Porch Phase 2 - Underpinning, Gates and Post Caps

My wonderful carpenter guys, Paul and Donald, finished up the porch underpinning.  They made gates - 3 of the them - and new post caps, too.  It looks fabulous, but is not truly complete.  I'll wait a month or two for the wood to cure, then I'll add deck sealer.  Picture the new wood much darker - the same color as the rest of the porch, so it won't stand out so much.  I've wanted underpinning (a.k.a. skirting) for so long - pretty much since we moved in (2008).

View of the Highest End

Getting Ready for Major Porch TLC

This was long past due!  This month, I'm having my house pressure washed and getting the porch stained and painted.  It has been looking terrible.  I'm also getting an underpinning on the house.  I'll post more about that once it's done.

The last few weeks, I have been cutting back all the bushes around the house.  I had to work around two bird nests with babies.  I didn't disturb either oil the babies had flown away. I had let my bushes grow fairly large, which I didn't like, just so it would block the view under the porch.  Now that I'll have an underpinning, I can keep the bushes small.  I also wanted to cut everything back so it'll be easier for everyone to work on the porch.

This week I needed to get everything off the porch for the pressure washer.  Understand - my porch is a wrap around - 3 sides.  It's big.  I liked big porches until I priced having it stained and painted.  I had it decorated.  It didn't feel like too much until I had to move it all off.  I can tell you this, I won't be putting all that stuff back.  It's time for a purge!

3-Sided Wrap Around Porch

Outdoor Kitchen Station

Over the last few years, I've posted a number of times about how I like to cook on our screened porch during the worst of the hot summer weather.  It just seems wrong to cook inside.  My favorite outdoor cooking tool is a crock pot.  I now have a small collection of them in different sizes.  I continue to fine tune my system and this year's big improvement is a "new" cooking outdoor station.

I found a vintage metal desk in a shade of blue I have a hard time resisting.  It was love at first sight.

Since it's metal, I feel very comfortable turning it into a mini kitchen and having things cook on it.

There are two empty cubbies where I suppose drawers used to be.  Those hold two very colorful cutting boards and a surge protector.  I will likely figure out better uses for these spots.  Pot holders would be nice.

I made a simple, no-fuss curtain out of fabric left over from a previous project.  Clip on rings hang from a tension shower rod that is pretty much out of sight.

Most importantly, all my crock pots are stored behind the curtain.  Note that the metal cabinet is a bit chippy.  Mostly, I love the chippy-ness, but it's a bit too rough even for me where the crock pots are stored.  That will get an upgrade of some sort down the road.

The geranium on top looks pretty and I'd love to say that whenever my station isn't in use, I have it fully decorated.  Unfortunately, that's not true.  I borrowed the geranium and the bird from other spots on the porch just for the photos.  When I put them back, it just wasn't the same.  Hmmmm.  I guess I need to do a bit of rearranging.

This post is linked to Funky Junk Interior's SNS #142!

Chairs with Fabric Woven Seats

That title sounds horribly dull, but hopefully the post will be interesting!  Years ago, I figured out how I could re-do chairs that had damaged woven bottoms without having to spend a fortune taking them to a pro.  I could weave new bottoms and/or backs from leftover fabric or worn out sheets or dropcloths.  See tutorial here.

I recently wove a set of four ladderback chairs using dropcloth fabric. I put them at my store.  They aren't in my booth.  Another vendor had a vintage library table from Auburn, Alabama and the wood from that table went perfectly with my chairs.  The look great together.

The dropcloth fabric was a real mess to work with.  It ravels horribly.  On the other hand, the messy edges of each strip really give the finished seats more character. 

The color and texture look really nice with this dark wood.  It looks a bit like linen, but of course it's much tougher.

I wove another lone chair with brighter fabrics.  I used to use a real mix of fabrics and colors.  The last time I did that (see my Rocker Re-Do) I decided it turned out way too busy to suit me.  This time I stuck to a bit of a color palette - red, white, and pale green.  It's bright, but in a nice folksy way.

It's in my booth on top of a table.  There's another photo of it in yesterday's post.

You might recognize the green paint on this chair. It's one of the ones I painted while trying to find my perfect green. (See Experimenting with Green Chairs and one of my favorite posts - Smitten with Green) I really roughed this chair up, going for a very chippy vintage look.  It was fun to do.  I put the chair out on my porch for a photo and almost didn't have the heart to take it to my booth.  I'm selling it for $24, which is ridiculously low for the work I put in it.  Oh well.  It was fun. I saw a similar version on Etsy for $140 plus $30 shipping.  I wonderful if she has ever actually sold one of her chairs for that much.  I should probably mark any future chairs I weave a little higher.


The woven seats hold up well.  I have one that I wove over a decade ago.  It has been on a porch the whole time.  The fabric shows some fading but is still very strong. It's in better shape that a chair with a rush bottom would have been!

The next seats I weave will probably be for me.  I have four wonderful, large, oak rockers given to me by a friend, waiting to be cleaned up, painted and woven.  I'd really like to tackle that project in the next month or so.

Inspired By...

