I just did a search on Amazon for "Shabby Chic" because I wanted to look for a specific Rachel Ashwell book and this cute hamper came up in the search results. It's only $16.99. I think it may be really small though because it's part of a baby/nursery collection. It doesn't give the dimensions! I wish it came in big girl sizes!
I haven't been posting much lately because a certain 14 year old young lady that I share a house with lost my camera, okay, it's actually her camera but I use it and I bought it just 3 months ago as a Christmas present and I'm still paying it off on my credit card! She left it at a friend's house last Friday night and the friend said she can't find it. I'm calling the girl's mother tonight. I've given her a week to find it. I'm tired of being patient. The worst part is my daughter doesn't understand why I'm so upset about this! Kids!!!
Update: It's been such a hectic week...I totally forgot about my Inspiration Friday! I'll try to remember next Friday.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Isn't this cute?
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Me? Type A? REALLY?
| You Have A Type A- Personality |
You are one of the most balanced people around Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - encorporating the best of both worlds |
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Start small
Thank you all so much for the comments, links and words of encouragement regarding my upcoming slipcover endeavor. I decided to start small, really small. I bought some lampshades at Target today that are shaped like the one in the picture above and I'm going to attempt to make a lampshade cover similar to this, which I found on the Shabby Suite website (you can find their link on my sidebar). If you haven't visited their cottage of the month you should, there are beautiful homes with lots of decorating ideas to inspire, such as this. I found two matching lamps at a thrift store yesterday to go in my bedroom. They are blue with brassy bases which I plan to paint white. I think with this white lampshade cover they will look cute. Hopefully I will have it done this week! (since I bought these lampshades today at lunch and my lamp bases are at home, cross your fingers that the lampshades actually look good on the lamps, otherwise I'll be returning them back to Target and this project will be dead before it was even started.)
Monday, March 26, 2007
Has anyone made slipcovers before?
I finished painting my last piece of bedroom furniture this weekend! I still need to get a couple more things for the room before I post some pictures. I can't believe the project is almost done. It's taken over a month of weekends but I'm really happy with it. Now that it's done, I'm thinking of my next big project. I bought a new sofa 2 years ago and it's a dark navy blue and now I want white slipcovers for it. I would like something that looks like this. I also want to make a slipcover for this chair. I've heard it's really expensive to have them custom made so I'm thinking about doing it myself. I took sewing classes every year in school from Jr. High through High School so I can sew a garment but not sure if I can make a slipcover for a sofa. I've seen this book, pictured above, and others but I would love to hear from someone that has actually made slipcovers before. My mom made some before I was born and she said it was easy but she's much better at sewing than I am. I would hate to spend my hard-earned money on fabric and have it end up in the garbage can! I haven't bought a book yet so if someone has a good recommendation, please let me know. Do you think I should attempt this?
Friday, March 23, 2007
Inspiration Friday
I had planned on going to work today and I was going to scan an inspiration picture from a magazine for my usual Inspiration Friday posts. Unfortunately, I don't have a scanner at home. After the fiasco with my taking my dog to work yesterday, I am home today, forced to take a vacation day. I should have know that taking my dog to work would not be a good idea. He is so attached to me that I should have known he would not be content sitting in a crate next to me, he must be in my lap (which is where he is now). I had to go to the restroom so I put him in the crate. I figured it would be a good time because everyone who sits around me was off in meetings so if he whined (which I knew he would) he wouldn't bother anyone. I came back from the restroom and his crate was open and he was gone! I was running around my building screaming his name, sort of like a frantic mother that has lost her child in the mall. My main concern is that he bites when he's scared, well he's a chihuahua so he's scared a lot so he bites a lot! As I was running through the office I remembered that when I was walking to the restroom there was a large group exiting the back door to go to lunch. I ran outside and sure enough, I saw everyone wandering around trying to find the dog that came out of nowhere and ran out the door. I called his name and he came running to me with his tail between his legs, scared to death. One of the girls yelled out "you may want to call Security and tell them it was your dog, we just called them and said there was a stray dog in the building." Okay, I knew this wasn't good so I grabbed Beau and we went to lunch. I took him to PetSmart to get some treats to keep him occupied in the afternoon. About 2:00 pm I got a call from Security asking me if I had a dog in the building. When I said yes they told me in wasn't allowed. Oh well, I'm home today and they are grouting the bathroom floor and they should be done by today or tomorrow but if not I found a doggy daycare that will take him on Monday. So, that's why I don't have any inspiration pictures from one of my old magazines today. Hopefully the mosaic of these lovely cottages will suffice.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
I've been in a pink mood lately.
