The Winner is...

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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!

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! 

Happy Father's Day and some other important stuff!

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful dad and all the great dads out there!  

Dad:  I hope you see this when your at Dave's house!  I love you!  I love you too Mom!  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was tagged by Donna at An Enchanted Cottage

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?  Wow, that's a loaded question...June of 1998 ~ I was in a very unhappy marriage, and it was about 10 years ago this month that I began to get very suspicious that my husband was having an affair but he denied it.  I was only a couple of months away from the truth though.  In October of 1998 the marriage ended.  It was a huge blessing in disguise. It was horrible to go through at the time but I am 100 times happier now than I was then.  

2. Five things on my To-do list:

1) Finish painting my dining room set

2) Finish my hutch (sanding, distressing and waxing still left to do)

3) Paint Lauren's room

4) Wallpaper my bathroom

5) Paint a new chair I bought at the flea market today (I'll share this with you next week)

(I could go on and on...my to-do list is about a mile long!)

3. Snack I enjoy:

1) Chocolate

2) candy

3) ice cream

4) pie

5) cake 

( I'm assuming that "I enjoy" isn't that same as "eats regularly")

4. Things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1) Buy my own home (probably on Martha's Vineyard)

2) Give my family lots of money 

3) Help out a single mom who is struggling 

4) Travel

5) QUIT MY JOB!!!!

5. Places I have lived:

I've lived in the San Francisco Bay Area (South Bay) my whole life: Saratoga, San Jose, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Campbell 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Connie of Living Beautifully along with Stephanie of Angelic Accents are having a give away so please go visit.  

Beautiful things I can't afford

I really love this pillow from Pierre Deux but it's $350.00!  Do people really spend $350 on a throw pillow?  I would love to make one similar to this. I'm going to go back to the fabric store and get some more of the fabric that I used to cover the dining room chairs to make some pillows. 

French linen sheet from Antique Linens from Em's Heart for $450.  I love vintage linens and this is just so beautiful!

This beautiful double sconce for $238.00 from Lavender Fields.  I would love to get a pair of these for my little bathroom that I'm going to put the toile wallpaper in but that's too much money for me!  

I love finding beautiful things and trying to find a less expensive alternative to get that look.  The way I look at it;  you can either be depressed that you can't afford the beautiful things you want or you can get excited about finding an alternative that you can.  I choose the latter!

A Great Deal on Fabric

I originally wanted toile fabric for my chairs but the more I started looking at fabric I decided on floral. I REALLY wanted this Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic fabric below but it's $68 a yard plus shipping! I need 3 yards and there is no way I'm paying over $200 to cover dining room chairs! That's almost as much as I paid for the table, chairs and hutch!!! So, I went to a fabric store called Fabrics R Us in San Jose that I hadn't been to in probably 8 years or longer. I remembered they had great deals and boy did I find a great deal. I got this fabric pictured below for $5.00 a yard! I could not believe it! I spent a little over $16 out the door!
I love that it has an old faded look to it. It looks quilted but it's not. I'm still getting used to having a print on the chairs and at times I look at it and it seems too busy to me but maybe that's because I'm used to a solid color in my dining room. I ordered the floral appliques to put at the top center of the chair right where the cane meets the wood. I hope they get here by Saturday so I can put them on before I paint the chairs!
I still plan on making the cute white ruffled covers like in the photo below so I can have a different look. For those that asked if I had a pattern, no I don't, I just plan on making it up as I go. I don't think it will be too hard.




I hope I'm not boring everyone with so many dining room posts but it's the only thing I'm thinking about these days!

Successful Thrifting!

I love when I go to a thrift store and walk out with things that I could have bought at an antique store for a lot more money. I found both these items at The Salvation Army and I think they were about $5.00 each. Look at the beautiful hand painted berries on this vase. The colors are just amazing!
I also found this covered dish. The shell-shaped handles are perfect for my shell themed table. Look at the little beaded detail around the edges. I just fell in love with this!
There are so many times I go to the thrift store and walk out empty handed but it always calls me back because I know there can be treasures in there at any time! It's the thrill of the hunt for those treasures that I love!

