Rock-a-thon

I have agreed to design a complete makeover for this rocking chair as part of a fund raising effort for local NFP Child Care center.

Each artist will augment a rocker. There will be a rock-a-thon and the rockers will then be sold at auction with all proceeds going to the Roberta Webb Child Care Center.  I already have visions of paint and of course a new textile cushion for the seat.  It will be interesting to see how it all turns out!

Rock on,
Carmen Rose

Range in Motion

My old range is a smoker... if you look closely just above the burners you'll see the smoke. Even with the exhaust fan on full blast the kitchen hazes over in a hurry.

So I picked out a new one, a non-smoking model. And today my range arrived!  So... this old harvest gold range... is on it's way out...

Bye bye old stove! (Actually, this one went to the basement art studio.)  Maybe it won't matter if it smokes down there.

Here they come, bringing the new range down the hill from the truck.  (In the rain)  Don't slip now!

They carefully put it into place.  These guys were great!

Leveled it up, perfectly!  Thank you Gentlemen!  That's team work!

Look how nice and shiney and clean it is!  This is as clean as it will ever be.  Ta Da!

Looks pretty good in place... (and one of these days a new dish washer to match)

I made lunch...

*and burnt it...*

There is a bit of a learning curve here.

The old range came in 1975, this one is the 2010 version.

It's going to take some time to get used to it.

I made a toasted sandwich with black forest ham with sharp cheddar cheese on wheat with mayo... (Yum)

It was burnt, but it was still yummy!  Here is proof:

It took a while to scrub that poor lil skillet!  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
And just for the sake of a little perspective... here is the "before" photo. 

This is when I met my kitchen for the first time. 

Yes, I fell in love with this house when it was in this mess!
*Potential!*

It's come a long way!  Here are some things we've done:

• The light fixtures have been swapped out plus some new track lighting.
• The cabinets have all been painted, the uppers are all white and the lower cabinets are gray.  I painted the kick plates black.
• I made polymer clay handles for the upper cabinets and new hinges on all plus new pulls on the lower cabinets.
• New kitchen floor in harlequin tile (one of my favorite changes, that old floor was HORRIBLE!!)
• New stainless range hood, new range and new faucet.
• Painted the walls and trim.  (I love the cobalt walls, not crazy about the turquoise so I may or may not get around to changing that soon.)
• Put art glass everywhere!  =)

And Hope has reclaimed her spot.  She's the finishing touch!
Glad to have a non-smoker for a range! 

Happy Transformations,

-Carmen Rose

Finally...

Painted the toe kick on my kitchen cabinets. Why did it take me so long to do this?

I like how the room is coming together. Lots of other details to come, I'll keep sharing photos as I change things.

*AND* I painted a kitchen cabinet door without realizing that I'd left a bunch of BIG DRIPS in the paint. Imagine my shock when I came in the morning, flipped the light switch and there were THOSE DRIPS! *Horrors!* I finally got that door sanded and repainted today, and who knows... I might even get it hung up where it goes! Maybe even this evening! Now wouldn't that be something!

Here's to finishing up the details,
-Carmen Rose

Winter In Ruins

I planted this little bitty garden last summer and put it on my deck railing.  I made a little rock path and added a little ceramic  house I had gotten a few years back.  I managed to give it a drink now and then.

And it began to grow.  And each time I found a golf ball, I'd find a little spot to add it to the garden.

The collection is growing and so are the plants.

Lush and blooming, and I quickly lost count of how many golf balls were in there.  I had no idea these plants bloomed, that was a delightful surprise!  And then fall...

And then winter.  I looked at it the other day and took this photograph.  It looks like it's a ruin... a little house reclaimed by the earth and gravity.  It's been a tough winter, this is perfectly fitting.

I could pick up the pieces, clean it out and start over in the Spring... but I like it this way.  It's very beautiful in it's own ruined and broken way, like an old Scottish castle ruin.  Plus... it is authentic.  

Spring is coming, it won't be long now... until then the garden is exactly as it should be.  And even if I can't put the pieces back together, it is ok, it was only a house.  

New Kitchen Details

I posted this "before" photo... well.. uh... before. But I have to keep reminding myself that it's the same place, just getting rid of THAT FLOOR made a big difference in how I felt about the room.

We changed out the lighting and painted the walls blue.  The cabinets (in that section at least) are painted, the hinges came and we were able to get the doors back on. Believe me, I'm grateful for that! And I really really like my polymer clay covered knobs on the upper cabinets and the simple black ones on the lower ones. I'm not usually into details like a polymer clay handle, that but this time it feels right.  It seems like it might be a good idea to go back and paint the toe kick, huh?!  Funny, it didn't occur to any of us working on the project at the time.  And now it's on my list.  I LOVE my new floor!  That project seemed to take forever but I am pleased with the result!

So... let's see.  Here we have a little of my hand painted glass.  A framed photography grouping that spells out the word "PEACE" with photographs I took around my adopted home town a while back.  I took two weeks walking around town looking at things and photographing everything that looked like an alphabet letter.  THAT was fun!  Try it sometime, it's a creative exercise in adjusting your vision to see beyond what you think is in front of you.  Alphabet photography got popular and then started to look a little kitchy to me.  Oh well.  I photographed the entire alphabet, the Q was one of the harder ones to find but I have a good one!  You may recognize that little floral quilt from a recent blog post.  And also the open sign from my gallery in the old days.  So far so good.  Feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose