Seeing Stars

I bought a large (36") star at a yard sale last month.  It could look fun on our barn... or not.  

 When I took a close look at the barn, I realized there was not a place on it that a star would look good.

I guess I'll sell it at the booth.  But not yet.  I have a sunflower wreath by our side door. It looked good to me in September.  It was tolerable in October.  Now, I'm over it.  The next decor in line is Christmas-y.  That's fine for the stores, but against the rules at home... I prefer to wait til after Thanksgiving!  How about the star?!?

We put it up and my dear hubby was full of opinions. He doesn't like the color. He's thinks it should be black or oil rubbed bronze or even done over with a crackle finish.  Hmmm.

It has a rust finish now and our porch has touches of black and not a thing in the rust family. I suppose he's right. I hadn't planned to take on yet another project - especially one that would have no problem at all selling as is - but I guess I'll spray paint that sucker this week.  But I can't picture it in black. 

What to do?  Find inspiration. Google images, here I come. To tell you the truth, most of the images I found were on sites selling stars.  I found my exact star in a number of places usually around 70 dollars or more for my size.  At least I know I got a good deal at the yard sale!

I found stars in a number of colors.  That's good.  It helps me picture it in other color choices.

 I prefer the ones that are beat up and distressed over the ones that are shiny and new looking.

I also found a number of examples of decoupaged stars.  I'll keep those in my idea file in case I come across a deal on some smaller stars. 

 Sources:

1 - The Mcillice Spot

2 - can't find source

3 - Mahani Creations

4 - The John Lucas Gallery

5 - Insightful Nana

6 - can't find source

One interesting thing - I found out that the stars are said to bring good luck and good fortune.  Heck.  We could use some of that!  Who couldn't? 

I also found that different colors bring different types of luck.  

According to Prim~N~Simple, here's what the colors mean: 

Black- Protection, also used to blend or bind elements together.

Red- Emotions, passion, charisma, lust, and also creativity.

White- Purity, power of the moon, allows energy to flow freely.

Blue- Protection, peace, calmness and spirituality.

Green- Growth, fertility, success in things and ideas that grow.

Yellow- Health in body and mind, love of man and the sun, connection to God.

Brown- Mother earth, also can mean friendship and strength.

Orange- Abundance in career, projects and matters needing an added push.

Violet- Things that are sacred.

Some colors are ruled out for us just because they wouldn't look too good on our house. No thanks to violet, orange and yellow. Blue probably wouldn't work either. Hubby ruled out brown.  That leaves red, black, white, and green.  Silver is not on the list. Would I not have any luck at all with silver?  Or would I have the luck from both black and white?

So what did I decide?  A distressed red. It would look good on the house with our colors.  I wouldn't have trouble selling it later  -  that is, if I don't decide to keep it. :-)

 I spray painted it bright red, then rubbed Minwax ebony all over to give it an aged look.
Does that qualify me with the fortune attributes of both red and black?

Here's the result -

Is it me?  I don't know.  I'm not madly in love, but it's an interesting change for awhile.  However... if it brings us fortune and good luck, it will become a favorite - a family heirloom! :-)  The bench, on the other hand, will eventually be upgraded through paint or a total replacement.  I'm definitely not in love with it.  Plus, the area needs a little something more. Some accessories or something.  Sigh.  Will I ever get things to a point where there's not something in need every direction I look?!?  Probably not.   

And truthfully, what fun would that be?

More Star Inspiration

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn

Star Made from Vintage Yardsticks at Mamie Jane's

By the way, I've just discovered Mamie Jane's blog - do take a look - so many good ideas!

•  

Rain and Fog

Finally... some rain!

And then,  a fog settled over the meadow.

Actually, it's just an open area or field, but meadow sounds so much prettier.

Take a Closer Look + OCTOBER Porch & Garden Party

The days are cooler now and the nights have been downright chilly (by Georgia standards).  The flowers are still hanging on.  They look a bit frazzled, but if you take the time to take a closer look, they are still quite pretty.

Maybe, it's a bit like people.  

As people get older, they may not seem all that attractive, 

but if you take the time to get closer to them, 

you might find they are truly beautiful,

in the best sense of the word.

Everyone has beauty if you just look closely enough.

OCTOBER Porch and Garden Party

This is the last Porch and Garden Party for 2010.  

I'm going to keep it open through the whole month!

Fall porches always seem to be a bit exciting, don't you think? 

