Outdoor Projects

The Secret Garden, 1903

Sergeyev, Nikolai...Russian Federation,born 1855- died 1919

You can view more paintings like this here, where I have them in some categories and where you will be able to view the best paintings, suitable for your home and family. Sometimes there is a sale on posters and you can get them for as low as $4.98. I have noticed that allposters and other art sites takes some of the 18th and 19th century art out of their collection, and often leaves off the name of the artist. On Lovely Whatevers, I have tried to collect some of the best, and give the dates and nationality of the artists of this wonderful period of art.

A Child Size Swing

A viewer suggested I post some of the projects I've been doing around my home. Lately I have not had any indoor projects besides cooking with the season's produce, so I'll show you some of the outdoor things I did in the spring, just when the weather warmed up. These cast offs were in such bad shape that no one wanted them, and that is how I got them for nothing.   Before I painted the swing pink, it was a faded painted metal  and a plastic mesh seat, also faded. The name of the paint is Krylon, and the shade is called "Ballet Slipper." It makes a nice pale pink, that is almost white.

The pictures were cut from fabric and placed on the seat backs with clear varnish. After that I wound a garland of flowers (available at Dollar Tree or Wal Mart) around the frame.

A rusted baby bed spring becomes a trellis for future climbing plants.

Another project was to make a corner fence "planter" by painting two twin head boards into a corner fence planter. This was taken a few months ago after I painted the boards, before planting flowers, and now, there are beautiful flowers climbing all over it. I have seen the flower box corner fences in catalogs, and noticed they were quite expensive, often in the hundreds of dollars, so I was happy to get this one, even though some of the wood was damaged. It will work just fine outside.

Here is some more junk I am working on. That is an old music stand on the pole. I'm not sure of the identity of every piece of junk I paint. If it is trash, it can be covered in paint and used for other purposes.

The rain erased that dry, parched look from the grounds here.

A quiet place outside created with a blanket and a few cushions.

There are no grapes yet, but the vines shade this area and make it a perfect place to sit and look at the view.

An outdoor tea for two ladies.

For more interesting home ideas, have a look at some of these pretty links: http://bellasrosecottage.blogspot.com/

This one is in the new Victorian Country magazine which is on sale now at Walmart, where they sell magazines for a ten percent discount. http://myshabbystreamsidestudio.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-york-times-interview.html

There is a lovely artist here that I have been following http://nicoletadgell.blogspot.com/

A garden gazebo here, built from old doors: http://www.abitofparis.com/That's%20So%20Shabby%20Gardens.htm

When I look at some of these things, made so much better simply by applying paint, I cringe at the thought of some of the things I have tossed out. Some people are very good at developing new ways to use old items.