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?!

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!!!

My Living Room - made to LIVE in!

Let me preface this with a little about me and my family. First of all, I am the ONLY female in this house! There is my hubby, my 14 year old son and then my 12 year old twin boys. And then my two male dogs. LOTS of testosterone floating around this house! I love to hang out with my family... mostly. Here is the problem though. When football season is in full swing (like now!) I just do not want to sit and watch every game with them. Don't get me wrong. I can sit through a couple of the good games. The big games. But every pre-show and college game.... Um, no thanks. So I like the idea of being on the same level of the house with them (it's really just the Hubby ad older kid watching these) but I can only subject myself to so much football.

So I recently "did" my living room. We have been in our house 6 years. When we first moved in I was a CAbi clothing consultant. I loved selling the clothes and still love the brand. My living room was my "store". I had a few pieces of furniture in there but by no means was it decorated. It was just mostly a showroom.
But now...

Here it is! I really love it so far. I still have a little tweaking to do. I'd like to bring in some more color. Right now it's very neutral with golds, creams and browns. I would love to pop a little more green in. But it is OH so comfy! The sectional, the pillows, the lighting... oozing comfy! So I can come and sit in here and read and still be near my boys but in my own little comfy, feminine oasis!

There are just a lot of details in here that I love. And really the only pricey item in this room is the sectional which is from Michael Thomas. My zebra print chairs are from Havertys and the ottoman is from HomeGoods. And the window treatments were like $29.99 from JCPenney! How do you like THAT?!

The trellis rug was a black friday purchase from Overstock. The 2 pieces of art on the left wall are from Home Goods. The clock is from AntiqueFarmhouse.com. The oak side table was actually a washstand from a bed and breakfast my husband an I stayed at before we were married. I love that that piece has such meaning for us. I feel the same about the dress form (I was a Fashion Illustration major at college). There are also some subtle seaside touches in this room with the seagrass shade on the lamp and a few shells on the tables here and there.

My first Annie Sloan Chalk Painted item is in this room too! 

So lots of things I love are in here which makes it a perfect room for me to escape to! Here is my leftover live poinsettia from Christmas - dare I try and keep it going until next Christmas?! And my 2 bird wire cloche pillar holders that I got recently from One Kings Lane (another favorite shopping source!)

So that is my "new" Living Room! I will update after I get the art on the walls finished to where I love it. 
Do you have a favorite spot in YOUR house?

A quick and tiny update for in between seasons...

So now all the Christmas decorations are down and its too early to start "springing"up the house. Wah. This is the really the time of the year I hate the most. Winter is pretty much useless to me once the holidays are past! I guess that's why people focus on organizing in January and February. So I, like everyone else, start clearing out the clutter and junk! I already cleaned out the storage room. What I really need to do now is organize my office. (insert procrastination here!)

La, la, la... Moving on!

My mom was here visiting over Christmas and commented on the trunk I use for a coffee table in my kitchen sitting area.

She suggested I use it to store my holiday dishes or something. Seriously. I thought it was sitting there empty! Well, I opened it up and found some stuff in there I did not even remember were there! I love that! There was a basket... full of pinecones no less (glad I went scouring around the neighborhood for all those pinecones - Duh!), a small burlap coffee bag (wheels turning!) and some other odds and ends.

SO... this year I bought cream colored poinsettias because I though they would transition better from winter to spring. I had them on my living room coffee table in a little snowman bucket for the holidays. Obviously that had to go with the other holiday decor because I am now in the denial phase of winter. What better to put my little poinsettia in than the burlap coffee bag?! Think outside the box!

By the way, that cute wire bird cloches with the candle in it is from OneKingsLane.com. If you are not signed up to that site you need to be! They have the BEST stuff at really great prices! FAB-U-LESS!

I recently spruced up my living room and I really love it. I will post on that soon!