Pink, originally uploaded by Romantic Home.
Things are hectic lately. I've had major plumbing problems at home. This is the time when I'm glad I rent because it's going to be expensive. They have to pull out the tile floor in my bathroom, replace the rotting sub floor, put in a new toilet, re tile, etc. I have to bring my dog to work with me and keep him in a crate under my desk for the next few days. Luckily I have a nice boss that lets me do this! Let's just hope he keeps quiet and sleeps all day.
I don't have any pictures that I've taken lately so I thought I would share some other people's pictures that I found on Flickr.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
I'm addicted to TV!
I feel like I'm watching way too much TV these days. I've always loved HGTV. I can even remember the first time I saw it. We were on vacation in Lake Tahoe and my husband (now the ex) was in a golf tournament (this was our typical vacation, it always involved him golfing and me trying to keep the kids occupied.) I was with the kids in the hotel room flipping through the channels. I stopped on HGTV and I couldn't believe my eyes...A WHOLE STATION dedicated to decorating shows. I spent most of that vacation in the hotel room watching TV! When we got back home I looked to see if we had it and I just didn't know about it. Nope, and it wasn't until about a year later that our cable company added it. I think that must have been in the mid 90s. Since then I've had many favorites but now my favorite is "If Walls Could Talk" I've lived in many old houses and I've never found anything from the previous owners. Those people are so lucky!
I'm also a big American Idol fan. Did you watch it last night? I felt so sorry for that little girl in the audience. She reminded me of myself, I cry at everything! We have an American Idol contest going at my office. For $5 you can draw a name, if that person wins, you win the pot, which will be $60. I put in $10 for two names and I got REALLY lucky and picked my favorite male and female. I pulled out of the hat... drumroll...Melinda Doolittle and Blake Lewis. I really think Melinda will win but then again I said that about Katherine McPhee last season and she came in second.
I also love Dancing with the Stars! Since there has been only one episode it's hard to pick a favorite but I would have to say Joey Fatone or Apolo Anton Ohno. They were both great.
So tonight will be another night sitting in front of the TV watching American Idol and hoping that no one good gets kicked off. Have you seen what the American Idol haters are doing? If not, click here. I was wondering why Sanjaya was still in the competition. I also heard Howard Stern is telling his listeners to vote for Sanjaya. I feel sorry for that kid, he's only 17 and I wouldn't want anyone doing that to my kid!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
More lunch hour shopping
There is a Marshalls directly behind my office at work. It's very hard to stay away when it's that close by. Here are some of my latest finds.
This huge cloche. I'm sure I will be changing out what's under here often.
My button collection has been in about 4 different jars in just a few months. I think this jar was only around $12 and it's huge! I also bought this cute pink chintz pitcher there. I'm really amazed how much new merchandise they get in every day. I can go a couple times a week and see lots of new things.
