Addicted to cloches

So as I was saying in my last post about the Pottery Barn class, I am really addicted to cloches right now. I have to keep talking myself out of buying too many! I even talked my friend Cheri into buying one the other weekend. I knew if I couldn't get her to buy it I would snap it up myself. Plus it was a great deal and she really needed one. Now I can visit it just 2 doors down! LOL!
I don't know what it is about them... But I just can't get enough!

 This one is in my dining room with moss, feather and twine balls in it...

 This one is in the foyer with a birds nest and eggs (I needed a little spring in my house to get me through the winter!).

 And this one in the living room has some shells. And some funny little straw sproingy things.

And these wire cloches are also in the living room.
I got these from One Kings Lane. Or was it Decor Steals (2 of my favorite online home stores along with Antique Farmhouse and Joss and Main!).

Here is my foyer vignette again. I added the cloche last and it just made such a difference.
The glass block has white lights inside and gives the foyer a nice glow at night.
You can only use candlesticks, bowls and vases so often.

AGAIN - forgive my photos! I am getting much better with my Canon Rebel but a freaking sunny day would be really helpful! I think we have only had 3 this year!
Anyway, what decorating item are you obsessed with?!

Pottery Barn Accessorizing Class Review

It seems like everyone is having the winter doldrums right now! To combat that myself and many of my girlfriends have been sprucing up our homes. I don't know about you but I find myself buying the same type of decorating items over and over. I am just really drawn to sconces and candlesticks. ALL the time. I mean I literally have to talk myself out of buying them all the time. It's a sickness I tell you. Cloches are my new weak spot. I think they are taking over my candlestick obsession! I have really been in love with them lately.

But I still find myself in a accessorizing rut and kind of redoing the same type vignettes over and over. Or maybe I am just a little bored and need some inspiration. Well, what better place for inspiration when there is no barn sale available than Pottery Barn?! We all just love to get that catalog in the mail, right? There is nothing better! On that note, I decided maybe I would go sit in on one of their free classes. Most stores offer occasional classes in the morning before they open their doors. If nothing else I was curious to see if it was the kind of thing I would recommend to my staging clients.

So while my family lazed around this am I got up and showered, grabbed a coffee to go (from my Keurig!) and off I went to the mall (a place I rarely go lately!). I can tell you I have not been in a actual Pottery Barn store in a while. It's just best to just stay away from those places sometimes, you know. Don't send a alcoholic to the liquor store and all that! Anyway, so fun to go in while it is closed and lounge around like you are in a friend's house.

And look! A nice Cloche! He, he (you think I joke but that one followed me home!)
It was a small group - only about a dozen people - even one poor hubby. The gal next to me said she had been there before when it was pretty crowded. As in standing room only! This class was How To Accessorize Your Home. They did a lot of chatting about their products (to be expected). They discussed decorating your neutral sofa with pillows and changing them for the seasons. I was drooling over their Jute Braided Pillow.

Then they went over how to decorate your coffee and console tables, bookshelves and other surfaces. They highlighted their lanterns, vases and fillers. Botanicals seem to be really popular right now including mosses, stones, ferns and another natural type substances. And wrapping books in craft paper (I would use paper bags) to use as risers or even bookshelf decor.

Mostly I would say this particular class is great for a novice or someone who has a lot of trouble decorating. I mean, I am pretty sure I could figure out myself not to put bigger items in front of smaller items on a bookshelf. Huh?

  But wait! Don't stop reading! Here is the awesome part of the class and the reason I will definitely go back. After the class they gave everyone a 10% off coupon to use that day. Now I know this is not a huge savings but here is the great part. The 10% off was off of EVERYthing. Even sale and clearance items! So I definitely scored some deals! While everyone else went straight to look at the items the instructor had highlighted, I went to the back of the store to the sale and clearance sections. Yep, that's how I roll. I am cheap like that - hence the name of this blog!

So. Here is my haul:

Whoo - that looks like a lot, eh?! Oh, and yes. Yes that IS two more cloches I got. I am going to have to admit here, PB has pretty decent prices on these. I mean, I look for them everywhere: Salvation Army, barn sales and even my fave Lucketts Antique Store! They are hard to even find secondhand and since they are so popular now the saving is usually not that great. That small one (8" tall) was only $14.50 regular price and the other with the mercury glass pedestal base was $49 (plus my lovely 10% off coupon!).

PB has all their baskets on sale this month for 20% off. That made 30% off for me. Woot-woot! So I grabbed this one - original price $99 for $71.10!

Love it!

