Fixing Up Some Trash - My Free Settee

Settee found in trash

 I found this ugly little settee set out by the curb one day and carried it home thinking it would make a nice piece of extra seating when we had guests instead of the folding metal chairs with someone else's name scrawled in sharpie across the back.

It needed a redo, sad as it was, and I thought that I'd just cover the seat and give it a quick paint job. All sorts of fanciful ideas floated - silver paint with blue and gray fabric, antique white or French gray with a piece of grain sacking. Of course I put if off, stuck it in the basement with the rest of the projects waiting to happen.

Then a party loomed and I was in the mood! The fast, emergency chair redo went like this:

• Rummage through the fabric scraps to find something big enough

• Clean off the wood and caning

• Glue loose parts with wood glue (I just tied it all up with rope for support til the glue was dry)

• Cover bench seat - wrap like a gift, tack, and staple (whoops, the bench seat was cracked so I just filled the crack with glue then taped over it)

Cover the seat with fabric

• Spray the fabric with Scotch Guard

• Screw the seat onto the frame (through the screw holes below)

Once I popped the covered seat onto the frame I realized that it looked just fine without a paint job. The wood that had looked so horrible was now perfectly acceptable paired with the attractive new fabric. I was so happy with the quick change!

My family likes it too! They want to keep it upstairs instead of relegating it to the basement to bring up for company. My son no longer accuses me of stealing chairs from the people whose names were on the backs of the old ones. 
Instead of sitting on cold metal, ugly folding chairs left behind (or purloined) my honored guests can sit on a cute little settee that I pulled out of my neighbor's garbage!

Ice Candle

When the days are cold and the nights even colder, you can make one of these beautiful ice candles. Or you can make a lot of them. They are practically free! Brighten up winter nights or illuminate a pathway with these luminaries created with a block of ice and a tea candle. 




Here's how to make an ice candle:

• Grease the inside of a bucket. 

•  Fill the bucket with water.

• Set outside, away from the house (it's usually a few degrees warmer close to the house).

• Make sure the ice bucket will not be sitting in the sun.

• After 2 or 3 days (depending on how cold it is) upend the bucket. The water freezes from the top and sides, leaving a  hollow at the bottom. 

• Set the ice block on top of a couple of bricks, or raise it from the ground some way. You want it elevated so the fire gets oxygen.

• Set a lit tea candle below the concave bottom of the ice block. 

When the ice melts, water droplets follow the ice walls down and do not drip onto the candle. 

Of course, it must be below freezing for this to work. Temperatures just slightly above 32 degrees F during the day should not melt the ice. If the temperatures are not freezing, or in warmer months, you can do the freezing in a large freezer. Wouldn't that be pretty in summer?

Ice Candle

Garden Art - Make it Personal

Savannah Bird Girl in my garden

After spending some years working on my garden by adding and rearranging plants, I decided to amp things up a bit by introducing some art. Sculpture, attractive stepping stones, amusing junk displays, and other man made items personalize your garden by creating a space that reflects your interests. 

My first little statue, found in a catalog, was a replica of the Savannah Bird Girl that was featured on the cover of one of my all time favorite books, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (John Berendt 1994). So maybe the famous Bird Girl no longer graces Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery, but a smaller version stands in my yard, a testament to my love for birds and novels.

Glass Flower

But not all garden art costs money. Or at least some garden art can be had for very little. My friend, Leola, has created some lovely glass flowers from cups and saucers, bowls, and candle holders that she picks up at thrift shops. When the real flowers start to fade, these glass flowers hold the spirit, catch and reflect sunlight, and are just plain pretty.

I like to place certain items inside shrubs, or under trees, almost hidden from view to add a whimsical surprise. I found a ceramic doll head at a thrift store and just knew she would wind up tucked between some evergreen boughs. She reminds me of a faerie peeking out of the greenery, an elvish face studying on passersby. I figured that few would even notice her, which somehow made her more interesting to me. Well, someone did notice her. They stole her. I wonder where she is now and hope she found a good home. She'd become a bit weathered and her hair had gone ratty. I still miss her and am glad that I took a photograph.

