Peonies and Roses

Peonies are my favorite and when I mentioned this to my farmer friend she gave me her first three blooms of peonies, along with some peach roses, from her magnificent flower garden.  I noticed that this year is a particularly great year for flowers and she said she realized the same thing. She has so many roses growing everywhere around her property that as soon as I stepped out of my car I could smell the sweet scent of roses wafting through the air.

I brought the blooms to my house and placed them in a tarnished silver urn atop my dresser.  Now my room is filled with the sweet fragrance of peonies and roses.

I love the lush, round blooms of the peony flowers.  I wish they bloomed for a longer time, but that is my only complaint about these stunning blossoms and I suppose it makes me appreciate them even more.

Along with the wonderful fragrance, this homegrown bouquet, paired with my tarnished, "yard sale find" urn, adds such classic warmth and vibrancy to my bedroom. 

 I hope you are all enjoying your springtime posies too!

French Country Baskets

I love baskets; wooden baskets, wire baskets, all kinds of baskets!  

I found this dark, wooden basket at a garage sale for $5.  It is a nice, large basket and I think the little, metal grommets add so much character to its unique style.  I thought it would look fabulous in an aged, French country style.  I started by whitewashing the basket with white paint thinned with water, wiping off the excess with a rag.  This is what it looked like after the whitewash treatment.

Next, I gave it a coat of Ralph Lauren's glaze in smoke color, which gave the basket a weathered gray patina.  I suppose I should call this technique graywashing.

This wire basket also came from a yard sale and only cost $1.  This photo is not very good at showing the color of the basket before.  It was actually dark black with kind of orange-colored wood handles.

I wanted to create another French country style basket with muted colors, so I applied the same treatment as I did to the other basket.  It really toned down the basket and gave it an antiqued look.

I love the way the handles look after being "graywashed".

Ahhh...Don't you love hydrangeas?  Each flower is like a hundred tiny flowers all held together in one large, magnificent bloom.

This post is linked to:

    

Blue and White Vintage Cabinet

I am always amazed by how cheap furniture is at yard sales.  I saw this plain, little cabinet at an estate sale recently and the woman told me I could have it for $2!  I did not fall in love with it immediately because it was just so plain and boxy, but who could really pass up a two dollar piece of furniture?!  I did love the vintage knobs with the little drops.  Also, the size makes it versatile as a side table or night stand, with the added bonus of being able to store junk inside.

It sat in my living room for a while, as I decided exactly what to do to it to make it a little more...well, less boring.  I finally decided to paint the edges a different color than the rest of it and to add something to the doors.  I was going to stencil a design on them, but at the last minute I decided to keep the cabinet true to its simplistic design and paint on a basic rectangle in the center of each door.  I think it gives the doors a faux raised panel look and adds some interest and sophistication.

After sanding and primering the cabinet, I painted it with an understated blue called rain washed by Behr.  For the white trim I used swiss coffee.

After taking the doors off, I removed all the hardware and applied a few coats of vanilla spray paint.

I used my sewing straight edge to mark where to lay the tape for my lines on the front of the cabinet doors.

I laid the tape just outside the lines and painted the vertical lines and then the horizontal lines or vice versa.

Very easy!

The rain washed blue with white trim worked like magic; it transformed the once dull cabinet into an airy and graceful piece of furniture.

This post is linked to:

Happy Easter

I hope you are all having a restful and wonderful Easter Sunday!

I cut some spring blossoms from a beautiful tree by my house.

My sister, Emily, bought me this large artichoke at a yard sale.

I painted it white, distressed it all over and glazed it for a shabby look.

Thank you Emily! I love it!

I picked up this old frame at a yard sale.

I painted it white and made a chalkboard for it.

Happy Easter!!!

This post is linked to: