A Productive Week at the Farm

I am feeling very blessed right now...

I got to spend the whole week at the farm last week. Just me and the puppies. It was wonderful. Quiet, peaceful, Springtime loveliness - like these irises that were blooming:

Someone at one time planted a lot of pretty flowers. I just love discovering them as they bloom.

It was a productive week - The front and back doors finally got painted after being primed for a year ( I can procrastinate with the best of them! ) :o)  :

This is the first coat on the backdoor - used Benjamin Moore Wethersfield Moss
Same color on front door; inside is white

The bathroom shelf is in place - here is the before:

Mr. B added the bun feet for me

And after:

Sweet bird figurine, wild flower bouquet, and extra soap

Close up of flowers

I need to get another basket to place on the bottom shelf along with the other one (to use for extra TP), possibly another galvanized bucket, and also I want to find more bottles to add to the red one. I love how it adds to the bathroom. I like using extra mason jars to hold the band-aids, etc.

My burlap eggs are also finished and placed in their basket in the kitchen:

I cut pieces of burlap and used Mod Podge to glue them onto plastic Easter eggs (if you can find white or pastel eggs, I recommend that - had a hard time covering up the color). I numbered them just for fun. The basket I found at Target in the dollar section.

I was also able to finish and place a couple of my Canton treasures. The chickens were too cute to pass up:

They have claimed a spot on the entry table and are quite happy to declare "It's farm time"! Don't you love their long legs? They make me smile!!

I was really excited about finding this:

 Our jackets kept ending up all over the place so I wanted to find a coatrack. And there it was! I liked it's slender profile. It doesn't take up a lot of space in my small farmhouse. The finish was a little rusty but  I really liked the shiny chrome accent pieces:

To preserve them, I taped them off and covered them with foil before spray painting the rack:

I sprayed it a off-white. I left the chrome accents as is which was a little peeling - gives it a rustic feel.

It fits my spot just right!

hurray! A spot for our jackets!

I also found an old spring cot (cheap!) in perfect condition so I snatched that up. It fits nicely in the closet and can be pulled out when an extra bed is needed.

 Of course, what's a trip to Canton without a burlap coffee sack? Yes, I bought another one. LOL. I am going to use that in my laundry room redo. I have a great idea for it.

Canton is addicting...looking forward to going back. I still have things on my list to look for! :o)

One of the last things I worked on last week was a dresser I picked up from GW. We needed a bigger one but I was having trouble finding one that either wasn't too expensive or not overly damaged/cheaply made. I was pretty happy when I found this one:

Oops! I had already taken off one of the doors before I remembered to snap the before picture. There was only slight damage to that side. The drawers are nice and big too!

It's coming along nicely - I will soon be able to show it off!

All in all, a very productive week!

Next on the list? A laundry room redo...got to get Bruce on board as I need his help. He's already rolling his eyes..."It's a utility room! Why does it need to be pretty?"

Um, seriously? He should know me by now. Just because! Trust me....

Smiling,
Cecilia

Linking up here: Transformed-Tuesday-35
Make-it-pretty-monday-week-46

Worn out Parson Chair to Fabulous Desk Chair

I finally got the chair done! It was quite the pain  fun to work on. I'm happy with it although I probably would not want to make another one ever again anytime soon.

Remember the chair used to look like this:

Scuffed, torn, and needing help. I primed and painted the legs and there it sat for 2 weeks. Waiting....waiting for the ugly to be recovered...waiting for a new lease on life...

But now the wait is over and it is sporting a new slipcover, again useful and loved.

It only took me a day to make the slipcover -  I used a canvas drop cloth...it's fairly cheap and a good sturdy fabric. A 9 x 12 size was $10. Not bad and it gave me lots of extra if I messed up.

I wanted to put some type of graphic on the fabric that would appeal to Mr. B since it will be mainly for his use but I also wanted something vintage so it would tie into our bedroom. I found these graphics from The Graphics Fairy - Vintage-Advertising-Clip-Art-Antique Bicycle and  Vintage-clip-art-cute-bicycles.. We like to bike so these were perfect! I also used some others/ came up with my own that I put on the front.( Oops! I forgot to flip the words in the ones I made...oh well, the ink is so light it really doesn't show except for the one in the lower lefthand corner.)

