Echoes of the Southwest

In about a month, our house will be delivered on our land. The boys are planning a trip before then to grade the land where the house is going and the driveway to that location. They are also planning on burying the septic tank and finishing the bathroom. Meanwhile, Gary and I have been doing lots of DIY projects of items we are bring up there and antique shopping as well. This is what we have so far: The antique sewing machine cabinet we turned into a bathroom sink. I did a post about it. The vanity I redid. I did a post about it. We picked up 6 used solar panels. We hope they work well for us. paneling for our walls paneling and two butcher block counter tops I found this small farmhouse table at the antique mall. It is the perfect size for our ranch house. My addition to our picnic table. I got this chair at an antique mall. I was wabbly and the seat was not safe to sit on. The wood had some gross sticky stuff on it. We added foam and a board to the bottom, tightened the screws and ...

My husband and I bought this antique vanity from an estate sale our handyman had attended. He saw our recycled sewing machine cabinet and thought we might want to refresh this vanity. We accepted the challenge. It was a mess. The veneer was wrinkled and falling off in some places and the drawers' pulls were thin and breaking. I had a vision and so the fun began. The first thing was to chisel off the veneer. My husband took on that task. Next, he created a back piece because we think a mirror used to be in that spot. I drew it up and he cut it for me. Then came the sanding. I pulled all the drawers and sanded them first. Then we flipped the desk upside down so I could sand the bottom and then I sanded the top. I did have to wood glue some areas as well as add wood filler. All the pieces were brought inside to be painted. I live in the lower desert of Arizona where it is very hot and hard to be outside long. On top of that, it is monsoon season and that brings up our humidity. It is ...

A few years ago, I found an antique sewing machine cabinet at an antique store in Payson, AZ. I had always wanted one to use as a desk, so I bought it. It sat in my art room at our last home, and became a plant stand at our current home. We bought land in the high desert of Arizona. The first thing we are having built is a bathroom with toilet, sink and shower. We felt that was important even if we had to camp on the land for a while, at least we had a nice bathroom which is currently being constructed. They will be putting a sink in, but I had a different idea. I have saved several pictures of sewing cabinets that were turned into bathroom sinks and loved the idea. I told my husband about it, and he liked that idea too. Next thing we know, the plant was taken off the cabinet and we brought it outside on our patio. We had to remove the sewing machine and other parts that we didn't need. I had all intention of sanding it and keeping its natural wood color. As I started sanding the t...