Free Wicker Chairs After Restoration

I can't help myself; I'm into restoration. If I see an old house as I'm driving by that needs some loving, plans for restoration begin popping into my head. Likewise,

     There are times I cannot restrain myself when I see a piece of furniture that has good bones but needs a little spiffing up. So when I saw a pair of wicker chairs that were sitting on the side of a country road with a Free sign while vacationing, I had to stop and take a closer look.

Home of the Heart Hint: Choose a paint color to coordinate with other furnishings in the room, and bring a fabric or paint sample of those furnishings with you when shopping for paint. And always buy plenty of paint on your first purchase. 

Dogs had evidently chewed on the wood frame, and horrors of horrors, someone had attempted to glue the joints with Gorilla Glue. I hate GG because it expands upon drying to create a yellow mess.

Free Wicker Chairs Before Restoration

     The good news was that the chairs had a lot of style and the wicker was in perfect shape. My dear husband purchased some rope to secure them. and we hauled them home 140 miles on the top of our car,  
    Once we got the chairs home, I went to work chipping off the awful glue and sanding the chewed portions of the wood. I love the ease of spray painting, and it's the best method for painting wicker as it can get into all the grooves, so I happily trooped off to the paint store. These chairs are going in our garage playroom, so I felt free to choose some wild colors. But I made a couple of mistakes:
Mistake #:I I bought one can of turquoise and one of purple. Turns out that one can only covered abut a third of a chair. By the time I went back to get more paint, those colors had been discontinued!
Mistake #2: I assumed I would easily find wicker seat cushions in about any color and pattern I wanted. Wrong again. I couldn't find cushions in the colors I originally purchased.
      So I started over, scouring the Internet for cushions I liked. Once I had those in hand, I took one of the cushions with me to the paint stores. I found the tomato red paint at one store where I bought three cans, and a better turquoise than the original at a different paint store where I bought three cans. The results you see in the Before and After pictures. Despite my mistakes, I had fun seeing these chairs transform like magic before my eyes as I sprayed away, and they're going to offer a lot of style and comfort to our playroom.
     Have you transformed a piece of furniture with spray paint? I'd love to see the result.
from Home of the Heart, my best to you.
Linda

Hammock on the Hill

It all started with two cedar trees close enough to suspend a hammock. We bought a colorful one for eight dollars, but what to do with the dirt underneath where nothing

grows? A neighbor had excess wood chips that were free, so for a couple of hours of hauling, we literally had that problem covered. 
     Attaching the hammock was the next hurdle. We had on hand a ratchet and carbuncle set we weren't using that took care of that.

Home of the Heart Hint: When starting a new project, think about what you already have on hand to re-purpose. You'll likely save money and come up with a unique and pleasing result.      Walking through the wood chips was not pleasant though, but we did have some leftover blocks from building the garden wall. After a little hauling and digging, we had steps and a landing for our feet once

"CK" - Initials for Camp K

we poured in some left over cement.
​     A little table would be nice. I had rescued a metal one without a top, so I painted it with some red spray paint I had. The acrylic top was the most expensive piece at twenty-five dollars. I bought a paver for eight dollars to keep the table steady.  The little red pot it holds was fifty cents. ​
     Two bucket citronella candles came to ten dollars. The solar bottle lights on the steps were free. The flower pots were moved from other places around the house. I added a warm throw to the hammock I sometimes drape on the couch, and purchased a pillow for fourteen dollars. (If you've read my previous post, you know my love affair with pillows.)
     To enhance the ambiance, we hung a couple of suncatchers and a wind chime from the branches. These elements all add up to a magical outdoor room we were able to create in a week. Well worth the expense and our time here at the home of our hearts.

​from Home of the Heart, my best to you.
Linda

P.S. We like to call to our place "Camp K." which refers to our last names.

Look what I found! Being the author of the romance, Home of the Heart, I couldn't pass up this pillow. With its white canvas background, it's the perfect foil for my red velour couch, giving it a lighter look for summer.

     Pillows are some of the most fun, easy, and inexpensive accessories to play with. In fact, I have pillows for all the seasons, and of course, for Christmas as well.
​

Home of the Heart Hint: Matching throw pillows on a couch can be boring , so try to find coordinating pillows in different shapes and a different combination of colors. ​

​ I can't say I'm on the lookout for throw pillows--there's such as thing as having too many I suppose. But every once in a while, a special one catches my attention. That happened the other day when I was rushing down an aisle at Walmart, headed toward the garden department. I came to a screeching halt when I saw this beauty on the right. I took it off the shelf

Since you see this kaleidoscope pillow on my couch in this photo, you know I ultimately chose to take it home. Now I've got my eye out for a coordinating pillow or two to use with it.

and examined it. It seems as if it has been hand-hooked with rags and I responded to that old-fashioned look as well as the kaleidoscope pattern. Then I put it back on the shelf. I didn't need another pillow, did I?
​ from Home of the Heart, my best to you.
Linda

Standard Ceiling Fan with Short Downrod

The weather here has been hot, so we're grateful for our ceiling fans. But when my husband and I first moved into the Home of our Hearts, we quickly realized that two of the three fans had a problem. In fact, I’ve observed that even the poshest of homes sometimes have the wrong fan for the room. This post is my attempt to help you avoid common mistakes in choosing the right one for your home. Here's how we fixed the problem with our fans.

Long Downrod for Tall Ceilings

Problem #1: The first factor to consider is the height of the ceiling. The original fan in our living room had a downrod that was just four inches from the fifteen foot vaulted ceiling , leaving it too high to efficiently move the air in the room. The fan and the light kit (the light fixture attached to the bottom of the fan) each had a pull chain that was far too short. The only other method of turning on the fan was by a wall switch. There was no way to change the speed or direction. In addition, the light could only be turned on by climbing a ladder to reach the chain, so it was never used. Solution #1:: Replace the original fan with a new one without a light kit, (There was no need for one, as a dining chandelier is only a few feet away.) and install with a 60" downrod. Add a remote control, making it easy to change the speed.

Low-profile Hugger Fan

Problem #2: The fan in the master bedroom was a low-profile or hugger model despite the fact that the ceiling was a foot taller than the standard eight feet. The chains for the light and fan were too short to reach, and when operating, the fan emitted an annoying hum.

​Solution #2: We replaced the original with a fan that had a standard ten inch drop. We chose a light kit that gave plenty of light for when I'm sewing. Unfortunately, the hum continued until we realized the dimmer switch that operated the fan was the culprit. We learned fans should not be operated on a dimmer switch.

Problem #3: There was no fan in the guest bedroom. The bedroom window opens onto the front porch, and keeping it open at night doesn't feel especially secure. The room needed some air.
Solution #3: Because the room is small, we installed a beautiful hugger fan with mellow lighting that creates a cozy vibe.

There are other factors to be considered in choosing a ceiling fan, and I suggest you go to Home Depot's page for more information.  http://www.homedepot.com/c/ceiling_fans_and_ceiling_fan_accessories_buying_guide_HT_BG_LF
​
from Home of the Heart, my best to you.
Linda

P.S. My office had a correct fan for the space, and my husband's office got the old fan from the master bedroom. We're keeping cool!

A home of one's heart has unique touches that express the homeowner's unique personality. One easy change is to alter a lampshade. On the left you can see examples that took only a short time to create.

     For a young feminine look, choose a length of eyelet (upper left) slightly longer than the diameter of an existing shade. Sew the ends together, then sew a piece of elastic near the top. Slide the piece over the lampshade and you have yourself a lampskirt. If it gets a bit soiled, it's easy to wash.
     Other pretty applications are simply tying a pretty translucent scarf on top of an existing shade, or crisscrossing two colors of satin ribbon around the shade. Secure with fabric glue.​
     If you have a lampshade frame to cover, choose a fabric that fits your decor. Make a paper pattern, leaving an extra 3/4" on all sides of the piece or pieces. Sew the vertical sides together and slip over the frame. Turn the top and bottom of the pieces to the inside of the frame and glue with fabric glue. Then glue coordinating trim to the top and bottom of the shade.
     The easiest do-it-yourself shade I've see was in a very nice Santa Fe home. The owner had simply taken a ball of jute, tied an end to the frame, wrapped until the frame was covered, and tied off the other end. Rustic and as individual as she. 
     I'm sure you can find even more ideas on Pinterest or even in your own noggin. If the lamp is going into a child's room, let him or her help you brainstorm. You'll find it's fun and easy to create unique touches like these to your home, expressing your own personality.
from Home of the Heart, my best to you.
 Linda

Fourth of July Display

I've noticed an uptick in decorations available to help celebrate the holidays. Christmas has always been the biggest, but other holidays are getting their due these days. I'm especially

amazed at the number of Halloween decorations available.​
     When I was a kid, I loved making art work in school that marked special events. There's something comforting about being able to depend on something special occurring on the calendar year after year. So these days, I make the time to mark the seasons and events in my home. I keep totes of objects for each season and holiday. The basics include changing out the sofa pillows and making a display on the tall glass cabinet in our dining room, and I love the seasonal gel stickers I can apply to the mirror above it. I try to have fresh cut or potted flowers for the table, and for some occasions, I hang a wreath on the front door. I even try to have season-appropriate candy in a clear, old-fashioned candy dish for the grandkids.
     Decorating like this lifts my spirits and helps keep me connected to my community and nation in a fun and whimsical way. What about you? Do you enjoy decorating for the holidays? I would love to hear what you do.