  I saved the graphics to my desktop, opened them in Photoshop Elements, and flipped the images horizontally. Voila! Backwards images  ready to run through the printer.

Next, I cut a piece of freezer paper the size of a sheet of paper and using double stick tape, taped the two pieces of paper together with the dull side of the freezer paper facing the regular sheet of paper. (Very important that the shiny side is right side out!)  I placed the paper/freezer paper combo in my printer, plain paper side up, which printed with the image on the freezer paper. ** Ink will be wet!

Laying it carefully down ( so ink won't smear) on my chair fabric, I ironed ( no steam ) it on. I carefully peeled the regular paper up - leaving the freezer paper stuck onto the fabric. Then I rubbed over the image with a smooth end of a paint brush. Next, I slowly peeled the freezer paper back. Image transfer complete!

My printer is getting low on ink so the image looks worn and faded. Perfect.

Back Graphic

Repeat for other images.

Front Graphics - I made it look kind of like an ad page

 Then I started sewing -

Seat bottom to sides and front apron. So far, so good.

Then I messed up...my chair has curved sides on the back and I just cut those pieces straight. Ugh, bad idea. It took a lot of adjusting, pinning, pulling off, putting back on, and resewing to finally get it right...and it still had a piece that was off. Sigh.

Being in a hurry to finish it, I tweaked it to work. I don't recommend doing that however. It threw off the bottom fit. So more tweaking. Double sigh. Finally got the slipcover sewn together and added a skirt. It turned out ok; just don't look too closely at the crooked places. LOL.

Cats kept trying to sit in it while I was working on it/taking pictures

back of chair

Missy and Pippin like it!

It now sits at the desk and Mr. B won't have to pull one of the bigger chairs over and mess up our sitting area. Not bad for a $6 chair and $10 drop cloth.

Hope you have a fabulous week!

Linking up at these great parties:
A Stroll Thru Life: 159th-table-top-inspire-me-tuesday
Kammys Korner trash-2-treasure-tuesday-link-party
DIY Showoff that-diy-party-11
PJH Designs One Of A Kind transformed-tuesday-33-features
The Dedicated House Make-it-pretty-monday-week-44

small projects getting finished

I confess I haven't tackled the chair yet...well, I did get the legs painted then poof! somehow, it came to a screeching halt. I got sidetracked.

Legs primed and ready to paint

So my goal is to work on it this week...I do have the fabric and I know what I want to do with it so I just need to have time to work on it. I won't promise I'll finish it as my darling daughter will be home for a few days and we have her birthday to celebrate!

BUT, I did paint the angel ( she is residing in my bedroom with my "Love" vignette ),

Base coat of purple smoke color

crackled finish on angel

LOVE vignette

the rabbit,

painted chocolate brown

before

primed

one of the suitcase boxes (used it as the centerpiece for a wedding shower), the arched frame with metal scroll inside ( still need to finish that off), and worked on some burlap eggs to put in my little wire basket. ( Did I take a picture of that? No, of course I forgot!)

AND I did manage to go to Canton this time with my twin sis and Mother-in-law in tow. That place is huge and spending just a few hours there doesn't do it justice, but oh! the fun we had and the treasures we discovered. Plus, it keeps me wanting to go back for more. I got some fun things there - some to display and others to work on...like I need more projects but I can't seem to help myself. ha! I will do a post on my finds later.

The bathroom cabinet got its final coat of paint and now resides in the bathroom. It is perfect for the space. Now I am on the hunt for items to display in and on it. Ooo! Sounds like a trip to the thrift store! hahaha.
 I am having to rethink the curtain and shower curtain in there. I love the burlap but my shower rod refuses to stay up. I could screw the rod into the wall but would have to go through the tile. I'm not sure I want to do that. Guess that means I'll have fun finding something else to use. ;o)

 Outside, the dogwoods are blooming along with several other wildflowers plus we discovered the hawk has a nest in a pine tree by the pond. Way cool!

Just look at how gorgeous the dogwoods are:

Dogwood bloom

One of the dogwood trees

Again, it's frustrating waiting until I'm back up at the farm to finish things up. There are just not enough hours in a weekend. Good thing I have things I can work on here in suburbia, so I'd better get busy. Time's awastin' and my project queue is agrowin'.Ta ta for now.

-Cecilia

Linking to these great parties:
Diy by design Swing-into-spring-its-party