Outdoor Chess Set

The other day while I was watching HGTV, there was a quick tutorial on how to make a "Outside chess set". It was a huge life size chess set that involved lots of grass squares, concrete, and ginormous chess pieces... I thought it was super cool, but Mr. Husband would never let me rip up our back yard. So I thought I would try and make one to put in our front porch on top of a table, so it could turn in to a "chess table" : )

For the base, I ended up using a board that was for magnetic scrapbook stuff, and it worked perfect!!!

I grabbed some wood from Home depot, glued the sides together, and then glued the frame to the board itself...

To make it match our outside decor, I spray painted the board white and added some decorative trim on the top.

I then grabbed a square sheet of travertine tile at Home Depot for half of the squares. It was the absolute perfect size!

I then found this moss at Michaels... I loved that it was so vibrant. I really wanted to use real grass at first, but Mr. Husband said absolutely not :) I had no idea that they made moss in sheets and it was the exact look I was going for...

I filled the base with potting soil, and then it was time to "checker board" away!!

After I was done, I placed it on a small wrought iron table that was already out front, and here's how it turned out :)

I also found a super cheap chess set at Target and spray painted the pieces brown and white, but we don' t keep them outside because it can get pretty windy. I imagined that we would go out in the front every weekend and play chess while we drank yummy coffee in the mornings, but that has yet to happen :(

At least it's fun to look at!!

Hanging Ladder with Lanterns

I've been so excited for this post! A few weeks ago Mr. Husband and I were at Scottsdale Fashion square getting ready to spend some gift card money at Crate and Barrel (I already feel like a trader, but we got some awesome stuff for our pantry decorating... that post coming soon!!)... Well, Pottery Barn is right next door, and I couldn't resist going in. I saw this and just. about. died.!!!

If you can't tell what that is, it's a antique ladder with twigs on top. It was just so amazing!

So then I kept walking around, and died again. I loved the lanterns hanging from the jute.. sooo Pottery Barn-ish!

So I thought to myself "D, what can you do to have both of those elements without making too many new holes in your new patio ceiling (seriously, our house was just done being built three months ago), and without making Mr. Husband uber mad...."

Well, let me show you :)

I first looked on Craigslist for an old wood ladder, but figured I could just make one myself and get exactly what I want. I went to Home Depot and spent less than $5 on wood (the ladder is 6 ft. long). I then started assembling the ladder in the craft room, started staining, and then got a bit too nervous about staining the wood in there, so moved to the garage...

While the stain was drying in the garage, I started working on my lanterns. I just got married 2 months ago, and along the aisle in the church I had shepherd's hooks with lanterns lit up. I tried to buy stuff for the wedding that I new I would be able to reuse again, and I'm so glad these lanterns made the list!

They were white, so I spray painted them black...

These are the hooks I used to hold the fishing string (to somewhat give the ladder the illusion it is floating). Here's the deal... I am in Arizona, and for the next few weeks we'll probably be getting some amazing monsoon storms. So I needed to make this "ladder hanging thing" in a way that would allow me to take it down easily, should I need to. I also attached the lanterns with "S" hooks, so I could take them down right away if I need to.

After the stain and top coat dried, I took some nice twigs I found in this dumpster, dried them out and stapled them to the top... Everyone finds awesome furniture on the side of the road, and I find tree trimmings... I'll take what I can get !!

I had finally finished and was ready to hang it up, but as expected, we had crazy winds... So I opted to wait one more day. It killed me!!!

But finally, here she is!

The whole project cost me less than $20, and I would say it's well worth it!

Linking up to CSI's Pottery Barn Challenge and My Backyard Eden!