Living Room Swag

For months I have been looking and looking for a valance to go in my living room. I never could find the right style and or color. I could no longer stand how naked the area above my sliding door looked. So, I decided I would just throw something together myself. I went to Hancock Fabrics and picked up 1 1/2 yards of fabric to work with. I did not have pattern to go by, so I just started sewing hems, and came up with a straight valance. I hated it, it was to long & to boring. I got my needle and thread, and started to make some changes. Here is what I came up with:

Here is the before picture, doesn't it look naked to you?

My little handsome boy wanted to help out!

Here it is, it is not perfect, but it will work for now.

The fabric really isn't as shiny as it looks.

It still needs something, so at some point I am going to put some fringe around the top to dress it up. I already had the tassels so I just used them. I would also like to change them with a bolder color.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention, the fabric was 1/2 off! I got the material and thread for $20.00.

Nicole~

Metamorphasis Monday

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ is hosting Metamorphasis Monday, stop by & visit her for details. You will also find that she has quite a lovely home!

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When I purchased my home last year it was in desperate need of many updates. My guest bathroom had 80’s wallpaper, 80’s flooring, a nasty vanity that had a moldy type substance under the sink, old hardware and an outdated mirror.

First on my agenda was to rip out that yucky vanity, so that it could be replaced with a pedestal sink. Next was time to take down all of the dated hardware & mirror. With all of that out of the way I could start removing the wallpaper with ease, right? Wrong!!!

I thought that wallpaper was taking revenge on me for what reason, I do not know. It took several trial & error methods, nothing was working it simply did not want to come off. So, I marched down to Lowe’s, one of my 218 visits, and purchased some mud. With the mud, by hand, I thinly coated over the half ripped wallpaper. Once that was dry I sanded it all down (by hand), and repeated the process again. Keep in mind this was all of the walls with the exception of the area around the sink & toilet. After this was done I purchased a texture gun, and sprayed orange peel all over the walls. Next, I primed it all, and then my wonderful friend Barbara painted it for me!! Thank you again Barbara.

I hired someone to tile the bathroom floor. By the way, I found the flooring on clearance at Home Depot for $.59 a square foot!! With all of the labor out of the way, it was time to start decorating it.

Here are the before & after pictures:

I still need to add the 3/4 rounds to to baseboards. After that is done I need to paint the 3/4 rounds and the baseboards. I would love to eventually add crown molding as well!

I hope you all are not to tired after hearing this makeover!

Nicole~

Pink Saturday

This is my first time to participate in Beverly's at How Sweet the Sound Pink Saturday. Here are a few of my favorite pink things:

Bentley laying on this super soft pink blanket.

This would have to be my favorite!

I have this picture of the pink flowers hanging in my bathroom.

The below picture is something I put together a couple of weeks ago. I had purchased this frame at a thrift store for $ .49, and painted it white. I have had this angel ornament probably ten years or so, decided to glue it on to some coordinating scrap book paper, and then place it in this frame. This was a really easy project, and it only cost me $.49!

Have a great weekend...

Nicole~

My First Cloche

Yeah, I am so excited that I finally found a cloche!! I have been seeing so many of them on various blogs, but I have not been able to find one until this past weekend. It came with this cute little pastry stand that it is sitting on.

I cannot wait to fill it with an assortment of items as the seasons and holidays come and go!


Nicole ~

Plates & Mod Podge Project

I want to share a great find I purchased yesterday at Marshall’s. Look at this Johnson Bros. bread plate I found for $1.99, isn’t it lovely?? All they had were bread plates so I picked up two of them. I really want a couple of platters & plates to go with these two to put on my dining room wall.



I have never worked on a decoupage project before, and I have been really eager to try it out. I have seen so many people creating such cute projects with Mod Podge, I thought today would be a great day to create something for myself.

What really makes this project so great is that I have used all recycled materials. I had a couple of metal containers that were not so attractive, some tissue paper that was in a gift, and some leftover paint from a previous project.

I only took a picture of one one the containers because I got so excited about the project and started painting the other container without taking a before picture!!

