A Table Makeover

I was yard saling and spotted this table for free. Something told me to snatch it up and quick. Its a good thing I did. Unknown to me, I had a friend who was in need of a kitchen table. I stripped, sanded, touched up the legs with paint and re-stained this one for her. I hope she likes it! 

New Bookcase

I have been wanting to add some height to our decor. I knew I wanted shelves but wasn't hopeful in finding the tall skinny shelves I needed. Then I walked up to these skinny giants at a yardsale! The owner was originally asking $25/piece, but said she would make me a "deal". I offerred $30/both and she said yes! Score!

While I love the height and width on these giants, I am not too keen on oak. It seems so...blah! 

I do,however, LOVE rustic, pallets, antiques, vintage...you get the idea. With the ideas brewing and after consulting with my handy hubby,  I made a plan. 

The bookshelves didn't need to be sanded or primed. The finish just happened to be perfect for gripping the paint. I wanted an off white or at least something that wasn't going to blind me everytime the sun hit it. (FYI: its new home is in the sunroom.)

While we were in town and visiting Lowes...(Randy needed to pick up extra field fence for our fence project...shoot! I need to give you a finished photo--don't I?) Sorry--I digress....I asked Randy to grab an "antique-white" paint--eggshell finish. As always he picked the perfecct color! 

These babies took exactly one quart of paint!

Now that I had the paint completed, I needed to find my final supplies. What I though would be a hassel to find ended up being quite simple! Our new neighbor had an abundance of old fence and said I could have a few panels! Yippee!! 

I grabbed a hammer and started pulling this dusty things apart. I only ran into a few spiders--one Black Widow--eek! After I sweeping them down and pulling nails, I laid them out inside the bookshelf to judge lengths and staggering the seams. I trimmed them up with a miter saw,  pieced  the trimmed pieces back together until I was happy...then used two tubes of liquid nail to hold them in place. (Two was a bit excessive, but I wanted to make ensure they were going to stay put.)

After placing every spare heavy item I could find on the glued fence pieces, I allowed tgem to cure overnight. The next morning, I sat the bookshelf up and wah-lah! They were staying in place!

Dilemma number two...now my shelves were too deep and needed to be trimmed down to fit. Using my handy tape meausre I measured the narrowest point, lined up the shelf on the table saw and cut to size. Because the fence was left in its original condition the depths varied. I had to meaure each shelf individually and cut to size. The only suggestion I have--should you take on this project--is to verify where you want the shelves to permanently sit--you can't add depth back onto a shelf once cut. Of course, you can always cut more off! :) 

All of the shelves cut...and...

The bookcase in its forever home! I will be using this beauty for homework organization and art supplies! Love it! 

Fence Installation (part one)

This post has just a few snap shots of the fence installation in process. The completed photos tomorrow! 

Our little helper. He grabbed my hat and his cowboy boots to come out and help us out. 

Pulling the fence tight with the come-a-longs. 

Cutting the wires and tying them onto the post one by one. You have to do this randomly starting from the middle and moving out. This is an important step. you do not want to loose tension along the top or bottom of the fence. Things will start to sag--fence wise...not lady parts. ;) 

To Die For Carrot Cake

We were invited to our neighbors house for a BBQ and get-to-know-you-time. It was such a great time. We are extremely blessed to have wonderful people on all sides of us. Thank you to Jeff, Paula and Gracie for having us. It was a great time.
While they supplied the bulk of the yumminess, I did get to bring dessert. I searched and searched for a "healthier" recipe, but finally just adapted 2 recipes I found to one that I liked. Next time, I will try gluten-free flour instead of pastry flour.

Carrot Cake
Pre-heat Oven 300 degrees
Bake 50-60 minutes

2 cups sugar
1 cup apple sauce (unsweetened)
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
4 eggs

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 cups shredded carrots (about 5 large carrots)
4 ounces almond slices (I soaked mine in the wet ingredients while mixing the dry)

Cream the wet ingredients together.
Add almonds to wet ingredients.
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients then slowly add to the wet ingredients. After the dry and wet ingredients are mixed well, stir in the carrots.

Pour in a greased (coconut oil) cake pan (9x13).
After it is baked top with cream cheese icing. Nom Nom!

*Note I will be playing with this recipe to make it gluten-free and will keep you updated.

**In addition, the cake was quickly devoured.