French Ethereal

Prepping for the New Shed

June 30, 2021 French Ethereal

Welcome back, friends! I have been away working with my sweet Mr. Ethereal getting our backyard ready for the new shed’s arrival. It may come as early as this Friday but probably next week sometime. Weather is wrecking havoc on shed deliveries but that has given us time…

Old Shed, the Before

This is how the backyard looked up until this past weekend. I forget when I took this here in the springtime but it was after one of the monster rainstorms!

How it looks now

We are still getting rain about every three or four days or so, but the yard has dried out, which has made the lavenders and the Mediterranean-type plants (rosemary and basil) are much happier with the drier weather. (They sure don’t like wet feet!)

Before taking the shed apart, all of the bicycles, chairs, garden supplies, tools and such were placed all over the patio and yard.

Yoda is excited that he can walk where the old shed was. Here is the new panicle hydrangea beginning its bloom!! It is a lovely hydrangea…

When we began around 8:30am, it was in the low 80’s but quickly jumped to mid-90’s. It was hot out… Mr. E did a lot of work; he is a good sport about these things!

It’s plywood base is leaning up against the back fence now.

Here is when we had most of the shed taken apart. My job was to mark all the inside panels so we can put them back together in right order again, and to hold up the sides as each panel was unscrewed.

I went this weekend and picked up 8′ pressure treated cedar to replace the boards underneath for the old shed. Since it is only 8′ x 8′, we will put it along the side fence to hold the lawn mower, weed eater, edger and the tools which would “leak.” I also picked up two new 4″ x 4″ Around it I’ll put in flowers and make it cute. 🙂

The City did not approve us putting the new shed closer to the side yard (surprise!) but we did get our money back from the application. I have been so upset over this that I still need to resubmit plans for the new shed to go where the old is was. I just haven’t felt like taking up the discussion with the City again. Their rules are ridiculous…

We literally have 25′ of yard that: either “isn’t our own” (10′ easement) yet we take care of it, water it, mow and edge it; and another 15′ that we can’t put a permanent structure on. Apparently that is so they don’t have to pay someone to have something taken down if they decide to take away our side yard when building a wider road.

Honestly, I hate city planners at the moment…

Using my pole vault pole-tying skills with these timbers…

Charles worked really hard moving most of the tools and things out of the shed. I could only do a little at a time because I was still pretty ill with this Post-Covid Syndrome (PCS) virus… However…

Today I am finally feeling better!

Turns out it I am negative for: Covid, strep, flu and Mono. I had a mammogram yesterday and a few lung x-rays last week, so we shall see… Hopefully it is nothing and I’ll just get better over time. This new PCS can occur even as late as 9 months after the illness and it feels like you have Covid again (at least I did). I wondered if it isn’t the body learning to “over-react” to any illness, like a cold.

Well, that’s where we are with the tear-down of the old shed and the new shed still coming! Now we wait. 🙂

Happy summer, friends,

Barb 🙂

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Share Your Style #307

June 23, 2021June 23, 2021 French Ethereal

Welcome friends, to this week’s Share Your Style #307! Happy Wednesday to you all, dear friends!

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!
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

This past week I’ve been over to McKinney with my mother- and sister-in-law visiting a friend of Jodi’s who moved there back about 20 years ago. Gini and I went over to the City of McKinney’s Vital Statistics building and happily found a microfiche of her grandfather and grandmother’s marriage license from 1897!

On Friday evening, we went to a Texas Rangers’ game down in Arlington. They ended up losing but we enjoyed getting out and trying some ballpark foods and listening to the crowds and announcer, and enjoying the ballgame live.

Saturday was a workday and Gini, Jodi and Corey (my nephew, who flew in on Friday morning) drove over to Farmersville to watch an IOOF and a group of local re-enactors honoring of an 1812 soldier from the area. Because of the busy week, I didn’t go but I would have enjoyed the ceremony. I slept all Saturday afternoon.

