Stained

We finally did it.  The interior of the porch has been stained.  We started thinking about this last summer, and put our project plans into place, in earnest, this summer.  We began prepping around, oh, Memorial Day.  And we completed the project Labor Day weekend.  It's not that it took us the whole summer to do the project, of course.  It's that we started, and never finished, which seems to happen a lot around here.

The thing with outdoor staining, if you haven't attempted it, is that you're supposed to do it during a spell of dry weather that's not too hot and not too cool.  No rain, no humidity- which describes zero days this summer.  I don't think I've seen so many torrential showers in my whole life as I've seen in the last three months, and the vegetable garden will attest to that. 

So, here's what we started with.

And here's what it looked like midway through the process.

And here's the finished floor.

Dramatic, isn't it?  I know it's not much to look at, but it does look cleaner, well cared for. I'd even say, beautiful.  The stain is Benjamin Moore Arborcoat in Briarwood.  

There are a few tips I have to pass along now that I'm an expert. 

1) Stain comes in solid, semi-solid, and semi-transparent.  Solid is like paint.  Semi-solid is still an awful lot like paint.  (That lesson cost us $50.)  The more solid the stain, the better it protects the wood, but if you're looking for something that looks like stain and not paint, you want semi-transparent.  Arborcoat now makes sample sizes, and I highly recommend testing out the color before you buy a gallon.  (Anyone interested in a semi-solid Sea Gull Grey?)

2)  As I mentioned earlier, you're looking for a period of a few days that's going to be dry, usually at the beginning or end of the summer, if you live in a place where there are 4 seasons.  Good luck.

3)  You must prep the surface before you stain, and give it plenty of time to dry.  We used the orbital sander on a few rough spots, but mostly prep involved cleaning.  We found that the best way to clean the wood that was showing a bit of mold/mildew in parts was to use a good scrub brush, and a solution of 4 parts warm water to 1 part Oxi-Clean.  We messed around with natural, green cleaners, but cared less about the environment after plenty of useless scrubbing.  Bleach is good. 

4) Enjoy the time between the cleaning process and the staining process, however long it takes, because neither will be fun.  We did have a whole summer's worth of fun, despite this project hanging over our heads.

After all the cleaning and staining was said and done, we admired our work, and then covered the floor with a new rug.

 

I ordered this custom outdoor rug from a local carpet store in June, and finally picked it up and rolled it out.  I spent a lot of time looking for a rug to fit the space, but for the larger rugs, I found custom to be less expensive.  Plus, I could order it to be exactly the size I wanted.  It makes our porch feel a little more like an outdoor room. 

Next, we're in the market for a light fixture.  For now, when the sun goes down we rely on the little lamp in the corner, and the TV, to light the room. 

We also wanted to repair and stain the outdoor deck, which is an eyesore.  There's still another month or two.  We'll see.  Meanwhile, we hope to enjoy a couple of more months on the porch, with many unseasonably warm days and watching the Red Sox win their way to the playoffs. Porches are for dreaming, right?

Make it Mobile

This is one of those projects to be filed in the "Why didn't we do that sooner?" folder, which is stored right next to the "Why didn't we think of that?" folder.

We have this lovely old sideboard on our porch that has a long history. 

It was in the basement of the house my family moved into in 1974, where it was used to store half-empty cans of paint.  It served that purpose for many years in that house, and the next, until my sister painted it red and used it to store records.  When she was done with it, we received it in pretty rough shape,
but figured it would be perfect for the porch if we fixed it up.  We've used it there for a couple of seasons, where it serves a couple of purposes.  First, it holds some outdoor glasses and dishes.  I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that it also holds a cable box and TV.  We had mixed feelings about putting a TV out there, but decided it was okay if we had limits on what we watched on the porch. It's for Red Sox games, the Kentucky Derby, golf tournaments, and the occasional tennis match.  Outdoor-friendly programming.  There's no sitcom or reality television watching.  That habit is restricted to the family room. 

Anyway, the cabinet is useful, but sometimes we want to angle the TV, and it's hard to open the cabinet doors to get dishes out with the settee in the way....

So, we put wheels on it. 

The casters came from Home Depot, the motivation came on a day when we were desperate to cross something off our list.  It took ten minutes, a drill, and some screws, and now the sideboard has wheels.

I couldn't just stop there.  Wheels can make lots of things easier, and I immediately thought of the tremendously heavy shoe storage thingy in my "off-season" closet.  It's more like a crawl space with an angled ceiling.

Now that there are wheels on it, I can roll it out of the closet, pick out my shoes,

and then roll it back in. 

It also makes it easier to clean in there.

What have you got in your house that would benefit from being mobile?

The Land of Misfit Plants

There's an area at the back of our yard where we've been putting plants over the last few years that, for one reason or another, did not stand much of a chance.  They're in the back of the yard because they won't be unsightly to anyone but us while they struggle to succeed.   

In the spring we split a hibiscus from my in laws, which did quite well in another part of the yard, but a little nub that fell off the root base of the transplant went into "The Land of Misfit Plants," and yesterday it bloomed.

If you look closely at the bottom leaves, you can see that this success is despite a caterpillar attack earlier in the season.  The other plant is a 4 x 4 shrub already, so I expect this will grow to be the same size.  This is a photo of the other plant from about a month ago, as it was just starting to bloom.

