~ Adding a bit of green for spring! ~

I mentioned a couple of posts back about wanting to add some green into my home this spring. I've added some small touches here and there. This shade of green is not only one of my favorite colors, but it just looks springy to me.


I changed the picture between the two sofas to one that has more green in it then the one that I previously had hanging there. It's one of my favorite things that I own since we bought this painting on a family trip to Venice.


I added a green place mat under my lantern. I love this pottery barn lantern because it's so great to add different items inside for the changing of the seasons. I had these little cream colored daisies that should look great in there through the summer.


Here's my display of spring and Easter with touches of green on the entry table. I'll be posting in a couple of days about my Pottery Barn inspired eggs.


I already had most of the items I used. I just went around my house and shopped for things that were the right shade of green. The only things I purchased were the pillows, the blanket throw, and the green place mat.




I painted and glazed one of my candle holders to hold a little bird. I used Rust-oleum's Eden with a bronze glaze on top. Remember that candle holders aren't only for candles. Anyone can do that! You can use your imagination and put anything on top that you love.

Well, I've done my part! Let's hope that the weather will be cooperating soon!

~ Side table cutie ~

Recently my husband and I went out to dinner to celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary. We showed up about 15 minutes early for our dinner reservation. When he parked the car, I got out right in front of a thrift store. Awww...shucks! I asked him if he'd mind letting me take a quick peak inside. He was more than happy to head to the display of used books. I went straight for the furniture. I'm not quite sure why I did this since we had driven my Acura that night, but you never know.



This is the first piece I spotted. U.G.L.Y. That orange sticker on top said $5! Awesome! I could already see the possibilities. We paid and my husband squeezed it into the back seat of the car. Thankfully we had taken out one of our grandkids car seats a few days before. We normally have 3 car seats that fill the whole back seat!



I sanded the top, coated the whole piece with primer and three coats of paint. I spray painted the drawer pulls in an oil rubbed bronze finish.



I love the clean, fresh and simplified look of this little table now. I'm tempted to keep this one but I'm going to sell it. Hope the new owner has the perfect spot for it!

Project fail, let's try this again!

This past Christmas, I decided that I'd like to make many of my presents. Not a bad idea. Sometimes it saves money, sometimes it doesn't. The fun part is being able to create something unique and special for someone. I decided that I'd make 3 magnetic chalkboards, two for each of my daughters and one for my brother. I'd used chalkboard paint before but never had I combined it with magnetic paint. After I painted each of the frames, I cut (I mean my husband cut) MDF boards to fit into each one. I bought what I thought was a brilliant thing - magnetic spray paint. Wrong! After applying several coats of it I ran in to get the cute magnets I'd created. They just fell right off! So back to the store I went - this time I was going to buy magnetic paint to brush on. When I got home I read the directions about stirring it really well. I stuck my stir stick inside the can and it felt like I was trying to stir cement! It was thick and gloppy. Finally I stirred it the best that I could and I figured it would just smooth out with the brush. Wrong again! It was a mess - not to mention rough and bumpy. I knew that the chalkboard paint would look horrible painted over such a rough surface. I finally decided to lightly sand the magnetic paint and take my chances of it not working well enough to hold magnets. It looked better but still not great. After all of the time and money that I'd already spent on these projects, I decided that I'd go ahead and use my chalkboard spray paint on top. I normally love this stuff but it didn't look very good on top of the other paint. By this time it was getting VERY close to Christmas day and I needed to finish these things up and apologize to my family for how they turned out. I begged and pleaded with them to let me redo them. They were being way to kind to me and told me that they liked them that way. However, I convinced one of my daughters how cute it would be to make a photo board in the frame instead. She agreed to let me do it and we went to pick out some fabric and ribbon at the fabric store.


I took the chalkboard out and cut a piece of batting the same size as the board. After ironing the fabric, I turned it upside down on the counter and laid the batting and board on top.


Then I took my staple gun and stretched it tight and stapled all around the edges.


After turning it over, I cut ribbon and laid it out the way that I wanted it to be placed on the board. A little hot glue under each end allowed it to be stuck to the back. I also added a dab of hot glue under each area where the ribbons crossed. I added little rhinestones to the centers to complete it.


