Garden Shed Twist

I’m trying to get back to reality after my This Old House Magazine cover fun, so I thought I’d show you the “twist” to my garden shed we had built this summer!
Are you ready?
Here’s our garden shed the way it was the last time I showed it to you….

Well, I made a bit of an addition to my shed, and it all started because of these………….

Nope, not the topiaries, but the side light windows on each side of my door.  When we had someone come to our door and knock, they could very easily see into our house….I  just wasn’t comfortable with that! So we happened to be walking through Lowes one day and saw these…..REPLACEMENT SIDE LIGHTS!

They are the perfect way to add instant charm to your home and also keep people from seeing in.  They are glass, but the only part that is completely clear is the little beveled pieces that make up the pretty part of the stained glass.   They were really easy to install too…there’s complete instructions inside the box, but honestly, all you do is unscrew the old ones, pop them out, clean up the area a little, and pop these in and screw them back together.  It was probably the easiest project we’ve ever done in our house!  Now it looks like this….

Cute huh?! I love them, and I really love the fact that people can’t see into our house anymore!

OK…now back to the shed! Ya’ll know how I LOVE to repurpose things right?  Well I had these two perfectly adorable clear sidelights that we had removed, so there was no way I was gonna throw them away.  You already know what I’m going to say don’t you?!  Yep, I installed them in the shed! (a friend of mine came over to help me…it was a two person job for sure)

You wanna see?! Ok, here she is all painted with a pretty color called Cappacino, with her new sidelight windows!….

Don’t those little side windows just make it the most charming little garden shed ever?! I thought I loved my little shed before, but I LOVE it even more since we installed the sidelights! OH…and check out the adorable handles I put on!  I found them at Tuesday Morning for $2.99 each!  I have some more plans for my cute little shed, like maybe a little porch out front, and some landscaping,  but they’ll have to wait a while…lots of other projects I’m working on for now.

What do you think? :0)

Blessings
Missy

Technorati Tags: garden shed,cute garden sheds,side lights,garden shed ideas

New Garden Shed, With a Twist!

Hi you guys!  I wanted to show you what I’ve been doing over the summer.  How many of you have always wanted a little garden shed of your very own, just for your gardening stuff? (and not for your hubbies golf clubs, car parts, or whatever it is your hubby is into!) I have ALWAYS wanted one, and this summer was my summer to get it! Yay!!  (we’re trying to make room in our two car garage for at least one car, so getting all my gardening stuff out was a good incentive for talking my hubby into getting the shed!) HA!
We went to Lowes and looked at all the buildings they had on their lot…we looked at the metal ones, the plastic ones, and the wooden ones that someone comes to your house to build.  I decided, since it was JUST for my gardening stuff, that I wanted a wooden one, but just the 8 x 8 size.  We bought it, and had it scheduled to be built…..a THREE week wait!~ I counted down the days! Finally, the day came, and here’s a picture progression of how it went…..

The poor guy that came to build our shed probably wasn’t happy with me as we only have a 36” gate and he had to carry everything to the back yard by hand!

Here he is starting….

Did I mention our yard is NOT level? He had to use blocks to level it up.  I kept staring at this because it looks SO crooked because of the fence going downhill…but it was level.

Poor guy probably thought I was a nutcase because I stayed outside all day long and watched him and took pictures. LOL
Here’s my new floor!  (I may or may not have gotten up there and done a little jig while he was around front getting more supplies!) :0)

This was a kit and everything came pre-cut so the process went pretty quickly! Yay for walls!

It went quickly until this stage right here….see that dark cloud right at the top of the picture?  Yeah, we had a 15-20 minute downpour, complete with thunder and lightening. I tried to get the guy to come in the house, but he insisted on sitting in his truck. Under a tree.  Not smart. :-0

I quit taking pictures of the build after the storm….it was wet and wasn’t as fun taking pictures in my flip flops.  hee hee hee

Here’s the building all finished up! You can see the weather turned, and the day ended up being beautiful!

Next post I’ll show you the twist in my shed….not something you’d expect to see, but really cute!

Stay tuned!!

