redos and future projects with shabby finds

May 29, 2011

Good morning, What a beautiful morning, although its hot and dry and we are still praying for rain. Some areas had rain a few days ago along with some severe weather and more tornadoes.  Our hearts and prayers go out to those folks who have been affected by the tornadoes and flooding across our country. 

I thought i would show you some of my redos and some shabby finds and future projects.  Awhile back i posted a chair that i repainted and distressed, well, here's the finished look.



before .........(blahhhh..drab...)

I have to show you what my sweet son-in-law scored for me the other day.  I like getting the word out to my friends and family about my love for shabby, vintage stuff, because you never know what they may bring you................

Is he Awesome or what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  he has a good eye.

I'm not sure what type of table this pedestal came from.  It's shorter than an average dinning table and taller than a coffee table.  Hubby and i haven't decided what type of top to put on it yet, or if we are gonna cut it down some or not.  Love the metal claw foot on the bottom of each leg.  I think it would make a cute lamp table in a living room.  What do you think??????

       

Remember the old child's rocker i found in my shed that belonged to my daughter's great-grandmother???????  I have been slowly stripping and sanding away all the chipped white paint that was hiding this beautiful oak wood.  I know you hate hearing this, but...........I had a before pic way back with the torn canvas seat on it and the chippy white paint, but cant find that pic.  So here is a pic during the process.   

       The wood was so dry and cracked it soaked up anything i put on it.  This pic is during the process of putting some cherry wood stain on it.  I love the wood grain of oak.

Still trying to decide what type of seating to do on it.  Like i mentioned earlier, there was a canvas type fabric tacked with upholstery tacks will no padding of any kind.  So I'm open for suggestions if any of you out there have any to give.  My first thought before i started stripping it was, i wanted to leave it in that shabby old chippy look and just do a burlap seat of some kind.  But when i discovered it was oak under all that chippy and goop, i had to bring that wood back to life.  I'm pleased with the way it looks thus far, now i need to figure out the seating part.  Let me know what you think in my comments.

          Thanks, and have a happy and safe memorial weekend.

                                       Live simple............................Sheryl

using up stale bread and surplus of eggs

May 27, 2011

Was looking for a recipe that would make use of some french bread i had laying around and the surplus of eggs we have these days.  I came across this recipe called a "strata", I have never heard of a strata before, but the ingredients were familiar.  I have made omelets and quiches before but this called for day old french bread or Italian bread.  While in my search for a new recipe to use up ingredients i had on hand, i discovered there are many eggs dishes that are similar but some are cooked in different ways.  An omelet is an egg mixture of meats, cheese, vegetables, cooked on top of the stove.  A Frittata is an egg mixture of the same but cooked in an oven.  A quiche is an egg mixture of the same meats, cheese, and  vegetables also but its poured into a pie shell and baked.  A strata is the same with the exception of bread cubed up and its also baked in the oven.  Whats fun about making these dishes is that you can combine what ever you like as far as meats, vegetables and cheese to your liking.  Be creative and use up some leftovers.  My family loved it..........

                            

                                                                Spinach and sausage strata   

I started out by tearing the bread into pieces and covered the bottom of a 9x13 dish.  If you don't have french bread you can use stale slice bread, about 9 slices, enough to have a good layer on the bottom.  I used a 9x9 dish .

Brown breakfast sausage in a skillet, add onions, green onions and parsley and cook until wilted.

Drain spinach and squeeze out any water.

Add meat mixture and drained spinach to bread.  Beat eggs with milk, add salt and pepper or other seasonings of choice, pour over bread mixture, top with cheese and let set on counter for 15-20 minutes to let bread absorb milk.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes until golden and eggs are set, and knife inserted comes out clean.

Spinach and Sausage Strata

9 slices of stale bread; or french bread or Italian bread

1 small pkg breakfast sausage (Jimmy Dean)

1 small pkg frozen spinach thawed

9 eggs beaten

2 cups milk or half and half

shredded cheese of choice

1 small onion, green onions and parsley

salt and pepper to taste

This is an quick and easy recipe that my family loves for brunch on the weekends.  Give it a try and let me know what you think............

