Its been a very busy last couple of weeks here in my house, there for a lack of posts. Tis the Season! Here are a few ideas for some last minute gift ideas that I know I would LOVE to have. The first one being a runner or any size really classic black and white striped rug. Black and white will meld into anyone's color choices in their home, its classic and on trend too...
There are so many places that are having last minute sales and most of them are offering free shipping upgrades so that it will arrive before Christmas, gotta love that!
The second idea is a pouf or ottoman, it provides function and style all in one, and with most of them being made of leather they will last for many years to come, so its the gift that keeps on giving! Again I have seen sooo many coupons out there that you could pick up one of these very reasonable priced. This one is my favorite, gold!
And for the guy, my hubby is a musician, who loves to play video games, so what to give a person like that besides spending a fortune on a new instrument? I wanted to find something that could combine the two of those things together so it would be a hit both ways..and I found this...
A video game that comes with a mic, and cables to hook up your real guitar, so that you are playing your instrument and playing the game too! Genius! Even if they are learning this is a perfect tool to teach too. I wish I could say that I am completely finished with my shopping, but I forgot about the stockings! They get me every year, somehow I forget those! How is your holiday shopping going? Are you "finished"? See you soon!
Decorating your coffee table for Christmas, it can be challenging for some people and expensive too. My secret is that I hit the thrift stores! You can find some really neat Christmas stuff in an abundance, they are overloaded during this time of year it seams! I knew I wanted sparkles and gold ( I keep my colors down to a 3 color scheme) so I went into the store with those things in mind and picked out just those things, you can easily get distracted with "pretty" stuff and when you get home it looks like you just threw a bunch of stuff together that doesn't necessarily go together. Just try to stay focused.I found two clear round circles that open up so you can put something inside of them,perfect for adding the blue and silver sparkle ornaments, (that I bought at the same thrift store too for 15 cents a piece). I also found two gold turtle doves, and a gold wired Christmas tree..
The deer horns I already had (I painted them here), the tray has been on my coffee table for a couple years already, I put a plant in the tray to add some greenery and wallah, a Christmas coffee table! It only cost me $4 bucks!
The tray keeps everything all nice and tidy which is a good thing! Do you guys see Mr. Snowman in the background? I have been trying to donate him for the last 3 years but my husband LOVES him..! You press his hand and he sings Christmas songs.. I catch him singing with him all the time..hehe so I guess he is a part of our Christmas family now for good. See you guys soon!
It's that time of year again! Pulling out boxes of Christmas stuff and seeing what has survived over the last year sitting in boxes that have been squished by other things that somehow got thrown on top of them. So far so good..have only found a couple of broken ornaments..not to bad. I thought I had bought last year after Christmas (ya know when everything is like 75% off) a set of gold deers, I thought I had or I just remember it that way, but I looked in all my Xmas boxes and nope I didn't find them, so I am guessing I just thought I bought them and didn't..booo..well guess what? I was out a thrift store yesterday and guess what I found? A pair of gold deers! The ornamentation around the neck area isn't really my style but I had plans..
I just popped those flowers and ribbon off and I had a clean slate. I wanted something black and white to go around his cute little neck so I dug out some fabric I had left over from my patio pillows I made over the summer and cut two long strips, leaving some black on one side and white on the other.
Then I just wrapped it around the neck and tied it in a bow. So much better! I did the same for the other deer but left a little more black on the fabric than white.
I don't have a mantel that I can hang stockings from or decorate with pretty garland, so the closest thing I have is my t.v. console, which is right next to my Christmas tree so I figured that it was the most appropriate thing to use for these purposes. So my new to me little golden deers new home for this season are here right above the stockings, along with two little golden turtle doves I also found at the same thrift store. One day I will have a real fireplace and mantel but for now this works!
I hope to find some garland this weekend to put up here too, it needs some greenery! Here is a little table my little one put together with his favorite Mr. Nutcracker..
How's your holiday decorating going? Did most of your stuff make it through the year without getting broken? See you soon!
Hi! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I have been seeing this fabric called Shumacher Chiang Mai Dragon everywhere for a while now and while browsing online I found a website that you could order a fabric sample of this fabric for $5.00 with free shipping, so I decided I wanted to see what all the rage was and still is over this fabric and ordered me up a sample in the alabaster color. The website said "Our swatch is a memo sample ranging from 4 " x 6" to 12" x 18" in size", so I figured even if it was a small sample I could still get a feel for the fabric. Well my not so small sample arrived about a week later, and when I opened up the package I was so dang darn happy! This was a huge sample! The colors are so vivid and its pure linen to boot!
So guess what I am gonna do with my sample?? Any guesses?? If you know me, you know I am a pillow hoarding freak of nature, so yes, surprise a pillow! I have to get my Christmas stuff up first, I am in the middle of doing that but, after that its a pillow making time! I threw it over an 18x18 pillow I have to just give an idea of what it would look like, LOVE!
