Finally finished project 18 The Courtyard Renovation

I am a very lucky lady to have both a home on the Atlantic Coast and a home 1/2 mile from the Gulf of Mexico in Southwest Florida. I do love the sea and always desired to be near it.

The water in this part of the Gulf is warm and clear, and a beautiful shade of aqua, very often like the Carribbean. I swam in it today for at least an hour. I love the variety here. Some days the water is as calm and serene as a sea of glass. Other days there is a current and  waves. I love waves. I also love it calm and clear. Variety, ahhh the spice of life.

So onto the finished project of creating a  courtyard in the front entrance of my home here by the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.

 Finally complete

It used to be a garden entrance full of stone. Dark Grey stone on the sides, with plants. A pathway of pink stone, and diamond shaped stepping stones was how we entered. Everyone grumbled, when pulling their suitcases in, believe me. A real nut test!

 Here it is Before.

And  ouch, ooch, yikes, when i ran out there in bare feet! There were always small rogue pebbles on those stepping stones!!!
So I'll cut to the chase and give ya some other before and after shots! Thanks for tuning in!

The fountain area, now.

The Fountain Area Before:

And when we removed the stone, you can see how bad the concrete was in this shot.... yikes it took a lot of work to fix this concrete with patching and cleaning and a coat of stain before doing the brick stamping pattern.

The Concrete under the stone

And after I stamped it.

And here is the Window Wall now.

Inspired by the clay and white room below

More inspiration photos and us cleaning out the stone are HERE in my previous post

I love these shutters! i found them at Sarasota Architechtural salvage.

You can see the floor pretty good in this pic. I used a sponge and clay color cement stain to achieve this look.

I stenciled some of the bricks for a Mexican tile effect. I used a mixture of grey stain and aqua paint for the stencil, the stain was way too thin for stenciling, so i needed to thicken it up for doing the stencil, once the brick design was dry.

The boring window wall before 

So I am a happy camper now, no more stones under my feet, when I walk out my door I see this pretty courtyard .

A complete do it yourself project and very satisfying.

 A big shout out to Johanna, without who's help, I could never have accomplished removing all that stone or moving those huge pots through Home Depot!

Adios Amigos!

Now I can head back to Jersey for Easter!
Happy Easter.

Linking up to these parties:
The Mommy Club
Good Life Wendesday
Wow us Wendesday
Vintage Inspiration Friday
Feathered Nest Friday

The Thrifting Adventures of Picky and Pickier Episode 1

My sis and I have been doing an awful lot of thrifting lately whenever we get the chance.
So I thought I would start a little series on what we find. You know sort of to chronicle our times out, hunting, thrifting, junkin, antiquing.
We've named ourselves "Picky" and "Pickier"
Like a cross between "Dumb and Dumber " and "The Pickers"
And because it is always an adventure going anywhere with my sis,
( you never know how much laughing we will do)
(Or raggin about our DHs)
Isn't it funny how sometimes when the hub is on your good side, DH stands for Darling Husband.
On your bad side, well... we all know what DH stands for then!

So back to The Junkin Adventure...Have you found anything great out there lately?

 Picky.. that's me... I found some really great linens this time out.

• A lovely piece of old lace ...5 yards of it, in Cape May

Vintage Collections

I have a few things I just couldn't stop myself from hunting down, buying or foraging for, so after a while I guess they do become a collection.
So I guess i'd say i have a few collections. Years ago I began an obsession with blue and white dishes.It started with just pitchers

 then my step mom gave me tiffany plates

 some blue onion

 I used my blue and white willow wear all the time and eventually gave it to my daughter. I recently renovated  my kitchen and packed all the blue and white away,

 and bought out all the old solid white and some newly thrifty white. some of that is later in this post.


But for now, the story of my  Hull pottery.

Usually I only buy in the Water lilly or Magnolia patterns.

 The one below is my favorite and the one that started my hunt for Hull.

The story behind it is so cute. Back in 1985,An old neighbor who was about 65 then, used to help us out fixing things, and I had gone down to his basement where he was searching for a special bolt, for me , and when I looked to see a few grimey old screwdrivers sitting inside this gorgeous piece of pottery on an old shelf, with a bunch of nuts and bolts, my jaw dropped. I asked him why he didn't just have them in an old coffee can, instead of this beauitful piece. He said, Oh that old thing, Someone gave it to us for a wedding present, it's older than dirt."  "You can have it if you like it." 

Like it....I loved it. But we better ask your bride!! She said Oh sure, I don't have any use for it.

They were married  when he was 20. So I guess it was about circa1940. I had no idea what it was at the time but had seen Roseville and thought it to be even prettier than any Roseville I'd come across.

On the bottom it said Hull USA

So i took it home with me and an affair with Hull was born!

oops I can't forget, I have a few vintage purses i adore. I just love to hang them around the house.
Against an old door

On my old clapboard porch front

On a table top or near the hutch

Or just dangling from an old cubbard

I also have collections of vintage tablecloths, which I have posted once before here.
Cottage Beach House: Vintage Tablecloth Love
and honestly, of course ... the seashells,

They are the most fun to collect because they are free and the whole family becomes involved, scouring the beach for goodies.

Never really thought about myself as a collector but yep, I have to admit I have enough white pitchers and pottery to be a collection, and vintage aqua bottles too!

I have fun with the things I "collect" I use them for flowers, and drinks, and setting out dinner.

 and holding fruit, and milk and sugar

I like to use these little white pitchers to stuff flowers in or mix a couple mojitos.

 It makes the yard sales, and thrift shops a fun jaunt to see if I can find the things that I like.
What things do you like to find when your out on a hunt?

Posting at Privet and Holly Collections Linky party

Good Life Wednesdays

~White Wednesday # 110~