Much better! Now that's a present that I can feel a little better about giving away. I'll still need to work on my other daughter and brother to convince them to let me redeem my work!

~ Color inspiration from nature ~

I was sitting on a bar stool today, eating my lunch . At that very moment, I was thinking about how good my food tasted instead of all of the normal decorating and design stuff that usually fills my head with each waking hour (and some sleeping too). Then I looked over at my fruit bowl and noticed what a beautiful color that mango was that was sitting in there. I began thinking that this would be the perfect green for me to start adding into my color scheme. I've always been a fan of the color green and I love how it also represents our awareness of taking care of the environment. So, it didn't take long for my thoughts to go straight from food (don't get me wrong, I think of food way to often) to decorating in a matter of minutes!

Watch out green, I'm coming after you!

~ Somebunny needs a makeover! ~

I walked into my favorite thrift store the other day in search of a bunny. It's almost Easter and I'm ready to work on a cute Easter vignette. I'm tired of my old stuff, all pastel and everything. Not that I don't like that look but I'm looking for more of a "Pottery Barn" look this year.
I walked up and down the isles, turned the corner and... there she was, sitting on the top shelf looking all 80's with her little peach flowers. I know because I used to have this peach kind of stuff years ago...yuck!


I grabbed her up for a whopping $1.99 (not on sale)! I couldn't wait to rip off those peach flowers. They came off pretty easily, but I can't say the same for the glob of hot glue that someone used to stick them on! They obviously didn't anticipate someone coming along and removing them.
She got several coats of Krylon Ivory spray paint. Here's what she looked like after that.


A huge improvement, but still not quite finished.


I painted on my favorite glaze. I like to use a small brush like I showed you here to get into the creases better. Then I took a paper towel and wiped it down. It's important to do this just a section at a time because it dries pretty quickly. I like how the glaze highlights the details in her little face!


Here she is all finished! A super, duper, easy makeover. I wish that all makeovers were that simple, but that's a whole different subject!
I have a fun plan in mind to display this little girl bunny. When I get that finished up, I'll show you where I'm making her home until after Easter!

~"Custom" draperies~

People seem to ask more about window coverings then just about any other design question, in my experience. So for that reason, I decided to do a posting on how simple it can be to add drapery panels that don't cost as much as it would to purchase custom ones. Window coverings are like placing the perfect piece of jewelry with an outfit. They're the final touch. They can also make a really bad statement as well. Here's what I mean. If you walk into a home and feel like you just walked into your Grandmother's house 20 years ago, I'll bet that the window coverings might have something to do with it. Here are some examples of draperies-gone-bad!

Ok, maybe this isn't fair! The window coverings aren't the only change this room needs.

How about when you see panels that are too short? I like for the draperies to just sweep the floor.

Ok, just one more! You may like these but I personally think they look a bit dated. Maybe it's just that they're very elegant and that's not my personal, preferred style.

It can cost a lot of money to get custom draperies. If you go to a supplier of custom window coverings, there's no doubt that you'll speak to someone who can help you create a fantastic and current look. The problem is that you'll be spending hundreds of dollars. Personally, I'd rather spend less on the "jewelry" of the room and focus more on the furnishings and accessories.
When we moved into this home, I decided to use a lot of black and cream in the Great Room. By using classic colors like this, I knew that I could change the accent colors anytime I wanted or even change them with the seasons.
I went to Lowes and purchased 5, 84" length panels from Waverly at $29.97 a piece. I needed to cover 4 windows. Here's what I did:

I placed 1 panel on each of the windows on the front of the house. I rarely need to close these as we live on a private street and there isn't a house in front of us that can see in. If I really needed the privacy here, I would have placed 2 panels per window so that I could pull them together and they would cover the window completely. Again, I was trying to save money and just create a final touch in the room with the texture of fabric.

On the two narrower windows, I also hung 1 panel on each one and used cording and a tassel to tie it back. There is a house on this side of us so I installed bamboo blinds to pull down at night.

I wanted to create something a little more custom on these windows so I took some black fabric that I had (from another curtain panel) and made valances to cover the top of the drape.

I used a separate rod to hang it.
With the 5th panel that I bought, I cut some strips of material to create the valance treatment.

