The Downtown Farmhouse

I am hardly without words

I been told that I can “talk to a door post.”

Well…that might be a little harsh but whatever.

Recently I have struggled with words.

The written word to be exact. Usually that’s what I’m the BEST at but under the current circumstance, I struggle

I have a friend

This friend has made some bad decisions, horrible charges are brought against him and he remains in jail.

While I am NOT his judge nor his juror, I struggle to find the words to communicate with him. I’ve had postcards specifically for inmates sitting on my nightstand for weeks waiting forever the words to come.

My mind is blank

I don’t wish him to be free if he committed the crime he is accused of

I don’t want to joke around when I don’t see anything funny (he was always a big jokester)

I’ve had friends share what they sent and that’s all good for them. It has just never felt right.

Until today

This is my office for the day

I am painting cabinets for the RV

I am staining bathroom countertops and painting table bases.

I am mostly alone with all my thoughts.

I sat down for a moment to take a rest and scrolled.

My sweet daughter posted on Facebook (What???? She never posts anything)

She asked “What is your favorite praise and worship song?”

I can go along with this! I love praise and worship.

So many responses and so many good songs!

I took some of songs and decided it would be my playlist for today while I worked

#1 – Reckless Love

Oh, the overwhelming, never-endin’
Reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down
Fights ’til I’m found
Leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it and I don’t deserve it
Still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending
Reckless love of God

Y’all…. The tears fell

The mans face, who sits in jail, immediately came to my mind. He leaves the 99 to find the 1. He can’t earn it, he doesn’t deserve it,

The reckless love of God

#2 O Come to the Altar

Are you hurting and broken within?
Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin?
Jesus is calling
Have you come to the end of yourself
Do you thirst for a drink from the well?
Jesus is calling

O come to the altar
The Father’s arms are open wide
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood of Jesus Christ

His arms are open wide for the sinner

For my friend in jail.

#3 It is Well

Far be it from me to not believe
Even when my eyes can’t see and this mountain that’s in front of me
Will be thrown into the midst of the sea

Our sins no matter how deep and how wide are thrown to the bottomless sea.

We just have to believe and seek Him

Y’all…… I don’t have to have words on a postcard. I don’t have to know what to say

This man, he and I served together in the church band. He is a phenomenal musician and he knows the lyrics to these songs. He knows the truths of Jesus. He knows…….

I will be sending him the lyrics to these songs for him to remember.

Remember that he is loved by our Heavenly Father.

Even in the midst of his trials and consequences for his actions, he can be forgiven and be made new.

One postcard at a time

I finally finished the Big Thrifted Cabinet.

It started smooth sailing with demo.

I changed my mind 20 times on a final paint color and the process was stressful.

The primer was not great which meant the final coat was not great.

I ended up sanding and repainting the whole cabinet two times with each time being 3 coats.

I wanted to burn it to the ground and I would have clapped as it turned into ashes.

I walked away for a couple of days and when I returned to it, I didn’t hate it so much.

Things started to come together for good and one day, I asked Steve if we could bring it inside.

It’s huge

It’s heavy

We have SO MANY stairs and there is not one option that doesn’t include stairs.

I had help lined up to carry it in, and it rained so me and Steve……. The dynamic duo, hauled the sucker inside.

It’s like an obstacle course to get it to its place.

You see, we live in a big old house , but the common area, the place we all hang out, isn’t that big.

The whole reason for the cabinet is to hide a plethora of toys, books, puzzles, monster trucks….. and all the things little boys like to play with.

There was the perfect wall for it to sit

It wouldn’t be in anyone’s way but would provide the needed storage we desperately needed.

Move the table

Move the chairs

Don’t hit the 118 year old freestanding fireplace.

But we did it

And I love it

To jog your memory, here is the before

And here is the after

I’m glad it’s done because the RV renovation is calling my name

The old house during renovation creates many opportunities to Reuse, Repurpose or Restore.

Each apartment had bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens.

We tried really hard to use original items as to keep with the integrity of the home.

Bi-Fold doors are not unique.

These weren’t old and had zero sentimental value.

I originally repurposed them into wall art.

You can read about it here

From doors to wall art

I’m NOT good at artificial flowers and/or greenery and the buckets on the doors always looked half done.

I took them down and now will make room for the Big Ugly Thrifted Cabinet

What can I do to make these bi-fold doors prettier? Functional?

Sometimes I have to just walk away and think about it for a while. Sometimes days. Sometimes months. You get the idea.

To the hoard you go.

I had originally painted them

They were stripped and stained

I searched and searched and searched some more for the perfect addition to the doors. I tried some sconces I had and they DID NOT work. Of course I had already drilled holes, requested help hanging the doors and then decided I didn’t like them.

