Phila. Flower Show 2012

Every year I look forward to the spring flower show in Philadelphia. It lifts me right out of my winter funk and inspires me to be creative in my garden.

This year the theme was "Hawaii The Islands of Aloha". While everything looked amazing and the designers were very creative, I was a little disappointed. I guess there weren't enough flowers for my taste. There were a lot of colorful displays but not very many actual flowers.

Normally, I take hundreds of photos but this year I just wasn't inspired. We had to go later in the week than we usually do and it was sooo much more crowded. Makes it much more difficult to get any really good shots. Overall it was a good day. I love spending the day with my hubby no matter where we are.

Here are a few of the photos I did manage to take.

 Might try this idea on a smaller scale. Hmm....the gears are turning.

 Awesome surfboard.

 Love how they turned the tires into a colorful toucan planter.

 Another wellies idea! Oh my.

Next years show will be a British Invasion called "Brilliant". I am really looking forward to this one. I am so in love with the English style gardens. I can't wait. 

Boot-ylicious

I'm sorry for the long delay in posting this. Unfortunately I have a chronic autoimmune disease that can flare up at anytime and really knocks me off my feet. I'm on the up swing again and am excited to share with you the ideas I managed to implement during my flare.

My Easter/Spring outdoor decorations have been up since just before Easter. I wanted to do a spring showers theme and I think it turned out great. Here's the 411 on what I did.

I found these adorable children's boots at the thrift store for only .50 cents and immediately knew what I wanted to do with them.

I remembered this display I had seen at the Philadelphia Flower Show a couple years ago. I absolutely loved the idea, I just never got around to actually making it.

So this was the year I was going to get it done. I started with my thrift store find and spray painted them pink. A few coats of paint and some sealer and this is how they turned out.

I used a zip tie thru the loops of the boots to keep them together. Then using some floral foam and Dollar Store flowers, I had a cute spring decoration for my garden bench. I also found this adorable little girls dress at the same thrift store for .85 cents. I knew I wanted to display them together, but how?

As you can see below I ended up using an old wrought iron flag pole. I used clothes pins on the inside of the dress to attach it to the bench so it wouldn't blow away or twist in the wind. I've had it out there for a while now and it has held up pretty good.

I was also inspired by this idea on http://www.bhg.com

 

So, to round out my pink and white spring showers theme, I spray painted on old umbrella, (yep, you guessed it, from the thrift store) and tied a ribbon around the center. I filled it with floral foam and more Dollar Store flowers and hung it on my front door. Added a flower swag above the door and I was done.

Hope this inspires you, maybe for next year since the posting is late, to think outside the box when it comes to decorating your house. The total cost of these projects was less than 10 dollars including the paint.

Working on a couple projects I came up with while stuck in bed. Check back to see the results shortly.

Picture Ladder

This is a project I made quite a while ago. I found this wooden ladder, not sure if that's really what it's used for, but anyway, that's what it looks like to me.

I had seen them used to display small items on the shelves but I had more than enough shelves. So I pondered awhile and came up with this picture display.

I had these frames that were just big enough for a 3.5 x 5 photo and they were the perfect size to fit in between the slats.

I used cup hooks for the ladder part and eye hooks for each frame. It was simple. I just placed the frame where I wanted it on the slat and marked each piece so I knew where to drill the holes. I made small pilot holes for the hooks first so it wouldn't crack the wood.

This is my son, Jason, when he was little. He is now 26.

I used 2 saw-tooth hangers to attach the ladder to the wall and then simply hung the pictures on the hooks.

Here it is hanging in my bedroom. (I just realized how white my walls look. Lol. They're actually a tan color.)

Hope this inspires you to create something out of the ordinary.

Thanks for stopping by and check back later for more projects.

Two Dollar Auction Redo

I recently bought this side table at an auction for only $2.00 dollars. What a steal! Actually, I snagged several pieces that day. A bar chair for $2.00, a hutch for $6.00 and an old ironing board for a buck. No one seemed to be bidding on the "less than perfect" furniture. Their loss.

As you can see below, it needed quite a bit of work.

The top had some scratches and burn marks.

The middle shelf also had scratches and burn marks.

There was mold and dirt on the sides and underneath.

I removed the drawers and all the hardware and gave it a good cleaning with Murphy's Oil Soap. Then I disassembled the drawers. Apparently someone worked on this piece before. The drawer rails were on backwards and that's what kept them from closing. Also, I forgot to take pictures, sorry, but the bottoms of the drawers were really disgusting and bowed.

I sanded it all down and used my Wagner Power Painter to apply 2 coats of black paint and 2 coats of semi gloss sealer, both of which I already had. I made new drawer bottoms out of a piece of luan left over from another project. I replaced the knobs with ones I found at the Habitat ReStore for .50 cents. So all totaled my cost for this redo, not counting the left overs used, was a whopping $2.50.

Check out the finished project below. I think it came out really great.

As a footnote, the intention of this project was to refinish and resell it. However, my daughter needed the bookcase I had been using beside my bed. So here is my new nightstand. I like it.

Check back later for more projects. Right now I'm working on refinishing the hutch. Hope to have pics for you soon.

Thanks for stopping by.