Odds and Ends

My favorite part of shopping at ReStore is digging through boxes of odds and ends.  Recently, they received a donation of random curtain rod finials.  Some had partners, but most were missing their mates, like these two.

Immediately, I saw a use for them.  A little hot glue and some Rub 'n Buff was all they needed.

Isn't it pretty now?

Christmas Vignette

I love putting together seasonal vignettes.  There's something satisfying about taking what I already have and rearranging them in new places.

As I mentioned in the last post, I found a fabulous chest of drawers at ReStore. The price was right, probably because the top was cracked.   For now, I'm hiding the crack with a large tray.

I always manage to buy too many floral picks, so I always have leftovers from my projects, so I tucked a few spares in a jade plant.

Some of our solar lights stopped working this summer, but the crackle glass globes make pretty decorations.

I'm really in no hurry to make the repair to the cracked top now.

Do you love creating tabletop vignettes too?




I'm linking up...
Savvy Southern Style
Handy Man, Crafty Woman

Red Chippy Box

During this summer's drought, I only watered when absolutely necessary, so the garden is looking pretty shabby.  This winter I'm going to plan for an overhaul of half of the backyard next spring.

In the meantime, I've been slowing cleaning out the garden, and I decided this planter box has seen its better days.

I built it about 11 years ago out of scraps from a deck and fence project.  I really didn't have any sort of plan when I built it, so I'm pretty amazed it held together for so long.

I unscrewed the side panels, trimmed the weathered ends and built a little box.  On a whim, I added the little feet.  Aren't they cute?

 

I used a palm sander and a Dremel to wear down all the edges.  Originally, I was going to leave it natural, but the wood was so bowed from being outside, I had to use a lot of wood putty to fill the joints.  Now, I'm so glad I painted it.

 

 

It took the better part of an afternoon to get the effect I wanted.  It was worth the time spent!

 

So how did I get the look?  Chalk paint?  Milk paint?

Nope.  It's all just typical craft store stuff!

Start with a brown acrylic craft paint for the base coat.  Follow with black acrylic craft paint for the second coat.  I think starting with brown keeps the black from seeming too stark when the layers are sanded away.

Next, apply one coat of Weathered Wood Crackle Medium (follow the directions on the package).  Top coat of Cadmium Red acrylic craft paint.

Sand, sand, sand.  Complete with Minwax Paste Finishing Wax.

I can't describe how amazingly soft the wood feels.  The wax really makes the box feel old.

Then again, I used 11+ year old wood to build it.  Let's see those feet one more time.

 

 

I'm linking up...

Funky Junk Interiors

Jute Hugging Curves

Summer, you have worn out your welcome this year.  It's just too darn hot and dry.

I'm retreating from the outdoors, which means I've been finally addressing some of the household chores that I ignored this spring, like hauling the glass to the community recycling area.

I'm pitching glass into the bin, when I notice that some of these bottles are pretty substantial.  And some have a great shape.  I'm seeing subtle colors.  Curves.  And jute.

And something my hands can work on while my husband and I watch his favorite cooking shows.  In the basement.

The cool basement.  And think of cool water, the color of this blue glass.

While everything outside is turning brown, I'll remember the greens.

I think the bottoms are my favorite part.

Both are available for sale in my Etsy shop.

Repurposed Garden Orb

Hot.

Hot.

Hot.

That's all I have to say today.

Just kidding.  I've spent hours working in the garden.  Planning, planting, dreaming.  Now everything is wilting.  I did some pretty zealous weeding last weekend and discovered the next day that there is poison ivy or poison oak lurking somewhere in my backyard that I overlooked.  It made its way into my garden gloves.  Oddly, it doesn't itch too badly, but with my skin type, it's going to leave a nasty scar on the back of my hand.  There goes my dreams of being a hand model.

In my early gardening days, I loved hanging baskets.  I still do, but I don't even try them anymore.  Everything in them seem to wither in the hot Kansas winds.  Years ago, I tossed the coconut liners and abandoned the wire baskets on the top shelf of the garage.

I've seen several DIY orbs in blogland this summer, like this orb chandelier from Ballard Designs.   I love the shape, but I think these sort of lights throw off weird shadows.  Then a few weekends ago, I was doing a garage sale drive-by.  Is it worth getting out of my air-conditioned car?  I thought I saw something, a sundial or a ornamental orb for the garden?  I turned around for another look and realized it was just a stack of hanging baskets. 

