Browsing Pinterest the other night, I came across this project from Work In Progress Kits and literally jumped off the couch and said “I can do this!”. Coach and I have collected quite a number of old bottles, some dug up right in our own backyard,

some in more recent estate sales and auctions. Many are old, rusted, scratched and lidless, essentially worthless (don’t worry Coach, I didn’t paint the Old Log Cabin Bourbon bottle in the back-turns out that one is worth something!) so I figured this would be just the trick to spice them up! Here’s the how-to: First, you need some clear glass bottles and jars. Anything will do, doesn’t matter if they’re old or new, but the ones with the embossed labels on the outside look especially cool once they are done.

Wash thoroughly- I put mine through the dishwasher to make sure I got all of the grease and dirt off. Choose your paint colors. Home Depot has these awesome Behr paint sample pots- for $2.94 each if you want custom colors-but these were in the Oops! Bin for 50 cents apiece!

I also have a number of the little craft paints, and those actually work better for the smaller-necked bottles.

So I grabbed a pile of paints, assembled my bottles and got to work. You simply take the paint and bottle of choice, pour the paint inside,

turn the bottle until it is completely coated on the inside

turn the bottle upside down and allow all of the excess paint to drip back out into its original container

wipe the edge to give it a nice clean finish (loving this little blue bottle with the mint green inside edge : )

allow to dry overnight…add flowers, battery tea lights, whatever you would like to decorate. But remember- this is acrylic paint- you can’t use real candles or put water in them! The paint makes the embossing stand out on the bottle- before the paint I didn’t even know there was a ship on this bottle.

You can mix and match the paint colors- like the blue and green one above. Or you can stick to all one color- whatever works for your decor. A couple of simple tips: more is better- pour in enough so you are not standing there trying to swirl around a little bit- takes forever! Remember, you will be pouring most of it back out anyway.

Propping for time’s sake. Watching paint drip is almost as bad as watching paint dry. So set up a propping/dripping area where you can set it and forget it until all of the big globs are gone.

Keep a container of wet wipes handy. This project does get messy, as you can see by the pics.

These are essential for getting a clean edge on the top of the bottle, and for cleaning off your hands as you go. You don’t want to transfer fingerprints from one jar to the next. So there you have it- super fun project for a rainy day. Simple enough for kids, pretty cool results. Have a great weekend everyone! We’re off to Brimfield on Saturday- can’t wait to share what we find. Susan

to the deepest, dankest rainforests

and fern grottos

to the smoldering volcanic landscapes,

this state is a lush tropical paradise,

resplendent with colorful flora

and fawna (this is the rare Haleakalā Silversword that is found on the island of Maui at an elevation of 6,900 to 9,800 feet on the dormant Haleakalā Volcano)

and of course, an occasional peacock. (I don’t know how Coach got this close, but this girl doesn’t chance any bird encounter, no matter how beautiful the feathers!)

Water, water, everywhere.

Comprised of 6 major islands and surrounded by the vast Pacific, the Hawaiian islands have shorelines of breathtaking scenery. These “blow-holes”, that give the appearance of whale spouts, are actually created by years of erosion, the pounding surf carving crevices in the rocky ledge that blows through as the waves crash against the shore. And, yes, the water really is that blue.

From the cruise ship, the view is to shore, floating by craggy mountainsides in the morning mist,

pretty lighthouses standing watch along the rocky shore

and amazing sunsets and sunrises

and softly colored rainbows in the distance.

Pearl Harbor. Crowds silently cueing in line, patiently waiting their turn for a boat ride out to view the memorial constructed over the sunken remains of the USS Arizona.

And on our final evening in this great state, a fitting tribute: fireworks over Honolulu on the 4th of July. Our Independence Day.

Mahalo for stopping by, and have a wanderful Wednesday, everyone!! Susan

collecting our winnings from the Mill 77 Trading Company’s Guerilla Staging Contest-$500!!! and of course, Mother’s Day, I had barely closed my eyes and the 6:15 alarm was sounding this morning…groan..Monday. But I am happy to share so many great weekend happenings with you! First, my beautiful antique shutter slat table that I featured last week sold at Market!!

I hope whomever bought it knows how much elbow grease went into it (along with some soft paste wax), and I hope they enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed creating it. On Saturday, our Mother Knows Best team headed back to Mill 77 in Amesbury.

Once we had collected our winnings, we headed downtown for a little celebratory lunch. If you haven’t been to the Amesbury Ale House, you MUST make a trip there soon!

