Bronzed Turkey from Blah to Burnished

I know we all have holiday decor pieces that we've had for years; many of them holding sentimental feelings of family and tradition. Well, I have my share of pieces that are just simply part of the ritual of bringing out Thanksgiving and Christmas decor, but really need a spiff up to make them presentable and up to date.

Mini Patriotic Makeovers on the Mantel

Hey there friends. I know we all like a good project and DIY, but today I'm going to share with you what happens when things don't turn out quite like we might plan. I'm going to share a behind the scenes pair of mini makeovers that I decided on for the patriotic mantel here in the hearth room. Many of us don't like to share those blah frustrating moments when you have a plan that gets off track. (me included). Personally, I think sharing setbacks and makeovers #1,#2, and #3 help all of us and save some time. Even if we have to cringe a bit and admit it was my best shot. 

New House Journal: Laundry Room Update

We didn't do a lot of huge projects here at the new house, but we had a lot of medium and small re-dos. The laundry room/bath was one of the bigger projects. I'll share the "after" photos first so you won't get totally grossed out. If you've ever done a bath renovation you will know what I mean. It can be pretty ugly when you're down to the plumbing and bare walls. This wasn't a flashy makeover, we just wanted a clean fresh look in this space that will be used multiple times a day. Since I don't have a dedicated, guest friendly "powder room", I'm sure this will be a default bathroom that company will wander into.

New House Journal: Timber Frame Front Porch

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We worked most of the weekend painting the laundry/bath and Hearth Room/Kitchen. One project we took on called for some study and investigation. Today,  I'm sharing a little Pinterest inspiration that I gathered, to help me find a solution for a front porch "mini makeover" on our new house. To say I was not a fan of the front porch is an understatement. The house is a long drawn out 60's brick "ranch" that has a lovely setting, but just left me lacking that home-y English Cottage feel that I love.

Pinterest

Wreath Makeover for Thanksgiving to Christmas

One of the great things about living in this area is that there are a ton of great shops, antique malls, and vintage markets. Fall and Christmas Open Houses are the highlight of the year as the shops go all out with great seasonal displays and merchandise. My sis and I made it to several shops yesterday for the annual event, and I have to admit, when I got home I had a case of Christmas decorating fever.

"Village Churches" Mini Makeover

I think many of us collected the various "Village" Houses and Churches back in the late 90's. I know that I concentrated on finding just the white churches, without giving in to the obsession of collecting a whole village of people, shops, churches, houses, and figurines. Last thing I needed was one more "collection" of anything...

Framed Bathroom Mirror

Hi Everyone! Well, we're down to the last couple of weekends, and we will be listing our house with the Realtor this evening. To say we are glad all the work is almost over is beyond an understatement. We've had to be working on this house every weekend for the last six months, and we're so pleased at how it's turned out. We've invested lot's of money in updates, and extras to hopefully give us an edge in the market. Home sales in our area have finally turned around, and last month was the highest volume of homes sold in the last quite a few years. Not only sold, but prices are rebounding, so good news for us as sellers!

Hall Bath Makeover February 2012

We still won't recover all the money we paid for it back in 2003, (highest prices in forever) and on top of that we've put over $25,000 into it in updates. But it's still much better than it would have been even a couple of years ago. We lived with some issues that we should have tackled over the years. But you know how it is...you're busy, and all the little things and repairs take a back seat to the more important things in life.

When we moved in I was pretty unhappy with the condition of the mirrors in a couple of the bathrooms. We had removed one humongous wall mirror over the bar, only to have problems with covering up the mega holes, torn wallboard, and gouges. So we just lived with the mirrors. Problem was that over the years, splashed water and humidity had caused the silver to disintegrate on the outer edges of the mirrors. Now, I love that look on antique mirrors, but in an updated bath?...not so much.

So we explored options for removing, covering up, repairing etc, and during one of my "Google-ing" sessions read this blog post from Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality. She had successfully "framed" a few of her bathroom mirrors for a very modest investment, and a little elbow grease.

We found our MDF white molding at Lowes in the 2 and 1/2 inch size, and some corner rosettes that we needed to paint white to match. I had to do a light coat of white trim paint to cover up some problems that taping caused, but we love how they turned out. 

Rhoda used a glue gun, but we had some of this DAP Sealant that worked perfectly. We just put some masking tape up for 24 hours to make sure it held.

We started at the bottom and worked our way to the top of the mirror.

Sorry I can't get a good photo. This was at night and no natural light.

So thank you Rhoda! we followed her instructions and found a wonderful "fix" 

on something that definitely had had us scratching our heads for all these years.

love it!!!

If you want complete instructions,

 please check out Rhoda's great DIY post for the details.

