GARDEN LIGHTING

Good morning everyone !

I know you've probably seen mason jar lighting 2,999,999 times before this -

My Son was over on the weekend to help me out with a huge problem (to be blogged about at a future date but the problem is solved )
It involved lighting - a way to hang up a chandelier to be precise - of which the base is larger than that whatever you want to call it attached to the ceiling.
In the den.
This is what we started with

Much to our delight we discovered that the wiring was installed on a paint stick basically

Can you believe what you're seeing?
I mean really - can you freaking believe this?
And there's no way a home inspection could have seen all these little " secrets " buried beneath walls and ceilings. Thankfully most of it has been updated now - this room and the living room are the last two nightmare's involving electricity ( even the certified electrician who worked here last year could not believe what he was seeing - bad - it was really bad )
It's shocking that the place hadn't burned to the ground many years ago ( which would have saved us from buying it and going through all of this )

Anyway - this post is not about that - it's about outdoor lighting - ( I just needed to vent for a moment or two ) thank you.
I've been searching for a chandelier to use for a year now........no luck.

I DID however have the horrible one we took down from the room my son is working on !
Picture it with fragile huge white globes hanging from each arm
I figured I'd simply turn it upside down and use it for tea lights.

John says - Why bother to wash it if we're just throwing it away ?
Suzan says - WE'RE NOT THROWING IT AWAY !
Suzan says - I'm going to use it outside over the dining table
John says - ARE YOU NUTS?  IT'S UGLY AS SIN !
Suzan says - Can you go help Gordie or something?

Last summer I used tea light in cages ( post HERE  ).which was very pretty but a pain when you're out longer than the candles last - than you have to stand on the table - open them up - and replace them. ( besides there's tons of area's they can go - closer to the pool would be pretty I think )
What I'd really like is a proper light

I brought the light into the mudroom to work on another day - but lo and behold THESE were sitting in the
mudroom - and you know how it is - somehow they made their way on to the light fixture almost by themselves...............

Do you think it's ok not painted?
I don't really want chips of paint falling in our food ( although painted and then chipping away would be a lovely look lol )

For some reason I'm missing 3 pins so the fifth one is not attached yet but here's how it'll look hanging outside.

I love how the light filters through the glass

I bought these last year to hang around the garden ( if you look closely in the tea light cages below you can see one hanging off the bottom of each of them )

So it'll be easy to glam up my new light when necessary ( you know, for those black tie bar-b-que's )

And I'll tie them in with these

And the best part?
My son is going to connect it with an outdoor switch - ON/OFF ( maybe DIM? )

OK - paint it or let the elements get to it and make it rusty ?
ME - who paints anything and everything - is leaning more towards letting it rust and hopefully getting some fabulous patina on it !

John says - I really like it - what a great idea
Suzan says - You do? ( because he very seldom says that as you know  )
John says - You watch - everyone's going to be copying you and using jars for lights now

I didn't need to tell him that I was the 3 millionth person to do this.
But I told him anyway..........because even though I can blatantly lie right to his face about how much something cost ( I can now do it without blinking or even crossing my fingers ) - taking credit where credit is NOT due just never sits right with me - I DO have some principles you know :)

So many dreams
I've kept deep inside me
Alone in the dark
But now you've come along
And you
Light up my yard.......................♪  ♪ ♫  ♪

Now have fun trying to get THAT out of your head all day.
You're welcome
I never liked it - even when most of the planet did, I didn't.

Oh !
Here's how it looked before - sorry for the quality of the pic but that's all it deserves anyway lol
I can't tell you how thrilled I am that it's down - and the ceiling's painted white - and my chandelier is oh so close to going up.................

I'm not sure what era it's from - but it looks like a bunch of moons to me -
And the last thing I need in a den is having a light fixture moon me.

Have a wonderful Monday everyone

ok maybe this will erase the previous one -
It's just another manic Monday...........................
I liked that one :)

UPDATE:  It was painted shortly after I posted this lol - a sort of Gold / Silver - Champagne?

For better or worse ( and I think I liked it better before but I'm NOT going to go there ) it's finished.

Can't wait for it to have lights in it!
Big hugs,
Me,



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REMODELAHOLIC

A DIY Faux Marble Mantel

I LOVE marble -

And....................I wanted a slab of marble for the faux fire place we built for the bedroom.

