Amber Dusick

Vintage Bakewell Stove Before & After

We turned this vintage 1800s Bakewell stove into a serving bar!  This stove has been in my husband's family since the 60s (found on the side of a road between LA and Vegas) but once upon a time (the 1800s) it was a functioning stove.  I love to imagine what was cooked on it and by whom. 

The "before" photo...I apologize for this one, I seem to have "lost" the official before photo, but you get the idea, it was dingy and black:

In progress.  We used enamel appliance spray paint with a metal primer first.  At this stage I was in a panic that we messed it up.  I didn't want to cover the original blue "Bakewell" emblem on the front door but the front door was so dingy and ugly:

FINISHED!  We used one layer of blue painter's tape to tape over the emblem and then used an exacto knife to perfectly cut around it and peel off the edges, leaving only the emblem taped.  It worked.  Phew. 

 

A piece of glass was cut for the top (you can see it in the "before" pic) for setting servingware and the inside of the oven will be more drink storage.  We aren't sure if this will go outside on our covered patio or if it will make its way into our house when we move...so stay tuned for an "in action" shot in the future. 

House Progress...is slow

So while I'm doing fun stuff like prettying lamps, my wonderful husband is doing some more serious stuff.  

Tearing up nasty carpet to make way for hardwood floors: 



(By the way that wee room above will be my art studio.  My heart goes pitter patter just thinking of it.  My very own space.  No sharing with filing cabinets or guitars or beer making supplies.  Not that those weren't all splendid company of course.)

Refinishing stairs:

 

Sadly, these are too far gone to be stained and douglas fir doesn't stain well anyway.  We'll be painting them glossy black probably and will get a carpet runner anyway since hardwood stairs + two little kids sounds too scary for me to handle. 

Not to mention tearing down the brick chimney and rebuilding it.  I loved the old brick, but it didn't pass inspection so the new one will be stucco to match the house.  This is one part we aren't doing ourselves, mind you, but it sure did make a mess:

 

Being in the 3rd trimester with a huge belly in the way unfortunately makes me unable to help out as much as I'd like.  This does not make me happy one bit, so to make up for it, I do a lot of supervising and bossing around.  A lot.  The fact that my wonderful husband still looks forward to spending work days at the house with me is a true testament to his patience.

More before & after projects coming up (in the low impact "prettying stuff" category) and of course I'll be sharing actual house progress as it comes along.  Slowly. 

Bedroom Lamp Before & After Makeover

I've been rather silent on the blog lately, mainly because I spend every extra moment working on our house.  It is truly a diamond in the rough and we will be doing much of the updating ourselves, which I'll share here over the coming months. 

Our 1950s home came with a whole lot of great (but in need of updating) vintage fixtures and here is the first of many before and after projects:

Nothing wrong with this burlap hanging lamp in the master bedroom, it just looks dated and the burlap made it too dark. 

I was thrilled to find that the burlap was actually a DIY cover that the previous owners glued on so it was easy to pull off!  The original vintage shade is revealed underneath but it was dingy and badly stained. 

Some glossy white spray paint and a yard of red polka dot fabric later, we have a bedroom lamp that will be adorable with the quilt I'm making shown in my last post.  Ignore the dingy white walls - they aren't painted yet either! 

So much to do, so much to do...

Decluttering & King Quilt Progress

We've been in decluttering mode all week and have taken two full car loads to donate.  There are already two more boxes waiting by the door for the next trip.  I can't believe how much STUFF we've accumulated over the years.  It is so much easier to let things go when you have to carry them and then think about storing them in new house.  Even crafty stuff.  Yes, I've managed to make quite a dent in my unloved craft supplies.  When I walk into my crafting room and can't find my sewing machine it tells me that it is time to destash a bit. 

I'm really enjoying decluttering.  I plan to turn over a new simple leaf with this move and this is step one.

 

Fortunately, I found the sewing machine!  My entire desk is cleared off and I was able to make some progress on the king quilt for our bed.  Just one column of one side, but progress nonetheless:

   

The main fabric will be grey around this single column.  It would look lovely white, but with two kids and two furry black cats sharing our bed I think darker is the way to go. 

We're moving to the hills...

We finally did it.  We bought our very first house in the outskirts of Los Angeles, in the mountains and just 10 miles from the ocean.  This is something we've been working towards and dreaming about for years and years and I feel so very fortunate and blessed that we've finally made it happen.  We get the keys on Friday.  I can't believe it until that moment. 

This is the windy road we drive on leaving the beach and heading towards our new home: 

To celebrate, we packed up a picnic and headed to the beach that we'll soon be much closer to.  French sparkling lemonade to toast of course...this is my bubbly "toasting" drink while pregnant. 

 

Oh, how I love this beach.  I usually find a comfy rock in the tidepools and sit and see what sea critters will come walking over my toes:

And lastly, check out this beautiful green vintage dress I thrifted!  Another maternity fashion tip: buy vintage, but not ever maternity vintage, which is usually awful.  Look for empire or baby doll waisted vintage dresses that have some stretch. 

More fun stuff up my sleeve, we're going to be busy this summer!

 

 

 

Crafting for a Cause: Amazima Dolls for Ugandan Orphans

The lovely Shannon has coordinated a crafting for a cause project with Amazima Ministries (which was started by a very inspiring 20 year old woman named Katie, by the way) where she is rounding up the crafters to make dolls for the 350+ orphans cared for by Amazima in Uganda.

I got up early this morning and made these two to send, again using scraps from my stash!  A great way to use up that tidbit of special fabric you've been holding onto but is never big enough to use.  The pattern as well as full details (including the volunteer form to fill out so Shannon can keep track of how many dolls are coming) are here on Shannon's Amazima Dolls Project blog.  You have until October 1st, 2009 to send off a doll, but I guarantee you'll feel better about it if you do it right away.  Don't put this off until fall or it will interfere with your holiday crafting and then you'll wimp out.  Just do it now.