Feel free to add any posts you create that go along with the theme.

The main topic is, of course, porches and gardens. 

If you make something that would look good on a porch, that'll do.  Sunrooms count as porches.  Anything outdoorsy is good.  Door decor - perfect!  Fall decor - yeah!  If you think your post works with this theme, then it's fine!  Anyway,what kind of a host would I be if I turned someone away from a party? Welcome...  and enjoy!

I'm joining the following parties:

• Outdoor Wednesdays at A Southern Daydreamer 
• Mosaic Monday at Little Red House
• Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
• Friday Finding Beauty at Dipity Road 
• It's a HodgePodge Friday at It's a HodgePodge Life 
• I'm Lovin' It Fridays at Tidy Mom 

Kale - Decorative and Edible + Garden Party

I bought two heavy cement planters a couple of weeks ago at a yard sale.  Instead of planting them with mums or some other decorative fall plant, I decided to plant kale.  

The hardest part was moving the planters to their new location.  I was determined to do it without Mr. Dream's help - he's been working way too hard lately and I feel guilty asking him to do anything extra.

First, I tried using a wagon.  That required lifting the planter up and over into the wagon.  Let me just say that my biceps got a Gold's Gym worthy workout.  Whew!

For the second planter, I pulled out the hand trucks.  That was sooooo much easier.

If I had planned ahead or not been in a rush for instant gratification, I could have grown my kale from seed. Instead, I bought ten small plants - five for each planter.  That does NOT allow for the recommended spacing, but I'm figuring on cutting the outer leaves on a fairly regular basis.  We'll see how it goes.  Three plants per container might have worked better. 

I'll try to remember to do an update in a month or so.  By then, the planters should be looking lush and colorful.

Lots of gardeners use kale can be used as an ornamental.  In zone 7 and above it can be used as a winter annual.  Experts say it looks especially nice with pansies and dianthus.  I planted my kale with... more kale.  I got three varieties and unfortunately, the tags don't tell you what's what.  They labeled all three flowering kale.  Well that's helpful.  One of the varieties is definitely a curly one.

Kale with purple mums from Arabella Weddings Blog

I do want my kale to look attractive, but mainly, I want to eat it. It's very nutritious!!!  I especially love using kale in green smoothies. Note:  I was going to link to my previous post about green smoothies and can't find one.  Can it be that I have not posted about green smoothies?  Oh, my.  They are fabulous and don't taste "green" at all.  I'll post about them soon - maybe even this week.

It's pretty wilt resistant so lots of restaurants use it to make their salad bar look prettier. At home, it would be pretty as part of a serving platter arrangement.

from Sullivan and Murphy

Tips on Growing Kale

Small Print Disclaimer:  

I have never grown kale before.  

All the information here is gleamed from my research.

I'll let you know how it all works out. 

Kale is not crazy about heat, so, for now, I put the planters in a spot that receives only morning sun.  It's still pretty hot here in Georgia.

from Kennedy's Country Gardens

The cool fall weather brings out the color. Kale will hold their brilliant color all the way into spring.  You can grow them in pots to decorate your porch or patios, or plant a group together right in your garden beds. They grow 1 to 2 feet tall.

from Better Homes and Gardens

My kale should do well even in the winter. Around December, I'll probably move the planters to a full sun location.  It's one of the most frost tolerant of vegetables.  It's fine with temperatures as low as 20 degrees. Some sites said they would survive as low as 5 or 10 degrees depending on the variety. If it gets really cold, I'll probably cover or move mine just to be safe.

Kale actually needs the cool weather. It needs several nights of frost to make it sweet. The frost helps break the sugars into starches.

from Southern Living

To harvest, you can cut a few leaves at a time when the plant is 8 to 10 inches high. You start with the outside leaves first. Or you can harvest the entire plant.  Cut 2 inches above the soil and the plant will sprout new leaves in 1 to 2 weeks. Harvest kale before it gets old and tough. 

from My Sweet Savannah - She has more examples on this post!

 The good thing about having my own kale plants is that the fresher the plant, the sweeter it is.  The flavor gets stronger the longer it's refrigerated.  Who knows just how fresh it is when you get it in the grocery store.

from Garden Delights

 Now - - - Time for Porch and Garden Party #8!

 Link up posts you have 
about anything to do with porches or gardens 
- door decorations, nature, sunrooms...
indoor and outdoor plant posts are welcome, too!


Lots of you are decorating your doors and porches for fall - please link up!

I've joined in with the following parties:
100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence
Strut your Stuff at Fireflies and Jelly Beans
Hooking Up With HOH at House of Hepworths
It’s Party Time  at Pony Tails and Fish Scales
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Thrifty Thursday at Tales from Bloggeritaville
Make It Yours Day at My Backyard Eden
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs
Show Us What You're Workin' With at Me and My Bucket
Creative Share Wednesday at Trendy Treehouse

Blue Porch Ceilings

When it came time to choose paint colors for our house, there was only one thing I was certain of - I wanted the ceilings of my porch to be blue.  That was my easiest decision.

My porch - August 2008

My Porch Ceilings:
Sherwin Williams
Open Air 6491
*SATIN FINISH

Blue porch ceilings are an old tradition dating back to the mid-1770s, when Prussian blue pigment became popular. Prussian blue was invented in Germany. Before then, blue pigment was pricey and the color didn't hold. Prussian blue was a light robin's egg blue.  In the mid 1800's the color took off in Aurora Colony and became known as Aurora blue.  

The shade of blue used for porch ceilings can vary, but usually it's sort of a sky blue or robin's egg shade.

Aside from the fact that the blue is very pretty, calming, and reminds one of the sky, there are two other interesting side benefits. 

It is believed that the blue color repels insects.  I read one article where a homeowner tested this out by painting half of his porch ceiling blue and left the other half white.  All the wasps nests were on the white side.  He was convinced.  Our porch is large and wraps all the way around 3 sides of the house.  We've had a couple of wasp nests, but nothing big.  And they were built attaching to our white trim.  Hmmm.  Maybe there's something to it.

 The other side benefit is less easy to prove. It is said that the blue chases away evil spirits. In the South Carolina Lowcountry, they call the blue color haint blue.  A haint, by the way, is a spirit or ghost.  I must say, we haven't had any problems with evil spirits since we moved here.

Thanks Shala!!!  This one is Sago Cottage on St John, Virgin Islands.

Cherry Hill Cottage - This porch belongs to Tina's sister Kathy, who lives in Houston - click here for more

  Thanks so much to Rose Vine Cottage  for recognizing this wonderful porch.  I should have known! Cherry Hill Cottage is a blog I follow regularly. Tina is so creative and so are all of her friends and relatives.

Note about photos in this post - I try to give credit when I use photos that are not my own.  Unfortunately, all but one of these photos were from my collection before I came up with a way to keep up with where they came from. If you know the source, please let me know, so I can give credit!

Sunflower Wreath and Porch & Garden Party #4

I am so glad August is nearly over. The dog days of August. Heat. Humidity. I am so over it. I'm ready for the crisp cool days of Fall.& I am so ready for it that I went out and bought cheap artificial sunflowers.


Truly I'm not a big fan of artificial flowers, but I totally went against that yesterday. I needed sunflowers. I needed a hint of fall in the air at my house, even if it wasn't the real thing.


The sunflowers were half off at Hobby Lobby. They came in bunches. I bought two bunches but only used one for this wreath. I'll show what I did with the rest in another post. My first project with the sunflowers was this wreath:

Before, the wreath was rather plain. I am embarrassed to say it spent all summer with a rather naked look. I like having a wreath that I can cheaply change the look by changing just the a few pieces.

I hung months ago thinking the naked look was temporary - just until I found something summery looking that would make it look wonderful. Next summer, someone remind me to hang something different. In the summer, I just don't get excited about wreathes.


Fall is a different story. I think there may be a law somewhere that a cottage must have a wreath (better yet, two or three) starting in the fall and lasting right through the holiday season.


I thought it would be rushing things a little too much to go with autumn leaves and pumpkins and so forth. But sunflowers are perfect for transitioning from summer to fall! I'm ready to transition - that's for sure!

The wreath is next to our side entrance.  One of these days I'll do something about that ugly bench, but for now, it's very useful and it doesn't horrify me enough to move it higher up on my to-do list.  Anyway, now that I have a sunflower wreath, I can easily ignore the bench.


Now that my wreath has a little autumn flavor, I'm starting to excited about bringing a bit of fall to the rest of the porch.  How about you? Have you been doing anything fun to your porch or garden? If so, please link up to my Porch and Garden Party!

