Too Much SVU
You know you are watching way too many reruns of Law and Order when you:
1. Dream on more than one occasion that Ice-T is your new dog walker.
That’s right. More than once.
2. Or you Google “how many murders a day in New York?” and then you are unsually interested in the details. P.S. don’t got to the Bronx at 3:23 a.m. You might get knifed in a “dispute.”
3. And then you Google, “why is Jay-Z called HOVA?”
Okay, so the Jay-Z thing isn’t Law and Order related but I was really curious and none of my friends knew either.
Nobody Puts Amy in a Corner
That’s what I kept thinking to myself as we spent last weekend in Lake Lure. If you’re not familiar with the reference then perhaps you should check out this website to educate yourself. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
And if you think this whole joke about delaying while someone actually checks out the website for the Lake Lure Dirty Dancing Festival is cheesy – and you’d prefer to keep reading. Well I’ve got something severely un-cheesy for you.
Yes, I had to use a bootleg video. The original video would not allow embedding.
The purpose of all of this is to explain in a very roundabout way that Lake Lure is in fact where Dirty Dancing was filmed oh so many years ago. It’s also the charming little mountain area of North Carolina where all of Chad’s med school buds and their families gathered over Memorial Day weekend for a reunion also known as MedStock 2012.
Play? I do not.
Tee shirts were made.
Many of our friends have little ones now and it was great to see how much they’ve all grown.
Our “kids” got to come too, which was pretty exciting for them.
Lots of new beds to lie under.
We stayed at a jinormous lake house complete with a boat which only stranded our friends once or twice throughout the weekend.
The canoe never failed us though.
We spent one afternoon in Asheville visiting Wedge, some artist warehouses, shopping for moonshine and eating at 12 Bones of previous Christmas vacay fame here.
The artist studio we visited was pretty insane. Insane in a good way – so much so that I’m going to write a post all about just it as soon as I can.
This was one of those trips where each person in the house had about 1000 photos on their camera by the end of the weekend, so I have way too many images to cram in and way too much goodness occurred on this trip to try to explain it all. Therefore I will just post the best pics below and try to come up with the wittiest of captions for each.
We brought home three bottles of 12 Bones Blueberry Chipotle Sauce.
This was my favorite painting.
On day two of the trip, slip and slide Scott finally told us it was his 30th.
So MK whipped his up a red velvet cake from scratch at the last minute. No big deal.
And we paired it with baby Bluebells. Which are available in Durham now. Just sayin’.
We also ate burgers…
with fried egg on top.
And blew up fireworks.
Lucy found a tennis ball and became the happiest gal on the lake.
A tub full of dudes…
and a shirt full of stickers
made me the 2nd happiest.
Needless to say, it was a great weekend.
A Girl and Her Dog
Remember our hallway gallery wall before and after? Longhorns and all?
Well as I’ve likely mentioned 5,486 times in the past – my favorite part of decorating my home is slowly growing collections that little meaningful things.
Our hallway wall is a perfect example of this with our longhorns straight from the 70′s given to us by a fellow longhorn, the needlepoint stitched by Chad’s great-grandmother, the duck print we thrifted from a Cape Cod vacation and the framed print of the front porch where we met.
This evening a sweet little sketch stopped me in my tracks at the thrift store. I it was part of a larger set, likely met for a kiddo’s room, but I got the clerk to give me just the one for $2.
Doesn’t it look just like a little girl and a little Barton?
Makes me smile just to walk by and see a little penciled version of my pup. Even though he’s cheating on me with some other little chica.
Can’t Wait To See
this.
The Opposite of Rustification
In the same afternoon as our make-a-new -table-look-a-little-older project posted here yesterday, we also did just the opposite with a small side table picked up at the Garrett Road Goodwill.
I almost squealed when I saw it and I’m pretty sure I said “holy crap” out loud when I got closer. Look at this great geometric cut out pattern and little brass feet it has?
The brass trim was a bit green with funk, but cleaned up pretty easily with some Brasso – which has become a staple in our house lately. I buy a lot of funky green brass stuff from the thrift store.
Important to note is that this table was real wood through and through which makes it a lot easier to refurbish.
And just so you know refurbishing is different than repurposing. Many of you have brought this to my attention when I have incorrectly described my spray painting actions of the past. For this I apologize. I know the difference but just get on a roll and my brain forgets all that it has learned including how to diagram a sentence and the difference between words like repurpose and refurbish.
Digression.
Here’s la mesa after a light sanding, one coat of primer and two coats of white gloss spray paint.
I really wanted to paint that inside lip of the top hot pink. But alas, it found itself a one way ticket to my booth at Classic Treasures, and I thought the pink might be a bit much for the CT crowd.
It may have sold already, I’m not sure, but new owner if you’re reading this – please consider a coat of hot pink paint inside that glass top ledge. It will look fab and your husband will get over it. They always do.
P.S. Did you guys watch Design Star last night? A lot of nutzo going on, I think the only thing that I loved was the coffee table one designer had made with those curvy legs. It was pure gold – the rest was meh. But that’s easy for me to say – it’s got to be incredibly difficult to design in 3 days, everyone watching and you’re paired up with an insane person that’s just trying to make themselves look better than you.
Rustification
Yes that’s a new word. I just made it up and am using it to describe the taking of something new looking and making it older looking.
Today’s guinea pig is a small iron and wood top desk that I scored at a yard sale 2 weekends ago. Well, actually it was called a “tag” sale and everything stayed in the house. We just walked around some random people’s house and gave them money to haul their things out the front door and into our cars. Felt a little odd, but it was nice and cool inside so I asked few questions.
This desk was not in great shape to say the least. It was in a kids room and had its share of scratches and dents – but the top was real wood which gave me hope for making something pretty cool without too much effort. I love the iron legs which are very architectural and kind of manly but curved and fem at the bottom. I think that this piece should appeal to both genders.
We hauled it home and began sanding off that factory gloss finish immediately. First by hand, which had little to no effect, and then by electric sander which was quick and easy.
Hand:
Electric:
For seconders I just went down to the basement to find all the random paint samples and left over cans of Minwax wood stain that I could.
I used a rag to wipe on a few random spots of an orangey red paint sample from Martha, as well as some leftover Ocean Storm paint from our bedroom dresser project.
After letting these spots dry for a minute or two, I used the electric sander to go back over the spots and make them look more worn and rough.
Then I applied a coat or two of stain, used the sander again on the painted spots and added more stain. Really you just play with it until you get the look you like – there are no rules which is why I love this type of project so much.
Finally I let it all dry completely and sealed it with wax. Bueno and rustified.
Oh and because I just do this for fun – this baby is on its way to my booth this weekend. Let me know if you’d prefer for him to come to your house instead.
Want more fun DIY paint/furniture ideas? Check out our projects page here. Anyone else refurbing some garage sale finds? It’s the perfect time of year for it!
