We can do that!

Yesterday we took a much needed day off and went shopping at some of our favorite places.

While at this antique store Karrie spotted  this pergola...

"I could do that!"  She exclaimed.  "I have some of the posts already!" 

Hmmm.... I smell a project!

Hold These Please.....

We just love finding treasures

that we can use for other purposes....

Doesn't this piece of silver fit these glasses perfectly?

In what ways have you used a treasure

for something other than what it was intended?

Sew Delightful!

Little pin cushions with character!

Pick your favorite little vintage container

Wrap a vintage quilt piece around some batting (Natural cotton batting works really good - it stays more firm) and put it into your cup or planter & start using it for your pins.  You could also cover your old pin cushion and glue it in place - on top of a round container.

Sew Delightful indeed!

Rock On!

                                           

Karrie is blessed with some nice sandy soil to work in...

and cursed with lots of rocks!

So she makes lemonade out of her lemons and puts those rocks to work.  You'll notice that she uses rocks as borders...

and many more rocks as pedestals....

They work great to add height and interest in her landscaping.  (They also can help keep the dog from laying somewhere she's not supposed to!

Earlier this summer she found these rocks where an old fence row was, she thought they had a fun shape... plus they were flat on top, perfect for a pedestal!  Now we just need to find something fabulous to sit on them ;o)

They are also great to use for those smaller bits of garden art, giving them greater impact where they may otherwise be lost.

(They also make for a great for sunbathing spot for flying pigs!)     

Table Service for your Plants

This year, not only will we be putting our broken dishes in our plant stands & garden....


We'll have these new vintage stamped silverware as well - forks & knives that are ready to serve up some style in your vegetation!!
(available with "flowers", "fleurs" and "herbs" printed on them!)

"Good Boy!"

It's not so "ruff"
Take a charming old planter...

...and plant your cell phone...or glasses in it
don't you just love using old things?
(We knew you did!)

What's On Your Drawers?

If you didn't know it already - we love wallpaper
Since we don't have anything to wallpaper on the walls in our homes at the moment, we're looking for some furniture, because we love this!

image from Better Homes & Garden
The wallpaper just makes these drawers pop!

One roll of wallpaper is all you'd need for something so pretty - just imagine the possibilities!

This decoupaged dresser from Martha Stewart
How about vintage botanical, floral or bird prints? Look on eBay or estate, or garage sales for wall paper remnants, pages out of books, blueprints, anything to put on the drawers - you just need some wallpaper paste - and voila!

Fast and fabulous decorating projects article from Better Homes & Garden

Pick your paper out first, then pick out a fabulous paint color that compliments the paper.

photo from Better Homes & Gardens

Don't have a dresser?
How about a cabinet or shelf?
Wallpaper makes anything pop!

Now We're Picturing It!

One of our lovely customers, Carolyn, purchased this reclaimed piece of wood at the store several months ago.

She sent us a picture of what she did....isn't this darling? She inserted a picture from her wedding day...and will hang it above her bed.


It is so wonderful to see what happens to a piece when it leaves the store.

Thank you for sharing some inspiration Carolyn!!

Pillow Power

So...these Pottery Barn sweater pillows are just really cool - we love the texture & that cozy look that it gives....but we've found sweater pillows that you can make yourself that are far superior to these (we just love it when that happens!)

image from potterybarn.com






The first pillow is from Country Living - the new issue just came out and we loved all of the ideas for old sweaters - the flower embellishment is just too cute!

image from countryliving.com

The next two pictures are from Martha Stewart - we love the details in these pillows - how the sleeves are even used in these - very clever Martha!
Image from Martha Stewart

These puckers are so adorable - can't you think of a million places to put these pillows? We can!

image from marthastewart.com

For a basic sweater pillow, we found instructions on the cutest blog Make It and Love It - cute, cute things over there!

So, what are you waiting for? Get some sweaters & make some pillows....go on....what do you have to loose?

"An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail." ~Edwin Land

Re-purpose An Ornament

These crystal ornaments have been popular at the store the past few years.

This year, we brought them back, but with a twist...and a bow!

What a great idea for any ornament you have at home...here's how you do it....

Take one ornament

Take wire & ribbon

Make a bow with a long loop in the middle & wire it on the ornament

Use the ornament around your cloches, lamp switches or your dresser's knobs...anywhere to bring a festive look to your home for the holidays!

Endless Possibilities

1. It seems that we have magazines everywhere...yes, we are addicted, but we need to do research...but what to do after we tear out all the articles we need?
2. Whenever we need to send a note to someone, we never seem to have note cards!

