Tin Pie Pan Makeover

Another Monday Mini Makeover

Tin pie plate repurposed into wall art

I found this pie plate at a goodwill for $1 and loved the scalloped edging and the fact that it is a little rusty and well used. This one was going home with me and I already had an idea of what I wanted to do with it.

I was hoping to find a more vibrant vintage pie image, but to no avail. Then I stumbled across a picture of a vintage ceramic pie plate with a strawberry pie recipe on it and decided to print a copy of the picture and cut out the center of it. I preceded to coat the back of the image with mod podge and center it on the bottom of the pie plate. After smoothing out all of the air bubbles and letting it dry for about 15  minutes I coated the front of the image with mod podge to seal it. It just so happened that the recipe image portion of the picture fit the center of the pie pan perfectly!

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

There was already a small hole on the edge of the pie pan, so I cut a strip of cream colored duck cloth fabric and tied a metal ring to the pie pan to hang it with and made a simple bow with the remaining fabric.

A quick, easy and inexpensive way to recycle a pie plate.

I'm already on the hunt for another one. I'm thinking chalkboard paint on the center of the next one. What do you think?

'til next time,

Adina

Linking to:

Cabin Chronicles Part 3

Time to raise the roof! 

After a great deal of research and a mutual decision that we could use an educated carpenter at this point we hired one of our neighbors, Roy, to help build the roof rafters.
His experience and expertise saved a lot of time and insured that the roof was built square.

Roy had a lot of handy tips on how to figure the angles and calculate the pitch, making quick work of constructing the rafters. Two support posts were placed in the center of both of the side walls to connect the main roof beam to and then each rafter was measured, cut and nailed to this main beam along the front and the back.

The cabin is definitely taking shape now!

Over the next couple of weekends we framed out a chimney with 2x4s and covered it with plywood.

Notice the blue tarps? They are hurricane leftovers from years of living at the beach. Who would've thought they would come in handy while building a log cabin? They aren't very pretty but they did a great job of protecting the structure until we had a chance to actually get the tin on the roof.

As you can see by the fall colors in the background, we are months into this process now and are working on attaching 1x3s horizontally across the rafters to attach the tin to.

The tarps are finally gone and the tin is on! We have a roof! There is nothing more cozy than falling asleep to the sounds of raindrops on a tin roof.

If you would like to see how this all began read Part 1.

Thanks for following along and there are more posts to come. Can't wait until it's done and I can share the inside projects!

'til next time,

Adina

Part 4

Large Fork & Spoon Wall Art

Mini Monday Makeover

How fun are these, oversized fork and spoon kitchen wall art!

I picked them up at a garage sale for .50 last Friday. They were old and very dirty, but I liked something about them. I brought them home, cleaned them up, sanded through a layer of blue paint, next a layer of yellow paint and then primed and painted them black.

Little did I know, when I gave them a makeover last Monday, that they were Pottery Barn mini knock offs! I was just browsing through the online catalog today and ran across these. (I guess my garage sale taste isn't so bad after all)

Funny how my vintage version is almost identical, except for the size. PB fork and spoon measure 48.5" long and mine are 20" long. They both are metal, have simple lines and even the handles have similar details.

Maybe you've got a set packed away somewhere that could use a makeover?

'til next time,

Adina

Cabin Chronicles Part 2

If only the building process went as quickly as it appears in pictures. With the foundation built we moved on to building the floor joist. We built them out of 2 by 12s in two sections on the ground and then moved them onto the foundation. Once the two sections were in place and secure it was time to move on to stacking the logs!

Stacking the logs actually did go pretty quickly. At first my husband said he was going to rent a piece of equipment to help lift the 300+ pound logs, but he decided we were strong enough as a team to do it ourselves. So here goes...

We successfully moved the first row of four logs into place and secured them to the foundation. Then row by row we continued to stack the logs. Kindof like when you played with lincoln logs when you were a child, but a lot more straining. We figured out a system for the higher rows. We would prop the end of a log onto the top of a ladder and then both of us would lift the other end of the log and hoist it into place. This was a bit nerve racking to me. I was concerned that a log would fall and really hurt one of us. Really I was worried that my arms would give out just when he needed my support and we would drop one. Needless to say, all of the logs went up without any slips, drops or falls and we didn't get hurt. Not even a splinter.

Of course a project can't go that smoothly. The label tags indicating which logs go where were not all correct and the notches were not fitting together properly so we had to break out the saw and make some adjustments. In the end, it all worked out and the structure was within 1/2 inch square. Staying square is super important and being that close with 150 year old logs was incredible. Miracles do happen!

I guess I was too busy lifting logs that day and didn't take any pictures of the process beyond the first two rows. However, the picture above shows all of the rows in place and the framed knee walls for the loft area. It also shows where we cut out and framed the front and back doors.

 Notice the front porch in this picture? The deck of it was actually added in one piece. A friend of mine had a large deck leftover after moving a mobile home and we were able to cut the size portion that we needed from it for a porch deck. What a sight this was. We borrowed some muscles and a large car hauler trailer and moved the cut portion of the deck, about 8 miles, to our property. Then our wonderful neighbor, Mr. Jackson, brought his tractor over and lifted it into place while my husband leveled it and bolted one side of it to the front of the cabin.  We propped the front of it up with cinder blocks until we were able to install 4 large posts to support it. We were able to salvage the railings from the same porch and cut them down to fit our dimensions.  

Those logs are starting to look like something now!

In case you missed it, here's the link to Cabin Chronicles
Part 1

Stay tuned for part 3 next week.

Thanks for following along our biggest DIY project to date.

Adina

Part 3

Old Soda Crate Turned Garden Tray

Don't you just love old soda crates?

I love any kind of old crates.

I've had an old faded red coca-cola crate stashed away, with it's broken, loose and missing dividers and black permanent marker writing on it. (Don't you just hate it when someone writes in permanent marker on them?) I decided it was finally time to pull it out and give it a facelift. I'm calling this my Monday mini-makeover.

After the broken dividers and metal trim were removed, all I needed was a little sand paper, primer, white paint and clear sealer to bring this crate back to life.

I gave the edges a quick rub with steel wool to scuff the white paint and add a worn look and finished up by replacing the metal trim.

So many possibilities now! Maybe a serving tray at a summer party carrying mason jars full of fresh lemonade, maybe a magazine holder, maybe a caddy to corral miscellaneous items or perhaps a garden tray?

What do you use old crates for in your home? I'd love to hear more ideas.

'til next time,

Adina