Garden Art - Doll Head

 A young friend of mine made this attractive piece from salvaged bathroom tiles, rebar, and chain. The piece hangs on the edge of the garden, sometimes obscured by plants, but revealed when the growing season passes and in Spring when this picture was taken.

Garden Art made of salvaged material

The books in the bike basket below is spewing water. If you look at the right side of the book pile, you may notice water dribbling down. Now, I hate the idea of ruining books but this is one original idea!

I love how this looks like plants growing in a pot. Actually, the pot, one that I loved, a gift from my mother, broke in half. I could not part with it, so upended it in the soil to mimic a standing container. The plants are growing in the ground, but seem to burst out of a container that is much too small. I like containers but hate the constant watering. Using salvaged material is a great way to add interest and a bit of humor into a garden design.

Container that is not a container

I would not want to use this lovely mosaic stepping stone to actually step on, so have set it on the edge of a garden. Mosaics like these are simple to make using concrete and broken tiles. Craft stores offer kits that you can try out to see if you enjoy creating your own unique stepping stone. It's best to bring them indoors for winter storage.

Mosaic Stepping Stone

Upended bottles used to edge gardens, hanging unusual objects from tree limbs, incorporating architectural salvage as an art form - you can create a personal space in your own back yard. You can add one or two art objects, or go wild and turn the place into one whole art piece. And when you think to yourself, that there is no place like home, you will be right. 

Collections - The Sentimental Value of Children's Books

Vintage childrens' books

Somehow, I accidentally own a collection of old children's books. Some were mine when I was a child; others given as gifts. 

Some are in poor condition and some are nearly pristine. 

The collection is not an investment, nor am I a collector who appreciates the value of old books. These are sentimental items. I love the illustrations and graphics, the adventure, and the old fashioned values. I appreciate how we've changed and old stereotypes seem far-fetched and absurd.

Vintage Bobbsey Twins

Often, children are drawn into the habit of reading by series books. For me, it was the Bobbsey Twins. This old copy of The Bobbsey Twins: Merry Days Indoor and Out by Laura Lee Hope (Grosset and Dunlap, New York, 1904) offers a view of a bygone era when people rode in horse drawn sleighs and happy children yelled things like, "Hurrah!"

If you are not familiar with the Bobbsey Twins, they were two sets of fraternal twins with Nan and Bert the elder set, both sensible and adventurous; and Flossie and Freddie the younger, a bit silly and wild. 

As I paged through the book, I found one page featuring Dinah, the African American cook who ran the house and assisted in all aspects of the lives of the famous twins:

"Well I declare to gracious!" she exclaimed. "If yo chillun ain't gone an' mussed up de floah a'gin!"

"Bert broke my boiler," said Freddie and began to cry. One must wonder - where is Mrs. Bobbsey and what is she doing? What the heck is a boiler and why is a kid playing with a boiler? 


The Bobbsey Twins at Home, circa 1916, is filled with chestnut hunting orphans, a staged train hold up for the "moving pictures, children lost in lumber yards (where they like to play), and grown-ups leaving 5 year olds to tend boiling sugar. Times were different then.

I remember reading an old Hardy Boys book to the boys where folks are shocked by the sudden appearance of a woman wearing pants. Villains  were swarthy foreigners, and all the brats were red haired boys. The boys got a kick out of the way life was presented in the past. It gave them a little window into history, the way people looked at the world. Vintage stories can feature uncomfortable stereotypes. They can appear mawkishly sentimental.  Sometimes it was a wonderful world, where kids ran wild with a freedom most kids just don't experience today. Sometimes it was ridiculous.

I hold these books with tenderness. Most of the original owners of these old books are long dead, children who took these books to bed at night, or read them on the porch on a summer afternoon. Some of these books could not stand up to another read. They have cracked spines. They've been read to death. They've been loved.