But it got me thinking...I could take those old wire baskets in my garage, put two of them together with four black zip-ties, and I'd have a nice little orb.  I found an old curtain rod and finials at ReStore and made a trip to the hardware store for oversized washers to hold the whole thing together.  The washers received a quick blast of black spray paint.

Originally, I was going to use hot glue to hold the washers, but that wasn't working.  So I used black thread to keep the washers in place for the final assembly.  If I had four hands, I probably wouldn't have needed it because ultimately, the wire basket is squeezed between two washers, one on the inside and one on the outside of the sphere.  I rested one more washer at the bottom, just to add a more finished look.

I have two more hanging baskets in the garage and the other finial to make another orb, maybe when it cools down a little, like October.

I'm linking up...

Savvy Southern Style

Handy Man, Crafty Woman

Rustic Cedar Boxes

I reached a milestone recently...100 followers!  Of course, we all know blogging isn't a popularity contest, but the feedback for all the work is rewarding.

I mentioned in my last post that I had some new cedar boxes I was crazy about this summer.  I started scheming this project as soon as the weather began to warm this spring.

I had been meaning to stop at the big box home improvement stores for some wood to build some wooden boxes to contain some of my garden supplies and pull together some of the small flower pots on the deck.  Then I came home from work one night and found my new next door neighbors replacing part of their fence.

Usually I'm pretty bashful about asking for things, but this time I spoke up.  Oh, let me take some of that old wood off your hands!

My new neighbor looked at me like I was nuts.

No worries...she'll get to know me soon enough!  I pulled enough wood to build two boxes, one for the potting bench and one for the deck.

I found the iron cherub at a local antique store, although I doubt he's an antique.  I've had this terra cotta pot for years, and it's my favorite.

Too bad trash day came so quickly, but they have three more sides of their fence that I'm sure they'll replace eventually.  I'll have my crowbar ready.

I'm linking up...

The Great Outdoors Linky Party at Thistlewood Farm

Savvy Southern Style

Handy Man, Crafty Woman

Common Ground

At the Picket Fence

Funky Junk Interiors

Potting Bench Update

Last summer, I turned an old workbench in the garage into a potting bench for the garden.  Since the homeowners association does not allow sheds or similar outbuildings, the potting bench has been very handy.

It's held up pretty well under the elements, considering it was not originally built to be outside.  It will probably need another coat of paint soon, and since the top is made of plywood, eventually it will have to be replaced.

If I had been designing my potting bench from scratch, I would have added an upper shelf, like a hutch.  But since I was using what I had with minimal modifications, adding a hutch wasn't going to work. 

Then I found a rustic shelf I loved for its brackets last year at Restore, but I couldn't make the brackets fit against the fence, until I realized I just needed to turn them upside down.

The statuary is an antique store find a couple of weeks ago.  There was a sundail in the same booth, and I agonized over the decision.  But I fell in love this little guy's patina.

I usually don't have much luck with petunias.  I'm crossing my fingers I can keep these beauties alive this summer.

I freshened the lime-wash finish on the terra cotta pots this morning.  I like doing this when it's hot outside so they dry quickly.

To age terra cotta, I use a couple of heaping tablespoons of garden lime in about a cup of water.  Stir to dissolve the lime the best you can.  It probably won't completely dissolve, which is fine.  Brush on with an old paint brush, taking care not to let it drip and run.  If you do it on a hot, windy day, it will dry quickly.  Brush the excess lime off.  It's a more natural-looking aging method than using paint, the results are instant, and it's not icky like the old yogurt technique.

Sedum...it's so easy to make new little plants. Just clip a piece off the parent plant and stick it in potting soil.  This one has roots coming out of the drainage hole, so it's time to go into the ground.

Another new addition is this sweet rustic box. I love it so much, it's going to get it's own post. The tool box is a thrift store makeover from last year, and I'm happy to say it's holding up well too.

One yard ornament that was decommissioned last year was a plastic birdbath.  Plastic yard ornaments are so inexpensive, but they become brittle over time.

The bowl cracked but the base was still fine and I liked the scrolls, so I kept it until I could find a use for it.

Can you believe a three inch convex truck mirror fit perfectly in the center?  My husband thinks it looks like a wheel, so I wouldn't use it in the house, but it looks fine in the garden.

