The Happy Table

 

I was given this table by the neighbors as they said it would be too hard to fix it and refinish it. I knew it would become a future project some day so I stuck in in between two pine trees and used it as a shade plant base for begonias.

This year I pulled it out and noted that it was basically falling apart. I nailed pieces of wood to it from the underside to try and make it stable enough to use. 

It wouldn't become a house table. I don't have enough room. If the bottom of the legs were too rotten, I'd simply cut them off. 

I'm a terrible planner. I just started to pick colors that appealed to me and went for it. The legs had to be dressed up with bright colors. The mood is to be Happy. 

I found a butterfly sticker that looked neat and stuck it on one leg. I may do another one or not. The table is to be a discovery of sights, not something that is the same. 

I thought long and hard about the top. At first I thought of painting the top sections of wood in different wild colors. Then I took some mild green paint that is meant for porch floors and spread it on the top.

What about stickers?

I found some old neat stickers I hadn't used on other projects and laid them out.

The sticker idea was cool. But I didn't have enough of the silhouettes to achieve what I wanted.

How about tracing them? I started to trace the birds because I suck at drawing them. But then I went freehand for the branches. Why not have silhouettes of branches and birds all over the surface?

I could hand paint them black or whatever colors I choose and then run some whitewash over it to add texture and interest. 

Besides, I want this project to last a while. I am in no hurry to finish it.

Hubby says I am ruining the table. I retort that the table is falling apart and I've nailed it together making it completely worthless to anyone. 

I remind him of the Happy Chair I did for my mother years ago and how she absolutely loved it and used it to display her stuffed donkey dolls in her living room.

Below is a table and chairs I put together as a 'coffee' table for the porch. The chairs were excellent garage sale finds. I've left both of these chairs out on the porch and now they have a unique weathering to add character to my sitting area.

This chair now holds one of my newer Not Fairy Gardens I made with

and old pie tin I found in the shed. The spool

holds the little grill and the patchwork table top 

is still my most favorite piece of work.
I would love to find a little base for

it to sit on in the house.

I'm in the mood to pick up another chair and take the worn out ones and place them in gardens. I have a thing about chairs. 

I have two nice heavy stout ones in the house that are begging to be worked on. I discovered some neat old chairs in LaFarge  that I drive by on the way to KVR. Hmmm. It is a junk place that has some neat old beat up chairs that look stout. I may have to put one in the back of my Subaru one of these trips!

But first? 

More work on the Happy Table.

It makes me smile.

The table will also provide me with a nice place to do Still Life photography with flowers this summer.

Just give me colors and the freedom to paint wildly and my life brightens exponentially.

Around the house

I am happy that I decided to purchase fresh veggies at the local Farmer's Market and some of the local folks who raise produce this year.

Old Garden:

I have a bit more time on my hands which means I can spend more time making my flower gardens look a bit more tidy. 

As this new heat wave bears down on us, I am finding things to do on the porch outside. It stays fairly nice in the shade and generally there is a nice breeze that flows through. 

This old table was given to me a few years ago. It is in a sad state of disrepair so I cut pieces of wood and did what I could to stabilize it enough as I figure out what I am going to do with it. It sat under the pine trees for a couple of years with pots of begonias on it.

The table should be tossed. But I figure if I can brace it up enough and cut down the legs [or not], I could use it as a coffee/craft table on the porch. [What I wouldn't do for a nice gate leg table!]

The project table is on the porch along with paints. I spray painted a coffee can and a Gatorade bottle for Porch Vases. Maybe it is tacky too, but I like flowers on the porch as well as in the house. I don't like broken glass!

I've always loved the idea of a Fairy Garden. I am constantly moving little things around so that I can be amused at what I have put together.

I love this little Zen Dragon. 

I move him/her around quite often. 

Morning light on a 'Fairy Garden' made 
out of an old pie dish.
It sits on a rickety old chair I
gussied up.

My pallet garden is doing as expected. The tomatoes are doing great and I've used old fence posts and twine to stabilize the plants. I know, tacky, but it was on hand and easier than trying to use a cage. 

The plants that are coming up in the slats are doing fair too. They are coming along a bit slower than those flowers on the east side of the house. The west side has good sun but good afternoon shade too from the locust trees. I think with the heat wave, those plants will do better than the ones exposed to the sun and wind all day.

Other surprises in my garden.
There are the gargoyles who resided in the Forest Garden last year. Right now they are in the growing flower garden. They look happy there! 
Last year the raccoon kept knocking over the gargoyles! This poor fella had his wings chipped.

This fellow sits on another stump and is the Welcome Gargoyle. [Yeah, I like dragons and gargoyles and I am weird.]

This is the porch in the morning. Many of my plants are in old Maple Syrup buckets that Rich's Grandfather used. It is handy to grab the buckets and move them around. 

More Fairy/Dragon/Gardens. I keep changing things up as it suits me. 

Things are going to be hot and muggly. I hope all my friends and their animals do well for the next few days.

I let my mules out to the forest where they can get down into the creek area. I walked there this morning and it was definitely about 10 degrees cooler than in the meadow!

Stay cool!