And now my best deal! I found this gorg' lamp back in the clearance section for the best deal! (sorry for bad iPhone pics today! I was excited and impatient. Hopefully it makes you appreciate my regular bad pictures more! Yes?)

Anywaaaaay... This sucker was originally $170. It was marked down to $54 because it has a small crack in one of the horizontal seams around one of the bulb-y parts (technical term) and the harp that holds the shade in place was all loose. I tried to just tighten it but it clearly has a bigger problem than that. So I rigged it up with some twine covered wire.

I thought it looked "rustic"...? Maybe not. Well once I find a shade I like you probably won't even see it. I might redo it with some wire or even epoxy or something. Final price on this was only $49.97 though! What, WHAAAAT?! Uh huh! Sweet!

See? I just love a deal!

I also picked up some Robins Eggs...

And that boxwood topiary that was way too expensive but I have been searching HomeGoods for-EVA' and I can't find one. So that was a splurge but at least I got a little discount. Did I mention my 10% coupon?

The only bad part of my day was seeing these cute guys:

Freaking cute, right? That brought up my feelings of loss over the ones I had in my cart from... Was it Joss & Main or Antique Farmhouse...? I don't know but they had a set of two for only $29. I had them in my cart and then forgot about them.  These PB ones are $29 each! Argh. Anger and loss, anger and loss. Please, please, please if ANYone sees this back on whatever site that was let me know!

Wow. that was way long for me! Sorry. I'll keep it shorter from now on! Toodles!

A new life for dated decor

Here is another really easy way to update some old decor! Why waste money on new things if you can re-vamp old?
This was my first time trying this method so I was very interested to see how this was going to work out!

I had a old set of decorative pots I got probably 12 years ago from who knows where. Maybe Home Goods since I get SO many things from there. I was over the garden theme and they were sitting on a shelf in my laundry room nested with the original design turned towards the wall. See the original below!

The Growing Bulbs pot was the only one I had not painted before I remembered to take pictures! The other two are painted over with - what else - Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old Ochre. You can still see some of the original design underneath if you look close. That was with one coat. After I put on a second coat it was completely covered. I could have stopped there. They looked just fine repainted in this creamy off white.

But I really wanted to try this print transfer technique I had pinned from HERE . I ran into a little bit of a problem, but overall it worked pretty well. In a nutshell, you print out your graphic (I got mine from The Graphics Fairy HERE .) as a reverse print from your printer. Then use ModgePodge to attach the graphic to your pot. Let it dry COMPLETELY. Then wet the image (I used a damp sponge) and carefully roll the wet paper away with your finger.
Now I had a little problem with my ink smudging some. I may have over worked it. Or not let it dry long enough. But it still looks great and it just kind of adds to the vintage feel, in my opinion. Or at least that's what I am telling myself!

I will have to try it again and see if I have the same problem. Such a cool idea though!
I went ahead and spread the love on the other 2 pots and did them both differently. I went back to the trusty old Sharpie technique on the No. 15 pot. I don't love it though because it is just too dark and bold. I may need to dry brush some paint over the top to tone it down some.

The France pot got a stencil. I knew the paint would run a bit and give it a messier look which I like better. But the transfer method won hands down! So I will need to perfect that! Who knew how handy the printer could be! And now I have some "new" containers to hold art supplies in!

I'm so happy, I'm so happy!

What a great day! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and it is 65 degrees out (from 30 earlier this weekend!). Better yet though, I am on my way to a major project I have been planning! I won't be revealing ALL my secrets just now. But my master plan (bwahahaha!) has been to add a fireplace to my sunroom. We have our kitchen table in our sunroom (which is attached to our kitchen) and I use the eat-in in space next to the kitchen for a sitting area.
Here is our sunroom (Oh yes my friends, that IS a orange room! I love it!):

And here is our eat-in area turned sunroom:

That is the area where the table is meant to go. That is the end of the kitchen island there at the bottom left of the photo. (Wow, do I need to get some photography lessons!) I actually switched the areas one year just for winter since that sunroom are gets so cold. Then I found everyone used the new "sitting area" way more than they did when it was in the actual sunroom. PLUS I had lots of company now when I was cooking! The hubs or kids would lounge on the couch while I prepared meals. I love that!

But that sunroom is still cold when we are eating dinner in the winter. I'm sure it does not bother my hot-blooded boys but I freeze in there! See how there are all those big windows? And we get a LOT of wind on that end of the house. So I decided that I wanted to add a electric fireplace in there. But I did not want it to look cheesy! I saw a couple prefab ones that were "OK" but just not what I was looking for. So I have been keeping my eye out for the a great old mantle. And here it is! I found this at The Empty Nest when I went to talk to Janet about my Milk Paint problem last week. I had already lost out on one mantle I'd had my eye on at the Lucketts Store. Now I know, if I go home and can't stop thinking about it, I need to JUST BUY IT! But it worked out because I love this one SO much more!

