Whimsy In The Garden

Antique watering can with child size wheel barrow and shovel.

Adding whimsy in the garden shows humor and breaks up all the sea of green to allow the eye to stop, rest and smile! Here are some of the whimsy in my garden.

Garage sale metal lantern and angel.

Old Window

Chicken wire chicken form in ivy flower pot.

Bringing Out Silver

I have been gone on vacation. Hubby and I flew to North Carolina to see the Biltmore Estate in Asheville.

We saw it once before, but years and years ago. The 'cherry' on top of our trip was flying directly over Biltmore on our flight out of Asheville. I so loved seeing this beautiful home once again. A real dream come true.

 I have missed all of you...and am glad to be back.

I Decided to bring out some of my silver for a new display...

A load of antique shutters

Serendipity recently happened to me! A lovely couple, Sue and Frank, found my blog quite by accident. She was getting ready for a huge burning party along with her neighbor. They had many (and I mean a lot) of old shutters to burn.

Sue had seen on my blog, where my young and cute, handy dandy handyman had taken my dream and made it into reality of a shutter headboard.

My master bedroom

Sue then contacted me after realizing that we had actually met five years prior at my hubby's grandma's home and we live within 30 minutes of each other. It was fun talking to Sue because she is a ball of fire and is from England. I adore her accent and her determination.

Sue and Frank are great do-it-yourself kind of people and have completely renovated and added onto their old farmhouse.  So why don't they want these shutter's? Luckily for me, they offered them up for the taking. We don't have a pick-up anymore so we took our CRV and went for a wonderful tour of their renovated home. We brought back all that would fit (24 shutters) and there are probably about that many more left.

Here are Some of the shutters we brought home.

A Story of A Table Rescued From The Trash!

Hubby and I went to Kansas to visit my son last fall.

As I was sitting on his front porch, admiring the details of this table,  I asked about it. My son's girlfriend said that her Grandma had given it to her. I guess that she used it for a while, but no longer wanted it and it was destined for the trash.

I told her to let me have it and I can transform it and they could have it back.  They said that no matter what I did with it, they did not want it back.

Before

Initially, I was going to do some kind of MacKenzie Childs look to it. But knowing that I was also not going to keep it and that my daughter needed another end table for her apartment, I decided to make this my first project with Annie Sloan's chalk paint and wax! Have you tried it yet?

Hello Summer!

Goodbye Spring...

Welcome Summer! Today is the first day of my favorite time of the year!!

Pretty French Tray & Wall Frames

In my last Diamonds In the Rough! post (week 12), I showed you a frame that cost $1 at a garage sale. It had two sweet handles and I knew it could be transformed easily into a tray.

Before

First, I took it apart and used my chalk paint to give it the look I wanted. I even used the chalk paint on the handles. Then waxed it. It's too bad that the camera doesn't show the details that this chalk paint and wax gives.

Week 12 ~ Diamonds In The Rough!

Diamonds In The Rough! is my weekly feature, where I show you the treasures that I find from garage sales, thrift stores and antique stores.

Here goes...

I know what you are thinking..."What is she gonna do with that?". I just thought it was cool. It's very large and made of some kind of plastic foam. It will be mounted on the house...I think. It was only $4 so what the heck!

This $1 handled frame will become a beautiful French tray next week!

Garden Art Totem

I have been collecting glass pieces for making a Garden Art Totem from garage sales and thrift stores, plus some at antique stores. And I finally got just the right pieces and am overjoyed with the outcome. It came out much taller than I had imagined but with the sky as my ceiling, it doesn't look overly tall. First, I put it out by my cupola...See it yet?

Monogram Metal

I am blessed by my son. Not just because he is my son, but because he shows that he cares for me through thoughtful things he does. His name is Charlie Kelly and he will be 30 years old this summer. He is a machinist by trade and lives and breathes guns. He would love to be a gunsmith someday.

 A few years back he designed and cut out of metal, our initials. My hubby and I have the same initials so it makes it convenient.

When I received it, I wondered how I was going to display it. This seemed a piece that was made for the garage but against the white walls, it just didn't pop.

MacKenzie Childs Inspiration Table

As I have said many times,  
I love MacKenzie Childs style
and the whimsical way that they paint their products. I get such inspiration from them.



On one of my garage sale hunts, I found this table and featured it in one of my Diamonds In The Rough! posts that you can see HERE.

