WaterDragon Weekly Sunday Post: Door(s)

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.  ~Walt Disney

Got Paint?

Green doors.

All these Parisienne doors need is a little TLC.  A can of paint and some brass hardware, perhaps?

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Advertisement

Thanksgiving craft~

Good evening loyal readers!

This is a great craft for parents and children to do together….or for anyone of any age.
As with any craft,  there are many variations that can be used.

I found this craft activity on the net a month ago.   The original craft item is hanging leaves, as you will see when I give you the link.
You can choose to do leaves, as we are in the midst of falling leaves at this time of year, and I think the finished look is really neat.

I made a variation to show you another idea.  I made turkey feathers!  When I taught kindergarten, I found out that five year olds (and most children) are fascinated with turkeys!

Click here to see the original craft idea from KABOOSE.   (my directions vary from Kaboose because I wanted the feathers to look different)

MY HOW TO:
1. Using tagboard or heavy construction paper, cut out 7 feathers,  leaf shapes (or the shape you desire) Note: they do not have to be exactly the same shape! Just free-form draw them, or make one shape and trace it.  Don’t worry if they are different sizes.
2. You or your child decorate the feathers/leaves using crayons, watercolor paints, poster paints, markers, torn paper scraps, etc.
3. Find a twig or branch that is fairly straight
4. Use thin string or thin crochet “yarn”
5. Punch a hole in the TOP of each feather/leaf (in the top row) and tie a knot with the string there.  (make sure you have a long piece of string)
6. For each of the 3 top items, wrap the string around the stick several times and then tie it in a knot.
7. Punch a hole in the bottom of each feather in the top row.
8. Punch a hole in the top of each feather in the second row and tie them together, using a square knot.  Mine are about 3″ apart.
9. For the last feather….repeat the process ….as you can see in the photo.

**Thoughts: if this will be exposed to the outdoors, it may be a good idea to cover the feathers/leaves with clear contact paper, or…one of my favorite things: clear package wrapping tape.  KABOOSE suggests putting glue on each knot…. if your item is outdoors and exposed to humidity changes,  that is probably a good idea.

Have fun creating!  Let me know if you do this craft!.
Thanks for stopping by~ 

Crazy for Doors!

I love doors!  It’s as simple as that!   Doors can be plain or fancy, antique or contemporary.  No matter what their design, they welcome people into your home.   I guess we could say doors are the “smile” on your home’s “face”.  😉

It’s easy to spruce up your door if you want a change.  The easiest and least expensive way is with a can of paint.  And don’t be afraid of a little color.  I have a pale mint green door, but my home is predominately in the tan/brown palette.  There is no green in any other place on my home, besides plants in pots….but it works.   You can change out the hardware on the door, add new house numbers, hang a wreath or put a kick plate at the bottom of the door for easy changes.

In addition to sprucing up the door, you can add items to your porch or entry steps to enhance the entryway too.  Potted plants, a climbing vine, a new rug or some large rocks in the flower beds near your steps will give a new look to the front of your house.  Cleaning up the flower beds and adding new plants where there are gaps is a good idea too.  (and cheap!)

Some doors have great architectural elements and fine details.  Some doors have windows, transoms or sidelights.  Some doors are simple and blank.  Whatever door you have, you can make it into the showpiece of your home with just a few easy and inexpensive DIY steps.
Here are some doors I found on my travels.   Maybe these doors will give you inspiration to change even one item for your entryway!  Enjoy!

Gallery Shelving (repost from Oct. 8)

NOTE: I am reposting this from Oct. 8th as my photos did not display on the site at that time.  It’s not very interesting if you can’t see what I’m talking about!  I apologize for the mess-up with the photos.  Giving it a go again~~~~!

I have a personal preference for gallery shelves for photos.   I really don’t care to patch holes in my walls every time I want to change photographs or prints around!

Gallery shelves come in all sorts of sizes, prices and styles.  On deeper shelves where I can overlap the frames a bit, I can triple the number of photos I could normally get in the same space by hanging them individually on a wall.   They are also easily rearranged.  And that is something I love to do!

The sleek, modern shelves are from IKEA.  They have an edge to prevent photos from slipping off, and as you can see,  photos can be overlapped.  The next pictures show moldings from a Victorian house that I found in an antique-salvage shop.   I sanded and painted them off-white.  I added ceramic bath/kitchen door knobs with hot glue that will hold lightweight items.  The knobs hide the screws needed to hold the shelves to the wall. The moldings are not deep enough to overlap pictures, but I’ve never had a framed photograph fall off.   The first photo gives an idea of the depth of the antique moldings.

You can use real Victorian door knobs instead of the small ones like I used, but they will need to be screwed in.

TIP #1: > If you use real Victorian door knobs on the molding you could also make a great looking coat hook.<

TIP #2: On the IKEA shelves, I have all black frames.  This gives a uniform look to the antique photographs, and makes the photos themselves stand out.   I started out with silver frames for the antique molding display but couldn’t keep up with that “color”.   So I have a mismatch of frames!  Ah…some day….!

 

Budget Ideas #2 ~ Kitchen Range Hood

Budget Ideas are my favorite things to do/make for a low cost.  Here’s version #2.

If you are building a home, remodeling, or keeping ideas for your next home, this is a great alternative to an expensive decorative range hood.  This one has an “old ” look, but variations can be made to blend with any kitchen cabinetry period or style.   

A regular white range hood fan sits under the flared base and is the type that can be purchased at any lumber yard, appliance store or discount store.   The builder used wood to frame the flare shape around the fan and continued up to the ceiling.   Drywall was installed over all.   Next, the builder applied drywall mud in a random, “messy” way, so that it resembled plaster in very old buildings.  Maple trim was used around the base to match the cabinets.  Later, craft paint was mixed and painted with sponges and brushes to create the look of a surface that is centuries old.

With the money you save, you can make and serve expensive meals under your classy range hood for many years! 🙂