Springtime Inspiration

Look what God does with his brilliant color palette... Yes, pink is still going strong at my house, in the garden in the form of snapdragons and roses, as well as on trays, more trays, signs and now furniture.

Yep, add furniture to the list. You knew it would happen. Actually, after Raspberry-Coral-Pink showed up a few weeks ago, it staked a claim to my paintbrushes and became a sort of fixture at my house. One thing after another has fallen under its colorful spell.

I'm not sure if I ever showed you the little gal below. Maybe I did. Hard to keep track these days. On the way to work one morning, I took a drive through a neighborhood that has bulk pick up on Mondays. There this little round table stood at the curb with its thumb out begging for a ride. I didn't hesitate a second to pull over and open the door for her. She seemed tame enough and didn't really have anywhere else to go. She just wanted out of the junk pile. It's usually the end of the line for cast offs that find themselves curbside on trash day, but now and again, hope shows up in the form of a vehicle in need of a junk fix and everyone ends up happy.

I've been known to accept such hitchhikers before. They're often a little worse for wear, but if it they fit in the back seat, lie low, keep quiet, and obey the "No Smoking" rule, I'll give 'em a lift. Well, truth be told, many of my riders, while they don't smoke in my car, still carry the scent of "eau d'ashtray" with them from their former life. Pe-ew!

This little lady had lived a pretty clean life in that respect, thank goodness, but if she'd been on What Not to Wear, well, that would be another story. Stacy and Clinton would have had a field day with her stale attire. They would question why was she hiding behind that dreary veneer and hadn't bothered to layer on any other colors or add a little "pop". They'd likely say she'd been so busy giving to everyone else that she never took any time for herself. Yes, clearly she'd lived a life of service. It was time for some attention to be turned her way for a change. You have to admit that when this picture was snapped of her sunbathing out on my patio above, she did kind of underwhelm. So the pink paint and brushes flew into action as she sat patient and still for her makeover.

Now she dazzles in raspberry and coral, layered with a bit of a white wash. She's gone girly. 

SHUT UP!

And while her new brightened tones were cheerful, I thought I'd go a step further and give her some new footwear. Yep, she got pink paint and casters. Her time had come. A girl has got to have a set of wheels! The casters had come home with me from a sale for 25¢ each. I was itching to use them on something. It was a hasty move, though, I have to admit now. The little lady just isn't used to heels on wheels and is a bit unsteady on them. They just don't really suit the little Florida girl. The wheel-heels originally seemed a good way to keep her off the ground so that when it rains she isn't stuck standing in puddles of water that pool on the patio. However, while some girls are made for footwear, some, like her, are just as stunning in their bare feet. I'll just have to devise something else to create a buffer between her and the often wet patio. She'll be kicking off her heels again soon and those shiny wheel-heels will go to some other lucky piece of furniture.

Here she is as seen through the kitchen window, dressed in pink and wowing at sunset in her new pink attire.

And if one little, round, pink table is good, aren't two better? As the story (and my pink paint brush) goes... there once was an injured marble table that I also plucked from the impending doom of a trash claw. That's right. It was just a couple weeks ago. I've had a glorious run on small round pedestal tables.

The pedestal part had an interesting vein to it, but the top was unattractive to me and did nothing to perk up my patio or detract from the look of my ugly patio stones. Didn't it too need a little color in its life?

 {gasp!} I know... it looks gaudy, right? You're crying, "NO!" right now, aren't you? A crime against marble you say? Well, if someone ever wants this for something else, I think the paint will come off quite easily. Anyway, this is just the first garish coat when it looked bubble gum pink. I assisted my pink paint brush in adding coral and darker raspberry and some streaks of white too, to give it the same snapdragon color treatment just like the other newly pinkified round table. 

The two tables are now pink soul sisters, just in time for Spring.

It's still a bit of a shocker, but it matches the other table, and once I get all my other flowers growing, it should fit right in with a host of other colorful patio pretties. Besides, the sun shines bright and hot, and I figure it will tone them both down before long, so I didn't even add that much whitewash to these.

Meanwhile, the teacups I sprung for at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago have been pressed into service daily. Practical and pretty. I like that.

Here is my Snapdragon Inspiration.

There are similarities.

This image doesn't show the color correctly, and it's hard to see the coral/orange that helps mimic the snapdragon's multi-colored beauty, but it's there.

As you can see below, my patio is sadly lacking. I recently lost a pink hibiscus tree, my ground orchids took a beating a couple years ago and only one has ever kind of bloomed again since. They used to bust out all over. My roses are not showing the same blossoming spirit they used to wow me with either. My flowers used to be so fabulous. Sadly, I'm afraid it's a statement about the gardener rather than just the garden, or maybe we just need Spring to kick into gear even here in South Florida where it's should pretty much always be growing season.

I have much to do out here. Who knows what might get spruced up next. The concrete patio stones are pitted, they have rust spots from planters and they get dark and mottled, not to mention that they get slathered with paint from all my projects. Plus, weeds are constantly growing in between them. It doesn't help that my grass is kinda puny right now and harassed by weeds. This area comes and goes with the willingness of the grass to outsmart the weeds and the desire of my flowers to bloom their hearts out.

Plants are fickle, just like me. Sometimes they're up to the task, giving it their all, and sometimes it seems like too much of a bother for them to keep up. Yeah, this patio really cries out for an overhaul, but on a large scale that's just not likely to happen soon. Can't say what might happen to those clay pots though. I'm thinking my paint brushes might be itching to get moving again.

Since big changes aren't likely to be in the cards for my patio, I added the pink tables for a little pick me up. I can't quite decide, however, if they're bright and happy or garish and gaudy. You might be thinking the pink is the "what not to wear". Well, maybe. These could easily fall to both the bright and happy and the garish and gaudy sides, but they'll stay this way for a while until my paint brushes get a hankering for a new color or style.

Ah well, when trying to mimic what God has created, he'll win hands down every time.

His handiwork does make for great color inspiration though.

I hope you find some inspiration of your own and let your paint brushes out to have some fun this week! 

Stop and visit these sweet parties:

What We Accomplished Wednesdays @ Green Willow Pond

 

The Weekly Thrift @ Young Heart Old Soul