A Creative Slump… And Birds Do the Craziest Things!

I think I’m definitely going through a creative slump and it is spilling over into my blogging, as evidenced by my lack of posts lately.   All of the endless remodeling/decorating decisions and DIY projects in the past year and a half on the house in Hooterville, not to mention the packing, moving and unpacking,  have left me feeling like I’ve hit the wall.  Hard.

I have been working on a few little things but nothing that seems creative, pretty  or significantly worthy enough to share.   Posting about getting 2 new cabinets and a ceiling fan hung in the still unfinished laundry room or the new dust ruffle I bought for the bed seems so lame…and boring.  I can’t even seem to muster up enough creativity to  coax my camera into taking any pretty pictures. 

Sooooo…what’s a blogger to do?  I thought I’d share an interesting little discovery I made this week. 

Warning:  no pretty pictures or decorating inspiration below.  :(

When we bought the house in Hooterville, the garage did not have a door.  Actually, it still doesn’t.  We have bought one but with all the other projects and renovations going on, my hubby hasn’t had a chance to install it yet.  In the city, this would pose a security risk but out here in the country…apparently not so much, so the garage is open 24/7.

In the back left corner  of the garage is an entrance to the house  (with the door that I haven’t had a chance to paint yet).  Just a few feet from the door is an old refrigerator we use mostly for chilling extra drinks.

 Whenever bottled water is on sale for dirt cheap, we usually stock up.  We go through a lot of water during the hot summer months (plus it’s always good to have extra bottled water on hand  through hurricane season), so next to the refrigerator sits multiple cases of bottled water (and a case of Dr. Pepper). 

Stay with me here.  I’m actually going someplace  with this.  ;)

On top of the stacked cases of bottled water is an open case.

Much to my surprise, I discovered a bird’s nest in the open case a few days ago.  I thought this was such an odd place for a bird to build a nest.  But maybe not.  At least it’s out of the elements. 

There are no eggs in it yet but it is definitely an active nest because if there is too much activity around the back door or refrigerator,  Mrs. Bird (a small sparrow-like bird) flies out and startles the bezeebers out of me.  I’ve been trying to get a picture of her but every time I think to go out with my camera, she’s not in there.

Needless to say, in an effort not to disturb her too much, I guess we won’t be drinking much bottled water during the next month or two while we wait to see if she raises a family in there.

Have you ever found a nest in an odd place?

My Mission: A Pretty Southern Front Porch

Other than painting the exterior doors, sprucing up the outside of the house in Hooterville has taken a backseat to other, more pressing projects.

Across the front of the house is a nice size covered porch.

Although I still have a million and one projects left to do inside the house and there are still more moving boxes that need to be unpacked, I’ve got a bee in my bonnet to start fixing up the front of the house, especially the porch area.

This is my inspiration photo.  Love this!

 original photo source unknown

I see  several definite similarities between my porch and the one in my inspiration photo....long and narrow, brick house,  shutters, and columns… so I think it would be relatively easily achieve the same type of look. 

The heck with all the unfinished inside projects.  I’m a woman on a mission!   I’ve decided that starting this weekend, my current projects include:

• a whole lot of pressure washing
• painting the porch ceiling a pretty shade of light blue  (Did you know blue porch ceilings are an old Southern tradition?  There are numerous theories as to why...  fooling spiders and wasps into thinking the ceiling is the sky, to blue being a color of good luck, to the color extending daylight, to scaring away evil spirits.)
• painting the shutters black
• a fresh coat of white paint on the columns
• stain or paint the concrete floor
• find pretty wicker furniture and cushions
• a new outdoor ceiling fan
• plants and flowers

Hopefully, we will be enjoying our hot summer evenings with a cool drink on a pretty, Southern-inspired front porch.  What is your favorite way to spend a summer evening?