Things I didn’t know……Online books to read, Walmart online, Target online

Just in case you do not know about these services, I wanted to share them with you.

Open Library is a website where you can open a free account and read any book they have online. I have been using this for a few years on my tablet and have really enjoyed reading mystery series, like the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, the Detective Guido Brunetti novels by Donna Leon and just recently, the rest of the Mitford series by Jan Karon, (I read these years ago, but saw there were more since I read the first books). Another find has been Rosamunde Pilcher who has written several books and some are on Open Library, including The Shell Seekers. Look into this to find your next good read! 

Have you placed an order on Walmart.com? I have done this several times recently. They offer free shipping if you order over $35 worth of products. It doesn’t take much to get up to the free shipping amount. 

I have started ordering the 38 lb. cat litter to be delivered. It is so heavy to put in a grocery cart and if it can be delivered to your door—so much better! 

This service has been a bit twitchy in that sometimes they will ship the items and then sometimes the same item you ordered last time they won’t ship. So not sure what the deal is there. But it still is worth a try to get things delivered to your home. 

I think there is a year long service you can pay Walmart for, but I have never used it since I always make sure I have the $35 minimum for the free shipping.

Also be careful and check your cart that you are not being charged an extra shipping charge from the supplier. This sometimes does not show up until it is in your cart and you are ready to check out. If there is one, I usually delete the item and get it somewhere else or get it next time I go to the store.

The next experience I would like to share with you is Target online. They also ship free with a $35 order. I have ordered things for my daughter out in Oregon which is very convenient and has worked well. They have some really cute dresses which I actually saw the first one on a blog and got her so she could wear while pregnant. She has also been able to wear that dress since her delivery to nurse in. 

I also ordered some items for me and their sizing was a bit hard for me to figure out. One item a sweater coat came in too large so I reordered and went to schedule a return on the first one and they said to keep or donate! This also happened with a pair of shoes on another order that were too small. Said keep or donate. Amazing! Other items were just returned by them paying the return shipping with a label. Very convenient!

So just my experiences lately online that I wanted to share with you. Happy reading and shopping!

Let me know what you think!

(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. My posts may contain affiliate links.)

Pillows, pillows and more pillows

Do you snag a bargain, not having a specific purpose for it? I do, all the time with no regrets. 

That project may be years down the road or right around the corner.

Years ago, when Dirt Cheap first opened up in my area, I found some pale yellow and pale blue pillows for only $1 each. I bought several of these because they were made well and I knew I could use them. 

Over the years I have used these in different rooms and lately they just held a spot on my entryway bench because it needed pillows. Did they match anything there—-no, but they were placeholding just the same.

I had a scrap of fabric leftover from my laundry room curtains that I wanted to put on a pillow and decided this would work well on my entryway bench. So i made that pillow and decided I needed to get the other ones done.

A good friend came over one week to help me make some Europeon square pillow shams with tassel fringe. Rather she, being an excellent seamstress, made them and I helped pin them up. But there was a remnant left and I thought it might look good on that bench with the other fabric. Not saying it was a perfect match, but I am channeling Sarah Richardson’s design philosophy in picking multiple patterns. 

There was not enough trim to do all 4 sides so I just did 2 sides and I think it turned out alright. If you think the fabrics clash, you can tell me that also. But I’m sticking with it for now.

Next I decided to recover the other 2 pillows on the bench with an outdoor fabric from Premier Prints Athens Batom. I think this was a nice compliment to both fabrics.

New pillows for entryway bench.

I have 3 more pillows so I may get them made up and put on the other side of the bench. 

Let me know what you think!

Disclosure, affiliate links used in this article.

How to get the paint color you want!

See this antique green color on this interesting cabinet? 

Olive green antiqued paint on vintage Postmaster’s cabinet from estate sale.

My Daddy went through a phase in the 60’s and painted so many pieces of their furniture either olive green antiqued or rusty red antiqued. Thinking back on it, there were a lot of pieces!

Then in the late 70’s he stripped them all and just oiled the finishes which looked so much better.

