The Way-ay-ting Is The Hardest Part...

Last week I mentioned that Bob and I bought an art print at a show.  It's still not back!!  No, they aren't running late - I'm just impatient and want to see it hanging on my wall!  No matter, I've been going great guns to get everything else done and updated.

Here are a few of the projects I've been working on.

First the bookshelves.  You can see that I'm taking the same bright aqua color on the back of the shelves that I used in my office and bringing it into the family room.  What a breath of fresh air!

Before

After



Now the kitchen table chairs.  When I first bought them on Craigslist, the original fabric was an off white - you can't see in the photo but it was dirty and stained so it had to be changed.  I don't have a before photo of my kitchen table, but the base was a dark green stain.

Original

First transformation to match my red/green decor



After!  Wow!  I used indoor/outdoor fabric so it will be more durable.  I love the bright colors against the white table base!




That's a new sisal rug on the floor.  Simple and easy to clean.




My sunroom table was a given to me by a neighbor who knows I like to get free furniture and paint it.  It's been in my sunroom waiting for me to decide what to do with it.


Before.  Great carvings and funky legs.



After - Cherry Red!  That is also a new white shag rug in the sunroom.

 Moving back into the family room, we had some World Market shelves that I use for the TV receiver.  The wood is a little dark now that I have an aqua rug in there (yes, aqua - what the heck am I thinking???).


Before



After - I also put a canister light behind it so at night the red depression glass still glows in the up-light. (For those of you who love depression glass, you'll notice there are a few imposters in the lot - no matter, they look great together!)

Another World Market table - this one I also bought at a yard sale and the wood is also a little dark for my bright room.  The new print is going to go right above it on that wall.

Before - with a little sneak peak at the aqua rug!



After




After

 Well, that is all I can show of my projects this week.  There are still several pieces being painted and they'll be done soon.  Hopefully by next Sunday I can show you the happy rooms!

Now, here's a little project my sister worked on this week.  She just moved into a new apartment and needed something to use as a headboard.  She bought two sheets of a lightweight board at Home Depot, primed and painted them ($13 for both).  So creative and I can't wait to see them hanging above her bed! (I'll post photos when she emerges from the box jungle that is her place right now.  Moving is always tough.)  Have a wonderful week everyone!

Gorgeous Sandy!





Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo...

Remember the book Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo by Dr. Seuss?  It's about a little bug that sneezes and the sneeze starts a chain of events that brings a city to it's knees.  That has been my week!

Bob and I went to an art show at the Reston Town Center last weekend and bought a print.  It's more of an illustration, and not at all what we thought we would look for, but we love it!  The purchase of the print was the sneeze - we love the colors, but it doesn't match anything in our home, so I bought a rug - a bright, contemporary rug, which also doesn't match anything, so I bought another rug for the kitchen dining area, which looks nice with the new family room rug, but now I need to paint my furniture white, and spray paint some accessories to match the new colors....also, now my dining room rug doesn't work...and if I move the sunroom rug to the formal living room, I will need a new sun room rug...YIKES!

I explained to Bob that by buying the print, we actually saved $1500 because we didn't buy the original...he bought that while we were at the art show, after a glass of wine, but now he's realizing that I'm spending it all on making the house work around our new print!  I was ready for a change anyway and this was a great opportunity to make the house more colorful and fun and less "80's", which is what I think of every time I walk into my family room (I won't mention that we moved here after the '80's and could have used a facelift back then).

Photos will come next week.  The print is getting framed and the furniture is being painted.  Two of the rugs are here, but two more will be arriving soon (we hope).  Have a wonderful week everyone - we are off to watch the Nationals baseball game with my boys!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

Back in the Garden Again!

How is it that time goes by so fast?  Is it really the weekend already?  Well, I am still out in the garden and I'm so glad I've been posting about it because I've been getting some really good advice and feedback!

I started to write that this week I picked up a clematis, but after re-reading it, I didn't want anyone to think I'd gotten some kind of virus...so, to clarify, a clematis is a lovely, climbing plant with beautiful flowers (that Costco had on sale).  :)  Although the plant is sold with a little trellis attached to the pot,  I definitely needed a larger one for it as it grows.    You can buy your basic, inexpensive trellis for about $20 at Home Depot or the like, but I would prefer mine for free.  Time for some in-home shopping..