I'm thinking I need to do a better job of featuring some of the inspiring ideas I come across on blogs.  Here are a few things that caught my eye made me swoon this week in no certain order -

From Design Happens

Notes From A Cottage Industry

Notes From A Cottage Industry

Caught in Grace

Maple and Magnolia

It's a Wannabe Decorator's Life

Vignette Design

from Mossy Rock Interiors

from Between Naps on the Porch

Confessions of a Plate Addict

By the way, if you like French music, then open Confessions of a Plate Addict - her playlist is mostly (maybe all) French music, with lots of Carla Bruni (wife of President of France) songs . 

Burlap Runner Tutorial by Confessions of a Plate Addict

Design Sponge - Before and After Basics - by Barb Blair

Leanne from Mossy Rock Interiors actually introduced me to Barb Blair this week.  Leanne's gray table is featured in this post.  She said she learned the whitewash technique from Barb. Barb's real site is Knack, but she writes Before and After Basics articles for Design Sponge.  I have read some of those before, but didn't put all those connections together.  

I will be a regular reader from now on!  I have read a few of the articles and have seen such good hints.  One of her recent articles - Putting the Snap in Your Crackle - shows how to use crackle finishes on just a few areas of a piece in order to create a truly aged look.   I'm totally inspired!!!  Now if I could only have some quality time in my paint room!  

Be sure to check out the latest RE- Party!

We RE-do, RE-decorate, RE-organize, RE-pair,  RE-upholster, RE-furbish, RE-finish, RE-purpose,   
and of course, we love to RE-lax! 

This party celebrates the RE-'s in our lives! 

Technorati - DQMHFW9MB22C

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!

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Porch and Garden Party # 5

I think the party is starting to catch on!  I sure did get inspired by entries from the last party. Take a look -

Cuisine Kathleen used a bed canopy cover as a tablecloth.  I am completely smitten!  Please click on the link to her post so you can see how it turns out once it's all set up.  Beautiful. Be sure to notice the folded napkins with delicate white flowers tucked in.

I have several very pretty twin sized coverlets and dust ruffles.  I may have to pull them out and start playing.  What a fun idea!

Plus, take a look at her wrap around porch and yard.  It's beautiful and neat as a pin.  And isn't that hosta out front gorgeous? There are more porch photos on the same post. 

I love this blue table seen on Happy to Design.  She had a tea party for herself on her veranda to celebrate her birthday.  I love the extra care she took to make it special for herself - her post has some wonderful pictures of the the amazing pieces, many with sentimental value.  It's amazing how being kind to yourself translates in being able to be better for others.

Three Pixie Lane has a wonderful screened porch.  You need to see the before pictures to appreciate all she has done.  There are many things to inspire in her post, but one item in particular took my fancy.  It's a simple linen (burlap-y textured) and cotton table runner. Or maybe it's a place mat.  There are several photos with it, but it's not visible in the one above.  You'll need to go to her post to see it!

Here's another porch post from Three Pixie Lane.  This one is about her porch on the beach in North Carolina.  This porch is wonderfully simple and fresh.  I would love to settle in on this porch swing with the blue and white ticking pillows positioned just so and gently swing in rhythm to the sound of the waves.  Mmmm.  Nice.  How lucky she is to have two such wonderful porches!

You know... just thinking here... if we ever move again, I think I'd want a tiny little house with a fabulous screened porch.

 Linda at A Toile Tale linked up a wonderful end of summer porch tablescape.  She used sea glass colors as her inspiration.  It was purposely kept simple - no patterns.  It's pretty in this photo, but to truly appreciate it, you need to read her post and see the pieces she used. 

Now, let's party some more!

Southern Living Idea House - Family Room and More

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

I sure did find lots of good ideas and inspiration from this house tour.

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



Today I am posting about the basement, which is made up of the Family Room, garage, and lower terrace.  Don't be put off.  Let's just say this isn't a typical basement.  Take a look.  

On the way down to the basement, I noticed the stairs had a painted faux runner.  Even though the design appears pretty simple, I know a lot of work went into it.  I wasn't bowled over by it, but then, I have learned a lot about painted floors - all the floors in my house are painted!  Most everyone else loved it and assumed I would, too, since I love painted floors.

Faux stairs lead down to the basement.

 I think something similar to this stair treatment from Donna at Funky Junk Interiors would have looked much better.

Clever Storage Under the Stairs

Equestrian look Coat Hooks

Pet station - dog bed, treats, toys

Brick Floor in the Family Room - loved it.  Love the coffee table, too.

Fabulous Sliding Doors - We have been looking for hardware like this!

Very Cool - Bulletin Board Calendar

Lower Terrace

Recycling Bins

 

A few more details

So that's it.   I hope to go back 2 or 3 months after they've decorated for Christmas. 

Want more?  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
Idea House floor plan

I have joined the following parties:

Friday Finding Beauty at Dippity Road
Inspired By at The Inspired Room
Show and Share Day at Just A Girl
Remodelaholic's Anonymous Meeting at Remodelaholic
I'm Lovin' It at Tidy Mom
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home