But first, I have joined these fun parties:
100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence
Thrifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville
Strut your Stuff at Fireflies and Jelly Beans
Hooking Up With HOH at House of Hepworths
Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple

Now on to the Party!

Watermelon Time

Early this summer a watermelon vine starting growing in my flower bed.  I didn't plant it there.  It was a volunteer.  The flower bed isn't exactly a work of art. It's mostly a holding station for things I'm getting started or planning to move later.  The vine was welcome to stay.  This one vine grew and grew and grew.  It has filled in the most of the flower bed. We've had to stay on top of it to keep it away from the flowers. It actually is a pretty addition.

There were lots of flowers on the vine, but no fruit until finally around the second week in July I noticed a little watermelon.

July 13

Every time we went out, we took a look to see how it was doing. It grew really fast!

July 15

July16

July 21

Aug 8

Finally, we decided it was ready to eat.  It's huge.  I'm the only watermelon lover here.  Rudy doesn't care for them.  Plus, I had another smaller watermelon from the garden that needed to be eaten.  That's a lot of watermelon.  No problem.

I made a couple of smoothies (see this post for more on watermelon smoothies).

Watermelon Smoothies

Plus, I made what has become a favorite - watermelon ice cubes (see this post for more on those).

Watermelon Ice Cubes

There are a couple more tiny watermelons on the vine.  They are only about 2 inches long.  It's a little late in the season.  I don't know if they'll make it to the ready to eat stage, but it will be fun to watch. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reminder:  

I have decided to take the plunge and host a party!

You are Invited!

Please join!!!

I don't want to throw a party and be the only one there!

I know it will get better and better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have linked to the following parties:

Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage
Lucky Linky Tuesday at Lucky Star Lane

Weekend Porch Party #1

I have decided to take the plunge and host a party!

You are Invited!

 CELEBRATING:

Anything about the porch or garden

WHEN:

My first party is starting a little late,

but future parties will 

start on Fridays each week.

WHERE:

First a Dream

ATTIRE:

Come as you are!

PLEASE:

Link to your post, not your blog.

Include a link back to the party.

HERE'S THE PARTY BUTTON:

<href="http://firstadream.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af273/denisecasey50/PorchParty.jpg" /></href="http:>


I know the party will be small at first.  
In fact, I may have to link some of my posts at first, 
just so it will have some links. 
Please keep coming back...
the party will get better and better!

If you love porches and gardens, visit often.  
I know you'll have a good time!

Southern Living House - Porch and Courtyard

This is the fifth post in a series about my tour of the Abercorn Place 2010 Southern Living Idea House in my hometown, Senoia, Georgia.


Here are ALL the Posts in this series -
House and Town details plus the Kitchen
The Top Floor - entertainment room and craft room
The Master Suite
The Main Floor - mostly the living room & dining room
Laundry and Children's Bedrooms
Family Room and More



I took tons of photos and have more to share.  Today I am posting about some of the outside features. This will mostly include courtyard and side porch.   Click here to see the professional photos.

Even though this is a brownstone/townhouse, the builders made sure you felt invited to enjoy the outdoors.  There are porches everywhere and a fabulous courtyard.

Front view - the Idea House is the one on the right

On a funny note, this is the restroom area.  No port-o-potties for Southern Living!  Isn't it cute?  I wonder what will happen to this after the tours are over?

Pond in the back

There's a fountain aerator on the left side of the pond.  

I imagine the pond will have better color in time.

The Courtyard

Another view of the courtyard (from the side porch)

Potting Table - note the vintage sink - I love it!!!

Automatic door closer :-)

Landscaping used old Southern favorites as well as fun new plants.

Side porch - eating area

Side porch details - plus a closer view of the doghouse in the courtyard

I have several more posts about the Idea House.  If you are enjoying them, you really should become a follower to my blog so you won't miss any of them!  Plus, I plan to go back again when it's decorated for Christmas.  One of the guides told us a little about what's planned and it sounds wonderful. 

Want more while you wait?  Check these links -
Southern Living 2010 Official Developer Site
2010 Georgia Idea House - Southern Living's site
The Historic Senoia Project
Senoia View of Good Life - AJC article on the Idea House


I have linked this post to the following parties:

Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage
   ***She has a wonderful little garden.  It's mostly raised beds.  She never tills.  Be sure to check out her August 3rd post on weeds!

Outdoor Wednesday #82 at A Southern Daydreamer