Deck The Halls

Hello Everyone! How are you doing? Is everyone dashing through the snow to get ready for Christmas? We've been dashing through some rain drops, then digging out our flip flops, then looking for our scarves. You've got to love Christmas in North Carolina. It has finally gotten chilly around here which definitely puts me in the mood to deck the halls. (Okay, so I wrote this a couple of days ago and yes it was chilly...tomorrow is going to be in the 70's. Here we go again.)


Anyhoo, I love lots of greenery to decorate for Christmas. I have noticed that over the years, I have decreased my doo dads and increased the greenery. It just makes everything seem cozy and doesn't make me in a hurry to take down the decorations after Christmas.

I have a quick and cheap decoration to share with all of you using greenery. I found some little galvanized pails at a thrift store. This is what sparked the idea. I've also seen them at hardware stores and craft stores.

I bought some oasis foam from The Dollar Tree. They come two to a pack. Make sure you get the ones for fresh floral arrangements not artificial arrangements. It will say it on the packaging. The one for fresh flowers will absorb water and the other will not which is important since you will need to soak them for a few minutes in a bowl of water. This will keep your greenery from drying out. Once you soak the foam, fit it inside of the little pails. They're super easy to cut so cutting edges off to make it fit is a snap. I usually use a steak knife. It's very pliable so smashing it in there works too.

I gather greenery from our yard. We have an assortment of evergreens that I like to use but any greenery would work. (Cypress, Box woods, Arborvitaes)

Clip the branches to the height you would like them and strip a few of the lower leaves (smaller branches) away leaving a little stem at the bottom where you cut it. Push the stem into the center of the foam so it stands straight up in the bucket looking like a little tree.

I used fresh cranberries left over from Thanksgiving to put around the base of the evergreen. This covers up the foam in the bucket. You could also use small rocks, moss, dried beans, buttons, etc... Be creative!

 I put some extra water in the pail to keep the evergreen from drying out and add more water as needed throughout the season.

That's all there is to it! Miniature Christmas trees! I think they would look lovely on a kitchen table or a mantel or a bathroom sink or anywhere you need a little dash of Christmas. They would also make a great place card holder for a dinner party and a take home gift as well! The possibilities are endless.

What is your favorite way to decorate for Christmas? Lots of greenery? Lots of lights? Total Griswold? Please share. We love new ideas!

Merry Christmas!
Diane

I Have A Vision

Hello Everyone. Happy Monday! What a beautiful weekend we have had. I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend too. I'm back today with a few before and after projects.

I have a really hard time getting rid of things due to my motto, "I could make something out of that". I realized over the past couple of years that I have actually passed that motto down to a couple (or all three) of my boys. It's funny to see the things that they hold onto because they have an idea of what they could turn something into. Sometimes they just hold onto it because they know it could be something cool but they're just not sure what yet. They are so their mom. ( Just don't tell them that...I don't think that is what a guy wants to hear...not a bad thing, mind you...in my opinion...haha). Truth is, they inspire me. My boys have made some great accomplishments that have made me so proud but one of the simplest was when my son rescued a beautiful floor lamp from his apartment dumpster, rewired it and gave it a new shade chosen by his girlfriend. GORGEOUS! (It brings a little tear to my eye...). Shoestring budgets bring out the creativity in a person.

When Mary and I yard sale together, we have a saying, "I have a vision" which simply means, "I have an idea to make something out of that particular object." It gets funny when one of us has "a vision" and the other one can't see it. It has only happened a time or two but is always funny.

Here are a few treasures that we have found along the way.  This window was from a renovated house.

The glass had to be secured in some areas and a new color was used to freshen it up.

This table was a yard sale find. It was very sturdy but a little rough looking.

A fresh coat of paint and a little detail along with some antiquing was all it needed.

Finally, this little stool was one of those, "I have a vision" pieces that only I could see at that moment. The legs were originally a worn wood but I got paint happy before taking the "before" picture.

The legs got a coat of black paint with some wax over that. The top was reupholstered in burlap and a number detail was added. In all honesty, my vision was better in my head...no wonder Mary couldn't see it.

And there you have it....some before and afters. Do you "have a vision"? Leave a comment below letting us know some of your trash to treasure visions. Did they turn out how you envisioned them?

Diane

Take A Number

Hey All! I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather. I love working outside this time of year but when the weather gets too hot or too rainy to be outside, it gives me a good reason to work on things inside.

One thing that I've been working on is paring down some of my collections. Don't get me wrong, I love collecting! It ranks right up there with breathing but at some point I think my collections need to be edited a bit. If not, I'm pretty sure I would end up on one of those hoarder shows. Oh, my kids would be horrified!

