I {heart} my newest Goodwill find

Look what I found at the Goodwill!

I glanced at my friend sitting on the floor as I first walked over to the home goods wall but didn't give it much thought. So I kept on walking to peruse the baskets, glassware, vases, etc. displayed on the shelving which spans a good forty feet. But each time I stopped to take a closer look at something, I felt a pull to glance back at my lonely friend on the floor. I think it was calling my name!

Finally, after finding a couple of lonely baskets, I headed toward the registers. One last time, I looked down at my friend, it looked up at me, and it was love at tenth sight! In an instant, I imagined it cleaned up with a new coat of white paint. I {heart} lattice work and am in the planning stages of decorating my living room and entry way with an outdoorsy feel (see my March 3rd post). So I adopted my $6 friend!

I believe it's homemade, which really makes it a unique piece.

On Sunday I'll post the "after" picture!

I really want to thank Kimm @ Reinvented for inspiring me. I already bought four cans of Heirloom White, as recommended by this very crafty lady. Yippee!!

[Oh, yikes, I just realized upon looking at my picture that this is red primer! What am I thinking? You know where I'll be tomorrow.....]

Window dressings that catch my eye~ Part One

I enjoy looking at unique window treatments that I might be able to recreate myself. I am usually attracted to the fabric and other materials that make up the treatment, as well as the architecture of the window itself and its surroundings. Big, foo-foo treatments -professional dressings or amateur "mistreatments" (as Nester calls them - love that term!) can look gorgeous as the main attraction in the right environment. But since my home is neither big nor foo-foo, I prefer simple. I plan my window treatments to complement my decor and often find they pull everything together to create a finished, cohesive look.

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Here are a few professionally designed window dressings that I find to be pretty, practical, fun, and unique. (Don't forget to click to enlarge.) Enjoy!

Country Living

Boy, there's a lot going on here. But I'm a sucker for plaid (leftover from my 70s upbringing??). I never thought to use pom poms with plaid, but I'm thinking about it now!

Country Living
More pom poms. A simple swag will never go out of style for me.

Country Living
I wish I could see more of this knotted treatment. How easy is that?! I've been contemplating what to do with our home office windows for a long time...now I know!

Country Living
This is medium weight paper hung on a rod. Bunnies were made by tracing around a cookie cutter. You could let your imagination flow with this one. How about changing it with the seasons?




Country Living
I really, really love this idea! They painted and installed these wood trim pieces on the outside of the windows. I'm thinking it would be more practical to somehow hang them from the inside so they could be removed for easy window cleaning. Neat, huh?

The End.

Stay tuned for Part Two!

A new perspective in working with color

Melissa from The Inspired Room posted this lovely dresser from Country Living in her Feb. 2 post Inspiration: Decorating With Red

Melissa suggests that when we use red, we can BE the adjectives this color evokes:

Bold... Romantic... Dramatic... Sweet and Subtle... Brave... Cozy... Unique...

I love this perspective! So...on my quest to spread cheer around my house, I'll be thinking of the ways I want my family, my guests, and myself to BE when they are in my home!

Please check out this and her other posts for additional lovely ideas.Thanks for the inspiration, Melissa!

A new weekly series is headed our way!!

Kimm @ Reinvented has started a new series called Trash to Treasure Tuesday!!! I am so excited because I just know she's gonna give us all kinds of cool and fun ideas! She's really good at giving new life to Goodwill, garage sale, and thrift store finds. And she's funny to boot!

This will take you to her blog, too.

Hop over to her first Tuesday post to see what it's all about. She's got a GIVEAWAY going on, too!!

(If I used too many exclamation points, it's because I really am excited. {smile!!!!!!!!} )

This former "beauty" was given new life by Kimm @ Reinvented. Go there now to see its metamorphosis. :)

New Challenge: Decorating my living room & entryway

Ok, we painted the living room/entry way last October and I STILL have bare walls! I think I think too much about what I want to go where. I plan it in my head, draw it on paper, make lists, and then when something new or unique comes along, I think "Hey, I can incorporate that if I just tweak this and change that..." and the next thing I know my original plans get so twisted that I wind up confused and excited at the same time. Am I normal or am I weird? I've lived with me all these years, and I should know by now that I'm not really going to change! Ha!

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So...here is my new challenge for the week...

How can I tie the living room and entry way together on a shoestring budget?

I want to finish decorating my living room and entry way walls with a natural outdoorsy kind of feel. Three of the living room walls are Pittsburgh Paint Whippet and the fireplace wall is one shade down the paint chip called Earl Gray. During the day, it looks like shades of stone. At night, it has a hint of mossy green. That was a surprise and has really grown on me!