I was able to find some lights I loved and attached them to the front of the doors

I was unwilling to spend money on an electrician to hard wire the lights. I also didn’t want to run chords behind the doors to an outlet.

Next best thing?

Puck lights with a remote control

This is looking straight down into the light

The puck light just sits in the place where a lightbulb would normally be.

Be safe Florida friends. It’s a wet one today.

While there is nothing wrong with a gun cabinet…..it’s just not me.

I have nothing against guns but having them out for the word to see isn’t my style.

Dads gun cabinet has been hiding in the back of the hoard for years. He used to display his prized gun collection.

I never knew what to do with it so it sat collecting dust.

One day, I needed/wanted a new project so I pulled it out.

I put out a Facebook post asking what it could be. There were so many great ideas.

I knew I wanted to remove the scrolly (is that a word?) from the top and sides.

Those came off easily the back was also falling apart so I cut a new piece and fixed it

I found an inspiration photo I really liked. I would love to say it’s outside of my norm, but it’s not.

I really wanted the full door hardware, but I couldn’t make it work.

I added shelves

I painted the body white and I stripped and stained the door.

It now lives in our piano room

It’s holds some sweet mementos from Dad and Steves Mom.

Sleep has been my friend lately

This morning not so much.

So much life is happening around me and when my eyes popped open at 4:00AM the wheels started turning

Yesterday we celebrated my sweet friends birthday. I’m honored to have such a wonderful group of people in my life. So much laughter and life has been spent. Not to say that it’s not hard sometimes. The story of our friendship is a good one. Ask me about it sometime.

This morning begins a new chapter in the life of my father in law. He has always lived on his own home with his very loved dog. In recent weeks he has fallen a few times and the decision was made for him by medical professionals that it’s time for him to not live alone anymore. He will transition to an assisted living home. Steve will drive to Bradenton to pack up his belongings and move him to his new home. To say it’s a “change” is a dramatic understatement. While the siblings agree it necessary does not mean it’s without tears and hurt. This gentle giant of a man now frail and unable to care for himself, needing help to walk and had to give up his beloved pet.

We all age

We will all one day need help

I pray on this day for his heart as he begins this new life.

The Cancer is back.

A beautiful woman who joins us every Tuesday for Coffee Hour.

A mother

A daughter

A fun, spunky, beautiful woman whom I call friend.

How does one hear news that’s it’s back for the third time?

I have no idea

Immediately my mind when to the story of Moses when Aaron and Hur held up his arms when he couldn’t hold them up for himself.

I don’t know what exactly that means for my sweet sweet friend but I WILL be an arm holder.

#hopeforholly

Steve is gone all day today moving his Dad and I had a list a mile long to get done today. While the list is still a “thing,” my 4AM wake up might change things up a little.

I might want to spend more time with little men today instead of working.

I might enjoy a stroll through a garden center instead of splattering myself with paint.

Life is sometimes hard and I’m feeling heavy today for mine.

God is Good all the time

Enjoy your Saturday

CD

If you know me

If you’ve ever been to my house

If you know my decorating style at all

You won’t be surprised the color I painted the cabinet

The process of paint decision what ridiculous

I pinterested (is that even a word?)

I googled (definitively a word)

I searched and searched and searched some more

I tried to be unique and different

I struggled

And then……

I decided to be me.

While I wanted to step outside my box, I knew that without a fact, I would be tired of anything with color quickly.

I’ll stick with colored pillows and a piece here or there.

Hardware comes today and I’m ridiculously excited.

This baby is going to be put together soon!

Enjoy your weekend!

Charma

Keeping track of my time on projects is not typical for me unless I’m commissioned for work. It’s been kind of fun seeing the progression. Some days are shorter and today was super long.

Here’s the beginning if you’ve forgotten

This was yesterday after finishing up two coats of primer

Last night I decided on a final paint color.

It’s far from my original thought so back to the paint store this morning for tinted primer, finish paint and polyurethane

I had to repaint the whole piece with tinted primer . This is NOT the final color.

It was a long and dirty day but all worth it

Next up:

Rebuild one cabinet door

Finish paint

Polyurethane

Hardware

It’s looking good!

Charma

We got home from a fantastic beach vacation yesterday. I definitely could have stayed a couple more days.

The garage was shouting my name this morning. I was ready to get back at it on the big thrifted cabinet.

If you missed day 1, you can find it here

How I fixed the BIG THRIFTED CABINET – DAY 1

I left it demo’d and I had filled in most of the holes/scratches with wood fill. This is only one side and every surface needed some help filling in holes, scratches, etc.