My mother-in-law Gini, sister-in-law Jodi and hubby Charles

Sunday we enjoyed baking homemade pizzas out in the Ooni and then we worked on a satin banner project Gini is making for a future IOOF ceremony.

This banner will have a purple backing and other images placed around it and wording at the top and bottom. Should be neat when it is all done!

Since Monday, I’ve been down with a cold or Covid-type feeling illness… If it is Covid related, two days on, the vaccine is beating it down and I am feeling better today. 🙂

And thank you, friends! We had 84 links up last week, and there were so many good posts to look through to feature. Keep ’em coming!…

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

This month’s Pinterest Challenge was all about setting a Summer Table and here is my entry ~ Setting a Beautiful Summer Table with Castleton’s Dolly Madison China.

And here are this week’s featured posts…

**Debbie from Debbie-Dabble Blog** shares her home decorated for the upcoming 4th of July celebrations in this pretty RWB post ~
A Little Bit More RWB in the Living Room. Love love love this wreath!!!

**Juliet from French Country Cottage** shared her beautiful find in this DIY post ~ French Country Cottage Sideboard. Beautiful!!!

DIY Sock Gnome — **Kippi of Kippi at Home** shared her really in-depth instructions to make these
Easy DIY Gnomes [Tutorial]. *Totally cute* and perfect for us to create this summer for all the seasons coming up!

Awwwww! Puppy Challenges in the Garden was shared by **Sandra from Come to Dinner at Eight.** Puppies are a challenge but with time and good correction, all puppies can turn into the best dogs! Come check out this sweet post {and isn’t Finnegan just cute??!}…

Perfect as a follow-up, this post from **Kelli at 3 Boys and a Dog** looks like a fun recipe to make for your favorite furry friends! ~
Easy Strawberry Cheesecake Puppy Chow.

Vintage Botanical Print in the Early Summer Entry is this week’s share from **Debra over at Common Ground.** I love Debra’s wonderful mélange of goodies she puts together each season here in here entry, and I bet you do, too.

**Lori over at Dinner for Eight** shared her stunning table set for summer in this post ~ Blueberry Bliss Summer Tablescape. Love the soft blues!

purple floral kimono, olive green midi dress, caged sandals, wicker bag, Style Imitating Art, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge — **Shelbee from Shelbee on the Edge** shared this lovely lavender-filled post
Style Imitating Art: Heather, Sweet Peas and Butterflies. Love Shelbee’s outfit for this garden tour!!

**Tara from Stilettos and Shiplap** brings us this DIY post ~ Thrift Store Challenge: Coffee Table Makeover. Love how it turned out!

Newcomer **Lena from Way 2 Good Life** brings us this fun travel post ~
Balloon Festivals in the United States. I can tell you they are so beautiful to
watch lift off! Welcome, Lena!!! She has also shared this post ~ With love from Medora, North Dakota’s Treasure.

Last up for this week is **Amber from Follow the Yellow Brick Home** sharing her finished kitchen remodel in this post ~ Cheerful Summer Kitchen Refresh. Love the bright pops of color for the season!

A big Thank You to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to y’all 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. 💜

Have a great week, dear friends!

Barb 🙂

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Setting a Beautiful Summer Table with Dolly Madison China…

June 22, 2021June 23, 2021 French Ethereal

Happy Tuesday, friends! It’s time for another Pinterest Challenge hosted by my friend Cindy of County Road 407, thank you Cindy!! If you are just coming over from Laura at Everyday Edits and/or are new to French Ethereal, welcome! I am so glad you all came today as this month our theme is Summer Tablescapes, something dear to my heart…

Our inspiration photo from Sanctuary Home Decor…

My takeaway

I love Karen’s table set out on her back patio for a summertime meal! It is so pretty with all the whitewashed wood of her table and chairs, and the pretty soft cream and soft pink peonies.

The flowers look like they are floating above the table set in their clear glass bottles ~ really ethereal!

