A New "Entrance" for Old Doors

I LOVE using old doors and shutters in design. They have so much interest in them already with the paint colors and moldings. They bring a depth and character to a project that I find hard to replicate with new materials. It can be done but is not the same! I thought I would show you some of the projects that I have used old doors for that have given them new life.

Here an old door with the lock box still attached was paired with two old shutters and two fabulous old corbels to make a fabulous bar area. 

We had a copper top installed (new) and then applied bleach and muriatic acid, much to the chagrin of the contractor, to age the surface quickly. Imagine his face as we then took mallets, hammers and wrenches to beat it up a bit!

These corbels were the perfect supports for the top! 

In my daughter's room, we used two old wooden doors with their original glass knobs as her headboard. Check out those panels!

Shutters make wonderful doors! This is an old blue shutter whose paint has faded over time that I used as the face of a small cabinet in my closet.

We found these large shutters in the barn when we moved in. We used them to house the refrigerator. The slats in the sides are natural ventilators for the appliance.

There was a fabulous old sink in a powder room in the upstairs but it was badly damaged and leaked like a sieve. I wanted to maintain the character of the room without spending a fortune on the new reproduction sink so I used an inexpensive vessel sink from Home Depot atop...what else? Old shutters of course!

As a side...don't you love that diamond pattern that my artist friend Jennifer painted over top the purple floor that was there?

More old shutters?????

Actually I deviated a little on this one and used these wonderfully heavy and solid old barn vents as the sides of the sink vanity. The finish was actually as you see them when I found them.

Last but not least, I had this entertainment center made out of ONE fireplace door. The kind that used to keep the cold and drafty air out of the walk in fireplaces as well as the critters! It has wear and tear on it but when you see it in person, you can almost see the past hands that have opened and closed these doors over the course of many many years. The perk in the worn, uneven finish is that you cannot see the fingerprints of my kid's hands as they open and close them!

When one door closes...use it for something else other than it's original intention!

Enjoy your weekend!

Meg

"Cool" Summer Idea

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! The hot and humid weather finally broke in our area and it was beautiful. As I posted in my last blog, this weekend was a task filled one. We put a huge dent in the garage clean up but we took some time out to enjoy this beautiful respite from the oppressive heat and we entertained outside. 

I wanted to share with you a couple of the ideas that I used this weekend that are very simple. I had bought these fantastic old Belgian slates when I went to Maryland and I used them to label each of the food items that I made. I like to entertain casually with a spread of dishes that you can help yourself to in the summer but as people are serving themselves there is always the questions of "What is this?" These made the perfect menu description cards so to speak. All you use is chalk and a wet sponge to wipe them off for next time.

I have been keeping these canning jars filled with flavored water in my fridge for us to grab. They are quite refreshing and again easy to make. You just slice some washed fruit or vegetables, pop them in the jar and cover with water. Chill in the fridge for a day to extract the best flavor. One of my favorite combinations is cucumber and mint but lemons or oranges is wonderful too. Really any combination of flavors that you like works well.

Add a circle of wax or parchment paper and embellish with twine and a tag and you have an entertaining yummy addition to your dinner!

One word of caution when entertaining outdoors...check everywhere for bees well before you expect your guests. We have this fabulous beverage container that I had made out of an old copper tub that I found that we had set into a brick facade. It has a great little flip up wooden table on the side so I can put glasses or ice etc on it. As I was setting up, right before the guests were coming, I flipped up the side for the first time this season. I quickly shut it as I was greeted by the humming of a large nest of yellow jackets who found that little hidden spot quite appealing. Now what? I couldn't move all the beverages I had put in the ice in the copper tub for the bees knew that I was on to them. So what is one to do when all of her children have been put on a hunt to find the errant can of wasp spray to no avail and the first guest is pulling in? Whew!!! The first guest lived right down the street and was so kind as to go get us his can of wasp spray. 

Never a dull moment!

Today it is back to work and I am leaving on a "pickin" foray for two days. I will post from the road.

Happy travels to you!

Meg

  

Braving the Heat

I just wanted to shout out a thank you to our friends who braved the heat to come out and shop today! 

We will now be taking the next two months to purchase, make and create for our next big Barn Sale and Event that will be held September 21st through the 23rd. 

In between those "makin and creatin" days I will have to take some time to pick the peaches that are ripe and...

run far away from the dumpster that was dropped off in front of our garage today...time to clean out the last area of the barn and the garage. Ugh!  Anything that cannot be given a new life as something else or with someone else will have to be dumped. Those of you who know me, know how obsessed I am with recycling...don't worry...I will not relinquish my stance just because I have this great big garbage can in my back yard but if you saw the rooms I am talking about...you would understand!

I will also be squeezing in a little summer entertaining so stay tuned for some COOL Summer ideas!

"Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it."

~Russel Baker

Happy Heat Wave~

Meg

  

Open on Wednesday - July 18th - 12 - 7 pm!

Well good ole Mr. Murphy showed up again! (Murphy's Law) We thought we would be totally prepared and packed up all of our product on Friday night that we were going to be bringing to Milk House Antiques Summer Saturday Outdoor event. Sure, there was the ever present threat of much needed rain for the forecast the next day but that threat has been with us for the last three weeks...and has not come to fruition. So we ignored it, but as we were finishing up, on the old tin roof of the barn we heard the pitter patter of rain drops. Not heavy, but enough to make us say, "Let's wait to load the trailer until tomorrow morn. We will reconnect at 5:00 am on Saturday and we can load then. The threat of the heavy stuff is not until the afternoon."

