Weekend at the lake

I've not had much activity to blog about here at the ranch as far as home improvements go, but I have been busy with my camera.  I hope to finish painting the trim in our master bedroom very soon and will do a tour of it when it's complete.  I seem to be a little slow at these things.  And I've forgotten what a pain in the rear it is to paint baseboards.  YUCK!  

We got to spend some time at the lake over the weekend and I was lucky enough to be surrounded by lots of beautiful things to photograph.  Let me know what you think!

 The neighbors have the most beautifully painted Adirondack chairs.  It's like rainbow row west.

 The geese were out early Sunday morning.

 There was a fog on Sunday morning that gave the lake a calming, peaceful look.

 Dew on the grass.

 "Hens and chickens".  At least that's what we call them.

 There's nothing as beautiful as a spider web with early morning dew on it.

 The sky was so blue and the white puffy clouds were just gorgeous.

 Another shot of the dock in the leftover fog.

 Headed west.

 Purple clematis.

 Tender young peaches.

 Poppies by the lake.

I hope you're having a great week and have plans for a fabulous Memorial Day!

Thanks for stopping by.

XOXOX,

Angie

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day.

XOXOX,

Angie

Reuse. Re-purpose. Resuscitate. Repeat.

I just love a good repurpose. It makes me feel like I've discovered something new or cheated some big business out of making more profit from my purchases. Most of all, it makes my creative side smile.

Our house is full of re-purposed items. I've been known to visit an estate sale or yard sale in my time so there are lots of interesting, quirky items that have gotten a second chance at life here.


We're using an antique-looking compote in our  remodeled master bath for storing some little luxury soaps and lotions.  This way I can pretend I'm getting ready in a fancy hotel or a bed and breakfast.  I just have to use my imagination a little and also ignore the overflowing laundry hamper that's in the corner.

How about using a wine bottle for a vase? Sometimes not having what you really need causes you to get creative with what you have an abundance of.

Somehow I seem to have quite a collection of these bottles.  

They're nice for when the Mr. brings home roses for no reason at all.  :)

Need to get more organized in the bathroom?  (who doesn't?)  An old bottle carrier is a fun way to corral some of your beauty necessities.  I found this at a Restoration Hardware outlet last fall and had to have it.  I hadn't found a good use for it until we finished our  master bath remodel and did a serious re-purpose of our old dining room buffet into a vanity.

 

I picked up this old ladder and its other half a couple of months ago at a sale and put it to use for towel storage.  It's also in our master bath.  The Mr. isn't crazy about it yet, but it's still in there at this point.  I think he's getting used to it.  :)

Do you have a sofa that needs a facelift?  How about repurposing a dropcloth into a slipcover?  No sewing required.  We did this to our living room sofa and I love it.  Just don't go snooping and inspecting my dropcloth.  It's actually been used for its intended purpose before and has a few paint drips on the back side, out of sight!  Shhhh!  It's our little secret.

Need a place to hang your jewelry?  You can transform an old frame into a jewelry bulletin board in an afternoon.  I did this one for my daughter's room last summer with a frame I found at an estate sale for $1.  I think I'm going to have to steal it from her.

Another estate sale find.  Actually this was the same one that I found the frame for the jewelry bulletin board.  This is an old ironstone-looking pot with a handle.  It was either (a) a slop jar, or (b) a chamber pot in its previous life.  I prefer to think that it wasn't a chamber pot, but even if it was, that was many decades ago.  Now it's a jumbo vase for branches from around the yard like quince, forsythia, or anything like that. 

Just so you know, I used it to store toilet paper in for a while.  How ironic is that?  

I'm gonna have to do another post on re-purposing items.  I saw lots of other reuses as I was looking around the house this morning.  But alas, there are no pictures of these ideas yet, and I'm short on time today.  It's housecleaning and laundry day today (or we all go naked tomorrow).

Do you have lots of re-purposed items in your home?  Do tell.  I'd love to hear what you've done.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

XOXOX,

Angie

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A photo session with some true beauties

So last night my husband came home with a box of long-stemmed roses for me and the girls, "his ladies", as he calls us.  It was a complete surprise.  No birthday.  No anniversary.  No reason at all.  

I couldn't even get him to tell me where he got them from.  "Some guy", he said, with his boyish smile and a little twinkle in his eye.  Is it wrong that I'm picturing "some guy" parked on the street corner at the end of the day offering him a steal of a deal?  I also asked him if he had bad news to give us, but no.  

I only say that because he rarely brings us flowers.  Maybe he's turning over a new leaf!  I'm hoping he'll offer to fold the laundry tonight. LOL. 

Anyway, I couldn't resist having a photo session with them today in between bleaching the kitchen sink (there's a whole 'nother story there) and washing clothes and mopping floors and all the other housework I've been procrastinating this week.  But then again, if any of you have school aged kids, you now that this time of year is maddening and it's difficult to get anything done.

So here they are, in all of their glory.

 Natural beauties, aren't they?

 

 I love doing macro photography with gorgeous flowers. 

  Saturated these a little bit.  Do you think it's too much?

They were sitting on my deck railing.  You can see the grass in the background.

 The sun peeked out from between the leaves at just the right moment and shined on this one.

 I wish I had subjects as beautiful as this to photograph all the time.

 They always know how to smile for the camera just right.

 A lovely couple, don't you think?

 Nice vase, huh?

 I think this is one of my faves of the session.

 They were getting tired in this one.

 Turning down the volume on the green here.

I hope your week is going well and you get a chance to stop and smell the roses at some point.

Thanks for stopping by.

XOXOX,

Angie

 If you like my posts, I'd love it if you'd become a follower.  You can keep up with my latest projects, tutorials, photos and tips many ways, including:

 

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Facebook 

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