Her table looks like it is set for a light meal featuring soup and sourdough bread ~ perfect when it it hot outside and we often don’t feel much like eating a big meal.

My table

I began my table with spreading out this small summertime quilt given to me by my mother a long time ago, if I remember correctly. She found it at a local church bazaar in Connecticut.

I love all the yellows, greens and pops of red and pink and roses and it is a perfect complement to all of the rose-covered china.

All of the tableware with the exception of the Crown Dorset teapot (right, covered in dark and lighter pink roses, green leaves and smaller yellow roses), was a new gift from my mother-in-law Gini, who is out here visiting with my sister-in-law Jodi and nephew Corey from California.

My husband and mother-in-law at our wedding in 1987.

I have a patio outback but we’ve been cooking outdoors and there is no beautiful grass out there, just dirt, so I chose to stay indoors with my tablescape this time. 🙂

I set the table then realized I hadn’t brought out any clear glassware so I reshot some photos and they will be intermixed.

Collecting vintage china

This vintage china is called Dolly Madison by Castleton and there are enough placesettings for 9 guests. I love the simple centered dark pink rose set into each plate and on each side of the teacups. Next to their IOOF lodge in Sacramento, California, they open a thriftshop on the weekends once a month, I think, and she found these pretty pieces there.

The chocolate pot my mother-in-law also found at the same thriftshop and it is stunning! I have always wanted one and this one is unmarked except for KW 5634. It appears to be an antique French piece and is bone china with gilding around the teapots upper and lower scalloped edges.

Love all of these pieces!!!

Here is our table all set and with several of the remaining hydrangea blooms in small glass containers surrounding the main teapot vase…

We had a loaf of French bread so it is in here, too, helping recreate the look of our inspiration piece.

A sweet table set for sweet thoughtful family!…

I’ve used my older and almost vintage Simply Shabby Chic handkerchief napkins underneath my silverware. These are no longer available but you might find them online or at your local estate sales and thrift stores. 🙂

New plants are settling in nicely outdoors. I’ll share a summer update on the garden soon.

And that’s my recreation of today’s lovely tablescape!

Thank you so much for visiting today! Continuing the tour, we head back up top to visit Cindy at County Road 407. And, here is the list with everyone participating today if you like to jump around, too… 😉

Enjoy all these incredible tablescapes,

Barb 🙂

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Share Your Style #306

June 16, 2021June 16, 2021 French Ethereal

Welcome friends, to this week’s Share Your Style #306! Happy Wednesday to you all!

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

Happily this week I have some news on our new garden shed! I received a text this week from Wolf Valley Buildings.com wanting to schedule our shed’s arrival, so… Now it’s all about prepping the site and removing all the junk in that area, including the current shed.

Next, as you will see here, I finished the painting in our master bedroom and bathroom. What a big project! As any of you painters out there know, it was about 100 hours from start to finish for the three areas of commode, bathroom and the 15′ x 17′ bedroom with 14′ ceilings at the peak. The crown moulding had never been painted in any of the areas and was put up with just original primer on it, so that all needed special attention. I didn’t get rid of the “alligatoring” from humidity like I should have in the bathroom area, but will another time. I wanted to finish before my mother-in-law and sister-in-law arrived. They are here now and the bedroom was finished this Friday.

So now it’s back to focusing on the garden with prep for the garden shed!… :💜

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

A Star-Spangled Blue Jean Recycle Placemat Project ~ a fun idea I’ve had waiting for this pair of jeans to finally wear out in order to make!

A Glowing New Look for Our Master Bedroom/Bathroom ~ So happy to have this job completed but really just so happy to have a light and bright bedroom and bathroom now! Really loving it!!

And here are this week’s featured posts…

**Jeanie from The Marmelade Gypsy** shared her glorious peonies in this inspired post ~ The Fragrance of Spring. Glorious!!!