               Thanks for stopping by.......................................

                        Live simple........................................Sheryl

Farm happenings

May 26, 2011

Hi everyone, It's been a while since i had the chance to sit here and blog.  I miss it so much, but life gets busy, and family has needs, and those come first.  My oldest daughter had to have surgery, and i have been helping her out and taking care of my grand baby, and loving every minute of it.  Recovery for my daughter is long and slow, but doing better everyday.  Baby is growing fast and doing fine.

nap time at meme's house

It's grown hot and dry around the farm, we need rain so bad.  While some areas along the Mississippi river are worried about flooding, some of us are in a drought and can use the rain. Would it be great if we could tap into the river to water our fields and garden and put that excess water where it's needed!!!!!! The garden is hanging on by watering every day.  This new location for the garden has worked out pretty well.  We're growing some of the prettiest tomatoes we have every grown, but with the heat and no rain the bugs are starting to get to them.

Hoping to get to eat several of these beauties before the bugs do.  Hmmmmmm I'm spying something red in there...........

I can't seem to get the whole salad together, no matter how hard i try, my lettuce gets done before everything else,  I guess that's just the way it goes in south Louisiana.  This is what was left of my buttercrunch lettuce that finished up a few weeks ago.  Now the tomatoes are starting to turn red and the cucumbers are lagging behind as well.  My vision of eating a beautiful, healthy salad i grew myself is not lost, even if i have to eat these ingredients one at a time, as they are grown and ready.  There is such satisfaction in knowing that you grew this yourself, and you know that its grown in a healthy way with no chemicals.



buttercruch lettuce





shallots

We are starting to have a few ears of corn getting close to being ready.  I was feeling disappointed that things were off to a slow start.  We had to replant several things twice, corn was one of them, due to the lack of rain and cooler than normal temps this spring.  Hubby had to remind me that this location was once the pool site, that needed lots of amending.  OK......so maybe next year this site can be more productive.



view of tomatoes, beans, potatoes and corn



This year i planted pole beans and potatoes for the first time and I'm pleased with the way they are growing, spite the lack of rain.  I planted a variety called "rattlesnake", it's a long green bean with purple variegation running through it, a beautiful bean, can't wait to taste it.

We also planted pole butter beans (Florida speckled) and top pick pinkeye peas. They are starting to flower, can't wait to see them. Will get pics of those later. 








We dug potatoes on Sunday, the kids helped and were amazed at how they grow under the ground.  we were pleased with the size of most of them, considering we never grew potatoes before. 

                                                          

The yearling heifers are growing also; the one in the middle is "Oreo" the belted Galloway.  She is expected to have her first calf in July. We met a dear friend that raises registered Belted Galloway cattle and he was kind enough to let us bring Oreo to his farm in Jonesville Louisiana for breeding.  This breed of cattle is an old breed, does well on grass and easy to keep.  It has a small frame size and docile, which makes it easier to keep on small farms.  She needed a home, so we brought her to ours a year ago, not sure what we wanted to do with her, we researched and learned alot about this interesting breed and made her part of the farm.  We are all anxiously waiting to see her calf come July. 

 "T-Boy" young black bull (on the right) is the newest addition to the farm.  We got him at the end of March of this year. Our two yearling heifers liked him alot........... can't wait to see if his work payed off. 

These are some pics of the baby chicks we got at Easter.  These were taken a few weeks back, i will have to take some more recent ones..........just wanted to get a few shots of everything growing on the farm.

Our Barred Rock chickens are doing fine, they are free ranging during the day, and surprisingly!!! they are staying out the garden.  They did get into a few of my flower beds and scattered things around.  I always wondered how do people have these beautiful gardens and flowers and such, and still able to keep the chickens free ranging.  These ladies love to hang out around people, they are very social, which i love...........I love watching them walk around my yard and eat grasshoppers.  We move the portable coop around, trying to keep them more toward the back of our property.  But.........free ranging means sometimes they don't make it back to the coop to lay an egg.  We have found a few eggs in the barn stall and flower beds, kids love it, it's like Easter egg hunting everyday.