I used more of the material to make pillows for the sofas to tie it together.
For $150, I was able to cover all of these windows and have some decorative pillows as well. I'll be able to take them to the next house we live in, and have options on how to use them together.
I hope that this post helped to inspire you and to prove that it doesn't need to be a difficult task to create window treatments. I don't DO difficult! Sewing also isn't one of my gifts.
I'd love to have you share with me any interesting and inexpensive window treatments that you've done. I love getting new ideas!

Nursery's finished, waiting for baby!

A week ago, I posted about my changing table redo. It was all for this... sweet baby Langston's nursery! She will be arriving some time in June. The walls are painted, the crib is up, and there's even a rocker in the corner waiting for the sweet girl to make her entrance into the world!

Danni chose the cutest baby girl bedding called "Sweet Safari Pink" by Trend Lab. The bedding was the inspiration piece for the whole room to come together. Boone and Danni spent some time in Africa doing mission work, so it was Danni's desire to add a small touch of Africa to the room without overdoing it. The paint we chose was Sherwin Williams "In the pink" for the accent wall. The other walls were painted "Interactive Cream" by Sherwin Williams. It was important to keep budget in mind and do things as inexpensively as possible. It's a good thing that working with limited funds doesn't mean that you can't create a special place.

I took this picture before I knew I wasn't supposed to use the flash. Oh well, you get the idea. Painting the tree didn't cost a thing! I found the picture on the internet and set it up on a projector to allow me to outline the design. Then I just used craft paint to paint the details. It took the good majority of a day to paint, but again, it didn't cost a thing!


This side of the room needed color and texture too . I purchased a small round table and table cloth to sit the lamp on.


I bought 1 yard of coordinating fabric from Joanns to make a large square. Then, using Unique Stitch fabric glue, I went around the edges to seal. I ironed it and it was ready to go.


The lamp was bought for $8 at Salvation Army. It was brown, but some Ivory paint lighted it up perfectly.


These frames were purchased at second hand stores and painted with paint that I already had. The zebra print fabric was on sale at Craft Warehouse and matched the bedding almost perfectly. The larger frame has a piece of 12"x12" craft paper inside. Boone and Danni will be able to place baby girl's picture right on top.

So now the waiting begins! If Danni's anything like me when I was expecting, she'll spend many hours sitting in that rocker just dreaming of holding her new baby!

~The changing of a changing table~

Baby Langston's nursery is a project in progress. Tomorrow I will attempt to paint a tree on the wall with a cute little monkey in it. I'm no artist, that's for sure but I do have a fairly steady hand with a paint brush. I'll be cheating by using a sketch of the tree that Mommy Danni wanted but with the flowers and monkey that she liked the best from another picture. I'll use a projector to make it the size we want.
I've been working on a changing table for the room that I found at Salvation Army. I got a GREAT deal on it and by looking at the picture, you might know why! I saw potential in this piece with the fact that it didn't look like every other changing table that I've seen out there. I loved the fact that it had drawers on the side, shelves that were just screaming "cute baskets" and an area on the front that I thought would be fun to do a little art work. Again, I'm not gifted in the area of art but I can find a template online of a cute flower and cut it out, trace it and paint it! So, that's what I did.

I cleaned her up a bit and applied a primer that would accept the paint well. I painted 2 coats of Behr's "Cottage White". I took the knobs off of the drawers and spray painted them "Ballet Slipper" from Krylon. The shelves were warped so I went to Home Depot and found a piece of MDF board for slightly over $5.00. I had the Home Depot guy cut it for me into the sizes that I needed. I love that service!

These baskets were 1/2 price at Michaels and were the perfect colors! I wanted to add a personal touch so I bought some little wooden labels (also Michaels) and drilled a couple of holes in each one. After painting them pink, I strung brown ribbon through them and tied it on the inside of the basket. This will be fun to label the baskets with whatever items that they choose to keep inside. It's not that I thought that this baby girl's parents weren't capable of remembering what is kept inside of each basket, but I think it makes them a little more unique and interesting with a personal touch with very little money or effort!


So...here it is, the after project. The total price was just under $50 including the table itself, new shelves, baskets and paint. I think this will be a fun addition to sweet baby girl Langston's room!