The Living Bottle Tree

I have always wanted a bottle tree. Goodness knows I already have plenty of bottles! So when I spotted short pieces of rebar at a yard sale for 25 cents each, I bought a box full. My son, who I always enlist to help me with projects, said he'd help me build it. We thought about adding the rebar to a 4 x 4. Then my son said that he thought it would be cool to use a fallen tree and add it to that. But, we'd still have to find a way to make it stand. So, I figured that we might as well use a real tree. I picked a sweet gum tree at the edge of the woods.

We drilled holes right into the tree...

 I hate sweet gum trees! They are like kudzu around here sprouting up everywhere! Plus, their little gum balls drop and make such a mess. So, I figured if it kills the tree to drill into it, that's okay!

We inserted the rebar into the holes and gave them a little pounding with a hammer.

 I was impatient and started adding bottles before we had all the rebar in place...

The bottles fit perfectly onto the rebar...

I failed to mention that we did this on Mother's Day. 

It was the perfect gift!

 We will continue to add to the bottle tree over time (if it survives). We may need a taller ladder!

 

Linking To:

  Someday Crafts, Sew Much A Do, Ginger Snap Crafts,  Creations By Kara,  Rae Gun Ramblings, Ivy & Elephants,   Seven Thirty Three,  The Shabby Creek Cottage, Seven Alive,  Bear Rabbit Bear Crafts, Made In A Day, Katherine's Corner, Redoux, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Shabby Nest,  Momnivore's Dilema, Somewhat Simple,   Live Laugh Rowe, Have A Daily Cup Of Mrs Olson, Simply Designing, Truly Lovely,  The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, Bowdabra,  Tatertots & Jello,   Blissful & Domestic, A Vision To Remember, Boogieboard Cottage, Lovely Crafty Home, DIY Showoff, Craft-O-Maniac,  DIY Home Sweet Home, Under The Table and Dreaming, Keeping It Simple, Homemaker On A Dime, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, The Dedicated House,  Lines Across, Coastal Charm, Reasons To Skip The Housework, Sugar Bee Crafts, Chef In Training, Nifty Thrifty Things, Cherished Bliss, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Me & My Boys, Mad In Crafts, Flour Me With Love, Not Just A Housewife,  Today's Creative Blog, Tip Junkie,  Homework, Kammy's Korner,  I Gotta Create,  Thrifty 101,  Lamb Around,  Domestically Speaking,  The Kurtz Corner,     C.R.A.F.T.,  Finding Fabulous, The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, Sumos Sweet Stuff, The Thrifty Home, Or So She Says, Diana Rambles, Adorned From Above,  Cedar Hill Ranch, Classy Clutter, Flutter Buster, Crafty Texas Girls, Twelve O Eight, Nap Time Creations, The Shady Porch, JoJo And Eloise, Hope In Every Season, The Foley Fam,  House Of Hoff,  Our Home Away From Home, Living Well Spending Less, Remodelaholic, A Lived In Home, Flamingo Toes,  VMG206,  Finding Silver Pennies, Mad Cap Frenzy,  Gingerly Made,  Pink When,  Minnette's Maze,  Made To Be A Momma,  Start At Home,  Lil Mrs Tori,  Homecoming,  The Vintage Farmhouse,  Pink Recipe Box,  Sweet Haute,  Table For Seven,  Be Betsy,  It Happens In A Blink,  One Dog Woof, 4 You With Love, A Stroll Thru Life,  A Bright And Beautiful Life,  Crafty Goodies,  Live Love Create,  The Koenigs Create,  Bloom Designs,French Country Cottage, Daisy Cottage Designs, Orchard Girls, Elizabeth Joan Designs, 

Scooter: A DIY Table Makeover

I recently had the pleasure of shopping at an early 1900's farm house in Fairburn, GA. The couple who owned the house are retiring to Lake Martin in Alabama and with the new house they've decided to go with a new style. So, they decided to sell most of what they had in the farm house. I was thrilled to get a personal tour of the house and learn the history of a lot of the pieces in the house. For instance, this table was made by the owner's father...

 He used to build furniture out of whatever scraps of wood he had.

None of the wood matched. And rather than build a drawer, the front is hinged and drops down...