In a past post, Mary mentioned that a person's collection tells a lot about them. I love how certain things mean something special to them or bring back a certain warm memory. Did you ever collect something that really didn't mean anything to you but that you just thought was darn cool? Well, that's where my collection of numbers come in. I don't really think they mean anything to me in a warm fuzzy way. I just think there is something soooo neat about them. My boys would probably say that it is the OCD in me (which I may or may not have). My life is not super structured and I'm not really an orderly kind of girl so I'm not sure where my love for numbers came from. It started from a few house numbers that I found.

 Then I found a few more....

Then I just couldn't stop myself. Crazy, right?

Well, I started thinking....the more you collect, the more you have to clean and who in their right mind wants to spend a lot of time doing that when you could be doing other fun things. So I've decided to pare down and only keep a few numbers that I really, really love and use them in a creative way.

I embellished a couple of pallet shelves that my husband and I made. I love the little added touch.

I'm thinking of adding a couple of numbers to some baskets. I don't know why really. Doesn't everyone number their baskets? Ya know, so you don't lose track of how many baskets you have?!

Anyhow, I will slowly part with the rest of them, unless of course I run across more that I can't live without.

Funny story....my husband gave me these gorgeous hooks for my birthday! I love the 1,2 and 3! I think that it reminds me of my 3 boys.

Wouldn't that be considered as "enabling"? Do they make twelve step programs for collectors? Please leave a comment below letting us know what kinds of things you collect? We would love to be inspired! (Ya know, to start another collection.)

Diane

Tell A Story

Hellooooo Everyone!  I'm back today with a couple more redo's. Let me tell you folks, I live for these things. I don't  know what it is about finding something beaten up and breathing new life into it that makes me want to jump up and down like a little kid on Christmas Day.

It starts out like this....I wake up on a Saturday morning before the roosters. How do I know that I beat the roosters? Because my neighbors have some and I swear I'm up before they are. I get myself ready, drink a quick cup of coffee and wait for Mary to pick me up. She pulls into my drive way with a list that she composed earlier in the week of our well planned path. I throw our drinks in the back of her truck and we're off! We scour yard sale after yard sales looking for treasures that need a little TLC...or sometimes a lot of TLC. Here's the thing, I hate getting rid of things that could be reused, recycled, revamped, etc...especially vintage things. I feel like things aren't made like they used to be so to preserve as much of the past as I can is important to me. Also, I try to imagine what each piece was once used for. I feel every piece has a story and it's nice to keep the story going.

So here are a couple of our recent finds. (Insert me jumping up and down like a kid).

Can't you just picture the potential? Well I can and that's why I do what I do. Overall, they didn't need much work, just a little sanding, painting, staining and antiquing. And voi la! The finished project!

Now they're ready to carry on their story in someone else's home. Maybe spending days relaxing on the front porch or rocking babies. Maybe a place to set grandma's lamp or photos of the kids....

You can find these and other treasures at The Feathered Nest at KnB's Marketplace in Fuquay Varina, NC.

Enjoy!
Diane

New Beginnings

Well, spring is officially here although you wouldn't know it by the weather. Apparently Mother Nature didn't get the memo. Still, everything seems to be waking up and starting anew. I love this time of year. It feels like the start of new beginnings.

Speaking of new beginnings, I found this awesome piece of furniture on Craig's List that was begging for a new start.

 I love the lines on it and it has so much storage space. Who couldn't use storage space? (Um, my husband could since I was working on this project on his side of the garage...hee hee.) I didn't care for the color of it or the shiny finish. I also wasn't a fan of the hardware. The guy I bought it from said that his mom bought it years ago and spent a lot of time refinishing it herself. I love that she also thought to give it a new start too.

Once I got it home (with A LOT of help from the Hubby...that thing is a monster!) I realized that it seemed a little too short. No worries...I had a vintage set of casters I bought earlier from a thrift store that I thought would do the trick. I was right. It raised it up to the perfect height and gave it an even prettier look. Now to do something about the color.

I took it out to the garage and stripped it down to it's original finish. Initially, I was going to leave it at it's original finish but when I stripped off all of the paint, I realized that it was actually made up of several different types of wood. In it's original form, I'm sure it was a pretty look but when I tried to stain it, the stain took really uneven. It looked horrible. I'm not one to give up easy so on to plan B. (Actually, I panicked and forgot to take pictures of that step. Then I pulled myself together and went on to plan B.) I used a primer on the base and then painted it a soft cottage white. I stained the top of it leaving the pretty wood tone showing. Once the paint was dry, I sanded some of the edges giving it a distressed look and finished it with a coat of dark wax to age it a bit more.

 One of my favorite parts of this piece was the hidden drawers behind the cabinet doors. I also loved the natural color of them so I thought it would be neat to leave them as they were.

 To finish off the new look, it needed some bling. I found these handles and knobs at Home Depot. I love them! If I recall, they weren't too pricey either.

