A Grain Painted Picture Frame

This was one of those "one thing leads to another" kind of projects. 

When we bought the poster bed from Marketplace in October, we had intended to store it to be used in a future guest room.

But when I saw it, I wanted to use it in our bedroom (at least for now), and Ron agreed. 

But the picture we had over the bed looked too big between the bedposts. 

Too big and too high!

Ron really wanted to keep the picture. We had seen one in a Cracker Barrel restaurant a few years ago and it had rekindled a childhood memory for him. He believes that it was hanging in his grandparents' house. Our son-in-law Andrew tracked it down online, and Ron had ordered a colored print and made a frame. 

So we cut the matting down and Ron made a new frame. 

Then there was thinking/planning time . . . and the holidays . . . and some plain old procrastination.

But in February, I determined to get that frame painted and I wanted to try my hand at colonial grain painting. Although I was able to find examples of grain painted frames online, I was unable to find any real "how to's," so I just jumped in and tried to replicate a simple design. 

I painted the frame with two coats of barn red. Then I did the design in burnt umber, using the beveled edge of a foam brush to dab the little lines. I finished with a coat of Briwax stain.

Ron had already had a piece of glass cut at Lowe's, so he quickly put it all together and we (finally) hung the picture over the bed! 

It looks so much better than our first try! The proportion is right, and, as a bonus, I think the colored frame suits the colored print more than the plain wooden one did, and it complements the other colors in the room. We think it was quite worth the do-over! 

A Winter Chat

I thought I'd pop in with a little this-and-that!  

First of all . . . HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! 

I gathered a few hearts and scattered them here and there. I made the two coverlet ones. The calico hearts with buttons I purchased (several years apart!), one of them on a recent antique shopping adventure with my friend Barbara. 

On that same antiquing trip, I picked up the vanilla latte candle and the colorful penny mat under it on the sideboard. The heart on the tea tray I made many years ago, seventeen years ago to be exact. I remember because my granddaughter Eve was a baby when I sent a similar one to her family, and Eve will be eighteen this summer! Oh, how the years fly by! 

We had some more winter weather this past week. The snow fell quickly and was so pretty. All activities were canceled. I lit my candles, made a pot of chicken noodle soup and homemade biscuits, and enjoyed the down time. The snow was mostly melted within twenty-four hours and life resumed. That's my kind of snow! 

Manzy enjoyed the snow from his cozy perch. 

When Kati was visiting at Christmas, she introduced me to Elevate, an app that offers "brain training games" to boost cognitive skills. I only use the free version (you can subscribe for more games), but I love the challenge and have just completed a 50-day streak. 

I made these chocolate cherry scones for my Bible study group yesterday. They are the same scones that I made last year (Cherry Vanilla Valentine Scones) except that I drizzled melted chocolate on the top instead of the vanilla glaze. 

I came across this quote this week and it really made me think. Oh yes, there is so much that we do not see!

But I also want to take note of God's blessings that I do see, and with that in mind, I began a gratefulness journal this week. My friend Carla has been doing this for years and recently hit the 12,000 mark! Inspired by Carla, I am taking a few moments each day to simply list things that I am grateful for. 

We decided that we didn't want to compete with the crowds for Valentine's Day dinner this evening, so we have ordered carryout from our favorite Mexican restaurant. Ron will be here any minute with our meal . . . 


I hope that your week has been filled with simple delights, gratitude, and a knowledge of God's immeasurable love for us!

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." I John 4:10 

P.S. I wrote a Gathering the Moments post for November, but just finished it published it last week. So I backdated it and sneaked it into the blog, but if you're interested in reading it (Thanksgiving pictures are there), you can find it ~ here ~.