Living Room Touches

With all the Christmas décor tucked away into storage the house almost echoed. For me, it’s always somewhat of a challenge to decorate this time of year.. I get tired of the winter decorations yet it’s almost too early for spring touches.

Before I proceed I need to make it known that my life is once again back to normal…  camera-wise. I finally managed to get my favorite camera again! ( exactly like the one that was taken from me last fall ) I’ve had so much fun already with it. I am also considering installing a tracking device in it so it’s less likely that history will repeat itself! ( Or maybe just putting a sticker on it that says “if you feel the urge to steal this camera,think again, because it just might contain a tracking device”  Or  “if you feel the urge to steal this camera you may want to reconsider since it contains a bomb that can be detonated by the owner and she will not hesitate to press the button since she feels if she can’t have the camera, no one can” ) (honestly, I almost felt this way)

Anyway, yesterday I braved the cold and took a walk with the two youngest in our family the cats. I couldn’t resist snapping a few shots of little Pebbles as she thought she was stuck in a tree…

 

Finally she got it figured out…

 

 

 

She reeks of cuteness, doesn’t she?

 

 

This big guy went along too, of course..

 

 

Okay, back to the subject… living room touches..

 

 

Don’t ask me why I enjoy taking crooked pictures..just different, I guess.

 

 

I still have mostly neutrals in the living room with a few splashes of blue.

 

 

I made a cover for an old pillow and transferred some wording onto it, the same way as I do for wood. (since I know no French, I hope the words are nice!)

This past summer I clipped some fresh blue Hydrangeas.

 

I let them dry out in the vase and they surprisingly kept much of their color. But this winter I thought they didn’t look so nice anymore so I gave them a light coat of blue spray paint. Here is the before and after…

 

Fresh…

 

Dried…

 

For the mantle, I painted little clay pots, added numbers and stuck some boxwood clippings in them.

 

 

 

I used binder rings and twine to bundle some pictures together for the wire basket. I still want to add more.. just haven’t gotten around to it. I took all our photo Christmas cards we got from people and tied those together for the one bundle.

 

 

For those of you interested in some easy, non expensive curtains you might want to try this…

 

 

I cut strips of cloth 12” wide and sewed them onto sheer panels every 12”.

 

 

 

To hang them I got pieces of electrical conduit from my dad and spray painted it black for the rods.  My brother in law has a shop with plumbing and electrical fittings of all sorts so I rummaged around until I found a hook like object. They were silver so I painted them too. They worked great to hold the rod. I found some rings with clips in a local fabric outlet store that worked perfectly to hang  the curtains.

 

 

The only thing that could be an issue for some people with these curtains is that they are see through. I don’t worry about any shades at our house since we are back in where no one can see us. But I’m sure if I was right by the road I would add blinds.

 

For the entryway area I felt I should have something to hang purses and coats for my tea party guests when they come, so for now this old ladder will suffice…

 

 

I stuck some carpet gripper on the legs so it won’t slide down so easily..

 

 

So that’s a little of what I’ve been up to lately. Hope you enjoyed! Until next time…

-Mary

My Free Day

 

I love blogging but at times I think who would at all be interested in seeing projects I have going on? At times I’m afraid it appears as though I’m flaunting my things I redo or create. I never mean it in this way! I feel stuff I do, anyone could. What keeps me going here is my interest in seeing other people’s creations and things THEY do and then share it on a blog or pinterest, etc. So hopefully I can inspire like I’ve been inspired!

 

Last week I had a “free” day that I didn’t really have a single thing that HAD to be done and no place I really needed to go. This doesn’t happen often enough! Being a mom, of course I had some basic things going on; meals, laundry, etc. but I felt a wild urge to go out in the shop where I keep most of my assortment of things I want to eventually redo and rummage about. Some of the things I collect hubs will roll his eyes and ask “when are you going to use that?” I reassure him someday I’ll be glad it’s there, even if it’s a few years later!

 

As I dug around, this is what I found:

 

2 old dirty drawers

 

A worn mirror with little drawers & hooks

 

An old sewing machine cabinet

 

A small folding table

 

After a little sanding, painting, and stenciling later…

 

 

I thought the drawers would make lovely flower boxes…

 

 

For the sewing machine cabinet, I removed the fold out wing and used it as the top.. I thought about refinishing the top and making it darker but thought this will have to do..

 

 

The mirror got a few coats of chalkboard paint and the frame & drawers a coat of cream colored paint that hubs brought home from work for me.

 

 

I’ll save my favorite for last… All these items will be sold & I’m almost hoping no one will take this little table! It would go well in our living room… I have a little folding table already that I use in the living room or I would probably hang on to this one…

 

 

 

 

I got the design from The Graphics Fairy . Love that site!

 

I hope you enjoyed my free day as much as I did! Thanks for visiting and the kind comments you guys leave!

Colander Sink Light

Here is a quick post on an idea for a light shade for those of you that like a primitive look. The other day hubs & my dad got a sink light wired so I can see to wash dishes. They did give me a funny look when I said I’ll come up with my own light shade.

 

 

 This is what it looked like when they were finished.

 

I remembered an old rusty colander I had in storage…

 

 

I used white spray paint to give it a coat of paint and cut a hole in the bottom to fit the bulb holder thing in.

 

 

 

I just used the wire itself to hang the colander for now but eventually I want to attach a rod or chain to hide the wire…

 

 

 

 

It’s nothing fancy but for me it beat spending money on a pricey light!

Happy New Year, everyone!