The Legs Have It!

As I've said in previous posts-I love furniture with great legs.

I ran across these legs earlier in the week.

They were listed on Craig's List.

In Austin, an hour's drive up IH-35.

I kept going back to the post all week.

And my heart did that little pitter-patter thing that means I'm in serious trouble.

I finally contacted the seller, and made an offer.

They accepted and I found myself in the truck with "Lola", my GPS.

When I arrived, they were actually being sold in a funky resale shop with all kinds of goodies.

They're a pair of wing backs with legs I've never seen before.

The front ones are very curly and carved.

The back legs have a graceful curve to them.

I don't know the age, but I would peg the fabric that was used to cover them was from the 80's.

Gorgeous????

These chairs are 12" from the floor.

The one below is 10" from the floor.

The dimensions are almost the same as this chair.

Maybe it's because there's more air between the floor and chair, but they feel more petite to me.

The backs are also curved, no corner like lots of other wing backs I've seen.

I'm going to slip cover them.

I think a classic linen .

Or maybe matelesse.

Maybe fabric covered buttons down the back.

Maybe a graceful scalloped front.

I'm not sure if I should paint the legs, or sand and restain them.

Thoughts?

ann marie



The Driveway Re-Do

We've always taken the simple act of driving up the driveway to our house for granted.

Whichever house that happened to be in our 27 years in the Air Force.

Even our duplex in Yigo, Guam had a driveway.

Then we moved into this little cottage of ours.

Curb appeal was non-existent.

So was the driveway!

We had a driveway, kind of.

I think someone dumped bits and pieces of leftover blacktop over time.

Then, they ran it over, a little.

There were no boundaries, and over time grass and weeds began to grow through it.

And I felt like I was going to bottom out each time I drove in or backed out.

And it drained into the garage when there was a heavy rain.

So, we decided to

put in a nice big driveway that was engineered to drain away from the house.

Isn't that a novel idea.

There's actually a funny story about the "price quote" I received from the people doing this for us.

The gentleman shows up, measures, asks how many expansion and control joints we wanted.

I gave him the numbers our city inspector gave me.

Yada, yada.

He comes back with a quote of 450.

Dollars? I asked.

Are you sure only $450 dollars.

4-5-0 dollars?

Yes, yes, yes. He says.

I think I was borderline obnoxious.

He had a very heavy Mexican accent,

then throw in my New England accent,

and the fact that I LOVE a good deal!

Well, the husband comes home and I relay the whole story to him.

He looks at me like I've been smoking something.

"You can't even rip the old stuff out for $450!"

Long story short-

When in doubt, have the contractor WRITE the amount out.

Lesson learned.

So. here's how it went.

Tear it out and make it bigger.

Put in rebar and chairs.

Groovy boots!

Bring in a couple of concrete trucks.

The "make the concrete vibrate" machine.

I'm pretty sure that's the technical name for it.

It vibrates the concrete so there are no are pockets that would weaken the structure when cured.

They level it.

I don't know what the term is for this.

However, in my professional opinion, I'd call it "smoothing it out".

These guys definitely knew what they were doing.

We now have a great place to park.

I hope we added value to our property.

Although it wasn't the deal of the century,

we love that it adds a finishing detail to the front yard

 and we're not bottoming out any more.

These guys did this all in 2 days.

It pays to know when to call in the professionals!

ann marie



Orange Slip Covered Club Chairs

While I was visiting Mark and Andrea in Boston,

we, Andrea and I, tackled a few projects.

The big one was Caroline's nursery, which I posted about here.

Another ambitious project started with these.



There are two of these beauties.

Craig's List treasures.

Although it appears that Bretten is supervising, she's actually pretty PO'd that we hijacked "her" chair.

It's the one she sits on waiting for that evil mail truck!!

Throw this into the mix.

                             Orange Greek Key Geometric.                            

The fabric was fun to work with.

And it's an indoor/outdoor fabric which will be wonderful when Bretten comes in full of sand after her romp at the Res.

They live a few houses down from a small reservoir.

It's a mile walk all the way around.

It was really quite beautiful with the leaves having changed colors!

Back to the fabric.

The pattern hid a multitude of little oops.

I really missed my sewing machine with this project.

All in all, Andrea was very happy with the results!

So was Bretten!

ann marie



Labor of Love!

After spending two weeks in Boston, Caroline's nursery is Finis!

Here's the fabrics that Andrea, Daughter #1,  chose for their daughter, Caroline's, nursery.

I made the bed linens and panels here, then mailed them to her so they'd be there when I arrived.

This is what we started with.

It kind of looked like an episode of Hoarders!