Here is the final result. I plan on putting these in my office/sewing room to hold misc. items.

By the way, I am not sure if you all are on to me or not. I am using all of these cute borders to hide my unprofessional photos!! I sure need a lot of practice taking pictures.

Have a great week.

Nicole~

Three or More Thursday

Hello everyone, Tam at The Gypsy’s Corner is hosting "Three or More - Thursday". If you would like to join in, and post three or more of your favorite items go over & visit her for the Mr.Linky instructions:

http://gypsycorner.blogspot.com/2009/01/10th-three-or-more-thursday.html

By the way, she has a lovely home, sweet posts, and two super cute dogs! Stop by & visit her blog, I promise it will put a smile on your face.

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I would like to share three of my many, many favorite collections with you all. Every one of these pieces was a gift, which makes them even more special to me. They are all from the Forét collection by Chris Madden.

Thanks Tam for hosting.

Nicole ~

Picture Tag

I have been tagged by Debbie at CONFESSIONS OF A PLATE ADDICT to play Picture Tag! Here are the rules:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3) Explain the picture.
4) Tag 4 people to do the same.

I would love to invite the following blogger friends to play:

Kristen at Kristen’s Creations - http://kristenscreationsonline.blogspot.com/

Lee Laurie at A Southern Rose - http://asouthernrose.blogspot.com/

Tracy at A Comfy Little Place of My Own - http://comfylittleplace.blogspot.com/

Vanna at Delusions of Grandeur - http://lvroftiques.blogspot.com/

I cannot wait to see what you all have in your folders. When you get a chance stop by their amazing blogs, they are all truly beautiful.

Here is my folder story:

Last year on Friday, January 11, 2008 I closed on my very first house. I was so excited to have my own walls to paint, my own countertops to tear out & replace, and basically to put my own stamp on. I was fortunate to have my stuff packed away in storage & to live with my grandmother during this transformation.

OK, so here is my fourth picture that is located in my fourth file. It is a picture of my dining room getting prepped for paint. Now, do not cringe, because it does not look like this anymore.



Since this picture was taken I have painted all of the walls, replaced that old ceiling fan with a light fixture & replaced the floor. By the way, thank you soooo much Brian for doing the floors for me & Jim for replacing that yucky fan!!! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it.

Here is what it looks like today:

That lamp cord is bugging me, I keep taping it to the bottom of the console table & it keeps falling down! My future plans for this room are to replace the console table with a buffet. I have so much stuff to put on and in that buffet. I would love to find some transferware to hang on the wall on both sides of the mirror. And lastly, I would like to replace the picture with something else.

I am so blessed to own my own home. Every single day I remind myself how fortunate I am to have the wonderful opportunity of homeownership. There are so many people in our world who do not even know where they are going to rest their head from day to day. I do work and have worked very hard to achieve this accomplishment, but I cannot even explain how lucky I feel to have my own place. I count my blessings each day.

Debbie, thank you so much for including me in all of the fun. You are so sweet!

Hospice Ceramics & Stool Makeover

Several years ago I received a ceramic angel from my grandmother. Hospice sells these ceramic angels at Christmas time. I thought it would be a good idea to display it in a shadow box. I went out and purchased a shadow box & a piece of scrapbook paper. I glued the paper to the back of the frame, and then glued the angel down to the paper.

Like I said this was several years ago, and l believe it is time for a facelift. It needs an updated background for sure and possibly new paint on the frame. This is what it looks like now:

I need to figure out which room I am going to put it in, and then make up my mind on colors. As soon as I have changed it up I will post my result.

My grandmother is a volunteer for Hospice. At one of their volunteer celebrations she was awarded a ceramic heart for her service. At the time I told her I would make her a shadow box for it like I had made for myself. Now, keep in mind this was also a couple of years ago. I just made it today! Here it is better late than never:

Earlier this week I reupholstered one of my stools. This was my great grandmother’s stool that I have had about ten years. I also thought that the time had come for change. Here it is with it's new look:

Before

After

I am not sure what has come over me, but I am wanting to redo everything!! I have several projects in progress right now. So, as soon as I am finished I will be sure to share........

