Window Frame

 

At one of my visits to the local Salvage yard, I found these two diamonds in the rough. The door was refinished with way too much effort. The window frame below was an ugly brownish purple with chippy paint. It was most definitely used outside because it was plastered in dirt. Three of the panes were missing. 

First, I took out all the remaining window panes so that I could sand all the purple chippy paint off using my mouse sander. The higher to grit, the finer it is. I used a 80grit sandpaper, this took the paint off easily. 

I primed my frame with a white spray paint primer and let it dry. Next I spray painted with red. 

I brushed some "Ashpaltum" antiquing glaze over the entire frame. 

Next, I sanded the entire surface again with the 80grit sandpaper.

This is a close up of what it looks like after the sanding. Once the stain is added, the white area becones a little more beige and the beige area looks more brown like the stain--giving it an aged look.

I used a small portion of a brown glaze mixture that my friend Andie let me borrow. The stuff is amazing! You use a couple tsp of the stain and mix with water. Use a cheap bristle brush to brush over entire frame, paying special attention to the deeply sanded areas. You can either leave it all on and let it dry, or wipe some of the excess off with a clean, dry rag. I wiped mine off, but it just depends on the look you want. The deeper sanded areas are taking on the look of the stain itself and the white area (the original white primer) is a little more beige. 

I then turned the frame over and cut a portion of chicken wire to fit. 

Using my upholstery staple gun, I stapled the wire down in random places to make sure that it would hold. I also clipped the edges of the wire that seemed to be sticking out the most.

I hung this frame on our kitchen wall and added a burlap wreath that I had previously made and hung by ribbon. 

Here is another view.

Metal Flower Pots

Last year I made a pathetic attempt to create a little color to our front porch with some flowers in these super cute galvanized metal pots my mom gave me. Well, if you live in Utah you know how insanely HOT the summers can be, and if you know ANYTHING about gardening, you would know that putting flowers in metal pots in the desert summer is probably not the smartest thing to do. Keeping the flowers alive was really hard, and the dirt would never stay moist. Half way through the summer, the flowers were GONERS. 

This year, I am going to try something different. With how crazy cute these metal pots are, I couldn't NOT use them. That would be ridiculous, am I right?

This morning I was able to go with my green-thumb of a mother to pick out some flowers for container gardening at Home Depot. They were running a promotion that if you brought your pots they would give you free soil and arrange and plant them for you! It helped a TON to have my mom invite me along, the woman knows EVERYTHING about flowers! She was a great resource. She was even off helping other customers for a good half hour with their own questions! What a gem.  

I decided to plant the flowers first within a 6" plastic pot ($1.00 each at the Dollar Store), fill the bottom on the metal pot with Pea Pebbles to raise the 6" pot slightly above the metal one, and add a cute/useful water globe in each arrangement (also found at the Dollar Store-packs of two for $1.00 ea) to help with keeping the soil moist. By raising the pot inside, I am hoping that the dirt will not dry out and have enough room around it to keep enough air circulation.

My metal pots were plain before so I decided to use my black paint marker to add some "charm" by adding the numbers. I printed off the size and font I wanted from my computer and cut each letter and number off individually (tip: "outline" the font in formatting to use less ink). I taped to the front of the pot and traced with a Sharpie. The "Painty" marker works great on the metal to fill in the outline. I let it dry and sealed with a spray polyurethane so the font doesn't come off in the weather outside. 

I filled each bucket a little more than half way with the Pea Pebbles. I was told that the pebbles will help facilitate water drainage rather than using something alternative like sand. 

I set my flower pot inside and made sure that the lip was barely sticking above the top of the metal pot so I could easily pull out the pot later if needed. 

My flowers don't look like much now, a little wimpy actually, but I'm hoping that by the time this stupid frost is over---in APRIL mind you--- they will be pretty, full and lush! Cant wait to get them out on my front porch. Fingers crossed I don't manage to kill them off this year! Wish me luck, I am most definitely NOT a gardener. I will need it. 

Oh PS I love me a killer deal. This entire project only cost me...WAIT FOR IT...$39.00 !!

Four Metal Pots....FREE (gift from the best mom ever)

2 Bags of Pea Pebbles....$7.65

Four Plastic Pots....$4.00

Four small Water Globes....$2.00

Soil....FREE (Home Depot promo)

Design on front...FREE (already had supplies)

Flower total...$25.47

GRAND TOTAL: $39.12 for FOUR container gardens! 

Bring on the HEAT, Summer!