Friday Guest: Gwen from The Bold Abode

Happy Friday!  I have a fabulous guest fro you today, but also wanted to let you know that you can find ME over at Maryann's new blog, Power of Paint, sharing how I distress painted pieces.  I am so excited about Maryann's new blog, dedicated entirely to the magic of paint!  I hope you will pop over and see me there.






And now to my guest.... I am so excited today to have Gwen from The Bold Abode here today.  I love Gwen because she is funny, honest, and even when she talks about serious things, always puts her silly spin on them!  We often have very silly serious back and forth banter.  I also love that she is not afraid to share her love for inanimate objects, like, say.... bowls!


Aside from being funny, she is also extremely creative and talented!  I just love this hand painted table she worked magic on!

Isn't that amazing???  Why yes, it is.

Today Gwen is here sharing an awesome idea!  So awesome that I told her that I planned to get Chris drunk tonight and convince him to build me one of these bad boys!  Oh yeah!  Take it away Gwen!  Go on with yo' bad bold self!

Holla, Holla all you Primitive and Proper Peeps!

I’m Gwen

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And I am unbelievably stoked to be here today!  I think it’s safe to say that I’m not the only one around here who knows how sweet, funny, talented, open-hearted and BOLD Cassie is. But I do wish she was just a little wackier...a little goofier.... hehehehe...

I LOVE her for this picture...

And, mercy, she’s a pretty BOLD girl for letting me take the wheel, and I’m gonna do my derndest to make her proud!



Sooooo….I’ve been drooling over this Nantucket Porch Swing for three years…

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Isn’t she gorgeous?



But with a price tag of over $800, ummmm…that was NOT going to happen.  Neverevereverevereverever. Period. The End.



So, when I saw all of the reclaimed pallet projects popping up, I jumped in on the action and decided that I was going to get my Porch Swing….one way or another.



I found some plans for a regular old Adirondack Porch Swing,

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So, gathering up my skirts, I got to work. But not until after I'd called my dad about twenty times and then scrounged the local construction sites for some leftover wood…It got pretty mucky there for a while!



The first part of building from plans is to make your templates.  I like to use this special pattern making fabric that is marked out in 1” squares.

But I had to make some adjustments if I wanted that Nantucket Swing. These amazing Patternmaking rulers really came in handy-dandy!

Once the frame was built, I began to think that this might actually work.

Yes, I did have my doubts…cuz this is the first real piece of furniture I have ever tried to build. Slapping some pine boards on some reclaimed house columns is most assuredly NOT the same thing…



But when the seat boards started going in and actually fitting…goosbumps all ovah!!!

Here she is all finished.  Except for sanding her and painting her and sealing her….yeah, almost finished. Yall know how that goes, right?

And don’t yall love it when you can dig through your stash and find some “free” paint to use? I had some left-over Cote de Azure by Sherwin Williams from our Master Bedroom and used that as the base coat…

But, the base coat…she wasn’t singing…more like screeching. So, I washed her in a coat of white, and now she’s hummin’ a different tune.

But, come Spring…when I actually get her hung, she may find herself in a pretty coat of white.  I love color, but something about that white swing makes me smile.

How about yall?  Would you slap some more white on her or leave her singin’ the blues?

 

Thank you again, my dearest Cassie, for being a part of my life and for allowing me to share this little part of myself with your readers!

Now get out there and