Blessings,
Missy

Technorati Tags: lowes,garden shed,cute garden sheds

Garden Roasted Tomato Soup

Hey guys!  If you all are like me, you have loads of extra ripe tomatoes coming from your end of summer gardens.  I wanted to show you a recipe I made with all my tomatoes! 

Garden Roasted Tomato Soup

About 3 lbs of peeled garden tomatoes (cut into chunks)
2 onions cut into chunks
3 cloves of garlic, minced
salt & pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary or 1 1/4 teaspoons dried
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme or 1 1/4 teaspoons dried
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
6 cups chicken broth
6 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Put the tomatoes, onions and garlic  on cookie sheets, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Drizzle both sheets of tomatoes etc. with Olive Oil

Roast for 40 minutes, or until the onions and tomatoes are nice and tender. (mine actually took closer to an hour, but I think it depends on your oven, so just keep an eye on it)

After the tomatoes are done, transfer tomatoes and any accumulated juices to processor, pulse until the tomatoes are still a wee bit chunky. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in large pot over medium-high heat,  stir in tomatoes, rosemary, thyme and dried crushed red pepper. Add chicken stock; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until soup thickens slightly, about 25 minutes. Stir in fresh basil, remove from heat, and eat!

Here’s the end results! Oh yummy!  I topped our tomato soup with some Italian croutons and a little grated parmesan cheese!

Enjoy!

Missy

Technorati Tags: tomato soup,garden roasted tomato soup,how to make tomato soup

My $15.00 Hose Hanger

This was so basic I only took a picture of one thing….
This stupid rock! I hit this rock within the first 5” of digging….really?!  I think our house is very Biblical…you know the house that was built on the rock stood firm?….yeah, that’s us.

You’ll need
One 4 x 4 post, 6 feet long
One bag of dry quikrete concrete mix
One fence cap
One fence finial
One ladder hook (pic below)

fence cap

fence finial

 

ladder hook

 

4 x 4 post

 

Quikrete

 

Loctite

1. I dug a hole 24” deep (to make sure it was below our freeze line…but check and see what the freeze line depth is for your area so your 4 x 4 won’t heave out of the ground in the winter.
2. put a little bit of dry quikrete cement in the bottom of the hole, (just a couple of inches)
3. drop in your 6 foot 4 x 4
4. surround your 4 x 4 with the rest of the bag of dry quikrete concrete mix.
5. fill up the rest of the hole with water. (you can mix it a little bit around the post if you feel the need, but it will drain down and set up)
6. level the post so it dries into a nice straight position. (after it sets up and is completely dry, you can put some of the extra dirt back in on top of the concrete if there was room left at the top)
7. I used Loctite glue and glued on a fence cap, and screwed in a fence finial on top. (I did this the next day after the concrete was totally dry)
8. I used a large hook with a threaded end and screwed it into the side of the 4 x 4 to hold the hose. ( I did pre-drill the hole so it wouldn’t split the 4 x 4 and I found the hook in the area of Lowes where you find the cabinets, peg hooks etc for a garage)

That’s pretty much it.  It was a very easy project, especially for how cute it is!  The hardest part was digging the hole. :0)

Blessings,

Missy

Technorati Tags: hose hanger,how to make a hose hanger,how to build a hose hanger

How to Make Pickles

I remember when I was growing up I would watch my mom and my grandma in the kitchen canning all the wonderful things they had grown in their gardens.  One year my mom and dad let me have my own garden….I raised all kinds of things! Mom told me my garden actually did better than theirs that year! :0) The one specific thing I remember about my garden that year was raising spaghetti squash, I thought that was the coolest stuff ever! I raise a garden of my own now that I’m an adult….it’s not HUGE like the ones they used to raise, just a couple of raised beds, but it yields quite a bit! This year I had an abundance of cucumbers, so I made the same pickles my grandma used to make….heck, she still makes them! She still has a garden too, and she’s in her 80’s!!
They’re called….

MILLION DOLLAR PICKLES

• 10 cucumbers, sliced

• 4 cups sliced onions (I use sweet)

• 1/3 cup pickling spice (you can get it at Walmart…I found mine in the aisle with the canning jars)

• 4 cups water

• 2 teaspoons ground turmeric (be careful this stuff stains everything!)

