The end of summer in August

The end of summer comes early for the school districts where I live...the kids go back to school the beginning of August and that means the end of our weekly long coffee days with friends.  It's back to catching up for an hour or two on Tuesdays as we rush headlong towards the holidays. 


We ended our summer meetings with a nostalgia themed table.  I used many of my grandmother's tag sale finds and the girls brought some of their cherished pieces as well.  We also shared some family recipes and great photographs of days gone by. 

Kim brought these beautiful pink and white napkins and a delicious spice cake

 

A cheese keeper my grandmother gave me-a favorite

Salt and Pepper shakers from my grandmother

Great photos from Kim

The white milk glass cookie jar belonged to Andrea's mother and more great photos. 

Recipe cards for the family dishes we made

Always need roses

Andrea brought chocolate chip cookies

Gorgeous Hydrangeas this year

My grandmother's Wedgewood

This potato salad was delicious

My mother-in-law always made this and I can still see her standing at the counter preparing it

Bruschetta made from my garden tomatoes and basil.  Karen's Texas cake above...so moist and full of flavor

Wonderful

Closet project ends...sadly

My sister and I loved doing this project for our mother.  It helps that we absolutely adore her and she loves the result as much as we do.  We made multiple changes to our plans and ran into the usual glitches as expected.  We went with the flow and it all came together at the end.

In the beginning we planned for the large corner piece to be on the left.  That planning is what sent us back to Ikea to exchange the 22 inch deep for the 14 inch deep components.  The exchange was effortless.  Brian loaded these extremely heavy boxes into the truck and help was easy to find at Ikea for the unload.  Ikea gives store credit for items that have been assembled. We had assembled and unassembled 2 items.  This worked in our favor since we were purchasing the smaller components, but may be an issue if you decide you do not want the product after all.

Back at the house we had everything assembled and ready to place when we found we just couldn't make it fit due to the backside of a small wall where the light switch is located.  We flipped the corner to the right side which had about 1 1/2 inches of extra space and everything else slipped right into place.

Then it was time to add the goodies.  The sliding drawers are not available on the 14 inch Pax system (sigh), however, these wire baskets are a steal at $5.00 and $10.00 each and look great.

 Add the shelves....

New hangers and light fixture!  Look at all that light! 

 And she loves it!

 We hung the rods that are intended for the deeper components.  Making this quick template for drilling the new holes made the job go much quicker.  Now it was time to put our tools away...

 

One more trip out to Ikea to return one pack of shelves, one rod and pick up some pretty storage containers and pretty coat hooks for robes and such.  A little touch up paint and the 3 of us couldn't be happier.  Rhonda is making plans for her closet...maybe someday I'll tackle my own.

Closet project begins...

My mother spent the last couple of weeks sorting through her clothing and shoes.   Rhonda helped move everything out of the closet and into the extra bedroom this morning.  Then we were ready for demolition day. Turned out demolition day was a breeze.

Left side

Right Side

Popcorn ceiling has to go...

 It took about 10 minutes to remove the shelving and another 45 minutes to scrape the ceiling.

Not too bad...

Safety masks used while scraping the ceiling

 Only one major hole which was really a minor hole in the drywall.   

Rhonda located a screen repair kit that mom had stashed away and we used it to cover the hole. 

 It gave the spackle something to hold onto.  Worked perfectly.

Worst hole to the left

Right side

Texture sprayed the ceiling with this quick dry product purchased from Home Depot.

Ready to paint in 30 minutes.  Love it.

Rhonda and I painted the closet with a paint and primer mixture in a 

warm white color appropriately called cream and sugar. 

Having the primer mixed with the paint really does make for a fast paint job and I think

well worth the additional cost.

Now it's ready for the Pax components from Ikea.  

Start to finish, about 3 hours.

Off to Ikea in the morning for final selection and purchase of the Pax components.

Then the fun begins....

The Pax closet system

My mother has always wanted a custom closet.  I can't do custom, but with the Pax system from Ikea it will look custom.  After some research and one trip each to Ikea, Lowes and Home Depot we settled on the closet system made by Martha Stewart.

Martha Stewart

It would do.  It was alright.  We could make it work. It would do the job. It had corner shelves.  Mom really wants corner shelving.








 But wait....

Ikea Pax Closet System

I want this closet to be a WOW closet.  Decided a second trip to Ikea was needed to take a closer look at Pax and I am so happy we did.

Her closet is not even close to this size, but the components will give it a floor to ceiling custom look.  It will be white with two drawers, shoe racks and enough hanging space to allow for everything she has now with room to spare.  It has a spacious corner section that I may have to cut shelves for.  It seems that this particular corner unit comes with only 2 shelves.  The new 2013 catalog comes out in a month.  Maybe they will have changed that option.

Corner Section

We'll replace the single globe light fixture with this track lighting found at Ikea too.