Idle Hands

One of the most difficult “longer term” things about being incapacitated at this time of the year has been not being able to fully enjoy this opportune time to dive into fixer upper projects. I am a sucker for crafty stuff and every spring/summer I like to busy myself with these little projects and spruce up the deck, porch, and occasionally even the inside of the house too. 

But since recovering, I mostly just sit. I’ve been so frustrated depending on everyone else for my care and not being able to do anything I deemed “productive”. Probably in the last two weeks or so, I’ve gotten back to walking for short bursts, especially if my back isn’t bothering me. I have also gotten comfortable enough that I can sit at the computer for a while or do a little craft if I already have all the materials at waist height. So the other day I had all I could take of feeling helpless and hopeless and wanted to busy my chubby little fingers. So I had my husband organize my materials for me on tables so they were within my reach so I could work on something, even if it wasn’t my best work. 

First project: The Dresser

The hubs has this compulsion... I mean habit... of picking up things on the side of the road, so he asked me if I wanted this junk thing. He saw it on his route and knew I had been wanting a dresser of sorts to put flowers and stuff in on the front porch. Honestly, he found it when I was still woozy with pain killers, so I just told him to bring it home rather than put up the fight lol. But I’m glad I did now because it turned out to be the cutest little addition to our front porch. 

Here’s the picture he originally sent. Definitely in need of TLC. But one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. 

He set up the piece and the materials I would need on tables and wooden spools on the back deck so I didn’t hurt myself trying to bend. (Incidentally, we really don’t realize how much we engage our core muscles trying to do every day tasks and how long that core takes to heal after something like what happened to me.)

I decided to go with gray chalk paint, primarily because I had it and I couldn’t make a decision about a blue/turquoise color. 

I used the antiquing glaze once the gray chalk paint was dry to give the piece back it’s weathered look. This was just the start, so it’s easy to compare the two finishes, and I’m glad I went with the glaze. It would have been too “plain” without that extra little boost of character. 

I waited for my delivery of the cutest little knobs and some yellow chalk paint to finish up the drawers. As soon as I saw these knobs, I knew these were the ones I had to have. Unfortunately, two of them kind of broke so I’ve gorilla glued them back together. They’re continuing to set as we speak and I hope they can be salvaged. 

So we added the piece to our front porch and turned one of the drawers into a little snack keeper for our delivery personnel. Some drivers who leave our boxes on the front porch never realize they can get some snacks and drinks if they would just come to the carport! So we hopefully solved that problem. I also plan to get some seasonal artificial flowers to make arrangements so I have something ready to decorate for each seasonal change of the porch. I’m also pretty stoked about how our new address block turned out though I failed to take the step by step pics of it. And I can’t be more excited about my new Est.1776 pillow cover I bought to go with my other Americana pillows. They go perfectly together!

Second project: The American Flag Porch Leaner

I didn’t get pictures of the initial work my hubs did, but he used some scrap wood to fashion a porch leaner for me. We “mathed” for quite a while to figure out the best way to go about handling the stripes. With the help of some painter’s tape, 2 measuring tapes, and some other triangle-y tool I don’t know the name of, we were able to get it pretty even!  I was pleased at least. 

I thought it might be neat to use something to break up the contrast between the blue and the stripes, so I remembered some leftover ribbon I had from working on a baby door hanger for one of my friends. I crafted the bow after looking up some tutorials on Pinterest, and I tied some twine around the boards, added the bow, and **dreamy**! 

This picture is just an interlude haha. Between paint retouches, I enjoyed sitting on the back porch under the shade sail my husband put up for us. 

Now all I have to add are my stars, and as I write this, they should be delivered tomorrow. So with a little paint and hot glue, the leaner should be complete and ready to introduce to the world on our front porch. 

And now... the finished product!