Back Yard Renovation…part 1 An Evening Of Demolition

Remember the old shed that was in the yard when I moved here?  I cute-ed it up with flowers…


I am sure you do…I also know you will remember the Red Neck Shed Move post…  Man was this bugger heavy!!!  That was also the day I introduced you to my cowboy…  we sure did have fun that day!


Well…  One evening last week, GRAMMIE decided that it was about time that this moldy old shed would go!   Those who know her…know that when my mother decides something…  its done.  She does NOT mess around.
With her mind made up…  she grabbed Grampie, and dragged him over to our house…  and got things on the go!


Grampie and my Cowboy got to work straight away… removing the siding and dismantling this old shed.  
We did have high hopes of just dismantling the shed, and putting a new foundation under it…  but sadly…  it is rotten almost everywhere! 
Pretty much the entire structure has to go.


EVERYTHING that was in the shed was moved to my greenhouse!!!
EEK!!!
My baby is a mess!


Grammie also suggested that we move this shed too.
I worked SO hard to build the base for this shed to sit on last spring…  and now we are moving it???
It has to be done…  this tiny shed is also going to be leaving the property…  it isn’t functional for us, and it is not terribly attractive…  I will give it to someone who can use it once we build a new one.


The little tin shed was picked up and quickly moved onto the gravel pad.
EASY PEAZY! 


OH NO!!!  
WHERE are you going Grammie ???? 
These old poops are hard to manage anymore…  they are ALWAYS into mischief…   ESPECIALLY when they appear to be SNEAKING!!!!  
They always say that you get back what you did as a child ten fold…  EXCEPT I am pretty sure they meant with one’s children…  I get it back from my own parents AND my children!    I must have been very bad in a past life!


BUSTED!!!  She is trying to make off with a birdbath!!!   That thing is made of cement and is HEAVY!
Good thing Grammie is as strong as an OX!   hahahaha!   YEP Grammie…  you are an “OXY” old broad! 
After about an hour and a half of removing the siding and taking the door off, the window out and a few other little things…
It’s time!!!   It’s Time!!!   It’s Time!!!
Grammie!!!
Cover your eyes!!!
The shed is about to come right down!


Good girl Grammie!
Those boys just lifted that shed up enough…  and boom!!!


It collapsed right onto itself!
Gross hey???  
It was at that point, that Grammie decided that her work here was DONE…  and she loaded up her baby (Grampie) and they went home.  (probably to eat Cheezies and relax a bit)
They left me and my Cowboy to finish the job.


This is a mess. 
It is going to be a big job to finish taking this shed apart.


My Cowboy and I worked on it for a little bit that evening, and when it got late, and we couldn’t make noise anymore…  we went inside for the night.  
On my way inside, I remember thinking to myself…  my yard looks like a photo from one of those hidden object games!


Morning came and we got busy cutting and moving the rotten wood to the gravel pad.  
I just can’t stand the mess!!!


My Cowboy had a pretty good idea that I was freaking out about the mess and decided to light the fire pit for me. 
It was the perfect way to get rid of all that scrap without wrecking up the box of my truck!!!   Besides, the box of my truck and the box of my Cowboy’s truck were both full of garbage and junk that is slated for the garage sale we are hosting early next month!


Burn moldy wood…  BURN!


In just a few short hours, that shed was GONE!


I was left with a LOT of work to do!!!    Between the dog pee patches from the neighbors pets and the dead spot from the shed...
This spot…


…This spot…


…and this spot..(among other things) 
…DESPERATELY need a little Tootsie Time!!!!

I wasted NO time...   I got right to work...   I have a wonderful idea!!

I absolutely cannot wait to show you what I did!!!
 
Tune in next time for part two of the back yard renovation!

Until Next Time…Happy Gardening!

*)*)*) Don't worry about things you can't control, work on the things you can :-)  


(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.www.tootsietime.com

No More Little Girl’s Room…It’s ALL Va - Va - Va - Voom! bedroom makeover part 2

In my last post, I shared the beginning of a huge makeover on my oldest Daughter’s bedroom.  In that post I showed how her dressers looked before I started the challenging task of making a little girl’s room look more like a funky Teenager room!   If you want the full scoop, you should begin your reading by clicking on the photo below.


This is the point where I left you all in suspense as to what this teenager was going to see when she first returned home.  

Shall we continue???   Lets get busy…we have furniture…now we need to decorate!

With Georgie getting a larger bed in her room, she needed a headboard.   I didn’t have time to go and junk one up for her, and living in this small town, there isn’t much for shopping for such things.   I needed a fast and easy solution to this problem! 



