Guest Post At Southern Hospitality!

My good friend Rhoda at Southern Hospitality has featured some awesome bloggers this week while she’s having a little R&R at the beach.     I was very flattered and honored when she asked me to be her “guest” and take my place among these talented ladies.      Fortunately, I had a little project I was working on so I got busy completing it so I could share it on Rhoda’s blog as well as mine.

Several months ago we were at a local auction and this bench came up for bidding.     I had my eye on the bench all during the auction and was hoping it would be auctioned off late so a lot of competition would be gone and I might get it at a reasonable price.      It didn’t appear the auctioneer was going to run it so hubby went out to load up the stuff we did buy in his truck.     While he was gone, the bench suddenly came up for bid and lo and behold I was the proud owner of a somewhat rickety but darling (to me) bench for the sum of $25!     Imagine hubby’s surprise when he came back and found he had to rearrange everything he had just loaded to get this baby in his truck!

For quite some time it sat in my sunroom while I tried to figure out where I wanted to put it.    Could I rearrange some things in our bedroom and use it under the window?      What about putting it in the office/grandkids’ room?      There didn’t seem to be any place I could use it without making some significant changes in any given room.      One night it hit me….I’d put it on the porch and give the porch a new look.      It was after 10:00 at night when I had my brainstorm and I needed help moving it outside to paint.     I couldn’t believe it when the hubs got up and helped me move it to the porch (and he was in his BVD’s!….I kept all the porch lights off just in case any neighbors might be peeking outside).

Then came the question of what color to paint it.     Of course, black was my first choice but I sought out some advice from one of the most incredible ladies I know….Joni from Cote de texas….everyone knows Joni, right?     Joni had three suggestions:   white, black or possibly turquoise.    I painted three different areas in those colors, e-mailed pics to her and the unanimious decision was black (should have known).      

I wanted to put a pillow on the bench and since the burlap craze I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making one so here was my chance.    Got my pillow form, fleur de lis stencil and paint and spent one long Saturday night making my pillow but I’m very happy at how it turned out.  

Let’s take a look at some before, during and after shots:

Here’s the three “samples” I tried out.   As you can see, the bench was in sad shape.     

 

Painted out with the black.    I know it blends in with the shutters but there’s nothing I can do about that.

Now for the pillow……

I put my pillow form on the burlap and cut out the size to fit, leaving room for seams.

 

After cutting out the fabric and sewing the two long sides together, I popped the pillow form inside to be sure of the fit.    (Excuse the mess you see all around, it was my work zone!)

After finding the center of  the front of my pillow, I taped down my stencil and painted it out

 

When I removed the stencil, I was a happy girl to see that none of the paint “bled” underneath.    I made sure I held the stencil down all over hoping it wouldn’t leak under and I’d have clean edges

 

Here’s what it looked like all finished.    I decided not to sew the two ends together but tacked black ribbon on and tied into a loose bow

  

  My Kimberly Queen ferns do great on the porch…they are the only ferns I can keep alive!

 

 

   

I love this view from the driveway looking through my crape myrtle tree.

And there you have it!     This was a fun project and I love how it turned out.     I just hope I remember to bring in the pillow when it rains!