**Jeanie** also shared this cutely titled post ~ It’s Really Good That I Like to Lick the Batter Bowl. Part of our summertime recipes at SYS…

I HAD to add this post from **Tiffany (Tee) from TeeDiddlyDee** as I am still just as horse-crazy as I ever was as a kid. Meet D’artagnan, Our Gentle Giant ~ an incredibly gorgeous horse in his prime.

**Sarah over at Hyacinths for the Soul** shared this patriotic RWB post ~ Inspired Tables of Red, White and Blue. Love this!!!!

**Niky from The House on Silverado** shared this sweet bench ~ DIY Garden Bench Makeover. Fun project!!!

**Renae from Peacock Ridge Farm** shared a restyling for the 4th in this post ~
A Fourth of July Hutch Refresh. Beautiful!!! Love the ironstone and flow blue…

uncle-sam-wreath-feature-image — **Debbee from Debbee’s Buzz** brings us this really fun wreath full of patriotic flare ~ Uncle Sam Wreath Peddles Bike to 4th of July Parade. Cute!!!

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. 💜

Happy summer, sweet friends!

Barb 💜

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A Glowing New Look for Our Master Bedroom/Bathroom

June 15, 2021June 15, 2021 French Ethereal

Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!! Can we all breathe a collective sigh of relief? Usually when I paint from room to room, like I did the first year we moved into our last home, I painted the master bedroom and bathrooms last, working on the children’s bedrooms and living spaces first. Over the course of seven months, I repainted most of the house as it needed freshening up. This time, I decided to do our bedroom first since it is just us now, and it is the darkest room in the home even with all the windows it has.

I love yellows, which is what I painted in our first home’s master bedroom, and I thought about painting this room a soft yellow but chose to go more French European.

In our second home, I painted over a bright yellow color in that master bedroom with a soft rag rolling of white over top. It was just enough to tone down the yelllow and it turned into a lovely soft pale yellowish color, which we loved. Just the one wall behind the bed was left the original color and to that I added French trefoil stamps in gold.

For our new home here in Texas, the walls and ceilings throughout the house are painted a deep coffee color. I liked it at first ~ a bit more contemporary, more transitional. However over time and especially in summer, when the angle of the sun doesn’t hit inside the living/family rooms or this bedroom much, I knew we needed to paint a lighter, softer color that would really bounce around what sunlight does come inside.

Hence the move to Valspar’s “Comet Dust” (#773956) in eggshell. It is a lovely light Gustavian grey which pairs well with off-the-shelf Valspar Ultra White (#773957) in satin. I found Comet Dust back when we were remodeling the kids’ bathroom in California to sell the house. The finished bathroom ended up feeling so much lighter with the removal of an un-needed wall to the tub and bath but which in the early 1990’s was put in to hide the changing ceiling height of an added dormer. We embraced the changes and opening it up made all the difference!

I loved how this bathroom turned out!

“Comet Dust” on the walls paired well with the travertine look-alike tile flooring we had installed, which then in turn worked well with the real 20″ x 20″ travertine pavers we designed and laid ourselves downstairs (after ripping out the 20+ year old carpet).

So while watching favorite garden shows on YouTube (Garden Answer) and listening to SiriusXM radio, the coffee color disappeared! That and about 100 hours of priming and painting throughout the three spaces ~ commode, bathroom and bedroom ~ over two months or so has given us a beautiful change!

I’ll share a little home tour soon, but with freshly washed inside windows (rain washes the outside lately, though they really need a good scrub!), the bedroom is coming along. Thought you’d enjoy seeing some of the “in process!”…

Enjoy your summer’s day, friends,

Barb 🙂

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A Star-Spangled Blue Jean Recycle Placemat Project

June 10, 2021June 10, 2021 French Ethereal

Welcome to this month’s $10 on the 10th, dear friends! Our theme this time is Patriotic and because it is summertime, in the USofA our summers are flanked on both ends by Memorial Day at the end of May, and Labor Day in September, with the Fourth of July tucked in the middle. So, I thought I’d make a fun blue jean recycle project for us to celebrate…

Thank you to Tammy from Patina and Paint for hosting this month and we have a treat as everyone is here for this fun patriotic event, too! Woo Hoo!!

