Friday, November 6, 2009

Fall From Me

I am so thrilled to find out that I am not alone in my effort to hold on to fall as long as possible. So for those of you who are still enjoying the signs of fall here's a few more from my house to yours.***REMEMBER, YOU ONLY HAVE UNTIL SATURDAY NIGHT
TO ENTER TO WIN THE BELVEDERE DESIGNS GIVE AWAY!!!***

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Holdin' On

While many in the retail industry and blog world are rushing into Christmas decorating I am holding on dearly to fall.
I love the fall! I enjoy taking down the scary Halloween decor and replacing it with
the bounties of the season.
A few years back I bought these pumpkins. I grew tired of their color almost immediately.
They looked old and dirty.
This year I decided to change their appearance.
I desired the muted green of the real pumpkins I adore.
I sprayed them leafy green.
Then washed them with a greenish white.I love their new makeover! They're the perfect bright spot of color in
my little pumpkin patch
.


***If you haven't already entered the Belvedere Design giveaway,
Now's your chance!***

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Let Your Fingers Do The Pushing

I recently had the opportunity to help a sweet woman redesign the look of her living room. When we first met we discussed her concerns and desires. One concern was the room arrangement. I told her that I had some ideas and that it would be best if we measured everything first and then I would get back to her. We carefully measured the room as well as each of the larger pieces of furniture.
At home I took out my trusty graph paper and measured one square for each six inches of furniture and room footage.
After cutting out the diagrams of the major pieces of furniture I began to arrange the room. It was fun---like playing house! It was much more fun moving items on paper than it would have been to move large furniture pieces in a small room.There are several computer sites that offer room arranging programs too but I find it very rewarding doing it the old fashion way. I came up with four different room designs. When we met again she picked the design she liked best and we were able to quickly move the furniture into an arrangement she had never tried in the several years she had lived there. She was thrilled with the new look and I was happy that I had let my fingers do the pushing instead of my back.

***Don't forget to enter for the Belvedere Design giveaway on the previous post.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Belvedere Design Giveaway

I am so excited to introduce you to Belvedere Designs!
WallQuotes.com, a Belvedere Designs website - Wall Quotes, Wall Sayings, Vinyl Words and Custom Vinyl Lettering.

If you are interested in adding that little touch of personality to help make your home, or even your car, unique to you and your family, you need to visit my friends Jordan and Raelene.
They offer an incredible variety of custom wall letters, vinyl words and wall quotes, family stickers, wall art, graphic design and more
. I'm warning you right now, they offer so many wonderful designs that you'll have a hard time picking just one or two! I know because they let me pick two designs to give away and it was a very hard choice!
I picked this wonderful headboard design for myself.
I have a fun idea for it that I'll have to show you in a later post.

Monogram Vinyl Headboard Decor Sticker #1

You know how I love a great monogram design! Yep, I love monograms so much that I picked this one to give away to one lucky winner!


Monogram Vinyl Headboard Decor Sticker #7

Can't you just imagine this beauty above your bed! Or how about in the entry or living room of your home surrounded by photos of your family.

I really wanted this design for my laundry room but I don't have the wall space for it.
Laundry Vinyl Words & Wall Quotes #16

Hopefully you do though because we're giving it away!

And if that isn't enough, Belvedere Designs is also letting me give away a gift certificate. The winner of this will be able to pick any item, up to $50 in value, from their site! Ooohhhh so many choices! And they've even added 18 new colors like olive, lipstick, buttercream, celdon, and bubblegum, to name just a few.

Belvedere even has a blog where you can see lots of new ideas. And they have a monthly drawing for a $50 gift certificate from their customer-submitted photos.

I'm sure that you're anxious to enter this giveaway! Here's all you need to do: leave me a comment telling me which of the three choices (monogram, laundry sign, gift certificate) you would love to win. If you want another entry then post about this giveaway on your blog, twitter or facebook. And for a third chance to win, leave a favorite quote that you'd love to see Belvedere Designs make---one that they don't already offer (this might be tough because they offer a ton of great quotes already).