While I was out and about one day, I happened upon a dollar store.   As I was walking around in there looking for some bamboo stakes for the greenhouse, I decided to walk down an isle I don’t usually bother with…and came upon these wonderful little plastic squares!   They came in a package of two and they included the little wire clips that join them together!   They were a buck a package and they were perfect for my Georgie’s room!  I bought several packages of them (and a couple of other little odd’s n ends that would be good for this project ) and headed for home!
First thing, I got busy joining the squares together and hung them on the wall where I had decided to place her bed.



Loving the way these looked…I proceeded to dress her bed!



NOW do you see WHY this room was such a challenge for me???   I love the colors…but I never decorate my house like this…I use these colors in my gardens!   This room was not an easy task for this Tootsie.   I am more prone to decorate with a soft, muted, shabby style.

Next up…was the walls, her little bedroom window.  


Georgie LOVED the curtains I had made a while back for her little sister’s bedroom…and she really wanted some like that in her room…so I made her a chicken coop valance similar to the one I had done for “Busy’s” room.   The difference is that I made Georgies’ in her colors.  

This bedroom is in the basement of our house…so the window is teensy and not terribly easy to dress.  I tried to put up curtains, but they looked ridiculously ugly, so a valance hung on a curve is the way it will be!

The walls…



I hung a few of the wall words sayings…(which are a bugger to keep stuck by the way)…and then decided to make some original wall art on her wall out of watering cans!



I had originally planned to make several of these for her wall, but because they turned out to be quite big, she got only one, as I didn’t want it to start to look too tacky!   She did get several sayings…and…



…a funky wire dress form wall hanging.



So far…so good!   NEXT!!!



Remember this paragraph from the first part?
“When I ask Georgie what type of bedroom she would like, she simply would say “lime green with black.   Walls can be either color.  I also want horses and cool stuff in my room mom…no ruffles or old lady stuff like you use in the rest of the house please” “
Well…I had to keep that in mind…so the horses stay…for now.  


The other little vanity dresser did get a little more funk…and I sneaked a little of  my style in there too with the flowers…lol.    I added a shiny black framed mirror and….



Yep!   I added a Lava Lamp!   I just know that will be her favorite part!



Again…I still need to do a new cover for her chair…but otherwise this little vanity looks pretty spiffy!




After a lot of work, sweat, cursing and swearing, Georgie finally has her newly updated teenager room…Tootsie Style!
Like I said before...
…nothing like watching a Tootsie step right out of her element!

There is still baseboards and trims to be added and she is getting a new window this spring, but for the most part, this room turned out much better than I had planned!   I left a wall blank except for a bulletin board, for anything else that she might want to add…or that I find in my travels that would look sensational in here!

Well…what do you think?   Do you think she likes her new look???

SHE LOVES IT!   Yay for me!!!   I TOTALLY ROCKED IT!

Stay tuned...there are two more kid's rooms for me to share!

Until Next Time…Happy Decorating!

*)*)*)   Remember that at the end of the day, you need only be satisfied with the performance of one person - you.
(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•. www.tootsietime.com

I Got Hammered!!! (In My Little Girl’s Room) Bedroom makeover part 1

Those of you who have been following Tootsie Time for a while now, know that I am a single, divorced mother of three very busy, fantastic kids.   I have one boy and two girls, the boy being the oldest.  
The kids were away for two full weeks over the Easter break, and Mother here, decided to do a little…okay…a lot of spring cleaning.   While that cleaning took place, inspiration struck, and a whole makeover of their bedrooms took form.  Today I am going to share the beginning of  one of those room transformations.

My oldest daughter is almost a teenager now.  She is 12 and a half, going on 17.   She has a mind of her own …she literally dances to her own beat…and sometimes I think she’s possessed!   Stubborn and Challenging are the two most prominent words that come to mind when I think of my “Georgie” girl.   (That’s one of her nick names…)   She might drive me absolutely crazy most of the time, but I do love my George!

My Georgie does not like the froofy, ruffled look.   She is a little bit of a Tom Boy, and is quite artsy.  She loves to draw and write and ADORES bright colors as much as she does Black!   She is quite the young lady.

When I ask Georgie what type of bedroom she would like, she simply would say “lime green with black.   Walls can be either color.  I also want horses and cool stuff in my room mom…no ruffles or old lady stuff like you use in the rest of the house please”  

“OLD LADY”!!!!   WHAT????   SHOULD THIS TOOSIE MOM BE OFFENDED?????  

So…with those parameters in mind, I challenged this old Tootsie and did my best to make a very cool, teenager bedroom.   It was no easy task to keep the “old lady” out of it…I love my olden junk.   I think it turned out rather well considering that this is NOT my favorite style!

