common ground

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Outdoor Pillows...cheap, cheep

Hubbs and I have been in full clean-up mode outside this weekend. Earlier this last week, I stained the upper deck off the sunporch. It gets tired looking, so a coat of semi-transparent stain from Olympic helps to freshen it up. It took me two days because we didn't move everything downstairs, I just scooted it from one side to the other. I still haven't done the stairs, that's a job for this week.

But my fun find yesterday was these super cute birdie pillows at Lowes for a super cute price...less that 12 dollars each. They had several colors of the bird pillows; this green, tan, chili pepper, and navy. I wanted something bright that would pop against the white vintage chair set.

I'm also armed with white spray paint

for a fresh-up coat for these babies.

(these chairs are soooo comfortable!)

Yes, that's my chipmunk barrier with brick pavers (around the pool). They are crazy little critters that chase each other this time of year, and unfortunately can't see that they're running straight for the pool.

...and then I really went out on a retro limb with these outdoor pillows. I've had these motel chairs for several years. I've given up on repainting them. Besides I love the rusty patina! That's an old sink set onto a sewing machine base...talk about rust...

I'm still working on getting my containers filled,

love this one with marigolds, petunias, and mini zinnias.

It gets full sun, so I have to make sure and water it everyday,

and shoo away the rabbits.

My potting bench clean up is still in progress. My tools and gardening goodies have migrated this Spring and I'm still trying to track them down. Those are just orphaned dresser drawers on the shelf for storage.

This is under the sunporch, and it's the "junk pile" all winter

where we store all the outside furniture.

The pool is going from green to blue as we speak,

it always takes a few days to "clean up", as we have a mesh pool cover,

which unfortunately lets in tree debris and yuck throughout the off season.

More backyard photos when that's looking better!

Hope you're having a wonderful Sunday,

see ya tomorrow for

I'll be linking up here this week:

Thrifty Fnds at Southern Hospitality

Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Table Top Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm

Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Knick of Time Tuesday

Mod Vintage Life

Cowgirl Up at Cedar Hill Ranch

Wow Us Wednesday

Primp

White Wednesday

Thriftin' On a Thursday

Very Merry Vintage Style

A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

House Party

Cottage Garden Party at Fishtail Cottage

xoxo,

Friday, May 4, 2012

Vintage Inspiration #86 Serendipity

Hi Everyone, time for Vintage Inspiration!

This week, like last week, I'm featuring one of you who links to the party. I'll be doing this more often, as I'm always amazed at some of the talent and fresh ideas you all share with us each week. This week I'd like to showcase a relatively new blog, Serendipity.

Sometimes you find a blog out there that just grabs you.

You know what I mean...

one that you feel an immediate connection with.

That's how I felt when I found

Kimberly from Serendipity.

So many things here to love...

Kimberly lives in a wonderful new home, but recently wanted to take her formal "traditional" decor in a somewhat different direction. This is where I totally relate. She didn't want to start over. She wanted to make the change using what she had...lovely traditional furniture. Here is a before shot of her formal "brick red" dining room.

Before

For the first step, repainting in a neutral color made a huge and immediate change.

After

And then there's the chandelier metamorphosis. A very formal brass chandy becomes a shabby garden delight with a burlap chain cover and accents with grapevine sconces lined with moss.

A hutch made from recycled barnwood, an old ladder, and a painted dresser all help transform this room into a more intimate and comfortable French Farmhouse Dining Room.

I love how she's used more rustic pieces to blend in with the "formal",

creating a wonderful vintage farmhouse feel.

Hope you'll drop by Serendipity and say Hello to Kimberly, you'll really enjoy looking back through her posts to also see her Living Room transformation with paint. (If you pin any photos of Kimberley's please go back to her blog so she gets the credit.)

So much other talent out here,

so here are a few other great links from last week:

Elyse from Shabby Sweet Tea remakes a ho-hum table and chairs

into the perfect Breakfast Room dinette set.

Beautifully embellished matchbox keepsake creations

from Swinging on a Star

Going from old brass to bronze Chandy makeover from Laurmelas House

Funky Junk Finds from Joy at A Vintage Green

(love the inside of these suitcases!)

Lee from Soul Style shares her love of vintage lighting

and gives a great tutorial on wiring it up.

And the cutest idea;

Chalkboard chargers from Daune at Cottage in the Oaks

Hanging out with my party gals this weekend!

French Country Cottage

Thanks everyone that comes by to link up each week. You are Amazing! It's so hard to choose features out of so many great links! Please remember to have a visible link within your post, it just takes a minute and it let's everyone else know where to party. If I can do it, you can do it! Each week I find blogs I'd love to feature but there is no mention of where you've linked up. Just a courtesy. Also, my email server has been down since Monday evening. If you've needed to contact me please leave a comment here if it's timely. Hopefully, it will be back up by the end of the day.

OK Everyone, time to link up all your fun this week,

"anything vintage or vintage inspired".

xoxo,