Mix n Chic Style Challenge-Decorate bringing the outdoors in

TGIF . Yesterday flew by.  Have you ever been stuck on decorating ideas and not knowing where to start? I'd like to share some tips with you that I use .  Pick one or two items and let your imagination go wild .  There are no rules when it comes to decorating .  I'll show you how I chose to bring the outdoors in for this design Mix n Chic Style Challenge .   I headed over to Chairish, an online marketplace for vintage and used furniture.  They have a great selection of  Shabby Chic pieces to add to your home.  When the paint is peeling and the metal is rusty, the easier it is to mix it in with any decorating style.

Wood Log Mounted Deer Antlers idea

While our tree guy Dan was trimming some trees for us to prep for the new addition construction site, I had him cut some slices off the logs for me approx. 3 inches thick so I could mount the deer antlers I bought last year.

Here's Dan our tree guy on a smaller tree we had to remove.  I planted 8-9 trees last year around our property to make up for the two we had to remove.

  I've been letting the log slices dry out for 3-4 months now.  They will split during the drying process if left untreated.  I used a stain mixed with polyurathane and applied several coats.

The log slice doesn't look like it's been treated because it just absorbs the stain/poly like a sponge as it dries out.  There is a product you can buy for this process, but it's expensive and I'm only doing this one slice. The other 2 slices did split as they were drying out.
 Traced the skull of the antlers onto the wood and remove the inside of the wood so the antlers sit flush.

 Cut pieces of rope and cover the skull. You can use a glue gun to attach the pieces.

 

                 I originally hung this without mounting it to the wood but it didn't look finished.

 I drilled the top of the skull at an angle and used a 3.5 inch wood screw to attach it to the wood.
I used two 2 inch screws for the bottom.

                                                                           
Drill a hole in the back of wood slice and hang on the wall. Since it's such a heavy piece, I decided to hang it on the pine wall in parlor  (livingroom)  instead of drywall in the den.

                                                                         
                               It's alot easier to do. A great place to hang my Stetson.

joss & Main Inspirational Painted Picture

I'd like to share with you a picture I saw on joss & Main that I gave me inspiration for a special Christmas gift.  I was browsing on their website and came across this picture of a Shih Tzu dog.  It looked almost exactly like my Mom's dog.  Since it was only a few days until Christmas, I didn't have time to purchase it so I decided I'd try to paint one just like it.

Backyard Playhouse Shed made with Recycled Wood

I thought I'd give you a sneak peak at  what I was working on this past summer for our 5 yr old son.  I started to build  an  8 x 10 shed playhouse for him from recycled wood.  It is still under construction and I plan on finishing it up in the spring.  He has alot of those pricey ride-on toys that we didn't want to leave out in the weather.  I didn't want to take up space in our sheds for our mowers and yard tools with all his toys. I built this strictly for him and his toys.

DIY Sandbox for under $100

Hello Everyone. We made a large sandbox for our 4 year old son for under a $100.  He had a small green plastic turtle sandbox in which he was starting to outgrow.  I noticed he no longer could play comfortably and the toys he was using were way too big.

Painted Signs for Shed

Hello Everyone. Glad it's friday. My list of  to-do projects grows everyday and we're already into June. Most of my other projects should of been completed weeks ago.  Since it's been raining every other day this past week, I decided to make some painted signs for one of my sheds.

Rain delays Painting House

Hello  I thought I would have some things all wrapped up this week , but the heavy rain has delayed all my big outdoor projects. I am also putting together some other accents for our yard.
Here's a sneak peak at what I've been working on. The front door is finished with the new colors we chose. These colors so much better than the white against the cedar siding , it brings out the grain in the wood.

Wood Baby / Dog Gate

Hello, I thought I would show you the wood baby / dog gate that I installed  going from the den to the kitchen. The gate was in another place , but I decided to move it when I found our dog on our sofa in the wee hours of the night.  He's not a small lap dog and rolls around in the yard.  So our sofa is no place for him to be.

Scrap Wood Phone Caddy

I haven't been doing too much lately since I've just wrapped up some big projects that I started working on during the Holidays. I have been targeting areas that just need a fresh look or different accents added. One of those areas is where the telephone is located. Since our house is a mix of old and new construction, the footprint here on the first floor just doesn't make sense and neither does the location of the phone. I'm not a phone type of person, therefore  I keep it located on the counter so I don't have to stay on the phone for hours talking to anybody. I like to keep calls short , sweet and to the point. I thought I would give it fresh look with some access to paper and pencils for the calls that need notes and numbers.

Bathroom floor tile in Black

I'm almost finished with bathroom no. 2,  which is another 1/2 bath in our home. It's more for our son to use because it's the closest one to his room. I wasn't sure of using black tile in a bathroom , but I honestly love it now. Most people  tend to choose lighter and neutral shades of color to play it safe, but I took a walk over to the darker side and it looks great.

Bathroom floor tile

Grapevine wreath with painted Farmhouse Arrow

Make a farmhouse arrow and grapevine wreath as shown here

Painted Wooden Sign and Post

I finished painting the post I made the other day. I made a sign for the Holidays . Paint the post white first and let it set for about 10 - 15 minutes.

Wooden Sign Post for the Holidays

If you have no porch at your house to decorate for the holidays , don't worry , you're not alone.  Since I don't have much space to decorate when you come to my front door , I decided to make a post to hang a holiday sign and some decorations.  I had a bunch of scrap wood in the garage and out in the yard.  I grabbed the pieces that were the closest to the size I needed to make the post.

Chalk Painted dresser with a stencil

Last year I got this dresser from a woman who was down sizing.  It's old and definitely shows it's age. The top was peeling and part of the hardware is missing.  I thought this would be a great piece to try chalk paint.  I let it sit for awhile out in the garage. That's where my projects await me.

I was looking thru some blogs that I follow and got my inspiration from Red Hen Home (www.redhenhome.blogspot.com).

Another ' CHUNKY ' Wood Frame - DIY

It's been a very busy week trying to get the outside of house freshened up to get ready for Holiday decorating. I have about 5 projects I'm working on that I should have finished in a day or two.  Here is our thermometer that we rely on more than once a day in our house.  I had some scrap wood lying around so I thought it would beef it up a little.

DIY SCRAP WOOD ' CHUNKY ' FRAMES

While I was staining and painting the house , it was hard not to notice some of my outside decorations weren't looking so good. I thought I would clean them up a bit and add to the frames.

Recycled Cabinet Door

I take trips to the local Restore often to see what has changed since my last visit. I often find myself leaving there with ' stuff ' and later asking myself " what am I going to do with this? " I got a plain old cabinet door for $5. I didn't need it for anything and didn't even know why I bought it. Maybe because I thought it was a good deal. It was hanging around in my garage (place where I create) and 4yr old son said to me " Mom, look what I did with the pencil ! " He wrote all over my new $ 5 cabinet door which would now need to be painted since he was bearing down on the pencil.

Here's the cabinet door. I didn't have much scrap wood in my pile and now I was in the mood to do something with the cabinet door. I looked around the yard and there it was...a section of fence. I wish now that I didn't use that section of fence because we need it for the yard but it's too late.

Oopps...

Staining and Sealing the House with a new sealer

Since having a new roof put on over the summer the outside siding on the front wasn't looking so good.  The sun beats on the front of the house in the late afternoon.  The house definitely needs to be sealed and protected.

Since having a new roof put on over the summer the outside siding on the front wasn't looking so good.  The sun beats on the front of the house in the late afternoon.

Wooden Crate storage

We use 2 wood stoves to heat our home.

Convenient and Easy storage is a must.