When I saw this piece I immediately thought of him. I originally tried to strip this piece, but there was damage on one side and the woods looked to be different species. Also some areas of veneer were worse for wear. So—I decided to paint.

Deciding where to put the piece was easy as I needed storage near my desk in the back entryway. As you enter, there is a bench and I had recently made a pillow with a scrap of fabric from my laundry room curtains and put this on the bench. This was my inspiration fabric and the paint needed to match the fuschia color in this fabric. 

Sherwin Williams matched this to fabric and also a Behr color, Glamorous P130-7.

I had also seen a color in a decorating magazine that was pretty close. Living out in the country, there are not many paint stores near me, so how was this going to get accomplished?

Well, if you don’t already know this, Sherwin Williams can match paint on fabrics, furniture pieces and swatches from other paint stores.

So I took my fabric to them, along with the photo and name of the other paint company chip from the decorating magazine. The clerk matched it perfectly on the first try!

So this is my newly painted, not green any longer, vintage cabinet!

Fuschia now and matching oh, so perfectly!

Tell me what you think!

Next project I will share the pillows I made for the bench.

Shimmering Chandelier

Let me start off by saying, I am not a hoarder! My youngest son thinks I could easily become one, and perhaps am well on my way….lol. Ahh, well…

To illustrate my point, I collect items with future planned projects in my mind. I know, no one else can read my mind, what a relief!

But I do have a method to my madness!

This started out gold or brass and I had spray painted it cream.

I got this chandelier with no crystals. I believe it started out gold or brass colored and I painted it cream with some extra spray paint I had at the time. I never did anything with it. I also think it disappeared off my back porch where I used to keep upcoming projects until hubby decided the clutter had to go. So it probably ended up in the outside storage building to be forgotten, until….

As things go, we cleaned out the storage building and low and behold this little chandelier was once again found! I had envisioned it in my youngest daughters’ room as there was a spot for a light between the windows, but we never got one put in.

As she had moved out and was now married in her own place it was time to put the light in the new now to be guest room.

This is my rug from Pier 1, no longer available. Similar one in Affiliate link below.

I had gotten a black floral rug from Pier 1 a few years ago and thought a black chandelier would work perfectly. Here is a similar rug (Affiliate linked) Black floral rug.

So I got hubby to help me string it up outside and spray painted it with a black matte spray paint. (Affiliate link) Then I found some glass crystals to put on it. If you are in need of glass crystals, online can sometimes be pricey. I checked my local lighting stores and found exactly what I needed for very little investment. I had some leftover string crystals from another project and was able to use them also. Hubby then drilled holes in the metal arms to accommodate the crystals. We were on a roll. 

He checked the wiring and got it hung and working.

Finished with crystals added and hung between the windows in the new guest room.

Tell me what you think!

How to Build a Tiered Tray Stand for Kitchen

Do you have a tiered tray in your kitchen?

My husband and I built our house 15+ years ago and we made sure to include plenty of countertop space in the kitchen. The kitchen counters, while spacey, still always manage to become a catch-all for smaller items, which can make any place in your home, not just your countertops, look messy. So, I had been wanting a tiered tray stand for my kitchen with enough space for the items I needed to get off of the counter, but not so big that it took up that valuable countertop real estate that I was trying to reclaim.  The 3 tier trays that I usually find are round and often don’t have a lot of room on them.

One day I found a beaded wood tray at Michael’s, which unfortunately is not available anymore.

But I did find this oval beaded set of 2 which is similar from Amazon. I needed two even though they were the same size. I thought it could work for what I wanted. So now that I had my tray bases, all that was left was to find something for the center post to join the two pieces together.

Wood salvage piece looked like it would work

This wood salvage piece, found at a local salvage shop, looked like it could work.

Hubby was able to cut it down and drill holes in the trays and put it together for me. We made sure there was plenty of height between the trays by using the items I knew I wanted to store on the tray as a guide.

The white wash finish needed to be darker

The trays had a white washed finish which did not match the dark wood of the salvage post piece. In order to make this piece look cohesive, I lightly rubbed the stain all over the two trays using Old Masters gel stain in mahogany and I tried to make the whole piece a bit darker. It did not have to match, but I needed to cover over the white wash finish.

