Tidy Brown Wren, bringing order to your nest

  I'm a bit behind this year with my decorating.  I didn't want to put out too many decorations because we'll be starting our kitchen remodel right after Christmas, so I'll need to pack everything up quickly and who wants a lot of extra stuff to pack up?   I love this little front door tree.  It's only 6 feet tall and holds a lot of rustic (rusty) ornaments and natural elements.  I have a wool banner near the top that says "keep Christmas in your heart".     Near the screened door I placed a hurricane with greenery in my fern stand and placed my favorite snowman beneath it.  He's made from a wooden bowl and a piece of banister.  I found him at a thrift store, laying on his side.  I felt sorry for him and brought him home.  In the background you can see the new hen house and fencing going up.     To the left of the door is our porch bench.  I kept things simple and natural by hanging my wrea...

Most of you know that I am a recycling kind of girl.  I can't stand to watch perfectly good things go to the dump - especially when I know I can fix them up and make them like new. Several years ago, I came across a metal dining set that someone had set out for the trash.  It had 4 chairs, a table and a bench.  I fixed up the bench here , saved the table legs in the garage, and held on to the 4 chairs until someone needed them.  A few months ago, I found 2 bar stools in another drive-by road side sighting. Every piece I found was in pretty bad shape but that didn't scare me off.  The pieces were sturdy but the finishes were ugly. The worst part was the seats.  The base of each seat was a pressed board product that had swelled and gotten moldy.  It went directly into the garbage can (luckily it was garbage day). I sanded each piece with sandpaper and steel wool and wiped them down to remove the dust....

As I pulled out Christmas decorations from the storage bins this year, this sad little tree didn't make the cut.  I had used it as part of a display of lit houses in the past, but lack of room caused me to relocate the houses to my daughter's house (she loves hand-me-downs).   I started to pitch the sad tree, but I needed something with height on a side table in the family room so I thought I would experiment with the tree and see what I could come up with.     I had some berry picks in the greenery bin that I wasn't using so I decided to use those.  I like the natural colors of the berries. I took the picks apart so that all of the berries were separate.  After fluffing the smooshed tree and straightening all of the branches, I wrapped individual berries around each branch. I put the tree in a pot and set in on the side table next to the window seat.  A small reindeer ornament keeps it company.  See the new wi...

  I've had this set of candle sticks for several years.  I think I bought them at JoAnne Fabrics, but I can't be sure.  I was getting tired of the dark color, so I decided to add a bit of cream paint and see if I liked it.  And. . . I liked it!       The candle holder on the left is the original color and the one on the right is the new and improved specimen.  I simply used a small craft foam brush, dipped into acrylic craft paint, and brush onto each pinecone petal.  (are they called petals?) I like that I don't have to paint anything perfectly because "rustic and informal" fits in my home perfectly.  I used the candle holders on a tray with some berries and artificial fruit for my autumn decor.  I also made new table runners out of a fabric remnant.  It is black and white with birds and ferns.  Here's the same arrangement with Christmas greenery and berries added.  I also added the lit...

Here's our last month of Monday Motivations for 2012.  If you've been following for the whole year, you would have cleaned and organized every room in your home and even your car.  That's quite an accomplishment and deserves a prize - I'm grabbing some chocolate!  You know how this works. . . below is a collection of posts from December 2011 for you to read at your leisure.  Just be sure your leisurely reading doesn't get in the way of getting some work done.     Analyzing Your Dining Room: How did your dining room function for you during the Thanksgiving holiday? Does it need to be organized before Christmas? For the month of December we'll check out how to organize and spruce up the dining room. This week we'll do some brain storming about the purpose of the room Next week we'll get our hands dirty with purging and rearranging. The following week we'll look at storage solutions. Our last week will cover deco...

      There's always something that needs fixing here at Brown Wren Acres.  Right now the most urgent project is a new fence enclosure for the chickens and goats before the weather gets too cold.    We had to move the chickens to the front of the property because the varmints who live in the woods out back were enjoying our flock as a drive through chicken dinner diner.    So, we (and when I say we,  I mean Hubs and Son) tore down the old layers of fencing and started from scratch.    Son's shirt was an appropriate one to wear - it says "My Achen Back" which is from the summer World Changers trip he went on a few years ago to Achen, South Carolina.  One hole after another.     The "girls" are enjoying their new hen house and getting fresh air and sunshine within the safety and confines of the netted hoop houses.     The girls were happy to see the work be...