Independence Day Table-scape On A Washington And A Half

I bought this metal pitcher at my local Goodwill a few weeks back for $1.50.  I see things like this and know that a little paint will bring them back to life.  I liked the shape and the butterfly and dragonfly raised pattern on surface. 

It got the obligatory white spray painting on it.  I was going to paint it blue on top with red stripes going down the lower part of the pitcher, but decided that keeping it white gave me more flexibility of theme.  I decided that I would just add a little decor to it as needed.

With Independence Day approaching, I decided to make a little accent to match.  I had been seeing pinwheels all over the blogs made for all sorts of applications.  I took two patriotic colored and patterned papers from my stash and cut two 3 1/4 squares.  With rubber cement, I pasted them wrong sides together.  I folded them diagonally corner to corner twice creating four cut lines on the diagonal.  Using those lines as my guide, I cut on those four diagonal lines stopping short of the center.  I then folded each left corner in to form a pinwheel.  Since I am not using this pinwheel in the traditional sense, I just used a little hot glue to glue the corners down to the center.  I added a white button as an accent.   

Using a few strands of raffia, I attached it to the pitcher and added some patriotic flowers. 

I like to decorate little areas in my house for different holidays.  I set up a little table-scape at my front door to welcome guests with  patriotic flair.  Here it is in a small vignette on a table at my front door.  Simple, easy and cost me $1.50.  I picked up the birdhouse and shutter at AC Moore on 50 percent off, plus another 20 percent with a coupon.  I just love a good deal.   Super happy with the way this simple little project turned out.  Hope you enjoyed reading about it. 

Have a Happy Independence Day. I got a barbecue to plan.

-The End-

Help! I Need Your Advice!



I have a dilemma.  One of the things that the flood in my house did was ruin a cabinet that once held a mini-fridge and a sink.  The above image shows how it stands at this moment.  If you squint and look real close you can see the valves a few feet off the ground. The valves serviced a sink that was once here.  There was also a mini-fridge in the cabinet.  Here is the dilemma....Do we replace it just like it was or change this up?  If we change it.....what do we do here?  

A wet bar is considered an asset to have in a master suite, but we never used it.  We had canned drinks forever stored in the mini-fridge that we never used.  This nooks is in a weird location, right at the top of the stairs and tucked away in a place that looks more like a secret entrance to a hallway heading to another room. 

So what do all of you think? Just replace it like it was or do something else?  Any ideas?  Any creative thoughts?!!

-The End-

A Match Made in Heaven? Trash Pick to Treasure

Yep!  I'm up to it again! Trash picking!! My neighbor was throwing out an old french window frame a few weeks back and I snagged it up. It is about 2 by 4 feet and is missing the glass.  His son actually saw me taking it from the bulk trash pile and asked me why I wanted it.  I laughed at the sight of his puzzled face and said, "I am a studio artist who likes to re-purpose trash."  His face didn't change.  There just isn't any explaining this.  After all, they saw the frame as trash.  I chuckled, got back in the car and drove the three houses down to my house.

The frame had a funky faux blue and white paint on it that I knew had to go.  I really didn't know what I was going to do with it.  I was pretty sure it would play a supporting role in a table scape, sitting behind a few little whatnots. Without a makeover, it wasn't coming into the house! I saw it as an experiment at this point.  I started by painting it with ASCP in Emperor's Silk red.  I wanted to test out the chalk paint in this red color. 
As it turned out, I wasn't getting very good coverage with this paint....but I pressed on. 

The previous paint kept bleeding back through.  Guess I should have used primer?  Didn't think I had to with chalk paint. Oh well......put yet another coat on.....

I put on a super thick layer and left it for over a week to cure and came back and put yet another coat on the frame.

At this point, I threw in the towel and just tried to go with the mottled finish that this paint gave me.  I let it dry and placed it up in behind my little metal tug boat that I picked up on my recent trip to the Florida Keys.  It looked better than I could capture on a quick snap shot.  The walls are a bright lime green just to give you an idea how 'off' these images are....

Sitting up there.....just didn't do anything for me.  I tried it set in all different ways.  I just still didn't like it.  While looking at this pic on the little screen of my camera, I had a thought...  See that little painting to the right side of the image?  Right there....on the right?  With the color blocks and rectangles?

I painted this little piece a few years back when I was having painters block and just decided to paint 'whatever.'  I do that from time to time when I am blocked.....I paint something.....no rhyme or reason.   Somehow, just after we painted this room, I hung it here "just to put something there" using a thumb tack, not even a nail to hold it in place.  I knew it wasn't staying. One because I wasn't necessarily proud of it and because it was too small for the space.

So while looking at the previous image I think to myself, "What if I layered the red frame behind this little painting??  Wonder what it would look like?"  I thought that the straight horizontal and vertical lines of the frame might pair well with the structure within the painting.   So I got the frame back out and went to work.  This is what it looks like now....

Pretty cool..... I like the added presence that the red frame lends to this painting.  It is almost like they were destined to be together.  Just like people.... Sometimes you just never know where some one's best pairing will come from.  I thought to myself, "Oh. How cool is that?!  This sad little unloved painting and the sad little unloved french window pane have been rescued and have found each other!"  Yes....I know....I'm crazy. But it is the way I think.  No sense hiding it.

I got a little touch up to do on the frame and I want to disguise the nails I used to hang it.  But, I kinda like it.    What do you think?  As always.....a work in process..... 

-The End-
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