Hopefully, I'll get the "after" shots. and the listing on the house soon to share them with you all. Thanks so very much for all your encouragement and prayers while we've been going through this. Now please just pray for a quick sale. We're heading to St. Louis for my doctor's appointments soon, and we need to focus on whatever is waiting for me there.

joining in at these get-togethers:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Show and Share at Coastal Charm
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

xoxo,

Finding the perfect Greige...

You all are probably like me, and have this little memo board in your brain where you file away ideas and inspiration for projects... ideas that won't go away...but that you're just not yet ready to take on. Thoughts and plans for bringing something to life; it's just that we know it's not the time yet.

 Sort of like little Pinterest Boards in your head... 

Let me share some inspiration for that...

(remember you can click on any pic to make it BIG)

Last week I ran over to one of my favorite stores, Robin's Vintage Suitcase, here in Springfield. I know most of you have seen the posts I do on Robin's store. She doesn't sell on-line, but I like to share her displays and ideas for decor because there is always something to "take away" from just seeing the pics. I try to convey the atmosphere of her shop even though you might not ever be able to get there in person.

She keeps her displays fresh and current, so you never know what you'll see when you first walk in the door. That day I was smitten with her wonderful "gray" furniture and "whites" tablescape.

So, back to the deep recesses of my psyche where my Dining Room furniture lives. I've wanted to paint those pieces for. ever. But couldn't "get there" with the idea of just white. I've been thinking about the "stripped and weathered bare wood" look alot. Like this pic from Restoration Hardware.

...but, the gray, greige, idea has been vying for my attention. Some of you may remember that I painted my perfectly wonderful "gray" console a couple of years ago. (I'm not going to revisit that, some of you wanted to string me up) But I have to tell ya...that color of gray (with the blue undertones) just doesn't look good in my current surroundings where there's a lot of cream and tan. I need a paint color that has some gray, but with warm undertones. But, this wonderful gray paint patina on this old table just knocked me up the side of my head...

It's authentic, not recent...

see the green underneath peeking through?

As a companion piece,

 Robin had painted this fabulous buffet in her homemade paint concoction.

(here are a couple more store pics)

(and for all you locals,

 Robin's having a big sale that you might want to check out)

 I scoured Pinterest looking for other wonderful gray, greige, beige,
 "almost white with a little gray in it", furniture pieces...so take a look at these.



A couple of beautiful pieces from
 Kelli Wright at  Restore Interiors

Here's more...

My favorite color and technique so far...

Love this one too.

These are all pinned into my Pinterest Board

  Gray and Greige Painted Furniture if you want to take a peek.

This is my way of giving this idea in my head some credibility.

It might just be the table, or the buffet and table...

I'm not ready yet to take the plunge...

but I'm working up to it.

anyway, it's fun to dream.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

Joining in with these parties:

Mod Mix Monday at Mod Vintage Life

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo,

The Unseen...

No, that isn't the title to a new horror movie,

although, there have been times when this room looked like

 it might be from that sort of B-Movie set.

It's just the lower level guest room, which isn't used very often, and mostly is the storage room for massive pillow explosions and wayward quilts.

I think that I've considered showing this room once or twice, and maybe I have, but usually it falls in the "off limits" category of blogworthy spaces. Today I was cleaning and fluffing getting ready for the kids who will be here next week, and I realized that I didn't think I'd even shared this old white cupboard that was spiffed up a little to hold some of the overflow of my quilt stash.

Once upon a time it had had doors and a drawer that actually worked. When I found it the doors had been literally ripped off their hinges and the door frame was splintered. The drawer was just a nailed in front, but I didn't care, 'cause I was going to use it for the quilts...or possibly for my booth space "display".

I just added some molding around the edges, painted it out, found some pretty frenchy drawer pulls, then put it to work. These are only about 1/3 of the quilts, the rest are in an old armoire in the family room, where the light is bad. (you haven't seen that one either...)

love this set of old wallpapered hatboxes.

Do these pillows look familiar? Actually, I found these two just last week that match the other set of this great toile. So, now I have four...yippee!!

Old floral still life from the 40's.

I fell in love with this Ralph Lauren yellow floral 12 or 13 years ago and still use it. Some of the sheets and pillow cases are threadbare, but I LOVE. that. fabric. and so it stays. The quilt is one that is a "Flower Basket" pattern put on backwards. Too much pattern makes me dizzy in my old age...

OK, just wandering off the beaten path a little today. I STILL have more of those "unseen" places, give me time, I might get them presentable...maybe...

I'll be joining in with these parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Tips and Tidbits at Stone Gable
The Inspiration Exchange at Yellow Bliss Road
Blissful Whites at Timewashed
Share Your Cup at Mrs.Olson's
From My Front Porch to Yours
The Shabby Creek Cottage 

Rooted in Thyme
The Charm of Home
French Country Cottage
Redoux
Craftberry Bush
Shabby Art Boutique
Blitzed on Pinterest

xoxo,