Pretty non-descriptive mantle. I'd like to dress it up a bit. I can shop around my house.



This shows the two shades. The ceiling is the same as the wall on the right.



Borrrring! But I have an idea. Actually about 8, so I HAVE to narrow it down to one if I'm going to meet my challenge!

Ugh. That's all I can say. Ugh! Our old TV used to sit on this corner unit, which completely blocked the window. Now the TV hangs/swivels/tilts from the wall, but we need to tame those cords and video game! The corner piece doesn't work there anymore, but funds are limited right now. (Good thing my imagination is free!!) My pots, which I moved from the dining room (left) sit on the corner thing, waiting for new friends to fill them.



I have never known what to do with these windows. I recently made these valances...I wanted something simple. The red/orange-ish fabric is actually a swag from Penney's. It was pricey, but the color was perfect. I still have about 4 1/2 yards of it, but I have not decided what to do with it. Yet. Any ideas?



In the entry way, I mixed the two colors and came up with a color for below the chair rail that is only slightly darker than the color above it. The space is small with no natural light except for the door when it is open, so I try to keep it as light as possible.



I have fantasized about painting this door for about 5 years. (What the heck has been stopping me?) This bench has quite a story ~ I bought it several years ago at a huge craft show at a festival. It is an old church pew that sat in a man's barn for about 50 years! His wife started throwing them away, and he dug them out of the garbage heap, which she was going to set fire to! He agreed to clean, sand, and stain them if she would recover them. They had about 5 on display and after they told me the story, I asked if she would cover one with my own fabric. (They had another 40 of them!) She was delighted, and so was I. This fabric no longer works for me, so I am anxious to recover it and give it new life once again. Maybe the leftover swag fabric? Hmmm....


Well, wish me luck. Stay tuned...I'll post as I complete each space. Yippee! HEY, if you have any ideas, PLEASE leave me a comment!!!

Red sure makes my plants pop

Here is my submission to southernlady-nancy's Flaunt Your Red party. I had posted her Mr. Linky button earlier today, but here it is again. It will take you to her party. Scroll down and enjoy what other participants are doing. Have fun!

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I'm done with my little project - yea!

Here are before photos. Too dark.



Pretty plants that got lost on the black cabinet top.

Last Fall, I painted this cabinet, which is a basic Sauder, black and switched it with a desk that is now in our office. I love plants and as I bought them over the past year I just set them in pots and put them up here for lack of a better place. The pots were too dark and they really belonged in my living room (where they now sit waiting for new plants ~ guess what I'm doing next!)

So I scouted around my house, garage, Meijer, Walmart, and Goodwill for a mix of pots and baskets that would work better. The first thing I did was add the red placemats to create a contrast between the black cabinet top and the pots. Then I added more splashes of red by painting the bands of the bushel basket (middle, from Meijer, less than $4) and the other basket (at the left, sitting in my garage for 5+ yrs.). I added pictures of my kids when they were little that were already in these red frames. I love shopping in my own house!

I love how the red makes everything pop!

I splurged on this pretty red thing @ Walmart for $25.

I am like a hummingbird and a butterfly

What makes red and all its hues so attractive?

Love this tall Cardinal flower, a type of Lobelia, found here.

A precious picture found here.

I'd love to see this in my backyard this summer.
(from Wikipedia)

This picture found here leaves me singin' for summer!

This is what happens while I wait for paint to dry. I mess around on the Internet. Of course, it's not like I don't have anything else to do! Bathrooms could be cleaned, floors could be mopped, but somehow my computer shouts my name the loudest.

...For what it's worth, I have done 2 1/2 loads of laundry today in addition to my affair with the computer. That's for Hubbie in case he reads this. {grin}

.........20 minutes later............ok, paint should be dry, the dryer just yelled at me, and my son has a friend coming here in an hour. Gotta go!

Flaunt Your Red ~ I found a party!!!!

Wow, since challenging myself to spread red around my home, I've been seeing nothing but red!!! I was pretty busy with work stuff this week, so today is my Git 'Er Done day. I've bought a few things, shopped my house, and grabbed the spray paint. Will post soon!!!

In the meantime, look what I just found! Today is Flaunt Your Red day at southerlady-nancy's place! It's a party with Mr. Linky. Click on the button to take you there. Have fun!! I know I will....I'll have to tear myself away to get my own stuff DONE, 'cause today IS the day!! I'll join the party and post here when I finish. Woo hoo! Go there. Now!

