Gathering Greens...

A couple of weeks ago, I went out on an searching for some evergreen foliage to fill the old containers on the front porch.

One good think about living in an old house is all the old plants that someone else planted.

A good thing about living in the south is the Magnolia.

One good thing about winter is Dead Kudzu.

The vibrant red holly berries are oh so "Christmas."

And the coppery seed pods from the Golden Rain Tree are just so interesting.

The evergreen above the seed pod has these rose type pine cones. I collected those too.

Fragrant Cedar. With the little blue berries.

Boxwood.

Some sticks that I painted red. ( Back in the Summer)

I found the gloves, my husband gave me. ( he is romantic like that)

I just had to show you the coppery underside of the magnolia leaf. LOVE IT.

And I stuck them all in the old containers by the front door.

Nothing fancy. Nothing stuffy.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Between the Down Pours........

I spied this little guy hanging out on a Coleus leaf.

A tiny fellow. His body is smaller than a Begonia flower.

Then he spied me.

I think he thinks the lens of my camera is an eye. Which it is. Sorta, Kinda.

It just is not an eye of something that is gonna eat him for dinner, or lunch, or even breakfast.

But it did scare the poop out of him, anyway.

Look at the expression on his face. ( I wish the shot were a little better in focus. I laughed once I down loaded the pics and realized what was going on.)

Then he ran to the Margarita Sweet Potato Vine. He fit in well. The Sweet potato vine has gone crazy at the front of our house.

I thought I would include a shot from February of his mom or dad sunning on the deck.

And Finally....... the crazy sweet potato vine at the front of the house. (I am ready to give it a trim. )

It has gone wild. (I only planted 3 of them.)

Beauty or Beast?

By now, I know you have figured out my not so little secret......

I am a flower-a-holic.

When I saw a small morning glory vine creeping up near the front steps, I decided to leave it, and let it do it's thing.

It grew and grew and twisted and turned up the metal railing.

And after months of waiting...finally...it is doing it's thing.

This one is a bit paler than I had wished for, but it still is a beauty.

Many people do not like morning glory and think of it as a pesky vine.

Do you think of Morning glory as a beauty or a beast?

2nd Rocker

I finished painting the 2nd refurbished rocker.
I am going to attempt to weave a seat for this rocker.

I did take a textiles class in college, where we learned to use a loom and make fabric.
Somewhere I still have bits of that fabric.

Making the seat, will be more like basket weaving, which was a course I did not take in college.

Stay tuned for the Sunday walk post later this afternoon. I have been on the walk and I am uploading pics as I type.

Also does anyone have a good link for HTML directions on making the blog 3 column?

See ya again in a bit.

Magnolia

From the Backyard.
I love all the shades of white and this morning it glowed.


Yesterday I completely finished the porch ceiling, with touchups and a little caulking in spots.
Today I picked up and put away all the supplies including some of Chris's tools that always find a resting place on the porch. I moved it all to the basement, where all that stuff should belong.
I also painted the other rocking chair. I still need to do something about the seat, but I will figure that out in time.

We are also eating squash tonight, fresh from the garden.

Other than that, not much else to report on.

Take Care and Happy Friday.

Does the Header look all out of wack? It does on my screen.

Crud, Cobwebs, Cuts, and Caulk

While painting the ceiling of the front porch. I notice behind the dirt, crud, and cobwebs.




That someone cut the wrong angle, but they decided to use it anyway.




Then I wonder what may be down inside the column...
But, I was too scared to stick my head close enough to look in.


That's where a digital camera comes in handy.




Sigh.......Nothing exciting. I would have kept my eyeballs. I like them.



and....




Since the area was clear, I moppped the slate and rinsed it down. Then gave the porch floor a blow dry, with a leaf blower.


Last week, I used the wire brush on the rusty metal railing (that I hate) and re-painted it a black. Even if I hate the style, the railing looks better painted than rusty. One day we will change it out to something more craftsman-ish.


Finally, I caulked the area between the floor and the front wall of the house.


I used normal caulk in the tube. I have never had a plastic tube of caulk dry out. (Paper tubes, yes. Plastic tubes, no)There has been a lot of hype of the new single use caulks lately. I just can't see the point of the product for the price. A whole tube of paint able caulk is under $2. The only part that I have had to dry out was the tip, so I re-cut the tip and it works just fine months later. Just my opinion. I have read some good caulk stories from the caulk contest.

More progress!!!! At Last...

