Outdoor Color Scheming

Last week Steven and I picked out the color that we'll be painting the porch. After getting a brand new beautiful solid wood door, we finally decided on Night View by Valspar. (Which looks a lot more gray and a lot less navy online than in real life)

It was around that same time that I ran across this lovely pattern on an outdoor pillow at Bed, Bath & Beyond. With a 20% off coupon I left the store with it for about $8.00. 

With this pattern I established the color scheme for our front porch.

Our old front door was black; so was our mailbox and porch lights. The mailbox got a new coat of paint called Cobalt Cannon. 

I adore Valspar spray paint, it never lets me down!

I took Finn with me to check out a local store called Sparrow's Nest to see what little additions I could find. I got this itty bitty wreath for our new door.

I cut a strip of gray fabric, strung it through the wreath, and nailed it to the top of the door.

These plant hangers came with the house and even though I do love the worn look of them and sage-green color, I thought it was time to add them to the scheme.

Primed and ready to go!

Here's the improved plant hanger in Cobalt Cannon next to its unfinished counterpart.

This year I opted out of planting Sweet Potato Vine, even though I do love it. I grabbed Creeping Jenny instead. I have no idea how it'll do, but I'm hopeful, and I love its bright green color!

I really hope it grows because from the sidewalk you can't even see that there's anything planted in the baskets.

Here's our porch in July last year vs. our porch yesterday:

The porch floor would've been painted by now if the weather had held out for us; so we still have painting to do and new porch lights to purchase and install. The little side table by the chair I purchased for super cheap at TJ Maxx and plan on painting it as well.

I also got two Coleus plants, one for us, and one for our new neighbors who'll be moving in next door soon...yay!

Finn's excited (and it looks as if he's a tad bit uneasy too) about having a girl move in next door who's exactly two months older!

Happy Earth Day!

Allison

Up off the Counter

One day long ago I went to a thrift store and bought every single metal candlestick they had. At less than $1.00 a piece why not? At the time I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with them, only that I had just been introduced to the wonders that spray-paint can accomplish so I figured I'd give them new life with color.


Then Pinterest happened (yes, I've had these candlesticks for that long). And when I found this fruit/cupcake tiered stand, I knew exactly what I would use my candlesticks for!

Mary Janes & Galoshes

Here's what my collection had become, minus a few that I've already converted to useful items.

Candlesticks have been a cinch for me to find. The pie tins are another story-maybe I just don't know where to look, and I suppose you can buy them brand new; I've found four without looking too hard, and they've all been purchased at antique or thrift stores. My first step is placing tins on top of sticks until I've found that perfect match up for what I had in mind.

I spray painted the candlesticks a shade of blue, the pie tins I gave a white coat, and then I used an odd sort of metal putty called SteelStik that completely hardens after a while and secured the pieces together. The guy at Lowe's advised me to use this.

This metal glue stuff STINKS. It smells just like this town called Sulfur Springs in Texas that I used to drive through on the way to Tennessee. I was hilariously amused to read the packaging where it stated that this stuff is from none other than....Sulfur Springs, TX! Sorry to anyone out there reading who has a love for this East Texas town...

So here they are, painted, stuck, and dried.

I'd planned to use the big tin to hold hand soap, lotion, and a dish brush to keep next to the kitchen sink. The smaller tin was the perfect size for bar soap for the bathroom sink. 

I also laid a doily at the bottom of the larger tin just for something extra and I found a teensy porcelain bowl for the dish brush to sit in so it'd look fancy and wouldn't drain onto the doily or spray-painted surface.

I love how everything is contained together, just how it would be directly on the counter, only somehow this elevated dish makes it look cleaner....and gives me back that little bit of counter space.

Next, I'm definitely going to make a tiered piece for my jewelry, and eventually I'd love to make something for fruit and to have on hand for little treats or cupcakes at a party. Something like this...

So there you have it, a creative way to get your necessities off the counter but still at arm's length!

Joy vs. Escape, & Pegboard

Recently, my ability to create has been re-established. I've been thinking a lot about the difference between escape and joy; during which I've learned a lot about myself. 


The past 10 months have been a wave of change, bringing about tremendous, heart-stretching amounts of growth & stagnation, anxiety & elation, irritability & contentedness, and any other oxymoronic pair of emotions you could conjure. Quite possibly, I'm delving into topics unrelated to blog-worthy territory...all this to say: life requires a lot more of me lately.
I've realized that I have the unhealthy knee-jerk response of escape when dealing with major life alterations. I'm embarrassed at how many countless minutes I've spent becoming lost in things that are truly meaningless, and equally embarrassing are the countless minutes spent anxiously wondering what I can accomplish to fill my free moments. 
Escape is something I do to remove myself from situations. Example: Finn's down for a nap, so I'll watch Secret Life of the American Teenager (What? Seriously?!) for 1.5 hours.

Joy is never found in my escape. Joy is a gracious gift that can't be received by an unwilling heart. My heart has been closed tightly to try to protect against the discomfort of losing my life for HIS sake to save it.

Because I continuously chose escape over joy, I've had to learn what it is that brings me joy and allow those things to enter back in.
Creating is one of those joy-filling gifts. It's never the easier choice to bring out the spray paint, painting tray, rolling brush, stencils, ruler, etc. But despite the mess I make and the effort it usually takes, choosing what brings me joy over what will offer escape is always worth it.

Which brings me to...pegboard! 

I really love this stuff, especially when it's been spray-painted. I even love the way pegboard smells, something about it reminds me of kindergarten. I love how Lowe's has almost a whole aisle dedicated to pegboard organizational accessories. 


So, here's the kitchen stand-alone cabinet purchased at the beginning of March (I think, time flies) before adding pegboard to the wall space.

And here's the pegboard, spray-painted and mounted to the wall.

My favorite part: finding a spot for all of these cooking supplies that freed up space in the kitchen drawers! Ah, love it!

On the other side I thought it'd be good to make a "stash away" zone for random items, including commonly referenced books, my journal, sunglasses and glasses, keys, wallet, etc.

I'm not quite finished with this side, still looking for more storage items. I was super proud of the shelf I made with the pegboard shelf brackets and old book.

This is what this open area of our kitchen looked like before I decided it'd be a smarter use of space to get a free-standing cupboard. Note: this might look like a great idea, but this picture is deceiving. I never sat at this desk, I've always preferred our kitchen table, and it became an evil magnet for all sorts of unimaginable clutter. 

Storage space of any kind has become like gold in this house since we lack a basement, attic, and have very minimal closet space. So, naturally, I am definitely happier with the present state of this little piece of kitchen.

Thanks for giving me an outlet to further share one of my delights in life!

Thanks to my amazing parents, tomorrow morning, our great friend, neighbor, and general contractor (all one man!) is breaking ground on our shed to give it some new life. Concrete instead of dirt floors? Yes please! A garage door so we can free up a whole room in our house that we've been using as tool storage? Yes, yes yes please! I am elated!