This giveaway will be open until Saturday at midnight (MST) I'll anounce the three lucky winners next Monday. GOOD LUCK!

Friday, October 30, 2009

A Last Trick and a Treat

I know that it's one day before Halloween, but if you're like me, you're tweaking things until it's time to take them down. So I thought I'd share one last trick using these bags of skeleton garland I bought at the dollar store a while back. I could never find a place for them and then it occurred to me that maybe it was because they needed a bit of a makeover---a silver spray paint makeover.With a few decorative ornament hangers and my army of silver skeletons in hand I proceeded to the dining room.They're just the spooktacular accessory that my chandelier needed.I was so pleased with their gory to glam makeover that I gave a larger dollar store skeleton the same treatment. But while the paint was still wet I sprinkled on a little glitter. Tied with a bow he guards this shelf perfectly.
Be sure to visit on Monday. I have a wonderful treat in store---an exciting giveaway!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Beast

I've shared bits and pieces of my family room.
You've seen the fireplace. The entertainment center that we built.There's a few walls of my collections.The thrifted side table that I painted.And the door sofa table that we built.But there is one piece of furniture that I try to avoid showing.
It's my well worn, well loved, often napped on sofa.
Let's call it "the beast!"
The beast is one reason that I don't love this room.
Sure I could replace beast with this beauty.
But I know that the beauty would soon become a beast because of the habits of my wonderful family (okay, mostly my hubby).
Their bad habits have caused the death of three couches. Fortunately, for our pocket book, two of the three came from the thrift store in like-new condition. But after the harsh treatment they received in our home no thrift store would take them ever again.
I know that it will be easier to search for another gently used sofa to replace the beast than it would be to change my family's habits. But I also realize that I let my feelings toward the beast take over how I feel about the entire room. Even to the point of not finishing other projects,
like hanging the drop-cloth window treatments I've had for almost two years on this 10 foot wide window.So I thought that maybe if I unleashed the beast for the whole world to see, it might motivate me to make a few changes. I've even given myself a deadline of the day before Thanksgiving. And as much as I love the red walls, I'm considering a new paint color----maybe chocolate brown or charcoal gray.
What about you? Do you have a beast that's preventing you from loving a room in your home? Are there other improvements you could make to help tame the beast? Would setting a deadline help? Why don't we form a club, we could call ourselves the Blogging Beast Bashers (it's not just a motivating title but a tongue twister as well). Come, join me and tackle your home's beast!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A Follow-Up

Remember the basement apartment master bedroom I had the pure pleasure of redesigning? The cute couple sent me some new photos showing their newly purchased duvet cover and the once empty frames now filled with photos. Of course, since they're real photographers their photos are much nicer than the ones I showed. So I thought I would share them with you.
This lamp was our inspiration for the room. And those vases were thrift store finds, as was most of the furniture and accessories.
IMG_2405 by smithkabobphotos.
The large furniture pieces were painted white and the thrifted chair was spray painted apple green.
IMG_2379 by smithkabobphotos.
Isn't this duvet beautiful? It's the perfect finishing touch!
IMG_2350 by smithkabobphotos.
Along with the chandelier decal. Gorgeous!
IMG_2348 by smithkabobphotos.
IMG_2388 by smithkabobphotos.
IMG_2425 by smithkabobphotos.
IMG_2380 by smithkabobphotos.
IMG_2420 by smithkabobphotos.
IMG_2384 by smithkabobphotos.
IMG_2453 by smithkabobphotos.
A few close-ups to show the distressing I did on their newly painted furniture.
IMG_2440 by smithkabobphotos.
IMG_2441 by smithkabobphotos.
IMG_2368 by smithkabobphotos.
IMG_2361 by smithkabobphotos.
IMG_2406 by smithkabobphotos.
These photos are proof that you don't have to spend a lot of money to have
the room of your dreams
.

By the way,
Kathy at
Creative Home Expressions
posted her interview of me.
Go there to read
5 things you didn't know about me.
THANKS SO MUCH KATHY!!!