Some Small Prints and Thank You!

I love original art, handmade pieces, special framed photos, and yes, sometimes even mass produced prints that speak to me.

This little end wall opposite the fridge in our kitchen was needing a little something so I added a pair of framed prints.

The "Count Each Day A Blessing" framed print is one I have had for years. It has a primitive look but is a great daily reminder. Each and every day is truly a blessing and I love this reminder to slow down and appreciate every one. Recently while shopping a favourite country store with a gift certificate from a friend, I saw the "Spring Flowers For Sale" print. We really love old barns and farmhouses so this one had to come home with me. 

Our son has promised to help me finish up all the board and batten in our kitchen and fireplace side of the family room this summer when I am off work. We are so close and just need some last pieces and touch ups, plus a mantel. 

This is the skylight end of this center wall between the kitchen and family room. The photo was one of the ones that didn't make it into the recent Romantic Homes Magazine Site Seeing feature.  

I am so happy to see so many new people stopping by Blue Clear Sky and following through my FB page, GFC (800 wow!), Pinterest,  Linky Followers and email subscriptions. But it is my friends I connect with on a regular basis, through comments, emails and your blogs, that really make my day. Thank you for that.

$8 Gold Mirror Painted White For Our Living Room

I finally found an affordable large mirror for our living room and painted it white this week.

When I bought the $10 wood dresser I knew I wanted a bigger mirror but made do with the smaller rose framed mirror. I propped a chippy paned window in front of it to help disguise how small it was.

It is not in our budget to spend a lot on decor, so I waited for garage sale season to start and the hunt began.

For now the mirror is resting on the dresser and I will probably hang it. And I added the window frame back because I like it.

This is the gold frame before. I thought it was well worth the $8 asking price at the garage sale. Slap on some white paint and good to go....so I thought.

What I thought was going to be a simple mirror painting makeover ended up being a bigger project than I expected. I have painted lots of mirrors and frames but this time I saved some cereal boxes to stuff between the frame and the mirror. It would save taping and be a super fast project. Wrong. Even though I tried to take the boxboard out when the paint was still wet, half of it got stuck. What a mess pulling it out with tweezers and taking away some of the paint from the mirror edge. Oh well, lesson learned! Next time I will  take the mirror out of the frame before painting. 

I love the detail of the frame and I'm thinking of adding another layer of white (maybe my new MMS Milk Paint in Ironstone) and possibly some glazing to bring out the detail. At that time I will touch up the mirror edges.

 I'm going to live with it for now. I'm not in the mood for more hair pulling this soon ;-)

I added the wood crate and faux green and white berry spray to the side table. I have also painted a few photo frames in turquoise, aqua and even a green to add some colour. I bought a fun new fabric to make some pillows that hopefully I can share this week.

Don't you love how our chocolate Lab matches the brown leather couch and blinds lol. Yes, we finally got around to hanging the blinds in the living room and now need to reinstall the curtain rod. 

And the reason we have white sheets and throws on our white slipcovers (besides my guys), Remington in her favourite spot.

We are enjoying the end of a long Victoria Day weekend. Saturday the guys went up north to buy goats to show as their 4-H projects (besides Dairy and Rabbit Clubs.) I had the whole day to myself and headed to some paint and decor stores in Hamilton and Cambridge. I'll share more later. Yesterday we had a big family bbq and firepit in the evening and today we are relaxing. Love Long Weekends!

I'm sharing at the following great parties. Stop by....
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Budget Decorating Party at Creative Cain Cabin
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
The Scoop at Cedar Hill Ranch, Farmhouse Porch, Crafty Texas Girls, and Lolly Jane

My First MMS Milk Paint Purchase and The Painted Bench

Through some pages I follow on Facebook I found more retailers in southern Ontario that sell Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint and/or Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. 

I plan to visit the other stores during the summer but was super excited on Saturday to head off on my own to visit The Painted Bench in Hamilton, Ontario (less than an hour drive.)

Love this grain sack pillow and the stripes on the dresser are really cool.

I came so close to buying this lovely grain sack inspired table runner, but I have too many runners as it is! Heather from New House New Home New Life sewed the pillows and runner.

The Painted Bench is right in the heart of the fabric and design district on Ottawa St. N. in Hamilton. So worth the drive for a whole street of stores with fabric, antiques and home decor. The Painted Bench is in a lovely shop at 208 Ottawa St. N., Hamilton where you can find the MMS Milk Paint TM line, beautifully painted and finished furniture, unfinished finds to paint yourself, and lots of unique one of a kind pieces including bird houses, pillows, table runners and more. I know I will be stopping by again soon. I really enjoyed chatting with one of the co-owners. She was full of great tips for the Milk Paint.

(all photos above via The Painted Bench on FB)

To start I bought a packet of Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in Ironstone and a bottle of bonding primer.

(image via Mustard Seed Interiors)

More good news for us close to Hamilton.-The Painted Bench is a new stockist for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint TM and will be stocked in about a month's time. That will make for some great summer time painting.

Summer Porch Inspiration and Happy Mother's Day

Today I am sharing some porch inspiration photos, a couple of simple makeovers, a garage sale find and Happy Mother's Day wishes. A real mix!

via BHG

I was considering lots of whites and neutrals with black and greenery for our front porch this year but these fun colours are drawing me to the bright side :) 

I mentioned in a previous post about wanting to paint our front door a bright blue, something like Wyeth Blue. I'm not sure if it will work with our brick colour though. I'm going to start by introducing accents in the blue. We are also getting a new garage door and man garage door in white later this spring. The railing, porch post and door frame will also be painted white. That will just leave us with a light green-khaki aluminium beadboard porch ceiling. 