Let’s get this party started, shall we?

How to make these Star-Spangled Placemats

My project begins with two pairs of old jeans, including a pair of my absolute faves!

(shot with my iPhone 4… Wow, phones have come a long way! Soooo blurry!)

But ever since I made this Welcome Banner out of old blue jean pockets, I knew I would be using these pockets again… (They were too cute and sparkly NOT to reuse them!)

Begin by cutting off the lower legs of the larger pants and slice them down the side. Cut off the front tops to use the rivet and front pocket detail as part of your design.

Lay out your pieces (four or more; I used just two to make two placemats today), and mark out two 12″ x 16″ pieces for the back of your Patriotic Placemats:

Since I was making these at night, you get a nice view of my dining room chandelier overhead!

Use quilters rulers, if you have them, to mark out your 12″ x 16″. I looked up the standard measurements for placemats and they can be anywhere from 12″- 16″ x 16″ – 22″. I picked 12″ x 16″ but wish I had made them 18″ wide, so really think about how you want your placemats to look before cutting them out.

I was also limited by the size of the blue jeans (especially using the front top sections) but could have cut the pieces longer. 😉

Using the American Flag

Okay, as a former Boy Scout and Girl Scout leader, I am always a bit hesitant to reuse the American flag because I was taught that you donate your old flags to the local Boy Scout troops to burn at a future ceremony.

It’s always a big deal for the kids to go through preparing the flag for burning and afterwards, the grommets are saved along with the cold ashes. Small bottles are given to each participant of the reminder of how sacred our freedom and country are.

HOWEVER, I do love the look of this flag. It never faded in the least and was still fairly new. It caught during a couple of storms on the bush outfront and began ripping upwards, so it was an easy fix to zigzag the rent…

Sew any tears in your flag. I actually want the frayed look as it kind of goes with the worn and tattered blue jean look! <3

For this flag, I could get two stars and stripes sections if I reorganized the stripes and cut out 6″ x 16″ sections.

Then it was simple to sew the 6″ x 16″ stripes to the bottom of each upper star/stripes section! Iron the seams flat and lay out this placemat “top” to the backside of the blue jean placemat “bottom,” wrong sides facing each other.

Sew about 1/4″ seam around the four edges… I found it best to sew down the two sides first, then sew across the top and bottom (the bottom fabric WILL pull towards the end of your sewing, so either pull taught…

Sew OUTWARDS from the middles, flip for the other half of the top and bottom, towards each edge (this is the actual way you are supposed to sew, which prevents this pulling; this is how I learned to sew from my instructor when sewing collars and necklines/hemlines). 😀

Lastly, sew on the blue jean sparkle pocket around the edges, leaving the top open to add silverware OR sew closed and use the actual pocket flaps opened!

Aren’t these Star-Spangled Recycled Jeans and Flag Placemats cute??

I knew this is what I wanted to create with these pockets for the past couple of years as this old favorite pair of capris were beginning to really fade and tear, so I am glad I get to share them here on $10 on the 10th with you today!

Oh! Total cost?

$0, less the cost of original materials.

Priceless!

Now let’s go check out what patriotic ideas our friends have come up with…

Ann ~ “Wine Gift Bag” ~ Apple Street Cottage

Allyson ~ “Free Printable 4th of July Fans” ~ Southern Sunflowers

Barb ~ “A Star-Spangled Blue Jean Recycle Placemat Project” ~ French Ethereal (here!)

Cindy ~ “How to Make a Grapevine Wreath” ~ Cloches and Lavender

Corine ~ “Garden Wreath” ~ Junks to Jems

Patti ~ “10 on the 10th Patriotic Ideas” ~ Pandora’s Box

Tammy ~ “Ribbon Wreath” ~ Patina and Paint

Terrie ~ “DIY Summer Wreath Inspiration” ~ Decorate and More with Tip

Enjoy the tour!

