The Winner is...

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Jan~Feather Your Nest Antiques! Thanks to all 283 of you that entered! Even my sweet niece, Erin, entered the drawing. Erin: you didn't win but I'm going to make you one soon!!! For those of you that asked how I make these I will take pictures of the process when I make Erin's.

I'm so happy that there is a 4-day weekend coming up for me!!! I really feel like I need to slow down a bit. My whole weekend was busy, busy, busy and now it's Monday AGAIN!!! I'll also be taking a week off in Mid July just to stay home. It's nice to travel but sometimes I love just having a week off at home! I plan on getting a lot of projects done including wallpapering the bathroom~finally!

I can't believe it's the last day of June already! It doesn't feel like summer to me. We've had so much smoke from the wild fires burning in Northern California that the sun just doesn't shine through hardly at all. Every once in awhile the wind will shift and it will clear up but for the most part it looks like overcast skies. This morning I walked outside and saw white ash over everything. I'm so happy I didn't wash my car yesterday like I had planned to do!

Sorry there may be typos....Blogger's spell check seems to be broken again!!!!

I may have to keep this!

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I found this crystal chandelier on Craigslist for $80 and I knew it was worth a lot more so I replied to their ad and made an appointment to see it. It was really dirty, covered in dust, sitting in a cardboard box and it looked like it had been stored in their garage for awhile. I asked if they would take $65 and without the slightest hesitation he said "YES"! Whoo Hooo! Okay so it wasn't near a good a deal as the one I bought for my dining room but still a very good deal.  ~Sorry I know it's hard to see the chandelier but I didn't have any where else to hang it to take pictures and it just didn't look pretty in a box) My plan was to clean it up and sell it but now I'm in love with it. I don't want to sell it...which is why I'm never going to make it if I start my own business. I buy things I love and then I don't want to let them go! 
I would hang it in my bedroom but there isn't a ceiling fixture in there so I'm now thinking of hanging it at the top of my stairway because I think it would reflect beautifully in all the mirrors on my stairway wall! See I just justified (to myself) why I need to keep it! I'm not going to paint it because I love the aged look of it. The gold-drip socket covers will be replaced because I don't think I care for those! I've been looking for another small chandelier like I have in kitchen (which is how I found this one) and those are so hard to find...I want it for my small downstairs bathroom.

Chairs and lighting fixtures~my two weaknesses!

Updated to add:  I would love to make it a plug in and hang it in my bedroom but I'm not allowed to put holes in my ceiling because it's that yucky popcorn, cottage cheese textured stuff. 

A Beautiful Gift!

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I received this beautiful teapot from Sabrina who just started a blog of her own call My Cottage Dream.  She told me she had something for my hutch that she wanted to give me.  When I opened the box I could not believe how beautiful this was!  These photos do not do it justice.  It will look beautiful in the center of my hutch but for now I have it on my dining room table so I can enjoy it every time I walk by.  I can tell I'm going to like her blog because she's a "before" and "after" project person like me!  You can also find her on eBay! Thank you Sabrina, I really love it!!!  (you can click on the photo below to see it up close)

The flowers are from my garden.  I'm always surprised at the big flower arrangements I can get out of a small garden!  

Update on the dining room table:  I finally got my rose appliques for the chairs (click here). It took about 2 weeks because Federal Express delivered the package to the wrong address and then they took a few days to go back and pick it up and then it took another 6 days before they delivered it to me!!! I was FED UP with FED EX!!!  Oh well.. I glued them on the chairs Tuesday night and painted them last night!  They look great! I ordered some more for my hutch.  I'm also thinking about painting the inside of my hutch light blue.  I think it will make my dishes show up better.   I guess if I don't like it I can just paint it white again! 

My Favorite Mirror Makeover yet!

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This is the latest mirror I painted white and "antiqued".

All the brown you see is the Rub n Buff that I rubbed on with my finger. I could have used a rag but it much easier to control the amount when you apply it with your fingertip. It really brought out all the great texture in this mirror which really didn't show up when it was dark.

This is the "before" picture below. The other mirror turned out great too but I forgot to take an "after" photo of that one. I found the large mirror at the Salvation Army for $15 and the small one at the Flea Market for $5. They are now hanging at the top my stairway wall with the other mirrors in my collection. I'll share an updated picture of that soon! I just need a couple more really small mirrors and this project will be finished! Finally! I think it's been over a year since I started seeking out inexpensive mirrors at thrift stores and flea markets to fill my whole stairway. Patience pays off!

Edited to to answer some questions left in the comments section: Both of these frames are plastic. I remove the mirror from the frame and spray paint it with flat white canned spray paint. Rub n Buff can be found in craft stores and comes in a small tube. It's usually packed on a piece of cardboard backing with hard plastic over the tube and is hanging on a rack.

The color I used is "Autumn Gold" Click here to see all the colors.

No, I didn't add a crackling finish, it's just the texture on the plastic that made it look crackled....I just lucked out!

