The Potting Shed

LaurieAnna has a blog party for Farmhouse Friday's!  I thought I'd do a re-peat of a post I did last summer on our potting shed.  Hope you enjoy.  Thanks, LaurieAnna!

My last post was on our cutting garden.  You can read about it here.  It sits in a pasture in front of our house.

Would you like a peek inside?

We painted it to match our house.

I found this French agricultural award plaque in Cashiers, Georgia.

My good friend gave me this door knocker for Christmas.  Isn't it cute?  It's fashioned like pruners!

I'm not sure where this fragment came from.

We added these iron straps to make the rounded doors have a little more interest.

So, step in and I'll show you around.

This was just an empty room when we bought it, but we had this old cupboard from remodeling a kitchen several houses ago.  Mr. Pressed Pants had used it as a workbench.  We put it in here and had a sink put into the top and tiled it.  Then we had water run in when we added irrigation to the garden.    

A pretty little bird holds a hand towel with acorns, of course!

Lots of soap and a dish to hold rings.

I have used baskets like this for many flower arrangements.  This ones holds projects that I'm working on. 

Above that, I hung the top of an old rake that holds hanging tools.

No working shed is complete without bugspray and gloves.  These nest prints are on metal.

These sconces have been looking for a home forever, it seems.

A simple nail holds the twine.

I try not to go crazy with birdhouses, but this one gets to stay inside here. 

Inexpensive metal shelves are covered with this grain sack printed burlap piece.

I acquired these birdcages somewhere along our travels and they stay on the top shelf for decoration.

This interesting basket holds chicken wire and miscellaneous tools.

I keep potting soil in this old copper boiler.

 This table was a curb-side rescue when we were first married.  It has probably been ten different colors.  I skirted it with tension rods and store cushions under it.  The tiny refrigerator holds bottled water and wine with cups and corkscrew in the basket above.  It comes in handy when we have drinks or dinner in the garden.

Here's a closeup of the fabric.  You see birds here again. 

On the other side of the door are some old wooden shelves.

I can't remember what this wire piece was originally used for, but I hang seed packets on it so that I can refer to them from time to time.

This little plaster plaque has been with me a long time.

Here's that window from the inside.  You can see an apron I brought back from France that I keep hanging beside it. 

This wall is floor to ceiling wire shelving.  It isn't very attractive, so I covered it with an old shower curtain made of Osborne and Little fabric and wooden beads.  You can see the round table that we set up for dinner out in the sitting area.

Told ya it wasn't pretty back there!!! 

This canvas bucket is perfect for weeding.  Can you see that very important kneeling pad hanging under it?

This French flower bucket holds stakes and bamboo. 

I'm thinking about painting the floor in a green and brown diamond pattern.  What do you think? 

This uninspired fixture was supposed to be a darling little chandelier, but this is a true working shed and I needed good light. Besides, living in Georgia, believe me, I find this fan a real blessing. 

Let's spend a while in the garden.  Water or wine??  Bugspray??? 

I'm linking with a couple of blog parties:

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

and

http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

and http://savysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/ for Wow Us Wednesday 

Dinner for the Twelve Disciples!

Mr. Pressed Pants belongs to a wonderful group of people who do a weekly bible study.  It is his Disciple class, and ironically, it has twelve members.  He invited them to our house for their last meeting of the year.  I didn't attend, but of course, I did the set up.  It had to be super simple, since I had only the afternoon to put this together.  My inspiration was these blue hydrangeas and the oak leaf hydrangeas that we have blooming right now.  Just a package of yellow roses from Costco, and a sleeve of white and yellow mums from Kroger, and I'm good to go.  All of the filler came from our yard as well.

I set up things so that they could serve themselves buffet-style from the drop leaf table in the bar.  I threw on this blue and white checked cloth.  All of the linens that I used were from a trip to France.  The stack of white plates are just our everyday dishes.

These blue willow salt and pepper shakers are old, but that pattern seems to go with so much, doesn't it?

I set up these glasses in the bar.  These are caterer's glasses that are a good size to be used for wine, soda, water, or mixed drinks.  Saves finding lots of different sizes.  I just like to use cloth napkins when I can.  These yellow cocktail napkins seem to be used often.

This large old copper pan usually lives in Mr. Pressed Pant's office filled with magazines, but it is just great to hold ice for wine and bottles of iced tea.

I quickly set up the coffee tray.  Nothing fancy here.  You don't see it, but I put a post-it note on it to remind Mr. Pressed Pants to get the cream from the refrigerator.

Since I planned on three tables of four outdoors, I used these same flowers that I had on the buffet table to make three small arrangements for them.

This is what we call the upper terrace.  It is the view as you step outside the bar.  Just down three steps and there's the first table.

This is my favorite set of French linens.  The only thing I put on the table is a napkin with flatware wrapped in it and then tied with raffia, and then I put the glasses upside down so that leaves and junk didn't settle into them.

Up on the round deck, I used another set of linens.

Just blue and white this time.

On the lower terrace, I put the third table.

This third set of linens are also great for this flower arrangement.  I purposely bought these three sets to go together, but not match.

Here's the arrangement on this terrace. 

This very ordinary patio furniture looks much cuter when accessorized. 

These great printed burlap pillows started the vibe.

The little cafe table holds a wicker covered glass bottle filled with some simple grasses and ferns.

Then I set it on this wonderful taupe and white checked cloth with faggoting, which is also from a trip to France.  What's that pink thread doing there?  This might be another one for the blooper file!

Mr. Pressed Pants thinks people who talk to their plants are crazy, but he does threaten them!  He must have scared this hibiscus plant, because a day ago, there was not a bloom open on it, and today it is a beautiful sideshow.

And, of course, no outdoor evening party is complete without offering a helping of bugspray!

Here's Mr. Pressed Pants beginning to cook kabobs as I said goodbye.  I think they had a great evening.  I got home just as they were serving dessert.  How about that!!! 

Be sure to visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for her Tablescape Thursday blog party.  You'll love all the inspiration you'll find from her participants.

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Look for this post at Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper, as well.

http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

 

 I am also link with Happy to Design for Sunday Favorites.  It's a great blog party to see some past posts that you'd like to revisit!You can see a red/white/blue post I did for last Labor Day.

http://happytodesign.blogspot.com/