The Beginnings of a Green Plate Wall

I HAVE A PLATE WALL PEOPLE!!!

I've been pinning plate walls like CRAZY and now I finally have my own.

Before I forget...Hi There!

We are so happy to have you here!  It makes our day!  :)
 
I promised I would have a project done soon, didn't I?

Our Saturday was filled with this:

Scott is Coach and Alex is Point Guard. 
They took second place in the end-of-season tournament!
We were there ALL DAY.

Sunday was filled with this:

Alex's first time snowboarding...on a thrift store board, no less.  It worked great for playing around on. 
He was a natural!  Especially considering he had to keep the board on that little strip of snow in between the bare pavement!
 My heart is so full of love for this boy!  Ok, I know, enough blubbering.  ;)

But finally, Sunday afternoon I was able to do this:

YAY!!!
I attempted a nap, but that didn't work at all.
So I got off my hiney, and started putting some plates on the wall.
Who needs a nap anyway???  I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I'd napped.  Oh well.

There's no denying fate...chances are I'm going to move them around a few times and maybe add more, but, for now I think they look wonderful.  I have them hanging from pushpins because we have some new paint for this room so they'll have to come down for the painting process...eventually. 

AND...

Just when you thought I was done...I found a couple more plate hangers and...I did this...

I promise I'll leave them be for a week or two.  Well, promise may be too strong a word here.  I'll do my best!!!

I bought some other wonderful plates from thrift stores...with great patterns and graphics on them...I just didn't like how they all looked together.  Too busy.  I want serene!  So I ended up with these green, white and ironstone plates up.  I really like the green with the white.

The new hangers came from our local dollar discount store.  It's not Dollar Tree or a chain...just a small business here in town.  They were actually $1.25 each...inflation!   Geesh.

And there's more!!!

I had time to work on another project too.  More on that in a day or two...
(I know, it's hard to believe...you probably thought I was gonna keep filling my posts with pretty pictures of other peoples' spaces...and who needs that?  Well, apparently ME and a whole bunch of other people on Pinterest....just sayin'!  Hey, if you aren't already there you can follow me on Pinterest too...just click the Pinterest button on my sidebar and start pinning.)

Thanks for visiting,

Sherry

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Home Beautiful

 Happy Monday My Friends! 

Hope your weekend was wonderful.  I was able to spend time with a friend, get some needed time away from home, and do some thrifting. 

What a perfect weekend!

Aren't these fun and springy? 
The flowers are for my son to give to his bus driver. 
She is so cheerful and good with the kids...she deserves them!

Before I show you the rest of what I found this weekend, I want to share this excerpt from a book with you.  I hope you enjoy it.  No new projects today, but soon!

The book is "Don't Stop Laughing Now!
Stories to tickle your funny bone and strengthen your faith"
~ selected by Ann Spangler, with Shari MacDonald

HOME BEAUTIFUL

by: Marsha Crocket

I used to think ony a few people really possessed the gift of creative decorating. I was equally certain I wasn't one of them. After all, my kitchen cabinets hold more plastic action-figure cups than lovely goblets. I've been known to let my children and husband turn the living room into an exercise room. My bedroom is not a haven of rest or an oasis of love (unless you get a thrill from stepping over the stacks of file folders, magazines, and a basket of unfolded clothes next to my computer).
      On the other hand, my neighbor, Sally, seems to have a natural ability for creating beauty. For a long time, I explained away her beautifully spotless house on the fact that she stayed home and had only one child. I chuckled at the ease of her life. My house would look like that too, if I didn't have two chidren and a job!   I told myself.
      But then Sally opened a day care in her home and had six kids in her house every day. This I had to see!   So measuring cup in hand, I headed to Sally's in no time flat to borrow some sugar. That's when I got my first clue about what to expect: Hanging on her front door was a cute little blackboard with a "Memo to Parents." On it was neatly written: "Today's Lunch -- homemade vegetable soup, orange slice smiles, and whole wheat crackers. Today's Snack -- peanut-butter-and-jelly stars" !?
      I guess Sally saw me coming up the walk because she opened the door before I could close my mouth.
      "Cute sign," I commented. "I just need a cup of sugar. I'm making...uh, clown-shaped snickerdoodle cookies for the girls."
      "Oh, some special occasion?" she asked, as if she really had made these things before.
       "No, just one of those fun things we like to do now and then."
       I looked around. I heard children laughing -- but didn't see them or any mess in the house. "What happened to the kids?"
      "They're in the playroom. You're welcome to go see what I did in there."
      I went down the hall with a sense of foreboding and looked in. It wasn't a room, it was a park. Sally had actually painted an outdoor motif on the walls, complete with sky, puffy clouds, grass, and trees. Little white park benches perched against two walls, with a rack full of books in between. Next to the silk tree sat a picnic table covered in a red-and-white checked plastic tablecloth. Jars of Play-Doh stood at attention in the center.
      "It's beautiful in here, Sally. But I bet the kids can really make a mess of it, huh?"
      "Oh, they know the rules: 'Put away before you play,'" she replied.
      I couldn't take it any more, so I asked her for some sugar, thanked her, and headed toward my front door -- the one with the leaves stuck in the spiderwebs at the corner of the doorjamb. I went inside and looked around at my home, the one with crooked curtains, four pairs of shoes in the living room, and a red stain on the dining room carpet. The girls were playing with Lincoln Logs and Barbies...in the kitchen.
      With a deep sigh I said to my husband, "Honey, I think I'll move in with Sally."
      "No, you can't," he said with a teasing grin. "Who would clean up this mess?"
      After living next to Sally for eleven years, I'm finally learning I can't be Sally, or Martha Stewart, or anyone else for that matter. I agree with author Primo Levi, who wrote, "I live in my house as I live inside my skin; I know more beautiful, more ample, more sturdy, and more picturesque skins; but it would seem to me unnatural to exchange them for mine." I think maybe I do have what it takes to create beauty. It's just that I have to be more comfortable with my own style, my own likes and dislikes in my home.
      This realization called for celebration. So I poured red punch into four plastic Batman cups. My family and I raised our glasses and toasted who we are in Christ, and I reveled in the miracle of this "home beautiful".

