Friday, June 10, 2011

Vintage Inspiration Friday #41 My Latest Find



I'm still working outside trying to get things "presentable".

The Spring was so rainy and yucky
and now it's in the 90's and hasn't rained for 2 weeks.
When it's this hot my body just rebels against weeding
and anything relating to outside work,
 it just wants to float in the pool with a glass of lemonade.






I wanted to share a fun outside find for my flowers,
that I located a few weeks ago.
This perfect size, red antique wheelbarrow.



Even though I might not have painted it red myself,
I have to admit it really looks cute with red and white flowers in it.

I winter all my geraniums in the John Deere room
(the majority of them are coral red)

So I thought I'd try to do white ones here in the wheelbarrow.




For some reason I couldn't locate many white ones,
so I just planted a variety of flowers
along with the few white geraniums that I did find;
petunias, million bells, lantana, and some vinca vine.





This gets most of the day's sun
and the lantana seems to do well in the heat.
petunias, not so much...




If you're wondering about the brick barrier around the pool
it's our chipmunk deterrent.
With all the chasing and fun that a chipmunk has when it falls in love,
once in the pool, they can't get out.
This has helped tremendously!



Here are a few other planted wheelbarrows from Pinterest








I'm working on putting together a little potting bench under the deck.
Hopefully, I'll have that to show soon.

How are your outdoor spaces shaping up?



Now, some great posts from last weeks VIF:


 Pretties up a rustic box with her gorgeous peonies.
If you haven't met Lara you will fall in love
with her gorgeous photos.




Lemon Lane Cottage
sets a table with her family heirloom





Debbie, from Confessions of a Plate Addict
shows us how to make Frenchy Anduze Pots
without the trip to France!
(love this!!)



And my good friend Donna,
of D. R'eyne's Everyday Elegance
shares her wonderful Tinker House.
(magazine material for sure)



I'm linking up with these great weekend parties:











Hope you'll join in for the party,
remember...
anything vintage or vintage inspired.
And pretty please, link back to this post.
Just grab the button on the sidebar.
It's a bummer coming to visit and there's no mention of
Vintage Inspiration Friday
anywhere... boo hoo!
it just takes a minute to let people know who you're linking to.


I'm trying my best to get to everyone who links up,
this blogger comment business is really slowing me down...

oh, and don't forget the
Summer Blog Party
the week of June 20-25.
I'll be showing some fun ways to enjoy summer
that have a vintage twist!


Have a great weekend everyone.
lots of love,






Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Wear Repair

I always like to show the "good" before I show the "bad" and the "ugly".
So if you have an aversion to rotten wood and peeling paint
well, then you better not continue...


I have a great space off of our lower level family room;
a large concrete patio of sorts.

The problem is that there are some shady spots that never see the sun...
a drainage problem that invites mosquitoes to eat you for lunch...
(which hopefully is now fixed)

and an issue with dirt runoff from our shake roof that causes
 the concrete to be stained.

Oh, and did I mention squirrels with giant gnawing teeth?

When my inlaws moved out of their house a few years ago,
we brought home this park bench which we had given them.

Layers of paint that weren't pretty.




It was screaming for help.
(help meeeeeeeeee....)

And then there is a great bench that my daddy made about 25 years ago,
but was slowly rotting due to the elements...

and said giant gnawing squirrel teeth.




I'd finally had enough of this unsightly stuff,
and decided I needed to actually DO something about it,
instead of just ignoring it.





So I bought an industrial size tub of spackling
and went to work.




Not perfect, but at least I think I bought it a couple more years,
before it would have to go to the woodpile.


Bench looking better.
Sorry, no distressing here.
In a few months it will be plenty "distressed".


A can of white Rustoleum and this little set was looking better, too.


Even the planters got a little Behr Ultra Exterior on them.


So here's the space.
I'm not sure what I want to do with it.
But at least it's not so scary, now.

I'm going to be using this area for some al fresco dining
Hope you're planning on joining in!









I'm joining in on these great parties,
find the links on my sidebar.









Hope to see you Thursday afternoon with some
 Vintage Inspiration




Staying busy,
hope you're having a great week!
love,