Look at it! I'm in love!

I had to bring it right in and set it up where I want it!

The details are what got me - look at those little finials hanging down:

It will be awesome once I sand it down and re-paint it.

Janet and I had a fun time fitting it into my car. It was a TIGHT squeeze, I can tell you. We tried it through the back one way, then the other. Had it almost in, except one little corner would not cooperate. then we had to bring it through the side. I was skeptical. But knowing Janet probably has GREAT experience packing fabulous finds into vehicles I went with it. We had to kind of swing it in the side door starting at one end. Think of fitting a horseshoe through a mousehole! Nuts!

Of course, my excitement was so built up by the time I got home I had NO problem getting it out and into the house by myself! Any...hooooo. It is going to look FAB' once I get it all set up. Now I need to buy a fireplace insert to set in the wall. And I am sure I will have to build up behind the mantle. But the first and hardest step is done! Finding the perfect mantle to build the whole project around! Yay!
Stay tuned!

I can't get enough of burlap!

I have had a few framed burlap images saved on Pinterest.
I was having a hard time deciding exactly what I wanted to do or where I would put it.
I love this one:

You can read all about it at Flea Market Trixie's blog HERE
She used her maiden name, her boyfriend's last name and their house number.
I had pinned this cute little piece from Domestically Speaking:

And ended up using her technique as explained here.
To make this cute little sign! I used all our birth dates and our wedding date in chronological order.

Close ups of date...

 And bottom.

This was such a simple project. Seriously! I should be calling my blog "A Monkey Can Do It!". I can't remember where I saw the idea for the dates and saying. I have had it written out in a file on my mac for a while just waiting to use it. I think this took me about 15 minutes to do! All you need is a printer, burlap and some freezer paper. I got my freezer paper at Giant (I'm sure WalMart has it too). I almost missed it. There was only one brand, just one row, kinda tucked in by the wax paper. It is basically white paper on one side and wax paper on the other. Cut a piece of burlap and a piece of freezer paper to 8.5" x 11". Lay the burlap down and then the shiny side of the freezer paper down on that and then iron them on medium. This will bind the freezer paper to you burlap. Then all you have to do is run your burlap straight through your printer and "voila!" you are done! So easy and cute. And now hubs won't get mad at me for always forgetting our anniversary (I know, I know - men are supposed to be the ones that forget, right?!). Because I certainly did NOT make the first one with the wrong date! What loser would DO that?

Next I need to figure out what I want to do with this salvaged cabinet door I got. Maybe a sign? A initial? Any thoughts?!

Milk Paint Coffee Table - a lesson in trial and error!

When I last left you I was have some problems with my first attempt at using Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint. I had a
bit of a problem with one side of the table. Basically the paint all fell off. You can read about that here.

So I had to salvage what I had done. And again, since I am lazy, I refused to sand it all off and restart. I paid a visit to Janet at The Empty Nest in Warrenton and chatted with her about my project. We had a nice talk about the pros and cons of milk paint itself. The beauty of milk paint is that if you don't do any prep work the paint will chip and self distress in a pretty unpredictable manner. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to how much chipping you get on which type of finish. You would think, the glossier the finish, the more distressing you would get. But that is not so. So the pro is ALSO the con! She suggested I use some bonding agent on that side. Or start over and use the bonding agent all over. I pretty much pretended I did not hear that second part.

So now the one side of the table had progressed like this: First, a coat of Linen milk paint that produced some mild chipping. Second coat. Both coats of paint entirely fall off (what the...?!), except for 2 small patches. Another very thin coat of paint. ANOTHER coat of Milk Paint with bonding agent added. Ergh. And then I still had to do some very creative spot touch up. And sanding in between.

Anyway. Live and learn! Here is the finished piece.

Ignore the glass table top over there leaning against the couch!
I still need to get Mr. Muscle to take the other coffee table downstairs.

 And I'm not hating that Christmas poinsettia still hanging around. The white was the right way to go.

This photo shows the side that originally fell of completely. It's still a lot more distressed than the rest of the table. All in all I am happy with how it turned out. I love the vintage feel of it. I may still move it up to my master sitting room though. I keep thinking all those drawers would be perfect for housing my insane amount of jewelry!

Milk Painting for the first time... and ribs!