I have a section in my basement storage room where I toss things that will eventually go on Craigslist or be sent to Goodwill.  This CD rack was in that area and, heck, it looks like a trellis to me.

I'm not even going to paint it (gasp!) because I think it will be completely covered with the greenery by the end of the summer!

I went into my garden shed and pulled out all of the small old pots that I've had for years; painted, half-painted, styrofoam cut outs glued on for my son's craft project - no matter.  I want it to look worn.  To keep them from falling off of the shelves, I decided to wire them on.

First I looked for something that would serve as a stopper in the bottom of the pot.  Oddly enough, I seem to have plenty of wine corks lying around...ahem.  Anyway, I poked two holes in the cork and threaded some wire through it, then put it in the bottom of the pot with the wires through the hole so I could tie them onto the CD rack. 

threading the corks with wire



the cork in the bottom of the pot with the wire coming through the drainage hole in the bottom so I can fasten it to the CD rack.

I picked up some annuals at Home Depot and also potted some of the Hens and Chicks that are overflowing my birdbath amongst my irises.  I tied them onto the shelves and then tied some dried mushrooms I've had since the '80's that I used for dried arrangements on the shelves as well (again..never throw things away!).



My friend Kim may remember this pot - I painted it for her baby shower as a hostess gift with the baby's name painted on the back. I had a little baby laying in it consisting of a bulb for his head, a piece of fabric for a blanket and a packet of baby's breath seeds as the headboard.  So cute!  That baby is in middle school now..sigh!

 Now to plant the clematic at the base.  No easy task to get it sorted out from the trellis attached to the pot.  I wound up cutting it all off so not to break the plant apart too much. 

It is a wet, dreary day in Virginia today so I know that these photos are awful.  I'll take some more when the weather clears - although I admit that I've been hoping for rain to help along my bulbs I also planted this week.  I'm going to spare you the photos of the naked mulch since they haven't come up yet.

In other news, I also added my other planter to the fence near the bench.  It's a little in shock, but I think will do just fine.

There are some exciting things happening inside the house as well.  First, we FINALLY replaced the lunar landing, builders grade light above my kitchen table!  With the new, ugly lightbulbs we've all been having to use these days, I couldn't be happier to see it go!  Bonus, I don't get tan every time we eat at the table!

Ground control to Major Tom....(did you see that video this week??  Awesome!)  If you are my true friends, you will not mention the caked on dust on this light - my only excuse is that I didn't see it for the glare of the sun coming from the bulbs!

One awful photo after another!  This is nickel with a white shade.  I love it and my family is much better looking eating dinner under this diffused light now! 

I will end this post with a photo of our little visitor this week.  Poor little bird found his way into our sunroom and looked outside at my garden the same way I do every morning when I have my coffee in there - "I'd rather be outside than in here!"  We got him out safely, thankfully, but after posting the incident on my facebook page, a friend responded that a similar situation happened to him and the little bird kept coming back to look at him through the window.  Not sure I'd recognize this little guy if he came back again, but I kind of like the thought that he just might!  Have a great week everyone!

Garden Variety..

I'm sorry I missed last week's post.  It was for a good reason though, my cousin's son got married in Daytona Beach, Florida.  What an amazing wedding, and even though most of the weekend was overcast and rainy, the skies opened up just before the service and it was beautiful for the rest of the trip! 

As promised, I am going to show you how my garden is growing.  Remember the "before" I showed you on my last blog?



About as inviting as the flu...



Well, that was then and this is now...
I will tell you that when you are not a gardener, having such a large area to fill up is daunting.  It's been much better since I've sectioned it off, mentally, into "rooms".  Ah yes, decorating rooms I can do!  The plants are still so small (I refuse to invest alot of money in something that I might just kill!) but I'm hoping it will just get prettier as time goes on and I add more every year.




After.  Or maybe I should say "Now" since it is destined to change and grow.

 Remember my irises I transplanted from the lakehouse?

Before





Afer.  The irises have gone crazy and I will need to separate some after they bloom!  Does anyone have another color that they'd like to trade for some purple?  The hens and chicks in the birdbath are weighing heavily and will be transplanted to another area shortly!