Let me show you what I did.

I don’t have much for BEFORE photos…none of them really turned out well…but I have some reference type photos that I can add as we go along. 

About three weeks ago the decision was made to give Georgie a queen size bed in her room.  She is getting older and wants to have her girlfriends overnight here and there, and needs a little more of a grown up room.  Since I have so much trouble getting my Georgie to clean her room, I avoided doing much of a decorating spree in there until now.  It is frustrating to have to try to decorate around all the crap she leaves laying around, so my first task was to literally go through every single thing in there, tossing out what was garbage (and there was a lot) and organizing what wasn’t!   Once I finally got that task finished…my mind was made up…this room needs a makeover!

With a larger bed, she needed bedding.  So…I had to go shopping!   It was SO hard not to buy something pretty and soft…it really was.   BUT…I persevered and found what I thought my girl would love.   I then went looking for a few accessories.  I found lots to work with! 

Her existing dressers would stay.   They would, however, not stay the same.  There needed to be some painting done here.     Hey…what’s a makeover without a little paint hangover right?



This is an old vanity that my grandmother gave to me when I was very little.   From what I understand, she herself used it as a girl...it is OLD....and solid as a rock.  It has been a lot of different colors over the years…and it is in need of a little sprucing up.  I am not willing to let it go…but I am willing to change it a bit!



This is an old shot of Georgie's dresser BEFORE I did a little work on it.  Since this photo was taken, it has sustained some nail polish, and a few bumps and bruises…(to put it kindly)  It really needed some help at this point.  I liked it in the cream color…and really wished she hadn’t done some damages to it.  …But…she is Georgie…and that’s what she does!  

I ran to the local hardware store…and grabbed a can of glossy black paint.  I was so excited!   I got the pieces all prepped and ready to paint…and started to roll it on.   WELL…somehow I managed to grab a can of paint that was NO GOOD!   It was horrible!   I was MAD!   I suspect that I bought a can of paint that had been frozen in the past and simply just put out for sale.  It did not act like paint...it was very disappointing!    I had to come up with another idea for this project, one that would not show that there was a coat of gross paint sort of on them….

The next day I had to go for a trip to the city to pick up some other home improvement items, and while I was in the hardware store there, mention of the hammered finish paint came to my attention.   I was interested right away...I was also a bit nervous, but decided that might be a good way to go! 

We went home, and I got busy right away.    lol

I LOVE the way that hammered finish turned out!



This is the Black glossy finish of the hammered black paint.   It is more or less dark gray, but WOW!!!   What a great look for this project!   That paint hangover was absolutely worth it!   (yep…I get a hangover feeling the day after I use paint or stain…:)  )



I changed out the knobs and drawer pulls and returned the mirror to it’s position…It looks fantastic!  
Yep…I did…I blurred out the mirror so you guys can’t cheat and see what else I was doing in there until I am ready to post the finished room!   hahahahaha!   sneaky huh???



This is a top view of that dresser…That hammered paint hides any and all imperfections!   It was just what I needed!



My little antique vanity looks all spiffed up in her new covering!   New drawer pulls dressed it up perfectly!

I really need to get busy and change that chair seat to something a little better, but for today…it is going to be just fine!

Now…are you guys as excited to see the rest of the room as I am to share it with you???    I really had to stretch my imagination to do this space up right…and I think I had success…Georgie will be seeing it for the first time today…and I will be taking photos of her first reactions to add to the post I will be sharing in the next day or two!…Stay tuned…this is a room Tootsiefied that you do not want to miss…
…nothing like watching a Tootsie step right out of her element!

Until Next Time…Happy Decorating!

*)*)*)   Dance like no one is watching,live like you will die tomorrow,love like you've never been hurt, and sing like you know the words!

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.
www.tootsietime.com

Tea Party For The Birds! (and a how-to)

Over the winter my tea pot bird bath sustained some damage. While assessing said damages, I remembered all the photos I took while making this adorable bird bath. 



There have been many many requests for me to do a show and tell-how to make my tea pot bird baths.  I thought maybe it would be a little easier just to re-share the post, rather than sending a link to everyone.  It also will give my new followers the opportunity to see too!

The photo above is my tea pot bird bath made with a ceramic/terra cotta pot tray...I am not so happy with the terra cotta, as it is porous, and does not hold the water...it s all seeping into the ceramic vase I have it sitting on...(and I sealed it to the vase..gross)

Below is the very first one that I ever made...it is on a plastic tray. I had it until last spring when I knocked it over and broke it! Luckily I had another one in the garage ready to go! I have made 8 of these in this style...(roses) They have all gone to friends that were very excited to have one.



