Wednesday, March 27, 2013

It's a Spring Thing (I Think)!

Greetings, friends!

Welcome to our "Spring" breakfast area (even though it's in the brisk 40's outside ... blech), where I've made a few, fun changes!

While "Miss Bessie" (the cowhide rug) decided she'd had enough of the wear and tear on her while resting under the table and moved on over to our quieter sitting room, I think the most noticeable change is the addition of a new farmhouse bench! 



I've become a big fan of buying furniture "au naturale" and then painting it to match our decor.  Once my sweet hubs put the bench together, I gave the legs and frame two coats of Annie Sloane's "Pure White," layer of clear wax and then stained the top Minwax Dark Walnut and Red Oak.  I love how it adds to the French Country feel in here!


I'm not *quite* done with it though ... I'll soon be adding a cushion to the top covered in this pretty, checked fabric: 


I think (**hope**) the fabric it will tie in nicely with the panels, bamboo shades and parsons chairs.


Back on the table, I added a simple Spring vignette:


I started with one of my favorite wire trays from Pottery Barn ...


added another one of our cute bunnies from Pier One (that I gave a little burlap collar):


along with a glass apothecary filled with a few delicious *faux* green apples (yum), and ...


of course, added a vase full of *faux* fragrant tulips (thank you, Big Lots)! 


Annnd, well, *what* Spring vignette is complete without a stack of dishes,  colorful napkin and pile o' spoons ... as if we're about to enjoy a fabulous cold treat on a warm, Spring day!  (But, because Mother Nature has declared it still Winter here, that cold treat will have to wait!)  Boooo.


I also added a bit of bling to our chandie, since I don't need it anymore in the sitting room (can't wait to share what I did in there):


The bling chain is from Pottery Barn, and these lengthy *pretties* are actually Christmas ornaments that I simply hung from each arm:


And, there ya' have it ... our Spring breakfast room trapped in Winter!  If you are one of the fortunate ones to actually be warmer Spring temps, would you *please* send them our way?  Thank you!


And, as always, thanks for stopping by!

I'm linking up with:

Savvy Southern Style/WUW



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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Fabric, Paint and Spring!

You know the deal ... you're in your favorite fabric store ... looking for fabric for, ohhhh, let's say, your son's bathroom, when, all of a sudden, you spot a fabric that would be perfect for your dining room!

Not that anything was particularly *wrong* with the gold fabric (shown below) that you've had in there for the past few years ... wait, on second thought, I guess there was.


There was just SOMEthing about this new fabric that called out to me ... perhaps it was the gorgeous patterns filled with beautiful shades of grey, white, slate blue and a deep "dijon" ...


or, maybe it was because I knew that it would nicely complement the French script fabric on our chairs ...  



along with our furniture and accessories!  


Oh, and don't let me forget to mention it's normally $30 per yard, but, because it arrived from the manufacturer in runs of 3 or 4 yards, it had been marked down to $16 per yard!  Obviously, that pretty much sealed the deal!

After the new panels were hung (and I squealed), I turned my sights on our humongous mirror that was now calling out for a bit of attention.  It wanted to be fancy like the new fabric.  So, with a small craft sponge brush, I gave it two coats of gold paint (that I had on hand) ... hurray for free projects!


Of course, I then had to add a few eggs to celebrate the season!


And, naturally, the table was next ... 


I brought out our sweet bunnies (from Pier One) ... 


and, scattered a few speckled eggs on the runner in pretty shades of blue, green and cream.


New fabric ... a *pizazz-y* mirror ... and a touch of Spring!  Just what the decorating doctor ordered!



Now, a-BOUT that fabric for my son's bathroom ....!  LOL

As always, thanks for stopping by ... come on over and party here:

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia/Tuesday's Treasures
Savvy Southern Style/WUW

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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Flowers Are Blooming in the Kitchen!

I truly canNOT believe that we're only a few weeks away from Easter!!  Weren't we just sharing our Christmas decorations?

Don't get me wrong ... was I sad to have replaced our white "Christmas-turned-Valentine" tree with something a bit smaller?  Nope!


Was I bummed when I "borrowed" our silver bucket filled with branches from our sitting room and filled it with faux dogwoods to help create our Easter tree?  No way!


Was I more than glad to dust off our Spring bin ... unwrap the sweet ornaments gathered from my favorite "haunts," such as HomeGoods and Pier One(?), along with ...


scatter extra eggs at the base of the branches?  You betcha!


Was I happy to have spotted these cute "EASTER" blocks at Home Goods last month, knowing that they'd be a great, inexpensive addition to a Spring vignette?  You *know* I was!


