Project: DIY Tiny Patio Table

Just enough room for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine—and perfect for small patios.
For this project you will need:
A small resin statue
A metal plant stand
A round piece of wood
Spray paint
Nano or Gorilla glue
I got my bird statue at the Dollar Tree, the plant stand at a thrift store, and the paint and glue at my local hardware store.  Resin statues and plant stands are easy to find at Ross, Big Lots, yard sales, etc. Mine came with the wood already inside, but Michaels has a good selection of precut round pieces of wood.
Then I just glued the bird to the wood (I love Nano glue), let it dry overnight, and painted the whole thing white. Really, you could use any color or combination of colors (it looked cute pre-paint and would have been fine for a more rustic porch), but I like the uniformity of one color and white makes everything look sculptural and antique. 

Staging: Hi ho, Silver! (metallic paint)

The thing I love about painting with metallics is the way the finished painting changes appearance as the light changes throughout the day. I wound up hanging this one in the bedroom just so I can watch all of the different appearances it takes on. Silver is by far my favorite.
A simple metallic painted canvas is also a great way to scatter light around a dark room for staging or decorating. You can get a large piece of "artwork" for next to nothing by buying a used canvas at a thrift store and painting it with craft paint or a metallic spray paint. Serious budget art, with a serious impact--no cat required!

Project: Great Legs! (Patio table)

It's safe to say I fell in love with this little table because it has great legs because the colors certainly weren't moving me! One coat of Clark & Kensington Beach House and a decoupage butterfly later, and it is perfect for my patio. In fact, it is so pretty that I'm trying to find a place for it in the house!

Project: Thank you, I'll do it myself

It seems that once you start fixing things up around the house or fixing up thrift store finds, you suddenly decide you can probably fix just about anything. I recently munched a piece of the trim work on my car and decided that I could fix it myself and save a ton of money, which I did.

However, it turns out the auto-body guys would have earned their $175 dollars changing out the little piece below my tail light. We pulled out the lining and took out the tail light and discovered that the piece was riveted in. No big deal, drill out the rivets and replace them with little bolts. However, in order to do that, we first had to take off the bumper cover--a process that involved watching two youtube videos that explained how to take the front bumper off a Corolla and then reading and carefully re-reading the eHow instructions for getting the back bumper off. This is similar to taking off the front bumper but also involves take apart the back part of the trunk and cussing a lot. Anyway, we got it all apart before the sun went down and got it back together this morning. I did decide during this process that John and I would not make a good mechanic team. My little OCD compels me to keep all of the little pieces collected in a bowl so I can find them easily to put them back. John was popping out plugs and taking out nuts and just tossing them in the trunk or in his tool box, which about sent me over the edge, and I nearly killed him this morning when I couldn't find one of the lining plugs. Luckily I found it caught in the afghan I keep in the trunk or I might be in jail right now. Although to be honest, the tire iron that comes with a Corolla would be pretty hard to kill someone with.
Also, I love my car, but if freaks me out how much of it is made of plastic and Styrofoam. Still, this was a fix it project that stretched my creativity to another level, and one that I am proud of the results of. John says that I now need to wash and wax my whole car so that it is as shiny and new and the new piece, but I'm thinking it will be easier to just take a little drive down a dirt road.

Project: A Splash of Lime (Cheap exterior art)

Sometimes all it takes to make a flea market find into something really cool is a solid coat of a fun color:

before

Project: Gone Junkin'

Some people have a Gone Fishin' sign. I need a Gone Junkin' sign.
I gave in to the sickness and bought not one, but two bird statues today--but in my defense each was only a dollar. The fat gray one will go on the back porch as is, and the little cream one will get painted Lime Sherbet and added to the front porch collection. The little table will be painted and decoupaged for the back porch, which hopefully will be screened in soon!

Studio Space

This is my dining room.
If you come to my house for dinner, I will put up my art supplies and relocate my model.
Maybe.

Decorating Resource: Texas Touring: Rosenberg

Texas touring Saturday: Rosenberg, located 32 miles south of Sealy on Hwy 36
Cons: The majority of the town is pretty skeevy, and it quickly fills up with Houstonites trying to escape their hectic lives for the weekend.
Why it is worth going any: the historic downtown.
Historic downtown Rosenberg contains a very nice railroad museum, several great antique stores (including The Red Queen's Attic featured in the photos), a wine bar, a couple of vintage cafes, Texas themed boutiques, and a custom furniture store where you can stand at a window and look into the wood shop. There is also a very small farmer's market.
On the way back, we stopped just north of town at a larger farmer's market and bought some goodies including a jar of blackberry cobbler.

The King's Courtyard at The Red Queen's Attic

Hawkin's Furniture

John discussing woodworking with the owner of Hawkin's.