Urns, Hydrangeas and Wine

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I found this urn on clearance at Michaels for $12.00. I thought it would make a great wine bucket but I thought I better try it out to make sure it doesn't leak before I use it for company (I've learned my lesson in the past and it's really embarrassing to have water leaking all over your table.)  I put the wine bottle in and filled it with ice but it didn't look right. The inside is really dark and it looked cheap (okay it was cheap but I didn't want it to look like it was.)  I started adding some white roses around the outside but it still didn't look right. I added some green hydrangeas and sprinkled on some pink petals...much better!   A few days later I went to another Michaels and found the smaller urn below on clearance for $5.00! These are the hydrangeas that I had on my coffee table for the HGTV taping. They were pink and then they turned this beautiful green! I was just reading about green hydrangeas and the article said that they tend to turn green at the end of their blooming time but it is more common in the South. Since I'm in the West I didn't expect this but I'm so happy, I love green hydrangeas!  I actually love all hydrangeas but green is so pretty in flower arrangements.   I'm drying them and I sure hope they dry nicely, it would be great to have these as a memento of the day HGTV came to my apartment!

There are numerous ways to dry hydrangeas...I'm using the method where you put just a little water in a container and just let the blooms drink that up and then slowly dry out. In order to do this you must pick them when they are getting toward the the end of their life on the plant and just starting to dry out a little bit. I hope I waited long enough...I'll let you know how they turn out.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!  Wow, I can't believe how many of you have entered already and all the VERY nice comments you left. I read every single comment!  

Three Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway!

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I started my blog 3 years ago today! Little did I know back then how many wonderful "friends" I would meet and how much this little blog would become such a big part of my life.  

To celebrate I'm having a giveaway! If you would like to win this little button wreath that I made yesterday, please leave a comment. If you don't have a blog, please make sure you include your email address so I can contact you. This is open to everyone, bloggers, non-bloggers, lurkers, even those of you who live outside the U.S.!

Updated to add:  I will draw a winner this Friday, June 27th!  I can't believe June is almost over already!!!

Bedroom Plates

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I finally got the two hand-painted plates I bought last weekend hung in my bedroom. (please ignore that large hole in my wall above my mirror...I need to fix that!)
I've just been adding to this wall of plates as I find new ones. I think when I repaint this room someday, I'll change the layout a bit.

I hope you all have a great weekend. It's hot here again. It's supposed to be 98 degrees today and hot again on Saturday.

Because someone always asks...the paint color in my bedroom in Glidden Cancun Blue.

My Flowers

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My Flowers, originally uploaded by Romantic Home.

I thought I would share some of my own flickr flower photos with you today. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday and thank you so much for all the nice comments on my patio yesterday!

Don't forget that the second episode of Rate My Space is on tonight at 9:00pm. (mine won't be on until the Fall).

Welcome to my cottage garden

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I'm participating in Tracey's Summer Garden Tour! I was so excited when I found an apartment that had a little patio. I knew I wanted to rent this place right away! When I moved in it was dirt and concrete so I got to make it my own. Now, four years later it looks completely different!

It looks very romantic at night with little white lights all along the fence.

More photos from Saturday!

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I saw this chair at the flea market on Saturday and although I hate the black naugahyde I could see some potential for this little chair. I asked the guy how much and he said $20. Nelson chimed back "will you take $15?" and the next thing you know I have an adorable chair for $15.00!!! The first thing I did when I came home was take that hideous naugahyde off the back! Look how much better it looks already! It still needs some more work to make it fit into my home but that's another post that I'm sure you will see here soon!
This house was across the street from one of the garage sales we went to. I love the front door! The back of the house overlooks the ocean. Lucky people!!!I loved this old bench. You can tell it's been in the ocean air!

I took a picture of this bird house because I would love to make one some day. It was $250.00
A collection of bronzed baby shoes I saw in one of the antique stores. What a great thing to collect!
We had lunch at Margaritaville in Capitola and this was the view from our table.

This is Carousel Taffy and they have so many different flavors. Nelson and I both spent $20 on Taffy! He said he knew he was in trouble when they give you a bucket to put your candy in!
One of the many beautiful views we saw. There was another wild fire burning in the Santa Cruz mountains so it's a little hazy. When I saw all these Barbies at the flea market I just had to take a picture and then Nelson stopped me and said we have to put Ken in the middle! Too funny!

Fun on Saturday!

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My friend Nelson and I went to Santa Cruz on Saturday to hit the flea market and antique stores.  The weather was perfect as we headed over the hill towards the ocean in Nelson's convertible. It's only about a 30 minute drive from my home.  I found these dishes at an antique store at the end of the day.  The lace runner ($3) was found at a garage sale that we just happened upon.

I saw this chintz candy/nut dish in a glass cabinet but I knew it was out of my budget but I asked the price any way.  It was $35 but I was able to get it for $30 thanks to Nelson who is so good at haggling.  It has a very small chip on the edge otherwise this would have been a lot more expensive.  It's the same pattern (Du Barry) as the cup and saucer my mom gave me.  This will be added to my small but growing chintz collection. 
I found these plates at the end of the day and I couldn't be happier!  The pink plate above and the blue plate below were $7.00 minus 10% discount.    These will go in my bedroom on the wall.  The blue one didn't photograph very well but it's beautiful!  I love these hand-painted plates!  They had more and now I wish I would have bought them too!
I found another mirror (only $5) to add to the stairway.  This will be painted white soon.  I also found this silver tray or maybe it's a plate charger for $4.  Both of these came from the flea market.  I had never been to this flea market before.  It's held every weekend and I have a feeling I'm going to be going back soon!  
Two rolls of ribbon, 40 yards each for $3 and an old silver plated sugar scuttle also $3
I took a vacation day today so I could finish up the table and chairs.  I painted them yesterday so I hope I can sand them and distress them today!