We Have a Winner!

Karli from Stylish Stockings picked the winner of our giveaway using Mr. Randomizer. And the winner is.....
Lauri from Putting My Two Cents In. Congratulations Lauri!

Breaking In

Okay, I really intended to post this a bit earlier, but we had a little emergency trip to the doctor for xrays. My youngest has "a bit" of a broken arm. Luckily it's not too serious (he didn't even want to go to the doctor) and will only need 3 weeks to heal.

Now onto another kind of break.

When deciding to go with a bold color in a room, like I did with the aqua headboard, sometimes you need to do it in steps---break yourself into the idea. Bring in a few pops of the color with pillows and other accessories. Try painting something small first. I painted this frame and then lived with it in the room to make sure that I loved the color enough. Once I'd done those baby steps it wasn't hard to take the giant leap. And now I'm so glad I did. The bold color was just was what this guest room needed!

***Don't Forget***
You have until midnight(MST) tonight to enter the giveaway!

Hooray! A Giveaway!

Last week Karli from Karli's Corner emailed me to say she had exciting news. She just opened her etsy store called

Stylish Stockings.(photo credit:Holly Brimhall of bloggingwithholly.blogspot.com)

She asked if I would host a giveaway to announce the opening. Of course I excitedly accepted her offer, especially after I saw her beautiful creations!
She makes these darling stuffed pumpkins.And these gorgeous Christmas stockings.The lucky winner will get to choose

a set of three fall pumpkins (4 sets to choose from) OR

two stockings (24 to choose from & more on the way).To enter the contest just leave a comment on this post.
If you want additional entries
you can write about this contest on your blog,
facebook, twitter or myspace.
Be sure to link both
Joys of Home and Stylish Stockings.
Then come back here
to leave another comment for each thing you do.

Good Luck Everyone!

The giveaway will be open until
Wednesday at midnight (MST).
***The Giveaway is closed.***
Thanks for participating!

In Progress

It often seems that, because of the wonders of blogland, everyone gets projects done in a timely way and those projects magically look fantastic. I can sometimes feel a little low, wondering why that same magic doesn't happen at my house. Why can't I completely redecorate a room in a day, or a week, or even a month?
Take my guest room for example (a.k.a. daughter's abandoned room that she and her hubby come to stay in when they're in town). I started that project last December, added to it in February, and completely ignored it until this week. Why did I start working on it again? The changing of the weather of course! I've wanted to paint the headboard and footboard. I had to spray paint it before the weather gets any colder. I gave you a sneak peek of it earlier. It was only a peek because it wasn't the overall look that I had in mind.
The bed was originally our master bed. It came from the PB outlet. I loved the style, more than the color. But (***pay attention to this next line***) changing the color intimidated me. Yes, you read that correctly! I liked the finish but not the color. I was afraid if I changed the color that I couldn't achieve the same aged look. But I finally I got brave enough, reminded myself that "it's just paint" and took the plunge!I sprayed it a beautiful Aqua. It will look so pretty against the grayish walls and topped with the chocolate brown comforter. Yes, aqua was a bold, but beautiful color choice.Now on to the part that I feared. Aging and distressing has proved to be challenging. I started the usual way, a little sanding and a little scraping. But the primer white was coming through. No problem. A little staining will fix that, right? As well as add to the age.The stain went on a little blotchy and didn't cover the primer white spots.
What was the solution? Well, I remembered from my days of refinishing furniture that a rub of very fine steel wool helps to even out almost any stained finish. And, fortunately it worked marvelously!As to the primer white age spots, I took a clue from the original PB finish. I took out my brown acrylic craft paint and my teeny tipped paint brush and painted on those little worn marks! Yep! If it's good enough for the PB people, it's good enough for me!As for the final reveal of it's new make-over, you'll have to wait patiently along with me for it to dry completely. I wouldn't want to have to start this process all over again. It might take another ten months!

Inspired

I love it when I receive emails from you, especially when you write to say that you've been inspired by projects you've seen on my blog. I must tell you that I am always very humbled to be a part of your lives and to help inspire the creativity within you.

I am so grateful to each of you!

I truly wish that there were enough hours in the day to visit with each and every person that drops by my blog.

I really appreciate your comments and emails.
You truly do inspire me to be more creative!

Now I'd love to share a few photos from friends.

Karyn from Sunny days bought this darling
sewing machine cabinet off of Craigs list. She gave it a good cleaning and sanding and
a coat of Heirloom White spray paint
(you know how I love spray paint!)
and it now looks like this. Isn't it beautiful!

Gayle from The Middle Sister was inspired by
my flower table decorations. She needed to decorate a table for a church dinner.
The theme for the evening was about provident living
and finding joy in thriftiness.
She was told not to spend any money.
So she made the flowers out of
slick newspaper advertisements,
added some jars of home canned vegies & fruits,
and then drew placemats
on the plastic table cloth that was provided. Isn't she so clever!

Ashlee had a lot of fun thrifting for items
to decorate her master bedroom.
She found this wonderful mirror. Originally it was ugly brownish gold,
but with a little spray paint
it looks fresh and fun.
She also scored the lovely silver tray,
pretty milkglass vases and candle holder. She's thrilled with her thrift store decor
and so am I!

Thanks ladies for sharing
your inspired inspirations!

Small But Sweet

Before I left my daughter to go back home to the real world, she requested that I decorate her apartment for fall.Occasionally someone will leave me a comment, after I've shared holiday photos of my home, saying things like, "I wish I could decorate for the holidays but my home is too small." Or, "I can't afford to decorate." Or "I have no place to store decorations." Hopefully these photos will inspire those who live in smaller homes.My daughter keeps holiday decorations in plastic containers tucked under their bed. Most of the decorations were purchased at the dollar store, thrift store, or discount store. And as far as room to display, that's easy!
Place a few on top of furniture.Clear a spot on a table or chest.Tuck them into a bookshelf.Replace candles for decorations.Hang 'em on a coat rack.

New York, New York

My daughter treated me to a bus ride up to New York city for a weekend visit. We stayed with a really cute and gracious couple who live there, which was nice because they knew the area and could help us find great ways to spend our time. We spent much of Saturday shopping flea markets.
We had so much fun! It was part of a perfect day in the big city.
We went to one market that's housed in an old parking garage. Oh there were so many things that I would have loved to take home, but I resisted.We also shopped at the Hell's Kitchen flea market. I did find a little something there that I couldn't resist. This cute little suitcase.Isn't it the perfect topper for my stack?