 

Just beautiful!





And now for my Craigslist bistro set...

Before




After, ready for coffee and the newspaper...





I had this wall hanging that I used with fake flowers on a wall a few years ago.  Never throw anything away, right?  You never know when it will come in handy!

 And finally, my herb garden..I've never been able to grow herbs (yes I know they are "weeds" and are very easy for most people)  These have been doing well in my kitchen window, but my father in law convinced me that they really want to be outdoors and I should plant them in the garden.

Lemon balm, basil, parsley and rosemary.  Should be easy, right?

I picked a little corner of the garden and planted some grasses along the edge.  The herbs I planted in the galvanized tub, after poking some holes in the bottom for drainage with a hammer and nail.  You can get these tubs online for about $20 so I wasn't damaging anything too precious.



So, how am I doing?  Every time I plant something, I do what my grandmother used to do when she planted something...I look at it and shake my finger and in a very stern voice I say, "Now, grow!".

Jazzie doesn't look too enthused, but she's really just mad at me still letting the groomer shave her down to the point that she now looks like a schnauzer with an underbite!  Have a great week everyone!

The Back Forty!

Those that know me well, know I have a black thumb instead of a green thumb when it comes to gardening!   It's not that I can't do it, it's just that I've never had much of an interest in it - what with not being able to paint the flowers or make them out of craft material...   When our family moved into our house, there was an area in the backyard with no grass and covered in about two foot weeds that we affectionately called "The Back Forty".  I'm sure the family that owned the house before us had that area earmarked for something, but then they had a baby, and, well, babies have a way of putting off projects around the house.   Once the weeds grew high enough to actually hide a car, I decided to try and venture out and try my hand at growing something.

That was back in 2011 and here is what it looked like back then after I finally got rid of (most of) the weeds and covered the ground with ground cloth and mulch.

The only purpose for the garden at this point was for my son to use it for his baseball net!

 I chose as the centerpiece of the garden a birdbath that my father made for me (my whole family is artsy fartsy, we get it from Mom and Dad!))

 We had some irises at our lake house that we had never seen in bloom (spring is baseball season so we needed to stay close to home) and so I brought some of the iris bulbs, and some separated pieces of the ornamental grasses and the daisy bush back to Northern Virginia to see if I could make them grow.  So far, the cost is free, right within my budget!

Admittedly, I felt rather please when I noticed mud clumps following me through the house.

Fast forward to 2013.  I have definitely made a few mistakes along the way, but I am happy to say that the garden is still coming along and I am starting to enjoy it.  Now that you have seen the "before",  I am going to wait until next week to share photos of the garden today because I have a few things to do first.  Make no mistake, it is still young and not professional by any stretch, but I finally feel like it's heading in the right direction!

Onto Craigslist again.  To make the garden less overwhelming to a novice like me, I've decided to break it into smaller areas.  I've been looking for a wrought iron bistro set that I can put out there and set my coffee on and maybe take a moment to sit and enjoy my work...finding one and being the first one to get it is no easy task this time of year and I tried and missed on several before I found this set.  Once again, the nicest young lady was cleaning out her shed.  I had been checking about 3 times a day and was able to get there first this time!  $25 where a new set would cost much more!

Perusing Pinterest, I am trying my hand at growing herbs.  Baby steps remember and so far they are doing well.  I am interested in how often you need to water when it's inside.

 Next week I will show you how the garden is coming along today with the furniture in place and some of the plants growing up a little.  I've made a few mistakes, but so far, no disaster and I have only lost two forsythias!

Boston on My Mind.

Like so many this week, I was riveted to the TV watching the events in Boston unfold.  I am so grateful to the men and women, both in uniforms and out, who raced toward the blasts to help the injured. I am also amazed by the heroic teams of police and swat who were eventually able to capture the second suspect alive, and all the citizens who provided information that helped to identify and capture the suspects!