 I'm a sucker for things that are a mix of old and new or rustic and feminine and now it has that look.

So there it is in all it's glory! A new life for an old piece. What have you breathed new life into? Pieces of furniture? nick knacks? I would love to hear about it. Leave us a comment sharing your creativity.

Happy Spring!
Diane

I've Been Framed

Hello everyone and happy Monday! I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend. I have spent this weekend trying to scratch things off of my "to do" list with not much success. I have an on going list that conveniently sits on my counter in plain view so that I will not forget all of the things that I would like to get done. My problem is that I get side tracked. I will walk into a room to do something and suddenly my eyes are darting around the room like a cat watching a fly buzz around from wall to wall. I'm not even kidding. I have a hard time watching a television show with my family. While they are looking at the t.v. I am staring over their head at a picture that I think would look better if it were on the other wall. I know that I'm not alone here. Some of you do the same thing and you know who you are. This brings me to the topic of this post...pictures. Well, not really pictures as much as the frames they are in.

I love frames! Almost to the point of being a sickness. I mean really...just plain frames, even with nothing in them.

Don't get me wrong, I also love pictures of my family all over my house so it's not just about the frames but I love the shapes and details in frames. That is what attracts me to them. It is rare that I will find a frame that I like the color of it. That does not deter me from buying it though. A simple paint job will do the trick.

I found these beauties at a thrift store for cheap. I loved the curvy sides but did not like the 70's wood finish on them. ( If I wasn't so excited to paint them, I would have a good before shot of them but I don't so you'll have to use your imagination here.)

I gave them a paint job using a satin spray paint in various colors. I really like using spray paint on frames because it covers all the angles really well. Once it dried, I lightly sanded the edges to give it a distressed look. Then I wiped on some dark wood wax to make it look even older and that is it. So easy. With all of the paint color choices, you can make any frame match your decor.

And should you decide to redecorate your room, repaint your frame! (A little money saver tip for you.)

I hope everyone has a productive fun week. Now back to my "to do" list...


Diane

That's A Corker

Hello everyone and happy Friday! This week I have been looking for some inspiration. It's not too hard to find with magazines, the oh so cool blogs out there and ...Pinterest. (Insert sigh...) I love Pinterest! Who wouldn't love a world of ideas right at your fingertips? People with no ideas, that's who. (Trick question).

Although I love browsing through countless pictures until my eyes start to cross, I have realized something about myself. Besides the fact that I think I need a twelve step program to help me with my addiction to Pinterest, I realized that I am a touchy person. I love seeing the real thing in front of me. I love to be able to touch things, whether it is fabric swatches, paint chips, found objects, etc... It made me remember that long before Pinterest, there were "inspiration boards". (Aka...cork boards)

Now there is nothing wrong with cork boards except that they're, well, not so pretty.  Who gets inspired over not so pretty things? That's right, no one. So today I decided to fix that and it was so easy.

I started by spray painting the frame around a cork board. Then I remembered that I had this frame that I had stashed for literally years just waiting for an opportunity like this. Wouldn't you know it, if you push hard enough, you can actually make things fit. So I fit the cork board into the frame....Back outside to paint the frame.

Before the paint...

And after the paint...

Once the frame dried, I covered the cork part using burlap that I cut to size leaving just enough fabric around the edges to tuck under the frame. I lightly used spray adhesive to secure the fabric to the board.

 Then I used a putty knife to push the fabric under the frame around all four sides.

 How easy was that? I love the way it turned out and even better, I could physically touch what inspires me. I can't wait to fill my board.

 While I was at it, I made a couple of inspiration boards for the shop.

 The big one is also covered in burlap with a rope trim around the edges and the smaller one is covered in a fabric that I think is classy but fun. There are so many options to match any decor, so have fun with it.


Now I need to get pinning!

Diane

Blown Away

   I am totally blown away as is just about everyone lately. The storm that has blown across our country has had unbelievable wind gusts with it.  As I was cleaning up our yard this morning, searching for the lid to our beehive, I couldn't believe that just two days ago I was outside in a tee shirt painting some wonderful new things for The Feathered Nest. (Coming soon.)

                                                            Here's a sneak peek...

   I am also blown away by the fact that January is almost over. That means just one thing. Spring is just around the corner!

    I love this time of year! I am not a fan of stormy spring weather although I do love a rainy day. It makes me want to clean up and redo something. I have been tossing around the idea of redoing our master bedroom. As Mary mentioned in our last newsletter, my nest is getting emptier. My middle son has also found his own nest. That now leaves me with two rooms to redo. I suppose I should make that a priority. Any cool ideas of what I should do with the rooms? I would love to hear what you have to say. I should mention that I still have one son living at home so maybe something he would enjoy as well.

In the meantime, try to keep your feet on the ground and enjoy the blustery day.

                                                                                                                  Diane