I need help with my kitchen floor.....

Ok,, here is the story...

When I first bought my house I was told, "the house was once sinking into the ground and sliding down the hill".  The previous owners had engineers come out and fix it.. The insurance company gave it the OK, and I loved the house and yard so much that I bought it anyway!
This first photo is from the creek looking up at the house.

See the slope that the house was sliding down! And the creek it was sliding into!

After I moved into the house my first project was the kitchen and I wanted to pull the floor. It was a very inexpensive ugly laminate floor and it had to go!

What I found under it was the most wonderful old world looking Terracotta Tile, and it fit right into my design idea for the kitchen.. French Country... but,, when I pulled the laminate floor I found three spots about the size of a throw rug where they cut out the tile... they put into the ground steel pilings and filled it in with cement!  Yes.. three ugly spots in the floor!

This is the tile, it runs from my front door all the way throughout the dining room and kitchen.

Now, I love the tile. It looks like something you would see in an old world French Villa in the South of France!  And I want to save it, if I can.

My question is for anyone that knows anything about restoring a tile floor.
I have been all over to my local Tile/Flooring stores and can not find anything that would match... I don't think I can put in new anyway,, the subfloor-cement that was put in the spots cut out, is much too hard to cut, for the tile to lay flat with the floor....
  So I got this idea (?)... sand the concrete smooth and use paint on it.. try to match the yellow and swish in brown??  Then somehow create lines to mimic the grout?
    This is a project that will not be finished until I get the kitchen finished ( a few months), but I'm looking for suggestions... 
I will be forever grateful to anyone that might have some ideas and comments for me......

All comments will be truly welcomed!

   To be continued...... 

*********************************
I have my first suggestion.
photo from "My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia"
Pam from "Design Fanatic" sent me over to her blog.

Look how they solved their sub floor problem. They moved the original island to make a new one, only to find cement under.. This is really a great idea, and the new island is just beautiful!

Thank you ladies!

May Day.....A word of warning and a bit of humour....

My Time's UP?
   
A 54 year old woman had a heart attack and was taken to the  hospital.  While on the operating table she had a near death  experience.

Seeing God she asked "Is my time up?"

God  said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live."
 
Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a face-lift, liposuction, breast implants and a tummy tuck.  She even had someone come in and change her hair color and brighten her teeth!

Since she had  so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of it.
After her last operation, she was released from the hospital.

While crossing the street on her way home, she was killed by  an ambulance.

Arriving  in front of God, she demanded,  "I thought you  said I had another 43 years.
Why  didn't you pull me from out of the path of the  ambulance?"

God replied:  "I didn't recognize you!"

Wanted to share my morning flowers with you all.....

Enjoy your day..

Look what was waiting for me at the front door.....

I joined the "Spring Swap" hosted by "The Family of Shorts" a few weeks ago and my swap partner 

"Andria"  sent me a package!

Inside was a sweet  note, wishing me "Happy Spring, and the goodies inside were all wrapped in spring colors.

Andrea wants me to be well prepared, for Spring and Summer... she enclosed so many items that I will use for weeks to come... First of all is this great 'Tote Bag'... the tag said, "it's made from 100% recycled bottles" and I'm one who does not use plastic when I shop.. I'll sure use this bag!

There was so much stuff.. "Nice Stuff" included in the box,,,,Antibacterial hand sanitizer (that I use in the car)...Sweet Lemon Body Mist, Coconut body lotion, Cocoa Butter hand lotion, Nail polish and a Emery board,, pink Breast Cancer Wrist Band,,, and Cracker Jacks, (how did you know I love cracker jacks?) 

I'm a gum person also,, Big Red gum! A Candle, cant' forget the candle cause I love candles!

Let me see, oh, Lip Balm, Vanilla, emmm, soft lips!

Womans Day magazine,, a Journal and Note Cards.... What did I forget? hmmmmm??

 Lets not forget the little "Wood Butterfly" that will go on my kitchen window sill.

I want tho thank "Andrea" for all the goodies,,, it put a big smile on my face today!

And let me also thank "Shortmama" from the "Family of Shorts" for hosting this wonderful 

"Spring Swap"

Count me in for next year!

 Sandy

My Sons was married this week..

My Son was married this past week and I wanted to give him and his new wife something for their home.. And being the fun loving mom that I am, what better item than a pillow telling of their love.... it will sit on their sofa and they will always be reminded of me.

Being in a new duty station (he is in the USCG) I have no idea of their room colors so I tried to find something that would go with what ever decor they choose.. and an assortment of blues might work
for them... 
A simple saying of their love is all I chose to stitch in this cross stitch design..

