Thursday, May 17, 2012

Painting in my Flower Beds.




 

 The old smokehouse was covered with ivy when we bought the farm
eight years ago.

My husband put on a new roof
and I painted the trim green.

It is a central building, so works well for storing some of the useful tools
like shovels, rakes, and trimmers.



I found this old spigot when I was cleaning out the ground around the smoke house
in preparation of putting this flower bed in.

It was broken,
but I thought it would be worth keeping for decoration.

Being entirely covered by rust,
I recently decided to add some color by using a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint
in Provence.
  I did not wax it.
(It has been through several rain storms since,
and looks as great as the day I painted it.)






The peonies are about to bloom.

Beyond them, hanging from a tree is another project using Annie's Chalk Paint.



It started as a broken trivet.



I had some silverware I'd found at the second hand store.

Using plumbing putty,
(and I did use gloves while working with this putty)
I wrapped a piece around each handle...



leaving two openings on either side for the wire to string through.




 (I've heard of drilling through the silverware to make a hole,
 but my husband didn't have a bit for that,
and I didn't want to bother him about it.)


For the center piece,
I thought about using a prism or some other decorative piece,


 but I ended up going with a metal decorative piece
(like a metal Christmas ornament).



I strung some beads to hang the silverware with
and used an extra strand for added fun to the trivet.

The trivet and silverware tops were painted in Annie's Pure White.

 


 The "chimes" are more durable than store-bought sets that I have seen,
which seem to use vulnerable fishing wire.
I doubled the thin wire that went to attach all the pieces.




I did notice that the rust on this piece came through.
I have to wonder if it is because I waxed this piece after I painted it.




The rust is not a problem, as I have several other rusty pieces in the gardens.



 It has a nice sound when the wind blows.


I have another project I've been working on with some more silverware,
but I will save that one for another day.

Have you added any new details to your gardens this year?


11 comments:

  1. What an amazing and beautiful garden you have! Love it all!

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  2. Very whimsical! Love it! {threemangoseeds.blogspot.com}

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  3. I love the spigot painted! I can't believe you didn't have to use wax--it looks great! Just out of curiosity, how long did you let it cure?
    I love your chimes too! I like the rust coming through--a true garden piece:)

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    Replies
    1. I didn't let the chalk paint cure at all. I actually just painted it in the ground right where it is and no sooner had it dried to the touch (about 15 minutes) and we got rain. It seemed to adhere really well to the rust. :)
      Thanks. I love having the chimes hanging from the tree. That was Mom's idea. :)

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  4. Everything looks wonderful!
    What a great place your garden is.

    =)

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  5. What a lovely project! And such a lovely home you have!

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  6. Your garden is exquisite. I really enjoyed this inspirational post. I would love it if you would share this post at our WIW linky party? Hope to see you there!

    Paula
    ivyandelephants.blogspot.com

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  7. I'm in awe with your garden! Adding the chimes is a lovely touch! I discovered you on Homespun Happenings and I'm now following you. I would appreciate if you could follow back. Tx

    ReplyDelete

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