They have all sorts of interesting beers and ales on tap, and the pub food is yummy. But the winning dish was: a S’Mores Calzone! What?!? You heard me right. (we dug into it so fast I forgot to take a pic- this is one I found on google- looks close…)

Reasonable Facsimile of Smores Calzone

Perhaps they need me to write a proper description? “A warmed calzone made from a sweet, light dough stuffed with melted chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows, drizzled with chocolate fudge accompanied by three scoops of vanilla ice cream”. Un-freakin-believable!!! Just print that menu section out and hand it to the waiter.)  And just when I thought the weekend couldn’t get any better, we celebrated Mother’s Day all day long, where I had an opportunity to kick back, relax and just enjoy our amazing families and our two incredible moms. My Mother’s Day gift from my children: this beautiful pendant from Gemvara with their birth stones in an Inner Circle Sterling pendant.

How lucky can one girl get, seriously?!?  But now it’s Monday, back down to earth, back to work, back to beginning some new DIY projects for next month’s Market. Does anyone have any antique shutters I can use? Susan

 I am finally ready to debut my collection!

Country Design Home: A Carefully Curated Collection of  Simply Casual Country Style Furnishings & Accessories.

This was the before:

And this was during (I really thought I was going to need a bigger booth!)

And this is now:

In my shop, you will find hand-crafted items, like these very cute shutter chalkboard signs,

refurbished beauties like this pink and gray Victorian commode that was featured in a previous blog post: Coming Unhinged

and of course, my newly created wrought iron shutter top patio set! If you get there early, you might find this amazing aqua blue vintage hinged and locking steel box presumably from the back of my dream pickup truck

(but I have a feeling that one’s not going to be there long, judging from the oohs and ahs of anyone who saw it…), loads of creamy white stoneware and crocks, mason jars by the barrel, vintage tin milking pails, luscious yellow enamel bowls and these cute tin daisy canisters with cut glass knobs.  If you follow my blog, you know I am all about color. This month is pretty pastels, reflected in the paints and accessories I chose to highlight. I love muted grays and blues as much as the next girl, but for me, color brightens my world and makes me happy : ) The cupboard shown here was in my dining room for years. Moved around a bit, but finally landed back in the barn. What was once an old, tired dark brown stained wood was transformed with Annie Sloan French Linen Paint and Soft Wax Finish and Benjamin Moore Chalkboard Paint on the buffet top.  Or, if you have a hankering for some home-made ice cream, how about this vintage ice cream maker? If you are getting ready to plant, I suggest this 9 clay pot vintage iron rack. The pots are chalkboard painted, so you can erase my numbers and label them with the various plants and herbs you are nursing along. I had a blast putting my shop together, with special thanks to Coach, who is my fabulous picker, Lisa Mokaba, my right hand girl and lover of all things vintage, Nancy Granese, who added her amazing artwork for my space and the fabulous ladies from Vintage Thymes Monthly Market-Robin and Nancy-who have helped me immeasurably with great staging and pricing advice : ) The entire market is stacked to the rafters with great vintage finds, and ready for opening day-tomorrow!  So much to see, so much to buy! I hope you have a truck : ) The hours of operation are Friday, May 10 from 9-6, Saturday May 11 from 9-6 and Sunday May 12  from 12-5. The address: WinSmith Mill Market at the Norwood Commerce Center, 61 Endicott Street, Norwood, MA.  Google Map Here. Hope to see you all there! Now I’m going to take a breath and have a cup of coffee before I start getting ready for June. Happy Shopping, and a very Happy Mother’s Day everyone! Susan

All clear! So I threw them in the CRV and off we went, but not very far before I noticed the strong oceany, mildew, rotten seaweedy kind of smell emanating from the back seat. Yuck! But we brought them home, along with some others that a shopkeeper gave us-yup, it was just that kind of day. So I soaked them in bleach, mildew remover, sanded them, washed them again, then laid them out in the sun for weeks. As the summer wore on, the stench slowly dissipated as I anxiously awaited the opportunity to use them in some special project. Fast forward to last weekend’s patio table project. We had scooped this topless table at a yard sale, realizing that I would have to create a new top for it.    

My first thought was to use this old rain barrel- the staves were old and beautifully weathered, and unlike the shutter slats, were smell-free.

However, after spending hours deconstructing it, I discovered that 1. old barrel wood is really brittle and 2.old barrel staves are curved, which makes for a precarious perch for a cup of coffee.

The Plan B inspiration hit me at 4:30 am- the cleaned, pastel shutter slats would be perfect! So here’s my how-to:

1. Cut out a round piece of pressure treated plywood for the base in the size you want for the table top.

2. Arrange the slats in a pleasing “patchwork quilt” style pattern.

3. Glue, then nail the slats to the top of the plywood circle. I used this little sharpshooter- it shoots tiny little brads that are almost invisible.