from Home of the Heart, my best to you.
 Linda

​A house that has a library in it has a soul. ​                                                            Plato

     Being a writer, I admit to being biased. When I'm in a home that has no books, it feels empty and devoid of warmth, personality, and heart. I don't care how much money has been lavished on the furnishings; a house without books might as well be an impersonal hotel room as far as I'm concerned. 
     The image I have here is one of a set of bookshelves my husband and I have in our home. As you can see, it contains more than books. Having lived in New Mexico for a number of years while studying textiles, I have a number of books on Native American weavers and weaving. I even have the beater stick I made from an old oak folding chair that I used when learning how to weave a rug on a traditional upright loom.
     There are a few photos and framed art too, among the children's books (favorites from my own childhood), as well as contemporary novels that my husband enjoys, and books on Christian philosophy. In other words, the books and other artifacts on these shelves are brimming with our personalities. Our house feels alive, or has a "soul" as Plato would say, partly because of our books.
      I hope your own home is alive with your personality, your heart, as reflected in your books.
 
from Home of the Heart, my best to you.
 Linda

What are your favorite colors to wear? Chances are they complement your complexion, and that's not an accident. Most of us know intuitively, what colors look good on us. We also tend to choose shades of those colors to fit our personality. Big, bold personality types often choose dense or bright colors. A quieter person will likely choose a softer, lighter version of a color.

     You're catching my drift, right? If you're going a little nuts trying to choose a new color scheme for your home, look in your closet to gain inspiration.
      However you decorate, I know you'll want to make a home for the hearts that reside there.

​From Home of the Heart, warmly yours,
Linda

Linda's Front Door

​Let's talk about the front door. It tells a lot about your home, but even more about you. Are you sophisticated? Down home? Creative? Friendly? Can you tell something about my personality by my front door?

     Sometimes though, we neglect to take a closer look at our entry. If you saw spider webs hanging from the ceiling, or weeds growing up between the front steps, you might not be so dazzled with my door's beauty. Keeping our front porch tidy can be overlooked as we pursue our busy lives. As I vacuum my porch and around the door, I remember my mother sweeping our front walk every morning.  No, I don't do this chore every morning, but when I vacuum the entry ​​floor, I open the front door and vacuum the porch too. It takes only a few extra minutes, and I can be confident I won't be scaring away my visitors.
     Keeping our front door painted or vanished tells our visitor the interior is in good shape too, even if, on occasion, we hide our dirty pots and pans in the oven when unexpected guests arrive. But we would never be caught doing that, right?

From Home of the Heart, warmly yours,
Linda

Front walkway after Front walkway before

If you're like most people, you want the front entrance of the home of your heart to welcome visitors and also to keep them safe as they traverse to your front door. The best method to assess how well your entrance measures up is to put yourself in your visitor's shoes and look through their eyes. What do you see and what do you feel?      When my husband and I bought our home, we quickly realized changes needed to be made. Walking up the steep driveway was no fun, and the entire picture was dreary. Add to that, a post stood so close to the front door, it required us to dance around it in order to open the door. And steps to the front porch were too shallow.

     Perhaps the most important change we made was building steps through the landscape. The gentle progression is a lot easier on the eye as well as the body. We also painted the garage doors a contrasting green and added windows. These made our entrance much more inviting. Turns out that pesky post was not essential for support, so it was removed. We added a handrail for those who have difficulty with stairs and made the tread slightly deeper.
     Full disclosure: I Photoshopped the stones on the posts in the top photo. During our year-long remodel, we unearthed a big pile of river rock that we plan to apply like those in the photo this summer. Even if you don't have image-manipulative skills, studying photos of entrances in magazines and Pinterest can help you decide what elements will work best for your home. 

On the right is a Photoshopped image I did to help us visualize what our landscape would look like with steps and additional plantings. I was also playing around with how

Playing around with Photoshop

to relieve the looming verticality of the garage by applying a different treatment to the gable. As you can see in the top image, we went with something different that is equally effective. ​

     The changes we made were modest but highly satisfying. If you're not entirely pleased with the vibe of your entrance, you might want to start with a simple adjustment like putting flowering pots by your entrance. Something as easy as that can make a big impact on how you welcome visitors. Whatever changes you make, let them reflect your personality and that of your home.

​From Home of the Heart, warmly yours,
Linda