As we sit here together post-Christmas, we're thinking about our favorite projects and upcoming plans for 2015.
Let's start with our 2014 list:
#1 The Paris Street Market This was our first joint venture and it was a huge success despite lots of heavy lifting. We loved planning, displaying and selling. It was wonderful to see so many of our friends and followers come out for the event as well. View the posts about our goods and the market here, here, here, and here.
#3 Creating a Funky Junk Mailbox Dwight got involved in this DIY project---so much so that we call it "Dad's Project." The results are still holding strong!
#5 A New Old Farm Table Kandy found and refinished an old farm table for Karli's new dining space. It made a huge difference in the transformation of the room!
#6 Giving an Old Christmas Village New Life After years of storage in Kandy's barn, these ceramic houses got a new modern look. Karli is loving the finished product.
#7 Karli's Christmas Tree Makeover After imagining a white, light tree Karli is thrilled with her new ornaments and tree elements.
#8 Painting the Front Door Black Kandy painted her front door in May and hasn't looked back.
As we enter the New Year, we'll be sharing a few things we're excited to start, continue and/or finish in 2015. More to come!
I am almost out of time, so I had better be finished with the holiday decorating. I was waiting for it to snow before taking these pictures, but the weather is just not cooperating. Since Christmas is arriving within days, I decided to show these last final touches anyway. View part 1 and part 2 for more.
The front door area gets traditional Christmas touches with greenery, red berries, and red bows. The chalkboard now greets visitors with Winter Blessings (so it will last on into February). How lazy am I.....making it last all winter?
The shop even gets a wreath and red bow on its door.
The last bit of outdoor décor is sprucing up the "Funky Junk Mailbox". It also gets greenery and a big red bow. (The Mailman loves this!)
I did redo one thing inside that I had shown in the Part 2 post. I had hung a greenery spray by the entry closet but then I found this great distressed black wall hanger "thing-a-ma-jig" at the local thrift store and decided it was perfect.
And then, most importantly of all.......the very reason for the Christmas Season, the Nativity announcing the arrival of the Blessed Christ Child. My Nativity was a gift to me from Karli years ago and is very precious.
I hope that you too have precious memories of this Blessed Season from years past that live forever in your heart. May you move into the New Year filled with Love and Joy.
I'm not the only one who enjoys playing around with old stuff and junk. My hubby gets quite a thrill out of it too. In fact, he has been spending some quality time in the shop making us a new mailbox.
Our last mailbox got hit not once but twice this winter. One time by the snowplow driver and one time by a large piece of machinery being pulled down our road. Enough already.....in my husband's opinion, it was time to build an indestructible one!
I am talking heavy metal, pipe and springs. His creation is perhaps like nothing you have ever seen before. We went scavenging, with permission of course, at two different neighbor's junk piles. We also had one trip to the salvage yard, two trips to the Co-op, and a metal shop. I helped only slightly as we repurposed garage door springs and old chain. The idea is that when this "Funky Junk Mailbox" gets hit by the snowplow.........it is supposed to SPRING back. We did get an OK from the County Road and Bridge Department!
All the parts and pieces were left as found, some old rusty parts, and some new shiny ones as well.
He even created the flag out of metal.
Hubby also created his own numbers out of strap metal and welded them on the side so you can see them as you drive by from town. I always tell him that we need our address numbers out by the road so the ambulance driver can find us!
The inside of the mailbox resembles a smoker or grill. He designed this to keep the mail dry if snow or rain gets in. You might think he got carried away, but he was having soooo much fun welding!
So far this "Funky Junk Mailbox" has certainly been a conversation piece. Friends and neighbors have stopped by to comment. In fact, even the Mailman left us a sweet note stating, "Good Job.....love your new mailbox!"
We'll see how well it holds up to abuse. But, in the meantime, we'll enjoy seeing all the passerbys slow down, stare...and try to figure out just what the heck it is!!!!!!!
