The Apple Street Cottage

It's been a year since we moved into this house and we've made lots of improvements to the landscaping.  You may remember my post last summer where I shared all the weeding and digging we did, along with the 'treasures' we found.  If you missed it, you can read it HERE . This year, we actually have some garden beds and plants are growing....let's have a look around....... First, let me show you the new hydrangea: The front of the house had some forlorn bushes that had to go.  We tore them out and planted this beauty.  Blue is my favorite color and this shade makes me smile everytime I look at it.   I can't wait for it to grow even bigger! We also added a Mr. Lincoln rose bush that never disappoints. The Lemon Balm came back this year and is taking over.  I'm good with that since it smells soooo good. I planted an herb garden that includes basil, dill, rosemary, and sage.  I harvested some dill the other day and it looks like I'll nee...

Update:  See the reveal of the picture frame HERE .                 See the reveal of the Ceramic Tree HERE . Yard Sale & Estate Sale Season are in full swing around here and I've been frequenting a few of them.  OK, I'll be honest....a LOT of them.  Sometimes they are an absolute 'win' and sometimes they are a total 'bust'.  I also fell in love with the house at a recent Estate Sale that could totally be our next home, but that's another story .......In spite of that, I've found a few treasures that I wanted to share with all of you. Here's a peek at my finds from a recent Saturday: Let's start with that painting in the back.  The actual painting didn't do much for me, but the frame did.  It's 3 feet tall and surprisingly light.  I can only imagine what kind of wood it is (maybe balsa?). It also has some pretty details: I asked the man how much he wanted for it and the response was $10.  More ...

Welcome back to the Cottage, everyone.  Today's project has been 'in the works' for months and I just got it done.  There's no particular reason it took so long, it just kept getting brushed aside for other things until I decided it was time to finish it, since it is a gift for my daughter! Her guest bedroom has a Pineapple/Flamingo theme and she saw a pineapple on Pinterest that inspired her.  The pin was sent to me and I started planning. The first step was to draw it out. The horizontal lines were guidelines for the strips of wood that would go across the entire pineapple. I wanted to be able to cut complete strips, not tiny pieces when it came to the crown.  The template was traced on a piece of luan. Using my jigsaw, the pineapple was cut and the edges were sanded. Then the fun began.  I bought a few 5-foot lengths of lattice wood and started 'rough-cutting' them to fit. Each piece was measured a little longer than the width of the pineapple...

 I have to be totally honest.  I don't really decorate for July 4th but I wanted something for the porch.  After a little thought and some staring at my pile of pallet wood, I came up with an idea! I grabbed a leftover piece of wood and gave it a good sanding.  Then I started taping-off the various areas.   I started with the field of blue.  After that was dry, I taped the stripes.  When everything was painted and dry, I did a little distressing with some 220 grit sandpaper. The wooden stars were in my stash of goodies and got two coats of antique gold acrylic paint.  When they dried, they were glued-on to the field of blue with E6000.  A piece of jute was stapled to the back for an hanger and this project was just about done. The entire sign was given two coats of matte finish Krylon.  Then it was declared done! It's hanging on my little wagon on the front porch right now.  Like I said, I don't decorate for ...