That would really help to fill out the right side of the Land of Misfit Plants.  The left side is thriving.  There's a hydrangea over there that came to us two years ago as a short stick with no leaves on it, the remains of a potted plant my sister received as a gift.  We figured we'd plant it and see what happens, and this year we had dozens of flowers.

That's apple mint guarding the hydrangea, with some other perennial herbs we moved from the vegetable garden at the beginning of the season.  Things are actually getting a bit crowded over there.  Here's the left side of The Land yesterday.

To the right of the blue hydrangea there are two pee gee hydrangeas, which we only discovered when we cut down a couple of stumps in a shady area, and one of them produced a flower.  Off to The Land of Misfit Plants they went, where they have been making steady progress, despite the deer's fondness for their buds.

The right side of The Land is still struggling to fill out.

That's sedum flopping over in the middle there.  How on earth do I get it to stay upright?

And, just behind the rock wall, there are three lilacs we moved last fall from a shady spot, hoping that they'll flower some day. 

There were actually two lilac shrubs, and another nub that fell off, but seems to be making a go of it. 

This year all they did was accumulate a mold problem, but next year should be better.  The goal is for them to fill out enough to conceal the compost behind them. 

It's The Land of Misfit Plants that keeps me going.  When flea beetles eat the arugula and the holly is covered in a black sticky film, I look to these little nubs that turn into plants and I remember that plants want to grow, and they will if you give them time, and a little attention. 

Living Room Decisions 2011

This feels like it has been an epic project and I haven't really done anything yet.  I bought the new blue velvety sofa and seagrass shades, finally.

I love them both.  But, I am having major decision paralysis when it comes to working on the rest of the room.  I am going to paint these side tables and lamps. (If the idea of painting wood upsets you, I hope you'll be comforted by the fact that the tables have damaged veneer, and the lamps are actually cheap metal made to look like wood.)

It was the shape of the tables that I fell in love with, anyway, and the $25 price tag.  I am thinking of painting the tables a darker color than the lamps, but I'm not sure. What do you think?  I am sure that I'm going to order some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to get the job done.  Everyone in the home/diy blogosphere is talking about this stuff, because  it's so easy to use- no sanding or priming- and it distresses nicely.  You can thin it with water, or thicken it by leaving the lid off for a while.  There are 24 beautiful colors to choose from, but I am looking at these four. 

Coco

French Linen

Country Grey

Old White

Of course it's hard to tell what the colors really look like here.  The Country Grey is actually more beige-y than grey, which goes nicely with the seagrass shades, and the Old White doesn't have the pink tone it has on my computer screen.  It's a nice off-white.

That's Country Grey and Old White on top (Cream and Old Ochre below that).  I was going to use those two colors before I found out about French Linen and Coco, which are just coming out this month.  I have requested swatches, and have high hopes for Coco, described as "a warm greyed brown, the color found on old French woodwork."  Coco tables with Old White lamps?  Or Country Grey tables?  with darker lamps?

Because it's starting to feel a little crowded in the room, I am going to swap out this larger roadside-find table

with this smaller one, another roadside find that has been gathering dust in the basement for four years.

I am planning to give that a chalk paint treatment as well, maybe some Old White with a little Country Grey.

The next big decision is whether to keep these teak chairs

 

or swap them out for these free yard-sale chairs.

While the teak chairs are unique and fun, these "new" chairs are classic, and I'm thinking they might suit the room better.  If I use them here, I'm toying with the idea of using the same suzani fabric that I used on this little bench, but then I am a little worried it's too... feminine?

Or, maybe the suzani would be better on the free yard-sale antique rocker, which will go in a bedroom upstairs.

But then I will have to choose from a whole world of fabric for the pair of chairs, and where do I begin?

I intend to recover those wing chairs someday, too, but that's not a project I'm geared up for yet.  Maybe there will be Living Room Decisions 2012, or 2013.  Or 2014.  For now, they stay as they are.

And, I'm still on the lookout for a small armoire to replace the bureau, so we can hide away a TV inside. 

So, what do you think?  If you have opinions, thoughts or ideas about paint or fabric or anything else to do with this space, please let me know so we can all move on with our lives!  Okay, maybe it's just me.  So I can move on with my life. 

I wish you a beautiful weekend filled with easily made decisions.

Shell Art, Parts II and III

We survived Irene unscathed, but we haven't had the internet (or television) for the last few days, which feels like a temporary loss of limb to me.  I'm relieved to be back, with lots to share!

My first installment of shell art is still my favorite, but I had to put the rest of the shells we picked up on the beach in Wellfleet to use, and wanted to get this in before summer is over.  

I have been saving this packaging for over three years with a quick project like this in mind.  These were some lovely cloth coasters I received as a wedding shower gift. 

The wood packaging had sort of a distressed look

and I thought it could be easily repurposed as cheap art. And, I was right.  Here it is.

I glued the shells on, drilled a couple of holes in the corners, and hung it on a nail with some twine.  Quick and easy, and I think it looks pretty nice.
 
With more scallop shells still on my hands, I picked up a grapevine wreath from A.C. Moore

and glued on the shells. 

I think it looks nice here near the sideboard in our front entryway/livingroom area. 

Note the new seagrass shades.  I'm going to share the new shades and sofa on the other side of the room tomorrow, way before the living room makeover is complete, because I still have some decisions to make, and I am hoping you'll be able to provide some advice.