• 1 teaspoon celery seed

• 6 cups white sugar

• 2 quarts white vinegar
  

Directions

1. Place the cucumber, onions, and pickling spice in a large bowl.
   
   
   
2. Add the water and allow the mixture to stand 6 to
   8 hours or overnight in the fridge.
   
   
   
3. Drain liquid from mixture.  In a large saucepan, mix the cucumber mixture, turmeric, celery seed and white sugar. Pour in the vinegar, adjusting the amount so that it covers the mixture. Bring to a boil.
   
4. While the above mixture comes to a boil. I use that time to sterilize my jars. (I’ve already run them through a dishwasher cycle to make sure they’re clean) I just pretty much dunk them in the water and make sure the boiling water gets on all sides and then put them on a towel to drain.
   
   
5. 
   After all the jars are sterilized I put all the jar lids and rings in the water to sterilize them.  I don’t get them out until the very end. (I always make sure the rubber part on the flats are up. so they don’t melt with the heat.)
   
6. After the cucumber mixture has come to a boil, transfer the cucumbers and onions to the sterile jars.  Ladle in enough of the boiling liquid to just cover the pickles in the jars…pretty much about 1” from the top of the jar.  While the mixture is still hot, wipe off the top of jar really well with a damp towel, then with a dry.  You want it to be clean and dry or it won’t seal.  Take one of the flat lids out of the boiling water, dry it off, and immediately put it on top of the clean jar, screw on the ring part of the lid.  (I fill one jar at a time)
   
7. Repeat for all the jars.  The above recipe makes 6 pint jars of pickles
   
8. Put your pickles on a towel to cool. As they cool, you’ll hear the lids popping, which means they’ve sealed.  If you have one that doesn’t seal, just go ahead and stick it in the fridge to eat, it’ll last quite a while.

One thing you need to know, and this is important!  The turmeric  stains everything! Put down towels on your counter where you’re working and expect them to have yellow rings when you’re through. Also wipe up anything that might splash on your stove, etc because I’m telling you this stuff does not come off…IT STAINS BIG TIME!  I now have very yellow dishtowels and a yellow ladle,  but the pickles will be worth it when I make pulled pork BBQ this winter! YUMMO!

These make great gifts too!

Blessings
Missy

Technorati Tags: How to make pickles,Million Dollar Pickles

How to Build a Potting Bench

Hey you guys!! I could not WAIT to show you how I built this potting bench to go in my new shed!   (more on the shed in another post!)

You remember the old 1916 house that was sitting on our churches property that was being torn down….the one where I took the old drawers from the butlers pantry and used them to build my window seat? (if you’re new around here and haven’t seen my window seat, you can go HERE to see it…LOVE IT!)  Since they were giving away anything from the old house we could carry out, I managed to snag a few of the old doors!  I have ALWAYS wanted a potting bench, but it wasn’t exactly at the top of my “to do” list because we’ve been redoing this house since we bought it 6 years ago…and bathrooms and kitchens are kinda more important than potting flowers. (although potting flowers is much more therapeutic if you ask me!)

Anyway! One day I was on Pinterest looking  at potting benches and had an aha moment! I could use one of the old doors as the back to my bench, so I started collecting odds and ends and bits and pieces to start my potting bench!

The first thing I found were these amazing old 4 x 4’s at our local habitat restore…I LOVE the old stenciling on them! (but you could use new ones) I got them for a DOLLAR each!  Score!!! Worthington Steel used to supply steel to a place my hubby used to work years ago…I thought that was kind of a cool connection too! The little corner brackets I found on Ebay…4 for $12.00!

The first thing I did was to decide the height I wanted the potting bench to be, and cut the 4 x 4’s to that height. I picked waist level, so that would vary from person to person)  Then I took some 2 x 4’s and built an open box the width of the door and the depth I wanted the table part of my potting bench to be, which in my case, was 16”.  I basically just screwed the pieces together with some long deck screws, then screwed it into place on the 4 x 4’s and the door.  (ignore the slats on the bottom, I was just dry fitting them in this pic, I’ll show you how I built the bottom box on down in the post)

Some of the 2 x 4’s were old, I snagged those for a buck each at the restore too, but there wasn’t enough so I had to use some new ones as well. The finish didn’t match, so I used a trick I saw on Pinterest.  Soak steel wool (I used the fine stuff) in some vinegar overnight and then apply several coats to your wood, allowing it to dry in between to get the desired look you want. EASY PEASY!! (but it’s Stinky with a capital S!) lol You can see in the picture below the difference in the new piece of wood in the back that I didn’t touch, and the new piece on the side that I used the steel wool on…….HUGE difference!

