Wish Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who chimed in about neti pots and NeilMed Sinus Rinse!
I opted for the rinse:



Yeah, I was too chicken to try the neti pot thing. The thought of not tilting my head at the exact right angle and possibly gagging on a mixture of burning salty water was just too much for me to handle. For some reason, I'm not afraid to use a reciprocating saw but I am terrified of all things medical. Just sitting in the waiting room at the doctors office is guaranteed to trigger a "number three".
But my head just won't stop hurting, and my equilibrium is all messed up, so I forced myself to try the rinse.

After several failed attempts, I finally got the saline/water mixture to go all the way in, through, and out my nasal passage three times.
I'm still feeling pretty bad, but I'll try "flushing" again later tonight and we'll see what happens. Don't you know I'm just counting down the minutes 'til I have to stick that thing up my nose again. I can feel it staring me down from across the room as I type.

But enough about me and my stuffy head.

Thanks to all the great comments you left us about our "Wish", I had Kevin run back to the flea market and scoop up his brother so that we could give it away here on our blog this weekend:



So if you'd like to enter for a chance to win your very own Wish, just leave a comment on this post by noon (central time) on Sunday, January 10th.

Good luck to all those who enter!

Layla :-)

Weatherizing the Water Closet

A couple of people asked about the table we're using as a vanity, so I thought I'd re-post this picture Kevin took of it right after he sanded down the top, chopped off the back legs and painted the front legs:



We loved the idea of salvaging an old farm table to use as a vanity because they have so much character!

He coated the top with a few coats of regular ol' polyurethane:



Water just beads up on it now, it's great!

Due to a major sinus headache I've been battling for the past couple of days, I haven't had a chance to go to Claudia's to get inspiration for my table skirt.

But because my pants are incessantly overflowing with ants, I did throw this piece of fabric on there today, to see how I liked the idea of a striped skirt...



It's something our prop stylist, Allistair, left us after our Nest photo shoot. He used it as a table cloth on our dining room table. (Along with the prettiest arrangement of green hydrangeas!) It's not quite the right color (I altered it in this photo- it's actually a super bright robins egg blue color, and totally clashes with the tile on our wall behind the sink.)

But I am kinda diggin' the striped skirt look. What do you think?

Today, Kevin did a little more work under the table that involved some of this:



We needed to fill in all the little gaps that were allowing cold air to flow into the house.
Like this one...



And this one...



And this one..



And this one...



The can said to "shake vigorously for one minute". So he did.



Then he got back into what we now refer to as "the dreaded position"...



...and he filled in all the little places that cold air was blowing in through...



Now he can attach a baseboard back there and finish out the flooring while I try to kick this sinus stuff.

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Hey- while I have you, do you know French? I need to translate this:



Can anyone tell me what it says?

Layla :-)

(Oh, and for those who inquired, Claudia's Cloth Barn is located here in Prattville, Alabama and run by sweet Claudia herself) :-)

*Edited to include: What's a "neti pot", and where do I get one? I'm in pure agony! :-(

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Visit my Friends!

Ginger:



and Carolyn:



and Angela:

Gussyin' up the Guest Bathroom

T-minus twelve hours 'til Claudia's Cloth Barn opens tomorrow morning...



...and you can bet your bottom dollar I'm counting down the minutes!
Claudia has the best selection of fabrics, and I can't wait to get our farm table skirted now that the (ahem) plumbing part of the reno has been handled. :-)

I'm torn between using a striped fabric for the skirt, or a striped rug on the floor.
I visited DashandAlbert.com today and fell head over heels in love with their "Swedish Stripe" rug...



I pulled it up on my laptop and brought it in the bathroom to get a feel for how it would look with the new tile...



...me likey. :-)


Me also likey the one-of-a-kind find Kevin brought home from our local flea last month.

It's actually two chunks of wood, but together, he thought it sort of resembled a fish.



Especially when you flip it this way...



Once it's cleaned up and coated with poly I think it's going to look great on one of the shelves.