Now on to business!  Summer time is coming and I've started seeing some watermelon coming into the grocery store.  I thought that this week I would share my one and only YouTube video on how to make a watermelon rose garnish.  It is a very easy project and I would love to hear if you give it a try! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hLUEwJWQMM

 This week I've continued with new orders for my son's ornament fundraiser.   I am so happy the orders keep coming in and they've been so well received!  In between painting, I was able to clean and switch out my china cabinet from Fall/Winter to Spring/Summer.   You can see my dining room as soon as you walk into my home,  and the floral dishes really brighten up the place!  Excuse the photos, the china cabinet actually sparkles!

In other news, I'm still on the look out for a triple dresser for my son's room.  Craigslist has a million of them, but I'm waiting for that perfect one to paint.  Wish me luck!

Springing into Action!

Is it possible that I missed writing my blog last week?  The change in temperature must have given me a burst of energy because I have been one very busy lady!

It started with a fund raiser.  My son plays baseball for his high school and each player was tasked with raising $300 in some kind of fund raiser.  I didn't want to poison anyone with trying a bake sale so I offered to hand paint ornaments of the high school logo, personalize it with the students sport and donate 100% of the fee to the team.  What a wonderful response we received!  With the help of my amazing neighbor who put the word out for me, I painted 25 ornaments last week and am waiting for more ornaments to be shipped to me so I can finish at least 12 more!

Here is the first batch of ornaments that went out Go Cougars!

I also decided last week that I need to finish some projects around my house.  Namely, my upstairs hallway.  I hired a painter to paint the top part of my two story foyer and stairwell quite a while ago (I did the main floor and the lower half of the foyer) .  It killed me to write the check because I like to paint, but I just couldn't risk climbing a ladder up so high - it just wasn't worth it.  So I  had the painter paint it from yellow-gold to beige.  My thought was that I would paint the rest of the upstairs hallway shortly afterwards.  Jump ahead four years and here I am, still with the yellow hallway leading to beige stairwell and foyer!  Sears doesn't even make the paint I used anymore (yes, 4 yeeeeeaaarrrrrssss Andie!) so I had them color match and I finally painted the rest of the hallway.

Before - Two toned.

After - Ahhhhh!

As I was painting, I realized just how much the door to the Master bedroom was not centered.  I decided to round it out with a bookshelf and painting that my son did for me.  


The bookshelf from the family room and my son's painting of Okinawa that he gave to me.

I've always wanted the stairwell to be an art gallery of sorts so I put together a collage of paintings that we've all done.  When I want to hang alot of pictures,  I cut newspaper to the exact size of each of the frames.  I then lay the newspaper on the back of the framed picture and put a hole exactly where the nail needs to be. (you can feel the wire or hanger through the paper).  Making sure I turn it over so the correct side is against the wall, I tape them all up and move them around until I find a composition I like.



Newspaper cut to the size of my pictures!

Using a level to make sure the newspaper is straight, I put a nail in the hole and replace the newspaper with the pictures.  Easy peasy!

After - The family art wall!

During all of this craziness, a very dear friend of mine was moving and needed some help.   As we unpacked her kitchen, we realized that she needed more storage.  Craigslist Baby!!  I surfed around and found a dresser/hutch a few miles from her house that was perfect. For $50!!  The nicest family was selling it and even helped us pack it up.  It was slightly longer than my friends SUV so I had to sit in the back and hold it so it wouldn't slip out the back door of the car!  (On a side note, if you are going to hang onto a hutch by sitting with your butt pressed against the side window of an SUV, do not wear low slung jeans!  Just sayin' and my apologies to the residents of South Riding who had to witness  the horror!)


Before - very nice for her little girl's room.

After - Perfect for my friend's new kitchen!

A coat of paint makes this perfect storage that matches my friends decor!  A bonus was being able to use some leftover paint from one of my other projects!

My friend wanted to discard the knobs and buy some nickel ones to match the rest of the kitchen.  I thought we should try spraying it with some nickel paint first and see how it goes.  My base primer was apparently oil based because when I sprayed the metallic paint over it, it puckered and buckled!  I found that I loved it!  I think it adds a little something.   I sprayed it with two coats of sealer afterwards.  Not sure how they will wear, but worst case, she can buy the new ones. It's fun to try something new in the meantime!

So now you can see why I missed last week's post.  There are more projects are coming up as I work on the house!   Have a wonderful week everyone!