I gave you a sneak peek yesterday of the shutters I found.  These weren’t the cheapest shutters I’ve bought, but they are the very best (which is saying a lot.)  They are chippy, chalky and this lovely gray color. The hardware is to die for!  I snapped the pictures while they were still in my van, but I’ll haul one up tomorrow to give you a proper picture of them.  You will die.  Well, if you’re like me.  These are the benches I bought for the wedding.  I thought they were a pretty good bargain at $35/piece.  Sorry for the picture of them on my cracked sidewalk and brown grass.  They shed paint if you look at them, so there was no way I was going to bring them into my house.  I’m going to hose them down, sand them a bit and then apply a clear coat of poly

My post yesterday not only inspired those who left comments and told me so, but it inspired me as well.  I’ve been working on the pair of chandeliers in my living room for months, now, and it was finally time to finish them.  This is how they started out.  They weren’t bad at all, but when I hung the curtains, they seemed too busy and the finish wasn’t working with the newly installed rods.  I removed all of the beading and crystals, which were splattered with a burgundy paint.  (Why, oh why?)  With the chandelier stripped of its bling, I painted it a warm antique gold with an asphaltum glaze over top.  Now, they matched the gold curtain rods.  I then went through the laborious task of soaking each crystal in nail polish remover, scrubbing it with steel wool and then stringing it on jewelry wire and back on the