Help Us WIN!!!

Once again I have entered remodeling contests with This Old House magazine.  Since the house is FINALLY DONE, and by that I mean EVERY SQUARE INCH, inside and out:)  I have entered the WHOLE HOUSE and KITCHEN categories with the hope of winning $$$$ and a new truck!  You don't actually VOTE, but by clicking on the links below you can RATE my projects and maybe that will persuade the judges;)

WHOLE HOUSE link
http://youroldhouse.thisoldhouse.com/thisoldhouse/submission.jsp?id=119571

KITCHEN link

http://youroldhouse.thisoldhouse.com/thisoldhouse/submission.jsp?id=119568

Also check back because I will add more links as I enter more categories.

Thanks:)

Kelly

P.S.  If you click on the label to the right called House Restoration you can see all the blogs and photos that I have posted thus far.

ReStore Sink Cabinet and Kitchen Cabinet

I love to make things that help a person get organized.  Wish I had a place for these in my home!



Sink cabinet BEFORE



AFTER a desk

3 door upper kitchen cabinet BEFORE

Kitchen cabinet AFTER

Keep Pickin'
Kelly

Industrial Design...and Rusty Gold

 Ashtray and minnow basket lamp

Lately I have been loving anything rusty and metal.  I have been trying to come up with innovative ways of using them and this is the beginning of what I hope will be a long affair!

Chandelier candle holder

Jewelry organizer

Engine gasket photo frames

Baby buggy turned table

Glass doorknob photo holder

Keep Pickin'

Kelly

Gasket Photo Frames

I found these great looking gaskets in a shed and pondered what to do with them.  I decided to glue Plexiglas to the back so a photo could be slid in from the side.  Then I glued a magnet on the back.  They would look great in an automotive shop hanging on the tool chest, file cabinet or refrigerator!

Keep Pickin'

Kelly

Old Speaker turned Kitchen Island

I found 2 of these speakers at the Salvation Army for $35 each.  They weighed a TON, and barely fit in the back of my SUV!  To start off, I put wheels on the bottom to make it easier to move. Then I gutted them of all contents and put a shelf inside before painting the inside black.  Next since I don't sew,  I used that tape that you can iron and fuse fabric.  I folded it over and made a sleeve for a tension rod.  The fabric helps soften the look.  The finishing touch was a piece of granite! 

Keep Pickin'

Kelly

2005- Hawaii Room

It's interesting to look back and see how my tastes change.  This is from 2005 when we were into Hawaii (3 trips in 4 years) and I was into "themed" rooms.  Back before vinyl lettering, I stenciled Hawaiian words and phrases above all the doors and windows.  Aloha, Mahalo, Ohana. 

 Ma ka hana ka 'ike...In working, one learns.

I even ordered bark cloth and sewed my own bedspread and ottoman.

 I covered my headboard with bamboo place mats, and the nightstands my husband made with bamboo table runners.    I cut holes in the shelves and put the ferns and birds of paradise "in" them.

This Family Tree was my poor attempt at making a Banyan Tree.   The Banyan tree has vines that re root in the ground and make another trunk.  I made it from spray insulation foam so it was 3 dimensional.  Then I put artificial leaves on it.  It seems like so long ago, but that was probably when I began my love of repurposing items.  It's like an addiction, and now I can't stop.

Stay tuned for more blasts from the past.

Keep Pickin'

Kelly

The PINK Room:

This spacious room was surrounded on 3 sides by glass!  Added on in the early 50's it sported a full wall of glass doors and two complete walls of windows.  So...in this home that meant 3 walls of ceiling to floor, wall to wall drapes.  And iridescent PINK at that!

I was told by a friend that was a seamstress and drapery maker, that in their day the drapes in this house were probably worth $10,000!  Pink is NOT  my color and they had some stains but I did find them a new home on ebay.  Someone out there is hopefully really enjoying them. 

 Oddly this room was only accessible by going through the closet/master bath, the HUGE sitting room and THEN you entered this room in the corner, under the light of an outdoor flood light!  No chandelier as one would expect from such a surrounding of magnificent drapes. It was hard to understand why this would be designed in such a way.  Little did we know we were soon to find out!

These rooms served more as a private wing for the lady of the house and this was added after the blue master bedroom and master bath.  The logical passage way was from one to the next because it was meant to be private. 






But the REAL reason I think it was built this way is because the original 1916 part of this house is made of poured concrete.  And let's just say we found ALL the original outside walls, because they were EXACTLY  where I planned new doorways!!  Yep...we had to chisel out 3 doorways in our restoration process. You can see in the photo below where we made an opening for the door and a hallway leading to the laundry/workout room.  It took ALL day to cut the hole and there was an awful lot of concrete to haul out to the dumpster.  This is also where I found evidence of a roof to a porch, though I am not sure where the door would have been.

Here is the room now!

Keep Pickin'

Kelly