May Day is right around the corner….and we have always enjoyed making May Day Baskets / Posies / Bouquets and leaving them as a surprise for people.
The original way to leave a May Day basket is to hang it on someone’s door, ring the doorbell or knock, and then run away. But, we like to do it a little differently. May Day is always May 1st….so, late at night on April 30th we go around and deliver our May Day Baskets. We hang them on people’s doors….so they will be there when they wake up and greet them first thing in the morning.
Handsome & I did this even before we had kids….and we have used all kinds of containers, flowers, etc. This year we are using the little mini Ben & Jerry’s ice cream containers and filling them with fun, spring flowers.
In the past we’ve used: paper cones, small glass vases, jars, small clay pots…..whatever you use it’s important that you either have twine, ribbon, wire, etc. around it so you can hang it on the doorknob/fencepost……
We’ve put together little flower bouquets, planted moonflower or morning glory seeds and left the little seedlings….any fun plant/flower works great.
We always have a fun adventure leaving May Day Baskets/Bouquets…..we set off motion lights, we’ve been chased by dogs, and had to hide in bushes because people heard a clink on the door and started looking out the windows. So far we haven’t been arrested. Or shot. Whew!
Thank you all so much for your sweet comments, e-mails, and special little gifts that you’ve sent in honor of Cottage in the Oaks being 2! =) You guys are the best! I have the best readers!
I hope you all had a great weekend. It was beautiful here and we spent most of it in the garden.
A few months ago we were gifted with 56 vintage wooden folding chairs from this wonderful place. We have two big events within the next month that will be taking place here at our cottage….and we plan to use these lovely chairs for both. BUT, they had been stored in the top of a barn, buried in hay for many years. I thought I would share how we cleaned them up…and show you how great they look!
We began by making a 5 gallon bucket of cleaner with Murphy’s Oil Soap. We had them all spread out in the driveway…and our whole side yard smelled great! Using a scrub brush with stiff bristles we scrubbed every square inch of each chair with the cleaner. Then, we allowed them to dry overnight. {You can find Murphy’s Oil Soap at most grocery stores…it’s great!}
The next day we used one of our favorite products for wood…Howard’s Feed-N-Wax. {This is not a sponsored post….they have no idea who I am….I’m just sharing what we like to use with you, because I think you guys would like it, too!} In some areas you can find it at hardware and home improvement stores; but I shared the link to it on Amazon in case you are interested in using it and can’t find it in your area.
Each chair was completely rubbed down in Howard’s beeswax……look at the difference:
We love this stuff! We use it on our front door and porch swing at least once a year. These chairs were so dried out…the poor wood was thirsting to death. Raw wood needs to be ‘fed’ at least once a year. These chairs are absolutely gorgeous now! We can’t wait to use them. =)
What did you do over the weekend? Have you ever used this particular beeswax on your wood? If you try it, let me know how you like it!
We were gifted with several huge hydrangeas last night….and stayed out in the garden until really late getting them planted and watered. {Can you have enough hydrangeas? I say, “No way!”.}
Can you believe that Cottage in the Oaks will be 2 years old this weekend? Thanks for being a part of that……I love you guys! To celebrate we are having a HUGE giveaway…starting tomorrow. {$750 worth of fun stuff!} So, get ready! Be here tomorrow ready to comment and enter!
I probably should have named this post ‘Why We Have Dead Ivy on the Porch’. It has become a spring tradition…and I’ll explain why in a second.
We spend so much time out on our front porch…and like to change it up each season.
Pansies are just so fun and happy….we also like to add them to our salads. We keep little vases of them all through the house in spring. Pansies here in Eastern NC only last until late April/early May. Once the heat arrives…they are outta here!
Pussywillow branches were perfect for the English market basket.
Usually by the spring…the firewood is all cleaned up. But, this year, it has been nippy at night and we have still been having fires. So we left a bit by the door for convenience. {It will be gone soon, though….the 80 degree weather has already arrived this week!}
I love vintage olive buckets. I try to pick them up anytime I see them. We used this one to hold a gardenia.
Around the front entrance grows a lovely Lady Banks Rose. It is just beginning to bud and bloom. In a week or so it will be gorgeous…covered in yellow blossoms.
We call this part of the porch “The Therapy Room”. We spend as much time here as possible. Just this past weekend we added curtains to the sides of our front porch. We’ve always wanted to do that…and we are so glad we did! When the sun shines straight through the side we can pull the curtains and still have it be light and bright….but no one has the sun in their eyes.
We have some finches that really like the Lady Banks Rose, too…they’ve built a beautiful nest in it.
