The Screened Porch Is Open For Summer Fun!

This is going to be a double party post. Rhondi's Rose Colored Glasses is having her second annual Porch Party and since I used some thriftstore finds I'm also linking to Rhoda Southern Hospitality Thrifty Treasures Party. Please visit both blogs if you'd like to see more porch decorating and yardsale/thriftstore finds. I think Mr. Linky is giving people problems so if you don't see the linky just go to the comments - people will say if they're participating.

My porch is divided into two areas. A living room area and a dining room area. So we'll start here first. This is that faux wicker. It looks like the real thing but you don't have to worry about it falling apart.

The cushions are from Home Depot. The little white skirting is an old dust ruffle. I didn't like the openness in the front of the loveseat so I repurposed an old stained dust ruffle.

The curtains are ones that I used to hang in my living room. I used to take all my toile down in the summer and put these curtains up and change the pillows and redo my china cabinet with my floral dishes. Not this year! I'm so busy with garden projects that I just didn't have the time or desire to fuss with all of that. So we used them in here instead.

They are hung off of plumbing pipes! We just love the industrial look of them. Very inexpensive and easy to do!

Remember this? I painted the "fleurs" last week. I used some old Ball jars from the thriftstore as vases.

A little sidetable with a bin underneath for stashing magazines and books! There's nothing as relaxing as coming out here with a cool drink and new magazine - except maybe taking a nap out here!

I found this tray at the thriftstore last week and I've been wanting one that I could paint. This isn't a plastic one but it's not a nice silverplated one. It's really light weight. I sprayed it with some primer and then some apple green paint. I sealed it with a coat of spray poly since I knew I wanted to use it outside.

Here it is finished. The lantern on the left is from thriftstore and the small white -one is IKEA. I'm hoping to find one of those really large lanterns at the thriftstore!

I like to have the chaise covered in something comfy since that's where we usually nap. I have a vintage chenille bedspread on there now. In the fall I usually put a quilt so we can also wrap ourselves in it. That pretty pillow is made out of vintage barkcloth.

Still with me? LOL! I've got alot to show you and I was going to do two posts but I'm taking a few days off so I figured I'd just do it all at once!

Now we'll look at the other side!

We use ladderback chairs out here. I have three - I've been looking for a 4th for over a year now with no luck! All the ones I see have rush seats these have solid seats and that's what I need. I painted one yellow, one green and one blue and they're numbered on the back.

A tabletop birdbath I got for a song because one of the birds is missing!

I lined up my cloches on the bottom of the buffet.

I found these two old pictures at the thriftstore last week and knew I wanted to use them in my porch. When you spend $2 or $3 for a picture you really don't have to worry about it being damaged by the weather. So why not hang something pretty outside!

Don't they look pretty with the frames painted yellow. I used the same paint as on the buffet. One day I'm going to do a post about a pint of paint and all the things you can do with it LOL!

Those are balls that our dog Maxie has found. I would walk him every afternoon during the school year at a park that had a baseball field and he would almost always find a baseball. I was at Salvation Army yesterday and they were selling old baseballs for 99 cents each!

The little white acorn finial is from the thriftstore and the bird on the cake stand is an ugly Dollar Tree one that I spray painted white!

From the dining room looking out into the screened porch.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my porch and thriftstore makeovers! I will be enjoying it tomorrow when I have my morning coffee! I'm taking a few days off and I'll be back Friday. Thanks for stopping by!

Flaunt Your Red!

Stacey at Poofing the Pillows is hosting this months Flaunt Your Red party! I love red! It's really my favorite color so I'm always happy to participate.

I've been on the look out for more of these little Avon demitasse cups. They're so perfect for displaying some little hydrangea heads from my garden. I love that the pattern looks like toile. You know I love toile, particularly red toile!

These are candlesticks I got at the thriftstore and I painted them my favorite color...red!

This is a toile pillow cover I found in my closet! I totally forgot I had two of these. They were mixed in with some vintage tablecloths and I found them while organizing those. I don't think I've ever even used them before! Good things happen when you clean~smile!

Thanks for stopping by to see me Flaunt My Red and be sure to come back Monday to have a look at my screened porch. I'm having lots of fun getting it ready for the summer! Have a great weekend everyone!

House Blessings

I everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. We did even though the weather was less than ideal. We did a little junking over the weekend and I found this beautiful embroidery piece.

The style is called Candlewicking which a type of white embroidery work on unbleached cotton. From what I've read it traditionally has used the Colonial knot and backstitch.

Anyway, I love embroidered things and I have quite a few embroidered pillowcases. So when I saw this framed piece I just fell in love. I love the simplicity of just using white on white!

This could be the start of a new collection for me! I could actually do some embroidery pieces myself - I'd really love that!

In looking around my home I realized that I had a few other pieces with the same theme! The piece above I got on ebay many years ago!

This little one I've had for over 10 years!

I'm busy getting my screened porch ready for the porch party on Monday. I really find these parties good motivation to get things done! Now if only someone would have a clean your bathroom or clear off your desk party - I could use one of those!

Todays Thrifty Treasures - Lamp Makeover

It's that time again! Time to show your thriftstore/yardsale treasures. Be sure to visit Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for more Today's Thrifty Treasures.

I got this little lamp at Goodwill last week and a few other things. Which was really great because I had been wanting a small night light type lamp to put in my kitchen since we usual leave the undercabinet lights on at night. But it didn't work for me as is so I decided to try my hand at re-doing the shade - something I've never done before and surprisingly it wasn't hard!

Can you believe I only had this little scrap of black and white toile in my fabric stash! With all the toile in my house! I guess I've used it all! But I had just enough to do this little lampshade. I actually used a tutorial from Rhoda that she did in 2007 that I had printed out for future reference! See Rhoda, I finally tried it - took me a while!

Here's the after. I painted the base black and added some white pom pom fringe. The plate is also a happy Goodwill find.

I don't know why I was intimated at the thought of recovering a shade? It really wasn't that hard at all. Oh the possibilities.....!

I also found this fabulous frame below. I bought it not only for the frame but for the canvas.

My daughter has been painting a lot and the frame with this canvas was less than buying a new canvas. She just paints over the existing paintings - professional artists do it all the time!

Try something new this week! Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't but the fun is in the trying and learning a new skill. Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Les Fleurs

Want to see what I did today? I'm getting ready for Rhondi's Porch Party on June 1. I figure that's good motivation to get my screened porch ready for the summer. You don't need a porch to participate. It can be a deck, patio or any outdoor space. I hope lots of people join in - it should be fun!

I bought this...I don't know what it is....I usually use it for flowers so I'll call it a planter. I bought this planter at TJ Maxx a few years ago and decided to give it a little makeover for the summer.

First I gave it a bit of a white wash and then I decided to paint the word "Fleurs" on it. Since "fleurs" is what I usually use it for! I printed out the word on Microsoft Works Word processor in 220 script font. Then I covered the back of the paper with crayon. I traced the word onto the planter (the crayon transfers the letters). Then I painted in the letters with some periwinkle blue craft paint.

I decided it was too light and traced the letters with a black paint pen. Not sure if I like it though. I figure I can always do it over on the other side. It actually looks better in person. The black outlining photographs oddly.

Here it is all done filled with some Wave Petunias waiting to be planted.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!