Providence Handmade

Here's the (finally) finished spring shelf. I'm really happy with it - the angel was swiped from my mom and is made from old barn wood, the "w" is metal, really heavy, and really old, the polka-dot "w" used to be silver and shabby chic and got a new life with some paint, the wallhanging you've seen already, and then there's my new Jennifer Lanne painting. Ahhhh....I l.o.v.e. it. I actually ordered another one of her paintings yesterday and I'm searching for the perfect home for it.

I grabbed this sweet little rusty metal basket from my mom's house last weekend - it's always so much fun poking around her garage, finding new treasures. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, and I'm still not, but for right now it's housing my new painting and some fresh flowers and just making me happy.

And here's the kitchen! It really wasn't too bad - we painted one day and took a couple of days to put the tile up. I grouted the tile during the day, between naptimes and snacks, and then we sealed the butcher block counters - 5 times. They had to be sanded first, since they have had 2 years of abuse, then we sealed them with this sort of mineral oil sealer - and they look fantastic!! I am SO pleased with them - we should have done this a long time ago.

Oh, and here's a new pillow I made - I'm working on a few series of pillows to put in my shop and this was my prototype. I decided to even up the crosses a little more so this one's mine to keep!

And I had the brilliant idea to slipcover our living room chairs. They're only 2 years old but I'm already tired of the upholstery. I should know better than to buy something patterned. It's a stripe, a really pretty stripe, actually, but I want a blank slate. I'm thinking of using a natural canvas, something I can wash and bleach. A lot.

Boy, that was a picture-heavy post, huh? Wish me luck with the slipcovering - I've never attempted it before and am totally flying blind. Any tips?

Have a great evening, and, dare I say it, Monday morning! :)