And here’s the reason we have dead ivy…..3 little wren eggs. Each pot of ivy has a nest with eggs, and I can’t water it or it will drown the nest. So, each spring the ivy dies…and we don’t replace it until the birds have flown the nest. I guess our spring front porch will always have dead ivy.
Do you have a front porch? Now that I’ve had this huge one for so many years….I don’t think I could live in a home without one! What about you?
It is absolutely gorgeous here in Eastern NC right now. Spring has finally arrived, and we have been having fun gardening over the past several days.
I thought I would put several fun gardening ideas together in one post….from our archives here at Oak Cottage. These have been some of the most popular….
Salad Garden in a Chicken Feeder………I love chicken feeders. All kinds. I was just given a round one from this wonderful place, and I can’t wait to plant something special in it and hang it in the trees. =)
I was looking through HomeTalk last week and found so many other fun ways to use and repurpose old shutters. {HomeTalk is a neat site that is just for all things home. You can ask questions, find experts, find great DIY ideas and how-to’s….if you haven’t, be sure to go check it out.}
I curated a collection of these fun shutter ideas for HomeTalk ……..you can find it here. Head on over and check it out. =)
Hope you all had a super weekend! It was gorgeous here, so we got to enjoy The Nook!
This weekend we finally finished painting the wonderful chairs that we found at this place….and we finished them up by covering the chair cushions with grain sack. {Here’s my favorite places to find grain sack…if I can’t find them in person at a flea market or antique store.}
I shared about these wonderful chairs here…..and we were so excited to finally get them painted and finished. We found them in a barn..and couldn’t believe that there were eight matching chairs! {Two with arms!} Woohoo!
Last week I painted them..if you follow me on Instagram, you found out the I do not like painting chairs! They are a bear to paint. BUT, they’re done! And, it is so worth it.
Here’s what they looked like when we found them in the barn….
And here’s how they look now……..
If you have never covered chair cushions….it is so easy. It’s a great way to completely change the look or update a chair in just a few minutes. {I shared in this post how we covered our outside dining room table with coffee sacks.}
I painted each chair with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White…and waxed them with dark wax. I then used really rough sand paper to distress each chair.
These chairs didn’t have any seats….so they had to be made.
Next, you will need to get Handsome…..no, wait. {You’ll have to get your own Handsome-type of helper….I don’t share Handsome.} I’m kinda selfish that way.
Back to the story….Handsome made a template of the chairs and cut the seat bottom out of 1/2″ plywood.
If you have to cut seats…be sure to ‘test’ them before you start cutting material and padding…to make sure you are pleased with how they fit.
I suggest using 2″ foam for the padding. You can use a thinner padding/foam, but your derrière will thank you much more if you go with the 2″.
Lay the seat cushion on top of your padding and trace with a marker.
Then cut along your traced line with really sharp scissors.
This is not the most fun part…but when you are finished, with your gnarled, cramped hand…stand back and admire your lovely stacks of cushions.
Now you’re ready to cover. {Even if you are not ready…it’s time.}
Gather together a few tools and supplies:
staple gun
3/8″ staples
your material that you will be using to cover your cushions
foam padding
wooden seat bottom
{Handsome likes to arrange the staples in fun shapes when he sets up my little work space.}
Place your foam padding on top of the material that has been cut for each cushion.
Your material should be cut 4″ larger than your foam…to allow plenty to pull around and cover your cushion.
No, those are not bugs on my padding. I like to sprinkle fresh lavender on the padding before I cover the cushions. It makes them smell wonderful…just faintly.
Lay your wooden seat bottom on top of the padding.
Begin in the middle and staple close together all along the top of your cushion.
Next begin in the middle of the opposite side and staple the other edge…pulling to make sure the material is taut, but not so tight that you will create dents or uneven spots.
Don’t worry if the staples do not go all the way down…we’ll take care of that in a moment.
To make the corners you will push the end in just like you do when you wrap a gift. Be sure to pull tightly …. you don’t want saggy corners. Saggy corners just don’t look good on anyone…even cushions.
{Be sure to tense your hand and hold so tightly that your hand becomes wrinkled and red … and looks like it’s 99 years old. Like mine.}
Once all sides are done….use a hammer to make sure all the staples are all the way in and secure.
{My Mom gave me this hammer many years ago and put red dots on it. She said it would keep people from trying to take my hammer. I haven’t quite figured that out….but I just go with it.}
Now…at this point you can finish off the back of your cushion by cutting a piece of felt or material to cover the back. You can hot glue it into place. Personally, I usually don’t do this because this side will never be seen unless someone lays under your chair. I feel that if someone is going to lay under my chair, I don’t want them to be disappointed ….they deserve to find something fun. So, I leave mine just like this. If I was going to sell these chairs I may want to finish off the back with a felt covering. Completely up to you.
