Hola mates!
It has been a little quiet on my blog lately, but not in my day-to-day life. Ed and I have been busy…busy.. busy… not on house and fixer-upper stuff, but other life events… like moving and traveling to the Nashville area to attend a wedding.
My plan was to write this post on our way home from Nashville yesterday, but the sites along the road kept me occupied. This photo where we are above the clouds was taken when we were going over the Great Smoky Mountains. Very scenic even with rain and clouds.
We are home again where life should get back to our normal day-to-day routine.
Now let me back-track a little to early last week when my foyer looked like this. It looked like we are moving again.
Ed and I are not, but our daughter Kelly and her fiancee did.
They bought their first house in Virginia and settled on it last week. I am sure you can see lots of familiar furnishings and projects that I have written about over the years in the photo. :-) Like the painted dining room chairs.
Kelly came home early last week to visit, but also to help us load up a moving truck with the hand-me-down furniture and decorative accessories that we no longer needed or that didn’t fit into our house since we moved to live on Lake Murray.
Since we moved to the lake, most of this furniture has been stored in an extra room upstairs. It was a nice feeling, not only to see it all gone, but to know it will enjoy new life in Kelly and Roger’s home. Kelly even took furniture that my younger daughter Mandy will get someday, but currently does not have room for in her current apartment.
I even let her take our sofa which used to sit in front of the new sofa table. I had a slipcover over it, but underneath it is navy which is a hip and happening color in decorating now and since we already gave them the matching chair a year ago, it was a win-win situation.
I have wanted to get a new sofa and will happily start my search for it now. I am not quite sure what I want so I am in no hurry to replace it right away. For now I moved the two rattan swivel rockers away from the fireplace to the empty space where the sofa was.
The bench in the above photo is one of a few pieces of furniture that I bought, most of the other furniture going to my daughters was handed-down to Ed and I from our parents. So the hand-me downs are getting handed-down once again.
I used this bench at the end of my bed for years.
Kelly liked it, but not the color and chippy finish. To add her style to it, Ed helped her to fix one of of the underside rungs and I painted it…
…using Fusion Mineral Paint in Liberty Blue. It was my first time using this paint. I have read so much about it that I wanted to give it a try. I loved it and the color…YUM!!!
I did manage to get a few photos of the process which is simply gently sanding the surface, brushing on 2 coats of paint…
… and then adding a protective coat of wax. I will be using the paint again soon to make over the sideboard in my foyer. I will write more about using it in detail then. I can’t wait to start that this summer.
Once we arrived in Virginia and they closed on their house. We spent a few days helping them move from their rental into their house. I even took on the job of…
…painting the yellow walls in the kitchen to a soft white. We took a trip to Lowes to buy the paint supplies and a ladder so I could get all the way up to the 9 ft ceilings and above the cabinets. I didn’t get an after shot, but the room looked much better as the yellow color made the room and grey counters look green. The soft white also went with the neutral color scheme of the rest of the open concept first floor.
After we had everything moved, we left Virginia and drove 8 hours to attend a wedding in Nashville.
So over a week’s time, my house lost a few hundred pounds of furniture and decorative accessories and I gained a lot of space by happily handing-down the furniture and decorative items to be used and enjoyed by the next generation.
Do you have any hand-me-downs in your home?
P.S… The horse was made by Ed and Kelly when she was a pre-teen as a place to store her saddle and horse riding stuff. She had seen it in an Equestrian catalog. They used the photo to make it for a lot less. :-)
Kim says
Looks like you used a wax after you painted with the fusion paint. I see a can in the photo of The newly painted bench. Their advertisement claims it doesn’t require a topcoat of any kind. Unless of course you’re using it on something like a kitchen cabinet or table top. Why did you use the wax on this bench?
Diane Henkler says
Hi Kim – The only reason I added wax was I wanted to see a teeny bit more sheen on the finish. I love the paint and will be using it again on another piece of furniture soon.
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Kat says
Almost everything we own is hand me down. Some is wonderful and some is…not. ah well.
How wonderful you can give her pieces –
That she feels comfortable telling you it is not her style-
That you are happy to change it.
Wish everyone wormed that well together.
Gail Vernali says
Well you kids have been busy! It’s so awesome that you painted the kitchen for them, what a great Mom. Welcome home, can’t wait to see what your going to be up to next!
Sharon Warren says
Hand me down furniture is great! My daughter and son and their families have happily been recipients of our hand me downs for years. Now that all of our homes are full, we have all started decluttering, and have found a few estate auctions that will sell our 2nd generation hand me down pieces for us. So easy, just haul it there, they unload and catalog it. Then they take it from there, and a couple weeks later you get a check! We do our share of donating as well, but sometimes a little cash is nice especially if we are in the market to replace a piece or two. Maybe your area has an auction or two that would help you out.
Kate says
Oh my goodness, do we ever have hand-me-down furniture! My son said quite seriously to his cousin a few years ago, “Our furniture is all from IKEA or dead people.” Not exactly how I would have stated it, but there’s a lot of truth there! Even our garage has pieces in it right now. My favorite pieces are quite different stylistically – my maternal grandmother’s baby grand that she left me and an ink-stained desk from my husband’s maternal grandmother that she used in a school when she was teaching when first married in the ’30s.(I actually knew my husband’s grandmother for years before I met him!) As for the IKEA, well, our daughter starts college this fall and I look forward to sending some of it with her when she gets that first apartment in a few years! :)
Sharon says
Hand-me downs! I have my first “real” furniture saved for when my son leaves home. For the last 18 years he has heard “Be careful with that –that’s what you get to take with you.” He’s starting college in the fall so I am one step closer to new furniture.