This story makes me feel so happy.  Especially to know that I'm not the only one out there who looks at others' "picture perfect" homes and feels a sense of inadequacy at times.  It's reassuring.   I spent the weekend hanging out with my best friend.  We didn't do anything other than hanging out and a bit of thrifting.  It was good for me to get away from home for a weekend.  I wasn't overwhelmed with the feeling that I should be working on some project.  Yay for me!!!  I did find some fun items at a "For Youth" Thrift Store.  Everything just happened to be 50% off when we went!  The five wicker baskets (pictured above and below) are lined with plastic inside so you can put your flower pots into them, they were $1.00 each.  They will look lovely on the porch or the back deck, with spring flowers in them.  Yes, I am determined to ring in spring!

This little green and white striped vase was $1 and it has my two favorite colors, no less.
 I can just picture it with a bouquet of fresh flowers in it!

This piece was $1.50 after discount.  It is flat on the back and has a wire hanger attached to it...just perfect for hanging some flowers from my back fence.
 I can't wait to get it up there.

I found five matching woven placemats for $3.  I love this look. 

All of these plates are new except the blue Wedgewood in the top right corner, it's one of two which came from my grandma, and I really wanted to incorporate them into my plate wall so I hunted for more plates with both blue and green in them.  I love what I found including the one in the center from Sweden, and the little one, top left, is an Oregon plate.  I think they will all look really wonderful together. 

Now I can't wait to pick up some plate hangers at the dollar store and get these plates on the wall!

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Our Very Own Vintage Window

{I told you I would share when our very own window was done...}


Beautiful Windows



Like These:

 Destined for a landfill.

Just doesn't seem right, does it?

These beautiful windows have so much history. 

They still have life left in them.

Too much to just be wasted, broken and forgotten.

So we rescued them.

And we started giving them new life and new homes.

One by One.

You may have seen one or two of them before, cleaned up and ready for their new families.

This one's part of Our Family now:

Painted in a soft green with crisp white lettering.
Just needs a little distressing.  :)

WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. 

I wonder what all our other orphan windows will become?

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ROADKILL RESCUE BENCH FEATURE

I can barely believe it!  Beckie Farrant of Roadkill Rescue is featuring the Outdoor Bench we made over from some old pizza parlor seating.

Please go and check it out and tell Beckie "HI".  I love what she is doing ~ sharing the creativity that so many people have when recreating something old, discarded or free.  Just be glad you can't hear me singing her praises for real...my singing voice sucks.  Really!  Now don't you feel lucky?

GO.  GO NOW.  GO CHECK OUT MY BENCH.  GO SHOW SOME LOVE TO BECKIE AND ALL THE OTHER "RESCUERS".  HURRY!!!  BEFORE I FIGURE OUT HOW TO POST AUDIO ON THIS BLOG!!!

http://roadkillrescue.net/2012/02/upholstered-outdoor-bench/

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Family Pride

I have a love affair with windows.  They let in the LIGHT.  Who wants to live in a cave?  Well, not this girl!  The only time I like it dark is when I'm watching a movie or sleeping...well...maybe one other thing...

...Uh Hummm...as I was saying...

I like to think of the windows in our home acting like a frame for our family.  A beautiful portrait of what life is like when we are able to share it with those we love.  Some of our family we are born with, and others we are privileged enough to choose.  Whichever way we become family, we are here to support each other, encourage one another, help each other up when we've fallen, and just be there through the good and bad.  (And I guess maybe stink up the bathroom...just saying.  You know who you are!)

We all can appreciate the need for family, right?  So, it goes without saying that with a strong, loving family comes Family Pride.  This is a good thing.  We all want to feel proud.  Proud of where we come from, proud of who we are.  Proud to say we are a FAMILY.  It helps us build each other up and root each other on throughout our lives.  That's so cool!