4. Flip the top over, then using a jigsaw, trim all of the excess wood away to create a perfect round. Well, not exactly perfect. I’m working on my sawing skills : ). Then flip it back over and

sand the top and the edges until smooth and even. Stain the bottom and sides.

6. Finish sides with black spray painted hanging strapping stuff with little black tacks.

I had High Heat paint so that’s what I used, but unless you are planning on using this as a fire pit, I think regular Krylon will do the trick.

7. Spray the entire surface with matte clear acrylic finish. Allow to dry, then finish with a coat of Annie Sloan Soft Wax on top and sides, both the wood and the metal. Place on your patio for all to admire and enjoy!

OR

9. Set it up in your booth for the Vintage Thymes Monthly Market coming this weekend! This one’s for sale : )

So see, if we had never wandered to the Cape that day, I never would have scooped those shutters and created this beautiful table and chairs and offered it to you! Now, does anyone need a box of cut up antique barrel staves? Happy wandering Wednesday everyone! Susan

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the First Annual Guerilla Staging Competition at Mill 77 Trading Company in Amesbury to benefit “Our Neighbor’s Table”. To refresh: we chose a category out of a hat, then had 40 minutes to race through the shops collecting whatever we could move to create a beautiful, photo-worthy room. What a blast!! Our team, Mother Knows Best, with the category Clothing and Accessories, used our collective creative minds to produce a Paris-inspired turn-of-the-century boudoir. This was the before: 

This was the after:

Then I sent out a request to all of you in internet-land for votes! For two weeks we sat on pins and needles awaiting the final word. The votes were finally tallied over the weekend, and guess what?!? We won first place!! So I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone out there who visited the website, clicked on the YouTube link and either “liked” the video or voted for us online. We couldn’t have done it without you. It was great fun, for a really great cause, and we can’t wait til next year’s competition! I like the sound of defending champions : ) As for me, I think I’ll use my winnings to purchase a new nail gun!! Have a terrific Tuesday everyone!! Susan

So, you ask, how does one (who really cannot draw more than stick figures) create a great-looking sign that you can be proud of? Well, I have done quite a bit of research and have read many, many how-to tutorials. Most involved special transfer paper, graph paper, rulers and grids and painstaking copying. That didn’t appeal to me-I like quick, fast and easy (insert joke here). The more things I get done, the more things I get to keep doing! I needed a sign for next week’s booth, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try my own approach to chalking it up. Here we go:

Step 1: Go to the barn and get an antique cupboard door that’s been hanging around for generation or two-thanks, Coach!

If you are making your own chalkboard, like I did, I recommend Benjamin Moore Chalkboard paint.

I have tried many brands and this one is very smooth and creates a nice writing surface. You need two coats. Follow the directions on the can. It takes 3 days to cure. Follow the directions on the can. Make sure you “size” the board before you write on it with chalk. Then wipe it down. Follow the directions on the can.

Step 2. Decide what you want to say. I needed to make two signs: one for Country Design Home and one for the name of the monthly market. For the May market, its Mom’s Garden.

Use your basic paint program or photoshop or whatever you use to create the words and graphics you would like to have on your sign. You can be as fancy or plain as you like. Size them to the exact specs of the board you are decorating. You will need to create the entire board, and you can do that in sections or all on one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. Print them as you normally would on regular printer paper, do not flip them to the reverse. If you have printed a large design in sections, you need to tape the whole thing together before you tape it to the board. You can use the program from Blockposters to create a large mural-type board.

Step 3. Flip the paper over and then take some sharpened chalk and draw along the lines of the print. I will call this reverse chalking. Be neat, but you don’t have to be fanatical about it. That’s what wet wipes are for.

And yes, you can sharpen chalk with a regular pencil sharpener-who knew?! And it doesn’t make that squeaky “nails on the blackboard” noise either!

Step 4. Carefully place the paper, chalk side down on your prepared surface. Don’t move it around too much or it will leave smudgy stuff on your nice clean board. Tape it in place. Repeat, tape it in place.

Step 5. Take something smooth but pointy- like this cuticle thingy (lord knows, I don’t use it for my nails…) and rub all of the lines that you want to magically appear on the chalkboard.

Step 6. You can carefully lift the paper up just to make sure you have transferred all of the chalk lines you need as you go.

Step 7. When you are happy that the design has been transferred to your liking, you carefully remove the paper, and voila! Instant fancy printing!  I added just a few corner embellishments, but this is where you can go crazy adding all kinds of cute graphics free hand!

You will most likely need to use your sharpened chalk to clean up the edges, deepen the color and thicken the lines. (I also read somewhere that you should wet the chalk or the board to make the lines darker and clearer. That didn’t work for me, but have at it if you don’t think your lines are dark enough.) If you make a mistake, just use a wet wipe and try again.