Old children's books can be found for next to nothing at yard sales and thrift shops. They may be found in your grandmother's attic, or tucked away in a forgotten corner of your own home. They can be found in the way that you live as you suddenly find your favorite hobby or interest presented in one of these old stories. They can be found in your dreams. They live in your heart.

Hutch Display for Collections

Keeping the same objects in the same place in your home for a long period of time renders those items invisible. Favorite pictures and decorative items seem to disappear into familiarity. Thinking of this and looking at my hutch that held the same old antique glassware for seven months, I decided it was time for a change. 

Usually, I like to introduce floral, pinks and green dishware for Spring; blue and white for Summer, and woodsy themes in green and brown for Fall. Now it's time for something new. 

 

Why not display an unusual collection of organic objects, interspersed with old metal, glass bottles, and a few candles for a bit of variety! I like to decorate my living room like a personal mini-museum, like a Victorian cabinet of curiosities. It  makes sense to group these objects together. 

I walked around the house with a box, filling it with shells, coral rock, antlers, a handmade wooden spoon (made from my dead Japanese maple tree), shoe lasts, artisan tile, a bottle brush bear from the Adirondacks, the thrown out spigot handle from the historic home of someone I admire; and a few fossils that I found at Calvert Cliffs. Arranging the items was fun. The hutch now has a whole new look, with unique items gathered over the years. 

Every piece has a story behind it - the twig frame with my favorite camp-site view; a few old bottles that I found in a woods; a block of wood picked up on a beach; a little iron bird from my annual trip to Pennsylvania; a rock my son brought home from a beach in Denmark. The ice tongs are left over from the ice-box days, used to tote large chunks of ice. I found them in my grandfather's basement when he was downsizing. It's funny the things that people keep.

Latest Batch of Homemade Soap

Homemade soap

For my latest batch of homemade soap, I thought that I'd do something different. It's so easy to fall into the rut of sticking to proven winners, the ones that people request, or my own favorites. Of course, my favorites are the soaps I make with inexpensive essential oils. Occasionally, I splurge on patchouli or lavender for Christmas gift giving. 

Wintergreen, peppermint, and a splash of eucalyptus make a refreshing blend of scents. I wanted a deep green color so I added some green French clay and some kelp granules. I can't wait to try it! The soap needs to cure for at least one month. Meanwhile my bedroom, where I store it, smells wonderful.

Homemade soap

Though I usually like to experiment with color, I thought I'd leave this batch (below) alone and see how it looked without additional colors. Two ounces of anise give this soap a wonderful licorice scent. Up close in person, the soap is a bit whiter than it looks on here.

Homemade soap

For detailed instructions on how to make homemade soap, read my hub on how to make soap with Crisco by clicking here

A Simple Blue Garden Arch

I love my backyard garden and am always looking for ways to add an inexpensive special touch. An arch placed at the entrance seemed like a good idea to create the feeling of entering a room. You walk into the garden and leave your troubles at the door, moving into an area of serenity and relaxation.

Of course, I wanted to keep it simple and budget friendly. I purchased two ten foot 4 X 4s to use as side posts and two 2 X 8s for the top. Using a piece of stiff paper, I outlined a quick cutting guide, a simple curve, which I traced at each end of of the top cross beams. Then, using a jig saw, I cut the pieces.

I chose a cobalt blue stain because I find the combination of blue and the greens of garden foliage to be quite inviting. I stained the wood before securing it with screws. 

My sons helped me to set up the arch. First, I dug two deep holes. We sunk the side pieces into a combination of rocks and cement. 

I was very satisfied with the project. Then, on a trip to the National Arboretum in Washington DC, I spotted an arch that was quite similar and stained the same shade of blue! I love public gardens and often draw inspiration from visits to places like the National Arboretum as well as our local Cylburn Arboretum. Somehow, this time, I was one step ahead. Suddenly, I was no longer merely satisfied with my garden project, I was thrilled!