2016 Projects Review

It always helps me see what I have accomplished when I go back and review the projects that I got completed in the past year. There are many gaps in my blogging story each year because I do so many projects that I don’t consider “blog worthy.” I rarely publish any of my Christmas decor because I have some paid decorating jobs which I do first and by the time I get my own home decorated the blogosphere has been overdone with Christmas photos out the wazoo! One project that has not yet made an apearance on the blog was a fixer upper home that my son and daughter in law purchased this past fall that our family and my daughter in law’s family spent many hours making cosmetic improvements on. You can click on any of the green highlighted text to go directly to the post about the photos.

My biggest project this year was updating my dining room for the One Room Challenge last spring.

 You can read about that project by clicking here. That post also has links to previous posts with all of the details.

I gave the screened porch at our summer cottage a much needed update. You can read about that by clicking here.

My son got married in May and I completed a couple of projects for the wedding.

I made this mason jar chandelier for the reception tent. You can get the details here.

I also made these lazy Susans for the rehearsal dinner tables. You can see those here.

I refurbished this chair for my mother.

Even though it has a plant in it in this photo, I completed this beverage stand as a Home Depot DIH workshop project. Unfortunately it was not a positive experience. My hope is that my local Home Depot will work to improve these workshops.

This copycat tea kettle was a quick and easy project.

Of course my year also included plenty of travel, most undocumented on the blog. I did blog about our trip to Arkansas to visit Allen Smith’s Garden Home at Moss Mountain Farm.

I can’t tell you how many homes I have toured but this is one of the few that I could move into today and not change a thing! There is so much to see in that post!

The gardens were the icing on the cake. I did 4 posts on them so you can start with this one and follow them through here, here, and here.

Wow! That was a busy year! I’m linking to the Top Projects Link at Southern Hospitality. Click over to see lots of inspiration!

Blue and White Alfresco Dining

After I freshened up the furniture on the screened porch I was anxious to make a blue and white tablescape.

We eat supper out here most nights although we have had to eat inside several times lately because the heat has been unbearble even with the fans going.

My first thought was to use my blue willow but you can see from the photo below that the blue willow clashes with the blue and white cushions. Ugh!

I moved on to plan B.

I used square blue plates on top of round white dinner plates. Both of those were purchased at Homegoods several years ago.

The woven willow chargers were purchased online from Nell Hills some time ago and the bubble glasses were purchased from One Kings Lane. The flatware is another weakness of mine, vintage silver plate.

The vintage double hapiness ginger jar was purchased in a second hand store for $10.(FYI I am told by my resident Chinese major that while the double happines character is a Chinese character, it is never used in the Chinese language except for decorative purposes. You would never use that character in a sentence. You can file that under “fun facts to know and share” that cost me a lot of money to learn!)

The little pagodas were purchased separately even though they are just alike. I splurged on the first one for $59 at a beautiful design studio then I lucked up when I ran across the second one on a clearance rack at TJMaxx for $5!!! Yes, you read that right. They are identical except that the $5 is missing one of the tiny foo dogs on the front. You would never know unless you examine it very closely. Apparently I did not get that in one of the photos.

I love it when a plan comes together!

If you missed the post on the porch update you can see it by clicking here.

I will be linking to Thoughts of Home on Thursday, toTablescape Thursday, and to Grace at Home. Click the links for lots of inspiration!

Updating the Screened Porch at the Summer Cottage

I recently updated the fabrics on our screened porch at the summer cottage. They were beginning to get a little worn looking after 7 summers.

When we were planning to build our little summer cottage one of the things at the top of our “must have” list was a screened porch. Because our lot is pie shaped our house is only 30 feet wide and 40 feet deep. We insisted on a screened porch all across the back on the lake side. Actually we have double screened porches. I had originally drawn the porch to be 15 feet wide by 30 feet long but the builder talked me into 12 feet wide. His reasoning was that 15 is an odd size for lumber and it would cost less and be less labor if I went with 12 feet wide. 12 feet wide is sufficient but 15 would have been even better!

We spend a lot of time out here and eat most of our meals here too. We love the view of the water.

If you have followed and read this blog then you may already know that I don’t change things very often. When I find something that I like I buy it and I usually keep it for a long time. If you compare the new fabric to the old fabric you will notice that they are almost identical. I searched and searched for a fabric that I love but kept coming back to the old stuff. The new fabric is not identical but it is very close.

The photo above shows the old fabric. When I found that fabric it was the end of a bolt and there wasn’t enough so I had to use a solid color for the backs and bottoms of the cushions. This time I was able to get enough fabric for everything. While the old ones were not torn or worn out the color was a little faded and dingy looking with a little mildew on it. These cushions stay outside 6 months of the year and are stored inside 6 months of the year. It is outdoor fabric. For the new cushions I did take time to put in invisible zippers so that they can be washed if needed. The old cushions did not have zippers. I found the fabric online at fabric.com.  They had a great selection and I was able to order samples for $1.75 each before making my selection.  I was very pleased with my purchase although shipping took longer than I expected, more than 2 weeks.The name of the fabric that I chose is called Snow Leopard by P Kaufmann. (If you missed my dining room update using PKaufmann fabric for wallcovering you can see it here.)

The new fabric had to coordinate with the blue paint on the house without clashing and I think this one does that pretty well.

In the photo above you can also see the old curtains that I used. There were very inexpensive sheers from Ikea, maybe $5.99 per pair! I don’t see those on the Ikea website any more. Those were hung with rings on tiny nails. For the upgrade I went with the cotton Lenda curtains from Ikea. They were $19.99 per pair when I purchased them. Now they are a little more.

So far the curtains have held up very well. They are not outdoor fabric and I did not add waterproofing or any weather protection.

I used the Betydlig brackets and the Hugad rods from Ikea.

All of my Ikea purchases were made last summer so I don’t now if they are still available. If they are not, I’m sure that Ikea has an affordable alternative.

I also made new cushion covers for the dining chairs. I didn’t realize how much the cushions show up due to the tabletop being glass.

I plan to do another post with a fresh tablescape and another more instructional post on putting the porch together step by step.

I hope that you are enjoying this hot summer as much as I am!

I will be doing a follow up post on creating an outdoor room step by step. I hope you will come back to read it too.

I’m linking to Metamorphposis Monday, to Inspire Me Tuesday,  to Wow Us Wednesday, to Thoughts of Home on Thursday, and to Grace at Home. Click the link for lots of inspiration!