Black Front Door

I mentioned a while back my desire to paint the white front door black.  Now we have lived here about 11 years and when we arrived the door was green.  Since then I have painted it red (to match the barn), Essex Green (to match the shutters), and white.  Well it's black now and going to stay that way!!

I know, I'll get to the white trim sometime soon.

A couple of dollars of paint.......what a difference!

I thought about removing the storm door, but decided against it, it's nice to let the sun stream in the front hall.

Did you know a six panel door like this portrays a cross and an open bible to some?


Here she is before being glossed black.

I, for one, think she looks much more elegant in black. Makes me want to run right upstairs, put on my black top and pearls and feel elegant too!

So I did.

 CHEERS!

Happy Memorial Day!

I walk around town all the time.  Up the hills, down by the river, on the rail trail, just about everywhere. There are flags and bunting on houses and lamp posts, red, white and blue all around the town!


Flags are flying high on Water Street in our one stoplight town, (wait a minute, we don't even have a stoplight)!

On Second Street, where we live, they continue.

I do my little part.

And the neighbors do theirs.

Hallowellians do like their bunting!!


On Memorial Day, the parade lines up in front of our house.   We hear the band practicing, see the little ones stand proudly in their first uniforms, and most of all salute the veterans who wore the most important uniform of all!


              Happy Memorial Day!

Porch Season

It's time, it's finally time, to put the porch together!


Since we live in town on a postage stamp size of a lot, we make the most of our front porch. I concentrate on the area to the right of the front door since the left side is a major thoroughfare to the kitchen door (the only door we ever use). 

The original light fixture with it's pine trees and 117 and rust will never be changed.

I did add lanterns to each side of the front door, candlelight only.

My mismatched furniture has been white, green, black, back to white and now sports a glossy coat of black.

I love the green with the black.  It wasn't til I hung the ferns that I decided to go in that direction.  I found the geometric round tablecloth at Target and picked up the same in a rectangle for the love seat and bench. ($15.99 & $17.99.)  The rug was a steal at my salvage store for just $23.99 and sweeps clean in a jiff!  We sit out there a lot so I did indulge in Ballard's sunbrella striped cushions ( no uncomfortable buttons like the ones at T.J.'s).  At $35.00 a piece we will be sitting on them for a very long time. That's it, everything else was already mine!

Pink always has a way of appearing when I see green!

And a touch of black to tie in the rug and chair cushions.

I wear that hat EVERY sunny day!

We love our front porch in our little city of Hallowell, Maine.  You just never know who may stop by for a chat or a glass of wine, you just never know!

Go Figure

Perhaps because we have had so much rain lately, I woke up this morning with Yellow on my mind.  I woke up vividly picturing Yellow and White stripes, go figure.


Yellow and White does lift your spirits, don't you think?   (Thanks Pinterest!)

It's been pretty gray, not very energizing, but I did make it to Goodwill after putzing around outside for a while.  I think I found the beginning of my new, little, officey, room.  Of course it's going to be White Dove, but I wasn't sure what else.  I have a farmhouse table, an old chair, a bookcase and now some very interesting Yellow and White striped fabric. ($12.00 for 4.5 yards.)  It's stripes are velvet and it will be wonderful seated at the farmhouse table turned desk.  Yellow and White stripes, go figure!!

So now my mind is racing.  Should the furniture be black or white, what do I want on the floor, on the windows, for accessories????  All because of a thought in the morning, a trip to Goodwill and someone else's leftover fabric.


                                     
                    GO FIGURE !






  

Field Trip

Now, here in central Maine, it sure is beautiful, but as for shopping, there isn't much at all, unless you're a gardener!


Welcome to Longfellow's Greenhouses in Manchester, Maine.

Anyone need a turtle?

There's greenhouse after greenhouse..

And wonderful displays abound.

Uhhhh, maybe not.

House plants have their own attractive section.

I found what I wanted and the very nice women who helped me didn't even mind taking half a dozen down from the rafters to make sure the pair chosen would hang evenly on our front porch. (Yes, I can be a pain in the neck.)

They made it home safely, not a blossom lost to the wind, and add the finishing touch to my pink and green with a dash of black front porch!

They Sort Of Look Alike

I found some DMC window boxes and planters at my good old salvage store for $29.99.  I put them together in a flash and they'll be great flanking my rather wide front door.

                                             $29.99

My curiosity being what it is, I looked online to see what I could see.

The same planter at Target. 

$52.49

Prairie Leisure Design makes one with slats. (So does DMC, and their screws don't scream at you like the these do.)

                                              $85.00

And last but not least, the creme de la creme, the Oxford Garden Planter.

                                              $144.00


No question, this looks like quality (nice not to see the screws) but couldn't they have at least put a plant in it?

A Mountain of Mulch

Well, don't you think I should do something about this mess?

Looks like it's time to weed and mulch, weed and mulch.

I am not the best at putting things away, so of course there is no dandelion digger in sight. (It's probably rusting under a bush somewhere.)


 "Don't say I never buy you anything, dear,"  I hear as Douglas gets out of the car.  

Best $1.00 he ever spent.  Kept me out of his hair for at least a couple of hours.


So I got rid of all the weeds, now time to get the mulch.  I always buy the bags at Lowes or Home Depot but this year decided I wanted the good stuff. The kind that's fine, and dark, and rich looking,  I don't need much mulch, nowhere near a truckload so I'll go get it myself.  (No delivery charge for me!)


Well, we went to Agway and there it was.....a mountain of the good stuff. I showed the man my plastic bags and asked if I could fill them.  He kinda looked at me funny, while explaining the least I could buy was one bucket load.  Bucket?  At $16.00, I was thrilled, after all I had my two huge contractor's bags.  The bags were big but his bucket was bigger!


 I got the feeling Douglas didn't appreciate my ingenuity on this one.  He didn't seem to take the same pride in our rather large pile of mulch sitting in the Agway parking lot as I did.  Ten bags and three trips later we had our (by this time I think it was "my" mulch).

Wasn't our little adventure worth it?

Oops, a few more weeds. I'm right on it, as soon as I find my you-know-what.

This worked out so well, I'm thinking I should find a place where we can bag our own pea stones. Well, maybe not.  But I do see far more stone and less grass in front of the ell in the very near future.