As you can see,, I used a pattern I found on the internet but changed a few things to make it mine. I also had to take out words that I found did not fit properly and re did some of the design.. not too much extra work but I did have the tiny stitch pulling device that did the trick...

While looking in JoAnns for 'something' extra to add to the design I found these sweet tiny heart buttons...

After finishing the design I then started the pillow.. The fabric I found was a good quality heavy fabric and I just loved the design. Not too girley and it should fit in any home design.

Wishing both "Tom and Michelle" many happy years together and hopefully your future duty stations will be closer to your Mom........

I'm linking up to

We can do it Cheaper @ The Virginia House

Happy Earth Day 2010

My Mom was a forward thinker... she did this needlework, and always had it hanging in her home... stitched in 1981...funny thing, it was always hanging in her bathroom.. what better place to celebrate "Nature"

I would like to show it in honor of "Earth Day"...

This wall hanging has had the place of honor in my home since moms death in 1998....

Thank you "Mom" for teaching me the ways of the Earth, and the ways to make her happy!

Happy Earth Day!

Looking for a great night out in Palm Beach....

http://www.palmbeachnightout.com/

If your ever in Palm Beach and are looking for a "Night Out" or looking for something to do during your stay while in Palm Beach, check out this new web site... My friends, Bernice and Craig, are so excited about their new venture....

They also have a Face Book page up and running .. 

http://www.facebook.com/sandy.neither?ref=profile#!/group.php?gid=114767245208088&ref=mf

Wanted to say 'Congratulations to Bernice and Craig' and when I'm visiting Palm Beach, Florida, I know where

to look for some fun or shopping....

Look what I found in the trash...

I've been working on my kitchen for quite some time now...

Having to put the whole project on hold for months due to a back injury... but this past month I found two cabinets that will work really well in my kitchen...These two cabinets were just sitting on the side of the road.. in someones trash!

(I just love people who toss good stuff)

This to me was quite a find because I am in the process of changing the entire kitchen.

This is the original kitchen...

Look at that 1980's ceiling... ucky, dark and dingy! 

Don't laugh, but the back splash tile had bucking bronco horses on it....? I put white paint over it until I can replace it.

I worked on this most of last year.. and yes, I did the work myself. Not one person did I hire to help me...

It took some brute force, but I pulled down the entire ceiling and believe it or not.. it was rather easy. I then begged help from my husband, to help hold up the drywall for the ceiling.. but first I rewired, for the new

ceiling lights that will go up soon....

There is so much information on 'how to do electrical' on the internet, and to be sure, "I turned off the electric' before touching anything that looked like wires...lol

Ok.. back to the cabinets I found in the trash.  I want to use these two cabinets on either side of the dishwasher,, more drawer space... but first I had to repaint them....

I found primer at my local Home Depot, that said on the label "no sanding needed"... did I trust this? don't think so!  I did use my electric sander to take off the shine first.. then primed and painted with a heavy duty enamel paint... the same that I used on the original cabinets....

First I filled the drawer pull holes with wood filler.. my plan is to put new hardware on all the doors...

The new cabinets turned out wonderful... now to get the dishwasher moved back against the wall... it's sticking out to the right of the photo....I need some kind person to let me borrow a circular saw. I need to cut the counter top to get this moved.. (the new counter will be installed after I can get my Home Depot person out to measure it)

This project is taking more time than I had planned.. but I am finding that if I take my time I am finding so many ways to keep the budget down.

My kitchen will be so new and bright. I'm happy!

To be continued......

 

I'm linking to


debbiedoos link party

 

Look at what I found for .50 cents.....

I just love garage sales... while wondering through a few last week I found this bag of parts.. and from what I could see, all the parts were there, in the baggie!  A make-up bag with all the DMC floss, and instructions included.... of course I had to buy it... for .50 cents, how could I not?

Funny, of all the little zipper bags I have, there is not one that is useful enough to hold my bit of make-up that I carry in my purse... I have it all, sort of scattered around in there.....

I opened the baggie and got to work... I sat down and after about 5 hours, on and off throughout the week,, I finished it......

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Know what,, it turned out to be a cute little make-up bag and the perfect fit for my purse....

You may notice I had to add one thing not in the instructions.. my initial "S"

How cute is this!!

Don't you just love 

Garage Sales!

Spring is all around my garden......

I wanted to share my Amaryllis with you.  

 Bulbs are starting to bloom, and I have so many in the garden. I just had to bring some in.

Thanks for sharing their beauty with me...