Tablescape Thursday

Good evening everyone, welcome to my little gathering. This is my very first time to join Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

Napkin rings are such a nice accent to a table setting. It is amazing how many shapes, sizes, colors, and styles they come in. I got these rose napkin rings at Bed, Bath & Beyond several years ago. Yes, I did use my 20% coupon on them.

I adore these plates!!! I got them a couple of weeks ago at the Home Goods store, and they were only $3.99 each. Unfortunately they only had four of them. I would love to have two more for a complete set. What a wonderful excuse to go back in a month or so!

I got this centerpiece for free!! Well, it was free, but not really. One of our local stores has a customer rewards program, and I used my accumulated points to get it. I got the sprays at Christmas time, and just added them to the candle holder.

Can you believe how pretty this Hibiscus is?? I think every table needs fresh flowers, so I went out to my front yard and clipped a few flowers. I think the bird on the right hand side thinks that the Hibiscus has fragrance, but unfortunately they do not!

Every table needs a good bottle of wine on it!!

I hope you enjoyed the evening. Please stop by Susan's fabulous home to link up with the other participants.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Nicole~

Three or More Tuesday – English Ivy

Happy Tuesday everybody!! Our wonderful hostess, Tam over at the Gypsy’s Corner is hosting "Three or More - Tuesday". If you would like to participate, drop in and visit her for all of the details.

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I am so excited that spring has finally started to peak its head out. We have had some absolutely beautiful days here this last week. All of the plants and flowers are really starting to bloom.

One of my very favorite things to do is work in the flower beds & potting plants. I can never get tired of doing it. It really is relaxing, and the end result to me is like art. Since all of the plants are really starting to look green again, I thought I would share one of my favorite types of plants with you. Now, I of course pretty much love all plants, but there is one that I absolutely adore. And, that is the English Ivy. Here are a few of the ones on my patio:

I hope you all have had a wonderful day. Do not forget to stop by Tam's & see what everyone is sharing today.

Nicole~

Happy Saturday

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I finally got Bentley groomed today!! Poor thing was looking like a little orphan. He is feeling very spunky right now. I am not sure if he feels lighter from the haircut, or it is this beautiful weather we are having today!!

I just wanted to share a few pictures of his fresh look with you all.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Nicole~

My Design Dilemma

A friend of mine, Allison, came up with a creative way to help those who are facing design challenges. Every Friday she will post a Design Dilemma on her blog, My Little Happy Place.

I e-mailed her some pictures of my bedroom, which I am having difficulties with. Here was my big challenge for her: I hate that the TV is on an old TV stand that I do not like at all!! I would love to conceal it in a storage piece of some sort that is not too big. Also, I need some sort of window treatment. It is awkward because one side of the window is the adjoining wall & the other side is a closet. Oh yes, the closet doors need some help too!

Here are the pictures I sent to her to work with.

Click here to see her wonderful suggestions for my difficult challenge. Thank you so much Allison for the great ideas!

Have a great weekend!!

Nicole~

Three or More Tuesday – Easter Bunnies

Happy Tuesday everybody!! Tam over at the Gypsy’s Corner is hosting "Three or More - Tuesday". If you would like to participate, drop in and visit her for all of the details.
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Since Easter is right around the corner, I thought it would be fitting to start getting the trails warmed up for the bunnies to start hopping down.

I got this cute little bunny for free, well sort of free. One of our local stores offers a rewards program for purchases made. So, I used my accumulated points to get this bunny. I thought it needed a bow, so I made this tiny little bow & hot glued it on.

By the way, I purchased this ironstone bowl for $1.99 at the local Goodwill a couple of months ago.

I got this cute little porcelain bunny at Marshall's this past weekend. Do you see Bentley's little Easter bandanna...

I just had to have her, I thought she was just precious....

I hung this plate up above my stove. I purchased it at Ross about a month ago.

Look at this cute little Bentley in a basket!!! He is also in the spirit, after all he has his little bunny in there with him....

This is a little sign I made for my front door from a 2x4 scrap left over from a previous project. I just painted the piece of wood, applied a couple of Easter pieces from the craft store & some rub on transfers. Please pardon the bow, the ribbon I had on hand is so flimsy and really hard to work with. It is thinner that air & would not form!!

