Home Sweet Home

 

Home was a swimming hole and a fishing pole and the feel of a muddy row between my toes
Home was a back porch swing where I would sit and mom would sing amazing grace
While she hung out the clothes,
Home was an easy chair with my daddy there and the smell of Sunday supper on the stove
My footsteps carry me away but in my mind I'm always going home

 

I always loved this song! I would love to imprint this image of home into the minds of our boys. Of course I’d add the smell of honeysuckle wafting through the air, the sound of trickling water, the haunting song of the wood thrush, the chorus of the tree frogs and crickets, the croak of grandfather bullfrog echoing across the pond…the list could go on and on. What a glorious time of year! All seasons have their beauty, but to me, spring tops them all. You can actually smell the green! Ok, I’ll stop fussing..although I need to add that I’m already looking forward to next spring! I know, I’m strange in that way…

I’ve taken a break from blogging due to crazy busyness which I won’t elaborate on. Let’s just say that my plans are to slow down now and really enjoy the summer; picnics with the boys, sleeping late,even sitting down daily  just to watch the birds while reading a good book and sipping on a cold glass of iced tea freshly made by my maid who gathered the tea from my herb garden that hasn’t materialized yet...oh yeah, I do have a few projects on my to-do list yet…

I’m exaggerating, but you probably get the point…I do want to slow down and spend more quality time with the “things” I love…family being first on my list.

A few months ago I felt the front porch needed a makeover. I  still love our porch swing but I’d gotten kind of tired of the reds and browns and felt it needed a little freshening up. This is what it looked like last summer…

Here’s the after…

I basically just painted the swing and added a different quilt& cushions, all of which I already had. The “home” sign is the same sign I had displayed at Christmas time. I just used the other side.

I also added an old door as a divider to the right of the swing.

I  painted the bench that used to be red..

I added our house number after painting light green and white stripes on it.

The pergola that I built a few years ago using branches and twigs had seen it’s better days so I ended up redoing that too using old lumber that was still in good shape. Hopefully it will last awhile.

Before…

This past winter wreaked havoc with snow weighing down the branches, breaking them off.

Now the after…

I added the screen door to give the honeysuckle a place to expand. I can’t wait to smell those blooms again! It should happen any day…

So with a little bit of time and no money (the best part) I gave the porch a makeover that should last for a while..( I can almost sense hubby rolling his eyes)..for some reason.

Happy Spring everyone!

If you want to read the original post on how I made this porch swing, here is the link:

Our Country Porch Swing

 

Dining Set Makeover

 

One of my favorite places to shop is garage sales. There’s no better place to snag a treasure for a good price. I love coming home with the truck loaded to the brim with junk goodies.  Recently, I garage saled in the quaint little town of Baltic, Ohio where I hit a sale that was right up my alley. The friendly people said they buy storage units (one of my many dreams) and sell the stuff that’s in the units. I should have taken pictures of all the bargains I found at that one sale. I found anything from linens to furniture and even some shop tools. I think the folks thought I was a little “off” with some of the things I got. I even bought an old section of a kitchen cabinet for three dollars! The guy was almost apologetic how ugly the thing looked but I reassured him that I don’t mind..it makes it all the more fun to turn it into something beautiful! Even after I had loaded most of the stuff, I kept finding more. I could hardly leave! Hopefully in the future I will get around to sharing some of the things with you.

My parents had been looking for a dining set at the time and I ended up finding one there for a good price. It seemed sturdy enough but needed a fresh look.

 

I was instantly attracted to the detailing on the chairs. I love the antique look.

The table top really needed help and we ended up stripping it. Not the most fun job to do but I felt with the wear and tear a tabletop gets it should be totally redone. It got a fresh coat of dark walnut stain and three coats of polycrylic. The rest I used my sprayer and painted with Do It Best paint and primer in one. The color is darling dove. (an off white shade)

After applying the paint and distressing it a bit, I gave it a coat of polycrylic, also found at the local Ormes hardware. I did the distressing while the paint was still wet, using a damp cloth to wipe off here and there, bringing the original dark brown out. Mom and I picked out some fabric at a local fabric outlet for a little over six dollars. We also got upholstery batting at the same place to make new cushions. This is how it turned out…

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was so impressed with the age of the wood, it actually crackled in areas when painted. It gave it a nice old looking effect.

 

 

So the next time you hit a garage sale, never overlook what may seem like “junk” at first, but instead imagine what could be done with it to give it a new “life!”

Have a great week! Thanks for visiting!

Primitive Coffee Table Tutorial

 

Something doesn’t sound right to call my posts a “tutorial.” I feel I fall way short of ever posting a real step by step tutorial on the furniture I make. First of all, I’m not very consistent in the way I make my creations. I basically just slap some wood together and hope it turns out half decent in the end. I’ve mentioned this before how hubby and I don’t work the best together in the shop since he actually uses a tape measure and a speed square ( I think that’s what the scary things are called ). I am kidding a little though since I do use a tape measure sometimes. But don’t talk about anything less than 1/8”…I get nervous. I like thinking “11 and two little marks past 1/2 and so on”…if that makes sense. When hubby watches me hold a piece of wood to the place I want to fasten it and use my thumb to mark where I need to cut, I sense eye rolling and hear sighs of exasperation, for some reason.

