2013

The New Year!

A birdie told me to!

On a visit to our local




 Salvation Army store,




a little birdie told me





 to look up...

My "Best Of" 2012

I have selected 10 of my projects that were done in 2012 as my favorites because they are the most  beautiful or beneficial to our home and how we live. In no particular order...
1) New Hobby Garage

This was built by an excellent builder and friend. He put this up in 23 days and it looks like it has always been here connected to our 15 year old house! I use one bay as my space to paint furniture and do projects. Hubby uses his bay for a hobby pick up truck. We even have attic storage so furniture pieces and supplies can be stored out of sight and kept neat. A real dream come true for both of us. You can see more on this project HERE.
2) Mud Room

Snowy Snowball Urn

Yesterday we had our first snowfall of the season, and it put me in the mood for some kind of showy snowy decor.





Like a lot of people I know, my inspiration came from Pinterest! What did we ever do before Pinterest? I know that it certainly wasn't as easy to find inspiration as it is today. 



Anyway, my inspiration came from this...

Enjoy Your Christmas...

Putz House & Tie Skirt

Since all the decorating is done,

 I have been having a bit of fun. 

I have always wanted to make a cute little paper house. In doing research on them, I found out the name of these sweet houses are putz houses.



I googled them and came across a pattern to use. I used this pattern...

Christmas 2012 House Tour

Happy Holidays...please come in...

My 3 Chrismas 2012 Mantels plus 1

 Please enjoy viewing 3 of my Christmas Mantels

  

Plus 1 that I helped a friend decorate...

Hand Painted Christmas

My hand painted Christmas...

Painted red frame

Hand painted pitcher

My Take on A MacKenzie Childs Tree

I am thankful to be blog friends with Patti over at Pandora's Box.

She actually lives close to MacKenzie Childs farm and has even worked in their store this past year! Oh what a dream! Patti shared with me the actual tree that they had decorated in the store last year...

I think it is just 2-die-4 wonderful and whimsical. So this year I thought I would work even harder to replicate it than I did last year. I don't have even one thing that is an actual MC piece but have made plenty replicas of their items.

EAT Tray!

Such a fun piece.

This was an easy transformation. I took an old wooden tray with folding legs, placed vinyl letters on the top, then using Annie Sloan French Linen, just painted the top and sides of the tray.

Abandoned Tables Made New Again!

I have been beating the weather clock, so to speak! Colder weather is upon us here in Illinois and I have been trying to get any larger pieces of furniture painted, out in the new hobby garage, since it is not heated.

I received four oak tables that needed an update. A sofa table, an oval coffee table and two matching side end tables. They were dirty, abandoned and crying out for some love...

Meet Lacey!

See why I call this bookcase 'Lacey'? 

It has really pretty cut-outs that make it look that way to me.

The bookcase came to my door looking like this...

Blessings

Another MacKenzie-Childs look!

If you are a Courtly Check MacKenzie-Childs lover, then you are really going to like this!

Initially, I painted this tiny lamp...

 

I painted it to resemble one of MacKenzie-Childs' pieces.  Then one day, the on and off switch broke and after fixing it, It broke again.

Not pretty, but so Organized!

I crave order and I love to organize! The one room in my home that has been driving me nuts is, my storage room. This room is in the basement where I store clothing and holiday decor. It's a good size room but I have always had a problem trying to just stack my plastic tubs one on top of the other, so if I need something out of the lower tub, I have to unstack the whole thing. It's a hassle and makes the room messy. See what I mean...

The builder had put in two wire racks for hanging clothing, but I didn't have clothing to hang on this side of the room. Here's how I solved this problem. I researched free-standing shelving units and came upon this one...

Birds on a Wire!

I have a soft spot in my heart for birds.

 Do you too?




With that in mind, I painted a curvy end table to look a bit French and well, you'll see!

Meet Jax!

I have a friend that just had her third baby...a boy named Jax. He is beautiful as are his siblings. Jax has a five year old brother and a 3 year old sister. Every time my friend has had a baby, I go over about two weeks later to take new baby pictures for her birth announcements. I just have a normal digital camera that is not fancy so these pictures are very amateur, but I have so much fun taking them.

Fall Mesh Wreath & Stool Cover

Just a couple of things that I whipped up today...

 A Fall wreath made with a base of  green mesh.

Wool Pumpkin Tutorial

 It has been a while since I did a tutorial for you to enjoy...and even make if you wanted to. I also have been crazy over wool lately and decided to play with various kinds. Sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy the tutorial!