Barb 🙂

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Share Your Style #305

June 9, 2021June 16, 2021 French Ethereal

Welcome friends, to this week’s Share Your Style #305! Happy Wednesday to you all!

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

My goodness, friends! This has been a nice two weeks off from school (summer vacation), enjoying the pretty mountainside around Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and our nephew and new niece’s wedding, and just taking a break from writing…

Other than the time we were moving out of our last house (August 2015) and I had nothing to write about (or so I thought…), I have taken very few breaks off from blogging and this was a nice break. I was originally just going to take time off from Share Your Style but it turned into a break from everything! I feel refreshed and ready to visit and share new ideas again with you! 💜

What have I been doing: Painting our master bedroom is almost completed… I am finishing up the ceiling today and am just waiting for the last of Coat 1 to dry so I can stand down below and roll a light second coat over the whole thing (ugh!). Definitely NOT professionally spray painted! WHY the last owners chose to paint EVERY ceiling coffee brown… The crown moulding and walls turned out beautifully. After almost 30 years of painting rooms, I’m getting pretty good at it. 😉

And I am back in the Craft Room (which I have really yet to share) working on making it happy! So, I’ll be sharing those posts soon. 🙂 I am excited to share all these summer inspired posts with you…

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

A Five Minute Picnic Basket for Two ~ Part of this month’s $10 on the 10th challenge. 😉 This was a fun post to write and really quick to put together. Looking forward to more picnics this summer and into fall…

And here are this week’s featured posts…

There is something really fun about bee-utiful table settings and this past month our friend Rachelle from My Hubbard Home joined another of our favorite friends, Debbee from Debbee’s Buzz, in a Bee Themed link party ~ Here’s Rachelle’s cute post ~ A Bee French Table Setting for Chic Themed Spring Entertaining. Love all the yellow, black and white!

Rachelle also shared this lovely post ~ How to Extend the Life of Your Peonies. Lovely! Wish mine were blooming this year…

Lisa at Fresh Vintage by Lisa shared her Trash to Treasure ~ Cast Iron Plant Stand Redo this week. Love the new look and it is soooo pretty anywhere in the yard! Nice job!!

MaryJo over at Master”Pieces” of My life shared Why You Should Have a Water Feature in Outdoor Spaces. Yes!!!

Tiffany over at Tee Diddley Dee brings us this fun DIY Rustic Wooden Serving Tray this week and it’s super fast and easy to make. Perfect project to make for summer soirees!

thrifted style, ditsy floral dress, The Thrifty Six, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge

Shelbee from Shelbee on the Edge shared her post with the Thrifty Six and Back with Spring Florals. Love this fun style blog hop and I am sure you will, too!

Last up for this week is this yummy post perfect for breakfast (anytime, really!) from Claire Justine ~ Chunky Monkey Overnight Oats. Don’t you just love a little chocolate for breakfast? ;)’

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. 💜

Happy linking, dear friends!

Hugs, Barb 🙂

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5 Minute Picnic Basket for Two

May 25, 2021May 24, 2021 French Ethereal

Welcome friends to this month’s Pinterest Challenge hosted by my friend Cindy of County Road 407. This month we are putting together pretty baskets! If you are coming over from Laura from Everyday Edits, welcome!

Do you ever want to go on an impromptu picnic with your sweetheart but don’t want to drag out everything like we do for camping trips? Well, my picnic basket should give you a couple of new ideas to use for your next picnic. And they are things just laying around the kitchen and home…

Here is our inspiration piece from Anderson + Grant

Jamie of Anderson + Grant is new as a blogger online to me but actually I think I’ve met her at a Design Influencers Conference! We sat together and she was really nice. I don’t remember if it was in Beverly Hills or Atlanta as I went a couple of years in a row and I am soooo excited to write her and say hello!!