You know, that cheap frugal DIY one we built?
So I decided a cheap frugal DIY marble mantel would fit perfectly !

We bought a length of wood for 12.00 - had it cut to fit the mantel ( and unbelievably enough there was exactly - to the tee - to make another mantel for the living room gas fireplace - which I'll age and stain )
It's a nice thick chunk - perfect for this project !

I gave it a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint - Pure White - and then mixed a little Paris Grey with Graphite to create the " veins ": and simple painted them on the white - feathering some so that it was thicker in some areas
( with 2 different sizes of artist brushes - one pointy edge - and one flat edge )

The next photos are before I put polyurethane on it ..................but you can see it on the fireplace at least !

I don't have a tutorial because I was in such a hurry to get it done that I didn't stop to take photos - but if the truth be known it would be difficult to show through photos anyway - you'd kind of need a video I think.
( of which there are probably a million of them out there with far superior results !!! )

I just made my " veins " and brushed them out in places and left them in tact in others - the only important thing to remember when doing this is to bring your veins down onto the front and sides of your slabs for authenticity......................

Another mantel to decorate !  ( this was just thrown together to show you the finished product- the only thing I know that's staying is that wreath from Target ( 25.00 if anyone's interested ! )

And that's my final DIY project for 2014 lol !

Have a wonderful day everyone - I'm off to buy another one of these wreaths - I'm in love !

Oh and that perfect deer?
10.00 ( again Target )
You can see the tutorial for the actual fireplace HERE

Much love,
Me

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A Plank Christmas Tree

The balance of our fence planks.
There aren't very many of them left at this point LOL - BUT it paid off big time buying just a little too many of them !

Let's see now -

1) A plank wall

2) A faux fireplace

3) Artwork

4) Built in bookcases

5) A CHRISTMAS TREE !!!!!!!!!!

This is a tall one - I made it for the mantel and it almost reaches the ceiling ( we have very high ceilings here )

I spray painted screws in red - to mimic berries - and to allow something for the ornaments to hang from at the same time

The long ones hold the planks onto the back post - the smaller ones are so that I could hang as many ornaments as possible

The hardest part of this project was screwing in 100 screws - the second hardest was threading the string through the minuscule holes because I couldn't find my glasses ( I thought that was spelled miniscule - thank God for spell check )

The ornaments were purchased at Michael's a couple of years ago when I made my first pallet trees !

But I ended up stencilling on them instead

When I think of the chaos of last Christmas I don't know how we lived through it - seriously -
With a kitchen down to the studs and the filth and muck and mire............and pipes breaking on Christmas Eve so that we couldn't even bathe on our way out to my daughter's
O.M.G. - it was a living nightmare - and not one I think I'll ever be brave enough to face again
( but then again - who knows - I'm not all " there " )

John won the war of the " Sled on the Mantel "

It's now in the den - I was going to put it outside ( but I was afraid someone would steal it - is that paranoid or what? )  You can see the post on my Black and White and Red all over Christmas HERE

Does anyone think I should stain it darker?   I'm so close to doing it

Soda says " Enough ! "

Oh my gosh I LOVE this little girl !
She came out of the den and asked to be picked up while I was taking photos - she loves to be in the room when the fire is going.................it feels good on her old bones ( and mine actually )

Have a wonderful day everyone -
Much love,
( & plankfully yours )
Me


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Easy DIY Christmas Wreaths

Good morning everyone !

I had a bunch of garland that we used to use outside on our veranda in the city - it was a little " beaten up " from the elements - and since we no longer have an outdoor veranda in the front - I decided to repurpose them into wreaths.

I simply cut them with wire snippers to the desired length and folded each end into each other and voila !

New wreaths for the kitchen

The great thing about making them this way is you can customize the size of them - I wanted small ones for the kitchen buffet -

The pine cones were already a part of this garland - but it would be nothing to add some to these -
Or anything at all for that matter !

I hung them by placing a tack on the inside of the doors and draping the ribbon over ( so I wouldn't damage the front of the doors ( who cares about the back of them, right?  lol )

And so a new obsession was born, just like that

One ( oversized ) garland made all these - they're just waiting to have red berries attached to them

I think I have 4 more garlands - so this shall be named " The Year of the Wreaths "

Have a wonderful day !!!
Much love,
Me

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