This Kitchen Really Needs Help!

Is this not the ugliest kitchen you have ever seen?! It's the one in the duplex I'm hoping to get. Just call me crazy, but the price is right. This time you REALLY get what you pay for!

Anyway, I'll be happily sitting at my desk in this "craft" room if the house becomes mine.

Thanks so much for your prayers and sweet comments. I still have to get through the application process and come up with the money needed to move in...

Here's the view from the front door. The Bradford pear trees are magical this time of year!

I hope you have a beautiful Easter weekend!
Blessings,
Kathi

Taking a Break

I'm taking a break from cleaning and laundry just to say "hello" and let you know I'm still here!

I may have found a house to rent? I'm going to see it on Tuesday. It's very near to where I am now and closer to my daughter.

Please say a prayer for me that the new landlord will work with me on the deposit money. Since I wasn't planning to move, I don't have enough right now...

My next task is to start packing up all of my dollhouse stuff and craft room! I wish I could just go back to working on my little house instead of this BIG one!

Or maybe go back to Florida and relax with my grand dogs? :D

Kieran and Hobbes Hunter

Hope you are having a good weekend?
Blessings, Kathi

Welcome to the Beach!

As promised, here are some photos of REAL beach houses! Wouldn't you LOVE to live here?!

or here

or maybe here?

The house below defines "weathered wood!"



I love the roof top deck on this one!



Check out these great windows...




This is MY kind of neighborhood!



House hunting in Alabama won't be quite like this. I've had a wonderful time here in Florida! Time to go "home" and start packing.

Blessings,
Kathi

Guess Where I Went Today?

I went to my favorite place in the whole wide world! New Smyrna Beach, FLORIDA!

The weather was absolutely perfect. As you can see, the beach was gorgeous today!

See why I miss Florida so much?

It was great to kick off my sandals and feel the soft white sand between my toes again!



There were sea gulls, sandpipers and pelicans looking for something for lunch. This little guy really didn't want his picture taken. He kept walking away and looking over his shoulder at me.



Speaking of lunch. My son and I went to JB's Fishcamp to eat "Southern Seafood with an Attitude."

JB's is a local landmark. Great food in a laid back beachy atmosphere. They are right on the intracoastal and steps from the beach. This is the view from the dock out back.

This snowy white egret was very pleased to pose for photos. They know they are beautiful!

I took lots of photos of beach houses too. I'll share them later. Today was a perfect day!

Blessings, Kathi

What's Next?

So, here I am in sunny Florida happily enjoying my vacation... when I get a call from my landlady. She's putting the house I'm renting on the market for sale in 30 days. I have to move!

I don't WANT to move. I don't want to PACK. I don't want to look for a place to live AGAIN. I just want to keep working on my beach house and not have to worry about REAL life!

UGH.
I'm going to go raid my daughter-in-law's craft supplies. She said I could...

Blessings, Kathi

Oh, The Places I'll Go!

Orlando International Airport

New Smyrna Beach
This is a beach you can drive on!

Downtown Sanford, Florida
Home Sweet Home!

Of course I'll HAVE to go HERE!

Hope to be able to post more photos later!
Hope you have a beautiful day!
Kathi

10,000 Stitches

I just realized that the rug pattern (Bird of Paradise) I was going to try has 10,000 stitches!

I think I should do something smaller!

I found these free patterns at Brooke Nolan Cross Stitch. Cute cute cute!

I've packed up some of my mini supplies to take with me to Florida. I'll be stitching and making more plants. That is, when I'm not at the Winter Park Art Festival, the beach or in the pool!

Everything fits nicely in my new tote bag.

Do you remember this pattern? It's from Villa Lagoon Tile at Cafe Press. I love it!

Hope you have a beautiful day!
Blessings, Kathi

Michael's Hutch in Progress

I still have more details to add but I wanted to show you the lattice! :D

Needlepoint?

I've been wanting to try doing a needlepoint rug. Here's a pattern I found that I think will be perfect for one of the rooms in my dollhouse?

It is a Cheryl Fall design and is FREE at About.com. I think I'm going to try it?

I'll be going on vacation to FLORIDA on Saturday! I'm very excited. I haven't been "home" for almost two years!

It will be so much fun to see my boys, go to the beach, swim in the pool and soak up lots of that warm Florida sunshine!

I think this little needlepoint project will go along with me. I know I can't be without minis for a whole week!

Blessings,
Kathi

I Like Lattice

I found some dollhouse miniature lattice panels for sale on line.Then I thought, after seeing the price, that maybe I could make some?

I tried cutting some balsa wood into thin strips but that didn't work. I decided to try some leftover painted card stock from my tile work. Much easier with my handy dandy paper cutter.

I taped the strips on my scrap book cutting mat. That made it simple to line them up at a 45 degree angle.

I put a little dab of glue on each strip with a tiny paint brush, then just laid the second ones across the top. Real lattice isn't woven although you could probably do that and get the same effect?

Here's how MY "lattice" looks with all of the strips in place.

