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It’s Perfect Weather for a Sleeping Porch

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Has there ever been a time in your life when you were absolutely sure about something but you turned out to be wrong?  Maybe it was the lunch date you were supposed have with someone, only you got there a week early.  Maybe it was the directions to a place you know and have been before, but this time you got hopelessly lost.  Maybe it was as simple as laying your glasses down in a safe place and then, when they go missing, blaming someone else in the house for moving them!  Nope they were on your head all along. UGH!!!

Mr. OTN and I are quite alike in believing that we are right all most of the time so it often comes as a surprise when one or the other of us is proven wrong.  I say often because it seems the older we get, the more often it becomes.

Now I have a new motto:

Be a lifelong learner...What does all that have to do with a Sleeping Porch?  Well, I won’t go into details, or tell you who was in the wrong.  Suffice it to say that I’m thankful that Amazon accepts returns of BIG items and hubby is thankful that I have a sense of humor 😉 

Sometimes the best choice is to laugh! Click To Tweet

Today, since the weather is feeling a bit like Summer, I’m finally sharing pictures of our Sleeping Porch.  We actually started using it last Summer but I never got around to posting about it, other than on Instagram.  I’ll tell ya’, you are missing out on a lot of the day-to-day excitement of my life (tee hee) if you aren’t following along on IG.

 Here is a picture of our Screened Porch where we spend much of our time – Spring, Summer, and Fall.

We swapped out our love seat, and two chairs with ottomans for daybeds.  This created more floor space in the room and didn’t take away any seating.  What it did do was give Mr. OTN and I each our own spot to take a nap. 

NOTE:  I’ve included links at the end of this post to full enclosure mattress and pillow covers, similar to those I used on my porch as protection against moisture.

I recovered the old throw pillows we already had in this room with thrift store and drop cloth fabrics.

I really lucked out as our local Habitat store had huge bins of fabric samples, large enough to make pillow covers.

For back support I ordered large wedges of foam online and made washable drop cloth covers for them.

I purchased bed pillows to use in front of the bolsters and made envelope pillow covers for those too.   Here is link to post I did last year that tells how to make Envelope Pillows. 

They are super easy to do!

I covered the beds in fun quilts I found on sale at Stein Mart (they have the best prices on bedding and you can make purchases online) and added dust ruffles that I made from drop cloths.  The bed springs are high from the ground (15″) so I can hide storage bins beneath the beds.  I keep outdoor pillows and cushions here when we’re going to have a long stretch of rainy weather.

Here are a few other details of our screened porch/sleeping porch.  We found this old farm table when we first moved to SC and I added a drop cloth skirt around all four sides.  It hides dining supplies and other fun stuff under it’s skirt 😉

The dining table chairs have pillows to match those on the beds.

Maybe you remember these drop cloth curtains (Pollen Proofing the Screened Porch) from last year.  I also did a tutorial for Quick, Easy, & Affordable Drapery Tiebacks.

We’ve hung large candles on the porch for those nights when we like to sit in the dark watching the lightening flash.   We get a lot of thunder storms here in the Summer.

Since our porch is a warm weather room it has a Coastal theme going on.

Right outside the screened porch is a fountain by which we can lull ourselves to sleep.  😉

Thanks for coming along on the Sleeping Porch tour.  I hope to have plenty of guests this year that will be adventurous enough to have slumber parties in the woods with me. 

But for now, I do believe it’s time for a Sunday afternoon nap.

Blessings friends,

The following are links to total enclosure mattress and pillow protectors, similar to those that I purchased for my Screened Porch.  A good idea for humid climates.  They are not only 100% waterproof but also bed bug proof and hypoallergenic. 🙂

 

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!