Materials that I used:

1 old wool sweater, washed and dried to felt or shrink

1 old plastic pumpkin, purchased at a thrift store

2 wool flowers, premade and purchased at JoAnn's, Optional

Jute

Burlap for leaves

1 dowel rod

Let's get started...

Three Tier Table Transformed

A new antique table has entered my life and invaded my living room! I fell in love with it upon first sight even though it didn't look it's best...

Two cool Tables!

Crazy story but true,

As hubby and I were on our way home from our daughter's new house across town, a guy was putting these two tables out on the street corner!

The curbside picker that I have known to be, had hubby stop and I asked what he was doing with them. He told me that he was moving and didn't have room for them and that I could have them. He even loaded them in the pickup!

Sit and Stripe

Here are two small pieces of furniture that I had a little fun with...

 I painted this with Annie Sloan French Linen Chalk Paint at the base and Old White stripes.

Crazy Good Transformation!

This cabinet turned out crazy good and could be used for so many things.

A neighbor who knows that I transform furniture asked me if I would like to purchase this piece and do something fun with it.

Upon seeing it, I knew it would be more challenging than just painting it. But I was up for the task.

Double The Chandelier Fun!

I found two chandeliers at a garage sale. I thought with some imagination and paint, they could be better.

However, before I got started, I sold one, the larger one, to my friend. Sorry to say I didn't take any before pictures, but if you imagine this as shinny brass you will get the idea. All she did was paint the brass white and have her husband hang it in their newly painted dining room.

Sweet Yellow Chair

 

Into my life came this old







 Lyre Back Chair...

Coolest Sconce EVER!

Do you want to hear about the






Coolest Sconce Ever? 



 I happened on an absolutely huge garage sale from years of accumulation and living. In fact, it was more like a flea market! I found three of these in varying degrees of disrepair...

Federal Mirror Addition

Remember that vanity that I just transformed? No? Well let me remind you...

 

First of all, I went to an auction and I saw the same piece of furniture! It is not a lady's desk but a true vanity. The mirror was missing on mine! That question is solved! Or you can go HERE and see the post on this piece.
So, I remedied the missing mirror with this Federal Style one...

Is it a Desk or a Vanity?

That is the question!











I picked this lovely little number up at a garage sale! It just spoke to me...

Our Study

Recently I showed you my new buffet that caused a domino effect in my home.

This is part of that domino effect. In what is this house's actual formal dining room, we have converted it into a study since we don't have a need for a formal dining room that would only get used a couple of times a year and just be looked at the rest.

Boo-loween!

Halloween is upon us and it's time to have some decorating magic!

 

$50 Changes!

You are in for a real treat!

 I am so excited to show you all the changes and you will see the domino effect of what $50 did in my home.

I will entice you to stay awhile by showing you the final outcome!

 

 Okay, here is the back story...I went to an auction and spent $50 on this 6 1/2 foot buffet!

 No, I didn't realize that it was that big!

A story of TWO Night Stands

The story of these

 two night stands


 is quite weird.

Hepplewhite ShieldBack Chairs

Oh how ugly and worn out these chairs came into my possession!


But I have given it away on what I did to them, haven't I?

I didn't want to paint them because...



These chairs are Antique Hepplewhite Shield-back solid mahogany chairs!

I WON a world map mural!

I won a world map wall mural from Stuff and Nonsense and was able to gift it to my daughter for her first home. Actually, it came from Wallpapered.com in London and there was a $60 shipping charge that the original winner didn't want to pay. So she offered it to me, the second winner! I put it up today on the wall behind my daughter Lisa's sofa and I think it looks great!

Birthday Honey-Do's

I recently had a birthday (Sept. 3) and the best part was not the gifts but what my hubby said to me...

"Hon, I'm all yours today!"

I knew that meant what whatever I wanted him to do, he would. And he knew that I had some projects in mind. You see, I am afraid of the table saw and needed him to cut some wood for me. I also wanted to beef up a fireplace mantel. So let's start with that!

We had built this faux mantel many years ago out of various scraps of wood. Then we found an antique metal fireplace face and some antique bricks with rounded corners for the hearth.

Fall Around the House

Urn purchased from GrandinRoad

 Oh so much more to see...

$1 Bookcase!

This is what happened when I bought a $1 u-g-l-y bookcase... 

Lantern Love!

I see lanterns everywhere, but yet I don't have one! So it became my quest to find one that I could display, play with and love.

In came this beauty...

Hutch 108

Yep, here we go again...


I have brought out my silver...

And my stainless coffee pots...

And some feathered friends...



For another look on my Hutch...this one I am calling number 108!