Are you a fan of this fabric? See you guys soon!
My little $30 Craigslist Campaign dresser is done! As for the color I chose to go a deep navy blue. I originally had a lighter navy colored blue paint that I was going to use, but decided I wanted something darker, so I mixed in a little black with the navy color until I got the perfect shade I was looking for. I got my color mixed and ready then a little wood filler, taping, sanding and rolling on the paint and it's a whole new dresser! I did take off the handles and buried them in Brasso ( I went back 15 minutes later to check on them and they were blue..that kinda freaked me out a little, but they were fine.Wheww..Scrubbed them for a long time, I mean ALONG time, they were really corroded. As I was resting my hands after scrubbing that darn brass I got a switch twitch (the urge to switch and move random things) is what I am calling it now, so I started moving stuff around, so much for resting..hehe
It didn't cost me a thing for the new look, I just shopped my own house again. I grabbed my two Chinese Chippendale chairs (which were also a Craigslist score) and recovered the cushions (Kravet Riad fabric) and put them on either side to flank my new adorable campaign dresser. This dresser is much smaller than the other cabinet that I had in here, so I don't know if it was just that I was used to seeing something so much bigger that when I put this one in its place it looked not finished, too puny maybe, but after I put the two chairs on the sides I thought it looked much better.
I had these lamps sitting in my garage for a long time (Target clearance score from a couple years back) and decided to break them out, the color they were originally was like a dark greenish color, didn't mix well with the dark navy.
So spray paint to the rescue! My bestie spray paint.. First I primed them with 2 coats letting them dry completely before applying the second primer coat. ( Zinsser 123 primer works great) then used white lacquer,(Ace brand) using the same step, applied 2 coats letting them dry in between. I think they look so much better this color don't you? I am a high contrast kind of girl.
I added some black ribbon around the shades,put my coral, orangish tray that I got from Target a while back from the modern cottage collection, and boom totally different look.
For a little somethin somthin extra to add to the dresser, I had a Chinese wind chime outside forever and took it apart and painted it gold then hung it on the handle with some clear fishing line, I actually really like how this looks, thought it would be too bulky but looks great :)
Here is a little before and after of the dining room area..
 |
| BEFORE |
 |
| AFTER |
And here is a before and after of the dresser..
 |
| BEFORE |
 |
| AFTER |
Well thats my little dresser/dining room revamp, nothing major but still different! I am so exited that its time to start doing some Christmas decorating this week, time to get in the holiday spirit! Yea my favorite time of year, cant wait, ! See you soon!
Who is a crazy happy buying dresser freak?? I am!! Okay so I know I said that my goal wasn't to buy anything that I didn't need..I know, I know. That is exactly what my husband said to me last night when he came home, after I kindly asked him to go with me and pick up a dresser..again, I had to through in a.. but honey, I have wanted one of these dresser foreva! It's only $30, that's unheard of! I had to get my point across that this was such a good deal, ya know. Well I must have gave some really good puppy dog eyes or something because it worked! He said okay if you really gotta have this thing lets go and get this over with. See I have heard these dressers are really heavy, if it wasn't for that I would have let my poor hubby stay home. Don't you wish that there was some magical pill you could take to make you strong for just 30 minutes? Just long enough to pick up a heavy dresser and put in in the truck. In my case, a crazy, blogger, Craigslist dresser buying pill if you will. Ya that would be awesome! On to the dresser, it has some cosmetic issues, not too bad, but for $30 I cant complain.
Oh and it was REALLY heavy, and a lot smaller in person than I expected, but still I am a happy girl! Now what color should this new addition be? I went online to see what kind of inspiration I could get as far as painting this baby, and there are so many colorful options, and they all look really good.
This green one I seen over and over again, this is a really popular photo.
This one is just like mine, really like this option.
Then there is classic black. I have noticed a lot of people really like the white option, but I think I am trying to get out of paint everything white mode. My hubby did say he liked the white which was a shocker because he usually has no opinion on my little projects, but for some reason I think he likes this guy as much as me. Time to go get my paint on, to the paint store I go. What do you guys think? Any opinions on a color choice?
I was at Ross this weekend and spotted a cute little lamp sitting by itself on a shelf. I had some credit there so I put it in my cart. It was super cheap and I had credit so why not? I have a fetish for lamps, don't know why, but I do. I wanted to try it in my kitchen on my counter under the the cabinet. I thought would that look okay? I like having a little light in the kitchen at night instead of having that big bright light on all the time, its more cozy. Well I did buy it and put on my counter, I left the wrapping on just in case I needed to return it. What do you guys think?
Ya or Na?
