crafts, DIY Projects, Fashion, Home Decor

Share Your Style #389

Happy Wednesday, y’all! Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style #389!! We have many great features to share with you…

I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too.  Thank you!💜 

French Ethereal: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest

No features again for me this week. I’ve worked in the yard and we’ve been doing things with my mother-in-law now that she is back from California. Seven more days of school and I can spend more time here! 🙂

Let’s see what all you’ve shared…

***

And here are this week’s featured posts…

bee decor vignette
First up this week is this fun post ~ Queen Bee Decor Vignette in the Vegetable Garden ~ shared by MaryJo from Master”Pieces” of My Life.
Linda from Paper Seedlings shared her wonderful artwork ~ #365birds March 2023. Incredible!!!
Printed Skirt and Silk Blouse
Jennifer from Curated by Jennifer wears this lovely summery outfit in her post ~
Printed Skirt and Silk Blouse. Lovely!!!

Stephanie from Crazy Little Love Birds brings us a great project to kick off summertime ~ an Easy DIY Painted Wood Riser Decoration. Love it!!!

rustic DIY Wine Cork Flag
Niky from The House on Silverado brings us this great idea to make with Memorial Day and Independence Day coming soon ~ DIY Wine Cork Flag. Sooo making this!!!
How to Decoupage a Glass Platter
Carol from Bluesky at Home shares How to Decoupage a Glass Platter. Lovely!!!
Debra from Common Ground brings us this lovely table in her post ~
Cottage Review: Garden Wheelbarrow Tablescape. Love this so much!!!
purple cactus dahlia
Wendy at WM Design House shares The Best Soil for Dahlias; How to Grow Beautiful Flowers. Great tips!!!
High-Quality Cookware for Your Kitchen
Kathryn from The Dedicated House shares about High Quality Cookware for Your Kitchen. Beautiful…

Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜

If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards. 💜  Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.

Have a great rest of your week,

Barb 🙂

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crafts, DIY Projects, Fashion, Gardening, Home Decor, Recipes

Share Your Style #380

Welcome back, friends! This week’s Share Your Style #380 is back after a two week hiatus. The first week I can’t even remember why I missed (exhaustion?), and last Wednesday I was recovering from eye surgery in the morning. So, instead of my usual photo I am sharing “Pirate Barb” with the eye patch I had to wear the first day ~ all day and night. Then I only had to wear it at nighttime. 😉

I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too.  Thank you!💜 

French Ethereal: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest

I apologize for not letting you all know I’d be off last week. I thought I’d feel good and be able to post that evening. I was home early enough from the surgery center, but I didn’t think about the effects of anesthesia on the body. I was sleeping pretty much all afternoon and evening as soon as I got home.

So, again, I apologize for not having SYS these past two weeks, but sometimes I just need some time off. 😉 And this evening, I was out planting veg in the garden and then critter-proofing the bin with lots of hardware cloth, chickenwire until 8:00p.m.

Better late than never! Let’s get this party started!! 🙂

Here’s what I shared this past week at French Ethereal…

Let’s Sew! Making a Balloon Curtain for the Kitchen ~ I’m back sewing for a bit! Feels good to get back to my roots. I’ll be back painting in the family and living rooms soon.

And here are this week’s featured posts…

First up this week is this beautiful tray post from Debra of Common Ground ~
Early Spring Garden Tray with Paperwhites. Love it!!!
leprechaun-centerpiece-supplies
Can you believe it’s already St. Patrick’s Day? OH! And Happy Ides of March today… 😉 Wasn’t a good day for Caesar, though… Debbee from Debbee’s Buzz shared this fun post ~
Quick and Easy Lucky Leprechaun Centerpiece. Soooo cute!
Ann from Apple Street Cottage brings us this pretty vignette of
Birdcages and Candles.Lovely…
Jennifer from Curated by Jennifer wears this fun outfit proudly in this post
It’s My Birthday!!!
IKEA shelving hack black and white dishes
Karin from Karin’s Cottage created this great shelf in her post ~ Ikea Shelving Hack. Great job!!!
Meagan from Decorative Inspirations shared this springtime post ~
The Best Spring Cleaning Practices for the Gardens, Yards and Patios. Great tips!!
MaryJo from Master”Pieces” of My Life shared this gorgeous tablescape in this post ~
Forced Spring Bulbs Tablescape. Love the green and pewter coloring!!!
DeeDee from Clover House shared Simple Spring Vignettes. Adorable!!
A DIY Dutch tulip crate filled with assorted Spring decor. A large bunny, wood beads, a wooden Easter egg in a clay pot, and a large vintage jug holding greenery.
Lastly for this week, we welcome Leanna from Pretty DIY Home who shared this sweet post ~
How to Make a Dutch Tulip Crate for Spring. Adorable bunny and look at those large plaid carrots!
So glad you made it over, Leanna. 🙂

Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜

If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards. 💜  Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Ides of March, everyone!

Barb 🙂

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Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜

If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards. 💜  Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.

Happy spring, y’all! Enjoy the party,

Barb 🙂

crafts, DIY Projects, Tablescapes

Share Your Style #377

Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style #377, dear friends!! Oh my goodness! There are so many ideas for sharing with family & friends for Valentine’s Day… Let’s take a look!

This link party is for home decor, DIY, crafts, recipes and the like, but you are more than welcome to share any of your family-friendly posts with us all. Please feel free to share this post too and join my small but loyal band of friends. I appreciate you! I appreciate your subscribing, also. As always, I am glad that you are here… 💜

I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too.  Thank you!💜 

French Ethereal: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest

As I finish up painting in our dining room, I wanted to thank all of you who shared your thoughts on how I should paint the lower wall and picture moulding below our chair rail. In the end, after going back and looking at pics from Versailles, I decided I really did love the Comet Dust grey wall color, so I carried it down below and used off-the-shelf Valspar Ultra-White on the mouldings. It’s looking good!

Since then, I’ve been dealing with sick dog… Lots of mopping in the kitchen and laundry room, carpet cleaning & laundry. He has had multiple baths, too. I think the extreme fluctuation in temps didn’t do him any good since he has to go outside to use the restroom. Plus I was painting indoors, where he is close to during the day… So, maybe that whole combination was the issue. He seems better now but I’ve held off finishing painting until later in the week, and only in small amounts. 🙂

So let’s look at this week’s features! I hope you will stop by and visit a few people while you are here. Everyone works soooo hard! 💜 

Have a great week!

Here’s what I shared this past week at French Ethereal…

An Inspiration Challenge ~ Styling a Vintage Valentine’s Cloche ~ This is a link party if you’d like to come aboard and add ONLY CLOCHE posts with VALENTINE’S DAY DECOR IN THE CLOCHE.
I’ve had to removed several posts which didn’t read the link up through. Thanks!!! 💜 

And here are this week’s featured posts…

How to style pink velvet pants multiple ways- Karins Kottage
Karin from Karin’s Cottage shared a blast-to-the-past with her post ~
How Do You Style Velvet Pants? Yep, I had a whole pantsuit outfit. 😉
Lynne of Thrifting Wonderland has us sighing over her entryway in Two Flower Vignettes. Love the sweet petals dripped along the table runner!
Dining Room Paint Refresh
Kathryn from The Dedicated House shared her Dining Room Paint Refresh.
Looks great! 💜 Been there AND still painting ours. 💜 
Sandy from Come to Dinner at Eight shares her beautiful table set ~ Greetings – The Birds of Winter. Love this pattern!!!
Debra of Common Ground shares this How to Make a Moss Covered Heart.
So pretty!!!
Lynn from Living Large in a Small House brings us her It’s Time to Start to Planning a Garden. Here is a sunflower from a previous garden year. Beautiful!!
DIY Valentines Mailbox-Painted Wood Mailbox with Letters-The Crowned Goat
CoCo from The Crowned Goat shared this fun DIY project ~
DIY Valentine’s Mailbox. Adorable!!!

Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜

If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards. 💜  Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.

Happy Valentine’s month,

Barb 💜

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DIY Projects

Our Laundry Room Paint Refresh

Good morning, dear friends! We have had two back-to-back snow days with an Arctic freeze welcoming in the month of February 2023!! The second for us this winter. Since I had the time and some paint left, I finished the baseboard moulding around the floor of the laundry area, so now that room is completely done!

But let’s take a look at where we started…

As some of y’all may know, when we bought this house here in North Texas in 2019, the whole thing was painted this taupe color. Even the ceilings were painted this color! I was happy to not have to paint upon moving in, but it’s too contemporary for me. Slowly, I have been going room by room and painting all of the rooms into a softer grey color, more of what I like.

The last home I lived in with my parents (1976-1987) was built with pecky cedar stacked logs. These logs were squared off, 8″ thick, and all of the walls inside that house were a dark rich reddish brown and when it was freshly oiled it was lovely!

I was okay with brown then because most of our rooms as my bedroom had big windows which let in a lot of light. I also didn’t know that I was affected by seasonal affective disorder (winter depression from lack of sunlight, for anyone who isn’t familiar with this term). I was always an outdoorsy kid, so it wasn’t a problem growing up. We were either at the beach on weekends (the four years in Hawaii during the 1970’s), I was cycling everywhere on weekends, plus I raised goats for milk so I was out milking them and soaking up sunshine daily. California is blessed with over 300 days of sunny skies each year, too. Great for keeping away the blues!

Just a little white paint (Valspar Ultra White 773957) straight off the shelf brightens the ceilings and the whole room!

Here in our Texas home

We are surrounded by four oak trees and a fruitless pear, so it is fairly dark indoors most of the year. In winter, we have a lot of light because the leaves are down, but come spring, the leaves will magically appear and it’ll become a cave indoors.

Okay, and also my eyes and hair are brown (well… now silver and brown, lol!). And, I used to wear a lot of brown, but I am SO OVER brown. I wear a lot of color to combat the brown look. 😉

Repainting all of these walls to something lighter was a necessity for me. I have been painting with Valspar “Comet Dust,” which is a color I last used when we renovated the kids’ bathroom upstairs at our last home. We opened up the area between the vanity and the rest of the bathroom. You can find those two posts here and here.

“Comet Dust” is a pretty silvery grey with blue undertones, depending upon the light. It sparkles in the sunlight! I painted these walls in eggshell (Valspar 773956 eggshell here in Texas rooms; satin in California).

Our master bedroom/bath paint refresh

Here is our bedroom in progress. I pulled out our 12′ ladder to paint the ceilings then switched to a long broom handle and painted from the floor for the last of three coats of paint. The ceiling was sooo dry that it needed three coats to really cover the taupe and to get rid of any streaks in my painting skills. 😉

Painting the Skylight Chimney

This next photograph will show you the ladder I used to get up into this chimney area. Thank goodness this ladder Mr. Ethereal picked up a year ago at a Black Friday sale is super sturdy as I sat on its top to paint this small area’s insides. It is designed so you can do that, too, btw.

This ladder was also great for standing on and turning around as needed to scrape the old paint off the skylight. Those paint marks drove me crazy whenever I’d look up! Sorry, I am a perfectionist that way. 🙂

A little scraping, Windex and some paper towels took care of that. I just needed to have the right ladder to get it done. 😉

Werner Multi-Position Pro 375 lb. Ladder

This ladder is one of those ladders where you can extend it, you can use it as an A-frame (pictured here) or as an extension ladder all one length. It can shorten. It can bend into a 3-sided “box,” if you will, so you can stand on it. Also, you can put two of them near each other and run a board across to use as a scaffold. It is really multi-functional! WORTH the money. (*not sponsored, just like the product a lot.)

Lowe’s isn’t carrying the exact model anymore but I found this one and it close. Ours is made of aluminum and this type linked is made with fiberglass. Maybe there were problems with our model (?), but so far Hubby has used it fully extended to fix a light on the upper roofline of his mom’s new home (while she was gone over Christmas; I held the bottom but didn’t really need to), and we had no problems. Once locked in, it’s solid. I felt perfectly safe sitting on top of it. It didn’t wiggle at all, like our six-foot A-frame ladder does.

Overall, it took three weekends to paint the whole area, minus the doors which I will hopefully remove this spring and paint all of them outdoors with a sprayer.

You’d think a smaller area would take less time to paint? You’d be wrong on that thought. It takes the same amount of time to paint this as a larger box room because of either having to move things around or just maneuvering in tight spaces.

We didn’t move the washer or dryer out because the gas and water lines were fully hooked up and it’s a pain to re-install them. Especially the gas line! Just didn’t want to cause an issue or get sick from low-lying propane not getting out of the house.

I was really careful stepping around that yellow gas line and obviously when moving the ladder legs around it. 🙂

Our surprise score!

When my mother-in-law and I went thrift shopping for items for the Odd Fellows Poker Tournament gift baskets towards the end of November or early December, I found this hanging rack! Coincidentally, I found the exact same one at Lowe’s this past weekend for $25.99. Great score!!

Originally I thought about using it in our bedroom closet so hubby could hang all up all of his baseball caps, but then I realized I loved it for the laundry room. It is larger (wider) than the cheap metal one the previous owners left up and ever prettier. The other was more like a broom hanging rack, like you’d put up in your garage. Gag…

This one is a little more modern and it really pops against the light grey walls. I love it!!!

And yes it is brown. 😉

We are really happy with how the laundry room turned out. Just after I had painted the ceiling, Hubby commented how much brighter the whole room looked even then.

It really looks nice now!

And here is our laundry room all put back together. I love its fresh new look and its ethereal French paint job!

Thanks for stopping by today! Leave me a comment about how you liked this post, if you would. SYS will be up later today in our Double-Header Wednesday.

Now it’s game-on to the dining room!

Barb 🙂

DIY Projects, Holidays, Home Decor, Thanksgiving

Share Your Style #368

Welcome friends to this week’s Share Your Style #368! Can you believe that Thanksgiving is just a week away? Neither can I…

I am super happy to have a week off next week to enjoy a little cooking, a lot of house cleaning (ick!), some reading and blogging, finishing up painting in our spare bedroom/office, and visiting with family!!!

Well, I worked on a couple of posts but didn’t get any finished, so… Let’s see what fun features you all have for us…

And here are this week’s featured posts…

COLOR ME BLESSED - COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS #coloring #relaxation #CountYourBlessings #ColoringBooks #AdultColoringBooks #BibleColoringBooks #ChristianColoringBooks
Dee from Grammy’s Grid shares the joy of coloring in this fun coloring book post ~ perfect for Thankgiving placemats and/or little gifts for your guests ~
Color Me Blessed Count Your Blessings.
Wendy from The Inspired Eater shared five pearls of wisdom on keeping weight off (isn’t that soooo needed over the holidays??) over a lifetime and links it to this lovely photograph ~ How to Lose the Shame After You’ve Gone Cookie Monster on Your Lifestyle. Yep… I think everyone needs this advice at some point/points in our lives! 🙂
Debra from Common Ground shared a refresh here in her lovely fall/Thanksgiving centerpiece post ~ Paint Refreshed Tote for a Farm Table Vignette. Love it!!!
Lynne over at Thrifting Wonderland shares this fun almost monochromatic Thanksgiving tablescape in her post Casual November Thrifted Tablescape. Love the whole ethnic look!!!
Niki over at The House on Silverado shares this yummy breakfast/dessert recipe ~
Starbucks Copycat Sugar Plum Cheese Danish ~ totally YUM!!!
Rita from Panoply shares her beautiful Thanksgiving table in this perfect post ~
Homeland Merriment Thanksgiving. Love this combination of plates and chargers!!! Gorgeous!
Sherry from My Journey Back shares her bright, fun blankets in this post ~ Thursday Crochet Project Update. Love how they are turning out!!
How to make a caramel apple fruit turkey for your thanksgiving celebration this year.
Old friend Kendra from A Proverb 31 Wife brings us this adorable DIY post for your Thanksgiving buffet table ~ Carmel Apple Fruit Turkey. Fun to make with your kids!!!
three kids laughing at a pumpkin patch with text overlay - easy ways to teach kids gratitude
Newcomer Charlene from Hessun Academy shares her Tips to Teach Kids Gratitude + a free gratitude journal to print. Great ideas!!! Welcome, Charlene!! 🙂
Turkey Rice Krispie Treats
Our next newcomer is Melissa from Everyday Savvy and she brings us these adorable Rice Krispie Treat Pops. So fun to make with your grands and any kids still living at home!! So loving all of your Thanksgiving ideas, friends!! Welcome, Melissa!!
And last up for this week comes to us from Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge who shares this look back at 10 Memories of the Holiday Season Link Up on the Edge (and a 10 on the 10th!). Love this little guy Archie in his Christmas jammies!!

Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜

If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards. 💜  Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.

Happy linking, dear friends!

Barb 🙂

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DIY Projects, Home Decor

Share Your Style #360

Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style #360, friends! So many good features to share this evening, it’s hard to choose!!!

This link party is for home decor, DIY, crafts, recipes and the like, but you are more than welcome to share any of your family-friendly posts with us all. Please feel free to share this post too and join my small but loyal band of friends. I appreciate you! I appreciate your subscribing, also. As always, I am glad that you are here… 💜

I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too.  Thank you!💜 

French Ethereal: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest

I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too.  Thank you!💜 

French Ethereal: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest

Happy Wednesday, y’all! Last weekend was BUSY! I drove down to Corsicana, Texas about 2 1/2 hours away for an IOOF State Assembly meeting where I took lots of notes as Secretary. Drove back mid-Saturday afternoon and then returned with my husband to the Denton Blues Festival. The music was terrific, the food was delicious and we made some good money towards next year’s scholarships.

If you’ve never heard of the International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF; and Rebekahs), it is a service organization a lot like the VFW, the Masonic Lodge and others. Anyway, we worked the Blues Festival again on Sunday until arriving home around 9:00p.m. TIRED hit me today and thankfully our school had its monthly teachers’ meetings in the afternoon, so… Classified staff (everyone who isn’t Administration or a teacher) could leave early and use personal or comp time. I slept for 1 1/2 hours… A great nap! 😀

So, anyway, nothing new except a quick photograph from the Blues Festival… Still working on other posts. <3

One of the first bands which I saw on Saturday evening… Good music!

And here are this week’s featured posts…

I love how one simple change to a room begets another! Debra from Common Ground shares her subtle fall changes here in this post ~ Boho Quilted Throw in the Garden Room. Love this throw and what’s on the coffee table, too!
Ann of Apple Street Cottage is back with this fun mash-up of pumpkin-y craft ideas in her post ~ Dollar Store Pumpkins Four Ways. Adorable ideas!!!
Newcomer Anita from Stampin’ With Anita shared this sweet fall-inspired card to create! Love how cute the mice are!!! ~ New Design Team. Welcome, Anita to the French Ethereal family!!
Lynne from Thrifting Wonderland brings us another of her lovely tablescapes in this post ~ Uncomplicated Fall Table Setting. Love the cherry colors!!!
first day of school, Shelbee on the Edge
Shelbee from Shelbee on the Edge brings us two great posts: The Essential Back-to-School Checklist and 7 Ways to Surprise Your Disney-Loving Friends. Don’t her two sons look awesome?!! It is that back to class time for so many students and staff… Hard to believe we have been in-school now for over a month! We began the second week of August around here in North Texas. 🙂
Good summer transition for the workplace, Sally from Within a World of My Own shared several fashionable looks in her post ~ Brown Crop Pants Outfits for Warm Fall Weather. Love ’em!!!
The best 9 front porch decor ideas for fall
Looking for some fall porch ideas? Look no further than this post ~ The Best 9 Porch Ideas for Fall ~ from Wendy at WM Design House. Love the soft pumpkin colors paired with graphic greats, black and white!!!
Penny from Penny’s Treasures shared her sweet fall look in this post ~
The Enchanted Forest on the Buffet. Love the idea of using things which can be used in multiple season!! Lovely and you’ll have to check out Penny’s post to see THE CUTEST mushrooms and toadstools (I never know which is which so I never pick in the wild or my yard 😉 ).
Fall Mantel Decorating Ideas with Roses and Hydrageas in Aged Urns-The Crowned Goat
And let’s finish this week’s features with a soft fall design by CoCo from The Crowned Goat ~ Five Steps to Creating an Easy Fall Mantel. Love it!!!

Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜

If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards. 💜  Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.

If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards. 💜  Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.

Enjoy the party, everyone! And Happy Fall, y’all!!!

Barb 🙂

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DIY Projects, Home Decor

How to Glam-Up Your Vintage Door

Welcome, friends! It’s back-to-school-time and with that I am finally feeling the need to do some fun DIY/crafting projects. 🙂 Today I am sharing how to glam-up an old door I have had in my stash since 2008…

Tools needed for this project

  • drill and drill bits – for wood and metal
  • scroll saw or jig saw to cut out small wood pieces as needed
  • pliers and screw drivers
  • wood glue (I used regular wood glue and Gorilla wood glue), paintable and stainable
  • blue painter’s tape
  • sand paper
  • sanded grout, paintable and stainable
  • paint and paint brushes, various sizes
  • black spray paint
  • antique/vintage hardware escutcheons and glass doorknobs plus center hardware

How to begin?

Start with cleaning your door with a little soap and water (or even just plain water) on a damp cloth, then wipe the door dry. I took my time cleaning the windows with glass cleaner and to clean the lead pieces.

Next, I used a little Lemon Pledge on the stained side of the door (the original outside of this door), and then began figuring out what needed to be done to prep the door for new hardware. 😉

I gathered a drill and drill bits, some old screws (from a box of screws and closet hanger hardware we have had since our first home closet rebuild), and five craft and chalk paint containers from my craft room.

The escutcheons (decorative but purposeful flat door pieces to go behind doorknobs) I picked up at Second Impressions Antique Store in South Dakota when Mr. Ethereal and I were driving home from Peter and Justine’s wedding in 2016.

I am soooo glad that I found those escutcheons since I have had this pair of antique glass door knobs waiting in my stash of goodies for over 20 years! It is nice to finally be able to use these pieces on this door project.

Many of these things I had intended to go on a future birdhouse (back then), but you know how that goes… Eventually you use them where you need them, regardless of the original thought you had for them, lol!

Hubby used a super large, round paddle bit to drill these circles for me! 🙂

The first things which had to be fixed on this door were the big gaping holes where contemporary door hardware used to sit. I asked Mr. Ethereal if he’d help me drill some round inserts from a leftover 2″ x 4″ we had.

The grout shows here on the backside of the door as I was staining it and adding paint striations to help “blend it in.”

They ended up a little smaller than needed, but a bunch of globs of Gorilla wood glue and regular wood glue helped fill in the gaps. I placed blue painter’s tape around to catch any drips and to contain the glue while it dried.

When the glue was mostly dry, I filled in the backside of the inserts and remaining gaps with sanded grout. Let dry completely/overnight.

Painting

Next, I mixed various shades of chalk and acrylic paints on a folded paper towel in medium grey, teal, light teal (more of a white), black and brown to create a hue close to the green side of the door.

On the backside, I used some old stain we had in a reddish tint to color the grout then added brown paint and later some tiny vertical brown lines to try and “match” the grain of the oak door.

You can just see some of the paint attempts made to match to door (practically impossible!). It’s not great but at least there isn’t light tan anymore from the grout and wood inserts! 🙂

Adding the Hardware

I grabbed four 1/2″ all-purpose screws from the leftovers box and used the driver drill to screw the white escutcheon on the green side of the door, making sure the piece was aligned vertically with the door edge.

The backside escutcheon will be added after drilling the doorknob hole.

Testing out the door knob in its freshly drilled hole!

Drilling the door knob hole

By adding the front escutcheon first (the white one), I was able to use its door knob hole as the template to drill through the door. Once drilled, I tested the door knob to see if I needed to drill out more or to straighten it.

It’s a little off, as I didn’t have a jig to keep the drill bit completely square, but it’s not going to be used as an actual door, just as an accent piece, so it’s fine. 🙂

Adding the back escutcheon

This particular escutcheon is meant to be embedded into the door, for safety purposes, for the original lock to function. I didn’t want to bevel out the door, which could have been done but I haven’t done that before. We actually have wood carving tools, but I thought I’d add a piece of wood to the back to take up the surrounding space instead.

Using a scroll saw is a lot like using a sewing machine. You have to move whatever you are cutting around the blade, much like you move fabric around a stationary sewing needle.

To cut out the inner piece without going through the outer edges of the wood, turn off the saw, undo the tension (top knob at the back of the arm) and undo the saw blade knob (the one zooming up and down, on the lower-right at the front of the arm. 🙂

Drill a pilot hole through the center of the inner square to begin the inner cutting.

Then, push down on the front-top of the needle housing and the blade will easily pull out. Slip the blade through the drilled hole, reattach the needle, tighten the blade knob plus the tension knob, and saw away!

I realized I’d have to bevel the edges after (or during) the cutting process, so I did that after seeing if I needed to cut off any more wood.

Rechecking the cuts…

It took about an hour to fine-tune this wood insert, a little sanding, then it was ready to set into the black escutcheon and screw onto the backside of the door.

I took a little time out to spray paint the wood black, let it dry out in the 95 degree heat while eating lunch, then aligned the pieces on the door. Painting the wood piece black helps it to not be so visible when the door is viewed from the side.

Upon figuring out where the doorknob hole needed to be, and where the escutcheon needed to be placed (to cover over some of the filled door holes), I realized the escutcheon needed to be drilled.

Mr. Ethereal helped me drill through the lower part of the inner metal creating a hole for the doorknob center hardware.

Had to use the pliers to remove the one short screw which didn’t work and wouldn’t come out without a little assistance. 🙂

Going back to the hardware box, I pulled out more 1/2″ screws, but they were too short to hold the escutcheon on the door, now with the wood piece taking up space.

Adding (4) thin 1″ wood screws worked perfectly! And they were galvanized and a bit black with age ~ absolute perfection…

And that’s all there is to glamming up your vintage door! Please share doors with me which you have redone, I’d love to see them. 🙂

Happy creating, friends,

Barb 🙂

DIY Projects, Home Decor, Travel

Share Your Style #355

Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style #354! We have lots of great features to share with you.

This link party is for home decor, DIY, crafts, recipes and the like, but you are more than welcome to share any of your family-friendly posts with us all. Please feel free to share this post too and join my small but loyal band of friends. I appreciate you! I appreciate your subscribing, also. As always, I am glad that you are here… 💜

I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too.  Thank you!💜 

French Ethereal: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest

I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too.  Thank you!💜 

French Ethereal: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest

Happy Wednesday, y’all! Would you believe… We have been having rain showers yesterday and today?!! Such a treat after 50+ days of over 100 degrees of heat! I actually woke up to 75 degrees this morning; it was soooo nice!

Well, I’ve posted up a little more of our trip to France for you this week, but onward from that post, I’ll take a break for a week or so just so you won’t get bored with so many travel photos. I am working in the garden shed this week, getting ready for August’s Pinterest Challenge. And I am ready for a little fall cleaning indoors so expect a living room post soon!

Well, let’s get on to this week’s features and my share for you…

Here’s what I shared this past week at French Ethereal…

France’s Cinematic Views: Day 2 in Paris’ 7th, 8th and 1st Arrondissements ~ Come check out the cool military museum I walked by, the Place de Concorde, a shopping mall and Paris’ beautiful Opéra National de Paris.

And here are this week’s featured posts…

We are beginning this week’s featured posts with this fun one from Debra from Common Ground. She is sharing a collection of Christmas ideas for you to kick-start your thoughts on how you will decorate this upcoming holiday season ~ Christmas in July Ideas and Inspiration.
Wendy from The Inspired Eater shared her post ~ 15 Ways to Transform into a Smart Eating Traveler. Great pearls of wisdom!!
Meagan from Decorative Inspirations brings us an End of Summer Home Tour ~ A Touch of Yellow and Purple. Love this color combination, don’t you?!!
Niki from Life as a Leo Wife shared this fun tutorial for a DIY Chapstick Holder. Perfect project to make any time of the year!
Sandra from Dinner at Eight shares her gorgeous summer tablescape with us in this post ~ A Wisteria Garden Table. Love the purples and blues!!! Soooo pretty!
Neutral Sweater Tank and Denim Skirt
Jennifer from Curated by Jennifer brings us this fun summertime outfit to keep cool ~ Neutral Sweater Tank and Denim Skirt. Love it!!!
Lynne of Thrifting Wonderland fame shares her fun thrift shop find in this post ~
One Change or Two… A Whole New Look! Looking great!!!
how to repurpose old picture frames
I love this idea! Carol from Bluesky at Home warms up her home with
How to Repurpose Old Picture Frames. So fresh!!!
I HAD to include this sweet creative crafting idea with you especially since school is starting up…Cheryl from Sew Can Do shared how she created all these totally cute “toys” for her kids to play with ~ DIY Post Office Play Fun for Preschoolers.
Just precious! Definitely one to share, pin and save!!!
DIY Window Valance is this unique post by Libbie at A Life Unfolding. Love these sweet plant vases hung this way!!

And that’s it for this week’s features! A nice diverse grouping to share with you. 🙂

Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜

If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards. 💜  Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.

If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards. 💜  Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.

Happy linking, everyone!

Barb 🙂

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
DIY Projects

Happy Father’s Day from Daddy’s New Shed!

Happy Father’s Day, y’all! A week ago, I was with my mother-in-law at Costco and saw a shed I’d been looking at for a year… Well, that day I pulled the trigger, had two 9′ long boxes unboxed and the contents loaded through the rear window of my unopening-rear-hatch Sequoia…

It’s not much of a Father’s Day gift, but definitely necessary to free up the back patio and get the lawn mower out of the garage. Hubby needs more room to move around in his workshop. 😉

A little out of order, but here is Hubby at the end of Saturday this week hosing off the back patio thereby removing six months of winter dirt and grime and the remaining leaves. He finished the small shed then spent the rest of the day moving things into it while I worked out in the garden on the newest planter area.

Last week, though, chose to be the first really hot week of the year in North Texas thus far, so I spent several hot days indoors putting on parts to each panel of this new shed. A pretty big chore, surprisingly!

This is going to be where we store all the stinky things: lawn fertilizers, bug sprays when absolutely needed, and the lawn mower.

Pole vault, anyone?? Actually, Mr. Ethereal needed to have a bit more leverage to get this old fence post out of the ground. Who knows how long they had been there?!

Mr. Ethereal began early last Saturday morning to build the new shed’s base.

Hubby fitting the 2×4’s in around the 4×4 exterior.

By noon, the plywood was down and after stopping for a bite of lunch…

My MIL came over and brought homemade potato salad, baked beans and some hamburgers which I cooked on Herbie, our little grill, we began the shed build…

By 6:00pm, we were “done in” from the 105 degree heat (41 deg. celsius), but all of the shed was up and the roof on with just a few bolts still needing to be tightened. 🙂

Here’s what’s now inside:

Charles is a trooper for moving all these things inside yesterday! He finished installing the final few things which needed to be bolted-in (two brace supports which solidify the front door and transom area, and putting up the back shelf).
He’s really good at organizing it all… It looked photograph worthy! And so I did. ;D

Now we have the Big Shed and the Little Shed… 💜

And now we have somewhere nice for all those lawn necessities. And my husband is wonderful for building this for us!

I hope your Father’s Day weekend has been a good one. Hubby even brought me flowers when he got a haircut this afternoon. He’s a keeper…

Happy Father’s Day to you all,

Barb 🙂

DIY Projects

Working on a Shed for Gramma

Happy Wednesday, friends! Sorry, no Share Your Style tonight. I didn’t bring my computer and we have been building a shed all day.

Hubby went and picked up a small U-Haul this morning just after 7:00am. By 9:00am, he had it loaded with packed boxes which have been on the back patio since New Year’s, a bucket of tools and drills, and a pile of lumber!

My job most of the day? Scrub and clean every last panel and part of our old 7.5’ x 7.5’ shed… But, I am happy to say that Gramma’s new shed (my MIL Gini, btw) is mostly done! It’s almost 6:00pm and Charles is just screwing in the last of the roof bolts and screws. Woot!!! 😊

Hi ho, there!

Now to get the door on… ☺️

Always one.last.thing. 🤣 Anyway, I hope to get Share Your Style up later this evening for you. I will send out a notice when it is up.

Enjoy your evening!

Hugs,

Barb 😊