Project of the Day...Mailbox

Giving the mailbox that is beside the front door a little TLC is the project of the day.

Vintage?...Yes.
Original to the house?.... I am not sure.

My gut is telling me no. I listen to my gut a lot. I call my gut Ms. Cleo. Or is Ms. Cleo my instinct? Or is she a gut instinct? What exactly is the difference or is it the same thing? I've never really thought about it until now.

You do remember Ms. Cleo, right?


" Dis de mailbox." Spoken, of course, in my best Jamaican accent, which is not very good.

The tools gathered are the wire brush and some steel wool. (And a camera.)




I forgot, I needed some gloves. I gotta try to keep the hands youthful and all. Gloves also keep some of the grossness out from under your nails. After brushing a bit, I decided I needed a little sandpaper.

The box's metal actually has a pretty nice finish with out any paint. I thought about polishing it up and giving it a clear coat.



I decided against it. I found the Kilz oil-rubbed bronze paint that I bought on sale a couple of months ago. It was $2. I knew at the time I would find a use for $2 oil rubbed bronze spray paint. It is that good Kilz paint that sprays on like a dream. If you dream about spray paint. I don't.




The big reveal..........



There is a little dent near the window area.

Total time = about 2 hours. Total money = about $4. I did use steel wool and a sheet of sand paper. Total if I had to get in the car and buy supplies......about $30. Yep, most of that would be gas.

The days of the mailman using this box are long gone in Townsville. He uses the box on the curb. Once I find some new screws, I am re-installing it. The old screws stripped out when I removed the box. But now.....I need to figure out what's for supper.

Don't forget about telling your Lucky Pet=Lucky People story. We would love to hear about it.

There is a Hang-Up in our plans.

Or, lack of ---hang-up.

I know you remember the porch swing. It has been sitting on the front porch for a couple of weeks just waiting to be used. But first it has to be hung.

Easy task, right? There are hooks already there in the porch ceiling. They just need to be moved back a bit, and out a bit. The tape measure is out and estimation is done on just where the ceiling joist should be. A couple of holes are drilled. 16" on center? 18" o.c. ? Just where are those joists?

You say go to the attic to see where the joist are located. No problem, the attic access is about 16"x20" wide. Not too bad, the electricians went there. It is just in the laundry area above the shelf, (full of detergent, cleaners, and dryer sheets) 10' up in the air.

Oh look! Over the porch, only over the porch, tongue and groove flooring is installed.
O.k. So you can't see the location of the joists, without ripping out flooring.



What do you do next?

A. Say ugly words?

B. Have a drink?

C.

Drill creative patterns in the beaded board ceiling.



Why nothing around here is ever easy!!!

The good news is the grass is cut, but the porch swing is still sitting, not swinging.

I had a wild hair.....

And painted the Door Bright Yellow...

Our front door has always been ugly. I walked through the nasty door one too many times, so I painted it. I dream of one of these doors, even a salvaged craftsman door would do.

Since a new front door is not priority, and I loved the yellow door I saw on a walk and the one from the flicker file........

Yellow it is... just the inexpensive can of "canned" yellow. Rust-oleum 1945 Sun Yellow.

At one time the crosses on the door were painted white and the panels were a painted green. It was bad. So over a year ago I had white primer on a roller and rolled over the green, still bad, and that is how it was until this week.

Yes this is only a quick fix, (under $4) until we finalize the exterior colors of the house. So I didn't strip or even scrap off all the PO's painted over mess. Why people paint over fuzz, hair, and other nasty stuff is such a mystery to me.

In other news.......

Our neighbor has a pretty pink azalea that hangs over our alley. Lucky us!

Red Rocker.......

A couple weeks ago, Chris brought me home a surprise.

He found it on the curb, and knew I had been looking for rockers for the front porch. It wasn't in the best of shape, it needed some extra shots of nails to make it a bit more sturdy. It received a good scraping, sanding, priming, sanding and now painting. But this time, I used some left over Navajo Red that we used in the foyer. I thought about going out and buying some more of the Paprika Red spray and then remembered I had some left over Navajo in the middle bedroom closet. aka: Paint closet. I will coat it with a clear coat after it receives at least two coats of this orangey red.

Another salvaged piece of outdoor furniture. He brought me another surprise too..a table...It is next on the list.

You can see the metal bench and chair in the background, still with out cushions. These will stay on the back deck and the rocker will go to the front porch. I just have not found the right ones yet. I checked out Homegoods. They had some for good prices, but not the right size. Does anyone have any links to DIY outdoor cushions?