Most people seem to have a problem with the color orange. I, for one, happen to love orange! So, I thought this pull was fabulous! It looks like something out of the 1950's.

 Milk paint has become my favorite way to paint furniture, but for this project I decided on spray paint. So, I removed the front drop down panel and took the table to my spray painting station (a.k.a. a rotten piece of plywood in the side yard). All the pieces of miss matched wood make sense now that they are painted the same color.

I went with this beautiful blue color. I bought the spray paint at Sam Flax. They have the most beautiful colors of spray paint. It's hard to pick one, but I was drawn to this color.

I knew I wanted a pattern on the front so while at Sam Flax, I checked out their paper selection. I fell in love with this simple pattern of scooters. And it must have been meant to be because the scooters were in the color of the spray paint I picked out!

 I decoupaged the scooter paper onto the front panel. I gave it a few coats of a glossy polyurethane. Then I added the orange pull to the front. Yes, the orange pull. Even though there is no orange in the pattern, I love how it looks with the yellow and blue.

The next photos were taken outside so you are able to see how bright the yellow actually is...

Color makes me happy!

Now that this little table has gotten a makeover, it's going to "scoot" off to brighten up the home of someone else.

Linking To:

  Someday Crafts, Sew Much A Do, Ginger Snap Crafts,  Creations By Kara,  Rae Gun Ramblings, Ivy & Elephants,   Seven Thirty Three,  The Shabby Creek Cottage, Seven Alive,  Bear Rabbit Bear Crafts, Made In A Day, Katherine's Corner, Redoux, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Shabby Nest,  Momnivore's Dilema, Somewhat Simple,   Live Laugh Rowe, Have A Daily Cup Of Mrs Olson, Simply Designing, Truly Lovely,  The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, Bowdabra,  Tatertots & Jello,   Blissful & Domestic, A Vision To Remember, Boogieboard Cottage, Lovely Crafty Home, DIY Showoff, Craft-O-Maniac,  DIY Home Sweet Home, Under The Table and Dreaming, Keeping It Simple, Homemaker On A Dime, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, The Dedicated House,  Lines Across, Coastal Charm, Reasons To Skip The Housework, Sugar Bee Crafts, Chef In Training, Nifty Thrifty Things, Cherished Bliss, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Me & My Boys, Mad In Crafts, Flour Me With Love, Not Just A Housewife,  Today's Creative Blog, Tip Junkie,  Homework, Kammy's Korner,  I Gotta Create,  Thrifty 101,  Lamb Around,  Domestically Speaking,  The Kurtz Corner,     C.R.A.F.T.,  Finding Fabulous, The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, Sumos Sweet Stuff, The Thrifty Home, Or So She Says, Diana Rambles, Adorned From Above,  Cedar Hill Ranch, Classy Clutter, Flutter Buster, Crafty Texas Girls, Twelve O Eight, Nap Time Creations, The Shady Porch, JoJo And Eloise, Hope In Every Season, The Foley Fam,  House Of Hoff,  Our Home Away From Home, Living Well Spending Less, Remodelaholic, A Lived In Home, Flamingo Toes,  VMG206,  Finding Silver Pennies, Mad Cap Frenzy,  Gingerly Made,  Pink When,  Minnette's Maze,  Made To Be A Momma,  Start At Home,  Lil Mrs Tori,  Homecoming,  The Vintage Farmhouse,  Pink Recipe Box,  Sweet Haute,  Table For Seven,  Be Betsy,  It Happens In A Blink,  One Dog Woof, 4 You With Love, A Stroll Thru Life,  A Bright And Beautiful Life,  Crafty Goodies,  Live Love Create,  The Koenigs Create,  Bloom Designs,French Country Cottage, Daisy Cottage Designs, Orchard Girls, Elizabeth Joan Designs, 

Traditional Table Turned Ottoman

Today's project is one created by my son, John. I was merely a spectator, offering advice not only when asked, but a little when not asked. John is a creative soul. He graduated Cum Laude this past Saturday with a degree in Architecture. I'm very proud and am excited to see what the future holds for him.

If you've visited my blog before, you've probably seen some projects he has helped me with. If you visit again, you'll get to see what he did for me for Mother's Day. But, I'm saving that for another day.

