Presto Change-o

Just a quick entry on a fast and easy project I took care of yesterday.  Years ago I found this plant holder and have had it out on the deck.

The wet weather has taken a toll on it, but I had an idea to take care of this problem.

Mark cut a 6x6 piece of wood to serve as the bottom.  I added a couple coats of left-over oil bronzed spray paint to the wood and the planter holder.

 Here it is, lookin' brand new.  It'll last a couple more years.

New Toy

I am so excited about my, I mean our new camera!  We went from this:

To this:

We used to have a fairly decent Canon, but it was dropped and it broke.  I've been using the little FujiFilm camera, which takes mediocre pictures.  The one thing that is very challenging using that camera is taking focused pictures.  I can't tell you how many pictures of the the kids I have that are out of focus.  Frustrating!  We saved up and bought the Panasonic yesterday.  I can't wait to get to know this camera.  There are so many fun features!  Just look at the comparison of the 2 pictures above.  The top one was taken with our new camera and just look at the color and clarity.  The bottom one was taken with the Fuji...it's okay, but the color isn't as great when compared to the top shot.

Lil' $5.00 Table

One day while I was out thrifting, I came across this table....for 5 buckaroos.  We needed a table for our deck since our half wine barrel table fell apart.  This table wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but for such a reasonable price, I couldn't pass it up.  I liked that the legs of the table had character, but I knew I had to do something about the veneer top.

 The first thing I did was sand the top down.  I wasn't trying to get rid of all of the veneer, but I wanted to sand it down to roughen it up so that spray paint would stick to it.  I used an electric orbital sander.  Once I had it all prepped, I painted it like this to match our then newly painted patio table, which has now been repainted.  Here is what the table looked like after the first paint job.

 

We left the table like this for a couple of weeks before I decided to spray paint the top...again!  The blue was just...well, too blue, so I went with something more neutral the second time around.

More neutral compared to the blue?  Yes.  Was I happy with the color? No.  As the saying goes, "Third time's a charm."  Oh, and if you look super close at the bottom of the front right leg you can see that the paint started chipping off.  Blast!  I had to repaint the legs too.  What happened was that the legs got wet, the wood expanded and caused the paint to chip.  On to paint job #3, with a color change...again!

First, I had to sand the bottom of all of the legs so that the paint would stick better.

 And here she is.  Ahhhhh, much better!  I went with a dark walnut color for the legs and a colonial red for the top.  I felt that if I painted the entire table brown, it would be too brown, with the color of the chairs and all.  All I have to do now is find some plastic discs to nail into the bottom of the legs.  They will raise the table up off the deck so that it won't get wet as easily. 

 

And let me remind you how the other side of our deck looks.  It all goes well together now.

Another Day Another Color

I think I better consider owning stock in Rustoleum spray paint--it's become my best friend in the last six months.  Honestly, I wish more people knew the power of spray paint.  It's powerful people, pow.er.ful!  Are you curious what I've painted this time around?  I won't keep you guessing:  Our patio table (a-gain.)  Not long ago we painted our once forest green table blue, which you can read about here.   We liked the blue and the way it brightened up the space, however the newly designed left side of our deck definitely wasn't gelling with the right side of the deck.  The left side now had a rustic feel to it and the right side of our deck had a more of a...well, primary feel to it.  Here is the product I used:

               The green table...a true before picture.

The after picture, well the 1st after picture.

And (hopefully) our last after picture for a while.  

And just as a teaser, I am working on repainting this table (again) and will post more on that later.

Supa Dupa Bargain Buy

A few weeks ago we were driving through the country roads of Loomis where I spotted a small garage sale out of the corner of my eye.  Yep, I don't have the nickname "Eagle Eyes" for nothin'.  By the garage sale sign, there was an additional sign that said "Everything $1.00." Um, bonus!  Everything $1.00?  I quickly jerked turned the steering wheel to the right, and carefully stepped on my brakes so to not lose control on the dirt road.  Mark and Nolan happened to be with me.  They willingly pulled out some lawn chairs under a shade tree and told me to take my time (Seriously, what good sports.)   Because it was late morning, the garage sale was pretty picked over.  I made a couple of laps around the place and spotted these fellas:

 

 They are made of tin and very light.  And at a buck a piece I couldn't pass them by.

 I had to take a close-up of the original price tag because I about choked when I saw the original price of $25.00.  Really?  Who would have purchased these for full price?  They aren't that great.  It also looks like they were once being sold for $2.00 and under that a $5.00 sticker.  I really got a good deal, didn't I?  I wasn't sure how or where I'd use them, but they would certainly work in our house, I just knew it.

And come in handy, one did.  After making the shelf below I was on a hunt to find things around my house to put on it.  Immediately, these tin squares came to mind.   I would use one on the shelf and save the other for another day and another project.

I wasn't really a fan of the original yellowish-orangish color of the tin...sorta 70's.  I didn't know how I'd treat it, color wise, due to the tin.  I did know that I didn't want it one solid color.  After thinking about it for a while I decided on spray painting it first and then wiping a stain over it.  I had some yellow paint in the cabinet from another project and applied a couple of coats.  After letting it dry I added a bit of stain using an old t-shirt.  It was very tacky and I didn't have a lot of time to apply and move the stain around before it became settled and too hard/sticky to spread.  I'm happy with the results and it seems to be a nice addition to the shelf.

Outside Mantel: Who Would've Thought?

Our deck continues to get spruced up and it is beginning to feel more like a living space.  I've been doing some work on it, which you can read about here and here.  Once the lanterns were hung I knew I would have to add something to the wall behind it, but I wasn't sure what to use.  I initially had pictured some old rustic wood frames or a few canvas prints, but then I got the idea of a mantel.  To fit in with the lanterns, I didn't want anything polished looking, but rather rustic.

 This is where I started, with some metal shelf brackets and a

1 x 6 piece of wood.  I ended up spray painting the brackets black.

 I didn't want the wood to look perfect so I took a hammer

to it and beat it up.  What a workout in a hot garage!

I used Dark Walnut stain that we already had.  I also brushed on 

a satin clear coat to protect it from wear and tear.

Here is the shelf without any decor.  

 I haven't bought anything in particular for the shelf so I had

to shop around the house to find some goodies to put on it.

The finished product.  I can't wait to sit outside tonight and

enjoy a glass of wine by the candlelight.

Cost Breakdown

1 x 6 piece of wood = $5.95

3 shelf brackets = $2.91

stain = free (already had)

decor = free (found around the house)

TOTAL COST = just about $9.00

Expired Bananas

You did, didn't you?  You looked at that picture of ripe bananas and thought "Ewww."  Well, you better bite your tongue because I found a simple, yet delicious recipe for banana bread found here.  Let's raise our arms and give two fist pumps:  One for Aunt Holly and one for Epicurious.  The ol' capital "E" never disappoints.  Now, I have made this recipe once before and the kiddos ate it up...however, I did add some chocolate chips.  Tomorrow, no chocolate chips.  I hope you find some overdue bananas in your kitchen and print this recipe to be kept in your personal cookbook.