Little Shed Makeover

We've got this little shed in our backyard and I'm going to take you on a 4-season tour of it, with a painted update and a sign.

The shed has lived 26 years in the same place and was moved to that spot from a different house, putting the actual age of the build at about 31.

The wood was hammered together back when men wore short shorts like Richard Simmons, which was the style while they were getting physical and listening to their body talk.

I didn't invent the length of the shorts or that song, but both were popular in the 80's when the little shed was born.  I'm not going to include the picture of my husband wearing that style, his children have already ridiculed him enough.

Thankfully mens shorts have since gotten a makeover, and it's time the little shed did too.

Behold the shed in the glory of early Spring. We took out a large shrub to the left and planted some hostas and grass and that's about the time I got the ambition to finally paint it.

Working right up close to it made me realize how really crappy it actually looked.

Before the Summer miracle that is paint

The Green Grass of Home

We have a yard and "areas".  A few yards really, and we refer to all the areas around here in various ways so we know just the spot we are talking about.

There is the back yard, the bottom back yard, the front side yard, the front yard, the yard on the side, the far yard, the down the driveway yard, the back shed, over by the basketball court area, the big field on the hill, the dry marsh, the woods, over by the chickens, the garden, and the back field.  I can use these terms and usually direct Brawn to a specific area for whatever the need is.  The kids I might have to draw a map and physically take them to where I'm talking about if it involves working.

Little Shed

In the backyard we have this little shed, not to be confused with the big shed in the back or the potting shed in the front side yard.  In the little shed we park the lawnmowers, bikes and sand toys over winter.  Next to it are a couple birdhouses on some old deck posts that are inhabited every year.  Everything is due for a painting, and I will probably just use something I already have.

I would love to turn my little shed into something like this.........

(source)

Or this one over at Thistlewood Farm that Kari calls her Art House....

I would love an art shed.

The hostas next to the back yard shed got off to an early growing season.  I hadn't even got rid of last years long dead parts before the hostas were huge.

Also in the back yard is a patio and pond area where the hostas thrive.  Some of them were scheduled to be removed before they got too big.  Hmmmm, I think we missed the timing on that.

A few years ago I was sitting on the patio looking around and I wondered what I could do to hide the big 'ol ugly air conditioning unit.  We had a pile of old deck posts, so Brawn whipped me up a form with two panels and I smashed some china and stained glass along with some mirror and made a big mosaic to hide it.

In the front side yard we have what used to be a play house.  Five years ago I turned it into a potting shed, but there is no longer anything that resembles potting or garden supplies inside.  Brawn has taken it over for work supplies.  I am serving an eviction notice to his supplies.  On my to-do list is turn it back into a playhouse for The Grands.

                     

 What you can't see hanging on the left side is a potting ledge where I inconveniently pot plants.  Most of my plants in pots are in the back yard, the potting shed is in the front side yard.  Also on the to-do list is make a potting bench that I can keep on the back deck.

This old tiki torch oil lamp is by the pool in the back yard just waiting to light up some fun summer nights.

In the front yard is this area between the two entries to the house.  The tree is a dwarf Japanese Maple and the long tall spikey things will soon be sporting beautiful stargazer lilies.  I bought 6 bulbs for .99¢ a few years ago and needed a place to plant them.  I stuck them in the ground here and this is where they stayed.  There used to be a beautiful birch tree in this spot but it got too big for the area.

 My front porch flowers were just planted and consist of ferns, marigolds and impatiens.  The pots were in need of paint.  They used to be pale yellow.  Gwen at The Bold Abode painted some pots which gave me the idea to paint mine.  First I tried pastel blue, not at all right for my porch, so the other color spray paint I had was green.  I wish the storm door could go, but we get some nasty weather in the winter.  Tomorrow I will take out the window and put in the screen.

I have a lot of other "yards" and "areas" to take pictures of.  Today I noticed some of my wild roses are blooming.  Seems early to see those and they look real healthy.  As of today our garden is planted.  There is always a never ending list of outside chores.  I have flowers on my table that need to be planted.  Tomorrow?

  

Show us your Garden party @ The Polohouse

Linking the Mosaic Air Conditioner Cover to:

Tuesday's Treasures @ MyUncommonSliceOfSuburbia
  Newbie Party @ DebbieDoos 

Junk in the Shed

At this time of year there is a lot of outdoor chores to do before the snow flies.  And when we decide to have a Halloween party, well that ups the chore ante.

Brawn had me wander with him back to the out-of-sight out-of-mind shed at the edge of our woods to "discuss" the upcoming party and the "junk".

Previously the shed was used to store the boat, lake stuff, lawn furniture, a camper, and the sawmill boards Brawn has on hand for building new things.

2 years ago it was his shed.......

Before I started hauling home every free item I saw.

A bucket at the end of a driveway marked "free", full of dusty bottles and greasy insulators.  I think there were about 8 of each.

It was before people started telling me about free stuff they found.....

Like a roll top desk my son spotted by a dumpster at a business.  First he told me about it, then went and looked.  After he checked it out he called and said he didn't think I'd want it. 

Some stuff is from garage sales like this old headboard.  Five bucks........

I have a buggy seat?  Hey I forgot about it since it went to live in the shed when we cleaned the garage.

A friend brought over the copper tub a couple years ago saying she thought I could do something with it.

Old cabinet doors Brawn hauled home for me before my addiction became serious.

Half a door and an old table top.  

Sewing machine base I was gonna do something with.  The same friend that gave me the copper thing brought two chairs and left this for me too.  

One window or 20..... 

Below the Electric Chair, are two dressers waiting for a redo.