We put a fresh coat of paint on the walls and trim.

Hung panels on the windows.

We dressed that crib up with the cutest dust ruffle and bumper pads.

The daybed received some attention too.

Small bookcases for small books and girlie things.

Because this is an older home, there are no closets in this bedroom.

No problem.

We just repurposed an armoire from the living room that held games...and stuff.

We had a wonderful supervisor.

She didn't miss a thing!

That herd of elephants ended up here.

The reveal...

Caroline's nursery.

A labor of love.

Life is good.

ann marie



Old Car Love

Have you ever been in the right place at the right time?

It's a wonderful feeling.

Many years ago, my husband and I were running errands on a Saturday morning in his 1967 VW Bug-Lacy.

Yes, that was her name.

And she had less than 50,000 original miles.

She looked like this.

We stopped to get gas, and in front of us was the cutest elderly couple.

She was trying to pump gas and seemed to be having a little difficulty.

My husband got out and helped them.

He started asking about the car they were driving.

A 1968 Mercedes Benz 250S.

She was the original owner.

Creampuff.

We gave them my business card and told them if they ever wanted to sell the car, to call us.

She informed us that she would never sell the car while she was alive.

Several months later, I recieved a phone call from her daughter.

Mrs. Ingram had passed away.

She explained that she was going through her mother's things when she came across my card.

I was told to contact their mechanic at his shop to see and drive Creampuff if I was interested.

Mack owns the shop and knew this couple for years.

His mechanics grew teary eyed at her funeral!

He serviced Creampuff for close to 20 years.

Long story short, Creampuff became part of our the family.

Driving an old car is so special.

You definitely wouldn't try to pass anything going uphill with her, but she was what a touring car was all about.

That car literally purred as you drove her.

Wonderful.

We sold her years later to a gentleman that restored her. He was very excited.

We knew she'd gone to a good home.

All this leads me to our latest MB acquisition.

I'd called Mack back in June to tell him we wanted to find another older, vintage Mercedes.

He was shocked! A neighbor of his had just told him he wanted to sell his Mercedes.

He couldn't believe the timing of my phone call.

His children weren't interested, they wanted new trucks.

Their loss, my gain.

The car had sat in their garage for the last 6 years, so Mack had to go through everything, at the owner's expense.

The list of the repairs and fine tuning was long.

He was also the original owner.

Of a 1978 450sl.
That's the same year I got married!!

With 58,680 Original Miles.

That's right, just broken in.

I finally brought her home....

Yesterday!

4 months of waiting patiently.

So, after cleaning and waxing and polishing...

may I present

Buttercup!!

She's sporting the hardtop right now, but as soon as we get back from Boston (visiting Andrea and Mark), we'll be able to put the top down!

She has a brown canvas convertible top!!

There is a whole lot of chrome.

I love chrome.

You really don't see much of it around these days.

That's really too bad.

She has spiffy new wheels, I just love these.

She handles well on the road, and I am definitely not afraid to pass going uphill.

I think I may need to go for another spin.

Old car love.

Nothing compares to it.

ann marie

P.S.-The photos of Lacy and Creampuff are from the internet. My photos are on our old desktop.

Yard Sale Love!

You know that feeling.

It might happen at a yard sale,

maybe the thrift store?

You 're minding your own business, just looking around. 

Then you spot "it".

Your heart starts to pitter patter.

You nonchalantly wander over...

and then you snatch it up.

You know it's yard sale love if every time you look at it when you get it home your heart does the pitter patter dance.

I bought this table last week at a yard sale.

It was made by Davis Birely Table Company.

The last year they were in business was 1938.

This fits perfectly in my laundry room to fold clothes on.

And every time I walk in there, I'm a little bit happier.

The cost of my happiness?

$10.00

This little beauty wormed itself into my heart this morning.

There was a yard sale a few houses up the street from us, so I thought I'd stop and check things out.

Slim pickins.

Then, the gentleman said there was more inside.

Not one single thing I couldn't live without.

Until I went into the last room.

She was sitting with two other lamps.

Floor lamps that were cheaply made and falling apart.

You know the kind.

I literally rushed over and picked her up.

I almost pulled a muscle.

She's heavy.

Made of solid marble heavy.

And she makes me smile too.

A smile that comes from knowing I only spent $5.00.

Pitter Patter

ann marie

Trash Talk!

Have you ever driven/walked by something that caught your eye and imagination?

And then you went back and picked it up off the side of the curb?

That happened, again, today.

Sooo, I turned my truck around and picked this up.

Pretty, no?

15 minutes, 1 can of leftover spray paint, ferns and sweet potato vine...

voila!

Something a little different!

ann marie