refinishing the patio table and some new candles

Summer is well on its way here in the DC suburbs,

and since we are not going anywhere,

it is nice to eat/drink on the patio.

But some of the furniture I made for the patio in 2015/2016

were starting to look a little tired.

Too many long winters!

Earlier, I refinished the couch, staining it blue:

and that brought back that little corner to its former glory.

So I decided to tackle that huge table I built in 2016 for the ORC

from our old deck.

(the house was repainted last year!)

I never updated it on the blog, but I added some wood all around it for a more finish look.

I spent hours sanded it, bring it back to the light wood:

I liked the look of "naked" wood but it needed some protection for the elements,

so I tried teak oil on the bench like in the past, but that has a country look.

so I went with this oil instead :

it is darker than "naked" but the wood doesn't have that yellow color,

so I am happy with it!

With the table looking so nice,

I wanted to add some candles to the tabletop.

A while back I had seen this cool tutorial at Remodelando La Casa

and decided to make one too,

and it turned out perfect:

I followed the tutorial Cristina wrote, just changing the color of the spray paint to sea foam  instead of aqua. And I do not have any sand or seashells, so I used stone dust and flat rocks. I even had the same little glass containers,  I guess we like the same desserts!
So now we are ready to enjoy some nice meals on the patio:

Happy Day!

sewing card

This Sunday is Mother's day in France,
so I sewed this sweet little letter for my Maman:

I really enjoy these little projects from Minki Kim,

previously, I made this sew illustrated card

and this mini quilt:

from her second book.

Here it is before I added the little bobbin of thread:

sticking to my design board,

and before attaching it to the card.

I used a watercolor card, so a pretty heavy card stock

 to handle the weight of the fabric.

It makes it a very personal card

(we both like sewing so it is a current theme between us!)

for a very special lady!

Happy sewing!

dreaming of the beach, a Mont St Michel vignette

Here is my latest vignette,

reminding me of home and summer vacations,

more specifically of Mont Saint Michel,

not far from my hometown:

You can read more about Mont Saint Michel here.

I cross stitched this cute picture, from les Brodeuses Parisiennes, of course!

and framed it in my usual IKEA frame

(I buy them in multiples!)

Previous vignettes:

Amsterdam, apres-ski, Paris Plage.

We were supposed to go to Brittany this summer

to visit family and the region,

but it is not happening.

It has been already 2 years since the kids saw their French grandparents....

At least, we have some pictures,

our memories.....

and cookies!

I am partially to Brittany cookies,

like Traou Mad,

but those St Michel galettes are pretty good!

Happy Day!

refinishing the outdoor couch

So far this month, I have been updated a few things in the house,

using left over paint and fabric

with more or less success, hello quarantine!

This couch update keeps with the trend!

And is definitively a success...

Looks good, right?!

I made this couch out of our old deck in 2015

following Ana White's plan, just a little smaller to work with my cushions.

It held up very nicely as it is always outside,

but suffered a little from too much green...

not that it was too visible when the cushions were on,

but I only put them on when we use them,

so it mostly looked like this (I had already removed the back):

Much less pleasing!

One reason we always remove the cushions (beside the rain!)

is the squirrels make holes in them the steal the stuffing!

They also use the couch as an eating place!!!

So I spent a lot of time sanding, and sanding some more,

and using stain from my tomato cages,

I stained the couch blue:

I also sanded the bench I made in 2016,

I still need to refinish it but I would like to keep it light,

so it will have to wait.

I guess my sister is right, I am going through my blue phase!

It looks so much nicer when it is "naked",

and great with the pillows.

Bosco agrees!

Happy day!

updated an older chair

It seems to be happening to a lot of things in our house, playing musical chairs with furniture and accessories! I guess quarantine is giving a desire to change  without the access to anything.... And it happened again with this chair, with a little makeover added!

I went with a more simplified look!  A few years ago, I redid the master bedroom during the ORC, and makeover this little corner:

I reupholstered the wooden chair with a nice blue fabric, much better than the original ivory fabric. (there were 2 identical chairs, one in the bedroom, one in the living room) All was good, until I repainted the library blue, and updated the curtains there....

The other chair was just next to the window, and it was looking just average.....

but switching to the blue chair was just right!

So of course I decided to redo the other chair,

I had just enough blue fabric to recover the base and back.

After removing all the previous fabric

and the hundreds of staples,

I realized the "skeleton" was looking a little rough:

So I decided to paint it white.

I started with some primer, and then some white paint,

using the paint I had one hand,

like I did when I painted the island blue.

Well it did not turn out as good,

as my white paint was too old!

So I did not finish painting the chair,

I will get more paint in a few months and repaint it again after sanding it....

But I was able to recover the base of the chair,

just like I did for the original chair.

Because the chair still needs to be repainted, I did not staple the back,

but I decided to start using it right away:

I added a pillow (made a few years ago!) to cover the back,

making pretty and functional.

I also removed the valence I made during the first makeover of this corner,

as it doesn't match the curtains anymore.

I have since changed to white curtains.

I set it up all pretty,

but on a daily basis,

it looks more like this:

As Bosco loves to look of the window!

Happy day!