Patio Ideas | Home Improvement Projects for Wasted or Unused Spaces | Fun Shelving Ideas
Making Use of Unused Space: Latest Patio Project
Designing Wasted Space is a Personal Petpeeve
Before we covered the patio, I was concerned about the posts that would be needed to secure the roof. I didn't want the view of the pool to be impeded nor did I want huge posts to interfere with the feel of the space. It took us plenty of conversations to ease my concerns. Spring of 2012, we covered the patio with a roof and we couldn't be happier with the results. Utilizing wasted space is a pet peeve of mine so the first obvious design issue was the post on the left side. Do you see the two feet of dead space between the post and the house. HMMMMM...What to do with that...was what I was already thinking.
Completed Roof, Notice Post on Left
New Shelves and Ready for Stain
Make Shelving for Displaying Decor out of Unused Spaces
My husband, AKA "the wood man" got creative this past weekend and constructed a most fabulous shelving area for that unused space that had been sticking in my crawl since early spring when we covered the roof. Using some Cedar planking left from the build, I heard him hard at work with the electric saw in the garage workshop.
Several years ago we were meandering through a little country store (one of our fun days out and about) when there they were, Fleur De Leis brackets. That day they went home with us. Remembering our fun find from years past, the brackets made a tremendous value added addition to the project. We had just enough stain left over from the post staining to take care of matching the shelves.
Finished .....AHHHH....Unused Spaces No More
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What is Fleur De Leis?
French for 'The Flower of the Lily Fleur is flower and Leis or Lis means Lily or (Lotus Flower). French royalty traditionally used the Fleur De Leis. As legend would have it, an angel presented Clovis (the Merovingian king of the Franks) with a golden lily as a symbol of his purification upon conversion to Christianity. He in turn adopted the symbol when waterlilies showed him how to safety cross a river as well as succeed in battle.
The trend continued as the Fleur De Leis was used on the coat of arms of French Monarchs for centuries. Even Joan of Arc used the symbol on a banner to show God's blessing on the French when leading French troops. The blessed symbol was used by the Holy Catholic church as an emblem for the Virgin Mary and also representation of the Holy Trinity.
So there you go, The Fleur De Leis has quite the history of royalty all the way to the supreme deity.
My Favorite Fleur De Leis on my hall wall
