Old fence recycle

I've been spending a lot of time this season working in our yard. Part of the many projects has been tearing down an old privacy fence. The boards are rotting away and growing moss. They are beautiful. There is no way I could just get rid of them. The grain of the wood is deep and weathered. Every swirl and knot is pronounced. 

After our dark floors went in I've been wanting to lighten up some of our dark wood furniture. I used some of the old weathered fence wood to make a new top for the coffee table. Soon I will make matching tops for the side tables. After a quick sanding, some whitewashing and distressing the overall look is very beachy. I love it. 

Seed Starting

Now that spring is officially here I've switched gears to starting seeds and getting my vegetable garden plan in order. The first spring we were in this house I spent the entire time building raised beds and turning the front yard into a Potager Garden. This year I'm trying to pre-sprout all my seeds on an old heating pad and then transplant them into starter pots and into the cold frame in the garden. Once they grow big enough then they'll be planted in to the raised garden beds. I've also been direct sowing peas, lettuce and other cold loving crops. I've already harvested the first spears of asparagus and my rhubarb is starting to look good as well. We're still digging up overwintered carrots and I found that I didn't get all the potatoes dug up last fall. I have plenty of spots where potatoes are already sending up foliage.

The distractions of Spring

I've been a little remiss in my indoor creative endeavors lately. Spring has arrived to the Pacific Northwest AND there was a break in the rain. This means I've been weeding, planting, dividing, mulching and just in general out enjoying some nice weather with color bursting all around me. It still isn't warm enough for planting any veggies but peas and lettuce but my rhubarb and asparagus are poking their heads up making me want to plant more, more, more! We moved into this house a year and a half ago and I've been building the garden since then. Gardening is full of surprises, my favorite here has been peonies. Growing up with a gardening mother I had never seen a peony until one bloomed here at our new house (and a tree peony at that!). I am hooked! I've since planted 8 more. I received another surprise this spring that the two boxwoods I've been trying to dig up and remove (then gave up and pruned to a round ball) are in fact, compact azaleas. Poor things have been too stressed to bloom until now. Okay, okay...they can stay. :)

The rain returns tomorrow so I'll be back inside crafting away then.

New Etsy items

I've been working on some new items for the Etsy shop. I love these little trinket boxes and am experimenting with both painting and woodburning the tops. What do you think? 

Nailed it!

Like many creative folks I'm a huge fan of Pinterest. I found a great tutorial at Design Folder that dyes glass bottles and even makes them waterproof so they can be vases. Fail. Hers turned out perfect, streakless and beautiful. Mine are splotchy, spotty and in general a mess. Well, I should say....literally a mess. Every time I touch them my fingers blue and I had to throw away a paint brush I used on the project. So ya....nailed it! Not. 

Little Details

I still haven't been able to get back to anything really creative because I'm still finishing up the details of our floor installation. Our baseboard trim in our bathrooms previously was the same tile that was on the floor. Since we removed and replaced the tile I'm now cutting and staining trim. The cutting part I can only do first thing in the morning because for some reason even though I'm measuring and double checking my angles and lengths - they are not turning out the way I want. Frustrating. But it is slowly getting done. Good thing I bought an extra board. I'm going to need it. 

Enjoying THIS moment.

It's been hard to sit back and enjoy our new floors since we've had so much chaos with the downstairs flooding and the upstairs bathroom leak (and did I mentioned now the check engine light is on in the minivan?) but I love them. The entry foyer used to be tile and the kitchen used to be laminate and now it is all the same flooring. I love that. It is so many shades of gray, tan and brown that it doesn't show a speck of dirt. I love that. It's not too shiny so you can't tell if someone spills something. I love that. It is a perfect mix of country barnwood with our cottage modern style. I love that.

I love our new floors!