Each door has holes where the hardware was. I made a video showing how I filled in the holes. I am NOT an actress and I’m not even a good teacher but I will promise to do my best to show what I know and the products I use on a regular basis.

Almost every door also had broken pieces. I’ve created a video showing the repair process. Or at least what someone can do with one hand while holding the phone in the other. (Can you say veiny, old lady hands?)

Since I couldn’t nail one handed here is the finished, nailed on broken piece

Day 2 is complete and I won’t have much time to work tomorrow. I’ve got a day full of volunteering and a lunch date.

Day 3 will be all about adding a shelf here and there for better storage options and maybe even some primer.

Go get you a nailer.

So fun!!

Charma

I have been searching a few months for a cabinet. This cabinet will be in our living room and needs to hold toys, toys and well…….more toys. While our home has a lot of square footage, our community living space is not huge and needs to function better.

While at The Interfaith Thrift Store (my favorite) a couple of weeks ago, I spotted this big cabinet with lots and lots of doors/drawers. While it’s an ugly shade of orange wood currently, I’m all about a change up.

Broken doors don’t scare me

Missing trim doesn’t scare me

Big huge scratches don’t scare me

Figuring out the final color/treatment makes me a nervous wreck.

We got the cabinet home and in the garage

The original job of the cabinet was an office/desk.

It had a slide out desk.

It had a master/breaker for computer, printers, etc items

It has lighting

Day 1 was all about demo. I don’t need or want any of the aforementioned items so they gotta go.

I removed all the electrical items

I took off all the doors and marked them so that I would know where to return them when the time came.

So many handles

So many hinges

Find a container with a lid to put ALL the things. Don’t throw away anything until you are completely done. Even if you don’t re-use the item, you might need to buy something similar and it’s a heck of a lot easier to use the current item as a sample than to start from scratch.

Trust me on this one….. I’ve thrown away SO MANY THINGS.

I am still unsure as the final paint color/treatment but it will be a while until I’m ready.

There’s so much prep work to this type of project and DO NOT skip steps.

Day 2 will consist of fixing a few things and starting on some new shelving.

But first I’m going on vacation so I’ll be back next week with Day 2.

If you have questions, ask away.

Find your perfect piece and get started!

Happy hunting

Charma

I was watching a show the other night and it talked about journaling. The character on the show said “what should I write about?” The other person said “whatever pops into your mind.”

I haven’t had much to say on this blog page but I really enjoy writing so I decided to just write.

I’ve thought a lot lately about Luke.

Two different people in the last few weeks didn’t even know about Luke. He’s the middle grandson. Jack, the oldest is a people person and loves everyone. The baby is so cute and sweet.

Luke is a little quieter.

He’s a little more introverted

He’s the snuggler. He will sit for a long time on your lap with absolutely no agenda. He’s sweet and loves to follow his big brother around.

I’m the baby of our family and was always doted on. Daddy’s little girl. Pretty pretty princess. I didn’t have a middle sibling and I never want Luke to have the stigma of being the middle child.

He’s the best little boy and is so very loved 💙💙💙

I recently quit my job.

Was it a real job?

It was 10 hours a week and I got paid.

So yea, it was a job

I’ve never needed or wanted a job to “complete” me. I either had a job to bring in a little extra $$ or the job found me. I’m happy staying home.

I’m happy caring for the people that live here.

I enjoy being able to help Steve with a delivery when he needs a driver, babysit in a pinch, meet a friend for lunch and volunteer.

I like nothing better than heading to the garage in my paint splattered clothes, earbuds and a drink and spend hours creating something out of nothing.

I’ll continue being content in my little corner of the world. I have a great family, wonderful friends and many things to be thankful for

I’ve being thinking a lot about social media. My previous job required social media posts. Now, I scroll for fun and sometimes to put one of my garage creations up for sale or post about a recent Coffee Hour Tuesday morning.

Often I don’t like what I see, read or feel while scrolling. The world we live in, is sometimes scary and I don’t want to be a part of negativity, politics, racial slander, religious offense snd so many other things I see while on any given social media platform.

Freedom is just that…….Freedom. But freedom doesn’t come with earbuds or eye patches and I haven’t quite figured out what I’m going to do about it.

In recent weeks I’ve been confronted. I won’t share what I was confronted about but it was serious enough that now I question

My integrity

My honesty

My loyalty

My whole being

This confrontation has stirred up feelings I have never had, I question social media and it’s purpose in my life.

I’m not ready to remove the apps yet but as I pray, I’m asking God to show me things I need to change.

While I might question who I am……I will never question whose I am.

It’s taken me a couple of days to “just write.”

Why is it so hard?

I’m not sure but I’ll continue to ponder thoughts and try to put them until words.

Jack and I have a date today so I’m out of here.

Happy Friday friends