Actually, I was telling my dad about making the below sign for Valentine's Day & he had the idea to decorate both sides. So, the Easter sign was really the second side made.

This is what the original scrap looked like:

Please do not forget to stop by & visit our wonderful hostess, Tam, to sign up for Mr. Linky. Or just stop by for a visit.

Nicole~

Metamorphis Monday

Hello everyone, welcome to Metamorphasis Monday. If you would like to join in, please stop by and join our hostess Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for all of the details.

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Today, I have a very simple project to show you all for Metamorphasis Monday. A couple of months ago I was at Hobby Lobby & found a jar that had a Fleur-De-Lis lid on it. I seem to have difficulties passing up things with Fleur-De-Lis' on them! Can you believe it was on clearance for $3.20??? I knew I wanted to put it in my kitchen, so I would have to change up the color a bit. This is what it looked like when I first purchased it:

I simply applied one coat of spray paint. I then got some sand paper & sanded it down a bit to make it look worn. Here is the final result:

You can pretty much change up the look of anything with a can of spray paint!

I hope you all have had a wonderful Monday. Do not forget to stop by & see all of the transformations over at Susan's place.


Nicole~

It Has Arrived!!

In January, I purchased this beautiful buffet/sideboard via my Aunt Susie's cell phone. She had mentioned to me that she had been to an antique show in her home town, and that they had some pretty pieces.

So, I guess I should take you back a year or so when I first purchased my house. I knew from the very beginning that I wanted an antique buffet for this particular wall in the dining room. Until January I never found anything that I liked, much less loved.

OK, so lets move forward or should I say back to January. During my conversation with my aunt I said, I wish that I could have gone to the antique show with her. She said that she would be happy to go back the next day, and that she would just e-mail me pictures for me to choose from. Isn't she such a nice aunt??? From the several pieces, which were all very pretty, I decided on this one:

My aunt & uncle live a couple of hundred miles away, and today was the day they came to deliver me the buffet. I was so excited, and the anticipation of its arrival was driving me crazy!! Boy, was it worth it, it is so, so pretty. And, it matches my table perfectly!!

Thank you sooooo much Susie & David for all of the efforts you put into getting me this buffet, I love it !!!!

What do you all think about it???

Nicole~

Three or More Tuesday – Lamp Obsession Part 2

Happy Tuesday everyone!! Tam over at the Gypsy’s Corner is hosting "Three or More - Tuesday". If you would like to join in, stop by and visit her for all of the details.

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I told you all in a previous post that I might have a slight lamp addiction.......

I wanted to share with you all a few more from my overflowing collection.

Do not forget to stop by Tam’s to sign up for Mr. Linky or to see what everyone has showcased today!

Nicole~

Metamorphasis Monday - Bathroom

Hello everyone, welcome to Metamorphasis Monday. If you would like to join in, please stop by and join our hostess Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for all of the details.

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Do you all remember my guest bathroom post last month?? If you would like to see it, click here. Well, my master bathroom was just as bad!! Thank goodness it is smaller. So that meant there was not as much wallspace to work on as the guest bathroom. But, it was equally as icky!!! It had 80's wallpaper & flooring, an old faucet, and a mirror that spanned across the sink & toilet. This all needed to be changed out desperately!! I forgot to mention on the other post, I also replaced both toilet seats. That sort of stuff grosses me out!!

So, after all of the mudding, sanding, orange peeling, priming & painting here is my transformation:

Before (Yikes!!)..........

After........

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After.....

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Before....

After..... (The vanity is darker than this)

Unfortunately it was not in the budget to change out the vanity, it is a little darker than it looks in the after pictures. I think the flash is making it look a lot lighter. At some point I would like to sand it down & stain it a darker color to match the mirror & shelf.


I still need to add the 3/4 rounds, I just cannot get it to come in out of the garage & nail it's self in! I would also like to eventually add some crown molding.


Thanks for visiting, do not forget to stop by Susan's to see all of the participant's transformations.


Nicole~