little by little . . .

 

Little by little,

I am ticking off things off the list.

The yard looked like this last week

but you can see that I have made some changes.

The first change was to move the yellow cupboard from the porch to the hallway and give it a new paint job.

This old cabinet has been many colors over the 35 years I have owned it and this time I created a mint green using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Antibes, Pure White and Marine Blue.

A touch of yellow peeks out on the edges

and a little bird knob graces the front of the cabinet.

We are planning to paint the walls white, but for now I am content with the green cabinet against yellow walls.

The reason I wanted the cabinet inside the house was to store placemats and table runners - the pottery was added for fun!

The removal of the cabinet from the porch led to moving the baker's rack from the side yard.

I tried a lot of different items on the shelves until I settled on pottery.

While I was painting the cabinet, Steve was working on another project on the list.

A friend gave us this bench in January and Steve freshened it up with a couple of coats of polyurethane.

Another project on the list was to spice up the vintage window hanging on the wall.

My hand is healed enough that I can sew once again and it took just a few minutes to sew up a little  banner I stenciled.

The area was finished off with an old ladder that got bumped from the living room.

The curtain for the garage door is finished and

 tomorrow I am tackling the "jungle" in the garden.

With only 7 items left on the list and 2 weeks to go before JP's graduation party,

life is definitely good!

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Join me at

Ms. Toody Goo Shoes for Best of the Weekend

Rooted in Thyme for Simple & Sweet Fridays

Finally - an old ladder . . .

The weather has been strange for July - cool yet muggy - and I have been loathe to do much.

Yesterday, after 2 hours of tennis, I wanted to just sit and read, but I forced myself to get up and do something productive.

I painted my old coal bucket red.

I have been planning to paint it for about 3 weeks - lazy me!

I added some dried statice to the bucket and set it out to add a bit of red to this corner of the garden.

After that major accomplishment, I talked Steve into going to the nursery with me and we stopped at a new second hand store with a great name - ROTATIONS.

I found an old weathered ladder.

I know I am probably the last person in blogland to finally buy a ladder for decoration, but there were 2 main factors keeping me from buying a ladder.

#1- I am cheap

 #2 - cheap ladders are not common in my area - I saw one for $800.

I couldn't buy the ladder because we were in Steve's sports car, but this morning, I went and forked over $15 for a broken ladder.

Another reason I have never bought a ladder is that we have a small house and no place to showcase a fun old ladder.

This is the area between our house and the garage and it has the ugly structure to hold the water heater.

If it was up to me, we would build a 2 car garage (with a studio on top) and put the water heater in the garage.

But, it is up to the Coastal Commission who has declared that we cannot build a 2 car garage unless it is 20 feet back from the street which would mean building the garage in the entry.

So, I put up with the water heater and have disguised it with an old red baker's rack.

I want the baker's rack moved to the side of the house to hold gardening supplies and the ladder is the perfect solution for what to put in place of the rack.

I slapped on a little green paint here and there, added buckets, flowers and the same old birdhouses that had been on the baker's rack.

Once the area was spiffed up, I got Steve to help me put the baker's rack on the side of the house.

It made it to a side of the house, but not the side I originally planned.

When we walked past the dining room, we set it in the alcove and I knew then that I would have to find something else to hold my garden tools.

The baker's rack is now both useful and decorative holding things I use around the garden.

Since I began blogging, I have wanted:

a weathered ladder - got it

a weathered door - still waiting

a weathered window - got it

2 out of 3 isn't bad.

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I am sharing at the these fun parties

The Dedicated House - Anything Blue Friday

Fishtail Cottage - Cottage Garden Party

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson - Share Your Cup Thursday

Ivy and Elephants - What's It Wednesday

French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday

The Charm of Home - Home Sweet Home

Rooted in Thyme  - Sweet and Simple Fridays 

All In A Day's Work

Last Sunday was a spectacular spring day - clear blue sky, no wind and nothing I had to accomplish.

After our morning beach walk, I headed to one of my favorite spots in our little cottage - the garden.

The piece has been hanging on the fence outside my bedroom, flowerless, for too many years.

Last weekend I got JP to suspend it from the eaves on the exterior wall of Steve's studio.

I have always felt like this section of the wall looked stark and cold.

I put in some plants, but I'm not sure if they will survive in such a shallow container.

I bought a little bird and heart at American Home and Garden to add a little something.

I'm happy with the way it turned out and hopeful that the plants will thrive.

With that task complete, I moved to the front of the house to tackle this baker's rack.

JP commented on his last visit that he wasn't impressed with my display of discarded beach toys.

It has been niggling at the back of my mind all week.

I can't have any plants or flowers because the dryer vent is just below the window so everything either dies or gets covered in lint.

Although it is off to the side of the front, it is seen by anyone who goes to the front door.

I gathered some old birdhouses from around the house and yard

and gave some new life to the old shelf.

I ate lunch in the garden and

decided I had done a pretty good day's work!

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I'm linked up at  Savvy Southern Style