Challenge: How can I incorporate more RED without it being overwhelming?

Thank you, Misti at Studio M Design and Decorating, for inspiring this week's challenge! In honor of Valentine's Day, Misti posted lovely pictures and ideas about balancing your space with red.

Credit: Southern Living

Isn't it yummy? I, too, enjoy red. To me it says, "Come on in and make yourself comfortable." I especially love the idea of mixing in a little orange with the red. I'm trying to do that in my Living Room, but Hubby doesn't get it. Yet.

So......I'll spend some time this week pondering, trying things out, and looking for additional ways to spread some red cheer around my home.

JOIN ME! I'd love to hear your ideas!!

I scored a deal for my kitchen at Goodwill

The Nester is doing a series featuring quick fixes you can do to spruce up a space in your home. She's given lots of ideas that require only ten minutes and little or no money.
Here’s mine that I added to Mr. Linky on her site:
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I've been so inspired by my new blogger friends and their finds at Goodwill that I couldn't wait to go myself to see what kind of treasure I might find. Today was the day. With a couple of trays in my hands, I headed towards the cashier when I spotted a huge box of framed pictures. I am a sucker for frames - maybe it's an addiction? - and told myself, No, don't even look. But, I looked. In that box was exactly what I have been looking at for my kitchen, but didn't want to pay the $25 price. Even on Ebay, it would wind up being that much after shipping.

As you can see, I got my sweet treat for five bucks!!

The former owner took the protective cardboard off the back - see part of it still tacked on? Maybe she got it as a gift and didn't care for it. Now, it's become my gift for me!

Are you curious about what it is?

Ta da!

Here is how it fits with my kitchen.

For you IKEA lovers out there, you may recognize the rails hanging under the cabinets. I can hear some of you cringing because I have so much out in view. When I cook, I love to have my tools and spices within arms reach. When things are out of sight, for me they are out of mind! (A flaw that I am working on. {smile} )

My kitchen consists of standard oak cabinets, almond appliances, laminate countertop, and white tiles. This, to me, spells D-A-T-E-D and B-O-R-I-N-G! I feel there is nothing like cooking for my family in a kitchen that says ME. So, I found these small Chef tiles at Kohl's. And last summer, Mom, Sis, and Niece had a Girls Day Out at a place called Naked Clay. With my Chef tiles in mind, I painted these smaller tiles to enhance the boring white backsplash. With a little creativity, a lot of fun with my girls, and some heavy duty Velcro, I went to town above my stove.

Now you can see why I am so excited about my newest Chef. I think I will have to name him because I will probably wind up talking to him as I cook in front of him!

I got the sticker clock!

I went right back to Kohl's and got that clock I discussed in my first post. After looking at the box for 4 days - I was nervous about messing it up - I finally decided today is the day. And guess what! It took me a grand total of 7 minutes! That included remeasuring about a dozen times to make sure it was perfectly level (I'm anal about that ~ thanks, Mom!) Can you find the little birdy in it? There are about a half dozen other bird stickers that I might find a place for in my entry way which opens into this living room. (We painted the LR and EW back in October and I am still debating how I want to decorate the walls! I ponder too much...) In fact, now that I'm thinking about this, I have a homemade birdhouse a former student made for me that might find a new home in the EW as well. Hmmm...I also have a real bird nest in the garage that I'd had in my classroom....how can I incorporate that?

The TV hangs on the wall and ordinarily sits at an angle like this.

With the TV pushed flush to the wall.

The clock is level, I swear!

Cool word wall sites that get my creative juices flowing

I haven't figured out why yet, but I am really diggin' the wall stickers that have become so popular. Maybe it's because I'm becoming philosophical in my young age. I also love to read. I have always enjoyed things that are unique. Today at Kohl's I was with hubby - who went for one thing only and was in a hurry - and saw the most awesome sticker clocks! I am going back there this afternoon to check them out. They seem a little big (19" square), but I'll bet I can find a perfect spot! They don't carry them online, and after googling I haven't yet found a picture to show you.

More and more websites are popping up with myriad of sayings. You can even custom make your own. They do tend to be pricey, but I'm told they are easy to apply and are very durable. I know as soon as I try one, I'll be hooked! Stay tuned.....

www.wellsaid.net



I first fell in love with word walls when I discovered this posting by mysweetsavannah on HGTV's www.ratemyspace.com. Her home is quite lovely and creative. She paints her words by hand!! She also has a blog that's inspiring. Lucky us!