its time again.

yep. i'm writing a blog. weird, right?

so many things have happened in 2013. but i sort of feel like i haven't really been doing things to move myself forward. i sort of took a break from that. i paused things for a bit. i needed to figure things out before i could continue on.

so here i am in new westminster. and it is lovely. i have a cute little house (that still needs a bit of work to make it home), my dog who now just turned 1 (and is annoyingly shoving her snout under my arms to pet her while i am trying to type), and a good job that gives me some money (and therefore some freedom to do things).

so as one of our new years resolutions, jeff and i want to finish setting up the house and acquiring the appropriate furniture we are missing. there is a gross pile of stuff against one wall as soon as you walk in that needs to be dealt with. most of it is my sewing stuff, although there is some of his art stuff there too. we are in desperate need of a desk to share. art stuff on one end, and sewing and crafty stuff on the other.

also, jeff has been notorious for not finishing projects in 2013.

so jeff started this before we were together, for his ex actually. it is entirely made of pallet wood, and the first time he had ever tried building a cabinet. the plan was to put a cupboard on the top with glass doors, like a little hutch. i like it, but i always felt a bit weird about the fact that he started building it for someone else. anyway, he had decided to turn it into a little bar for our house and did some alterations to make it work in our small space. but so far… it has sat in our house and functioned as a junk drawer (lets be clear that i have never put anything in said junk drawer… i LOATHE junk drawers) and a place to put random things (my serger has been sitting on top of it for like 2 weeks).

but then on tuesday jeff found THIS on craigslist and we picked it up last night…

it is a vintage bar. probably 60's era. cherry wood. definitely dinged up and needing a little love, but jeff is confident he can make it look amazing. it fits better in our space, and i think it is something that is sooooo much more US. i love it. i don't really understand jeff's want to have a bar in the house (neither of us really drink that much), but he told me it makes him think of his grandparents who always had one. i like that we can fill it with fancy things. i am now on the hunt for decanters. i have always liked them, dean has one that i used to admire as a young girl. it always reminded me of the ones in 'man from snowy river' (i might be the only person who has seen that… but i have seen it a lot).

but this bar has some amazingly beautiful features. the panels on the front and sides go all the way around, so you could use it to divide a room and it would be beautiful from any side. it is on casters so it rolls to move (although not so easily right now…).

these are the top panels. jeff has explained to me that in that era they used a type of laminate to do the fancy patterns on wooden things (my vanity is like that too… it is another unfinished project i will post about later). there are two of these panels and i think they are gorgeous. jeff wanted to redo the top altogether… i say fix it up as good as it can be fixed up, and live with the imperfections. it adds character, right? 

then the top panels fold out (and you open the doors on the front to support them) and it has green granite tiles inlayed. jeff thinks they are ugly and wants to replace them with slate. i like them. i think the green is classy and vintage and slightly tacky too. its a good combo.

and this is the inside… with room for all kinds of things. see how the doors come out to support the top.

i'll keep you posted on how the restoration comes along, and also how we do on our resolution to get the house all set up the way that we want it. we have plans to paint the whole house, and jeff has a few pieces of furniture to build, or we need to find something suitable to purchase.

what do you think of our find? also, is anyone in need of a pallet wood cabinet? it weighs about 800 pounds…. not really… but its heavy.