I'm trying to use more color, so I like the pop of red it adds to this corner.

The lantern is another Restore find.  I think I paid $2 for it.  I pulled the wiring out of it and hung it on a shepherd's hook.  I don't have much luck with hanging baskets (too hot and windy in Kansas).  This cute lantern doesn't need water!

I'm linking up...

Handy Man, Crafty Woman

At the Picket Fence

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

The Shabby Nest

Funky Junk Interiors

Under the Table and Dreaming

Les Chateau des Fleurs

Between Naps on the Porch

Not So Vintage Market Basket

When I visited Mary Carol Garrity's fall open house last year, I noticed she had a large market basket tucked under a sideboard, and it was filled with empty wine bottles.  Being known to tip back a glass (or two...nevermind, just give me the whole bottle), I loved the look.

(By the way, Mary Carol's spring open house is less than a month away!)

And who doesn't love a great vintage market basket?  But I'm way too cheap to buy the real thing.

But I do have one of these at the back of the closet that's doing nothing better than holding socks whose partners are l-o-n-g gone.  It's about 15 years old and it has seen lot of use hauling laundry up and down the stairs until it started to unravel at the top, which is when it was retired to become the gathering place of the Lonely Sock Club.

The size is perfect.  But that color is so 1990s.

Vintage = good
Dated = bad

Let's gather some supplies.

I evicted the singles club of socks and their tag-alongs, the dust bunnies, then sprayed the basket with oil rubbed bronze paint, which improved the look immediately.  But the color was a one-dimensional, so I gently brushed it with the Brunt Umber craft paint with one of my favorite tools, a chip brush.

After letting it dry, I hit the high points in the weave with the Pinecone Brown craft paint, blending it into the weave.  Finally I sealed it with a clear spray.

There are always plenty of wine bottles in the recycling bin, but eventually I'll fill it only with the bottles which were part of special occasions.

The best part?  It cost me NOTHING.  I love the subtle colors on the handles.

It's so fun to find ways to get "the look" for less!

I'm linking up...

Between Naps on the Porch

Coastal Charm

Handy Man, Crafty Woman

Savvy Southern Style

Domestically Speaking

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

At the Picket Fence

Tray Table

Did anyone else suffer from Downtown Abbey withdrawal last weekend?  We don't have cable and unless the tornado sirens are blowing or presidental election results are being announced, we don't watch TV.  If something is any good, we'll just wait and get it on Netflix.

I made an exception for season two of Downtown Abbey.  I had to rely on digital rabbit ears and thirty feet of cable to get it out of the basement so I could tune in every week.  It will be a long wait for season three.

So I think I was channeling a bit of Downtown Abbey when I thought of dressing up this plain old table.

It fills the narrow wall nicely, but the top is too small.  In my stash of unfinished/unstarted projects, I have several of these old cabinet doors.

I also found this old light fixture at ReStore. 

They had two of these.  I go to ReStore every Friday after work (my idea of TGIF happy hour), and every week for the past month it's mate is still there. 

What a pity.

I removed the chain, wiring and light socket and used a combination of gold craft paint and Rub 'n Buff to bring back its luster.  Let's see how our misfits cleaned up.

I removed the old door handle and filled the holes with wood putty, then repainted the entire door with my favorite bronze craft paint.  I pulled a second door pull from another cabinet door on hand and painted them with bronze craft paint too.  The stuff sticks to just about anything.

I love the details of the light-fixture-turned-into-lantern, especially the seeded glass.  I can't bring myself to buy the cheap stuff made in China you find in most chain stores.

 
I love battery operated LED candles for my lanterns, especially the ones that run on four-hour timers.  They'll run for months on a couple of AA batteries.

Originally, I had this bowl filled with decorative balls on this table top.  I moved it to the lower shelf and added my DIY moss balls.

Someday, I'll have to show you how I made the textured bronze balls.  I'll save that for another post.

I added a tiny bell for when I want to call the maid, and my vignette is complete.

Update: I've been in denial until tonight, but Google Friend Connect is going way tomorrow.  Google didn't pay one bit of attention to all my pouting.  I'm still undecided what I am going to do to replace it.  (I'm going through an anti-Facebook phase).  For now, I've added one of those nifty RSS subscriber buttons to the right.  If that's your thing, I hope you click  it to continue following me.

I think I'm going to make a pan of brownies now.