I decided to take my first shot with Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint. I bought this awesome little piece for a steal from a neighbor. Her kids were using it as a painting table so it had a few stains and paint blotches on the top. The top planks and the ones on the bottom are pulling away a little. There were just a few minor scuffs on it as well.

I knew as soon as I saw it I wanted to paint it. Now I am not going to lie. My initial plan was to paint the entire piece. But then I started looking at all those drawers. All. Those. Drawers... So.... THEN I decided it would be way less work more artistic to paint everything BUT the drawers. That will look cute!

I had grabbed some MMS Milk paint on my way back from the barn sales last weekend at Lucketts Store (insert floating hearts here! Love that store!). The paint is on sale there for 30% off so if I'm going to try it now's the time! I got a box of the Graphite and then a sample of the Lucketts Green and Linen. I decided to use the Linen (off white) and then I can use it as a coffee table in either my living room OR my sitting room. I'll figure that out after I'm done!

Milk Paint comes in powder form and then you mix it yourself with warm water. I mixed up the paint. No big deal. Not scary at ALL! Then I put on the first coat. Awesome. Looks fine. Very messy but fine.

I then proceeded to wait the suggested hour for that coat to dry. I came back and checked it out. It was looking great! Chipping just a little JUST like I wanted it to. Who said this stuff is unpredictable? Ha. So then I walked over to the OTHER side. OMG. It was completely bubbley and chippy. The WHOLE side. Just one side. I touched it and the whole side of paint literally fell off the table. Just fluttered off like a bunch of feathers to the floor. ARGH! Now what. Google... More google...

The picture above is the side that "fell" off. See. At first it was just chipping along nicely.
I did not take a picture of the after. I was so freaked out that it just fell off that I lost my composure.

So off to The Empty Nest in Warrenton to chat with paint expert Janet. I'll just let you know what happens!!!

On to nicer things!

At least I had one success today! I decided to try baby back ribs in the crockpot. Helloooo! Now THAT worked out perfectly! I got two racks of pork ribs. Cut them with my kitchen scissors into 3 bone portions. I sprayed a little no stick spray in the bottom of the crock pot (not sure why. I won't next time). I placed the ribs standing around the perimeter of the pot, meat side out. I used about a half a bottle of barbecue sauce and let it cook on high for 5 hours. Then I took out the ribs and laid them on a foil lined pan and broiled them for about 5 minutes. I slathered on more sauce after that. And served. They were SO yummy! They literally fell of the bone. So moist and a ton of flavor.
I cannot believe I have not done this before!

This is how they just fell off the bone! Yummers!!!

Black Doors and Burlap Pillows!

Wow! Is the sun ever coming out here again? I was waiting for some nicer days to take photos but CLEARLY that is not happening any time soon. So excuse the bad (even worse than usual) photos!

I showed you my black basement doors last post. I decided to go ahead and paint the front door as well. We had had the outside of it stripped and painted black in the Fall. We have a composite door that was stained to look like wood. It was gorgeous! For about 3 years... Then the fading started. And the peeling. And some more fading. You get the picture. So we stripped and re-stained. And one year later... the fading again.

Well, if you haven't figured it out yet I am LAYYYYY-ZEEE! There is no way I want a front door I need to upkeep on a YEARly basis! No way, no how!

Anyhoooo... Tangent. Sorry. Sore spot!

Here is the before of the front door:

And here is the after:

So, again, the black is just really making my other black blend into the house better. The rug has a black background and then the sconces are black as well. The dining room to the left has wallpaper that has a black background. And I have a ton of black furniture throughout the house as well as black trim in some rooms.

I could not take these arctic conditions any more and had to put my lemon wreath back up on the inside of the door too. I just need some promise of spring and color right now.

January to spring just drags on so here. Once the holidays are past I have no patience for the cold weather! I think I am going into hibernation mode.

Now I told you that I had gotten my new sewing machine. I busted it out of the box, set it up and immediately had to make something. I am the queen of immediate gratification. It really doesn't matter if I know what I am doing or not.

I had bought a couple of burlap coffee sacks at a barn sale for only $7 each - such a steal! And if you saw my slipcovered couch post you know I was hungry for some new pillows. Again. Since I am lazy. I basically just stuffed one of my old pillows down in the bag and sewed the sides. Ha! 

And then the finished pillow. Sitting with my favorite ruffle pillow. They look cute together, don't they?

And here is the back of it. An that is the existing side seam that I just left. For character. Or laziness - or whatever!

So I am pretty proud of this sewing experiment. Hopefully the seams don't burst open on me. Now I just need to replace those other two pillows on the outside and this will be the perfect place to hunker down until spring!