I didn't make these out of my head from scratch! I found the idea in a magazine years ago....it was in an advertisement and was VERY pricey. I fell in love with the idea of them almost immediately.

I kept it in the back of my mind for several years....then one day I decided to make one from what I remembered it to look like….It doesn’t look anything like the one I remembered…but…it is mine…and …this...is another "Tootsie Original!”

So...? Is everyone ready to make one? GOOD!

Here's what you will need...




One ceramic tea pot

Two tea cups to match or co-ordinate

One plastic plant pot saucer (to scale with your pot and cup)

One 4-5 inch piece of doweling (for the project I am about to demonstrate...a concrete anchor)

4 washers (if you use the threaded anchor)

 4 nuts (for anchor)

some wire (for added support)

One smaller bolt /two washers and a nut to fit. (to hold tea cup)

marine goop or silicone sealant (must be waterproof)

a masonry drill bit to match the size of your doweling or rod

drill

masking tape

colored plastic bits, or rocks

spoon

clear liquid resin and the active ingredient (to make the faux tea)

First you need to gather all materials

got them?

 good...

Lets get started!

1. drill hole in the bottom of the tea pot just below the spout. This hole needs to be large enough to fit the dowel.

TIP: putting a piece of masking tape on the ceramic will prevent the drill from slipping and chipping.





2. Drill the same size hole in the rim of the large plastic saucer



3. Attach the doweling ( or in this case threaded rod) to the tea pot (drilled hole) and add the washer and nut to the inside...and the outside.

Tighten and set aside.



4. Drill a hole in the tea cup and saucer to fit the size of screw you will use to hold the tea cup and saucer onto the larger saucer.

Drill same size hole in the bottom of the plastic saucer.

Secure with washers and nuts to fit. Go in through the bottom, that way the nut won't make your base sit all wobbly.




5. Using your wire and the remaining nuts...place the tea pot onto the plastic saucer.

Secure with nuts. One on the top of the plastic saucer and one under the rim ...and use the wire for added support to help hold the pot in place and not fall forward. We will hide it later.




6. Using the marine goop...seal all nuts, screws and wire....also seal the opening to the tea pot spout to insure that it doesn't become a home to some bugs, or fill with stagnant water...









7. Using the marine goop sealant....attach the lid to the tea pot (so it does not fall off ) and fill the spout of the pot with sealant as well.

(this prevents it from becoming a home for pests such as wasps etc. as well as making sure it doesn't fall off and break!)



8. This step is optional: Following the directions on the resin solution you have purchased....fill cup 1/2 way with colored rocks or gravel....and fill with the epoxy resin (the stuff they sell in craft stores to make paperweights out of ) put spoon in before it hardens, allow to set...and you have a cup filled with tea. (may want to add coloring if you don't have the right color of rocks (also at craft stores))

Filling the tea cup will help weigh the whole thing down, and hold the bolt that holds the cup and saucer in place on the tray.




Once you have filled your cup with "tea" set aside and allow to set.




Have you noticed that it is a cabbage? lol....seriously cute for the garden isn't it?

9. After all is set and secured to your satisfaction place on base that you have chosen....large old vase, pedestal, table, tree stump...etc...and viola! your done!

You don't have to fill the cup with the resin....you could use it as a feeder, by adding a little bird seed... or you could fill it with water.

Waiting to see what I suggest for that second tea cup and saucer on the list?

You can drill hole same size as a screw that is about 1 1/2 inches long....in the cup and the saucer...secure cup and saucer to long piece of doweling or post with screw...fill with seed and you have a feeder to place in the flower bed where ever you want....or fill with water...and have a butterfly bath!



So? How did we do?

Wanna see our finished product?
 
Okay...you convinced me...here it is!



WAIT!!!!

It's missing something!

... hold on....I know what I forgot!....



I couldn't let it go without the raffia ribbon I bought to hide my work!



Okay! That wasn't so hard now was it? And it sure did not cost us a lot of money...the entire project cost me about $40....and that included the resin that we did not use all of!

We can make more if we want to! The one I saw in the magazine was at least 3 times that much!
So...not only did we save money...but making it ourselves makes it mean more!



This one was shipped as part of a giveaway I did back in 2008. It went all the way to Texas!

So? Are you going to make one?

 What theme is your tea pot?

 There are so many wonderful shapes out there…the possibilities are endless!

That’s all for me today…should anyone have a question about the instructions...please feel free to ask...I will get an answer out to you as soon as I can!

Until Next Time…Happy Garden Decorating!

*)*)*)    Imperfection is beauty~ Marilyn Monroe



(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.


www.tootsietime.com

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