what I've been painting

I realize it's October and I should be blogging about all things pumpkin.  But I must show you my most recent finds.  My patio has been furniture defficient for a long time.  It bugs me that I don't have a comfortable place to sit out there.  I kind of wanted rocking chairs out there, I imagined that would be really relaxing to rock and look at my backyard.  I looked online and in stores.  Walmart has some wooden rocking chairs for $50 each.  I liked them alot, but just couldn't bite the $100 bullet.
While yard saling with my girls on Saturday, we spotted a wicker rocking chair.  I just about ran the car into a pole to get to it.  And would you believe it was only $5?!  It was natural wicker color with dark green trim.  So what. Paint will fix that.
After a couple of days, I thought I'd check craigslist to see if I could find another one.  And would you believe I did?  Just a short drive and $30 later, it was mine. (I didn't want to talk her down to $5, but I should have)     It was already white but needed repainting.
Then the next day I found some chair cushions at Walmart on clearance for $8.50 each.
Let's do the math, shall we?
Wicker chair: $5
Wicker chair: $30
Cushions: $17
Paint: Free, it was left here by the previous owners
Total= $52

The $30 chair is the bigger of the two.  They aren't the exact same chair, but pretty close.

 

The cushion has to be squeezed in to fit the smaller chair, but it's fine.

I'm pretty pleased and hope they last a long time.

I'll show you what else I've been painting tomorrow.

 

My Neighborhood

 I love my neighborhood.   It's pretty quiet, alot of retirees on my street.  I love that all the houses are different, no cookie cutters here.  Everyone says hello while walking their dog.  My neighbor across the street gave us a big bag of home grown vegetables last weekend.  Nice!  And I also love my neighborhood because they give me trash that I turn into treasure.  Well, they don't exactly GIVE it to me.  I have to hunt for it when they put it out on the curb.  But it's kind of like they're giving it to me because I know they don't want it anymore and they would probably love to know that it's going to a good home and will get a second chance at life.  I'd like to think so.
Besides the old weathered door that now has a prominent spot in my home, and the wood turned birdie bed and breakfast , I have added the newest member of the neighborhood trash to treasure program to my collection.  The chair.  If I remember right, we had these chairs around our kitchen table growing up.  Am I right Mom?  This chair is a little wobbly, but the seat is in tact and, well, it's just darn cute!   But it can be cuter.

Cottage Cute!

Well, hello rusted old milking pail that I got in Willcox while thrifting with my girls and parents.  You sure look lovely with your pretty flowers and sitting on that cute chair! 

Do you participate in your neighborhood trash to treasure program?  Please tell me you do.  My husband thinks it's the same as finding an old sock on the side of the road and wearing it.  He just doesn't understand.  Poor man.

The Shabby Creek Cottage Transformation Thursday

For the Birds

My girls are good pickers.  They spotted this on the side of the road in our neighborhood and knew exactly what we'd do with it.  Do you know what we did with it?  No? 

Well first things first were to spray paint it a happy spring color.  We can't have it looking all undone and raw.  It's a happy color now.  So much better.  Isn't paint wonderful?  Next I put some eye hooks in and ran rope through.  So pretend I showed you that, ok?

And now presenting:  The New Bird Feeder!!! 

 A lovely little bird bed and breakfast. 

There's plenty of room for feathered fowl of all sizes.  I just hope the pidgeons don't hear about it.  The birds were quite jealous of these girls getting all the scraps and feed.

Now there's a place for everyone and we can watch it all from the patio.

Thrifty Decor Chic It's a spray paint party
Feathered Nest Friday
Spring Week Party
Transformation Thursday

Spring at my house

Is is Spring yet?  I haven't looked at the calendar to see if it's official, I just go by how I feel.  And I feel like it's Spring.   I got my hands dirty yesterday and Springified my house.  I planted some more flowers in the front flower bed.

They smell so good and look so pretty.

I hung my Spring wreath on the door.

It looks a little sad and thrown together, I'll have to freshen it up later.

I got this huge pot at a yard sale last summer I think, and it's just been sitting around.  So I gave it a little paint job, not a very good one, but maybe it looks a little aged now?  Yeah that's it, it looks aged now.  Planted some flowers and put it in between the two garage doors to give the driveway a little Spring.

Pots on the patio table.  This is what I see out the window when I'm at the kitchen sink.  A nice view.

This is a sitting area outside my bedroom door, on the back patio.  I got these chairs at a thrift store, painted them gray and called it good.  Planted the flowers in a tin planter to give it some Spring.

I started these seeds inside a few weeks ago and we converted this box that used to be the firepit into our new garden.  It's an itty bitty baby garden.  We'll see how it does.

It's fun to get your hands in the dirt and watch things grow.  What have you done to welcome Spring?