In this our inspirational post, Jamie made over a broken thrift shop basket she found with a nice grey wash. It’s always fun to see what you can find at local thrift shops to refresh. Thrifting is also one of my favorite things to do while out “on the road.”

If I can find a treasure to bring home, I am a happy girl! 🙂

Well, my Longaberger basket is still in good shape and even though you can’t go to the company’s basket parties any longer, you can still find lone baskets occasionally at flea markets, and of course, thrift stores.

I chose to leave my basket natural and put together a quick 5 minute basket that you can whip up with one of your own baskets, too!

What to fill it with

I found these adorable bicycle paper plates in January at our local Costco in Lewisville, Texas, and they were $9.95 for a stack of like 250 or more. Great deal and the package comes with bicycles on one plate and a spring wildflower bouquet on the other!

Two bicycle plates went in first, then the turquoise Tupperware cups we bought the year we moved into our trailer from a friend’s party.

Then I added plastic ware leftover from local takeout and a couple of lemon napkins from a summer Pinterest Challenge last year. They are perfect with the fun paper plates and add more color to the picnic basket!

Lastly, I added a small bouquet of dried lavender from my garden and a small candle to add a little romance when spreading out the throw blanket (around the basket) for a picnic for two…

Since this basket is for a snack picnic, I’ve popped in a box of crackers and some chocolate toffee. When getting ready to leave, it’s simple to add in a small soft-sided cooler with cut up slices of Cheddar cheese, maybe some shredded chicken or turkey to top the crackers, and some red or green grapes, plus a couple of sodas and bottles of water to round out the menu…

Well thank you so much for stopping by today! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you’d put in your picnic basket… 😉

Next up we swing back up to the top to visit Cindy at County Road 407 and I know you’ll love what she has done with her basket!

Hugs,

Barb 🙂

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Share Your Style #304

May 19, 2021June 9, 2021 French Ethereal

Welcome friends, to this week’s Share Your Style #304! Happy Wednesday to you all!

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

Well, what started out as a DIY themed and possibly a Memorial Day post has morphed into more of a summer tea and related theme! I never know what each week will bring, but it’s really fun to see what all you bring “to the table,” so to speak!

Enjoy checking out all the lovely china, tea and related posts shared by all of our friends… And one very special woo hoo post, too… <3 Time for tea, friends!!!

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

No tea posts for me this week but I will have some soon! Summer break is coming… 😉 Until then, here’s what I have been working on:
Backyard Garden and Shed Plans ~ an update on where we are with moving the fence and how getting a new shed is coming along.

And here are this week’s featured posts…

Ringing the Bell to Celebrate the End of Radiation Treatment — Winner winner chicken dinner!!! Let’s all send some hearty congratulations to **Paula of Virginia Sweet Pea** on finishing her radiation treatments!!! I have been blog hopping with Paula for several years now in the monthly Pinterest Challenges + in a couple of other hops here and there. So nice to hear her success story! Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful celebration for our friend Paula!!! <3

Paula also shared the story of her 100 Year Old China Cabinet… Love it!

**Penny of Penny’s Treasures** shared a little about her shed ~ New Look for Our Multipurpose Garden Shed. It looks very similar to what ours will look like! <3

**Lori over at Dining Delight** shares her fun transition from a winter coffee and hot chocolate bar (she lives up in British Columbia) to a cheerful summer one ~ Coffee and Tea Bar with Lemon Decor. Love the yellow!!!

Newcomer **Lynne of Thrifting Wonderland** shared this lovely table in this post ~ Afternoon Tea Setting. Love the pretty pinks and florals! Welcome, Lynne!!!

place-setting-bee-theme-table — **Debbee of Debbee’s Buzz** brings us this sweet post buzzing with beautiful bees…
French Inspired, Royal Bee Theme Table and Napkin Fold. So pretty!!!

