Entry Way of Honor

This week has been another busy one.  The weather is not cooperating on the painting home-front though.  Good thing I had a million other things that needed my attention aside from paint-related projects!  How can one to-do list become so long?  It's like it multiplies while I look at it.  So, for lack of painting projects from the last couple of days to share, I'm bringing you into my house.  Today, I'm sharing my entry way.  I'll focus on the portion I did in my Mom's honor.  In the pic below you can see the front door and our big furry black home security system.  There's also a gallery wall...that houses all of the nieces and nephews artwork.  As they send us new stuff, the art gets updated.  I LOVE this wall. 

 As you come in the front door, this is your view:

 When we first moved into this house two years ago, it was the same time that I had just lost my Mom, so I wanted to do something in her honor.  This is my tribute to her.  You can read more about her story and her inspirational journey here.

 The wood box is an old garage sale find.  I love primitive decor and so did my Mom.  The ivy is from her funeral service and is just sitting in an old galvanized pot.  My Mom collected old children's chairs and had an entire wall in her house filled with them.  She wanted each of us to have one, so this is the one that came to live with me.  I must admit, I have now turned into a children's chair collector.  Read more about that here.

 This cross is really amazing.  It is made from grapevine, which I love.  I use grapevine frequently throughout my home decor.  This cross was sent to my Mom's funeral with artificial flowers on it.  I eventually removed the flowers and replaced them with a gray ribbon, representing brain cancer awareness.  This cross is a great reminder of faith and family.  I would like to thank the person that sent it, but out of the hundreds and hundreds of flowers and cards received, this was the ONE item that came from someone that no one in our family seems to know.  I would love to know who this came from to give them a proper "thank-you".

 This beautiful quote speaks for itself.  Justin's sister sent this to us and it's words could not be more perfect.  Thanks KrisAnn!

 Here's the beautiful lady that this spot in our house is set up to honor.  We love you Mom and miss you every day!

Now you've had a sneak peek into my home.  There's usually dog hair on the floor and clutter on the bar, but hopefully you're not too scared away.  Come on over and visit!

Old Rake; New Life

Okay, so you should know that I have a problem.  I can't pass up cheap or free rusty things from the side of the road or garage sales or thrift stores or flea markets or...nevermind, you get the idea.  So here lately, I've been accumulating more than I've been making.  This is a problem for a few reasons.  1. If I'm not making it; I'm not selling it.  2. My workshop (aka: my front porch that is thankfully mostly hidden by a big bush) is overflowing.  3.  The Husband keeps wondering when I'm going to use all this "junk" (aka: rusty goodness).

I got a few little projects knocked out this weekend with some of my treasures.  This one is definitely staying with me.  But I made a couple others to sell.  Here is my apron holder created from an old rake head.

 I'm am in love, love, love.  And here's this little gym in it's state of humble beginnings.  It was the rusty head of an old rake.

 I started with a couple coats of polyurethane to protect my family and my aprons from rust.

 Also, as a side note...here's a little tip that you may or may not know.  When you are painting, staining, sealing, etc., did you know that you can put your brush in a ziploc bag (without washing it) and store it in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it again?  Yeppers!  I do this all the time when I'm doing something with two coats.  After I finish the first coat, it just goes in a bag in the mini fridge in the garage until I'm ready for coat number two.  I'm not sure how long you could actually leave it in there and use again, but I've personally left it in there for over a month and then re-used it.  Just a random tidbit of info for ya!

 So, to get started, I used some old weathered grey-ish colored fence boards from my stash of free wood that I've accumulated from the side of the road.  I have no shame.  I cut four board, using the miter saw, to a size that looked good to me.  You could easily use a circular hand saw or even an old school straight saw.  I laid one out first with my rake on it to get an idea for the length.  Each of the board lengths vary slightly to give it a not-so-perfect look.  Some ends were already jagged and some are straight from being cut.  I just mixed them up a little.

 Next, I needed some bracing.  Here's the piece I used for that--another thin piece of wood so that the piece wouldn't stick too far off the wall when I was finished.

 I laid out the four fence boards to get an idea of how long the brace boards should be.  I would have more pics for you, but my camera is still mad at me and is eating them.  I take them, look to make sure they are there, put the card in my computer to download them, and...nada...they're gone.  Who knows!  Back to bracing.  Once I had the three braces cut, I used liquid nails (from Wal-Mart) to glue them to the back of the four fence boards.  I then screwed them (randomly) on to the boards with a mix of very short wood screws I had on hand.

 Once that was finished, flipped it over and waxed the front and sides with clear wax.  I used two screws to hold the rake in place.  One screw the rake is resting on and the other is going through a hold that already existed (a close up pic to show this = eaten by camera).

I put two saw tooth hangers on the back and here it is hanging on the wall in my laundry room because there is no other place to really hang it.  But the laundry room is next to the pantry, which is near the kitchen, so it works.  I had three crosses there that I've had since we got married (almost 5 years ago) so I was ready for something new.  Those crosses have traveled across the US with us wherever the Air Force sent us, but now this baby is mine to embrace any new travels with us.

 View from the back hallway that leads to the kitchen/dining/living room.

 Here it is displaying my aprons.  And I'd say it's doing a pretty good job of displaying them well.

 Camera phone pic; sorry for the quality.

 Did I mention I love it?  I do, I really, really do!  Oh, and just to give you the apron rundown...the blue one of the left is from Williams and Sonoma.  It was a gift from my mom for Valentine's one year.  I treasure it because it reminds me so much of her and the life she lived.  She was always in the kitchen cooking up something.  That was her favorite room in the house.  The next one is just a waist apron. Two years ago, I moved in with my parents for six months while my Mom was sick and during that time I worked on Friday nights at a local restaurant, Fish Tales (A-MAZING food).  We had to wear an apron so I picked this one up to wear on my Friday night shift.  The third one was a Christmas present last year (2010) from my Mom. Before she passed away, she got gifts, wrapped them up, labeled them and had them ready for us to open for the next few holidays.  So, even though she wasn't hear with me, opening a gift from her helped make the Christmas season more special.  The pink and black one on the right was purchased at a gift shop near home; also to wear at my job at Fish Tales. I love aprons.  I love being in the kitchen. I love to cook.  I love that my Mom taught me to be a good cook.  I love my new apron holder (in case you missed my love obsession with it earlier in the post).

 

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