You know what's next, waiting for glue to dry! We'll see how it holds up when I try to pick it up? If all goes well, I'll cut it to fit the doors on my bathroom hutch.

If you see "glass" in there later, you'll know this didn't work. LOL Here's another idea I found online at Playing With Paper.

Sweet dreams!
Kathi

More About Tile

I just found this website, Villa Lagoon Tile. They make the prettiest real cement tile!
I like these.


If I can figure out how to cut and paste it, I think it will be nice in the bathroom or kitchen? Check out their floor design ideas too.
I wouldn't mind having this in my REAL size house!

Sure beats making more of those little bitty tiles for the floor...

Always dreaming,
Kathi

Bathroom Tile and Hutch

I finished the tile! So far it has two coats of clear acrylic spray. Five more to go!

I found some images online for cloisonne wallpaper that I liked. I copied, re-sized and printed them to decoupage onto the hutch. The top photo is from Equilt.com fabrics. They have some beautiful fabrics! This one matches the wallpaper perfectly. :D

I'm off to spray another coat on the tile. Hope you have a happy day!

Blessings,
Kathi

Spring Forward!

Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead tonight. I really like daylight savings time! Maybe it will help bring spring along a little bit sooner?

I'm moving right along with my projects. I finished the tile work today. Whew! I still have to spray the tile with 6-7 coats (!) of clear acrylic spray and grout them. Hopefully, I can finish that tomorrow? Thanks Josje for your great tutorial. I can't wait to see the tile IN the bathroom!

I have a Michael's hutch that I might use in the bathroom? I like what Casey did with one she had. I've seen lots of good ideas. Mine won't show much because of the way the room is arranged. Not sure what I want to do with it yet...

Hope you had a nice day.
Sweet dreams,
Kathi

The Perfect Place

I think I've found the perfect place for my new wallpaper. The master bedroom!


No, it won't go on the floor, although it would make a great looking carpet! The flowers in the wallpaper match my tropical comforter perfectly!

You can see the new window here. It still needs trim. There is lots of work to do here but I think the wallpaper will really make this room pretty.

Now. How do you install wallpaper? I've done it in real life but never in miniature. Do you have to buy special wallpaper paste? Can you use glue? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Hope you have a nice evening.
Sweet Dreams,
Kathi

Decisions Decisions...

I think there will be a change in plans. I received my beautiful blue wallpaper yesterday. Sadly, the colors just don't match anything I've made for my bathroom.

I thought about removing the turquoise tiles and putting white or yellow ones in their place? That would be a lot of work now that I have two walls of tile almost finished. Not sure I want to do that...

I'm also thinking of using the wallpaper in the living room. I'm not sure I want such a "busy" pattern in this large room?

I've been planning to recover my sofa anyway and these two fabrics match the wallpaper nicely. What do you think? Bathroom or living room? Save this wallpaper for my next house?!

Oh the decisions we mini decorators must make...

Blessings,
Kathi

Bath Works

I've been working on some things for the bathroom. This is my third attempt at doing the tile. I have three walls to do so this is just the beginning!

This little blue glass bowl below was the very first miniature item I purchased. I didn't know where I might use it, but it was so pretty that I just had to have it. I think it will make the perfect sink!

The sink cabinet is still a work in progress. It started out way back in August 2009 as a bar. I think it's fun to go back and look at my older posts to see the changes I've made.

I can't decide if I want to add a shelf to the cabinet or a towel bar as shown? The counter top is my attempt at faux marble. Sorry the photo is so bad. It's still dark here this morning!

I sanded, primed and am painting the tub. I may have to change the color once I get my wallpaper? I used a Krylon silver leafing pen to paint the faucet and the tub foot.

As you can see, I still have a lot of work to do! Guess I'd better get back to gluing tiles...

Hope you have a lovely day!
Blessings,
Kathi

Inside Outside Upside Down

I turned my house upside down yesterday so I could paint the porch ceiling and eaves.


I touched up some paint here and there. Somethings you just can't see unless you stand on your head or flip the house over!

Here you can see the new window and french doors. I think they look great. I'm not going to mess with the cracked glass. It's going to remind me that things don't have to be perfect to be beautiful!

It was so much easier to paint the ceilings with the house upside down. I still need to do some sanding and remove some old wallpaper bits from the bathroom and kitchen.

I guess the house will stay like this for a while...

Blessings,
Kathi

What Happened Here!?

Grandpa in his Sunday best on a ladder can only mean one thing. Trouble. He is not much of a carpenter, but then neither am I. Between the two of us we managed to get the new french doors installed.

We shooed the kids off to the beach. Then some feathered friends came by to watch. I went inside for a glass of lemonade and heard a big CRACK!

I thought maybe Grandpa had fallen off the ladder? Or the kids threw a ball at the door? Or maybe a seagull crashed into the door because the glass was SO clean? What happened, I asked? Then I saw who the culprit was...

My not so trusty clamp had popped off, hit the glass and cracked it. No one was talking. Not even Fiasco. It's better that way.

I guess I'll have to admit that it was MY fault. I could just cry.

Live and learn,
Kathi