Monday, March 19, 2007
A little bit of whimsy
I've heard that every room should have something whimsical in it. Here is mine. This is me around 1 year old. I started walking at 9 months so I may be younger. My mom took me to a professional photographer to get a picture of me in this dress. She bought this dress at a thrift store before I was born and she still has it. It's pure silk and made in France. It has beautiful smocking across the top. I guess I was tired of this man taking my picture so I pulled the dress up to cover my face. You can see my mom's hand on the right-hand corner reaching to pull the dress down. The photographer yelled "no" and snapped this picture. I've always loved it because I still to this day hate having my picture taken. I bought this frame years ago. It's a piece of lace sandwiched between two layers of glass. I keep this picture in my bedroom for my little bit of whimsy. (ignore the droopy diaper, we didn't have Pampers back then)
Friday, March 16, 2007
Inspiration Friday-Toile and Transferware
I love toile and I love transferware and I think when the two are put together it's magical. I love this room but I would love it even more in blue (my signature color).
Thursday, March 15, 2007
It's good to drink your wine!
It has been scientifically proven that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria found in feces.
In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of Poo. However, we do not run that risk when drinking wine (or rum, whiskey, beer or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.
WATER = Poo
WINE = HEALTH
Ergo: It is better to drink wine and talk stupid than to drink water and be full of crap. There is no need to thank me for this valuable information; I am doing it as a public service.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
A sneak peek at my headboard makeover
Here's a small peek at my headboard makeover. You can see the "before" picture of the free headboard here. This is an "in-progress" picture, it was taken before I distressed it and put a coat of paste wax on it. It's hard to get a good picture of it because it's in front of a window. There are lace curtain panels over the window and you can't even see them. Once I finish all the furniture I'll post pictures of everything.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Patio Flowers
There is a chain store near me called Big Lots. I don't really care for this place, it's like a small version of Walmart. The only time I go in there is in the spring because they have some cute garden things. I found this basket there and the resin wicker settee and table. I lined the basket with moss and then I lined it with a plastic garbage bag that I cut some holes into. I added some soil and a beautiful pink ranaculus. I found the little bird at our local drug store. Then I poured a glass of wine, grabbed a magazine and took a small break.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Did I miss something, is it summer?
I worked in my yard this weekend and I also worked on my bedroom. I just want to say that I HATE stripping furniture! I liked it at first but now I hate it. I have 1 more piece to strip and I'll be done with stripping. My bedroom set has a dresser with 9 drawers, and then I have a tall dresser with 5 drawers, plus a nightstand and a side table. I almost forgot the headboard. I've been working on this project for about a month now and I'm ready for it to be DONE!!! I've taken the last two Fridays off of work to work on this! I can see the end coming but it's still a couple weeks away.
I don't have any pics because I was too busy working on my furniture and garden to take any, so here's a few of my Flickr favorites.
Friday, March 09, 2007
A Great Giveaway!
A great giveaway and she wants everyone to enter. Go to Violets are Blue to enter. (click on Violets are Blue to get there)
Inspiration Friday: Beautiful Beds
Every Friday I will be posting pictures from magazines that I find inspirational. For my second week I chose these two beautiful beds.
Lately I'm obsessed with beds. Maybe it's because I'm in the middle of redoing my bedroom and refinishing a headboard. My New Year's Resolution was to make my bed more luxurious. I know that's a weird resolution but it has been so worth it and one of few resolutions I've actually done. I recently bought a 3" memory foam mattress pad and my once hard-as-a-rock bed is now the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on. I found this one on Overstock.com .
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Happy Thursday!
I really don't have anything good to blog about today but you should go check out the new March Shabby Suite of the Month. It's very pink and pretty. If you haven't seen their previous shabby suites you should take a peek. My favorite is the Feb and March 2006 home. It's a two part series of the same home. I love her slip covers that puddle on the floor although I can just image how dirty those would get in my house. Don't forget to click on each picture to enlarge it.
Oh yeah, I went to a thrift store on my way home from work last night. I found a cute wicker chair and ottoman, more like a stool because it's small. It's an ugly beige color but I'll be painting it white soon. (Just what I need another item to paint). It was $40 for both but all the furniture was 10% off! Yay!
Oh another thing, I watched The Secret DVD last night. Wow, I feel so positive today! Now I want the book.
