Ya-Hoo! The Coatroom Bench is Finished!

The finishing touches are now in place on my bench.  I can mark it off my list!  Today, I completed the slipcover for the seat and I hung a wreath on the window above the bench. The bench had been painted last week.  It just needed the slipcover.

I began sewing the slipcover yesterday.  I took my time and machine-basted the piping in place so it would have nice corners.  Everything went well, except I ran out of time.

Today, I was eager to finish up, 

not knowing how much *fun* I was going to have.  

Let's just say things didn't go as smoothly today.

I sewed the top to the sides and that went pretty well, other than the fabric being a nightmare to work with.  Note to self:  Do not try to use piping with thick, heavy, stretchy fabric.  When I finished the top, I felt all smug.  It looked pretty darned good.

The bottom half, which was the exact same size as the top half, refused to be pinned in place so that it lined up.  I pinned and re-pinned and re-pinned... at least a dozen times.  I finally resorted to sewing it together in bits and pieces and taking it up here and there to make it meet.  Foul language was involved.  Luckily, it looks fine, except for the fold bumps in the piping, which should settle down soon. No one but me will be aware of how I cheated to make it go together.  Well, I guess if you read my blog, you'll know.  :-)

I put the slipcover on.  It was far easier putting it on than putting the under-slipcover over the raw foam.  It looked good, but the vignette needed something more.  

How about a wreath?  A cute, small, natural wreath.  I don't have one and am not patient enough to wait and find the perfect thing.   I pulled down a spare wreath, hot glued small pinecones, finished it out with yard sale ribbon that just happened to look nice with all the colors in the slipcover and pillows.

By the way, this is the inspiration photo that I've had in my files for several years. I'm one step closer to the look I have in mind.  I've had this photo so long, I can't remember where it came from.  If you know, please tell me!  I like to give credit where it's due!

Oh, yes.  Much better.  So here it is.  Not perfect, but pretty enough to make me very happy.

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! 

Take a look at these other wonderful link parties for more clever ideas.  

I'm linking this post with them!

• DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
• Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
• Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. 
• Something I Whipped Up Monday at The Girl Creative  
• Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou
• Take a Look Tuesday - Sugar Bee - Craft Edition 
• Power of Paint at Mural Makers and More 
• Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming  
• Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming  
• Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors 

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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Shuffling Furniture

I spent all day Thursday shuffling 3 large pieces of furniture.  These are probably the 3 largest pieces of storage furniture in the house.  All three were loaded.  What a job!

The hutch went from the family room (where it shouldn't have been in the first place) to the pantry.  The Hoosier that was in the pantry went to the foyer nook.  The wardrobe that was in the foyer nook went to the family room.  All of these pieces function better and look better in their new spots.  It will take lots of tweaking and organizing to make each piece function and look right and in its new location.

The most important piece to get right was the hutch.  It's now holding lots of kitchen items.  I tried to gussy it up so that it can do it's job with as much flair as possible.

Here's the hutch in it's new home.  The cat in the photo is Dolly, who tries to spend most of her waking hours in the kitchen in case there's a treat to be had.

Before

This photo shows how pantry from before - when the Hoosier was there.  I'll show the Hoosier in it's new location soon.  I'm doing a small, but fun update.  It'll be ready soon.

Did you notice the sunflowers?  I bought some the other day for our wreath and this is what I did with the other bunch.  They look rather nice in my white yard sale pitcher.

There are a couple more details worth pointing out.  The hutch looked too white once everything was in place so I put a long piece of green Duck shelf liner on the top.  It's a fabulous green and adds a nice punch of color.

The Tonka truck is from my husband's collection.  I like to put tiny pumpkins in it around October, so I went ahead and put it on the shelf. 

The only money spent on this new setup was for the super cheap, on sale sunflowers.

I have a feeling that I'll tweak the hutch display often for seasonal and/or holiday looks.  I've already made a few changes since taking this photo.  And let me just say that I am not bowled over by the basket arrangement. I need to ponder this for awhile.

Be sure to check out my Porch and Garden Party.  It's not too late to join in!

I've joined in with the following parties:

Flaunt it Fridays at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge
Fab Friday at Frugal and Fabulous Design
Home and Family Fridays at Home is Where My Story Begins
Friday Make Mine Beautiful at It's a Blog Party ~ decorating ideas
It's a HodgePodge Friday at It's a HodgePodge Life
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Frugal Friday at Shabby Nest
I'm Lovin' It Fridays at Tidy Mom

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!