Can you imagine a life without either windows or family?  It's easy to forget how truly important both of these things are to us on a daily basis.  Yet they both add so much to our lives.  Our families love us, care for us and protect us.  They allow us to grow and and thrive in a world that is so big and impersonal at times.   Windows protect us from the wind, rain, heat and cold and yet they still allow in the light.  Leaving us protected but not feeling confined. 

I love Family Established signs.
And old windows.

The fact that we are able to combine the two into a welcoming sign ~ proclaiming pride in our family for all to see ~ makes me very happy.  It adds so much warmth to our homes!
Here is our newest sign.  I think it looks quite elegant in black.  I hope the family we've prepared this for finds much joy in viewing it each day.  We are finishing up our own family sign in soft green today as well.  Of course I'll have to share how it turns out when it's done!

Having a place to go - is a home. Having someone to love - is a family. Having both - is a blessing. ~Donna Hedges

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Green Themed Plate Wall

It was a good weekend for us. 

How about you?

My Mom and Dad were here for the weekend.  They were able to see the little guy playing basketball and we did some thrifting after.  We went to a little town called Mt. Angel, Oregon.   

We visited a place called the White Corner Store there.  This store had the most amazing things.  There were little themed vignettes with like colors all displayed together.  I love these type of displays. 

This photo shows the Black, White, Crystal and Silver!!!
My daughter was having fun with Grandma's new camera and the panorama feature.  Can you tell?

If you are ever in the Mt. Angel, OR area, you should stop by the White Corner Store on E. College Street and say hi to Diane, the owner.  She was so nice to talk to.  Not to mention she had the coolest things! 

She had a green and blue display that had some of the most darling pieces tucked into it.

I found my new green plate there!

It depicts a foxhunt scene and on the back it simply says "ENGLAND":

Then My Mom and I went to Goodwill and I found these:

I think I might have enough to start a plate wall. Why is it so difficult to find attractive green plates?  I'm getting there though.  Take a look at what I did, trying a couple of different arrangements, and tell me what you think. 

I kind of like the second one where I take out one of the three solid green plates to make it more balanced.  I just couldn't get them to fit any better with all three green plates in and I tried them in every possible pattern I could think of.  Hmmmmm....I'm going to play around with them some more.  I have a couple of blue print plates also...maybe those will look good mixed in.  We'll see...

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Bench Makeover ~ I think I have Spring Fever

Lately I've been drawn to pictures of outdoor spaces. 
Light, bright and cheerful spaces such as these:
{Click on photos to follow links to available sources}

Aren't they wonderful???
It's no wonder I'm pining for some sunny outdoor time.

After such an extended period of short, gray, rainy days that are the norm around the Pacific Northwest ~ It takes it's toll on my level of cheerfulness.  I'm not joking when I say I prefer summer months.  I am lucky that in my job I'm able to spend a decent amount of time outside even in winter, so I can get as much Vitamin D as possible.  I also lean towards Cottage and Scandinavian design due to their use of light, white and bright colors.  It may be dark outside more often, but I have some control over the evironment inside my home!

A lack of daylight hours combined with cold and rain for extended periods of time can take it's toll on all of us.  Mother Nature seems to understand this and starts throwing in beautiful, crisp, sunny days here and there this time of year.  Just enough to keep me satisfied!  It's sunny days like these that cause me to start dreaming of those long, warm, lazy summer days.  I thought I would work on a project that would help get me into a breezy, summertime mood.

One of Scott's Craigslist runs a few months ago scored us a couple of free benches.  There were two benches, one about 4 feet long and the other about 6 feet.  They had a pizza parlor label underneath.  I don't know why, but that seems kind of funny to me...how we ended up with these pizza parlor cast offs.  They weren't very pretty...painted a dark brown and covered in brown vinyl.  The vinyl upholstery had numerous cracks and repairs in it also. 

We were in need of some more furniture suitable for our back deck area for the warmer spring and summer months.  I thought it would be fun to make these benches over with some paint and outdoor fabric.  I was able to work on the smaller 4 foot bench this weekend.  Here is what I was able to accomplish:

The metal piece was painted silver to freshen it up, then the wood was painted a pale green with a touch of grey in it and distressed.

The seat was reupholstered in an indoor/outdoor fabric in a beachy, tropical pattern

Fun metal hardware was just an easy spray paint fix.

Bright Shiny Silver on this fabulous feature of the bench.

Colors that bring long, hot, relaxing summer days to mind. 
(And it doesn't clash with the pool either, that's a bonus!)

New life given to a discarded piece.  The fabric was attached to the underside of the seat with a manual staple gun.

A place to sit and sip lemonade!!!

Just in case you forgot how bad it was ~ ANOTHER BEFORE.

And again the AFTER shot!    ;)

This might be the perfect spot for a tiny nap...

I have a whole bunch of thrift store stuff to show you that I'll be using to finish jazzing up this back deck.  This little project took maybe two hours time and $10 in fabric.  The paint used we had on hand.  I purchased $20 total in outdoor fabric so I would have plenty to do some other back deck projects.  Can't wait to show you!!!

Here's hoping that your week is filled with fun projects, little naps, sun breaks and happiness!
xoxo,
Sherry

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