And, I'll give you one guess if I enjoyed pulling these cuties out of their hiding spot in our bookcase cabinet to let them welcome Spring!


This little cutie (from Pier One) was more than ready to hop on out of the cabinet, too:


Yes, looking through the branches, you can spy Spring vignettes scattered here and there!


Can you tell I'm MORE than ready for Spring?!  Now, if it would just GET here!


While I patiently wait for its arrival, I'll enjoy visiting all of your Easter/Spring goodies!

Thanks for stopping by, sweet friends!

I'll meet you over here:

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia/Tuesday's Treasures
A Stroll Thru Life/Tabletop Tuesday
Our Home Away From Home/Tuesdays At Our Home
Savvy Southern Style/WUW
Fox Hollow Cottage/Hop to It Spring Thing Link Party
Setting for Four/Project Inspired Linky Party
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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Out with the Old (and Broken)!

So, when the glass from our our oh-so-lovely flush mount "boobie" light (I'm sorry ... but, you *know* the kind I'm talking about, lol) came crashing down the other night and scared our poor babysitter to death, I knew that it was time to replace it (especially because this was the second time this had happened).

This was all that was left Saturday morning:


I had been spying this little cutie from Lowe's and, with only one left on the shelf, I knew it had to come home with us!


Thanks to our neighbor, a retired electrician, it's now adding a bit of whimsy to our mudroom!  Isn't it fun?



I love the black elements in it because it ties in so well with ... the wall art I recently scored at Home Goods, 


the new vinyl "Simply Said" design I created (and my sweet friend, Kim ordered for me):


annnnd, our family gallery wall, which hasn't changed, except for ...


this sweet vinyl that my great friend, Cindy, gave me for Christmas.  Instead of placing it on the wall, I mounted it on the glass of a frame I wasn't using ... I think it makes a great centerpiece:


So, sufficed to say, I think our new addition is fitting in well in our mudroom!  Now, let's just hope *this* one doesn't come crashing down, too!  Eek!


Thanks for stopping by!


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Friday, March 1, 2013

Our Master Bath's New Look!

I *say* new, even though this was done quite awhile ago ... my absent-minded self just forgot to share it with you!  Oops.

Anywaaaay ... *some* of you may remember when my husband and neighbor removed this "lone" cabinet in our kitchen so that I could replace it with shelves that I made (which, I'm happy to report still haven't come crashing down ... yet, lol):


Well, here we are ... almost two years later, and I can't believe I never showed you where we placed the cabinet after removing it from the kitchen!  

Here it is!  It's now in our master bath, being used as our linen cabinet!


Do you recognize the cabinet below it?  It *used* to look like this in our sitting room:


That was ... until my paint brush soaked with Annie Sloane's Old White, along with Duck Egg (followed by dark wax) attacked it!


It's the perfect little chest to go under the cabinets and serves as a great spot to display my perfumes:


And, before I show you the other changes in this space, let's have a gander at what this room looked like after we first moved in 6 years ago, shall we?  Well, *hellerrr* reds, golds and greens!


I loved that color combo for years!  THEN, as my tastes were starting to migrate towards blues and browns, I changed it to THIS (by adding two mirrors in place of the large one ... and adding a fun vinyl art, along with new lights and fun rug).  The blue chest is now in the sitting room:


Then, THIS latest change happened ... besides adding the kitchen cabinet, I also painted the mirrors to match the newly painted accent chest.  I also painted the vanity lights AND, I painted the cabinets Annie Sloane's Old White.  We also just recently had the room painted BM's White Sand to match our master bedroom:


It's so much lighter and brighter in here now that the cabinets are painted ... I love it (so do my faux hydrangeas ... just *look* at how they are blooming, wow)!


I kept the wall art in between the newly painted mirrors, which I made by simply wrapping leftover fabric (from the shower curtain and window valance) around inexpensive canvases I bought at Michael's:   


I added a cute, fun rug that I recently spotted at where else(??) ... Home Goods:


Our 2x2 shower area remains the same since its last makeover.  Although, I did recently find these great, striped towels from HomeGoods that seem to match the fabric really well! 


The garden tub has new art above it,


along with a cute shelf from Home Goods:


I have a couple more things that I'd like to do in here, which I hope to share soon!

Just for fun ... let's look one more time at what my taste was a few years ago:


And, what it is now:


Wow, what a difference a few years can make!  LOL

Thanks so much for stopping by ... have a fabulous weekend!

I'm partying with fun friends here:

Savvy Southern Style/WUW

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