Sunday, January 19, 2014

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…

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Finally she got it figured out…

 

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She reeks of cuteness, doesn’t she?

 

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This big guy went along too, of course..

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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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.

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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…

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Dried…

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

 

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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.

 

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

 

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

 

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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.

 

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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…

 

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

 

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

-Mary

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

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:

 

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2 old dirty drawers

 

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A worn mirror with little drawers & hooks

 

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An old sewing machine cabinet

 

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A small folding table

 

After a little sanding, painting, and stenciling later…

 

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I thought the drawers would make lovely flower boxes…

 

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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..

 

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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.Smile

 

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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…

 

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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!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

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.Smile

 

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 This is what it looked like when they were finished.

 

I remembered an old rusty colander I had in storage…

 

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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.

 

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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…

 

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

Happy New Year, everyone!