieces of furniture. This pretty girl spoke to us and said her name was Lola. She started out shabby.....and not the pretty shabby. Her veneer was peeling, some of it missing, the bottom of her top drawer was warped, splitting and wouldn't close. She had knobs missing. 

Look at her now......pretty.....she's now a showgirl.......hence the name Lola..

When we first spotted her we weren't sure how much work would be involved. We read horror stories on other blogs about how difficult it was to remove veneer. We rolled up our sleeves expecting hours and hours of intensive labor. We were so surprised that with little effort the veneer came off. The hard part was removing the old glue. We just soaked an old sock in water, let it sit on the glue for a few minutes and then we were able to scrape it off with little effort. 

Look at her detail..............we were so lucky that all the pretty detail were intact.  Her finish is so smooth.

When Lola spoke to us she said she'd look beautiful in a soft sage color. We used Valspar  Sage Bud with an asphalt glaze. Since chalk paint is all the rage right now and we couldn't spring for ASCP we made our own. We poured about 1/3 of a quart of paint into a plastic butter dish and crushed a piece of chalk into it. Soooo scientific. It went on like BUTTA.......She's finished off with 2 coats of poly and 2 coats of wax.  

Our adventures in refurbishing furniture has been rewarding so far. The hot summer of New Orleans is starting to kick in. The temperature has already hit the high 90's with high humidity. We don't have an inside workspace and working under a canopy can be a challenge. When we say we put our sweat into these pieces, we really do.

This piece is available for $325