Unexpected Good Things

First of all, I am flabbergasted by something that is missing from my blog. Last year around the first of January, I won a photograph from Little Red House. I remember emailing to thank her and I remember writing about it for my blog. I remember writing to my friends to tell them how excited I was to have won. It was such a wonderful surprise.

I recently framed the photo (which made it seem like winning all over again) and wanted to write Mary to tell her how much I am enjoying it. I looked for mention of it on my blog and it wasn't there! What happened? Did I delete it? Did it never get published? I went back to work around that time so there's no telling. I don't even know what to say.


The photo is so serene and quiet. It's a cold wintry day. At first it appears to be a black and white photo, but on closer inspection you see brown leaves and other slight signs of color. I propped it on my kitchen counter in a spot that draws the eye. It makes me happy every time I look at it. Thank you, Mary!

Another unexpected good thing... a free wreath was delivered to us by LL Bean just before Christmas. It's made from real fir and smells delicious. It's nice and fresh and perky. What a luxury. Better yet, what a pleasant surprise.


It needed to be outside, so I hung it just outside the door we use the most. I tend to spend more effort dressing up this door than our front. It's a reminder that things are good.

The wreath that was there needed to be moved. I had already made another one for the front door. Rudy (who seems to be doing better than me with fresh ideas) suggested hanging the extra one inside on our dining room doors. Loved it! The picture does not do it justice. It's brighter and more red in person.

More Holiday Decorating

Over the past week I've been putting out Christmas kitsch around the house. I have a few favorite places to display things. Several spots are up high so our mischievous kitties won't be able to wreak havoc on them.

First up, is a cabinet in the kitchen. I changed the quote on my chalkboard to the one from The Grinch. I didn't want a serious quote. I am feeling the need to surround myself with all things happy and light these days. Dr. Seuss is a genius at combining happy with profound.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

My most favorite spot to decorate at Christmas is under the glass on our table. Every Christmas we get special cards with Christmas photos of people we love. I used to put them in my photo albums but I now I keep them together to put at our table. It's such fun to look through them each year. I now have so many that editing is a must. Some years I have put out so many photos that the table doesn't even show. I edited like crazy this year. I mixed old and recent photos.

Another favorite spot to decorate is atop the wardrobe in my foyer. I have a box of toys from when I was around 4 or 5. They are all in pretty good shape. I also have a few favorite childhood books and some of my Barbies. I put the toys around the tree and instantly feel like a kid again.
I might even pull down a few books to read again... as if they aren't already memorized from reading them over and over long ago.

I switched out my autumn wreath. This wreath is a yard sale find. I didn't change it a bit. It's simple and the colors are nice and I knew it suited me the minute I laid eyes on it. In this photo, it looks rather small, but it's not. Maybe I've just gotten used to my autumn wreath, which was humongous.
Last, but not least, the spot in my house that I seem to look at more than any other - the window sill by my kitchen sink. I am not satisfied with this area. I remember being more pleased with it last year. I really need to see if I took photos of it then to see what I did then. Maybe last year I didn't keep out things that were useful. I'm afraid I've gotten rather settled about having functional pieces there, too.

There's lots of room for improvement, which is nice. I really enjoy the process of making things better. I especially like finding my improvements at yard sales or thrift stores or making them myself. Buying something new feels like cheating somehow.

Fast Fall Wreath

I'm in the mood for fall decorations! I decided to start with the wreath next to our side entry - the door we use the most.

The wreath still had flowers on it. I took those off.

Now, it's ready to add the fall details.

I made a stop by the craft store for instant fall color. The next day I picked up a few pumpkins at the grocery store. It's not magazine layout worthy by any means, but it's good enough to make me happy. I don't know if Rudy cares one way or the other. Sigh.

As Spooky walked by, I had an image in my imagination of including a black cat in my final image. As you can see here, he was not in the mood to cooperate.
After a quick sniff, he left the scene.

Yard Sale Wreathes

I love yard sales. I've come across a number of amazing finds in the past. I find it far more fun to buy used than brand new. It's fun, creative, frugal, surprising, and good for the environment.

Today, among other things, I bought 2 wreathes. I think I paid about 50 cents for each. I set them down on the porch floor and immediately a crowd gathered to inspect the new finds.

The reddish one, I'll use at Christmas. It's in good shape and can pretty much be used as is. Well, almost. Sissy probably won't stay in the middle.
The other one had some awful pink flowers. The lady selling it said her daughter told her the colors were all wrong and she needed a new one. It took less than a minute to pull the pink flowers out and now it looks just fine. I should have taken a before picture so you could see what a difference it made. I may spruce it up just a little more (maybe some baby's breath?) and put it up soon. I'll hang it somewhere on the porch. I have lots of options.