Spindle Feathered Tree DIY

I found these cute spindle legs from a table which had these glass claw foot feet.  

I grabbed them at first because I knew hubby would like to use the claw foot for a cane topper. 

 And..... he and my older son did use them on their canes.

Good job guys!

That left me with the spindle legs.  With Christmas crafts on my mind, the thought of a feather tree hit me as I was moving the spindles around in my garage.  I quickly made a base for the trees, screwing it to the spindle..

I had these pieces of greens from a project years ago.

I drilled holes in the spindles, alternating sides to tier the tree.  I then used hot glue and glued them into the spindle.

For the ends I added some Styrofoam balls with wire.

So Prim...

So simple...

So me ....

Three Corner Cabinets DIY

Not wanting to pay the price of an old corner wall cabinet for my living room, I settled on the idea of making my own.  I found these cabinets on Craigslist .  I was only going to get one, but the guy was wanting to just get rid of them so he threw in an extra corner and that odd shaped filler piece.

You can see from the collage how these cabinets were supposed to be pieced together.  I thought that the center filler piece would make a neat primitive cabinet.

They all had these footers on them that I had to take off and fill in the holes with wood filler.

I also removed the trim and added some framing piece that was missing.

After sanding them, I made some doors for all three out of planks of wood--some new wood and some from an old toy box.  I carved the locks and door knob with hubby's wood carving tools. (oldest son did start me out on the locks because he was worried I'd slice myself again)  I bought some neat hinges and just painted them.  I used chalk paint as a primer on the hinges first and then painted them with Benjamin Moore's Woodstock along with the cabinets.  I then stained all 3 with Min-wax's Espresso.

I love the way they turned out.  My favorite one is the 'filler' piece that I turned into a cabinet. I also love the character the stain brings out in the door made of the old toy box planks.

I kept the small one for myself and hung it in my dining room.

It just fits  :)

DIY Fireplace Surround

 I am so excited to share this with you.  

We moved here 2 years ago this past July.  From the first moment I walked into this Colonial Revival home, I have wanted to make a surround for this fireplace.  It just looked incomplete to me....sooo much brick.  

I have been searching Pinterest for ideas since day 1.  I am glad we waited 2 years, you wouldn't believe the design ideas I have gone through and changed over and over in my head....Panels or no panels?  In the end we, hubby and I and our "Architect Son", agreed on a very basic shaker style surround.  This house is very basic in its woodwork and baseboards too.

I am going to share with you our journey of building the surround.  

We are by no means professionals. 

So please forgive us if we didn't do something just right.

First we did research on Code for leaving so many inches of brick and not protruding out so many inches and measured accordingly.  

With 1x2" boards for our 'Skeleton', 

we used screws and liquid nails to attach the wood to the brick.

Next we used a 3/8" sheet of plywood for the "skin" to cover all that brick.

Tacking it in with brads.

 Now for the fun part!

Using a nail gun, we attached a solid piece of 1x12" cut down to 1x10" board for the top part.  For the 'legs' we used a 1x8" board cut to length.  We turned the 1x8" on its side to mock up the baseboard at the bottom of each 'leg'.  

The previous owner had leftover trim for the baseboard which made it super easy to figure out.  This made it match up with our current baseboard. With it being a corner fireplace, we had to cope two of the angles on the quarter round at the very bottom of the baseboard. Our oldest son and Architect son carved and figured that all out for me.

Love Homeschoolers!

 I am a visual person so I'd like to share the different phases in pics.

 We added crown to our Living Room and Dining Room too.

Here it is today!

I painted it in Benjamin Moores' Whipoorwil. (That $10 can I couldn't resist on buying!) 

I love it!...so much brighter!!

I am super excited.  

The fireplace looks like it has always been like this.

If you try to build one on your own, take lots of pics.  

It helps as reference for us nonprofessionals :) 

Cookbook Holder Made from Cutting Board

It all started with this.

The lady informed me that this little metal stand was wide enough and would hold my cookbook. After all it was standing up in the store when it was stacked together with other metal stands of its kind.  When I came home it would not stand up on its own.  I then added the book and the book fell forward.....No support whatsoever.  

I was upset that I even put money into this.

 Then I remembered this little cutting board I found at the thrift store.

I thought it would make the perfect thing to mount my stand to.

I needed to add something to the board for support.

Perfect!

I knew I wanted to wax the cutting board to bring out all of the cool markings in the board.

Exactly the look I was going for! 

I love how worn it looks!

