Fresh Eggs and Fry Daddy!

I got this old desk years ago from a friend and my three boys used it growing up.  Now it was time for the desk to go so I moved it outside with plans on painting it shabby white and selling it at Melange.  Unfortunately, the rain got to it before I did so I decided to tear it apart and repurpose the parts! 

The inside panel of one part of the desk was in perfect shape and I was in a painting mood!  I started decorating for spring and wanted something new for my mantel hood display area in my kitchen.  Spring always brings lots of birds to my yard and I love collecting their nests - but not until the eggs have hatched and the birds have moved on! I love those old painted market signs and the signs you see advertising farm stands you see along the road.  I decided I needed a fresh egg sign so I whitewashed the panel, sketched out "Fresh Eggs by the dozen" lightly in pencil for spacing, grabbed my paintbrush and went to work!  I added the cluster of eggs to symbolize my three sons who have left the nest!!

I placed the sign atop the mantel on a cast iron plate stand but it looked lonely.  I had just found this shabby wire basket at the Goodwill for a dollar, thinking it was an old egg basket - when I got home I realized it was really the basket for a FryDaddy!  It had old oil cooked onto the metal which came off easily after one trip in the dishwasher.  I added some plastic speckled eggs in light pastel colors and placed it next to the sign - That's better!!  I still think it looks like an old egg basket!

 I love the way the sign goes with the colors in my kitchen.  I just had my kitchen remodeled by DreamBuilders of El Dorado Hills.  This cooktop / backsplash area with the potfiller is one of my favorite parts of my remodeled kitchen!  The rope and accent tiles are a bronze metallic so I added some bronze metallic paint swishes into the nest on the sign - just enough 'shine' to add a little extra dimension to the nest on the sign!  Now my mantel area is ready for spring - and part of my theme for my Bunko night next week is birds!  Have you ever used something like my "Fry Daddy egg basket" in a different way?                 P.S. If you like my "Fresh Egg" sign I have smaller versions for sale at Melange!