Because I have forced persuaded him over the last few years to help me with projects, he's kind of gotten the bug for going to yard sales and auctions. He sees things differently than most people. He always looks at ways to turn things into something other than their intended use. He spotted this table at a yard sale and immediately said he had an idea of something he wanted to do with it.

It still had the sticker stating that it is mahogany...

It had two drawers...

The base was not in good shape. One of the legs had been broken and glued back together...

 and, one of the claw feet was missing...

It had a few issues but had some nice detail...

We took it home and John went right to work on turning this table into an ottoman. 

He turned the table upside down onto a piece of plywood and traced around the table top with chalk.

He told me not to take his picture, so please don't tell him! What he doesn't know won't hurt him.

He cut along the chalk line with a jigsaw.

He drilled holes in the plywood to allow for adding buttons later.

He covered one side of the plywood with foam and then covered the foam with batting.

 Then he used a staple gun to cover the foam and plywood with fabric.

 He enlisted the help of his sister, Carrie, for this part. Four hands are better than two!

Carrie covered buttons with a contrasting fabric. They used an extra long needle and added the buttons to the ottoman top using the holes that John drilled early on.

After removing the base of the table, John screwed the padded top to the original table top, and then added new feet.

I don't know what John's future holds, but if the architecture thing doesn't work out right away, I think he may have a future in furniture design!

Linking To:

  Someday Crafts, Sew Much A Do, Yesterday On Tuesday, Ginger Snap Crafts,  Creations By Kara,  Rae Gun Ramblings, Adventures In Dinner, Ivy & Elephants,   Seven Thirty Three, Delightful Order, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Seven Alive,  Bear Rabbit Bear Crafts, Made In A Day, Katherine's Corner, Redoux, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Shabby Nest, Craft Junkie Too,  House of Hepworths, Momnivore's Dilema, Somewhat Simple,   Live Laugh Rowe, Have A Daily Cup Of Mrs Olson, Simply Designing, Truly Lovely, Create Craft Love, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, Bowdabra, Addicted 2 Decorating, Tatertots & Jello,   Blissful & Domestic, A Vision To Remember, Boogieboard Cottage, Lovely Crafty Home, DIY Showoff, Craft-O-Maniac,  DIY Home Sweet Home, Under The Table and Dreaming, Keeping It Simple, Homemaker On A Dime, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, The Dedicated House,  Lines Across, Coastal Charm, Reasons To Skip The Housework, Sugar Bee Crafts, Chef In Training, Nifty Thrifty Things, Cherished Bliss, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Me & My Boys, Mad In Crafts, Alderberry Hill, Flour Me With Love, Not Just A Housewife,  Today's Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, The Trendy Treehouse, Homework, Kammy's Korner,  I Gotta Create,  Thrifty 101,  Lamb Around,  Domestically Speaking,  The Kurtz Corner,     C.R.A.F.T.,  Finding Fabulous, The Answer Is Chocolate, Sugar and Dots,  Skip To My Lou, Sumos Sweet Stuff, The Thrifty Home, Or So She Says, Diana Rambles, Adorned From Above,  Cedar Hill Ranch, Classy Clutter, Flutter Buster, Crafty Texas Girls, Twelve O Eight, Nap Time Creations, The Shady Porch, JoJo And Eloise, Hope In Every Season, The Foley Fam,  House Of Hoff,  Our Home Away From Home, Living Well Spending Less, Remodelaholic, A Lived In Home, Flamingo Toes,  VMG206,  Finding Silver Pennies, Mad Cap Frenzy,  Gingerly Made,  Pink When,  Minnette's Maze,  Made To Be A Momma,  Start At Home,  Lil Mrs Tori,  Homecoming,  The Vintage Farmhouse,  Pink Recipe Box,  Sweet Haute,  Table For Seven,  Be Betsy,  It Happens In A Blink,  One Dog Woof, 4 You With Love, A Stroll Thru Life,  A Bright And Beautiful Life,  Crafty Goodies,  Live Love Create,  The Koenigs Create,  Bloom Designs,French Country Cottage, Daisy Cottage Designs, Orchard Girls, Elizabeth Joan Designs,