The Farmhouse Porch

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Welcome to The Scoop's Valentine Tour!

It's not very often that you see a blog extravaganza this big devoted to Valentine's Day! Isn't it fun? I love to see new things in blog land and I have a feeling my 24 co-hosts will be sharing some playful and romantic inspiration during this week long party.

I don't know that many people who decorate or craft for Valentine's Day. Do you? Maybe we are all still recovering from the Christmas decorating madness. This year I decided to try a bit of Valentine's decor. I already dedicated a post to it a few weeks ago, you can see more here

When I think of Valentine's Day, I think of romance of course. That magical feeling that you get when you meet "the one" and feel as though you are walking on clouds.

When you feel drunk on love...

But I also think about having someone to grow old with. That is the greatest gift of love.

When youth is gone. And all that is left is feeling like you have never known life without him. And you both end your journey with lives full of happy memories to share...dreams realized and adventures survived.

Like this old postcard...

I've heard that in the end we really only remember the good times. We don't ramble on about the migraine we once had or the day we wore the wrong shoes and suffered at work all day.

We will remember the day we met our true love. The friend who always made crafts and cookies for us to cheer us up. We'll remember the days we made things with our own hands with our children and the happiness we gave others.

And on that note, I'd like to share a little craft that I made today. I plan to give it to a friend of mine who needs some love and TLC. She was recently diagnosed with cancer. I know she could use a sprinkling of love and a BIG hug right about now.

Start with an old shaker. And a small bottle brush tree. If you have bleached the bb tree, you can use rit dye to dye it pink. I bought the "scarlet" flavor, and used a few drops. Just soak the tree in a little bowl of the mixture.

Hot glue the tree into the inside of the shaker. Add your fake snow or glitter. Make sure to seal the holes on the top!

Next, round up your favorite embellishments to make it fancy...

I like to attach a little love note hang tag.

And there you have it! A Valentine's Day snow globe. Perfect for sending in a pretty little box with a lovely love note.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing the love♥

~Linsey

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Faux Balustrade Lamp DIY-Cheap and Easy

Today I did a quick, cheap and easy project and wanted to share it with you.

If you're like me then you love balustrade lamps! You know, the ones that look like a turned wood farm table leg. Especially shabby distressed ones. And if you're like me you've probably noticed that most are a pretty penny.

Here's an example...

This lamp is one of the first that appeared when I googled the subject. This one is for sale on a website called Visual Comfort. It is 356.90. In fact, in my search I couldn't find any that were under $300. If I spent over $350 on a lamp my husband would have a melt down.

Sure, I guess you could find an actual old balustrade and get it wired and distress it.

If you want to spend 40 hours on a lamp. But for a busy mom like me...no way.

I happened upon this lamp at Garden Ridge this morning.

With flash

without flash

It is tall and somewhat substantial. It is made of metal. The metal was dark (unlike the "flash" photo depicts) and poorly painted with some kind of swipe-y brown distressing. But for 24.99, I knew I could make it work.

I'll keep this short and sweet...just like the project itself! Honestly, it took maybe 30 minutes total working time (not including the 1 hour drying time between painting and distressing).

So first, paint the lamp with 2 coats of chalk paint. I used Annie Sloan Antique White.

Here it is before distressing.

Sand it hard on areas that poke out. Just go to town until you reach the desired amount of distressing.

Carry it outside and blow off all the paint "dust". I learned this the hard way.

Now dip into some wax with a wadded up paper towel and buff it on...there are tons of finishing wax brands out there. I just happened to have regular old Johnson's paste wax on hand.

Buff with a dry paper towel to get off any excess wax.

Now place it in your living room, with a goofy puppy photo bombing your photo...

And just a little side story about this table. This is where we put the xmas tree each year. We always move the chaise part of our sectional into another room to make room for the tree (we have a freakishly small living room compared to the rest of our house.) Anyways, when the chaise comes back you can't see this tiny table. Only the lamp.

I wish you could see it in person, it really looks like wood.

So there you have it! A one hour project for creating a pretty faux balustrade lamp for only 24.99

Junebug thanks you kindly for coming by, although she is disappointed that you didn't throw her toy squirrel down the hallway or put peanut butter in her kong.

Maybe next time...

~Linsey

Sharing at:

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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Arranging "Stuff" on Shelves with Purpose

I'm having total writers block today. I have erased my intro 3 times. What the heck do I know?

Every time I start writing it begins to sound like I'm an expert, which I certainly am not! I wish I had the gift that some of you do to be funny or exciting when it comes to decorating. I'm just a girl who likes old stuff. I like to arrange it in my home. I like to collect it.

Anyways. Let's just throw it out there today and look at pictures galore. That's what we really love, right? Seeing how other people are fluffing their nests!

Today I got the urge to spruce up the dining room. It wasn't that bad, but the whole room was just a holding tank for other junk ever since Christmas. It needed to look purposeful.

My purpose in design today was to do an all neutral theme with some interesting textures. I incorporated a handful of browns and just a pinch of black with the mostly white color scheme.

My other purpose was to use a few of the items I have for sale in my etsy shop. These items have not sold and I wanted to make sure they could be used and look good. You know, make sure my weird taste could possibly work for someone's decor. Also, I have a few new odds and ends I wanted to put in a place where I could display and enjoy them.

I got this old scale at a thrift shop two years ago. I forgot that I had it in the back of the bottom of this hutch. Kinda cool with the glass domes on it. I can't decide if I like them empty or not. I kinda do. It's simple, ya know?