The photo above if from my trip to Martha's Vineyard last summer. This was a small shed in their yard. Everything was pink and white and so adorable.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
How to find a Flea Market or Thrift Store near you
Here is a great site to find a flea market near you. It's called Flea Market Guide (click here)
Another great site that I found from someone else's blog (sorry, I don't remember who) is a thrift store locator (click here)
It's great to bookmark these for future use because if you go on vacation it's always fun to check out a new flea market or thrift store.
The picture is from my dining room, it was taken awhile back. You can see one of my first attempts at doing mosaics. I found an old, scratched silver tray at the flea market and I also found the blue plate that I broke into pieces to make the mosaic tray. It didn't turn out as well as I wanted. It really makes me appreciate some of the great work people do with mosaics. It's not as easy as it looks.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Christie Repasy
I have wanted a Christie Repasy painting for years. There is no way I can afford an original of hers but I just bought this canvas print. It was hard to pick just one of hers, I love them all! Since I collect chintz dishes I thought this one is perfect for me. It's going in my bedroom, probably unframed for awhile until I can afford a frame worthy of this piece of beauty. If I win the Mega Millions $370 million dollar jackpot tonight, I'll be buying some of her originals. If you haven't seen her work, you can find it here
Yes, this is my second post today but I was so excited I just had to post this. It was a spur of moment impulse buy. Internet shopping is so dangerous for me!
Watch out, she' got the can of white paint again!
Awhile back I showed you this cute little cherub holding a bowl. Once I got it home from the thrift store I really didn't like how the brass looked in my home so I spray painted him white and then watered down some brown paint and antiqued him. I like him so much better now. I feel like I'm painting everything white lately. You can see the bottom half of a lamp in this picture. That was brown and gold until I got out the spray can last weekend. The dish in the picture I got at the flea market on Saturday for $3.00.Monday, March 05, 2007
A trip to the Flea Market
Last Saturday was the Monthly DeAnza Flea Market. My dad usually is a vendor there but he decided not to go this weekend. I was there before 7:00 am because last month I saw a beautiful birdcage but I didn't have enough money for it. It was $100 but a very good deal because it was so large. I set out to find it as the vendors were still unloading their things. I was walking as fast as I could to find them and then I realized I had walked through the whole flea market twice. They weren't there! Isn't that the way it always goes! As I was leaving I stopped at the last vendor's stall and saw this old screen door laying on it's side behind a table. I assumed it was sold because it wasn't out with the rest of their things. I asked them if it was sold and the wife said yes and the husband said no. After an agumentative discussion between the two of them they told me it wasn't sold. After I paid my $40 and was leaving the husband said the only reason that was still there was because his wife had told numerous people that it was sold. I didn't get my birdcage but at least I found something else. I hung a few things on this but I think what I'll end up doing is tacking a lace panel to the back and use it to fill in the corner. I also bought two beautiful platters with pink roses, you can see one hanging in the middle of the screen. They were $8 for the pair. I also bought another beautiful dish for $3.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Inspiration Friday: A Beautiful Kitchen
I finally decided to start tearing out pages of magazines of things I like. I've never wanted to destroy my magazines so this is a big step for me. I have years and years of Romantic Homes, Victoria and numerous other home decor & gardening magazines. I'm realizing now that I would love to have more room in my storage closet so I'm going to tear out the pictures I love and keep them in a binder then toss the magazines (sob, sob). I'm not going to do this with my Victoria magazines though, I'm keeping those forever. Then every Friday (I'll try at least) I will do a post about a different page. I'm sure I will have enough pictures to do this for a long time! Do any other of you bloggers want to join in and share your favorites? What shall I call it? How about "Inspiration Fridays"I ♥ Target!
I found these adorable salt and pepper shakers at Target yesterday. They were only $3.99 for the pair. At that price you could buy a set for each place setting. Wouldn't these be cute above each place setting at a brunch? I may have to go buy more!
