Keylime Cottage Kitchen & Easter Table Setting

This is our first Easter at the beach. I came down with my husband and kids to help my mom and Stanley move into their new beach house but it ended up not being ready yet so we are staying in Keylime Cottage. By the way, it is for sale furnished if anyone is interested in a cute place in Port A.

I will be doing a house tour but today I wanted to share with you the kitchen, screened in porch and our Easter table setting.

Margaritas later...

With all of this table setting, who has time to cook? Off to die eggs with the kids and then the beach.....

Sharing with ~

 

savvysouthernstyle.net

Blue Bonnets

I had to share this old picture I came across. Don't you love old pictures? This is my Great Grandfather Joe (I called him Papa.) and Great Grandmother Helen (I called her Nanan.) with their daughter, you guessed it, my Grandmother, Dorothy (Grandma). I love the old car in the background and the flapper dress and those great hats. I don't look good in hats but I love the idea of them. It's funny that even during black and white photos, people took their picture in the bluebonnets. If you're not from Texas, you might not know that this is a long time tradition.

I was on Facebook earlier today and I came across a picture from the Texas Hill Country site and I started wondering if this is where this picture was taken...

Cool, huh?

Enjoy your weekend and if you decide to take your picture in the bluebonnets, don't forget your stick to scare away the rattlesnakes!!! :)

Anthropologie Inspired Shelving

I'm inspired by many of the things at Anthropologie but I've had my eye on one particular item for some time. I love the way they display items in creative ways and I have always wanted to try building some of their industrial shelving. They take pipes and plumbing fittings and use them to hold up simple wood shelves. How hard could that be?

First, I took a picture of their shelves so I could remember with accuracy how they where put together. Then I took a trip to Home Depot to get supplies. Besides all of the strange looks I received by all of the men in the plumbing aisle, it was pretty painless picking out the parts that I needed....

To make 2 - 6' long shelves:
4 - 3/4" galvanized floor flanges (This is the part that attaches to the wall.)
4 - 3/4" X 10" galvanized pipes (Nipple is what it's called on the receipt.)
4 - 3/4" X 1/2" galvanized elbows
***Don't let the plumbing terminology scare you, this is so easy!***
2 - 1X8X6 boards (I used poplar wood but you can select whatever you'd like, just make sure the boards are not warped!) They need to lay as flat as possible because they will not be attached to anything and will just rest on the pipes.)
stain of your choice (I used walnut gel stain ~ Min wax)
paint of your choice (I used Behr Pine Scent)
primer
sand paper ~ Medium
Ez Anchor screws (I use the 50 pound metal ones)

I already had the paint, stain, primer, sandpaper and screws, so with the plumbing parts and wood it cost $ 98.75. Not bad for two really cool looking shelves. If you have some salvaged wood, that would be even better!

First, use a  primer paint on the galvanized pipes and fittings, After that is dry, paint over with your desired color. I used  green for a pop of color. Anthro's are black.

Next, prepare your boards by sanding all of the sharp edges and lightly sanding the entire board. Wipe of dust and then stain.

Now you're ready to install. Measure the area for your shelves. I placed my flanges in 6" from the edge of the board.  If you can, try to find a stud and screw in to that. If you can't, use heavy duty Ez Anchors in each hole ~ you'll have four total. ****Be very careful of the amount of weight that you put on the shelves, books especially can be very heavy. You don't want your shelves to fall.*** Remember, these pipes are not only holding up themselves and the boards but also everything that you put on them.

I thought it was easier to put the floor flanges on first and then screw the pipes and fittings on, but you could put it together first and then install. Once your pipes are up, just rest your boards on top and you're ready to accessorize.

If you go with longer shelves, you will probably need an additional support pipe in the center as well.

This is a fun and inexpensive way to get really long shelves which can be hard to find. I used these in our study but they would be adorable in a kid's room or game room.

sharing with ~

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com

http://theshabbycreekcottage.com

http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

http://commonground-do.com

http://jenniferrizzo.com

http://savvysouthernstyle.net

Old and Improved Armoire





 I was inspired by other bloggers today to do something that I have been questioning and putting off for some time. What and who were my inspirations? First of all, I saw My Sweet Savannah's beautiful new hutch in her dining room a few days ago. I was drooling! I loved the paint combination on the piece. It just had such a pretty finish. Then today I saw Jennifer Rizzo's transformation of a piece of furniture that she had found and painted. I finally put two and two together. Maybe I can't buy that beautiful hutch but I can change a piece that I already own into something close. That was my push to do it. The armoire in the dining room had great bones but I just never loved it for some reason. As Nate Berkus always says, "You should never bring anything into your home that you don't love." Well, easy for him to say, I'm sure he can buy anything he wants, but for the rest of us, we buy things we can afford and settle with it or we inherit things out of need.That's where being able to transform a piece of furniture comes in. I knew that I wanted to do something to my armoire, but what? Once I saw that furniture piece at My Sweet Savannah, I knew....

Here is the before.

First I lightly sanded the entire piece.

Next I painted the Grey/Blue which is actually leftover primer.



When I painted, I left some of the wood showing through. Luckily this piece already had some distressing which made it easy. If you want this look, you can beat it up a little with a flat head screwdriver, making some holes and indention's. I painted over some of the hardware but if you don't like that look, either remove it or tape over it. Also, I left some wood unpainted because I wanted that to be an off white for contrast like the piece at My Sweet Savannah.



After everything was painted, I went over the entire piece with a honey gel stain to give some antiquing and shine. You can see here the difference it makes in color and finish.

This is the back of the fabric panel that goes on the inside back of the piece. I had to cut foam core to fit. First, I layed out the  fabric face down, then the batting on top off that and lastly the foam core. Fold the fabric and batting layers over the foam core and staple. Even though this fits snugly, I added some Velcro to really have a strong hold. I did this part a while back and have an old tutorial about it but I thought I would recap again here if you missed it.

Once the back was installed I could add the shelves back in....

 This piece had very dainty hardware which wasn't working with the chunky chandelier so that was changed out a while back as well.

Now it feels like a completely different dining room, full of new possibilities. I'm so glad that I took this on today.  A big thank you to the wonderful bloggers, Jennifer Rizzo and Melaine Thompson at  My Sweet Savannah for their inspiration. I finally have a piece that I love! I might not have done it without you.

Do you have a piece of furniture that you're not loving? After doing this today, I wish I had done it a lot sooner. My advice to you is to roll up your sleeves and get to it. You'll be glad you did!

sharing with ~ savvysouthernstyle.net , theshabbycreekcottage.com, http://www.jenniferrizzo.com/ , http://commonground-do.com/