It’s wonderful what human creativity, matched with skill, can achieve. Seemingly trivial, often useless, things are frequently transformed into pretty, useful products as if by magic. This fireplace cover is one such project.
Elizabeth Holcombe spotted four shutters decaying in her neighbour’s trash. Take a look at them and you’d know why they were in the trash. They are plain ugly. But where the rest of us would have seen the dirt, the splattered lead paint, cracked surfaces and rusted hinges, Elizabeth saw possibility.
On a cozy February Sunday, Beth and her hubby teamed up and pulled the shutters into their garage. The first step was to shorten three of them. Beth’s hubby cut off the bottoms of the shutters. He had to chisel away some layers of wood to re-fit the bottom pieces of wood back on the shutter. Then , of course, followed the inevitable task of scraping and cleaning the shutters and replacing the old hinges with new ones. All they used were a wire brush, bleach water and a Brillo pad.
The industrious couple dragged the heavy shutters upstairs. One dollar worth of white (with a tinge of violet) ‘oops’ paint stashed away at the Home Depot was put to good use. Then Delta Ceramcoat Pale Yellow goes splash! splash! in keeping with the home decor. Apple Barrel paints in shades of Meadow Green and Light Pink to create leaves and berries add the finishing touches. And Ta Da!
Look at the fireplace screen now. Can you cross your heart and say you can recognize the shutters you saw earlier? And guess how much it cost them? $15.40. And it’s worth more than that. The couple must be wonderfully proud of the morning spent together so productively. And though she doesn’t know it, it’s a lesson for the rest of us on what a little imagination and the right kind of eyes can do.
Source: Elizabeth Holcombe
