Get Creative with Salvaged windows

If you happen to be in an antique or salvage store make sure to look in their window selection. You might think hmmm....what the heck would I do with those old windows??? Here are a few that I have bought and I love to display all kinds of fun family pictures, invitations etc....You could paint them or leave them all old and chippy. Which is usually my choice. I did paint the small black window in this case and added some cute glass knobs from Hobby Lobby. They have really cute hooks, knobs and handles there and they are usually 50% off.  The glass is usually broken when you buy these windows so you have to get creative with the backing. In the black frame I used metal so you can use cute magnets, in the white window the glass was good so I attached my photos to glass with double sided sticky tape.

My $1.99 Lampshade

This week on my usual perusing through my local Goodwill I found an awesome lampshade! It was new, still in it's wrapper and waiting to be re-invented. I have been wanting to stencil a lampshade for a while so I already knew what I wanted to do with it. I already had the stencil and paint so I went right home and got busy. The hardest part about this was trying to center the stencil in the middle so the patterns would look right. My husband, who is an engineer told me it looked a little off and he probably is right but to me it looks really pretty and just the way I had imagined:)

I will not pay $50 for a Pillow

I love all the beautiful pillows I see at Pottery Barn, Arhaus, Restoration Hardware Etc...but I just can't seem to bring myself to pay so much money for one pillow. This is a problem because I really want them:) Here is a solution that I have found and I think it turned out pretty and will satisfy my pillow cravings. Have you seen all the beautiful kitchen towels everywhere? They have so many patterns and colors. I purchased this one at an Antique market for only $9..Wow! I am always on the lookout at GW for pillow forms, I have found quite a few of them. I sewed this pretty little Rooster pillow up in just a few hours. I had the pillow forms, some gingham material and some Toile material so really this pillow didn't cost me more than $15. Success! 

also..the pillows on each side I bought at GW. I first found the pillow forms and then I was looking in the pillow sham section and found the pillow covers which are really nice from Ralph Lauren. I like this because I can wash them and they are like new.

...I was at Sur La Table yesterday and I found so many cute kitchen towels for under $10. If you have one near you, you should definitely check it out! They had this very same rooster towel there too:)

 

Its all in the details..Home Staging 101

Take any room in your house and use a few simple rules, you end up with a cozy area that is warm and invites you to sit and stay awhile.
Step 1 Have some quality pieces of furniture and neutral pallet
Step 2 Add some color, pattern and texture
Step 3 Accessorize
This rule also works great for dressing yourself...never fails:)

I added my dried orange roses in the glass lamp for more color. For fall you could add some cute little pumpkins or leaves and for Christmas you could add some evergreen and pinecones. Love it

Accessorize with books, wood bowl with textured balls, photos, baskets, vintage trunks stacked on each other, art on wall. Feels cozy now. Think I will sit for awhile and have a coffee.

I added some color with flowers, pillows, a glass lamp with a burlap lampshade which also adds some interesting texture.

I have neutral wall color, drapes and brown furniture. Good start but still pretty boring!

Ugly Office Chair turned into Swan

A few years ago my husband brought a couple chairs home from his office. They we getting new ones. At first I really hated these chairs because..lets face it they were ugly! Then I started to think of what I could do to make these more attractive and this is what I came up with. You can slipcover most anything so why not an office chair. I am not a professional at this but with much determination and want of something pretty, this is what I came up with. I love this chair cover and it has been thrown into the washing machine many times and always looks so nice right out of the dryer. Sitting on this chair kinda makes me feel like a princess:)

What is your best Trash to Treasure find?

I would love to hear from you out there in Blog Land! Share your best  Trash 2 Treasure story with me & link a picture.. Here is  one of my great finds, it's a vintage Dr. Pepper drink caddy. I found it a GoodWill and paid maybe $2 for it. The girl that worked there said she would paint it..hmmm I don't think so. Would you?

p.s. see these pretty orange flowers in the blue bottles? They have been in a few of my blog shots lately, I guess I am really loving the blue & orange together:)

 

Signs

Like many of you, I love signs! They are so much fun to put most anywhere in the house, they add lots of personality to any room and really they can say anything your heart desires. I like to make my own signs, usually I get inspired by something I see at a cute little boutique or magazines. I have used old cabinets, drawer fronts, just a basic piece of wood, really many things will work. Here are a few that I have created, I have made many more than the ones I have pictured here but don't want to bore you:) My most recent sign is the French Laundry sign. I really aged this with layers of paint, a wax technique and Anne Sloane clear and dark wax. I also did some sanding and distressing between layers. The bird embellishment was an old Christmas ornament I had. I didn't have any letters stencils that I liked , so instead of waiting to get some, because I am really an impatient girl, I hand drew the letters in my best cursive handwriting with pencil. After I got it just the way I wanted I used a sharpie..yes I said sharpie:)lol  I was really proud of myself! If you would like to know the paint technique just leave a comment and I promise to get back to you.