Sorry to Disappoint!

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I hope I haven't disappointed anyone by not showing a picture of a beautifully finished desk. You might have thought that since I didn't post yesterday, I was working feverishly trying to finally finish the project. That was actually my plan. But I was having an "ugly day". You know one of those days where crawling into a hole actually sounds appealing? Am I the only one who has ugly days? My husband even said that I was "surly". I thought maybe a day off would be a good idea.
I planned on painting my desk, doing a lot of gardening and catching up on chores. BUT, instead I went thrifting (no treasures to be found), watched a DVD, took a nap, and went to a concert in the park. I think I'm not so surly now. I just need to stop beating myself up for not accomplishing anything. And I need to apologize for disappointing you, my friends.

I will, however, show you a simple and fun project
you can do this weekend.No, this is not the damage a surly woman
can do on her ugly day.
It's actually a creative and easy project.

All you need is regular pliers, needle nose pliers,
and a fork.
(You should probably get one from the thrift store
and not use your fine silver)

With the needle nose pliers,
curl the outside tong ends forward.Use the regular pliers to bend the two inside tongs back and out. Play with the bends to make sure that
the fork can stand on it's own.You have now made a cute, inexpensive little easel.

Now it's time for me to get some things crossed off
yesterday's to-do list.

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An Award, An Answer, & A Question

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AN AWARD:
Have you met my blogging friend, the sweet Mrs. B? If not, you should! She can tell you how to make a beautiful ottoman, as well as many other very creative ideas. She has a lovely home and family. And they go on wonderful vacations that she takes beautiful pictures of (yes, I'm jealous). Well, Mrs. B has kindly given me an award. It's called the "furniture whisperer".

Isn't it a beauty?

I am supposed to find just one person
to pass this on to.

I think that my husband deserves this award. He's the master builder of our team. He can take my crazy ideas and make them look even better than they do on my sketch pad. If I built things on my own, the furniture could easily be blown down by just one huff from the big bad wolf (or any of my sons for that matter). Yes, my husband deserves this award. There's just one problem, he doesn't have his own blog. He's very content just to share mine. So I guess we can both share this award and I will pass it on to another very creative person.
There are oh, so many people who deserve this!
And it's very, very hard to narrow it down to just one, but. . .
I would like to present this award to Robolady Margo. She is amazing! She can take any piece of "junk" and turn it into a real treasure. I think that her blog was the very first one that I ever read. She is an inspiration to me! If you haven't visited her, you're in for a real treat.

AN ANSWER:
I am so proud of you, my friends! You are all such great guessers to the question about my repurposed cabinet. Here's the answer:
The doors are made from two old windows.
The sides are made from one door cut in half and then cut down to size.
The top and shelves are wood left over from the armoire.
The bun feet came off of an old ottoman ( you guessed this one spymommy!)
The only thing we had to buy was the bead board, rope molding, and some wood for the basic frame.

A QUESTION:
See this beauty of a table?I started to work on it almost two months ago. I want to paint it by hand. I know it's hard to believe that I'm not going to spray paint it, but there are just some pieces of furniture, mostly the older, very well built pieces, that I prefer to give a real hand finished paint job.
This table is patiently waiting for me in my kitchen. My family has gotten so used to it being there that they keep piling things on it, which means I'll have to do some more sanding and wiping before I start painting.
So my question is this:

AM I THE ONLY ONE OUT THERE
WHO CAN'T SEEM TO FIND
ENOUGH HOURS IN THE DAY
AND/OR ENERGY IN MY BODY
TO GET ALL THE THINGS DONE
ON MY TO-DO LIST?!?!?!

And when do I find time to really do this:
(My husband grabbed the wire from me
to make his own sign that he's very proud of)

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One of My Favorites

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This is my favorite area in our kitchen. When we moved in, this corner housed a built in desk, with cabinets above. It took a few years for me to get brave enough to tear it all out (which, of course, I did while my husband was at work). When I took it out I had to learn how to do major sheet rock repair and how to tile the floor---and do it well enough to match the existing tile. I think that's one reason I like this corner. It was my schooling. Tackling it gave me the confidence to tackle many other home improvement projects.

The other reason that this is my favorite corner
would be this cabinet.

It took about two years to convince my husband that we could build it, even though we had already built a couple of other projects. I think that the wait actually made it all the better, because I was able to gather all the right items to re-purpose. I love the details we put into this cabinet, including the rope molding and the bead board backing. I love the finish I chose for it. I painted and distressed it and then I gave it a good waxing to protect the paint.

Now, I've got a test for you. . .

How many items were re-purposed
to make this cabinet?

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Wired Up

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I am not a scrapbooker. Unfortunately there are only so many hours in the day. If I took up scrapbooking, on top of my other past times, I would probably find two well dressed people standing at my door. One would flash me a badge showing that they were family service agents, while the other hauled away my children and husband because I had neglected them, and my house, while I had happily wiled away hours and hours of time.
However, I do occasionally cruise the scrapbook supply aisles. One day a package containing words that had been formed by twisting thin wire caught my eye. That package was the inspiration for this project.
First, I went to the home improvement store (my home away from home), and I picked up some 14 gauge wire and a package of double tipped tacks/cloth staples. I found a cedar fence slat in my wood supply and cut it down to size. I grabbed some wire cutter pliers. I twisted the wire into cursive letters using my hands. The pliers were used for crimping some of the letters. (You could write your word out first on a piece of paper to help determine the correct size and style of the lettering, but I was too lazy.) I spray painted my scrap wood. Once the paint was dry, the wire word was adhered by hammering the staples over the wire and into the wood (tip: use needle nose pliers to hold the staples while hammering). I sanded the edges of the wood and drilled two holes. All that was left was to thread the ribbon, and find a home for my latest project.

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