The Lemon Drop Jar - Part II

Way back on July 31, 2007 I did a post about this crystal jar (from Tuesday Mornings) that I keep lemon drops in. I got a nice email from Diane who told me about a wonderful children's book called The Lemon Drop Jar by Christine Widman. I went right to Amazon to look at it but because it was out of print it was selling for $53 - $99. I never bought it but recently I got a comment from some nice person in Malaysia (I can't find her comment now or I would mention her name). She was reading back in my old posts and looked the book up on Amazon and told me there were two copies for about $8.00 each!!! I bought a copy right away! It's a wonderful book and I'm going to keep it because some day I will hopefully have grandchildren that I can read it to.
Look at the adorable kitchen...with blue and white plates!
And the beautiful chintz dishes...this book is so me!!!
If it weren't for blogging I would never know about this wonderful book. A big thanks to both of you who left comments about this book!

I was going to link to Amazon for the descripton of the book but their website seems to be down. When I bought mine there were some listed at $150.00 each!

Primed but not painted

In my mind I thought I could finish this table and chairs in a weekend but I couldn't. I was able to get it all primed and I should wait until it's finished to show you but I've never been good at waiting. So here it is in all it's primed glory with the ugly 1960's gold velvet seat cushions. A work in progress! I had to move it inside because I don't have a garage. I love it and I think it goes so well with my $25 garage sale chandelier! I almost forgot to take a "before" photo. You would think after all I've done that I wouldn't forget something so simple! I had already started stripping the top. It was a dark shiny top so you can use your imagination. It's hard to tell but it was painted yellow with gold accents.
I'm thinking about putting this applique on the top of each chair (painted white) . It's small 4.25 X 1.25.

Updated: Here is the old set in case you forgot what it looked like. It was nice but too clunky for my taste.

Weekend Project

I was able to pick up the table and chairs in my car!  I took the legs off the table, put down my back seat and slide it in through the hatch back.  It's amazing how much you can fit in a Camaro! I had to make 2 other trips to get the chairs.   Here are the arm chairs which I won't have room for at the end of the table because my dining room is too small.  I'm going to keep them on each side of the hutch.  I'm stripping the finish off the table now.  I dread painting six chairs but I can't wait to see how they are going to look painted white!  I'm going to replace the gold velvet covers with a soft blue and white toile.  I still need to distress the hutch...too many projects and not enough time!  
I sold my old dining room table this morning for the same price as my new table!  My former sister-in-law bought it!  I'm so happy!

Thrift store dish

I found this cute pedestal ceramic dish at the Goodwill yesterday. It was marked $9.99 which I thought was too high so I pointed out a small chip underneath and she gave it to me for $5.00! Don't those pears looks good! They're fake! I bought those at Target last year. A couple people asked to see photos of my kitchen. So this is for you...
It's a very small L-shaped, typical 1960's apartment kitchen. When I moved in everything was beige, the walls were beige and the cabinets were beige. I painted the walls gray...but they look blue and the cabinets white. Click here to see my original post about my kitchen makeover.
I think I'm ready to change this valance. I made this really quickly when I first moved in 4 years ago. I want to do something similar but with a different pattern of toile. The big apothecary jar with lemons came from Marshalls. (Really, they should be paying me for all the times I mention their name here)
You are probably wondering if I got the dining room table I posted about yesterday. I went to buy it after work and as I was looking at it closer I realized that two of the legs are cracked so I didn't buy it. I talked to my dad this morning and he said that's not a big deal since I'm going to paint it. He said to mix sawdust and glue and put it in the crack, let it dry and then do it again. Then follow up with a wood filler and then paint. I'm going to go back tonight after work and hopefully it will still be there. Then I need to go to Home Depot with a baggy and steal some sawdust from under their saw. Don't worry...I'll ask before I steal it!
UPDATE: I went out at lunch today and bought the table! WhooHoo! The only bad thing is I won't be going to the flea market tomorrow because I spent my loot! Hopefully I can sell my dining room table on Craigslist this weekend.

Lots of white around my home!

My home is becoming less blue and more white...If you've been reading my blog awhile you probably have noticed this.  I'm loving white!

A couple months ago I saw a dining room table at the Salvation Army thrift store that I really like.  Every time I go in there it's still there just waiting for me to take it home.  Yesterday I went in and it's 50% off!  It's now only $175 for the table and 6 chairs.  I didn't buy it but I'm thinking about it.  It's more elegant and formal than my dining room table.  It has french style legs and cane back chairs.  It's yellow with a brown wood top now but I would paint it white (of course) and I would make chair covers like these below.  I could then sell my dining room set for the same amount or more!  I just need to figure out how I'm going to get it home!

The photo above is from Lavender Fields and is from the Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Collection

Crazy for Shells!

