Befores & Afters

The weather was so utterly summer-perfect here
a few days ago

that I took advantage of it ~

(bright, sunny, good-hair days have that affect on me)

plunking peonies in all sorts of pitchers

all around the house...

and filling the rooms with their sweet scent.

I also completed some projects I had on the back burner for a while.

Remember that old potting bench that I took home from our lake house 

so that I could make use of her here at the farmhouse?

This is what the old girl looked like for many years.

Poor thing.

Dressed in a new coat of white paint,

she's gracing the gardens in the back yard

and happily living the farm life now!

She's feeling much younger and prettier now.

We placed her next to the kennel

where I can talk to Maizie while I'm potting and crafting.

Project #1 ~ Completed!

On to Project #2...

Remember that tri-fold door that I nabbed at the Allegan Flea Market last summer

when Debbie and her hubby came down for a weekend

and we seemingly stuffed the entire market into the back of my SUV?

(We swore we could hear the back bumper dragging all the way home...)

This is what the door looked like when I brought it home.
(Debbie bought the twin.)

Pretty....but the curtains didn't do much for me.
They had a strange, old, yellowy cast to them,

and someone had used a heavy hand with the
antiquing glaze on the doors.

This is what it looked like dressed for Christmas

after I spray painted it with "Heirloom White"

and removed the curtains.

 

{Boxwood wreaths:  Farmhouse Wares}

But it just needed.....something...
something more.

Erin first blogged about "rustifying" chicken wire

with spray paint.

(I think it was Erin.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong!)

She used Rustoleum Multi-Colored Texture spray paint

in 'Autumn Brown'.

I decided that I needed a little rusty goodness in the living room.

It was an easy project.

Well....sort of.

I measured the openings in the doors.

Cut the chicken wire,

and spray painted it.

(Ermmm....do you realize how hard it is to paint chicken wire?

Do you realize how much spray paint goes through the chicken wire?

Do you know that I now have really pretty rust-colored grass outside hubby's tool room?
Did you assume that I received more eye-rolling?
You'd be correct in that assumption.)

Anyway, after using three cans of paint,

I grunted and groaned and pulled and hauled those doors,

which are quite heavy and unwieldy I might add,

into the kitchen and laid them out on the floor.

{Yes, I would love to have wood floors in here because I don't like tile floors...}

Staple gun in hand,

I stapled away.

Then I grunted and groaned and pulled and hauled those doors

back into the living room

(miraculously without punching any holes in ceiling or walls),

stepped back

and 

sighed...

So much better!

It will give me a place to clip some old black and white photos of 

friends and family with some favorite vintage clothespins

that my friend, Amy at All Things Home, gave me.

Did I tell you how much I love that 'Autumn Brown' paint....?

Project #2 ~ Completed!

Project #3 ~ waiting in the wings.

Don't go far. 

I'm on a roll!

{ Hugs }

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