The kitchen by daylight!

ok, I admit it....I LOVE it!

The Front Bathroom

Originally I had intended to paint the front bathroom a soft jade, creamy orange and grey. But as I painted my living room wall the navy blue, I liked it so much that I wondered if I could pull it off in the bathroom. After painting one wall I started to get excited. It was beautiful. I loved it. Then came the new vanity, the cool mini glass tile for the backsplash, new lighting, and the finishing touch of the new base trim and crown molding in bright white. As with the rest of the house, I wasn’t really sure which direction I would go with the art for the bathroom. I figured I would know when I saw it.

I am blessed to have two amazing nieces, Jade who is 16 (very soon to be 17) and Jayla who is 4, and an amazing nephew, Jerhan who is 11. I love it when they come over to spend time with Auntie. Miss Jayla has a little trouble reaching the sink to wash her hands and usually needs help so during a shopping trip to Home Goods (aka Mecca) I saw this adorable little puppy dog step stool and bought it for Jayla. Soon afterwards I found some cool dog centered artwork and there we have it. (on a side note: Jayla loves her step stool but prefers my bathroom and told me I could bring her stool into my bathroom if I wanted to…love her to pieces!)

The Kitchen

I’ve heard it said that what doesn’t cost you something, you don’t appreciate. Since I wasn’t going to spend the thousands $$$ it costs to get new cabinets, I decided to sand and scrape off all the old layers of paint and repaint them myself. Easy, squeezy! Ummmm….nope, not even close. I sanded and scraped for about two weeks, then decided I was ready to paint. I bought the paint-and-primer-in-one and started covering the cabinets with my color of choice, “Catwalk”. (aka, the teal you see in the photos) I was only slightly worried it might be a bit bright, but my theory with paint is, eh…don’t like it, repaint it. Over the next 2 weeks I completed the painting. I didn’t hang the cabinet doors right away as I wanted to make sure the paint was fully cured so I wouldn’t scar it while it was dry but still soft. But after two weeks I couldn’t understand how the paint could be still tacky to touch. Turns out because the cabinets were originally (we are talking ages ago) painted with an oil base paint, I needed to prime the surfaces with an oil base primer first then I could have easily used a latex based paint. Um….ok. Did that mean I now needed to strip the cabinets again and start over? Thankfully the contractor I was working with to insert the glass into the cabinets found an alternative. I just needed to apply a clear glaze and it would take care of the problem. Easy, squeezy. Done. Yay! …… Nope. Note to self: never apply a clear glaze to cabinets late at night in bad lighting and when you are tired. Lo and behold when I saw my work in the daylight I discovered I had beautiful brown streaked teal cabinets. Yeah, so NOT the look I was going for. I had to repaint the cabinets with the teal, let it dry and repaint the glaze once again. So if the saying is true, then I appreciate these cabinets very much.

Photos for free!

Photography is another love of mine. Although I'll be the first to admit I am not a professional. But I enjoy it. So I do it for free. Yep, free. I'm not giving away my talents, I'm simply sharing them with those willing to receive.

Recently I took some photos for two of my friends and I wanted to share them with you. First is my friend Sara and her handsome son Isaiah. You've seen him posted on this site before. His smile lights up my day. He is such a happy baby.

Next is my friend Malia and her family. I thought these photos turned out lovely.

What's on the Wall?

Some of you have asked what it is I have written on the wall of my living room. Here is what it says:

"and passing by on this journey of my soul, I was beckoned into the field. Embraced by its safety, tucked into its love and drawn in by a vision seen through blue sky eyes."

The Living Room...Before n' After!

The Makeover!

I've been noticiably blog absent for the past few months and I have to confess I really haven't sat down at my sewing machine very much at all. I moved into a new place in August and what began as a few changes turned out to be a complete remodel. Put it this way...the only thing that didn't get changed was the tile floor my Daddy installed a few years ago. But everything else....pfffftt! Gone. My new pad is a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment. I happen to have a really close relationship with the owners (aka, my parents) and so I pretty much had the liberty to do what I wanted. (although not necessarily my mom's blessing with my color choices! she loves it now...)

Daddy's Girl

The project has been theraputic. Most of you know my handsome Daddy passed away last December 17th at the very young age of 64. This first year has been extremely difficult for me to say the least. I am a Daddy's girl in every sense of the word. My Dad and I were co-owners of Fant & Fant Construction and worked together for about 5 years before the ecomony took a nose dive and I went back to office work and he decided to retire. Working with my Dad was the best job I ever had. Together we planned, designed and completed a variety of really great projects and worked for some truly wonderful people. We loved working together. He and I would be working in a room discussing everything from the economy to politics to religion to the crazy family we both loved. Whenever there would be a question about the direction we should take a project he would say to me, "Well you are the boss". To which I would reply, "No, you are the boss kemosabe". And it always ended in him quoting an old cartoon, "I'll do the thinnin' around here bobalouie". (Quick Draw McGraw) So as I worked on the remodel of my new place I celebrated my Dad's life and legacy and all the wonderful things he taught me in life and about construction. And much the same as when he and I worked together before, I snagged a pair of his work shorts and a work t-shirt. My Daddy is everywhere in my new place.



My Rexy boy who would much rather
I spend time with him than with a paintbrush



I owe a big huge thanks and debt of gratitude to my mom and my Uncle Tony, my boss, my amazing co-workers, my friend Lisa, my sister Deb and her kids; the loves of my life, Jade, Jehran and Jayla, and to my therapist, Kathy, who's picture I'm convinced can be found in the dictionary next to the words "consistent" and "patient". I heart her. The support of these people has been priceless.

Now that the remodel is basically done, I'll be back to sewing bags soon. For now, here are photos of what I have been working on.

Peace,

Amber

Living Room Before

This a partial of the "after" of my living room wall. I painted birch trees on the wall
and added a phrase to frame out the chair. (My sweet niece Jayla knocked out in her favorite chair.)