I'm going shell-crazy this year! I cannot believe how inexpensive they are. It seems like they are the only thing that has come down in price! Has anyone else noticed this? Pottery Barn has their shells on sale now...30% off! Michaels also has some beautiful shells and sea glass. I bought the sea glass below at Michaels.
I found this jar below on the clearance shelf at Marshalls for $5.00. I knew it would be perfect for some sand and shells.
I finally took the stranger out of the frame and replaced it with a real family member. This is Lauen when she was a toddler. My mom and I put this big old hat on her and did a photo shoot.

Details

Okay Shari, this is for you... Shari asked for more details about the HGTV shoot. I would love to be able to tell you everything but for obvious reasons I can't. I think I'm safe just giving you a few minor details about the day. Dan arrived at 10:30 am and surprisingly I wasn't very nervous. He came in and started setting up right away.
Once I was in front of the camera I started to get a little nervous but decorating is my passion so it's probably one of the easiest things for me to talk about so it didn't take too long for me to relax a bit. I noticed at first that when I spoke my hands were down at my side and then part way through when I started to relax my hands were moving everywhere! I hope they aren't flying around too much when I see the show!
Next thing I know it's lunch time and I made us some turkey sandwiches on sourdough bread. Then back to work to shoot some more. Only my downstairs living area was filmed. I told you that I decided not to set the table after all but you can see in these photos what I did. I just put shells in my tiered dish and two sets of crystal candlesticks. I added some small shells around one of the candles. (Last weekend, after the shoot, I moved my table parallel to the hutch. I sure wish I would have done that before the shoot. I think I like it better this way.) I think it was about 3:30 when we finished and Dan left for the airport and I went to pick up Beau at the kennel! Poor Beau he does not like going there at all!

I also wanted to thank all of you who rated me a couple weeks ago on Delightful Blogs. The comments didn't show up then but I went there yesterday and I couldn't believe all the wonderful comments! I had so much fun reading those last night! Wow you guys are incredibly nice! One comment cracked me up...she was referring to all the white I have in my home and she said "Honestly, if I was living in her home, I would feel like an eskimo in an igloo" To me, my home doesn't feel cold at all. I guess it's all a matter of personal taste.

One last thing...every time I post pictures of this tiered dish I get a ton of emails asking where I got it. My mom bought this at a shop in Disneyland when I was little, maybe 7 or 8 years old. I still remember her buying it and I'm sure if I went to Disneyland I would be able to point out the shop. It was in the New Orleans area on a corner. It was filled with ceramic lemons and I remember my mom and the sales lady removing them. I'm amazed how vivid my memory of this is but even at that young age I appreciated the beauty of this piece. That was 40 years ago and my mom paid about $100 which was a lot of money back then. It was made in Italy. This piece was always in our dining room when I was growing up, either on the buffet or as a centerpiece on the dining table. A few years back, out of the blue, my mom gave it to me for my birthday. I was so shocked! It's one of my favorite things in my home and has so much sentimental value.

Wisteria Antiques & Design - Soquel, California

Yesterday Lauren and I went to the beach but not to walk in the sand...TO SHOP AND EAT! I bribed her with a seafood dinner so she would go with me! There are some great antique shops near Santa Cruz and this is one of the best. Wisteria Antiques & Design located at 5870 Soquel Dr, Soquel, California. It's not just antiques, they have a huge nursery with gorgeous plants! I made sure it was okay that I took pictures and after they questioned me about what they would be used for they gave me the okay. Let's look around:
There are a few rooms filled with French Country Antiques and decor items. I LOVED this slipcovered sofa below. I think this would look great in my apartment!

Here's another room...


Back outside to walk in the pea gravel...I love pea gravel pathways!
On the porch...
Here is the 3rd room... This is a beautiful outdoor room...





I loved this geranium planted in a piece of driftwood!
I love this lantern below. I think it would look great in my patio but it was too expensive for me!



This is their entrance. It's breathtaking!
The begonias were so beautiful!


I was really good, I was able to restrain myself and I only bought two things. I bought this donkey tail plant. My mom had one of these when I was growing up and it was HUGE. You couldn't even see the pot, it hung down a couple feet! I just have it hanging from my patio umbrella for now.
I couldn't resist this beautiful begonia. It looks great on my patio table.

Here's a closeup view... After shopping here, Lauren I went to the Santa Cruz Wharf for dinner and sat in front of a window looking out over the ocean. It was a great afternoon!