Our summer porch

Our covered front porch is on the small side but has enough room for one or two chairs and a small table. I bought these chairs a few years ago for less than $30 each and sold them a few weeks ago for $40 for the pair so I'm not out a lot of money. They were okay but I wasn't loving them. Now I need to find something to replace them. I may use an old Muskoka / Adirondack chair from our backyard and touch up the paint. I would also love to find a vintage wrought iron chair and spray paint it.

For now I am hunting and gathering (and painting) decor items. This large green glass bottle was $5 at a yard sale yesterday. I'm not sure if it will work, but for that price I had to get it.

I also picked up some trusty Krylon spray paint in my favourite shade, Blue Ocean Breeze. This formerly red tin barn star is going blue.  

I painted this pine peg shelf I have had for years (from a garage sale for a few dollars) and hung it on the porch wall (on the old mailbox screws so I didn't have to drill into the brick.) Now it just needs some small plants and accessories.

This is just a start, and I have a long way to go, but the ideas are starting to come together in my head. Besides that, after a beautiful week weather wise today we woke to near freezing temps and a mix of sun, sleet and hail with frost predicted overnight. I'm waiting until after the May long weekend to put potted plants out.

Finally, wishing all you moms and grandmothers, and those who have mom's waiting in heaven, a Happy Mother's Day.

I'm sharing at the following parties...

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Vintage Black Transferware Platters and Plates

 I scored some vintage black transferware dishes today at an outdoor antique show.

Our 14 year old son is my garage sale buddy and really looks forward to our early Saturday mornings this time of year. He is difficult to get out of bed on school days but on Saturdays he is up at the crack of dawn with the garage sale listings he clipped from the newspaper on Friday. We found some great items this week, including an almost new Scrabble game for $1. I will share the other finds later. 

By 9:30 we were finished at yard sales so I dropped him off at home. I then headed about 45 minutes west towards Guelph, Ontario to the Aberfoyle Antique Market for their Saturday Spring Special Antique Show (it is usually just on Sundays.) There is so much to see, some good deals and lots of expensive items. 

Today I noticed a black transferware platter with a farm scene that I really liked. When I asked the vendor the price, he said he was only selling all of the pieces in a lot and for $20. I have seen lots of platters for that price so it was a good deal for the lot. The china came with a large platter, a medium platter, 4 side plates and 6 dinner plates (but I only saved these three because the others were badly chipped and cracked), a newer plate and a bowl. The side plates have lambs laying in a field and the dinner plate has cows and a barn (or maybe it is a home.)

The medium platter is 11.5" x 15" and has a scene of men and women loading a hay wagon. The condition is great.

This is the largest platter, 13.5" x 17", and it shows some discolouring and age. Love the cows and mill with a water wheel scene though. These dishes will be just for display as I don't like serving food on pieces with age or crazing.

This newer plate has a Spode Copeland stamp, as does the bowl. The platters and plates do not have a stamp but have a Copeland impression. I'm not sure how old they are but I love that the transferware pattern has agricultural scenes.

For now I am displaying them in the white pine jam cupboard in our dining room. Normally the door is closed and the view is through the wire on the door.

I'll try to get some full photos of the cabinet once I finish arranging things and in better lighting. And I need to take tons more photos of the other things I found today. Thanks so much for all the kind comments on my blog being featured in the Site Seeing section of Romantic Homes Magazine (that post here.) Hoping you have a great weekend and I would love to hear if you found any great deals this weekend.

I'm sharing this at....
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm
Under $100 Linky Party at Beyond The Picket Fence
Country Whites Weekend at The Country Farm Home and Old Time Farmhouse

Blue Clear Sky in Romantic Homes Magazine

I am super excited to finally have my hands on a copy of Romantic Homes June 2013 magazine. My blog is highlighted in the Site Seeing section.

I was surprised and honoured to be asked by editor Beth Livesay to submit photos for a summer issue and did a bit of scrambling after work in overcast weather to try and take some photos that met the requirements.

Lessons learned: 

1. Never say never. It can happen to you. 

2. Save your better untouched non-watermarked SOOC shots just in case. 

3. I really need to learn more about my camera.

Thank you Romantic Homes Magazine and Beth Livesay!

I Need To Find a Hutch Top

The moment I saw this photo it totally inspired me to be on the lookout for a hutch for our basement kitchen.

image: Country Sampler 2013 Home Tours

Our small basement (guest suite) kitchen has cabinets on one wall that need a makeover, but it is the opposite wall that I have plans for just as soon as I find an affordable hutch top. Without the base sideboard I could slip a narrow table under it for guests to enjoy their morning coffee. That way both pieces would be narrow enough to not interfere with traffic flow. Good thing it is yard sale season and this is at the top of my list. Don't you just love finding the perfect inspiration photo?

We have been having computer issues and had to send it away for virus removal but happily it is back. Hoping to get back to posting some projects soon.

Neutral Wreath for Front Porch

With nice weather finally arriving I am beginning to add some seasonal changes to our front porch. 

I'm pretty sure this year I am going to stick to neutral colours on our small front porch. While I would love to paint our front door turquoise, I don't think it would go with the brick and siding colours.