Shown with all of its dirt and grime, I knew I had to paint this a certain way. Why?





Because my inspiration was this MacKenzie Childs table.

Week 11 ~ Diamonds In The Rough!

Diamonds In The Rough! is my weekly feature, where I show you the treasures that I find from garage sales, thrift store and antique stores.

Not shown is a very nice brown microfiber sofa for my daughter's apartment for $60 and from a nice new clean home. She really needed a couch.

Here are my treasures from this weeks garage sales:

A cool feed sack $4, and a yard of denim stripe fabric $1

Look at the neat stitching!

An old pie tin 50¢ and some old wooden spools, 25¢

Sneak Peek

I have been busy working on a new home. This home is for a friend that is a builder's wife and her hubby and his crew have been working on building it. Eventually, I plan on sharing this huge and so beautiful home with you, but it is not yet fully finished. However, I will show you what I have been working on...

Here is a small part of the kitchen. The ovens will go in the space where the holes are, but see the cabinet to the left of that? It looks like just a regular cabinet, but I have a surprise...

 It's really a walk-in pantry! And I have been stenciling the walls in this room for the past two days!

My Back Gardens

Our lot is on a slight slope and only a 1/2 acre. So the house sets up on a small hill. The back has a lower patio, then a low rock wall and the land is flat above that rock wall. The rock is from the foundation of the original farm house. See the previous front yard post HERE.

We installed the pergola and you can see the post on that HERE.

Sit back and enjoy these pictures.

Window hanging above the swing in the back of the property. See the five acre field then the ranch housing addition to our west. It looks closer here than it really is.

The south burm leading to the swing area that divides the north from the south burm.

See the old gates? They hold back the ornamental grasses as they get big and tend to fall on the plants in front. This solution works well and adds charm to the space.

Looking north at the second large burm.

A bubbler fountain we built off the patio in front of the rock wall.

Old porch pillar with weather vane in the gardens. Six are in the house, the seventh one is here in the garden...no more room in the house.

The back swing. It always feels 10 degrees cooler here under the big oak tree.

This park bench to the south side surrounded by sedum.

I built this dry creek bed and the bridge all by myself...surprised the Hubby!

This dry creek bed leads the rain water away from the patio.

Looking to the north at the large north burm in the back.

Our tiny little vegetable garden is big enough for two tomato plants, zinnias and a yellow squash plant. We go to the farmers market for all other veggies.

Looking out a bedroom upper story window to the south west facing burm and the field.

See how the plants have gotten bigger but the gate keeps the ornamental grass off them?

Looking south across the two large burms at the very back of our property.

Looking north across the two large burms at the very back of our property.

None of these burms and flower beds were here when we bought the house. Just flat boring grass. We have done a great deal of landscaping to bring interest to the yard!

NOTE: You should be able to click on most of the pictures to enlarge to see further details.
These parties I love to link up to or check out my Blog Parties tab
Party Time @ It's So Very Cheri
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps On The Porch
Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping It Simple
Creative Blogger's Party @ Homemaker On A Dime
Making The World Cuter @ Making The World Cuter
Amaze Me Monday @ Dittle Dattle 
Twice Owned Tuesday @ House Of Grace
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm
Time to Shine Tuesday @ A Diamond in the Stuff 
Tuesday Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia 
Trash 2 Treasure @ Sassy Sites
Power Of Paint @ Domestically Speaking
Swing Into Spring Wednesday @ DIY by Design
White Wednesday @ Faded Charm
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Piece of Work Wednesday @  Primitive & Proper
Good Life Wednesday @ A Beach Cottage
Open House Thursday @ No Minimalist Here
Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
100 Ideas Under $100 @ Beyond The Picket Fence
Cottage Flora Thursday @ Fishtail Cottage
Show And Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Furniture Feature Friday @ Miss Mustard Seed
Remodelaholic Friday @ Remodelaholic
Frugal Friday @ Shabby Nest
Look What I Found Friday @ Vintage Revivals
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Vintage Inspiration Friday @ Common Ground
Weekend WrapUp Party @ Tatertots and Jello
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Show and Tell Saturday @ Be Different, Act Normal 
Sunday Showcase Party @ By Stephanie Lynn 
Sundae Scoop Weekend Wrap Up Party @ I love Nap Time 
Before and After Party @ Thrifty Decor Chick
Any Link Goes Party @ Bacon Time With The Hungry Hungry Hypo