Swing is in....

The swing came in today. It was on the porch when I got back from saving a dog and the grocery store.

The dog was walking down the sidewalk carrying it's leash, with no owner in site. It had a rabies tag. I called the doc's office listed, and of course it was closed, so I left a message with the service. Finally a long 15 minutes ( I was busy and had things to do.)went by and I called again. They patched me through to the office who gave me the name and number of the owner.

The owner said, "Lord.....Thanks you.....he's be done got away from me, dis mornin." (Really it was something like that.) I brought her the dog and she was very happy and told me the dog had been in jail for running away before. She just got him out of jail, week before last, along with her nephew. At that point I was ready to leave. I am sure jail for the dog was the pound, but I am not sure about the nephew. Poor little pup was very cute but reeked of cigarette smoke. Can dog's get lung cancer? Also did she know Lord actually once lived at the house? Lord Morrison that is.


Back to the swing.

• Over all I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.
• I was able to assemble the swing in under 30 minutes, well except one part.
• The finish was lacking, but I really wanted the porch swing Paprika red anyway.
• The style is nice, but it doesn't look too comfortable. Very straight back, but you do hang a swing on a little angle.

Tools needed. Only the little metal "L" thingy supplied. Hex key/Allen wrench that is, but I prefer the yellow set. The automotive thingy in the back, would have worked well if it would have fit in the space. Reminds me-- put that back in Chris tool box. You know we can't share tools. I also went a bit over board with the mallet, but it was the first one I saw. (In the linen closet, aka : the tool closet.) That goes back too.



Norm would not approve!..... used the screw driver to clean this out.......

This is the bolt that would not go in. The built in metal part seemed stripped. I'll let Chris take a look this evening. To do list... moisturize those cuticles..

Note to all manufacturers. Have someone random in your company assemble your product using your instructions. Maybe someone in accounting. What is up with instructions now days?

Now... to install the hooks in the porch ceiling......and we will need a little more chain.

Don't forget about this.....we've got some good ones so far....We need your ideas.

We'll Be Swingin'

Just-a-swangin.

Sittin' on the front porch on that Swang.

Ya'll remember this...

*WARNING* Do not click, unless you want to hear over and over, one of those songs that is played endlessly via your inner D.J. We will not be responsible to drywall or plaster damage from excessive banging of your head on your newly painted walls.

Do click here or the picture above to find out more. It seems to be a great deal. I'll post more next week when it arrives. We got the five footer.

Puppy

Puppy waiting at the front door.

Oldie

Picture showing the family that owned the house before us.

My interest is the porch railing.... Currently there is some 70's looking metal railing. I was told this pic was from 1962. The porch railing is a nice wooden design. Hopefully one day something like porch railing will be priority, but I don't see that day anywhere in the near future. I also noticed the 70's looking shutters are not there ( once we work on the outside, they have to go. they soooo don't go with the style of this house)and the mullions appear dark at the windows, but not the door. The same ol' monkey grass is there. But I think the steps are wooden, not brick. So maybe at this time the porch was wooden, not the slate that it is today.

Porch Ceiling

Well, I remembered this morning that I really needed to paint the porch ceiling before the electrician installed the porch fans and the pendant light. So I go out the painting garb and got busy.

Well, I am not a neat overhead painter. When Lynne and Marlene came by I was Blue. Well, actually blue spotted all over. I basically had to take a mineral spirits sponge bath to get all the blue off. I think I still have a blue blob in the middle of my head.....

So here is a pic of how the blue porch ceiling will look. I read that this is called Haint Blue. I may be spelling this wrong. This is the color blue that ol' southern folk painted the porch ceiling to keep the spirits away. It also has something to do with the blue bottle trees. This color blue was to ward off evil spirits. ( And since Puppy thinks there is an ghost in the dining room we may need to use more of this color) I will find out more on the details and make a post of the relationship with the blue and the warding off of evil spirits. Was there an article in Southern Living???? The color is also suppose to help reduce bugs..... Well...we'll see. The actual color name I used is Ben Moore forget me not.

Oh.... the dining room , you are wondering...... Puppy will not , NOT , go in the dining room. He doesn't really like to walk by the dining room. The room had 3 doorways and is in the middle of the house and it is a large room. There is no reason that a dog would not want to go into this room. I am typing from the dining room right now... I'm not scared. But I will let you know if he ever decides to enter this room. Something about the dining room freaks puppy out.

Lights

We installed a few lights.