Anyway, I have a few furniture orders to make and I thought I’d share these with you and hope I can create a spark of interest in you making your own dream furniture. It’s really not that hard… I like to say if you can sew, you can work with wood. You cut stuff out and put it together.

Here is a picture of the finished coffee table…

 

The only thing I needed to purchase was the pine beadboard, which can be bought at Holmes lumber for a decent price.

 

The rest was mostly wood from a shed we tore down.

I made the bottom first and added the beadboard on the sides. Next I put in the partition in the middle and the trim on the front. Lastly, the top. My ripsaw is out of order right now so I used my faithful method of cutting boards the long way with a skilsaw. I still prefer this way since the ripsaw tends to make me a little nervous. I use clamps to hold the wood and the guide on the saw and cut the board the width I need…

 

 

I can get carried away when working and forget to take plenty of pictures so that’s why the pictures went from pine beadboard to a structure.

 

After putting the top on and some paint & distressing it was completed…

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had to take all these pictures from the same angle so you don’t see that we are lounging on lawn chairs these days in our living room. We sold our sofa and recliner in the garage sale in May and of course, I had a certain sofa in mind with a certain price that I knew would be perfect for us, and finally found it last week. Hopefully, in four to six weeks we can have a soft, cozy place to relax. In the meantime, we’ll use the floor or lawn chairs.

I hope you enjoyed this “tutorial” and are inspired to grab that saw, speed square,some screws and create!

 

Just a Swingin’

 

I’ve always thought a yard doesn’t look complete without some sort of swing hanging from a branch. Earlier this spring, while rummaging through the remains of an old barn, I came across this “swing.” Nothing fancy but it serves the purpose…

I took some snapshots of Ephraim the other evening while he was enjoying the summer weather on his swing.

 

 

Love little bare feet…(not so little anymore )

 

The next photos you will have to look at closely…

A nice smile.. but mom can tell it’s a bit fake.. then…

Ornery crossed eyes that I didn’t detect until later when I pulled up the pictures on my computer!

No wonder he’s laughing! (definitely a genuine smile )

Love, love this quote. I’ve used it before and won’t ever tire of it…

Have a wonderful weekend!

Home Sweet Home

 

Home was a swimming hole and a fishing pole and the feel of a muddy row between my toes
Home was a back porch swing where I would sit and mom would sing amazing grace
While she hung out the clothes,
Home was an easy chair with my daddy there and the smell of Sunday supper on the stove
My footsteps carry me away but in my mind I'm always going home

 

I always loved this song! I would love to imprint this image of home into the minds of our boys. Of course I’d add the smell of honeysuckle wafting through the air, the sound of trickling water, the haunting song of the wood thrush, the chorus of the tree frogs and crickets, the croak of grandfather bullfrog echoing across the pond…the list could go on and on. What a glorious time of year! All seasons have their beauty, but to me, spring tops them all. You can actually smell the green! Ok, I’ll stop fussing..although I need to add that I’m already looking forward to next spring! I know, I’m strange in that way…

I’ve taken a break from blogging due to crazy busyness which I won’t elaborate on. Let’s just say that my plans are to slow down now and really enjoy the summer; picnics with the boys, sleeping late,even sitting down daily  just to watch the birds while reading a good book and sipping on a cold glass of iced tea freshly made by my maid who gathered the tea from my herb garden that hasn’t materialized yet...oh yeah, I do have a few projects on my to-do list yet…

I’m exaggerating, but you probably get the point…I do want to slow down and spend more quality time with the “things” I love…family being first on my list.

A few months ago I felt the front porch needed a makeover. I  still love our porch swing but I’d gotten kind of tired of the reds and browns and felt it needed a little freshening up. This is what it looked like last summer…

Here’s the after…

I basically just painted the swing and added a different quilt& cushions, all of which I already had. The “home” sign is the same sign I had displayed at Christmas time. I just used the other side.

I also added an old door as a divider to the right of the swing.

I  painted the bench that used to be red..

I added our house number after painting light green and white stripes on it.

The pergola that I built a few years ago using branches and twigs had seen it’s better days so I ended up redoing that too using old lumber that was still in good shape. Hopefully it will last awhile.

Before…

This past winter wreaked havoc with snow weighing down the branches, breaking them off.

Now the after…

I added the screen door to give the honeysuckle a place to expand. I can’t wait to smell those blooms again! It should happen any day…

So with a little bit of time and no money (the best part) I gave the porch a makeover that should last for a while..( I can almost sense hubby rolling his eyes)..for some reason.

Happy Spring everyone!

If you want to read the original post on this porch swing, here is the link:

Our Country Porch Swing