The New Coolest Thing in my House
is THIS.



WARNING: Following is a fabulous photo essay of really terrible photos taken with my camera phone.

Yesterday, I spent most of my day making this new most coolest thing in my house. And by "making", I mean taking this . . .



. . . and doing lots of stuff to it to make it look nice.

It is a window taken from my uncle's house. I didn't take it. He gave it to me, along with two pieces of stained glass to go in it. The window is probably more than 50 years old, and I'd suspect quite a bit older than that. But I really don't know.

I scraped and sanded lead-based paint off of the frame. Then I removed two very old panes of glass - all while wearing this . . .



. . . to protect my lungs from lead-based paint dust. And, because it's sexy. I mean, really. How hot is THAT??

Plus I wore these handy blue doctory gloves that I acquired while my dad was in the hospital for his hip surgery (Thanks, Dad!)



Unfortunately, while trying to remove the very old panes of glass, they broke. There was sharp glass. And, there was one fatality.



But not to worry, I only lost the finger of the glove. My own finger was fine. And, I had more gloves. Purple this time.

I sanded. I painted. I put in two panes of stained glass. I glazed the glass. And in the end, it made this . . .



And I have deemed it the coolest thing in my house. It hangs above my couch. It is awesome.

Additional information about this adventure is that I once again amazed myself at my own "make it up as I go along" handy woman skills. I love feeling like I've inherited these traits from my Papaw and my dad, and my uncle who gave me the window frame. My Papaw had a woodworking shop. He made all kinds of stuff.

And being a huge nerd, I am now dangerously close to getting a work bench for my garage, since I keep doing these types of projects and my current work "bench" is the cold cement floor of my garage. I don't really so much build things, but I paint furniture. And I apparently now make window frames. It's a fun hobby.

The soundtrack for the adventure was (gmama will likely be the only one to appreciate this) Amy Grant: The Collection. I proudly and loudly played The Grant in the garage, singing at the top of my lungs and dancing while I worked. Laugh if you must. But, it was cold yesterday in the garage, so something had to keep me moving. And there's nothing quite like 80s Christian music. Amy and I made a beautiful piece of art that has not fallen apart, and has not fallen of off my wall.

Yet.

Total cost to the Tyrant for this "new" piece of art: about $11. And, the satisfaction of making it myself and restoring something old to a new place of appreciation in a home.

It was the best Sunday ever.

C.T.