A love story...truly!

Choosing happiness...and feeling very chatty today!

Elmer was a fisherman. He was born, and lived most of his life (apart from four years) on the South Shore of beautiful Nova Scotia

Elmer came back from WW 2 in 1944, having spent several months in hospital recovering from a war injury in France.

Very shortly after he came home, he married his high school sweetheart, Faithie, on December 20th., 1944. This was his wedding gift to his love, who was sixteen years old when Elmer went off to war. Of course, it was much prettier then.

Elmer settled back into his life here in Nova Scotia, and spent fifty years on the sea, fishing its bounty.

They were never blessed with children, but were devoted to one another, and lived in the same small house from the day they married to the day they both died... within six months of one another. They left their house, and all their worldly possessions, to an old friend. She was unable to keep everything. I spent some lovely time with her when I purchased this sideboard.

Sixty seven years after Elmer gave it to Faithie, I spent many wonderful hours honouring them and making it mine.

As I scrubbed it down, just LOOK at the treasure I found stuck behind a drawer! Please click on it so you can see what it says...I'm not telling you...(lol). Hint: look closely at the dates, the napkin is all wrinkly...ummm...much like my face...


Aaaahhhh, so... stripped it with Heirloom gel stripper, scraped it, sanded it, with very fine sand paper and a feather-light touch.

The top was stained with two coats of Minwax Ebony Wood Stain, then protected with three coats of Minwax Polycrylic. The top is dreadfully bowed, and the long drawer didn't fit at all...just wouldn't close. Being relatively new to all this, I had no idea how to fix the top, so I decided to sand the top edge of the drawer...and sand...and sand...and SAND...so it'd fit. Well, although the top is still bowed, at least I can close the drawer! The rest of the piece was painted, as you can see, using Martha Stewart "Heavy Cream" and "Silhouette" (black) paints. The inside of all drawers and the little cupboards are black. Very little chipping and sanding were done after it was finished...just "touches" here and there. A wooden embellishment was added to the bottom drawer, which was sanded and chipped a little. Fleur de Lis images from a great little Etsy shop, Graphique were transferred onto six wooden drawer pulls, using the acetone transfer method. The other hardware was cleaned and painted with Rustoleum Hammered Black spray paint.

Here's the first view:

Can you see the image transfers on the wooden pulls? Here's a closer image, with the disclaimer that I don't even PRETEND to be an adequate photographer.

I live in a garden level condo in Nova Scotia, and often work on my patio. As I was adding the finishing touches to this piece today , some visitors came to munch on my gardens...within a dozen feet of my patio!

What graceful creatures. I'll share my gardens with them any time. Their appearance makes me wonder whether they were little "messengers..."

...they were two of them, you know...see the top picture...can you guess what I named them?

Aaaahhhh...what a WONDERFUL distraction...life is so very GOOD and I am so very blessed.

Okay, back to the present...back to my muses, Elmer and Faithie.

I decided to add a shelf to the bottom of their sideboard, for a little more storage capability...mmmm...seriously LOVE that Ebony stain...and these are the last hydrangeas from my garden this year...

My livingroom wall colour is "Lichen Green," a Benjamin Moore colour, so I spray painted little woven baskets to match, and they (conveniently) hide my stereo speakers behind them without distorting the sound...just a little bonus.

One last look, before...

...and after. See that plant? It's called a Hoya, and I brought two leaves from its mother back from BC ten years ago...it has served me well. I have three of them now, and have gifted my friends with many, MANY of its children. I really LOVE me a plant that doesn't need a lot of attention!! (lol) Let me know if you want a cutting...


I will enjoy this piece for many years, then perhaps one of my children, or my grandchildren might want it...they all know at least the Part One of the story...I'll enjoy it for Part Two...and wouldn't that be just so wonderful if THEY enjoy Part Three?

I'm not so sure they'll enjoy THIS though (lol), and I'm really not so sure I can salvage this poor thing, but I love me a good challenge! More about this next week...maybe...

It's a learning experience...hmmm...wood hardener for rot...Plastic Wood is my friend...but how to make it stay where I want it to be?

OOOOHHH ME NERVES!! I'm beginning to think I might need a mental health consult.

Thanks so much for coming to visit, and for reading my ramblings today. It's another spectacular fall day in Nova Scotia, and I'll be out on my patio trying to restore that poor orphan above.

I'll share this post here and with these fine bloggers.

Choosing happiness today, and wishing you a day filled with the people you love, doing the things that you love.