A new find....

I recently picked up this architectural piece at 

my favorite antique shop.

It has a creepy gargoyle on all the sides

 which for some odd reason I find kinda crazy... but cool?!?!?

Have a great week my friends!!!

The bank barn……

The other day while on a little road trip we came across this old limestone bank barn.We were intrigued and decided to stop and take a closer look.

The history of the barn….

Of course we had to take a peek inside…..

It was a beautiful evening….I’m so glad we took the time to stop and were able to enjoy all the beauty!

Have a great week!!!

What’s old is new again……

 

As we all know old houses tend to be very quirky! Some things make you scratch your head while others make you downright crazy.One of those quirky things that made me crazy was this cabinet in the living room.

It was a cute little antique cabinet that was added when the house was turned into a B&B in 1985. My husband and I debated whether it was original to the house or not for years. I knew it was not but had a hard time convincing my husband until we were given some old pictures of the house. Sure enough the cabinet was not in any of the old pictures!

The issue was not the cabinet itself but the actual placement. It was so close to the window that the drapery panels always covered part of it up. It made the corner of the living room really crowded and unbalanced looking.

Several months ago I was able to finally convince my husband to remove the cabinet in hopes of finding a different spot for it….. possibly in the dining room. It sat in storage for months until two weeks ago when my darling husband decided to tackle the cabinet and refinish it.

I realized when he was half way thru the refinishing process that the cabinet would look absolutely perfect in the upstairs hallway instead of in the dining room as planned. I was so happy that we were able to adjust the shelves to accomodate my antique blue transferware plates and platter to fit.

Before the finish on the cabinet was several different colors. We could tell someone had started to refinish it but then never finished.

Today we are finally enjoying warmer temperatures but it is VERY windy. I’m not complaining though because they are calling for cold and snow again in a couple of days…..

Have a great week my friends!

Joining the party at:

Savvy Southern Style for WOW Us Wednesdays.

Hope to see you there!

A quick little paint project…..

 

After I bought the new drapes for the dining room the blue and white plates I had on the wall sconce shelves  suddenly didn’t look so good anymore. I searched and searched for something different to put on the little shelves but nothing was quite right. Then one day I saw some wicker candle holders while looking on Pinterest. I thought they would be perfect…..the only problem was they were really expensive! So, I kept searching and found these less expensive ones.

They were the perfect size and affordable! The ones I saw originally were a grey willow though and I thought of them every time I walked thru the room and saw the brown wicker ones. The other day it occurred to me to just paint them!!!

I brushed a little grey paint on them…..first a lighter shade then a darker shade. While they were better they still weren’t quite right though. So, I sanded some of the paint off and then they were just what I had envisioned all along!!!!!

A quick little fix and all it took was a little paint!

Joining the party at:

Savvy Southern Style

Remember to stop back by here on Wednesday evening to join the Share Your Style Party.

TGIF!!!

 

Happy Friday!!!!!

A little eye candy to start the weekend off right……

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Have a great weekend my friends!

Around the house lately…….

 

I have been making some changes around the house for a few months now.

Today I thought I would share a sneak peek.

 

 

Joining the party at:

Savvy Southern Style

Be sure to stop back by on Wednesday evening for the Share Your Style party!

Hope to see you there!

What color paint is that?

Whenever I share a project I get a ton of emails and questions about the

paint colors I used and how the finish was applied.

There really isn’t an easy answer because I mix all my own colors

with the paints I have on hand.

I started doing this because I live in a rural area and a trip to town takes about two hours round trip.

So, it isn’t always feasible to run to the home improvement store to pick up

paint whenever the mood strikes.

I have about four main colors that I usually mix from and a few other ones like white and etc.

The four main colors are:

  medium grey, light grey,bluish grey, and a lighter bluish grey.

The best way to achieve the look of an antique piece is to apply the paint in different layers

along with sanding and dry brushing.

I also use dark wax and clear wax on all the pieces to seal them

when I have achieved the desired look.

Have a great weekend!!!!

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure…….

I’m not sure why but I am really drawn to architectural salvage pieces……which most people consider to be junk and I of course consider to be treasure!

I have been “collecting” for 25+ years so my house is pretty full but somehow I still seem to manage to squeeze more in! My newest find is this salvaged window frame.

It is a quirky piece…..I love the piece of metal in the center and the braces in the corners!

I’m not sure where it will end up but for now it has found a spot in the living room.

 

Joining the party at:

 Savvy Southern Style & The Essence Of Home

Hope to see you there!

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Changes in the guest bedroom…….

 

For quite a while I had a hotel collection duvet on the bed in here. It was pretty but the thread embroidery was not quite the right color. It didn’t look terrible but it didn’t quite match either. So, I finally ordered a new duvet and euro shams in the correct color.

 

 

 

I was a little disappointed when the monogramed euro shams arrived from Ballard Designs……the font of the monogram wasn’t quite what I had in mind. Apparently I boo-booed when I ordered them and picked the wrong font. They are not returnable so they are all mine now!!!!

 

I honestly thought the “C” in the center was a “G” when they first arrived.

 

 

The trumeau mirror got a mini overhaul a few months ago. I finally got the color just right…….I can’t even keep track of how many different colors of paint this mirror has had now?!?! That’s Booger photo bombing…..he has his shirt on since it was a little cool this morning.

 

 

 

 

I added this wood trim corner guard to the wall……we salvaged it from an old house many years ago. I always knew I would find the perfect spot for it someday.

 

 

A different pillow was added to the chair…….

 

 

Thanks for stopping in today….have a great week!

Joining the party at:

 Savvy Southern Style and Northern Nesting

Hope to see you there!

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Architectural fragment……

This past weekend we went junkin in hopes of finding some amazing treasures.

It was pretty much a bust with the exception of two finds.

TGIF!!!

A couple of days ago the weather was beautiful…..I was able to open the windows and enjoy the breeze and fresh air!!! Now it is supposed to snow….It’s hard to believe that January is almost over but on the other hand that means spring is just around the corner!!!!! And who doesn’t LOVE spring right?

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Antique slate chalkboard…..

 

 

A few years ago the former mayor of our town gifted us with a piece of slate used as a chalkboard in an old school. He thought we might like it since we live in an old schoolhouse. We knew right away where we would use it but several years passed and the project kept getting put on the back burner. For years we had a small chalkboard in a gold frame in this spot. The electrical panel for the house is actually on this wall and we use the chalkboard to cover it up. A recent upgrade to a bigger electrical box forced us to dig that old piece of slate out and make a frame for it so we could finally hang it up to cover the new larger box.

My husband used an old piece of trim board he had been hoarding for years. He cut it in half to make this chunky frame for the piece of slate.

The chalkboard has lines etched into the slate. If you run your finger over the line you can feel the groove. My husband tested it out and wrote the first phone number on the chalkboard.

He added a piece of wood on the bottom and made a groove in it to hold the pieces of chalk.The slate chalkboard is a hefty piece…..it took the two of us to get it hung on the wall!!!!!

Joining the party at:

 Savvy Southern Style 

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