Today on Design*Sponge we found the answer!
This argyle patterned note card has truly inspired us today! How about silhouettes of animals, trees, flowers. You could make your initials or some fun squiggly shapes...there are so many things you could do! This would be a great gift too....get the kiddies out and have them make some for their teachers, babysitters (just think how much the grandparents would love this!)
What else? Well, why not paste things on paper or canvas to make a piece of art with? The possibilities are endless - just look at the fun you can have with old magazines, making them into something so useful!

photo courtesy of Design*Sponge

Sweet Dreaming

It was 1904 and Mr. Halter was building his home. He furnished it and brought his new bride home and she loved it. Upstairs in the bedroom was a grand and beautiful bed. fit for a queen, and Mrs. Halter thought she was the luckiest lady around!

The bed lived in the house until Mr. Halter died. Several years later, Mrs. Halter rented the house out and put the bed into storage in the great attic upstairs. There the bed stayed until.....the attic needed to be cleaned out because the newest owners decided to create a room up in that big, old attic. Now....what to do with that headboard that had been in the house for 105 years?

Well....the bed is Karla's, and it has been moved several times from one side of a room, to another to endure work in the attic, and now we are happy to say, that there may be a happy ending to our story! We have thought that this headboard would make a great headboard for a king sized bed...how do we utilize the foot board?

Well, Monday we're taking it over to the wood repair shop and are going to finally see if the dreams we have for this headboard will really be able to happen! We need to make it bigger, paint it...and maybe we can add fabric...we've scoured the Internet on information about making a full headboard a king sized, but haven't found much....but we did dream quite a bit with some fun ideas for headboards - so come along and do some dreaming with us......



We just love, love, loved this idea {of course we tend to collect old doors here at The Summer Kitchen!}
How cute would this be - an old door, on it side with trim work above, painted and distressed - perfect and easy to do...not adding those little lamp holder on the side - quite creative, don't you think?

photo courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens

Goodness....we've died and gone to heaven - isn't this mirror gorgeous? What a great headboard this makes....we can't imagine what it would cost us...but it is sweet to dream girls, isn't it?

photo courtesy of Country Living





When we saw this picture in Better Homes & Gardens we squealed with delight! We love old hankies - and just how darling is it to frame them and put them above your bed...or anywhere for that matter!

Also love those snare drums - what a fun end table for a room {and be sure to take notice at all of the fun vintage things at the end of the beds in all of the pictures posted.....great uses for fun pieces!!}





We love old shutters - and think this idea is a fabulous one - that doesn't need anything but a good wash down and some nails to secure above the bed! What a fun idea to bring the outdoors in!

photo courtesy of Curbly.com





How about windows? You can find plenty of them laying around the neighborhood. See anyone replacing their windows? Ask if you can take some of their old windows and create a unique headboard. Here they took out the panes of glass and inserted boards covered in fabric that compliments your room.

{wouldn't this make a great screen for your living room too???}

photo courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens




Now...hanging art above your bed is great - but hanging ART above your bed...large art with a light above it....how great is this?

{Not to mention the great mirrors on either side of the bed...and the lamps....!}

photo courtesy of HGTV




We love how they took an old headboard and insert fabric into it. If this could somehow work on the headboard after it is done - it would be fun....but we will just have to wait and see how it comes together first!

photo courtesy of Country Living

Isn't it exciting to figure out something fresh & fun - while utilizing something that you have at the same time?!

Look for the final results of Karla's headboard....sometime down the road {we're not fast workers when it comes to our own homes ya know!!}

Sweet Dreams!

The Flowers of the Florist

Well...you'd never guess that she is a florist when you pull up to her house (ya...right!)

This weekend I was out to Karrie's house to take pictures of this container....you'll remember this great find here! It's blooming like crazy!


Karrie loves pots....any & all! These terracotta ones line her back steps (she has three sets of steps to decorate)

This side is by her patio and she always has her potted tomatoes & peppers here...of course along with lovely flowers!





On the other side of the patio is a wonderful shady spot for the best find of the year 2008....a wicker plant stand for $4.....



















Here is one of two cement planters that are just gorgeous!





There are more plants & flowers, but I had to snap this picture.

When our grandmother moved out of her house to go into a smaller home, we found this plant stand in her attic.

No one really wanted it at first, but we'd never let anything escape....we might regret it!!

Karrie had it for a while and a couple of years ago she painted it. It is a pretty neat, old plant stand....look at the detail of the woman on the bottom of it..

We were very glad that we kept it - now where would we find something like this in the stores?





A couple of years ago we got this pot and another like it at a flea market....we loved the design & the leaf stamping on it (not to mention the general chippy-ness of it!)

This licorice plant is such fun...we planted some in our planters at work. It loves the shade on Karrie's front porch!

The last picture I took was of this sweet crock filled with impatients.

So many ways to create color & texture outside during the summer....what do you like to plant your flowers in?