Vintage Drawer Pulls

I found this picture on the BHG website this week. I love the look of these old handles hanging together. You could hang several in your office or studio and use those little clips on them to hold little reminders, business cards, inspirational photos, etc.

You could hang a few in your bathroom or close to your dresser to hold jewelry. That would be so cute!

A little row of these in the kitchen could hold kids sports schedules, recipes, meal plans, photos of your kids, keys, etc.

I think I will be on the lookout for a handful of vintage knobs and handles. I just love this look!

Shannon

Ridding the World of

Ugly Light Fixtures

One Chandelier at a Time

Isn't this the cutest chandelier you have ever seen? My mom gave it to me for my birthday. And my husband hung it yesterday in my studio. It's wonderful!

Do you want to see the light that was in there before? Warning: it's reeaaally ugly!

Yeah, told you. Uuuug-ly. Why did they ever make those things???

Now, back to the pretty! It kind of looks like a crown upside down.

Don't you just love it? (By the way - they are on clearance at Lowe's right now!!)

Shannon

Part-Time Perfectionist

This is my after of my front porch re-do. Melissa at The Inspired Room is hosting a Project Procrastinators Party. So we have had two weeks to complete the painting project that we had been procrastinating on. I chose my two outdoor benches. And along with painting this bench on my front porch, I decided since my front porch was insanely ugly, I should try to give it some help.

So - freshly painted bench, new pots with LIVE plants in them, and a new door mat.

I am a perfectionist about some things. It irks me when people do a sloppy job when it would not have taken that much effort to do it right. But, well, there are some things that I am not a perfectionist about. So I guess I am a part-time perfectionist. Apparently, painting the back of benches carefully falls under the second category. If you go here, you will see the trials that beset me in this process. I had actually hoped to paint my front door black before this "After Party," but, alas, I am too pathetically opposed to sweating that much within a two-week time frame. So when I do get around to applying black paint to the front door (and changing hideous brass kick-plates to silver!) I will show you more pictures.

I love this square planter by the front door. I planted a boxwood in it that had a tag that says "Ideal for Topiaries." I am totally in love with all shapes and sizes of topiaries. I do not currently have any, mainly because I am opposed to yard work and to sweating, both of which are required to grow and sculpt a topiary. I also happen to have a black thumb. But I did buy this little boxwood, in the hope that I can overcome, and the little boxwood will overcome and will grow in wisdom and stature, and become this . . . Beautiful, huh? I loooove topiaries!

And I got rid of the, umm, lovely mat that came with our front door, and bought this one. I love it!

I did show two outdoor benches in my before photos, with the plan to paint them both. The other one is on my back deck. Yeah. Ummm. Yeah. (If you really want to know, you can read "What was I thinking?" two posts down.)

So, here is a reminder of the Before:

And the After:

It's not the wrap-around porch with wicker furniture and plush cushions of my dreams. But at least it is a little more welcoming than it was.

Black front door coming soon. And since that will require more outdoor labor and sweating, you better come back and see it!

Shannon

Bench? What bench?

Shannon

What was I THINKING ???

Now I remember all the reasons WHY I hate painting. But the hope of a welcoming front porch, and the temporary insanity, umm, I mean enthusiasm that I felt when I read about Melissa's Project Procrastinator's Party caused me to have a misplaced sense of confidence.

When I got home about 12:30 today the sun was out for the first time in 1 1/2 weeks. So I thought I better take advantage of no rain while it lasted.

I forgot that I hate to tape things off, and I bought two colors of paint for my benches. I had the grand plan of spraying the metal black, and painting the wood parts with a different color. By the time I got around to the back with the tape, I decided I could just paint over any black that got onto the wood. By now I was too HOT to care all that much about a little over-spray. Ok, good, so no more taping! I mean, it's the back, right? (I should have just spray painted the whole stupid bench the same color!) Because I read your blogs, I had in my mind a story I recently read (can't remember where now) about one of you that used this Rustoleum outdoor metal spray paint - and how sticky it was on your bare feet. And how long you had to scrub to get it off.

So here is my solution to that. You can stop laughing now.

Well, the black is done. By the time I was done, I was so HOT I thought I might just expire right there. I mean, it IS 75 degrees outside today! AND I have a migraine! I have now taken a very long, VERY cool shower, and I have the air conditioning turned down to 65, and my ceiling fan on high. And a cold Vanilla Coke Zero. I am recovering from the heat stroke I had. And I have taken ibuprofen.

If you are really lucky, I might go back out there and paint the wood part of that bench with the nutmeg color I bought in time for the "After Party" on May 14.

But there is no stinkin' way that I am going to paint that second bench! It's just gonna have to rot where it is.

Shannon

Porch Pots and Paint

I have purchased the paint and pots and plants for my porch re-do for Melissa's Procrastinators Project Party. Can you say Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers?
And if it EVER stops raining here I might actually USE this paint on my project!



Since I can't paint, I will just have to go eat some chocolate chip muffins. Don't you just hate it when that happens?


Shannon

Talking Trash...I Drew Your Name

I drew Debbie's name of Talking Trash for my 100th post give-away. I will email you, Debbie. Thanks to all who played along!

I have started on my procrastination project - Melissa at The Inspired Room is hosting this party. I will show you pictures of my progress next, so check back soon.

Shannon