Did Someone Ransack Your Dining Room?

How cute is that? It is my pencil box. I got it some time ago at Borders (yes, I know - the evil corporate conglomerate - it's what there is.) I still haven't put together my visual journal supply kit, but when I find the appropriate receptacle, this will have to fit inside it. I just love the exuberance of the colors and the design. I keep thinking I will incorporate some exuberance into my art - but I seem to tend toward somberness. I guess I'm unconsciously working some things out? Do any of you ever have that happen? Start out with one idea, but keep coming back around to another one?
Look at the quilt my Aunt Karen made for Rexy's big-girl bed! How sweet is that??? Just perfect for my Valentine girl. You can see the bedstead on either side of the picture. It's actually two Heywood Wakefield headboards that we found for a steal at a local antique mall/auction house. They're exactly the same stain color as the Heywood Wakefield desk and chair that we found for her room when she was a baby. (Those were a steal, too!) The desk that we have since removed from her room until she is older. We realized its finish would probably not survive repeated applications of crayons, markers, and Play Dough! (This pic makes the green of her walls glow a little brighter than it actually is. It's still quite green - Benjamin Moore's Pear Green to be exact.) Those are Rexy's good friends there on the pillows. She has very little interest in most stuffed animals, but loves the Ugly Dolls that look like monsters. The gray one nearest the front is her best friend Babo (sounds like Bob-o). He's beginning to get a little bedraggled and parts of his mouth have fallen off. He is well-loved.
I promised I would show the aftermath of my various creative frenzies. I have to say it makes me laugh when I see people's pretty and neat workspaces. Mine looks like the aftermath of tornadoes and looting in comparison!
Admittedly, it is worse than normal since I had to move everything around in order to build the new cabinets. The doors you see on the left are 2 of 6 vintage doors that we will be using on the cabinet. They will be painted white, at first, until we decide on an overall look for the dining room. They were salvaged from a house built in 1880 that an old friend of my DH was renting about 20 years ago. When it was sold and it turned out that the buyer was going to tear it down in order to sub-divide, the new owner told the 2 renters that they could salvage whatever they wanted out of the house. My DH got 8 of these doors (they're from a huge closet with 4 sets of bi-fold doors) and some cool woodwork. They're huge - they're over 61/2 feet tall! When the cabinet is done, it will be 8 inches short of eight feet tall. I misspoke when I said it would be 12 feet wide. It will actually be a little over 10 feet wide. There's only room to use 3 sets of doors. We're going to make another cabinet for the bedroom out of the remaining 2 doors. Wouldn't you know, after DH and Rexy being repeatedly sick for the last 3 months, now I'm sick. My girl, of course, is full of all sorts of energy and bouncing off the walls when I just want to lay down. It's making the clean-up slow going. It does look somewhat better than these pictures now, though. We also have made a mock-up (my DH is the king of over-planning) of the middle cabinet to make sure that the construction plan works. It does. I will take a picture of that, too. When I say mock-up, I mean that we actually built it, but since it was a test we used basic 2x4s instead of the v-fir we're using in the final version. Now we'll have to take it all apart and rebuild it after I paint everything.

Got to go and take my girl to the park with her therapist now. Maybe I can take a nap on a picnic table while they play?