thrifty art project Archives - The Weekend Country Girl

Behr Paint with Primer, Building a Home, Coldspring, guest house, Repurposed Furniture

The Guest House Porch

August 31, 2021September 1, 2021 Karen

We spend a lot of time outside and porches are important to us. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the guest house has a little porch to welcome guests. The original building had a sort of porch but we took out the original slab and reconfigured the space. We now have an eight foot by twelve foot porch that is blocked by the north wind and rain we get in the winter but open to the prevailing southern summer breezes. It has a great view of the garden and down the road will have a nice front view. I have plans.

The porch ceiling isn’t finished yet ( or the top section of the house caulk and paint) but we are still moving forward.

Our future plans for the porch are to put in a shiplap ceiling painted haint blue, cover the front posts and beams with cedar, and possibly do something with the concrete slab.

I am excited to say that the house got a coat of Behr True Taupewood, it is a gray with brown undertones. The trim is almost done and is painted Behr Dove. It is going to look beautiful with the door, swing, and cedar trim.

Speaking of swing, my goodness this four foot cypress beauty is a show stopper. A friend makes swings and other items in his shop. I love that it was custom made for us, It is stained a cedar stain and has three coats of Spar Urethane so that it can hold up to the weather.

We also have an Adirondack style rocking chair that was literally salvaged from the trash and rebuilt by Mr. Math. It got a good coat of black spray paint and has a place on the porch.

On top of the finishing up we need to do, I also want to make a barn quilt for the blank wall by the door. The view from the swing is just a blank wall and this house is all about quilts.

I found this pattern https://newlywoodwards.com/how-to-make-a-diy-barn-quilt/
I like how simple it is.

The Behr App has a project tab where you can save colors and look at how they go together.

All of the paint is in my shop right now so the 36 x 36 inch plywood is all that is needed.

We are making great progress now and it feels like we are getting somewhere finally. I am so thankful for all the work my husband has put in to get here.

Thanks for following along on our journey.

Blessings,

Karen

crafting, Decorating, DIY Art, the guest room, Thrifty Art, Thrifty decorating

Herringbone Pattern Art

August 26, 2013 Karen

Herringbone patterned art is showing up all over Pinterest. Of course I had to try my hand at it for the new house. The results were pretty good for a first try.

Here is the tutorial for what is really a simple, but time consuming, art project.

I bought this frame with a covered bridge print in it from my favorite thrift store for $2.00. The print was on super heavy cardboard that was in good shape. It became the base for the art project. The frame just needed to be painted when the art project was done. It was a nice size for a first attempt. The cardboard print was 18″X24″ with the frame adding four inches to each side.

I purchased three bottles of Plaid brand paints in the colors that coordinate with the room. I literally poured the paint in strips on the cardboard print then got a big brush and started mixing the edges together.

Here are the results:

While the paint was drying I rolled out two long sections of Frog painter’s tape. I cut one of them into 5 inch sections and the other into 3 inch sections because I wanted there to be a little more interest in the pattern. I modified the pattern you see below by making the alternating diagonal two inches shorter.

Once it was totally dry I started taping down wide green tape. I may or may not have gotten the blow dryer out to speed the process because I am impatient 🙂 The picture of this part did not come out at all. GRRR. Because I was impatient to get started painting over the tape, I did not check the picture before moving on to the next step. It was way too dark to show. I frustrate myself when I mess up like this. Here is my inspiration:

I put down a section of 5″ tape at an angle on the cardboard canvas then put a 3″ section at the end of the 5″ piece to match the width, leaving a sort of grout line sized space between each piece. I went to Pinterest for Herringbone examples at this point to make sure that I was at least on track. Once I got a whole row done across the cardboard canvas, completing the taping went quickly because I just had to keep the spacing the same and follow the pattern.

Once the whole painting was covered, I painted white plaid paint over the grout-ish lines that I created by leaving space between the tape. As soon as the paint covered everything, I gently started peeling tape up.

I painted the white paint on fairly light so that it would minimize the drippy edges.

A coat of white spray paint on the frame and I was done. Easy. Ta Dah!

I love it above the bed. It really helps to tie the room together.

Here are some of the blogs that I visited for inspiration:

http://whiletheysnooze.blogspot.de/2013/01/diy-herringbone-metallic-artwork-easy.html

http://www.craftaspell.com/2013/06/diy-herringbone-canvas-art.html

Coldspring, crafting, Decorating, DIY Projects, home decorating, new home, Ornate mirror, resale finds, Reused frame, silver, Style, the guest room, Thrifting, Thrifty Art, Thrifty decorating, using bright colors

Ornate Frame Makeover

August 17, 2013August 18, 2013 Karen

I went resale shopping Friday. Hubby and some buddies were golfing so I was on my own. I made quite a haul.

The projects will be showing up soon. The first repurpose from my weekend is a quick and CHEAP project. On my adventure I spotted an ornate frame with a broken mirror in it buried in a pile of paintings and frames. I dug it out of a pile of other frames. The pastor who runs the thrift shop told me he had dropped the mirror. He just doesn’t know what to do about me, he doesn’t get that I love the broken, chipped, old stuff more than the newer treasures. I asked for the price, he said fifty cents. SOLD!

Here she is with the mirror removed. The back of the mirror was marked May 5- 67. She is younger than me and considered vintage…sad.

I explained to the pastor when he asked that I would be painting the frame and putting a bright print where the mirror was…he said he would pray for my husband. Three times. ( He upped it to four times later in my shopping.)

I purchased a roll of coral wrapping paper at Marshall’s that I will be using to line the back of my milk glass display. It is perfect for the “mirror hole”.

I had left over paint from the giant ornate mirror and could not resist the bright shiny look on this silly frame.