For Halloween, I wanted to show you something...............

Scary

something vintage

and something to make you laugh.........

and it is also the perfect time to show you the pumpkins and gourds 

 from my gardens this year.

The main reason I started growing pumpkins was because I wanted a lot to decorate with

and really could not afford to pay for that many...........

but once I started growing them............I fell in love with the whole plant. I love the large leaves and how the vine stretches completely over the ground. 

Even if I do not get a big harvest.......or the biggest pumpkin.......

I  love the whole growing pumpkin process.

Gourds have also caught my attention and I only get a handful of these pretty little ones 

and only a few large ones.........

but for me

it is enough...........and I am happy.

Here's wishing you a very happy and safe 

Halloween!

My farmhouse kitchen has been finished!

Cleaning out and stripping an old dollhouse of it's wallpaper and old flooring is just as time consuming as doing a real house.....many of you probably already know this........

for me, it was a learning session,  but I got it done!

As I was stripping away the wallpaper , I discovered that it was just like an old house, there were layers of different wallpaper in the rooms. This one particular picture I loved

and as I mentioned in my previous post, I want to keep some things that were already there in the dollhouse. I carefully cut away from the picture and hope that I can find some wall paper to go around it or maybe I might paint around it.......

what do you think??

I already had a design for the kitchen in my head when I first discovered this dollhouse and decided that this would be the first room I would renovate. I still decided to keep the little curtain that is hanging between the cupboards. I  removed the vinyl from the cabinets and scrubbed the kitchen floor

which turned out to be a lovely red vinyl! I then printed off wallpaper that has the same design pattern as my favorite set of dishes I use and  the background to my embroidery blog. I only wanted to wallpaper the upper part of the room and I wanted the kitchen to have a bead board look at the bottom.........is that the right word ??......beadboard??  I used craft sticks and glued each one..........it took me forever............

and then I panted them white and placed red ones on the top and bottom of the boards.

I also framed the other window in red board and made a little curtain.

I  placed craft sticks on the cabinets and stained them a dark brown, and then I made the farm house sink with the top of a jewelry box, and then painted it.

I wanted to keep the whimsical lights set throughout the house, so I made a lamp shade for the kitchen one.

I hand crocheted a rug for the floor

I also made a little curtain for the bottom of the sink and a matching hand towel.

The hardest decision for me to make was whether or not to paint the cabinets, but I wanted a bright cheery kitchen........so goodbye drab brown .........

and hello .........cheery!!

 Now my farmhouse kitchen is finished.......except for the furniture, which I am either going to make or purchase. I want to get all of the rooms finished and then try to get furniture that matches with the whole house. 

 I am planning on starting to work on the large living room.........which I might make half into a dining room. 

What do you think??
Would you just make a large living room........or make a dining room on the side??

I just purchased a 1940-1950's "fixer upper"

It's a hand built salt box that measures 26 inches high by 14 inches wide!

The roof needs fixing............

the rooms are all in sad shape..........but it is just the right size of a house for me to handle!

Okay.....enough of my humor.

While I was at an estate sale, I spotted this doll house sitting in a corner of a dirt caked floor in the garage. I learned that the lady who use to live in the home fixed up doll houses,,,,,,,,,, there was a beautiful Victorian doll house for sale in the home........but this doll house called out to me.

Someone really loved a certain little girl to have taken so much time to make this for her.

I wonder who they were.............

The kitchen has a wall of cabinets and counters........

 In the middle of the house behind a room wall is a tangle of old wires and as you can see in the top of the photo........each room had a light.............that at one time, lit up.

I am leaving these lights...........maybe fix a lamp shade around them.......

but I am not worried about them lighting up. I am not an electrician and  I don't want to catch my house on fire!

There is also a good attic space.

A hand made curtain for the kitchen window still hangs , and although I want to decorate and redo the house............there are some things that I want to let remain.........such as this kitchen curtain. I want to keep some of the oldness and original things to the house.  

So I just washed the curtain and it came out like new!

I am also going to keep the outside paint as it is.........it needs a good scrubbing.

I love the colors and I am just going to add things to the outside like trim.......maybe some flower boxes  and such. I don't want to fix it up "Victorian " style or modern. 

I want it to look like a weathered old farmhouse that is out in the middle of the woods...........that is how my grandparents lived and I loved spending time visiting them there. 

 After looking for possible dollhouse furniture, I was shocked to see how pricey it can all be...........,,,.I am going to try to make most of it myself.  

I plan to work on one room at a time and I am not going to be in a hurry.  It will probably take me longer to renovate this house more than it will to paint my  own home.  So as I make progress with each room, I will post it here...............

Do any of you like to build or decorate dollhouses?  

Do you make dollhouse furniture?

I would love to hear!

Heavy rains came a couple of weeks ago

and filled up lakes and creek beds that had long since forgotten 

what it was like to have water in them;

Leaving the grounds green and growing gourds, 

pumpkins, and a multitude of flowers .

From the woods.........new things I have never seen before, began to sprout

from the gnarly mesquite trees...... 

beautiful, large golden mushrooms.........on the trunks

and underneath fallen limbs 

all along the woods floor were colorful mushrooms in even shades of lavender.....

I have never seen lavender mushrooms.......until now.........

have you??

Mushrooms in every shape grew under every brush and  

and in every area of woods..........

and every  flower garden..............

some even peeked out in the plain dirt...............

and it's too bad that none of these can be eaten. 

Although there is now plenty of wetlands across the area..........

this beautiful creature came for a bath and a drink in the yard "watering hole"

and in no time............flew away.

How about you? 

Have your grounds gathered enough rain water........

or are you getting snow flakes yet?