Step 8. If you wish to make this permanent, then spray with some matte acrylic spray. I read somewhere that you could use hairspray, but I didn’t try it so I can’t vouch for that technique.

Step 9. Chalk it up to another great D.I.M. (Do It Myself) tip from Country Design Home! Susan

and quite a few pieces from an un-named museum in Boston. (apparently the museum folks didn’t want it to be public knowledge that they were selling off pieces at auction!). So, what did we get for our $121 we paid (that’s the winning bids, plus tax plus a “buyers premium” of 15%)? This beautiful antique pine blanket chest,

a maple commode, a little Windsor chair and a ballot box (that one was for Coach). We also bid on and won an entire banquet table of pottery and china- including these beauties! An antique pottery footwarmer from the now-defunct Dorchester Pottery Works

and this gorgeous Weller Pottery (established in 1872) large pale green planter with the base.

The Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods by Ida Bailey Allen.

Known as The Nation’s Homemaker and the “original domestic goddess”, she was apparently quite famous back in the day, according to her bio.

We also won so many jugs and vases and hand-painted items-like this precious little hand-thrown “No Nukes”pottery vase- perhaps made by some child in art class?

(At first, without my glasses, I thought it said “No Nuns”, which would have been appropriate for someone who had attended Catholic School in the 60′s : ) If you are interested in getting in on the action at the auction, you can go to their website here and add your email to the list. You won’t want to miss next month’s auction- they are liquidating the estate of Herb Reed (of the Platters!)

They will send you an update when a new auction is coming up! As for now, I’m bidding on a great spring weekend coming up! Susan

There are so many pretty pinks in this picture, it made me want to rush home and repaint the spare bedroom-so pretty!! So I took a few pics with my iPhone, and used my Ben Moore Color Capture to find the right colors to use for the walls, trim and accents. Nothing trendier than soft and hot pinks with industrial grays right now. Steel and Magnolias. Like Dolly Parton and Julia Roberts. Strength and Beauty. An old tin bucket overflowing with lilacs from Dreamy Whites Blog Spot. Gorgeous.

There are so many pinks and grays in the Benjamin Moore collection. Any combination would look great, but I found a few rooms that blew me away on Houzz.com. So I chose the color captures from that beautiful tree that match each of the amazing spaces.Love the juxtaposition of industrial gray architecture and furnishings with pretty pink accents. Think I have to go with Wrought Iron for the walls in this Mid-City Loft in Atlanta……by Niki Papadopoulos , that highlights the architecture by using the dark grays and pinks with stark white trim. The large industrial graphic is the focal point, but the rounded edges of the pink chairs soften the look.

While this room has an eclectic look-ornate mantel with antiques and pale gray walls, it’s accented with one fabulously modern hot pink egg chair-looks like a giant gum drop!

For this room, I think Mirage White would be perfect for the mantel, while a slightly darker Metallic Silver Gray, would work for the walls to create a soft background for the statement piece-that chair.

In this room By Celia James, the hard edges of the crystal and steel wall art and the gothic chair are again softened with the multi pink accents. Would choose the Iced Slate to create a soft, neutral background for these fabulous art pieces.

This platform bed dressed in hot pink poppies pops in an otherwise stark industrial space by Renovation Design Group. The colors for this lofty space? Black Knight-stark and bold. Mulberry for the bed linens. (not quite as bright as the hot pink shown here…)

And finally, this dramatic dining space by Marco Dellatorre. The salmon pink for the distressed walls? Modern Romance. For the grays I am going back to Wrought Iron. Deep and rich. (Most likely like the folks in Italy that own this incredible space.)

So next time you are taking a walk, take a look around you, and look up! There is so much inspiration in nature, especially this time of year when the sun is shining, the grass is growing, the tulips are sprouting and the trees are in full magnificent bloom-now where did I put my Claritin? As far as re-painting the spare room goes, no time for that! It’s back to the work bench for me…Susan

Boston Magazine’s cover from Marathon Monday. WE WILL FINISH THE RACE. No other words can express more eloquently what that cover says. Well done, Boston. Make sure you read the back story on how the cover was conceived and created in three days. All of the sneakers in this photo were worn by the marathon runners, family and friends and co-workers who loaned their shoes for the magazine shoot. The magazine hits the newsstands today. The publisher is in the process of creating posters to sell, with the proceeds going directly to the One Fund Boston. (amazingly, in one week’s time, they have raised over $25 million!!) Hard to imagine that one week ago today, we awoke to the news that there was a manhunt in Watertown that had essentially shut down our beautiful city. Here’s hoping that this weekend is quiet, safe and sunshiny fun. TGIF everyone!! Susan