Sunday:

TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SilverPenniesSundays, RusticAndRefined, Spiritual Sundays, GiveMeGrace

Monday:

IShouldBeMoppingTheFloor, TheDedicatedHouse, Dwellings, ProjectInspired,  InspireMeMonday, BetweenNapsOnThePorch, CelebrateYourStory, Making Your Home Sing Mondays, What Joy is Mine/Monday Musings, Darling Downs Diaries, The Art of Homemaking, SmallWonder, MomentsOfHope, Glimpses, SittingAmongFriends

Tuesday:

TalkOfTheTown, HomeStoriesAtoZ, AStrollThruLife, CoastalCharm, CedarHillFarmhouse, TuesdaysAtOurHome, TheWinthropChronicles,  Rich Faith Rising Unite Linky, Testimony Tuesday,Cheerleaders of Faith,Tell His Story

Wednesday:

SavvySouthernStyle, Posed Perfection, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Word Filled Wednesdays, ChristianBloggerLinkup, Mom’s Morning Coffee, Women with Intention, Coffee for Your Heart, MessyMarriage, ThreeWordWednesday

Thursday:

ShareYourStyle, ImpartingGrace, EmbracingChange, HaveADailyCupOfMrsOlson, MyRepurposedLife, ADelightsomeLife, KatherinesCorner,  I Choose Joy,   Thought Provoking Thursday, SincerelyPaulas, ThankfulThursdays, ThoughtfulThursday, Tune-inThursday

Friday:

FrenchCountryCottage, TheCharmOfHome, RootedInThyme,  TheDedicatedHouseAnythingBlueFriday, ShabbyliciousFriday, Sweet Inspiration,  Faith’nFriends, Missional Women Faith Filled Fridays, Dance With Jesus FreshMarketFriday

Saturday:

FunkyJunkInteriors, OneMoreTimeEvents,  SaturdaySparks, TheInspirationGallery, Make My Saturday Sweet

Recaning a Vintage Chair

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Morning on the Porch - Rocker“I guess we should just throw it away.”

Hard words to utter, especially coming from a fixer upper kinda gal like me, but the cost of moving cross country was enormous and we were trying to lighten the load.

IRocking Chair Before 008

“Absolutely NOT!”, Mr. OTN stated emphatically.  “This is a family treasure and we can fix it.”

Rocking Chair Before 007

This?  A treasure?

Rocking Chair Before 012

A big hole in the seat, water damage from being left out on the porch, joints coming apart where the screws had rusted through.  But he was right, it is a treasure to me.  As I shared in a previous POST, this was the chair where I spent many hours as a young girl, rocking and dreaming about places far away.  The rocker was in the old lake cabin my parents purchased over a half century ago, and it was old even then.

So at hubby’s insistence, along she came with us on our journey to the South.

Rocking chair, 074

These are Mr. OTN’s step-by-step instructions for Recaning a Vintage Chair.  Though I had my doubts  (the hubby has never showed much interest in being involved in my furniture hobby) he ended up having a lot of fun bringing this old girl back to life.

Materials used with links to purchase are shown at the end of this post.  I receive a small amount of compensation when you purchase through my links.

Step 1:  Remove old caning

Mr. OTN began by cutting away as much of the old caning as possible, followed by tucking hot water soaked rags down into the crevices to soften the old glue and allow for easier removal of the rest of the caning and the old wooden stays.

Rocking Chair Makeover 001

  In this picture you can see that Mr. OTN used clothespins to tuck the rags down into the channels.

Once the glue was very soft he used a caning chisel to scrape away remaining glue, caning, and stray bits of wood.  This required persistence and continued hot water soaks. To speed up the process we found my portable garment steamer to be quite helpful!

Rocking chair, 063

 After allowing the chair to dry Mr. OTN cleaned up the remaining glue with his Dremel tool.  Using the correct attachment for the Dremel is critical if you as you do not want to change the width of the grooves.

Step 2:  Repairing the chair

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This chair was coming apart at the seams due to heavy water damage . . .

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. . . and we quickly realized that the screws that held the arms in place were rusted through completely.

Rocking Chair 003a

Mr. OTN decided to use a wooden dowel instead of another screw for the repair.  First he drilled a hole large enough for the dowel, drilling from the back of the chair all the way through into the arm.

Rocking Chair 012

Then he painted some wood glue on the end of the arm where it would attach to the back and also inside the hole.

Rocking Chair 014

Wood glue is your best friend on any woodworking project!

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He inserted the dowel from the back of the chair through into the arm, trimmed the dowel flush to the back of the chair, added a little wood putty and sanded it smooth once it dried.

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I stepped in here and cleaned things up a bit, using bleach on the black stained areas before painting the chair with two layers of paint.  I used a Behr (Home Depot) clearance paint that we found in the garage of our new home (a no name paint) followed by a Behr knock-off of Annie Sloan’s Provence mixed according to my recipe for Home Made Chalk Paint.

Step 3: Caning

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Mr. OTN began by cutting the caning to size plus 2-3″ of overlap.   He then soaked the piece in hot water for approximately 30 minutes.

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The tools he used for this part were clothes pins (a substitute for caning wedges) and a rubber mallet.

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He pounded the halved clothes pins into the grooves in the chair, being careful to keep the cane as straight as possible.

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Just like stretching a tapestry he put a couple of clothes pins on one side (back), stretched the cane taught, and put a couple of clothes pins on the other side (front).  He did the two sides in the same manner.

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Strips of wood spline are used to hold the cane in place.  Mr. OTN cut four lengths to size, angling the cuts so they would match at the corners.  Then he soaked the strips in hot water for 15 minutes to make them easier to work with.

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He applied a generous amount of wood glue in the channel and laid the first piece of spline in place.

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Next he pounded it down with a rubber mallet.  Once the strip was firmly in place he removed the clothes pins.  Make sure and remove the wedges before the glue dries.

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Here is the second strip in place.  Notice the nicely mitred corners 🙂

Caning a rocker 001

After adding spline to all four sides, Mr. OTN trimmed off the excess caning as closely as he could with sharp scissors . . .

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. . . followed up with a box knife to trim off stragglers, and a sand paper block to smooth off rough edges.

And now, here are a few pictures of the final reveal!

Rocking Chair After

Rocking Chair After

Rocking Chair AfterEdges distressed to reveal the first color of paint.

Rocking Chair After

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Thank you Mr. OTN Cutie, for the wonderful job you did on restoring this family treasure.  YOU are my treasure 😉

Blessings y’all,

My Signature

Links to caning supplies (not linked are common supplies such as scissors, rags, small paintbrush, rubber mallet, drill, sandpaper, etc.):

Step-by-Step-Chair-Recaning-Tutorial

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I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:

 TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SilverPenniesSundays, SundaysAtHome, RusticAndRefined, Spiritual Sundays, GiveMeGrace

Monday:
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How to Make Quick, Easy & Affordable Drapery Tiebacks

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Lately I’ve been all tied up in knots.  Beautiful nautical knots.  While planning my curtains for Pollen Proofing my Screened Porch I looked around for some drapery tiebacks online and was surprised at how expensive they can be!

Screened Porch Curtains 020While searching through listings on Etsy I found a set of beautiful soft cotton rope ties that I felt would be perfect for my coastal themed screened porch.  However, at almost $50 a pair they were way out of my price range.  I didn’t want to end up spending more for the tiebacks than for ALL the drapes combined!

Nautical Drapery TiesAt first I thought I might simply go down to my local hardware store and buy some rope to make my own but the rope they carry is stiff and rough.  So after Googling “Cotton Rope” I was led to Knot & Rope Supply and found exactly what I was looking for.  I love Internet shopping don’t you?

Nautical Drapery Ties2This is what I ordered and at .61 cents per foot it was an excellent buy!

Nautical Drapery Ties3I love that it is soft to the touch too.

So this is all you need:

  1. 5/8″ 3-strand cotton rope (about 1 yard per tieback)
  2. Scissors
  3. Scotch Tape

And this is the “how to”:

Nautical Drapery Tiebacks 002

  1. Cut as many pieces of rope as you will need with scissors.  Yes, scissors!  The softness of this rope makes it super easy to cut.

Nautical Drapery Ties42. Wrap cut ends with scotch tape to keep them from fraying.  That part comes later.

Nautical Drapery Tiebacks 0033.  Bring the two ends of your rope together and tie a simple knot, about 6-8″ from the ends of the rope.

 Nautical Drapery Tiebacks 0044.  Remove tape and unravel the ends of your rope.  This is the best part!

Screened Porch Curtains 0205.  Wrap the tie around your drape, slip the knotted end through the loop, and pull it tight.  That’s it!  The knubby texture of the rope holds it in place so it won’t slip down your curtain.

Note:  These tiebacks were used on drop cloth fabric and have stayed perfectly in place.  I’m not sure how it would work on a slipperier fabric.

Nautical Inspired Drapery Tie-backsI made five tiebacks for my porch and spent under $10 dollars for all of them, as opposed to nearly $225 I would’ve spent by purchasing them ready-made online.

Wow!  Just WOW!  Feeling blessed by God who inspires me in my thriftiness!

Blessings friends,

My SignatureScreened Porch Curtains 020a

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:

 TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SilverPenniesSundays, SundaysAtHome, RusticAndRefined, Spiritual Sundays, GiveMeGrace

Monday:
Tuesday:
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Saturday:

 

Pollen Proofing the Screened Porch!

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“You don’t know what pollen is until you live in the South.”  That’s what people told me when we were moving here but did I listen?  Of course not!  I used to think that Spring pollen was bad in the Pacific Northwest.  We had not only the yellow pollen that left a gauzy film on our cars but at times it looked like it was snowing outdoors with the cottonwood seed hairs drifting through the air.  HA!  That was amateur stuff compared to the insidious pollen grains that  seep right through the screens on the porch and blanket the furniture in a thick yellow veil.

Screened Porch Curtains 002

It isn’t easily dusted off either.  No, it takes a little elbow grease to remove.

A Pollen Free Screened Porch

That’s why Mr. OTN and I decided that this year we were going to POLLEN PROOF our screened porch.  Well . . . as pollen proof as you can get anyways.

Screened Porch Curtains 001bWe began by reading all the DIY outdoor curtain posts we could find on Pinterest and then set to work.

Screened Porch Curtains 002bWe purchased galvanized plumbing pipe and fittings and spray painted them with Rustoleum’s Oil Rubbed Bronze to prevent rust.  You can see in the above photos that the two types of fittings we used were straight and elbow fittings.  For the corners we installed decorative brackets for support.

Screened Porch Curtains 003bWe placed curtain clips on the rod before screwing the pipes together.  We wanted clips instead of rings for ease of laundering the curtains.

Screened Porch Curtains 002aThese are the painter’s drop cloths that we purchased at Home Depot . . . after purchasing another brand at Lowe’s and finding out that more than half of the drop cloths purchased had horizontal seams through them.  Not a good look.  In the end these cloths turned out to be a much nicer fabric too and this made me extremely happy.

Screened Porch Curtains 007And now some photos of my room with the drop cloths in place.  I haven’t hemmed or ironed them yet as I’m still trying to decide what length I want and also considering various ways to weight the bottom. 

Screened Porch Curtains 003I bought some lead weighted cord but it was extremely lightweight, more for sheers.  I also don’t want them so heavy that with a gust of wind they pull off the curtain clips. 

Screened Porch Curtains 004I’m leaning toward sewing in some simple chain from the hardware store to weight them or maybe nothing at all.  We don’t have a lot of heavy wind here and I don’t mind the gentle blowing of the curtains.  We did have a windstorm the other day and we simply set our furniture legs on the hems of the drapes.

 Screened Porch Curtains 009Once pollen season is over we will throw the drapes open wide and enjoy the full view of our backyard.

Screened Porch Curtains 010We may even take them down for the summer . . . if we don’t decide to sometimes use this as a sleeping porch.

Screened Porch Curtains 023 How fun would that be to camp out in our own backyard?

Screened Porch Curtains 014We might also find them useful in the chill of late Fall when we can close everything up and bring a heater out to the porch for a little afternoon reading . . .

Screened Porch Curtains 018 . . . or even a nap, like Cozy here is considering.

Screened Porch Curtains 019Our screened porch is our very favorite place to JUST BE.

 Screened Porch Curtains 027By the way, this is what I use to clip the curtains together when they are closed.

Screened Porch Curtains 028They hold well and are fairly unobtrusive.

Screened Porch Curtains 020And this is what I made to hold them open.  You can bet there will be a “how to” post on that later.

Where are you spending your time this Spring?  Do you have a favorite outdoor place to sit?  I know, many places are still experiencing winter so maybe your favorite Spring place right now is beside a fire in a warm den.

Wherever you are, I hope you’ll take the time to be still and experience being in the here and now.

Blessings,

My Signature

Links to products I used available on Amazon:

 

Links to products found at Home Depot:

Galvanized Pipe  (Home Depot will gladly custom cut to size)

Threaded Tee Fittings (make sure you buy the right size to fit your pipe)

Threaded Elbow Fittings (again, buy the right size to fit your pipe)

Drop Cloth Curtains for the Screened PorchDon’t forget to Pin me!
I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
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 TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SilverPenniesSundays, SundaysAtHome, RusticAndRefined, Spiritual Sundays, GiveMeGrace

Monday:
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Spiffin’ up the Screened Porch the Easy Way!

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I’m not a writer today.  Nope!  Since I’m working an a huge list of “to-do’s” in anticipation of our vacation next week (YAY!)  I will be showing and going today!  This is a much past due post.  I took the pictures in May, at the tail end of “the blowing of the pollen”, after a full day of cleaning the screened porch and it’s furnishings.

Washing screened porch 002

With yellow pollen covering everything I cleaned my screened porch the easy way, by taking everything out to the deck and hosing out the inside . . .

Washing porch furniture 007a

. . .then doing the same with the furniture outside.  I did scrub things down first with some soapy water.

Washing porch furniture 007

The hose is one of Sasha’s favorite things so she was right there to help!  You’ll notice that Cozy is conspicuously absent throughout this post.

Screened Porch 035

Last Fall, when we first moved in, I showed you pictures of my screened porch with a list of things I’d like to do.  I haven’t done everything on my list but I have freshened things up a bit.

Screened Porch 034

Screened Porch 031

We ordered neutral colored replacement cushions for the sitting area so that we could change our accent colors at will. 

By the way, did I tell you that this entire set of patio furniture was negotiated into the purchase of our home?  People don’t think about doing that but we also negotiated for the couches in our bonus room and den, as well as the bed in one of our guest rooms. 

Screened Porch 012

We added a faux sea grass rug from Lowes to add to the beach feeling and to pull the sitting area together.

Screened Porch 047

We added some bright pillows to the quieter colored pillows we already had.

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Most of the accessories came from our old home, “the lake house”, back in Washington State.

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We found this old farmhouse table after we moved here and it’s perfect for a serving station.  I added the skirt around it to hide my supplies while not in use.

Screened Porch 004

 No neutral cushions for the dining table!

Screened Porch 005

Turquoise and orange-to-red tones are the color choice for our screened porch,

Screened Porch 015

. . . influenced by this picture that my 97-year-old mother-in-law painted when she was sixteen. Sweet yes?

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Here’s a quick sweep around the room from left to right.

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Screened Porch 023

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Now on to a few closeups to show you more detail.

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Screened porch table 003

Screened porch table 004

Screened Porch 042 Screened Porch, Rocker 001

This is a rocker from my childhood that my husband re-caned for me.  There is a tutorial in the making but he isn’t as motivated at blogging as I am 🙁

Screened Porch 008

Screened Porch 009

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And the only rules we have for settin’ on the back porch . . . RELAX.

No matter what’s happening all around us, when we take time to relax in Him, we always find something to be thankful for.

Blessings,

My Signature

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
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