I put the stand in the  corner of my kitchen counter. I think it works well here and I decorated it with some blue and white canisters, a teapot and a cute sheep. 

Put in corner of countertop and holds an assortment of blue and white items

On the bottom of the stand I added some small felt pads to prevent it from scratching my countertop.

So, tell me what you think! Would you try to make something like this? If so, where would you put it and how would you use it?

(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Posts on this blog may contain affiliate links.)

How To Restore Old Furniture

Today I would like to talk to you about refurbishing furniture, to keep or to sell, and how simple changes can make all the difference.

This is a solid wood Federal Empire style dresser that I got on Facebook Marketplace locally. I thought it would go well in our master bedroom and that was my plan for it.

Upon purchasing it and getting it out of the car onto the carport, hubby, who thinks we have way too much “stuff”, said it was not coming into the house!

So not wanting to stress my hubby, I said well, if I can’t keep it then I will try to sell it for more than I paid and make a profit to put into our kitchen countertop fund. So here is the simple but dramatic difference made in this piece before I put it up for sale.

Before: Federal Empire Dresser

Above is a photo of the dresser from Facebook Marketplace, looking in need of some TLC.

When I got it home I could tell that it needed a bit of work, but that is understandable since it is a very old piece. I do not always paint furniture…especially not a quality antique like this. I could tell the wood was dry, there was gunk on the top of the dresser and it had SQUARE nails in the top that were coming out. So I am not an expert, but I know square nails are usually a sign of age.

So what needed to be done? First off, the drawers would not close well so I got hubby to help with sanding them just a bit to make them easier to slide in and out.

Next there were some white drips of paint or something in several spots so I cleaned them off as best I could, then sanded finely where they needed extra help. Sometimes gluing the drawers needs to be done using wood glue and clamps. This is needed if there is any separation between the drawer parts. I honestly cannot remember if this was needed on this piece.

Next I got to work on the wood top. There was a sticky substance and something that also looked like candle wax. I lightly used a plastic scraper and got all this off.

Next I got hubby to use a nail set tool to work on the square nails and make them flush with the wood so they were no longer protruding on the top.

Notice how the bottom drawer is so much lighter than the other drawers. This is because the wood had gotten significantly more dried out.

So my solution was actually very simple. I took some linked (affiliate) here: Pledge Revive It Restoring Furniture Oil Spray and applied to drawers, top, sides, everything. Then I took a cloth and rubbed it in, resprayed as needed, especially on that bottom drawer, until it soaked into the wood.

Thankfully the handles were in pretty good shape!

To be honest, that was it!

Can you believe the difference it made?

After: The new and improved dresser

Square nails all even on the top. Still some imperfections, but that gives this piece some character.

All oiled up and looking better! This piece looked so different that the lady I bought it from asked me if it was the same piece, and couldn’t believe it! She said she was tempted to buy it back!

Just a few simple changes, fixes and a little elbow grease made for a great furniture flip.

Hope you enjoyed this project.

More to come on this journey.

Blog Beginnings

Welcome to my blog!

Let me begin by telling you a little about who I am and what you can expect from reading this blog.

During this journey, I hope to share my love of decorating, finding bargains, my newfound world of painting, my children’s book The Poinsettia A Mexican Legend, thrifting, photography and other adventures which I hope you will join me in.

My husband and I built our house, which I lovingly call Red Bud Cottage, almost fifteen years ago on 5 acres out in the country in Mississippi.  While we may have finished building our house fifteen years ago, life, and projects both new and old, mean we will probably never be truly finished with it! 

But that is life and love and everything in between.

Our home is surrounded by redbud trees and though technically it is not really a cottage, my decorating style is a mix of French and English country cottage, so thus the cottage influence.

We currently have 3 cats and 1 dog. We also have 5 chickens who run to greet my husband as he drives into the driveway. They are giving us eggs which we are thankful for. This has been a new venture and we are learning to enjoy them.

Along the way I will try to share my heart with you and be as real as the Velveteen Rabbit.

I hope you will join me on this journey.

Eve Lundy Lewis