Now You See It - Now You Don't

Spring is in full bloom everywhere!  5th Place Cottage may have more than its fair share of problems inside, but sometime in the past, someone with a very green thumb spent a lot of time in this yard.

Bulbs, ivy, ornamental trees, mature shrubs and wisteria....there is so much beauty blooming.

And, we want to enjoy every bit of it with strategic placement of sitting areas and outdoor living spaces.

But, as I showed you yesterday, and again pictured below....not everything outside is beautiful.

Isn't this lovely?  And, although we are big DIYers, moving this was a no no unless we want to hire an electrician.  Hmmm.....just how bad do I hate it?  Pretty stinkin bad!  So, we considered the options and here's what we came up with.  

Since our power company reads the meter electronically, the visibility is not important like it used to be, but it has to be accessible.  Okay, that helps...we will cover it up.  But, what about that color?  Don't get me wrong, I like yellow.   But, this is not exactly my kind of yellow....it lands somewhere between banana and schoolbus.  You almost need sunglasses to look at it!

Since the entire house will be repainted sometime this year, we got a jump on it and painted this enclosed patio section a simple white. This area will remain white since it is a defined area that we are planning to screen in...this too will happen sometime this year.  Notice how casually I commit us to layered projects....my hubby is not particularly fond of this trait...one might even say that he hates it.  And one would be right!  

Where were we...oh yes...the paint.  An improvement?  I would say so.

Next, we hung a pair of fab corbels that I scored last month at First Monday for $30, they made perfect shelf brackets.  And, hubby cut a shelf to fit, notching out where necessary for that ugly awful conduit.

Okay, you're probably saying "nice shelf" but it didn't hide a thing".  But, you only say that because you don't know what I know.  Check out this bad boy!

Admit it....it's fabulous!   Yessiree Bob!  And the cost for this lil gem?  Ahem, that would be -ZERO-!!  How 'bout that?  I've had this beauty for almost 10 years. The sign is likely to be with me forever.  It's rescue story...many years ago a small antique store that had been in business for decades closed the doors.  Months later when I noticed a new sign going up for the new tenants, my first thought was, "What did they do with that wonderful old sign".  I turned around in the middle of the street and headed back.  When I asked the sign guy what happened to the old sign, I was so sad to hear that they had thrown it away.  But happy as a clam when I went around back and discovered that I beat the trash man to the dumpster!  How's that for rescue?  It needn't ever worry about being thrown out again!

Now, it will spend its' days lounging around being admired on this shelf.  Hubster hinged it from the back so it can be easily lifted for meter accessibility.  I'm pleased as punch with the clever concealment for that mess!

What next?  Under the sign we placed an old pie counter from a drugstore cafe, another fleamarket find that needed some help.

Once upon a time there was glass in those inserts so you could see the pies.

But, one piece of glass was gone, and the other had been painted over.  So, rather than replace the glass, I removed the remaining glass and inserted these great nesting crates for storage.  We also sell these at the shoppe.

Isn't it fabulous repurposed into a potting table?  It will also be a great outdoor server. It can be whatever my my lil heart desires.  I love multi-functional repurposed vintage pieces, don't you?  Try to say that 10 times fast!

That big ol sign required something big and chunky underneath to look proportionate and I think this was its soul mate.  Symmetry is not at all important to me, but scale certainly is.  Next, I added in some accents...

Plants, garden accents, and a pair of industrial lights (another find from Canton First Monday) are right at home in this section of the patio.

I used an antique pickle jar to store birdseed....aren't vintage jars fabulous!!

As always, I have to include before and after shots.

Move your curser over the photo below to see the transformation!

Or, how about the old fashioned way...

I still have more to show you on the patio......later!

What do you think so far?