From the Back of the Barn...

There's nothing like finding an old piece of furniture in a attic,

basement,

or as in my case,

in our barn.

There is the mystery of where it has been

and why it was allowed to be tossed aside.

My Farmer tried to convince me that this piece was better left where it was,

and I pretty much agreed with him

until we got the back porch enclosed

and I knew this piece would look perfect out there.

I hoped that underneath the bird stuff,

years' conglomeration of spider webs,

and repulsive bat droppings,

there might be something there.

Well, let's just say it was a big hope. 

It ended up I had to rip the whole back off of it. 

It was so horrible:

I just could not get it clean.

My Farmer was called upon to attach a new back for me.

He also ended up having to put new side pieces to hold the doors, 

and it was quite a job for him to get it all in working order so that the doors would close right and latch up, and the whole thing wouldn't sway and bow in the process. 

  He wanted to quit on this thing more times than I should tell

  and I felt a twinge of guilt for not letting him.

But he kept at it.

There's something about investing a few hours of time

that makes it hard to give up on something.

 And I knew he could fix it.  

Having a stone house limits what you can hang on the exterior walls;

many of the inside walls are plaster, crumbling easily under very little weight.

So we decided to use another piece of furniture as a base.

(Please, excuse the mess in the midst of getting it ready).

I bought this at a yard sale for a small price:
it was missing the bottom two drawers.

I began by painting the outside with Slate Black Annie Sloane Chalk paint
and the inside with a her Provence.
Since I was only using this as a base coat so I wouldn't have to sand it,
I used a very small amount, needing only one coat.

Then I painted everything with a flat white paint

and waxed it with clear Fiddes and Sons wax.

The next problem that arose was how to attach the two pieces together,

since the wall where we planned to put it was stone.

It sat in the basement for a few weeks

as other things popped up,

but then I sold my school cupboard because it's colors did not work well

with the color of the floor where it ended up.

I suddenly needed the space.

So my husband improvised with this idea:

 (I know, it looks a bit awkward,

and there's an obvious hint that it was a board from the barn,

but I try to limit my complaints.)

I really had no idea what in the world he was going to do to make 

it all stay together,

but he bolted in through the top

and then...

up through the bottom

with what looked to me like gate bolts.

Maybe?

All I know is they look like they'd hold in a tornado.

(The two pieces are beat up enough that I didn't mind what he did

as long as he could get them together.)

And they did.

I now had a great storage place for my supplies and books

for the kids' school.

Decorating it with some fresh greens seemed a fun idea

since it's the Christmas season.

.

In the morning,

I sewed up the skirt to hide the school mess.

I love having a better place to store my teacups

and some of my sewing things

since my sewing machine sits out in this room now, too.

My husband's solution to hide the wooden block

is for me to paint it to look like a book.

I have to tell you,

I was pretty impressed with him coming up with this solution.

I think all this renovation type stuff is making him pretty creative.

Now, the question is,

what book should I make?

I came up with the possibility of painting it to look like the book

that we read together when we were dating.

(I was working on crafts for a sale when we first met,

and I chose this book for him to read

to sort of break the ice.)

So, here's what I'm going to do:

if you leave your guess

(just one guess per person, please)

at what book it was that we read,

the first person that guesses it

I will send this gourd ornament that I painted.

I spent a lot of time on this one

and got the idea from this beautiful Christmas card

illustrated by Rob Fathers.

I'll throw in a scarf I made as well

since I have a few left from the craft sales.

If nobody comes up with a correct guess
(as that's a good possibility since even my Farmer didn't remember
and probably would never have guessed it),
I'll just randomly pick a number from the comments that you leave.

Happy guessing
and Happy Weekend!!

I'll leave it open for guesses until next Wednesday.


Linking up to some of these great places:
Funky Junk Interiors 
A Diamond in the Stuff
Between Naps on the Porch
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Under the Table and Dreaming
Tater tots and Jello
Common Ground
Miss Mustardseed
Vintage inspiration Friday
Inspiration Friday
Potpourri Party
Feather nest Friday
Show and Tell
Feature yourself friday
Design Dazzle
Someday crafts{Christmas linky}