**Chloe of Celebrate and Decorate** shares her beautiful Spring Tea Party 2 with us… Love love love the new china tea set!!! (Blinders, Barb…)

**Fabiana of Fabby’s Living** brought out some gorgeous china, too! Love her southern style post ~ Magnolias for Mother’s Day. <3

Honorable Mention

My friend Judith of Botanic Bleu shared her remodel/DIY post as she and her husband remodeled their home to add Dream Sunspace Design 1 – Exterior. Love this bump-out window addition! (Sorry I can’t add a photograph for you!)

***Just an FYI, next week is our last school week of the year and it is going to be a busy week, so… I will be taking the day off next Wednesday. I may take the following Wednesday off as well as I will be in Tennessee over that Memorial Day weekend for my nephew’s wedding. I’m scheduled for a flight home on Tuesday, but with air travel one never knows if you’ll get bumped. Going to try and visit Dollywood with my daughter and maybe my brother and his wife!

Let’s party, friends!

Barb 🙂

Uncategorized

Backyard Garden + Shed Plans…

May 17, 2021May 16, 2021 French Ethereal

We are coming into the home stretch with getting our Garden Shed and Fence plans approved, friends! This coming week I go in to visit with the City Planning Department and see if we can nail this thing down before summer break begins…

City Ordinances

Most of this spring, I have been sending emails back and forth about the fence and shed plans. Part of what the City needed to see was something I didn’t expect… Anyway, I will get to that in a minute, but here is a photograph of our Proposed Shed plan marked out and a 15′ line behind it (all in yellow measuring tapes).

Most of us know that in cities there are easements of land which we all take care of but we don’t actually “own.” We don’t pay taxes on that part in case the city decides to widen the roadway, dig up utility lines or put in water drainage systems underneath. For ours, that is a BIG 10′ section of land.

Whenever you wish to build or place a shed that is larger than 120 sq. ft., then a permit needs to be applied for and the city planners need to approve your plans. It’s all for safety reasons and in our case there have been concerned about wind ratings for the structure and its tie-downs since there can be Cat. 1 tornadoes and straight winds whipping through the area!

What I didn’t know is that the City also has a “No Build” area another 15′ from the property line… That’s 25′ from the main road that we aren’t supposed to build anything major on. To me, that is just silly and a waste of valuable property. I see sheds in homeowners’ sideyards all over the city so we are asking for a Variance.

In my many emails, I’ve found the City Codes for adding structures, and have addressed why we should be allowed to allowed to put the proposed shed here along the back fence but close to the side fence (which will be moving out 3′).

Here are the surveyor stakes laid out and you can see the narrowing which follows the curve of the main street, more or less. We have left all of the surveyor stakes until we begin putting in posts for the new fence.

Our Proposed Shed ~

Our Garden Shed will look very similar to this shed with the dormer windows but in a medium grey with white trim. I have gone back and forth between a white roof and charcoal. What do you think?

Here are a couple of other sheds Wolf Valley Buildings makes which have the charcoal roofs. Ours will be metal.

What we are having made is called a Cabin Shell, like the top photo. It will have upper storage inside and I am really excited about it! I’ll move the potting bench inside and we are planning on having electrical run to it. Wolf Valley is building it with electrical outlets, overhead ceiling boxes and an outside electrical box built with it.

Now if the City will approve our plans and allow us to put the shed where we would like it!

Can’t you just see the new shed down there? This would be one of the nice views towards it. It will angle towards the house and our dining room a little so it can be seen from the patio and dining room.

Be prepared to wait

When asking for a Variance, all paperwork has to go infront of the Planning Commission for approval and this can take some time. The paperwork on the city website says 1-2 months as the commission only meets once per month.

So when I go to meet with the Planning Technicians this week, I’ll be bringing all of the paperwork I have so far and hopefully they will use the emails I have forwarded with all of the photographs, so the Planning Commission will be able to see what we are trying to do. 🙂

Prayers are much appreciated,

Barb 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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