Sharing Shadymont, My Mountain Cottage

It's not hard to figure out that turquoise is my current favorite color.  I've brought it into most of the rooms in my home.   One of the ways I brought it into my kitchen was to paint unrelated items in the same color, creating a 'set'. I painted this knife block some time ago. Then later, I gave the bread box a makeover with the same Valspar Paint Sample. Last week, I picked up this letter/mail holder that had been laying in the basement forever, and dry brushed it with the same color. Stencils were used to paint the designs and lettering on these, and by using the same color and the fleur de lis, I have a set of items. Creating this set cost nothing since I had the stencils already, the paint was a free sample from lowes, and I had all the items for quite a while.  I like how they coordinate in my kitchen. Do you have any items you could use this way by simply painting them? I did a quick painting yesterday. I...

I found this bread box at a yard sale in May of 2012 for $8.00.  The lady having the yard sale had done the crackle finish on it. I liked it since the taupe and cream blended well with my counter top, so I've used it this way ever since I bought it. This morning, I was in the mood to be a little creative, so I decided to give the bread box a makeover.  I had all the paints and supplies in my stash, so this upgrade cost me nothing.  You can see below, that the box had a low sheen. Since I wanted to give it a distressed look, I didn't sand or anything.  I wanted some of the colors to show through the new paint color. I gave it a "messy" paint technique, not quite a dry-brush, but a look where the brush strokes showed.   I painted the hinges and knob with a white acrylic paint then took some of the paint off with a steel wool. Before the paint was totally dry, I used a fine steel wool to distress the edges.   Notice ...

In our area, lots of folks hold yard sales on Friday and Saturday.  On Friday I decided to go to a few listed in our local paper, and did I find a winner!!  I also stopped by Habitat Restore.  They had a lot of good items, but they seemed to be priced a little higher than I wanted to pay.  Here are the items I bought at a yard sale.   This tablecloth was only $2.00.   Not a single stain.   Doesn't it look pretty in the sun room?   This bread box is in excellent condition, clean, and matches my counter top exactly.  The lady selling it did the finish.  $8.00.   Isn't it pretty?  I've wanted a nice bread box for some time. Love how the roosters match it too.   I've been looking for some scrabble letters like I've seen some of you use, and I found a scrabble game for $2.00.   So.....total spent $12.00! I think I'll go sale'n again tomorrow.  There's...