I woke up to my cell phone alarm the next morning and since I could not see out the window due to the fact that it was still dark, I headed out into the hallway to make my way downstairs. The hallway is not air conditioned and there was a heavy moisture laden feel to the air that greeted me. I walked downstairs, opened the kitchen door and sure enough it was pouring! Now, don't get me wrong, I was incredibly thank full for the much needed rain. It has been so darn hot here and dry that the grass in the area was turning to brown straw. We needed the rain...but today? when we were already prepared and packed up?

 Oh well! We spent the day unpacking and decided to open our doors this Wednesday to offer you all the goodies we had prepared for the Saturday sale. Stop on by to pick up a hostess gift for your August beach trip to Aunt Mary's house or for barbecue cookout at your neighbors' house. Take advantage of the cool merchandise that we have discounted to get ready to bring our Fall line up in. 

See you on Wednesday and Adios Mr. Murphy...until next time!

Wednesday, July 18th Hours 12:00 pm-7:00 pm

The Lengths we go to...

These are beautiful creatures...in a field

not in your vegetable garden.

The deer in our local area were a little confused and thought that we were spending hours in the garden to plant THEIR favorite veggies. To assist them in their confusion AND to make sure that they were not going to indulge in the biggest juiciest tomato that had just ripened we installed the biggest fence that we could imagine. 

Okay, it is not the prettiest thing in town but it has served it's purpose thus far! Some have equated it to Alcatraz. I tell them that they can plant the next round of plants for several hours next weekend and then come back once a week to weed and in a month or two they can pick the fruits of their labor. Imagine the looks of dismay and pure anguish when they see that all of their beautifully tended plants are about 2 inches tall and are not bearing anything but the remnants of the bite marks on the leaves.

Enough said...so I will continue to tend my little patch of Alcatraz. Who knows it might even keep the kids and the hubby from thinking twice about entering and asking "What's for lunch?" while mom is absorbed defrocking the garden of its mile a minute vine/coat.

Things are looking good though and we are now picking ripe cucumbers and a few tomatoes. 

The next outdoor project is to pretty up this adorable potting shed (once a pool house in the 1940's). I will hopefully complete that in the next two weeks so stay tuned for the gussy up! 

Out Comes the "Good" China

My daughter just had her three best friends in from college to stay with us for two nights. I have to be honest with you in that it was wonderful to have more females in the house! With five males roaming the halls during any given day it was a welcome respite to have real live people ohhh and ahhh over what I made for dinner and how pretty everything looked.  "What did you make to get ohh's and ahh's you ask?" Just a little menu that looks like our usual fare:

                               

 Tomato Gazpacho soup with crab, avocado and lime. (I will be posting this recipe in a later blog because it is my favorite summer go-to recipe!) 

followed by

Grilled Salmon with a dill butter 

accompanied by

 Quiona with roasted eggplant, tomato and Feta cheese

And

Salad of field greens, hearts of palm, dried cranberries, red onion, pistachios and feta 

NOT! 

Again, those five males pop up along with their schedules and dinner is usually a late affair with a much simpler menu based on the go to, can get it ready in twenty minutes, and everyone will eat it (sort of) list of meals that have passed muster.  I do try and wait until we are all together back home to eat (much to the chagrin of my hubby who was ready to eat at six) because that is the one time we can reconnect and talk about the day. 

Dinner almost never happens on my good china. Even though I do believe in the adage...don't wait for a special occasion to bring it out...it is an economical decision. With 4 boys comes an inordinate amount of breakage AND they could care less what they are eating on, if they are eating on anything at all!  As they grab food on a daily basis, I constantly hear myself say, "Please put it on a plate!"

So...with that back ground knowledge in place you can see why, I...

one who loves to plan a menu, cook, and set a beautiful table using the dishes she has collected over the years, was ecstatic with the news that this slew of girls in the house would motivate me to do so. (Unfortunately, much to my chagrin,  I do not have any pictures of the dinner.  By the time we got home from the aforementioned activities...luckily I had set the table earlier in the day and made the gazpacho...even the girls would have looked at me like I was crazy if I stopped to take stylish pictures of the food.)

I do not like to disappoint though so I did get up early in the am to set out breakfast AND take a few pictures (the hardest thing about doing a blog I think!)

Fresh fruit sprinkled with mint sugar and borage blossoms

Chocolate chip scones with raspberry jam and lemon curd

The girls ooohed and aaahed some more and I got my fix until my next excuse to bring out the china...

now get out those paper plates!

It's a Wrap!

Remember this????

Our very hip and creative customer wanted to change the look and "French" up this chair a bit without changing the fabric. 

We sanded and sanded and then sanded some more. 

Then Jennifer (my artist friend who I refer to all the time and is my partner in these creative pursuits) applied a brown wash that she quickly wiped off to dry brush a coat of white over it. 

(I was still sanding)

We then topped it off with one another coat of a brown glaze, wiped it off quickly and then took a razor blade to sand off choice spots. We brushed it with a clear coat of wax to protect it and...

we hope that she likes the new look! 

Great idea to keep the old fabric don't you think?