I’ve mentioned that I’m doing my first craft fair, and the deadline for being ready is drawing near.

So this weekend, I had Zach help me with my doors. I had four old doors that I wanted to hinge together. I was going to hinge all four of them together, but that was going to make them really heavy, so I decided to just hinge two of them together and then I can just push them together to make them look like they’re connected.

Here they are, in the barn, upon completion:

Blue, Cream, White and Purple. Be still my artist heart.

Then I took a broom, brushed off the dust, and then ran a washcloth with some warm, soapy water over them.

I then took them up to the deck at our house, so I could so some more “work” to them.

I needed a sander which I borrowed from the cowboy’s brother, Bud. He has so many tools. It’s awesome.

There was a door with a lot of putty on it that needed to be sanded off. It was a white(ish) door and when I pulled off the replacement panel over where the vents were, it was a gorgeous blue. Plus I kind of figured there was paint under paint, under paint. And you’ve got to take advantage of such things if you’re me.

As I sanded off the putty- the other colors in the wood began to show up. The doors were already awesome, and as I lightly sanded with 80 grit sandpaper, the beauty underneath began to show through.

There was white paint, then blue and finally a yellow.

I started on the blue door- and found some pretty turquoise underneath it- though mainly it is blue.

The purple and white doors were next.

When I began sanding on the purple door I canot tell you how happy I was to see turquoise show up under the purple. I nearly cried.

The white door has a bit of butter-cream yellow under it.

After I’d sanded I moved them inside, since I don’t want them to get dirty again, or be rained on (not that it will rain or snow in this terrible drought we’re in), and now our living room is even more crowded. They kind of clash with the rusty-red walls I have in here too. But oh well! I need to get them ready to hold all the jewelry and the art (which is on its way this week).

I put this pretty, turquoise jewelry holder on the purple and turquoise door. It looks amazing.

The white/cream doors across the middle will house a lot of no-frame needed prints, and the blue door will house more jewelry.

I’ll be using 3M velcro hangers to hold everything onto the doors so I don’t put more nail holes in the doors and so they can be flexible, and fold up like they’re designed to do.

When they booth is up, there will be a lighted garland across the top and down the sides, there will be pallet shelves to hold cards and other gifts, and a candy dish with goodies.

What do you think of my door project?

Happy Trails!

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

Contrary to popular belief (much thanks to the Pioneer Woman, I think) most rancher’s wives I know, don’t have big sprawling homes, with hundred thousand dollar kitchens, or a guest house in which to cook. Most of us don’t have huge homes at all. The average American home is about 2700 sq ft. Ours is barely over 1100 with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths.

The “master” is 11.5 x 11.5 with a 5×7 bath and a closet that’s about 2 feet deep by 54 inches wide- nice, right? So, as you can see, space is at a premium here. I see nothing wrong with compact homes, but every inch of space must be utilized efficiently. I am certain I’m not alone in my predicament.

I will admit, I’m not one of the world’s best housekeepers either. I like things to be neat as a rule, but clean isn’t something I aspire to do (save for the kitchen). I live in gumbo country, on a ranch, off a gravel road. Dirt is part of my life. The sooner one embraces that, the sooner one can be happy.

I’ve run into quite a snag with where to put my jewelry- not only the jewelry I keep and make for myself, but the pieces I make to sell too. I obviously have limited storage space. This past week, we made a trip to Rapid City, where I picked up a large number of accessories for my upcoming craft fair booth (I promise, there will be more on this later). The accessories I chose, will look great in the booth, and when not in use there, because I’m low on space, will pull double duty as storage in the master bedroom.

Cute no?

I have this really pretty antique dresser in our room, and the top of it has become the catch all for stuff. Jewelry, books, trash, who knows, really. It got completely out of control. Warning- the following pictures show a mess.

Pardon the dust.

Yeah, it’s a mess. You were forewarned.

And now, it looks like this:

I didn’t take photos of how I organized the wall, but I will tell you how I started.

I started with putting the red mirror, in a place where I could easily see myself, because that’s what a mirror is for, after all.

Then I placed the three round metal/crystal hangers.

Once that was done, I put up the pretty turquoise door pulls:

I placed those in a location where I could put long necklaces, since the other side of the wall has the light-switch.

After those were up, I added these cute little floral crown hangers.

These are good for hanging shorter items.

I gave everything a good dusting, threw away all the trash, put the nook in a new location, along with the camera lenses (someday, y’all, I WILL have an office/studio for such things), and then sorted through all my earrings, that were previously, just set in the bottom of the silver trays that held each cross.

Cuffs and bracelets found a new place to live- on the crosses:

Earrings and rings now live in two cute little boxes:

And that’s actually a good place for silver, since oxygen and light make them tarnish faster.

Now, I have a pretty place to put my jewelry, stay organized, and get ready for my day!

 

How have you utilized the space, or lack-thereof, in your home?

Happy Trails!

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