So why dolls to Ugandan orphans?  Shannon gives the background to her inspiration in the interview I did with her over here.  For a bit of Uganda current events in a snapshot...in addition to poverty, disease (AIDS especially) and starvation that afflicts the area, the rebel Lord's Resistance Army kidnaps thousands of children to be forced to kill or be wife/slaves.  Uganda is not a happy place to grow up right now. 

By creating a simple doll that will go directly to an orphan cared for by Amazima, you are giving them a special something they can call their own, that they can love and cuddle and care for. 

PS - if you feel like crying today...this story about Sarah is great, this one about Rita and this one about Sumini.  These are just a couple stories of the children cared for by Katie & Amazima.     

Simple Column Quilt Finished

I finished this baby quilt today and going along with the "buy nothing" goal I mentioned in yesterday's post, I used all scraps I had on hand.  I seemed to have a whole lot of little bits of green in my stash so this was a perfect quick project that used up small scraps.   

This type of quilt sews up FAST, which is my kind of sewing.  I made my own binding which I hadn't tried before, so it is a bit wonky, but I'm pleased with it. 

 

It is always helpful to have a tester.

My next crafty project is a Cal King size quilt in the same column style for our bed, although in different colors.  Yes, Cal King size.  Am I crazy to embark on a king size quilt when quilting really isn't  my favorite and I'm a very impatient, fickle crafter?  Probably.  Fortunately, this design is so simple it won't be too painful.  I hope.     

The No Clutter Me vs Frugal Me = More Sewing...

When my son was born, he had tons of beautiful baby clothes.  People were so generous at our baby shower that I don't even think he wore them all.  As he grew out of them they wound up in grocery bags in a closet.  I'd look at them on and off, wondering, "Should they stay or should they go?"  Well, finally...they went.  The declutterer in me took over, reasoning that I may never have another baby and if I do, what are the chances that it will be another boy and born in the same season? 

Apparently, very good.  Baby boy number two is due within a week of my son's birthday.  A decluttering regret?  Nah.  It simply means I now get to declutter my fabric stash by making baby clothes.

 

I started with some pants.  Not a single piece of fabric or thread or bias tape was purchased for these...my goal is to outfit this new little one with only material on hand.

Isn't that elephant print fabric great?  Seems ideal for baby pants.  Japanese import of course, purchased from Superbuzzy way back when.  So glad I'm finally using it. 

Made a few bigger sizes too, since the little stage goes by so quick!  Those dots/stripes pants are pretty goofy, but I didn't have enough fabric in left in either to do pants in just one pattern. 

Last, my son picked this fabric out from my stash (I used it to reupholster a chair in my art room about a year ago) and wanted a pair of pants made from it.  This was his very first "make this for me" request, so I was more than thrilled to make him some crazy, happy, clown pants.  Made a matchy-matchy pair for the wee one too.  They are so bright and cheery they make me happy just looking at them. 

Hope your long weekend was a good one!  In addition to all this sewing today, we had a beach picnic yesterday and this afternoon we have a barbeque.  I love Memorial Day weekend, it really has always marked the official start of summer for me. 

   

letting go, getting messy and digging in

It all started with a fresh batch of homemade playdough that I made in five colors.  I separated it out by color, arranged it all on the table and let him sculpt while I chopped onions for pea soup. 

Within five minutes, it looked like this:

And my newly mopped floor looked like this:

But I realized that this is what being a toddler is all about.  Getting messy and digging in.  I've learned that once I let go of the "Oh no, you mixed up all the colors!" and the "Oh no, look at the mess on the floor!" adult part of me something magical happens.  I have fun too.  This is me digging into life.   

I can now laugh that his favorite part of fingerpainting is actually body painting:      

I think this means we are ready to dig into summer and all the mess it brings.  Sand between the toes:

And sunshine in our hearts.

I hope you allow a little blissful mess in your life this week!

Simplifying Means... More Time for

Simple, real, whole foods!  One of our family goals this season (we write a seasonal family manifesto that I'll share more about later) was to finally join a CSA - aka "Community Supported Agriculture" group.  We have talked about it for so long that it felt like we were already doing it.  Except we weren't.  Until this spring! 

We purchased a share of a local organic farm so every other week we get a huge box packed full with organic fruits and veggies!  To find a CSA farm near you, search LocalHarvest.org. 

Our secondary goal with joining the CSA this spring is to USE every last bit we get from them.  No rotten veggies on the counter allowed!  This means we've had to think about cooking in a whole new way and actually I've found that ingredient based cooking is so much easier.  Thinking, "Hmmm, I have a huge bunch of kale, what can I make with this?" has been so much fun.

The lemons did give me pause though.  I never know what the heck to do with lemons besides lemonade.  Living in Southern California, we wind up with grocery bags full every summer because everyone has them in their backyards.  I use them for cleaning.  We make lemonade.  Over and over.  So lemons?  Totally uninspiring. 

Except not these.  My fancy schmancy organic CSA lemons?  Not going to waste!  I was determined to make something special so turned to my biggest inspiration in the world of food.  What would Alice Waters do? 

Lemon curd, baby!  Tonight we'll be having deliciously sweet and creamy lemon curd for dessert, thanks to The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters.  I adore this book.  It is my all time favorite cookbook and I've used so many recipes from it.  It is a great sourcebook for ingredient based cooking and her philosophy behind cooking is really inspiring.  It is a "let the ingredients to the work" philosophy so all the recipes are simple.

Another good book is From Asparagus to Zucchini which super helpful if you join a CSA and get handed a bunch of veggies you are completely unfamiliar with. 

I hope this spring brings you a bountiful harvest!