These are the happenings on the farm..........check back often to see the updates and progress;

Thanks for stopping by.................

                       Live simple............................................Sheryl

Cleaning out the shed........shabby treasures

Saturday April 30, 2011

This week while cleaning out the shed and trying to get organized, i found two shabby treasures i had hidden in the back under piles of stuff.  Thought i would drag those beauties out and dust them off and see if i can find a place to display them.  I get lots of inspiration from the beautiful blogs i follow that showcase their treasures proudly.  I have always had a love affair for old, shabby, antique and vintage things.  I guess i kept alot of them tucked away, afraid the kids or animals will destroy them.  After admiring your treasures and decorating style through blogging, I think it's time for me to showcase and display mine proudly.  So today i will show you a few of my hidden treasures.

Someone gave this to me along time ago.  Not sure what it is, sorta looks like a laundry cart of some sort.  If anyone knows what this treasure could be, let me know.  Anyway, i had used it to put plants on for my daughters wedding.  It was painted a different color to match her color scheme.  The other day i dusted it off, hit it with some red spray paint, distressed it some, ( my favorite thing to do) and will drag it out to the patio to display plants.  I know i didn't get a before pic.....This pic is taken after i started spray painting it, sorry my camera is not the best, so bare with me. 

It folds up also, the pieces of wood in the middle lay flat when in the open position.  So i don't think a laundry cloth type bag could hang from this, like you see in some older laundry carts.  I think you could place a basket on top when in the open position....Hmmmmmmm i don't know.  I layed a piece of wood on top and set my plant on top for now.  Let me know if you have any creative suggestions.  That's Dally in the background, sorry, I'm sure she was watching something move.......She loves chasing anything.

I will take pictures later, when i find it a permanent spot.  Not sure where i want it yet.

Thanks to Amy over at "All things Home" for inspiration and the "will" to drag this big scale out of my shed, and dust this treasure off.  It's a large scale that was used in a feed store to weigh feed sacks or potatoes.  I  had it displayed on my patio also with plants, but it was stored away in the shed for hurricane Katrina, and I haven't brought it out since.  So, thanks Amy, I'm displaying my scale proudly............

This is something else that was in my shed.  It's a child's rocker that stands about 30 inches tall.  It was painted white, with a torn out canvas seat, i know i know......i did get a before pic before i started stripping it, but i cant seem to find it. I had intentions on painting it for my new grandbaby "Jessie", but after i stripped it and noticed it was oak, i don't have the heart to cover up the beautiful grain of oak with paint.  So its a work in progress, lot of sanding and scrapping to get all the paint out the groves of all the spindles.  I will keep you posted on that project.

My daughter gave me several of these old chairs that came out of a restaurant.  I started playing around with one yesterday.  Here is a before shot. dark, blahhh..............

I spray painted it with Krylon satin in a Jade color.  Love, love this color.

I decided to add some character to it by doing my favorite thing, distressing it.  It's so fun to make something look old and tattered.  The seat was easily removed, a few screws holding it in place. 

Here's the distressed look, sorry close up does not do it any justice.

I haven't decided on fabric yet for the seat cover. I will post finished project later.

I promise this was not in my shed.......This was hanging in my living room. It's painted a dark burnt red color, was given to me by a friend.  It's an old window, and he put the mirrors in place of the window panes which makes it super heavy.  I managed to get it off the wall my myself without cracking the mirror.  Since i was in a distressing mood and i have been wanting to change the look of this thing, out came the sand paper again.........by the end of the day i was standing in a heap of dust from all the distressing. 

I managed to get it hanging back on the wall, and now that i have it inside i don't think the distress shows up enough. Hmmmmmm......... may have to hit it a little harder.  I don't think i will attempt to take it back off the wall just yet.  I will wait till hubby gets home to give me a hand.

Well i enjoyed my weekend, kids gone, hubby gone, just me and my sandpaper had a relaxing,  peaceful weekend.  It's fun to re-purpose things around the house and find new purposes for things you may discard.  With today's economy it's wise to shop around your own home for things to decorate or re-invent.

                                          Live simple,     ..............................Sheryl