Nicole~

Irresistible Temptation

I have told myself this year I need to be better with my money. I need to save as much as possible, especially being so concerned with all of the newscast reporting on the poor economy. Another thing I have told myself is that I am going to be more organized this year with everything, home, work, etc. I am in desperate need of some sort of storage in my home office/sewing room, and how do I get organized without storage??

Well, I was on a simple mission, which was to purchase my friend a birthday gift. I knew exactly what I was going to get, and exactly where I was going to get it. I was on my way. I had heard of a store that had second hand furniture, I thought that would be perfect, I will just pull in really quick before heading to the store I really need to go to, because organization is also important, right??

I walked in, and the first thing I saw had my complete attention!!! It was a beautiful set of dishes that were screaming for me to come over and take a look at them. I also spotted a sign that said all glassware & dishware were 50% off, with the exception of consignment items. The plates were marked $5.00 each, and the platter was marked $49.00. I asked the lady that worked there if the dishes that I found so charming were 50% off, and she said no, they are 75% off. I was beside myself….. That meant each plate was $1.25, and the platter was $12.25. I did not have to think twice about purchasing them!! I grabbed six plates and the platter for a grand total of $21.38. I was thrilled......

They have two stamps on the back of them, one marked Bridgwood England, and the other Oxford St London (Old Chelsea). Here they are:

I love them, they are so pretty............

Nicole ~

Stylish Little Sweater

I keep telling Bentley how handsome he looks in his little blue sweater. But, for some reason he just isn’t buying it!! I am doing some serious bribing with cat food for him to stand still long enough to take this photograph.

I guess he’s just not into style!!

Wine Bottle Light

Some time ago a good friend of mine told me about a cute idea she had seen, and asked me to create a replica for her. It was a wine bottle made into a decorative light piece.

You will need the following items: An empty wine bottle or any other type of bottle you have on hand, craft lights, raffia or ribbon, faux grapes & a cork. Make sure you get the lights that do no have an extension end to add another set of lights because you will not be able to stuff that into the bottle. It would make it even cuter if you have any other type of embellishments to add to it.

Below is a sample of the items you can use:

First, you stuff all of the lights into the bottle. Then, you add the raffia or ribbon around the neck of the bottle. Make sure you tighten the knot around the cord of the lights, so that you can hide it in the back. Lastly, you tie the grapes and cork on top or to the side of the raffia.

Here is the light I made for myself, and put in my kitchen:

This is a really simple, cute idea, and makes a really great gift.

Nicole ~

Treasure Day

Today was a great shopping day for me!! Hobby Lobby was having a super sale. All of their Christmas items are now marked down 80%. They also had several isles of home décor & accents marked down 66%. There was so much to look at. I was there almost two hours!! Here is what I found:

These candles were originally $11.88 each and I got them for $2.38 each.

These candles were originally $ .99 each and I got them for $ .20 each.

This two tiered server was originally $29.99, and I got it for $10.20.

I think I am going to paint it white, what do you all think?

I also went to Lowe’s for some paint for another project, and found this cute plant holder:

Sorry, I could not find a better back drop for you to see the detail. My house is a mess right now, and this was a spot that did not have all sorts of stuff all around it. The planter was not on sale, but I have wanted it for about a year now. I had a gift card, so I scooped it right up. I cannot wait until the spring comes so that I can plant some English Ivy, Periwinkles & Geraniums in it!!

This is the very, very best treasure of the day. It is a Ironstone Soup Tureen that my grandmother gave to me!! I LOVE IT!!!

She said her mother (my great grandmother) gave it to her over 40 years ago. What makes it really special is that I was fortunate enough to have grown up knowing my great grandmother. She lived to be 101. She passed away about six years ago, and she was one month shy of being 102.

Thanks for visiting and letting me share my treasures with you, I hope you all had a wonderful day, and thanks again for the tureen Mimi…….

Nicole ~