Thursday, August 1, 2019

Throwback Thursday: Mom's Southwestern Porch



A couple of years ago, my mother sold her house and moved into an independent-living apartment in a continuing care community.  I had just bought a simple porch kit for a build-along project with my online half-scale group, and decided it would make a perfect housewarming gift for Mom.  Since she lives in Arizona and likes southwestern architecture, I went that route on the porch.

I used corrugated cardboard for my terracotta tile roof.  It worked pretty well.  I did freak out a little when I put the spackle/water mixture on the cardboard and it spread out almost flat, but as it dried, it sprang back into shape.  (Whew!)  It was a bit fussy, but I like the way it turned out. 


I used more spackle on the back wall (the exterior of the house) to give it some texture and a more adobe feel.  I also used that wonderful egg carton tile I had used in the greenhouse for the porch floor.  Then it was time to fill it with things that were special to my mom.

Some of the most important things are the pots you see along the bottom of the wall.

About five years ago, Mom was fixing up her kitchen, and we decided it would be fun to spruce up the soffit that ran along the top of the cabinets.  So we found some large stencils of southwestern pottery. (Mom said that these were the kind of pots she liked—the kind you don't have to dust!)

Here Mom is working on a couple of the stencils. 



And here I am.



Here is the finished product.


To make sure that Mom could take them with her, I sized pictures of the individual pots, printed them out on paper, cut them out and decoupaged them to the front wall of her porch.




For the shutters, Shellie of MiniEtchers was selling laser-cut shutters with a variety of different cut-out designs.  I e-mailed her to ask if she could do some shutters with cactus cut-outs. Not only did she send me the perfect shutters, she surprised me by putting the cactus design on a porch swing as well!

I printed the fabric for the cushion, as I was having difficulty finding a pattern I liked that would work in half scale.  And, in the picture below, you can see the infamous shamrock geranium leaves.  😊  (Hanging pots by Braxton-Payne.)




Mom loves hummingbirds.  I had a hummingbird feeder that I had received as part of a half-scale swap, but it had no hummingbird attached.  (Ultimately, it broke, and I was able to replace it with a Barbara Ann Meyer hummingbird feeder with an attached hummingbird that is about the size of a grain of rice.  I picked it up at the Good Sam Show.)




With no hummingbirds initially to add to her scene, I decided to stitch some on to pillows for the swing.  I hunted around on the Internet for the smallest hummingbird cross-stitch patterns I could find and worked them on 40-count Evenweave.




I also made a table for in front of the swing.  On it, I placed some of her favorite items—an ice cream sundae, a Starbucks drink (maybe a flat white?), and a good mystery. I made the Starbucks cup and book; the sundae is from Scale Designs.




I added some plants to the front.  The pots flanking the steps are from Braxton-Payne; the other large pots are actually 1:12 pottery from Michaels.  I thought they worked fine for large garden pots.

I made the cacti from polymer clay.  The Clivia is from SDK Miniatures.  The black-eyed Susans and purple flowers were made with my punches.



There are a few little animals gracing the scene.  A tiny jackrabbit from MiniGems hides behind a pot.  A sleeping tabby cat basks in the sun on the front steps. 



And a tiny lizard, also from Mini Gems, is running up one of the support columns. Mom loves lizards and had some painted metal lizards on the outside wall of her house, so I added a couple of colorful Peruvian ceramic bead geckos to the front wall.  Rounding out the porch are a mailbox, windchimes and welcome mat from the half-scale swap; a Kokopeli charm painted hand-rubbed bronze; a "metal" lawn chair from Shapeways; and a sign that says "Shirley's House."  I used the freezer-paper transfer technique to put the lettering on the sign.




I had intended the porch to be hung outside her door.  Most of the apartments there have bulletin boards, shelves, and other hanging objects outside the doors to personalize the space. To that end, everything is glued down very well, to discourage marauding fingers.  However, Mom was afraid that someone might carry it off, so it lives inside her apartment on a shelf-unit.  Besides, as Mom says, this way she can look at it every day.  😊



Hope you enjoyed this little tour.  Thanks for stopping by!

14 comments:

  1. I think it's so wonderful how you have personalized and included so many of your mom's favorite and most memorable things in this gift! There is nothing more thoughtful than something made by our own hands and creativity, and I bet she feels so loved every time she looks at it! It's such a great idea for a housewarming gift, and it's filled with so many clever solutions like the corrugated tile roof! The level of detail like all of the tiny wildlife in such a small scale is amazing! So much fun Deb!

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    1. Thank you! Mom was pretty happy when I gave it to her. :-)

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  2. Beautiful work! I'm going to keep that tile method in mind for the future. And now I need to go look at that sundae!

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    1. Thank you! You sound like you might be an ice cream addict, too. :-)

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  3. What a great scene Deb. I wouldn’t leave it outside either! I love that you photographed and decoupaged the pots onto the wall; they look great and make it very personal. Thanks for showing us.

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  4. I've always loved this little project of yours. My parents took me to Arizona to visit family friends when I was 6 and I LOVED it there. The desert was so mesmerising. I felt like I'd walked into the set of my favourite cartoons, Road Runner & Speedy Gonzales.. lol. Ever since I've had a bit of a fascination with anything southwestern and the American west in general. So this little project really floats my imaginative boat. :D I love the Kokopeli, that swing is amazing and I love the fabric you chose. I see your Mum is the lucky recipient of a readable book. <3 Your plants are amazing, even more so for being half scale. And how cute is the little jackrabbit peeking out from behind the pot. I agree with your Mum and Shannon, it needs to stay inside away from light fingers.. :D

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    1. Thank you! Yes, I liked the idea of it being the "front porch" to her apartment, but it's her porch, and she can keep it wherever she wants. :-) It was fun to find and add all the elements that were special to her.

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  5. What a thoughtful project for your mom. I especially like the way you have included so much desert flora and fauna, and even used the pot wall decorations.

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    1. Thank you! The pots were such a special project, I was glad to be able to find a way for her to take them with her when she moved.

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  6. You Southwestern front porch looks welcoming and relaxing , especially the upholstered swing with the custom cushions on it!
    You have managed to capture the heat and a lazy days atmosphere in a dry climate where being outdoors and chit-chatting with your neighbours, is the order of the day.
    Your mother must have been soooooo pleased with her custom-made gift and all the more because it came from a Special Giver!

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    1. Thank you so much! Yes, she was very pleased. She reads my blog, too, and was very happy to see this post and learn some of the background of the porch. :-)

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  7. Hi Deborah, I just found your blog via Jodi Hippler's blog- and I love it! Binge read the whole thing :) I especially love your rugs! They are gorgeous! I have cross-stitched a rug that turned out pretty good, but have just about ruined it trying to "finish it off". I tried to read up on the process but just can't seem to get it right. Could you possibly photo some of your hints for finishing off a rug? Thanks for a beautiful blog!

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    1. Hi, Michelle! Thank you! Did you read Janet Granger's tutorial? https://www.janetgranger.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-hem-a-carpet/ I think hers is pretty good, and I like using her overcast method on the non-fringe edges of my rugs. I'll be doing another small rug soon for the bathroom in the Fairfield soon, and I'll try to show what I do. 😊

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    2. OK, thank you. Yes I have read Janet Granger's tutorial, still can't seem to get it right. I have a fear of my work
      u n r a v e l l i n g ! Your rugs are so beautiful and lay so flat! I have rug envy- ;)

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