I haven't thought too much about how I'm going to decorate yet, but I have been stockpiling some things since Kevin brought home the "Wish". (that's "wood/fish")



I got this great soap-on-a-rope from White Flower Farmhouse...



It smells so delicious! I've been contemplating wearing it as a necklace just to keep it closer to my face.

Our prop stylist Allistair Turnbull left us this great Martha Stewart pitcher after our Nest magazine shoot...



In a perfect world, I'd love to set it sink-side and fill it with fresh flowers every day!

But in the meantime, I'll be happy if I can just make a decision about whether to use a striped skirt or a striped rug. :-)

On Saturday I'm looking forward to hanging out with my pal Rhoda in Atlanta.
We're going to Eddie Ross' framing workshop.



I love this video he shot at the Stormville Flea Market in New York:



When he said "1950's BAM. BOO." I honestly thought that we may have been separated at birth. I can completely relate to Eddie's excitement for old stuff! I'll take an ironstone egg cup over a new pair of shoes any day!
:-)
And the end of his video totally reminded me of the end of the video I shot on our trip to the Endless Yard Sale last year. Gotta love a trunk full of junk!

Happy Monday y'all-

Layla

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PS- Head over to Completely Coastal for a chance to win one of these!

Guest Bathroom Reno - Day 63

When I was a little girl, I was certain I wanted to be a plumber when I grew up.

I kid you not. My fascination with unclogging drains started at a very young age...



From year to year, my passion for plumbing intensified.

I took my little "Plastic Fantastic" with me everywhere I went...



At age five I single-handedly modified a toy sink into one that had a fully functional faucet...



And by the time I was 18, I was installing garbage disposals all over town...



HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

:-D

I had ya goin' for a minute there didn't I?

The following video showcases my actual plumbing skills
And Kevin's too, for that matter.
Neither of us has ever even thought about what goes on under a sink.

(Note: If you're a plumber, you can just go ahead and sign off right now. Unless, of course, you'd rather just point at the screen and laugh as we demonstrate our rookie maneuvers. It's your call.)



And there ya have it!

So what if we prematurely celebrated as water flooded our floor!
So what if we went through a roll of paper towels soaking it up!
So what if we sprang four, count 'em, four leaks throughout the process!
So what if we had to make a couple extra trips to the store to buy the proper tools!
So what if our dog thinks we're crazy!
It works!
It really, really works!

Take it from me- I've turned it on every fifteen minutes just to make sure.

;-)

Layla

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Next step: Skirting the farm table!

Favorites of 2009: Blog Posts

Happy New Year!
Now that the 2009 has come to a close, our final "Favorites" is about blog posts.

Writing has become such an important part of my life over the past couple of years.
I call it my passion, my family probably thinks of it more as an obsession. :-)
Each morning, I find myself pulling my laptop onto the bed before I even think about pulling the covers off.
Contributing to this blog has been both therapeutic and thrilling for me.

It is my lettered love.

It filled a void and helped shape a more confident, creative me. It opened doors when I was fumbling for my keys. It introduced me to hundreds of friends that I look forward to "seeing" every day. :-)

Here are some of the posts I particularly enjoyed putting together for our blog in 2009:

A Door with a View

Beer Garden Bench Re-do

House Tour - Union Springs, AL

Presto Chango

Maple Street Marvel

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And here are some posts that I loved reading in 2009...



Viola "May" Johnson

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Anniversary in Eureka Springs, Part One

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Leave Your Mark

Awakening

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Slop Bucket

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Homeless Man in my Dumpster

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Home Wasn't Built in a Day

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Never Say Never

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And last, but not least, Brin at My Messy Thrilling Life:

First Box. First Night.

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If the authors of these incredible posts happen to be reading this,
thank you so much for writing them!
:-)

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If you wrote or read a blog post this year that you'd like to link up to our "Favorite Blog Post of the Year" party, just click on the "You are next: Click here to enter your link" link. Then title your link with the name of the blog post you're linking to.

Thank you in advance!
I can't wait to sit here...



...with my laptop and my lemonade, and click on all the lovely links you leave!