The Apple Street Cottage

It's time to finally share the home improvement project that took me most of the summer to complete.  It wasn't a difficult task, it just took  forever to finish, but more about that later... Behold, the new kitchen backsplash: When we moved in last year, the backsplash was painted white - nothing special.  I knew I wanted to do something, but there are SO many choices.  I finally decided on a stencil and paint because it's not permanent and if I hated it all I needed to do was paint over it!  I chose this stencil... ...and then chose a shade of blue called 'Peaceful River' since blue is my favorite color.  I bought a sample can of paint and had more than enough.  The entire backsplash was painted with a stencil brush.  I know lots of people use a foam roller, but, honestly, in my opinion, there is always bleeding of paint with that method.  That may be part of the reason why this project took all summer.  But, I'll get to tha...

Update:  See that Curvy Dresser HERE .                See the Cabinet HERE . I know what you're thinking...seriously, Ann, how many yard sale finds can you show us?  This one is too good to pass up and I PROMISE to tie some of it into Fall Decor.  Ready?  Here we go..... I've been to three different sales recently, the most recent one was an estate sale that I just happened to see as we were driving.  It was the last hour of the last day and there wasn't much left.  As we walked through the dining room, the table had a few knick knacks, pictures and this beautiful Towle fruit bowl.  It's a 10", silver-plated bowl that had a price of 1 dollar.   It came home with me, where it was treated to a little silver polish and a good washing...and since I promised Fall Decor....I filled it with some silk flowers! Look at me, decorating for Fall when the first day of Fall hasn't even arrived yet! ...

I was lucky enough to find not just one, but TWO ironing boards at yard sales.  This is the smaller of the two and after a little thought, I came up with an idea for it.  This ironing board measures 7.5" x 35", the perfect size for a kitchen menu board. When I found this little board, it was in pieces: I'm pretty sure it was missing some parts. Here's the back: Pieces?  Not a problem, I had a plan!  Everything got a good sanding and the it was time to turn it into a chalkboard. The first step was to tape-off everything that wasn't going to be the chalkboard. You may notice a couple of white spots.  Those were holes that were filled in with wood putty.  I used spray chalk paint and it needed about 3 coats.  Sorry, but I forgot to take a picture of the chalk paint before it was seasoned.  I'll get to that in a bit.  Next, it needed a title.  I created a stencil with my Cricut and some contact paper from the dollar st...

I'm sure you're thinking, awwww, she rescued a kitty!  Someone did, but not me.  It's a story, not a long one, but I think you'll like it.  Here we go....... Last week was my birthday and I decided to do something a little different with facebook this year.  If you have an account, you know that when your birthday rolls around your friends are reminded so they can write 'Happy Birthday' on your timeline.  The day before my birthday I wrote this post: Tomorrow is my birthday, but instead of writing 'Happy Birthday' on my timeline, I'm asking everyone to take the time to do something nice for someone else....hold a door, tell them they look nice today, give someone a smile.  😊  It doesn't have to cost anything at all, just do something that involves interacting with another person and, just maybe, making their day!  😁 It's time to counteract the hate and bigotry we keep hearing on a pretty constant basis......................So, go d...

It's the last day of August and the beginning of Labor Day Weekend.  Sadly, that means Summer is coming to a close.  The gardens at the Cottage have come a long way in one short year.  We started with nothing and this year, we had flowers, herbs. and vegetables.  Feel free to click HERE to see the gardens in June.  So many things were in full bloom that are not included in this post.   This year I started hollyhocks from seed.  I didn't expect them to flower this year, but they surprised me with one of my favorite colors: I just love the two-toned pink! The plants are at least 5 feet tall and are filled with flowers and buds. They are so large, that my Mr. Lincoln Rose Bush was crowded out.  Even so, there are several buds that are getting ready to bloom: Next Spring, Mr. Lincoln will be moved to a less-crowded spot.  The sunflowers have taken center-stage this month.  They are all at least 10-feet tall and gorge...

A friend showed me this little bench she bought at a yard sale for $2.  She said she had no idea what to do with it.  I suggested that it looked like a bench for a child, or maybe a place for plants.  As I was thinking out loud, she handed it to me and said, "Do something with it."   After some more thought, I decided it would be adorable as a little seat for a child, so I got to work. It started out as a pine bench stained with dark walnut.  It's about 26" wide and the seat is about 9" off the floor.  I gave it a 'scuff' with sandpaper and two coats of primer.  I had some porch paint laying around,  so it got two coats.   At this point, it was nothing special, but it had nice lines, especially the curves on the back - I'll get to that in a bit.  Meanwhile, I knew it needed a cushion and I found the cutest hedgehog fabric in the sale bin - to be honest, my husband actually found it!  He's really good like that. ...