Thursday, April 11, 2013

Ocala Fl Town photography- airport road

I was driving around Ocala Florida and was snapping photos of some parts of the town along Hwy 40. 


Airport tower on airport road on sw 60th in Ocala FL

















Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Vintage Bronx Postcard McKinley Square

RC76SCN9VTTY   


I love sharing postcards from my vintage postcard collection especially old Bronx postcards that date back to the 1900's.  This postcard is about 1904 and what is so great about it, is that it shows the location where my family lived.  I know the location well and it's interesting to see how dramatically McKinley Square has changed over the years.


McKinley Square Vintage Post card 1904

Thursday, March 14, 2013

File Cabinet Make over

If the kitchen is small in size; like my kitchen, a standard size island won't fit. I have two file cabinets I bought for 4.00; they were originally a rusted blue color.  I painted them black and used them as file cabinets in a Florida room area as storage. Since; the Florida room is not climate controlled, I removed files into new durable plastic file totes instead. 
RC76SCN9VTTY  token number
This is a 4.00 file cabinet, I had painted black a few years back

Planning to create a small kitchen island for my ultra small kitchen , see the project below


Now I have two file cabinets I don't use; so I decided to re purpose them into two mobile storage. One will become a small island; the other will be a small rolling tool storage cabinet. I repainted one of the cabinets white and purchased a furniture stencil/wall stencil Moorish design.  I painted it blue.  I bought some metal castors and added it to the bottom of the  cabinet. I placed a large cutting board on the top of the cabinet that is removable. I added a magnetic curtain rod as a small towel holder .I plan to add a power strip cord on the side of the cabinet to add electrical appliances. 
Primed and painted white




Painted blue


Bought furniture stencil at royal design stencils for 29.00. Great for walls and furniture



Started stencil at top

Before stencilling, layout stencil to know what design you want on the front, then start one part, of cabinet, then start at the other part until stencil drys

Make an old file cabinet new





Line up the stencils to the starting point of the design

This stencil had a moorish design with diamonds on the end, see how I lined up the diamond pattern

Keep finishing the stencil design make sure paint is dry before laying stencil on designed portion

Just design the front of it or if you want to stencil the whole cabinet  it could be done

First stencil the file cabinet, next phase add castors on bottom

Here is closer image

Walter Drake adhesive castors are a great solution if you don't want to drill  them at bottom of cabinet. castors cost 14.99

Place cabinet upside down, clean where castors will go on, self stick adhesive castors, press firmly on the side of cabinet and bottom. Leave in this position overnight

Make sure castors are firmly pressed into the side and bottom of cabinet, add a clamp if needed

Add a magnetic curtain rod to the side to hold a dish towel, bought at Big lots three years ago for 2.00

Add self stick hooks to place utensils at quick reach

Great when you need to have a cooking utensil or kitchen gadget on hand



Use drawers to hide counter top appliances

Hiding my deep fryer

hiding my slow cooker

Add a cutting board on the top

Wala! File cabinet island at your service

Gotta have a hook hand here



Here's the finished product

It works for my really small, I can't fit a full size island kitchen




I used the two file cabinet drawers to hid counter appliances and store groceries.   Tell me what you think of that finished product; I appreciate  your comments.   

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Pumice Stone to the rescue

"It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives". Ben Johnson

I have written about Pumice Stone before and how it has cleaned rust, lime, calcium stains from porcelain, tile, vinyl and ceramic.  I used the pumice stone on a pair of old rusted scissors that had been exposed to the elements and had rust on it.  I cleaned the rust off the scissors by wetting the stone than gently rubbing the rusted part of the scissors.  After I got  rust off I washed the grains of the stone with water and than dried it thoroughly.  Scissors are as good as new.




Rusted scissors

Rusted scissors being restored

Wash out grains of pumice stone

Clean off scissors

dry off and add WD 40 to get scissors to move easier


The scissors were hard to use but after drying it off, I sprayed some WD 40 spray or just add some oil to the middle part of the scissors so it opens and closes easier. 

Vintage Cards as Art





"Just trust yourself and you will learn how to live" Goethe





I save vintage Christmas cards, I get every year from friends and family and place them on walls, doors and tables to use as seasonal decoration during the holiday season. 



The beautiful religious designed and famous art reproduction cards, I place in wood frames to hang as art. I add these small frames to book cases and curios to create a unique treasured collected over the years look.















 


Vintage hat boxes as storage

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm". Emerson

I purchased this hat box at a department store in NYC named century 21; in lower Manhattan years ago, I have kept it to keep letters, small computer accessories, and now fabric and sewing notions. Hat boxes are a decorative way to store items neatly in plain sight. It's versatile and convenient to throw item in box and easily retrieve it, place them in a home office, livingroom corner or bedroom.



 

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Decoupaged Glass Jar


I had decoupaged this glass jar over 15 years ago and I have kept it because I made it as a q-tip holder.  I took an ordinary spaghetti glass jar washed it out and soaked it in dish washing liquid for three days to get food odor out of it.  I had this art catalog that sold reproductions of famous paintings, it was a beautiful catalog so I cut out the images and used them for various projects such as decoupaging card board keepsake boxes and journals.  I took three images that were similar in size and dried the jar thoroughly then glued the images from the inside.  I painted the lid  a metallic copper brown color. 







How Inflation is affecting the thrift stores

  It seems that Inflation has hit a 40 year high affecting everything from gas prices, housing, food, and consumer goods.  Inflation ...