 I realize now that I am so happy it was a flop in the beginning.  

It's a true decorative and useful piece now. 

I believe the total cost for board and metal stand was $5.

Gardening with our DYI Cold Boxes

I really miss our gardens!

Moving here,we have to start all over.

One of the things I wanted in my new garden was Cold Boxes.

My son and I gathered all kinds of scrap wood around our house and got started on building our own.  We found three windows on the Facebook Marketplace which is very addicting.

I painted them with some outdoor white paint we had.

We planted some Kale from seed in one and English Lavender in the other.

Here is some squash, dill, and a hanging gourd all from seeds.

So here is the beginning of our new garden.

We have found that too many bunnies live in our yard!

They love my oregano.

Kale is growing and my daughter also is trying to grow some zinnias too!
Hubby also built the stone wall in the background.  A stone wall must have been there years ago, because we found all those stones hiding under the bushes.  Great find for us!

There's Something in the Air

At this time of year, Christmas decor and Christmas music creep its way into our home.  My craft sale has my mind thinking of the Christmas holiday, and who can make Christmas decorations without Christmas music?!?  This year I really wanted to have some functional primitive stockings to sell.  I used left over drop cloth for fabric.  I made up the pattern for my stocking last year when I made the kiddos their newer stockings.  I think they have had at least 4 different stockings throughout their lives because my decorating taste has changed over the years.  I then made up a mixture of coffee, tea and vanilla to dye my stockings.  I know my kids just love it when the kitchen looks like a laundry room.  (it's that time of year for us :)

Now came the fun part of decorating.  I want them simple and rusty.  I used a bag that I think I bought at a yardsale for cheap.  I cut it up to use the leather.  I didn't like how it didn't zip or close tightly at the top.  I thought by cutting it up I would use it more :)

 I hand sewed it onto the stocking with a little "x" design.

 I stained some tags.  

Using old music sheets, I Mod Podged some music paper to the one side of the tag.  With no set pattern, I brushed the ripped paper onto the tag leaving some edges bare to show the stain.  

 With a rusty star, rusty bell, some dyed cheese cloth and drop cloth, and a tag I made a simple primitive stocking.

 The inside is not lined.

Totally Prim!

Repurposing a Frame

This past weekend we stopped at this local barn sale.  These people always have neat stuff for sale and not expensive.  I wasn't really looking for anything special, but I had a project that I wanted to do with a picture frame and pallet wood.  This frame was 50 cents, so I thought I would use it for my little experiment.

My friend gave me her old Country Sampler magazines.  I haven't gotten past the cover of the first one I picked up.  On the cover, I noticed someone had made a sign with wood and a picture frame.  I knew I had to try this one.  Their frame was lovelier than mine, but I wasn't sure how well this was going to go.  I went out to get some scraps of pallet wood and a piece of pine.

I glued them together and actually just placed them inside the frame since it was a snug fit.  To secure the glued pieces into the frame, I put some wood glue around the edges.

Don't ask me why I have rubber bands around my glue bottle--it's a boy thing.

This is what it looked like before I painted it.

I painted it in some AS French Linen.

I didn't completely paint to the edges, because I wanted the stain to grab the wood to give it a rustic feel.  Using the charcoal method and my paint Sharpie I did the lettering.

Here is a closeup of the completed project.

I love stain!

I think I will be making more of these in the future for sure!
I definitely have more frames :)

DIY Greenhouse Out of Old Windows

At the end of last summer, my neighbor was replacing all of their six-pane windows.   As a good neighbor, I thought I would help take their trash off of their hands.  So embarrassing my kiddos, I walked across the street and asked them what they were going to do with them.  They were just going to throw them out, and they told me to take as many as I wanted.  I think I took nine.  I sold two without glass at my craft sale, and I had these five left over with the glass still in them.

Last fall I saw a greenhouse made out of windows, and I knew that I wanted to make one for my garden.

I used these "L" brackets to attach the side walls together on the top and bottom. 

  

I used my old cabinet hinges to secure the side wall to the roof, and I had bought a set of the rectangle hinges  to form the roof.

Here it is!

I had plenty of hands to help me: my mom and two of my boys.  I know there would have been shattered glass if I did it myself.  Our little greenhouse was tested the night we built it.  Our first thunderstorm brought strong winds and rain.

 But she is still standing with no broken glass.

I think I am the kind of person that has more fun decorating my garden rather than growing something :)  My son is so excited to grow more veggies, and I am more excited to plant "perty" flowers.