My Fabulous Junk

First off this is not an article about my derriere. Wrong junk get your head out of the gutter.

My Junk Before

I have become my father's daughter. I hauled home someone else 'junk". While looking for a desk on Kijiji I found an ad for a few items that were out to the side of the road free for the taking. In it was this solid wood pedestal table. I love pedestal tables!!! My budget loves free ones even more.

So off I go with hubby in the truck to claim my prize.

It is flaking, water damaged and stained, by all means.. junk.

I can do junk, I think.  I have somehow convinced myself I a a savior of old wood. It started with a set of very old chairs that I got from a flea market. Just a coat of paint and some new material on the seats, easy peasey. Never mind I can't sew a button none then less reupholster anything!
Well months later I am still working on the first one! Who knew I would haev to remove all the old paint from every tiny crevice I thought made that chair look so unique, I kinda hate them now.

But let's move on to a success, shall we? 

I had a vision. Black pedestal with a cream coloured top. I was a woman on a mission. Could I do it?

Yes!!!!

My Fabulous Junk After

Woohoo! Look at that fabulous table! The best part? I did this, me, not me and my hubby, all me. I wielded a hand sander, used a deglosser to get off any leftover stain and laboured over 3 coats of paint. My father will be proud.

I love that the table was stamped handmade in Eastport on the bottom. This table is not only solid wood but it was made right here in Newfoundland!

 

Keeping it Canadian I painted the bottom, not just black, but "Hockey Sweater" black. Can't get much more home grown than that! 

 

The top colour is antique quilt leftover from our cabinet redo. So the grand total on this table redo was $ 20.

I am officially a savior of wood! Now if I could just get those chairs done I would have somewhere to sit....

Little House on the East Coast

Those who have grown up in Newfoundland and other parts of Atlantic Canada are aware of our distinct and rich history. We have memories of life before many of today's luxury's.
Thanks to stories and photos from my grandparents are am also aware of a time before mine, where life revolved around fishing and often relocation for many.

I recently had a chance to read a short novel written for youth that had passages that took me back to my youth and back to my grandparents youth.

Wishing Stone and Other Myths: Learned on Gull Cliff Island by J.M.Lavelle may not be written based on a Newfoundland childhood (it is based on the Lower North Shore of Quebec) but the similarities still rang through with me. Especially the part when they moved their house across water to a new home. I have a painting on my wall of this spectacular undertaking as my grandparents lived throughout this.
Imagining the sheer manpower it took to move your house frown to the waterfront, get it on barrels and then have a boat tow it across water, praying every minute that it survived. Is amazing to me. I wish the book had gone into this remarkable feat a little more bit I am glad to see it in there anyways. Youth today may see an episode of "Big Moves" on television and watch amazed as they move houses with trucks and trailers, well how about moving it with none of that? That's amazing, that's our history.
The book moves quickly, weeks, months and years go by, in less than 100 pages, but it has an allure to it to see what life was like back then during the different seasons of the year. It reminded me a little  of a Little House on The Prairie book, Canadian style.

It is refreshing to see a book geared towards tweens that does not have sparkling vampires, hobbits or other imaginary creatures. This book has real history from the first page to the last. The main character in the story, Dot, has to come to terms with many of the pains of growing up that a teenage girl still deals with today; boys, love and finding your true self. She just dealt with then in the 1960's instead.

If you have a tween at home or you are just an individual proud of our heritage, take a look at Wishing Stone and Other Myths: Learned on Gull Cliff Island. You can purchase it at the link below.

http://morningrainpublishing.com/project/the-wishing-stone-and-other-myths/

There is also still time to enter a contest being held by the publisher, act out your favourite scene from the book and send it for submission. Sounds like a great class project for those teachers out there. Here is the link for that

http://morningrainpublishing.com/a-special-wishing-stone-and-other-myths-video-contest/

**I recieved a free copy of the book but the opinions are all my own**