Shabby Chic Entryway

 

As I type this, I am in one of my favorite places of all time. I am sitting out on our back deck, surrounded by crickets, tree frogs, Cicadas, toads and other musical little creatures singing their hearts out. It is pitch dark around me and everyone is in bed but me. I love times like this. We are so blessed to be able to enjoy God’s wonderful creation. He could have made everything less beautiful, less musical, less colorful, but no, he chose to create amazing things for us to enjoy. It’s hard to imagine, but we know heaven will even be so much more than what we have here!

I’m having a lot of fun these days working on things around our home. I also have a few pieces of furniture waiting to be refinished that people dropped off, but nothing that needs to be done immediately. (which is always nice) :)

I woke up one morning recently with an idea for an entryway bench/shelf combination in my head. Now don’t judge me, but I sometimes dream up ideas. Literally, during the night. I know it sounds weird, but I do. For years I never talked about it, but lately I’ve come to realize this isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s like getting two birds with one stone. You sleep to get rest and “think” up something to create at the same time. This is saving time since the “thinking up” part sometimes takes longer than the creating. :)

Anyway, I got this chest of drawers at my aunt’s garage sale recently…

Using a skil saw, I cut the bottom drawer and legs off.

Here it is all sanded and ready for paint.

I also had plans to turn the broken drawer into a wall shelf. Nothing goes to waste in my shop. :)

I painted both pieces with chalk paint that I made. So far I haven’t gotten around to posting on here how I make my chalk paint, so if you want to know, you will have to buy my book. :) In there I share three recipes that I’ve tried out and found to work quite well.

So, after applying two coats of chalk paint, I topped it with Annie Sloan clear wax. I love the feel of a waxed surface!

Unfortunately I didn’t do a very good job of taking pictures as I went, so we’ll jump to the final result..

 

I spray painted the pulls on the drawer and made a seat out of old barn wood, all sanded and varnished.

The cushion cover I had made several years ago out of an old sweater, so I just added the word “hello” to give it an entryway appeal. I cut out the fabric letters, using stencils. I then hot glued them onto the cushion.

For the drawer shelf, I added a header and a hook board to it. I wanted to instill a shabby chic/ vintagey look to this shelf, so I cut out a rectangle section of an old sheet and glued it onto the back. I then placed chicken fence over that, using small nails to hold it into place.

I was impressed how well the real Hydrangeas match with the printed ones on the sheet!

I dug these cardboard boxes out of storage. I had originally painted them black, so I used Annie Sloan’s    Duck Egg Blue chalk paint and repainted them. I distressed them and added little vintage labels. The design on the labels is from an an old check that came from my great great grandparents. I added the flowers, using Microsoft Office Word.

The hat comes from my Grandpa, who just recently passed away at 95 years old. Mom said her and her sisters used to wear it when they were working out in the fields years ago.

This kid puts anything on his head. Seriously…

He’s supposed to be washing dishes. :/

I hope you enjoyed this idea of cutting up a chest of drawers to create some entryway appeal and are inspired to try it yourself. :)

I like the idea of having a welcoming view from the front porch looking in..

Have a great day, everyone and thanks for visiting!

-Mary

French Country Box

 

On Saturday I was in need of a quick gift and decided on making a little box to hold a few jars. Who doesn’t like to display flowers during the summer? Anything to bring a little bit of the glorious outdoors inside.

This decoration only took an hour or so to make and I took pictures of the process incase any of you need an idea for a gift or for yourself.

First I picked out two old milk jugs from my stash of jars that I wanted to use. I measured the width of them to get the proper size of board I would need.

When I make things, I’m a visual person. I need to see how it will look and lay it out before putting it together. I used pallet boards to make this box. I cut out the sides and ends, using the chop saw. I saw that the box would be too deep so I cut off the pieces length wise, using the table saw.

As you can see, it looks much better in the second picture after I cut some off making the box less deep.

I glued, pinned, puttied, sanded and painted the box. As it dried, I painted the jars.

When painting glass jars, it’s important to remember to apply thin coats, one at a time to avoid paint runs.

After the jars were dry, I used a black paint marker to distress them a bit, mostly the letters and thread on the jars.

 

I wanted to add some French typography onto the box, so I printed out an image from The Graphics Fairy.

First, I printed it onto regular copy paper, just to make sure it’s the right size for the box.

When I saw it’s the correct size, I used parchment paper to print it on, and rubbed it off onto the box, using the end of a marker. (any easy to grip item will work)

And finally, the end result..

 

 

After attaching some twine onto the jars and filling them with Annabelle Hydrangeas, they were ready to give away!

Thank you for visiting my blog and have a great day!

-Mary

Porch Love

 

Once again, our porch swing will take a big part in being one of our favorite summer relaxing spots. The only thing different about the swing this year is the addition of a few new pillows accenting it.

I discovered these outdoor pillows on Ebay for a reasonable price. Click here to see a complete product line from the company.

Every setting needs some Annabelle Hydrangeas displayed. :)

I moved the potting bench/water fountain that I made last year for the lower deck, up to the front porch and placed a mirror behind it. It’s amazing what a mirror on the outside can do. It brings out all the green and colorful flowers twice as much.

A few years ago I made this large wooden planter that I filled with perennials for the front porch.

If you are interested in a porch swing, we are making them for Walnut Creek Furniture. They are the size of a twin bed and you can choose a swing with only the air mattress and rope or one with the air mattress, rope, mattress cover and cushions included. They are guaranteed to be place of peace and relaxation! :)

Happy Summer, everyone!

-Mary

 

Summer Mantle

 

In summer, the song sings itself…

                                                                                            Carlos Williams

 

Pictured above are some of the things that come to mind when I think of summertime. Green grass, lazy days, croaking frogs, ( which I hear as I’m typing ) :) honeysuckle, water melon, s’mores, pool time, Wood thrush,  and the list goes on. What an awesome time of year! Although it’s a little dry in our area now, we’ve had such a nice summer so far.

I fixed up the mantle the other day using one of my favorite summer blooms, the Annabelle Hydrangea as a centerpiece. What a joy it is to go out in the gardens and select something to bring indoors to enjoy!

I printed out the banner using shanty 2 chic’s website for the letters and the triangle shape. To get the blue and white stripes, I first printed them onto plain white paper, using Microsoft Office Word.

On another note, since I like adding a splash of blue in the mostly white living room, I was a little tickled when the coffee table I redid for the vintage fair didn’t sell. :) I admit that at times I put a really good price on items that I secretly want for myself, in hopes that it may be left over at the end of the day. :)  It doesn’t always work though!

I hope you are all having a great summer! Thanks for visiting and.. until next time!

-Mary