You can see in this picture, that it doesn’t match the old wood perfectly. but it’s sure better than the bright shiny new wood any day! :0) (you can also see how I screwed the wood into the 4 x 4 in this pic)

For the bottom box, I kinda did the same thing I did for the top, except I put the front piece of wood behind the 4 x 4’s because I had another piece of 4 x 4 that I wanted to use on the face, in between the upright 4 x 4’s.  See in the pic below…..

Here’s a closer view….see that old piece in the front..it’s nestled right in between the two 4 x 4’s and I attached it to that 2 x 4 behind it.

Here you can see how nice the old wood looks from the front…much better than the 2 x 4 would have looked, and it also sits flush. If I had used a regular 2 x 4, I would have to have wrapped it around the front of the legs like I did on the top box I made.  I like this better for the bottom. :0)

For the top, I just used a 1 x 6 piece of scrap wood, cut to the width of the door, and screwed it in from the top into the door. I found that great piece of molding from the habitat restore too. (guess how much…Yep, another dollar!)  
To attach the molding, I screwed down through the first board I put on top and into the molding.  Don’t ya’ love all the patina on those old hinges…close to 100 years of love! (ok…dirt and paint, but I still love it!)

I took the other piece of the 1 x 6 that I used on top, to make a shelf with the other two ebay brackets. Just screwed the brackets on the wood, centered it, and screwed it into the door.

I found the piece of wood to make the top at the restore too….and yes it was a dollar. I was blown away when they said it was only a dollar because it had been a mantle.  A TWO INCH THICK, 72 INCH LONG MANTLE MADE FROM REDWOOD!!! I had to bite my lip to cut into that piece of wood….a little part of my heart broke. :*(   After deciding it was ok to cut the wood, I ripped it down the middle and then cut it into three piece lengths to fit the top. The reason I ripped it was because it wasn’t deep enough to make one solid piece for the whole top, so I wanted to have equal sized widths.

I used some Loctite adhesive again to adhere the top to the base frame….

Then laid all the pieces in place…..

For the bottom I used pre-primed  1 x 4’s and cut them to fit….

I kept laying them out as I went so I could get the spacing just right in between them.

To make the end pieces fit I had to cut a notch out in them….

Here’s what the left side looked like with the notch cut out and before I put it in place….

Here it is in place….

I used the Loctite adhesive on those too….just easier than trying to nail each one in place while keeping the gaps evenly spaced. With the Loctite you still have time to wiggle the boards back and forth to get the spacing right before they dry, and it holds really well!!  :0)

Here she is all lovely and finished! :0) I found the little sign hanging on the door at a yard sale for .50, and just painted the inside part with chalk paint..super easy!

Don’t you LOVE that little stool!! I found it on a local facebook yard sale page for $10.00!! I’ve seen them on Ebay for WAY more than that! 
OH.. I also put the little hooks on each side of the sign…they were about $3.00 each. 

I now have all my gardening books down on that bottom shelf…so functional!

Isn’t it so cute!!!  I’m in LOVE!  <3

A couple more pics….

So here’s a run down of how much my potting bench cost:

Door: Free
4 x 4’s: $2.00
2 x 4’s (old and new) $6.00
mantle for top: $1.00
1 x 6 Board for top and shelf: free in garage
piece of molding for top: $1.00
brackets from Ebay: $12.00
Two hooks: $6.00
1 x 3’s for bottom: free…leftover from my raised paneled wainscoting in my dining room
sign: .50 yard sale (already had the chalkboard paint)
Three tins on shelf: free..already had them)
GRAND TOTAL: $28.00

I’m not counting the price of the stool because it’s not really part of the potting bench, I just loved it when I bought it and knew I’d find a place for it someday…and it’s perfect!!

Blessings,
Missy

Technorati Tags: how to build a potting bench. how to build a garden bench,what to do with old doors,potting bench plans