What?  You don't have an electric chair? 

I stuffed a jailbird body and people stuck their head through the black fabric and we took pictures of them at night.

The head model is one of my sons. The one that hates all the old junk around.  I think some of those old belts are now on his little brothers Rock & Roll Dresser as handles.

Not all the junk is IN the shed.

We have piles outside too.

Don't ever tell my husband you want some old wood, because he will get your some.  And don't ever walk on this pile or you'll end up with a rusty nail in your foot.  Then we'd have to cut your foot off and use it as a Halloween prop.

Speaking of rust, there is rusty stuff besides nails around too.

If you came to our house you would never know all this junk is lurking. THANK GOODNESS!!!!  Keeping it out of sight helps our property not look like the Beverly Hillbillies moved out and left us their stuff, and it keeps my addiction on the low down from friends.

Really the back shed is a treasure trove of junk waiting for its moment.  But the moment will have to wait till after October.  For now junk will get hauled out so the shed can be transformed into something with a Halloween atmospfear.  I'll be flying in on a broomstick.

(Hi Dii, hope you are up and around soon.  I need more junk!)

Hells Kitchen Sign

Have you ever watched the show Hells Kitchen?  Chef Ramsay yells at all the chef wannabe's, turning up the heat on them.

That's me when someone messes with my food on the stove.

So it's fitting that the buffet table at a Halloween party we co-host has a sign letting everyone know where the food comes from. 

Sign under black light in dark shed

  We've had these old barn wood signs for 18 years and I paint over them depending on what I need the new sign to say.

 The boards already have this great crackly finish.

This one got a base of red, some letters from my Cameo Silhouette, and a light coat of white over the top before the vinyl is peeled off.  The white shows off nice under the glow of a strategically placed black light.

Oh and an old plastic top of a pitchfork that was on the bottom of a Halloween bin.  I added a piece of dowel I picked up off the garage floor.

The name of the game at Halloween is make it cost nothing!  I will use any old piece or part of anything for costumes and decorations.

The party is in a shed - it ain't Martha's house for goodness sakes!

What's black and white with E-6000 all over?

A garage sale candelabra for .25¢.

But lighting taper candles in a shed with hay bales and corn stalks for decorations isn't really very smart.  Burning Down the House is only a song I like to dance too, not something I really want to do.

So while I realize any kitchen in hell is pretty hot, the authenticity of heat from a burning shed isn't what I had in mind.

To remedy this I took three of the little vintage tin molds I also picked up at a garage sale and glued them on with the E-6000.

Then I plopped in some battery candles for a safe alternative to real flames.

Yes this is still an unfinished dining room chair.  Shuddup.

The candelabra will make it's way out to the shed and also go on the buffet table.

And get a load of these embroidered flour sack towels......

I. Love. These.

I. LOVE. THESE.  Do you hear me?

They are sooooo darn cute.

Tina from What We Keep was having a fundraiser for two doggies her heart went out too, and when I saw the Bates Motel towels I had to have them. Thank you Tina, I love all of them.

So Bliss, what's really up with all this Hells Kitchen stuff?

Well lets just say it all goes with the costume of a certain devilish chef.  And of course every well dressed devilish chef needs a Hells Kitchen towel to complete their ensemble.

The Woods have eyes, and an outhouse

 Things start to get spooky around the ranch right about this time.  Normally in a week or so the annual party would be taking place in the back shed.  But this year vines have grown over in a few spots.  The candles won't be lit, no food to prepare.  The party is taking a year off.

 

Your journey would begin as you make your way through the deep dark woods, lit with glowing things like pumpkins and ghost milk jugs and blue moon light.  This is where it comes in handy to have a few kids who like to jump out and scare people.  While buried under a pile of innocent looking leaves.  Gotcha.  Every. Single. Time.

The trail is the only way to get to the back shed where food and merriment, or scary-ment, await.

You might see some flickering lights through the one window and know you are getting close to being safely inside.  And the light would be flickering from the hanging fixture taken out of the free bin at a garage sale.  You know - those dated kind that folks toss out when they update.  

Trash to them.  Treasure to the possessed October Bliss.

Spray paint and some flicker bulbs, and before you know it hanging in your husbands storage shed is some wonderful year round ambiance.

Nothing like going out to fetch something from the shed in March and seeing that.

Pre-web, this light looked like it came out of a mid-EVIL castle.  It was hard to imagine someone had it hanging in their house.... recently.  The guy almost begged me to take it, along with the matching sconces.  I felt I had to explain why I wanted it, I couldn't have him thinking my decorating taste sucked.  But it was perfect for a haunted shed.

And the sconces were perfect for the inside of a haunted outhouse.

When 'ya gotta go, 'ya gotta go, so round up old boards and build the perfect, creepy outhouse.  Because seriously, would you want to walk back through the haunted forest to the bathroom in the house?  I didn't think so.  Mostly only the ladies used it.  The men went...... ummm, well in the moon light just because they could.

Then, because someone was not a blogger yet, she didn't take any pictures of the totally cool decorated outhouse interior.  With a talking fortune teller.  Who felt it necessary to repeatedly tell me I need to lose a few pounds.  She was a borrowed head, and motion activated.  Esmerelda didn't start to talk till you had a seat.  She scared you when you were most vulnerable and could not get up and run.  That is cruel huh?  Truly gave new meaning to scaring it out of someone.

Emerelda didn't exactly say I needed to lose a few pounds.  

While her eerie music played she told me;

"Ohhh, you have come for my wisdom....I have but one recommendation for you - 

eat well and stay fit - you'll die anyway, but at least you'll look better."  

I guess she told me I was ugly!