The back of your finished cushion.
Here is what your finished corners will look like.
And your finished cushion! 1 down, 7 to go! {It took me about 45 minutes to cover 8 cushions.}
If you are using your cushions in the dining room…or anywhere else that will get heavy use…you may want to Scotch-Guard them. I always Scotch-Guard our cushions. It makes cleaning them a snap! {Be sure to read the directions and test your fabric first.} You can check out my tip on how to spot-clean cushions here.
I like to do this outside….with my cushions on a clean blanket or tarp.
Handsome then screwed each cushion onto the chairs.
And, voila! We have 8 of these beauties!
We are loving them!
Here’s a quick list of what you need to cover a chair cushion:
seat bottom {1/2″ plywood works great}
2″ padding
material that you wish to cover the cushions with
staple gun
3/8″ staples
hammer {red dots optional}
drill
screws to attach cushion to chair
fresh lavender {optional}
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Woohoo…we can sit in chairs for dinner tonight! We’ve been sitting on the floor for a week!
I don’t know how I got talked into it….but, once again, we cleaned out for a yard sale this weekend. It’s been great to get closets, etc. cleaned out….it motivated me to spring clean a few weeks before I had planned to…..
Last week we had gorgeous, 70 degree days and nights that were nice enough to sleep with the windows open. Now that we will be up at the crack of dawn to do a yard sale on Saturday….winter has returned. humph.
Among the piles all over the house…. yard sale piles, teen daughter’s room redo piles, paint piles….I saw the few Easter boxes just waiting. I took a break from all the pile-making to go through and discover some special items. A little Peter Rabbit that was my grandmother’s. A tiny forsythia wreath that was also hers….it used to hang on her bedroom wall. {My grandmother passed away this past autumn…you can read a bit about her here.} So, I took a moment to pull together some other fun things to add to these special items…and used them to create our Easter centerpiece this year.
I placed them all on a large, vintage French cutting board….over a Kitchen Paper’s runner. If you don’t know about Kitchen Papers….oh dear. I love them. West Elm carries many of their items or you can get them online. I love them. Something fun and different to add to your table.
We are gearing up for our next fun project with the wonderful treasures that we were blessed with at this wonderful place.
You can check out our first project, the Paris Grey Etagere, here.
Next up are these wonderful chairs…..
I was able to score some gorgeous German grain sack material at a wonderful price from a European dealer. So excited! Handsome is going to make a wooden base/seat and then I will cover them with the grain sack. We will be painting them first…..still deciding on the color. Here’s my grain sack material…can’t wait to get them covered….
They will go in the dining room…..and I keep going back and forth between Paris Grey and Old White. So far, Old White is winning. =)
I also found these gorgeous, rare, lavender grain sacks from the same dealer. These are Handsome’s favorite…..can’t wait to use them, either.
Another project that is in the works is the vintage chandelier that we took out of the farmhouse’s dining room. It is almost finished being rewired….I’m going to do something fun with it and put it in our office. Woohoo!
I thought I would share two of my favorite places to get European grain sacks. My #1 favorite is at fairs and markets, etc. But here in Eastern NC….finding European grain sacks at these places is almost nil. So, I get most of mine directly from dealers…ordered and sent in the mail.
I posted this project a few months after starting this blog……since I’m having trouble uploading pictures while the blog is being redesigned and updated…thought it would be fun to share this project from the archives.
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We’ve had a family mission statement for quite a while; but we wanted to post it in a prominent location….a place that we would see it each day and be reminded.
For many years we’ve had this great Pottery Barn banner hanging above our front door that said: ”Pick Up Your Toys”. It was fun, colorful, and could be seen from pretty much everywhere in our home. It’s also a part of the living room—and a perfect candidate for a makeover as we have been redoing everything else. {woohoo!}
When I had to take it down to paint the walls—it hit me! With just a little bit of redo we could use it for our family mission statement. So, I painted over the yellow with the same color as the wall paint—-but with the yellow underneath it gave it a bit of a different tint. {perfect!}
Then, with some primer I painted over the old words—-SEVERAL TIMES! Whew! Those words did not want to go away. But, alas, they did.
I left the wonderful little birds and outline just as they were–they looked great with what we were doing in the living room.
Then, on to the fun part—-adding our mission statement, which is:
Be true
Be you
Put love in what you do
We have long explanations for each of those statements—-that we have talked about as a family; but just wanted the main statement on the banner….without all the explanations.
So happy with how it turned out!
Do you have a family mission statement? If so, what is it…..I’d love to hear about it!