Elaine says
Diane,
When I moved from Maryland to Florida I sold all but family heirlooms. Looking at what you’ve done to enhance your pieces I’m thinking of doing the same. I was going to part with them because they don’t fit with my present state of mind. You’ve just opened my mind to a whole lot of fun!
Thanks,
Elaine
Diane Henkler says
Hi Elaine – It is a wonder what a few strokes of a new paint color can do to a piece of old furniture. I am glad that my post inspired you to add your own style to your family pieces. Enjoy making them… as you said… fit your present state of mind. :-)
Cheryl says
As a Central Virginian resident I welcome your daughter & fiancé. It is a beautiful state packed with historic sites, national parks and natural beauty.
Over the past 10 years my 3 daughters have graduated college, established careers, homes & families. One of the joys has been watching them take & remake furniture from their childhood home. I loved hearing why each piece was important to them and their memories about it.
They also raided my kitchen and its fun on the holidays to see mixing bowls, measuring cups, casserole dishes, etc, being put to new use.
As they say – “Everything old is new again!”.
tegmapat says
Wow! You guys never slow down, do you? Well, it’s wonderful that you can do all that you do for your kids. I, too, have some things to hand down to my grandsons, but right now, the two of them are living at home so I will hold onto things for when they get their first home. One of my first questions was going to be about the horse, but you answered that, and what a prize to cherish since Ed and your daughter made it together! She could put it in a nursery for her first child and reminisce over old times of using the horse, herself!
Don’t worry too much about the blog…. You are such a wonderful inspiration to us all that I doubt anyone is going to leave you! We look forward to all your projects and ideas, but when there is a little gap because you’re busy, we’ll hang in there! I hope you had a nice time at the wedding to end your little “tour”!
Tricia Wright says
I’ve been following your blog for years and I was so excited when I found out you moved to Lake Murray. We live in Spartanburg, SC (near Greenville) and I spent many a summer on Lake Murray with my family when I was younger. It’s such a beautiful and peaceful place to live. By the way, your daughter is so lucky to have such a talented and generous mother!
Linda Weeks says
Congratulations to all! I envy your daughter getting to have some of your furniture, though I’m sure you can upscale some more eventually – but your saddle thing looked just like something I used to have when I was little; an almost life-sized horse cut-out (plywood) and they even nailed on bridle and such and built a nice little wooden saddle for. someone had the good idea to put biggedabig rockers on the base, so I spent many happy hours riding that horse in the basement! I haven’t thought about that for years and years… I hope it is still making the rounds in an antique store, somewhere…
I don’t know how you manage to get so much done! Keep up the good work!
Hope Zeringue says
Hello Diane,
Thank you!
I love your blog, and just moved from DC and worked in Alexandria, VA. it is very beautiful there. Only I couldn’t afford living there with my humble income. Mom had a stroke so I moved back to Illinois ( burrr thinking of the winter) I did not have any furniture (lived with my daughter) and have scour the garage sales and goodwill for Everything I have.
I am now renting a old farm home. Your DIY have help me with making my old farm home look beautiful.
Great job and Great helping with updating my furniture
Have a Great Day
Hope
Vanessa says
How awesome, congrats to your daughter and husband on their new home. I love VA. I go there once a year to visit my niece and enjoy it all the time. A must before we head back to FL is stopping at the Donut Shack. It’s yummy!
laura janning says
i was wondering what you were up too! congrats to kelly and roger in their new home. how exciting for them and to have you be there to help…and paint.
Diane Henkler says
Hi Laura – I wish I could be that blogger who is ultra-organized and has weeks of posts ready in advance. As you know, DIY posts take time to write and when you do it in real time…. I have learned to just go with the flow. I did not plan to paint their kitchen, but since they both didn’t like the color and I know they would not have time to paint it, as a mom and lover of living in your own style, I could not let them live with it, so I went into action. :-)
Gina says
I have so much furniture I’m holding on to for my kids. Just not enough room in their apartments now. Sure hope they’ll want it by the time they have more room! Know when I was younger my grandparents had some beautiful things (4 poster carved beds etc) but there was no room at my parents house to store it and I was still at home. We let it go and I could kick myself now!
Diane Henkler says
Hi Gina – When I think back to the pieces I let go early in our marriage I get sad, but we still have quite a lot. Ed was an only child and so were both his parents. Everything and I mean everything went to him. We had more furniture when we were first married then we do now. :-) You are lucky to have the space to keep your hand-me-downs for the time being. I hope your kids will want every piece once they have the room.
Becky in 'Bama says
Yes in-deedy… my ‘mobile’ daughter and her husband are storing their nice brown leather sofa in my downstairs playroom and I have to say we have enjoyed sitting on it! Not sure what I will do if the day comes they want to take it to their current home (for now, they just don’t have room for it). I wish she’d take my burgundy leather Queen Anne recliner to her home… we’ve owned it for at least 25 years and it NEEDS a new home. She keeps telling me to sell it on Craig’s list – but I’d like it to remain ‘in the family.’ LOL Happy day for you guys to be able to re-purpose your ‘stuff.’
Diane Henkler says
Hi Becky – Sounds like when your daughter comes to claim her leather sofa, you may miss it so much you will want to get one of your own. :-) I tried selling a few items on Craig’s List when we moved to SC, but didn’t like all the phone calls and people showing up or worst making appts. to come see the items and then not showing up. I found if my daughters or anyone in my family didn’t want the piece, I donated it. I hope your chair will remain in your family.