With the GrainHome Improvement Tips and Tricks

I’ve been to flea markets and yard sales where I’ve seen old hand rakes mixed in with the various goods for sale.  I couldn’t help wondering what the heck people would do with an old hand rake that looked as though it was destined for the trash, rather than for use in someone’s garden.  Then I thought, “What about using them in country décor?” 

Here are some ideas:

• Create a hat rack: spray down the hand rake in a coordinating color, and hang it on the wall upside-down.  Hang hats, scarves, lightweight sweaters, and other light items from this whimsical rack.
• Dry flowers: again, spray down the hand rake in a coordinating color (or, leave it as is if it has that distressed look you’re after), and hang it upside-down.  Hang bunches of flowers and branches to dry from the rake’s tines.

Once you start looking at this gardening tool differently, you’ll be surprised how many country décor ideas pop into your mind.  Take these ideas and run with them!  Have fun!

In our home, there is a lot of blue.  A lot.  We have blue rugs, blue window treatments, and blue hues in our linoleum floors.  We also have a blue striped love seat in the living.  Yes, it’s a lot of blue and working our spaces into a different color scheme is in progress.  However, I have found a way to layer things up to tone down the blue:

• I put two throw blankets on the striped love seat, one a very light mocha and the other solid blue (I know, but it does break the color).
• I put a vanilla color throw blanket on our gliding rocking chair.
• There’s an Oriental rug flanking one end of our living room that contains two different color browns, sage green, and burgundy.
• The burgundy color has traveled to the other end of the room in the way of occasional lamps, throw pillows, and a chenille throw.

So, until I can get rid of the all blue wall-to-wall carpeting (we’re putting in hardwood flooring throughout the space), I have layered on the colors.  It’s a quick fix to a pricey color problem.