Farmhouse Style Fall Decorating

Fall has arrived in Illinois. The days are sunny, the skies clear and blue and the leaves are just beginning to change.  Last weekend was one of those perfect fall weekends....the temperatures were in the 70's and I was alone at the French Farm House....it was a perfect day for a road trip.

Master Bathroom Reveal

Is it odd that I'm showing you my bathroom?  I haven't shared this room because I wasn't sure. Until today, only my family and a few very close friends have ever seen our master bathroom.  It's en suite;  through the  dressing hall, past our closets. It has french doors to allow the natural light to fill what would otherwise be a dark hallway.

How to Make A Four Generation Family Tree

I have a question for you.  Have you ever made a four generation family tree?

Over the years, my sons have made more school projects than I can count and certainly more than I even remembered...until recently. You may wonder why I'm telling you this.

Did I mention that we're getting our home ready for sale?

We are...and we're cleaning out closets

Home Tour: Living Room

I realized this morning as I was walking to the kitchen  trying to make my way past the boxes to pack lunch for my youngest that our formal living room is one of my favorite rooms in our home.

Do you want to know why?

                                                                                                        It's not what you might think......

Side Table Makeover {Painted Furniture}

Have you been watching the PBS series, "Downton Abbey"?  I haven't...that is....until last weekend, when I purchased Seasons one and two on DVD and finally sat down to see what it was that everyone was talking about.  I have to admit, I was hooked after the first episode.

Basement Make Over Reveal and My New Year's Resolution

Maybe you can help me with a question that I've been mulling over for the last couple of  months:
                 
                           What is it that defines the lower level of my home as the "man cave"?

Can anyone explain it to me?  Ever since we moved into our home ten years ago, the basement has been the guy space.  In the beginning, I could understand.  

Kitchen Progress: When One Thing Leads to Another

When my sons were small, we read. A lot.

One of their favorite books was "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff.

In case you haven't read it, it's the story of a young boy who shares a cookie with a mouse setting off an entire chain of events that keeps the boy busy all day long, and potentially for days to come. If you give a mouse a cookie, after all, he's most certainly going to ask for a glass of milk, for which he'll absolutely need a straw and, of course a napkin....you get the idea.

Spray Painted White Resin Owl - Escape from "Reality"

I found this guy on a shelf at a HomeGoods store somewhere in Wisconsin on Saturday. 

The sign on the shelf  read something like:

New Arrival!   Resin Owl ~ Realistic Features!

 And I thought to myself, Hmm..."realistic features"...Really!?

Pallet Wood Fence Board American Flag DIY

I always love a project that combines the use of loads of tools with math. Yep, I'm a geek...I do math for a living and I'm the daughter of an engineer. Need I say more?! So when I realized that I could use pallet wood or fence boards to make my own DIY American flag for the 4th of July, I knew that I had to do it!  It all started with THIS adorable mantel. Note the cute "beachy" flag?! 

 

The original post, by Kevin and Layla at The Lettered Cottage  is from 2009.  Of course, it looks familiar, it's all over Pinterest.

Then I saw the cute flag wall decor from Pottery Barn.

What's a girl to do? I don't want to have to choose just one!   So I did what any girl with her own power tools and a week of vacation would do, I made both.  I took a quick trip to The Home Depot to purchase ten,  four foot cedar fence boards ($1.08 each). These are the same boards that I used for the nursery signs that I made a few days ago. 

Then, on Monday morning, I bought these:


I assembled two flags using the same basic design and five boards each. I cut the "fence top" ends off of the boards,  ripped them in half lengthwise,and ripped one of the half-sections in half again (stay with me here, that's a board that's 4 feet long and 1/4 the width of the original board).  Then, I cut that board in half lengthwise (this yields 2 pieces, 23 1/2 inches long which I used to make the bracing strips that go on the back to hold it together). I screwed the flags together with 1 1/4 inch screws, being careful to make sure that they wouldn't go all the way through the front.

 Then came the math. Height divided by 13 stripes = 1.88 inches for each stripe. Comeon, really!? 

After realizing that I had 1 1/2 and 2 inch blue tape and neither of them would work,  I went to the hardware store to buy Frog Tape which is exactly .90 inches wide. I used two pieces side-by-side and it worked perfectly.  Next came the paint. I used an old trick that I learned in art school: I applied several different colors of red using a plastic spatula. This gave the piece an aged look even before I sanded it.

I did the same thing for the blue ground for the stars. Then, it was on to the math for the stars. You don't really want to go into that, do you!?  Let's just say that it wasn't easy and admit that I just eyeballed the placement...and yes, there really are 50 of them, trust me, I counted.

The piece was sanded and glazed. Then, I added a little Serendipity

 

Next, I moved on to the "beachy" flag. I used the same basic design but this time, I did fewer, wider, stripes and made them a single color (ASCP Old White mixed 1:2 with Duck Egg). The star ground was two shades of blue, put on with a spatula.

 I was trying to figure out a more "nautical" feel for the "America" that I put in the lower right corner. I thought about rope, considered dipping it in Elmer's Glue, then, in what was either a moment of brilliance or a rush that was likely induced by the three Diet Coke's that I had before eleven  this morning, I figured out that I could "write" on a nylon cutting board with hot glue and stick the rope to the glue. Then, when I allowed it to cool, I simply peeled it from the board and, viola!, the letters held their shape!!!!!

 So, there you have it. One flag, two ways.

xo,

S

Resource list:
Lumber and hemp rope: Home Depot
Paint: Annie Sloan Olde White (for all of the white) and Duck Egg for the beachy stripes
          Various shades of acrylic craft paint for the remainder of the painting
Starfish: Ebay
Star stencil: left from a project that I did when my now 17 year old son was two years old and going through his "spaceman" phase. Yeah, I actually hung onto it for that long...and managed to find it!

Linking to:

AKA Design 
Beyond the Picket Fence 
Coastal Charm 
Common Ground
Craftomaniac 
Craftionary 
Embracing Change 
Family and Home Life 
Home Stories A to Z 
House of Hepworth 
Itsy Bitsy Paper 
Not Just A Housewife 

Shades of Amber
Stone Gable
Stuff and Nonsense
Tatertots and Jello
The Shabby Creek Cottage
The Vintage Farmhouse
Tip Junkie
You're Talking Too Much

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Hand Painted Canvas Pillows for the Barn Sale

Completed  pillows for the Barn Sale this weekend.  Natural cotton canvas with block printed letters and hand painted images.

Painted with acrylic paint which is mixed 2 parts paint to 1 part fabric medium (purchased at Michaels) which renders the paint permanent and machine washable when heat set.

In the studio today: Table Runners and more reclaimed wood signs. 

xo,

S

Linking to:

DIY By Design
Embracing Change
Freckled Laundry
French Country Cottage
I Gotta Create
I Gotta Try That!
Itsy Bitsy Paper
It's so very Cheri
It All Started with Paint - Pillowpalooza
Savvy Southern Style
The Brassy Apple
The Crafty Blog Stalker
Under the Table and Dreaming
You are talking too much

Featured at:

 

 

 

 

Signs of Affection: My First "Commissioned" Piece

I got an urgent email yesterday. It was from a friend of mine who is expecting her first Grandson in a few weeks. The note contained a link to a blog post from Corner House, (an adorable blog, by the way), and this photo:             

PHOTO CREDIT AND INSPIRATION: CORNER HOUSE