Shabby Coastal Cottage Lantern

I found this beauty at HomeGoods today while I was with my youngest daughter. Have been looking for one for her room for awhile now. I saw this lantern a few days ago, but didn't buy it because she rarely likes anything I bring home for her room. Seems like she has been fighting me tooth & nail even after she  told me what style she wanted. Today we stopped off at HomeGoods  & were looking at lanterns & I said "I like this one, but the handle is too big". She said that she liked it, so we took it home. I brought it up to her room & placed it next to the shutter mirror we purchased a week or so back, but the lantern looked a little plain.

So, I went for a walk .... and found some moss in the woods behind our house.

Then, I remembered I had put some little birds nests in the garage sale room in the basement. I also dug through my craft boxes in my office & found some lavender & seed pods I had grown back in my previous house in California.

Here's the finished product! I made the eggs from some clay I  had.

So that was my little project today. It was fun making it.

Thanks for stopping by,

Pam
Linking up with
Women Who Do It All for Sharin' Wednesday # 5
Funky Junk for Saturday Nite Special
Just a Girl for Show and Share Day
The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday
Somewhat Simple for Strut Your Stuff
Today's Creative Blog for Get Your Craft On
Spotlight Yourself Link Party
Tea Rose Home for Link Party # 4

Spring Flowers!

I hope everyone's day was as beautiful as ours today! Our weather is gorgeous! Took these photos at a recent trip to Lowe's .  The flowers they have in are unbelievable!

Had to add a photo of the cherry tree in our front yard

Will be posting something I worked on for my youngest daughter's room 
tomorrow. I hope you will come by to see what I did.

Pam


linking up with  A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday

Lamp Makeover

Well, while Mr. Fanatic was finishing up tiling our upstairs bath, I started on another project. Look what I made!!! Yes, even though I have been sewing & making things for years, I still surprise myself every time something I make comes out good.

We purchased this lamp several months ago at Target for my youngest daughter's room, before we had really nailed down what she wanted her room to look like. You can click here to see. After deciding the look, this lamp really didn't fit in, but I thought I could make it look a little better if I covered the shade with some burlap.

 Here's the lamp before:

My daughter wasn't sold on my idea of covering the shade with light burlap, so I made it a slipcover, instead of attaching it permanently to the shade. All I did was hot glue the end around it.

Then I sewed the edges.

Not very happy with the way the edge came out because the green edge of the lamp shows at the top

Hmmmmm, what to do ...

I went through the neatly organized boxes in my craft room & found some fringe. I hot glued it on the top & bottom of the shade.

This is the lamp with the light off..........................................This is with the light on. 

So pretty.

Two burns from the hot glue gun later ....  I love it! I hope she does too!!!

Hope you all had a terrific weekend! 

Thanks for stopping by,

Pam

Linking up with:
Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Night Special
Life as Lori for Get Your Craft On Thursday
Finding Fabulous for Frugalicious Friday
My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Finding Fabulous for Frugalicious Friday
Tea Rose Home
Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday
Tip Junkie for Tip Me Tuesday
A Soft Place to Land for DIY Day
Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Little Red House for Mosaic Monday
Cottage Instincts for Make it 4 Monday

Nightstand Runner

I made window panels for my Master Bedroom last year & had a little fabric left over, so I kept it. Several months ago I found 2 nightstands at TJ Maxx for $139 each and brought them home. I love them, except for one problem ....DUST! The mirror finish shows dust, fingerprints, water spots, etc.

So last night I had a little time, went to my office & pulled out the leftover fabric and started sewing.

Voila! All finished! Now I can set down a drink without running for a coaster or napkin.

That was an easy quickie project. So glad it's finished! The best part about it? It didn't cost me any $$$. Yay!
Hope you all have a terrific weekend. I am off to help Mr. Fanatic with tiling the upstairs bathroom. You remember we just tiled our  Master Bathroom a few weeks ago. Lord, give me strength!

Thanks for stopping by.

Pam
I am linking up with Finesse Your Nest for Shop the House Sunday. Stop by & see all the other great projects this weekend.

Sneak Peek ... My Daughter's Room

Thought I'd give you a sneak peek of my oldest daughter's room that I'm working on. Here's the reality of this room ... I had to be really careful not to get the piles of clothes, shoes & other stuff in the shots. It was VERY difficult!!! I have been really lucky to find a whole slew of things that go together that fit her style. I brought a bunch of decorative items homes & we sorted them out. She loved almost all of the items I brought home. Amazing, considering she is 17 (almost 18) and has a mind of her own.

I was a little concerned that she wanted purple for her walls considering that we are going to put our house on the market soon. I just didn't want to paint my girls room a really boring color and them having to live with that for a year or so if the house didn't sell. Would like your opinions about the color affecting resale, but please be gentle! I found the pillow at HomeGoods. This was the first item I brought home and was the inspiration for the entire room.

I found this wire dress form at Marshalls. She really loved it when I sent her a photo of it at the store.

Found the lamps at HomeGoods. the iron Dream  thingy at TJ Maxx & the silver placemat at Target.

This is soooo cool. It is a vinyl adhesive wall decal which I found at HomeGoods (of course!) Since we might be moving, we are going to paint a piece of MDF the wall color & adhere the decal to it. This way we can take it with us if our house sells. This will go over the bed.

My daughter loves birdcages. We found a decal of a birdcage, but decided to go with the birds & a real birdcage. I'm hoping to find something to put inside it. These items are sitting on an armoire that we found on craigslist. We will be outfitting it with a mirror so she can do her hair & makeup, and with a jewelry organizer.

You might recognize the basket. I have three in my laundry room. This one holds her magazines & is in her nightstand.

You might wonder what these are. I found them at HomeGoods & they are actually placemats/trivettes. The two silver ones were cream colored, but my daughter & I thought that they would look great silver & black. I painted them with Krylon chrome paint. We thought they might look good over the bed instead of a headboard, but we decided to put them as wall art over the dresser.

That's about all I have for now. I bought a few extra window panels from Target to make a bed skirt & a sham. We would also like to make a headboard, but that definitely will have to wait for now.
Let me know what you think,

Thanks for stopping by,

Pam


Oh, by the way, this is what it looked like before...warning to all of you who don't have messy teenagers:don't be shocked: it is a huge mess!!!... it is just easier to shut the door than to constantly nag her to pick it up!!!

linking with *The Shabby Chic Cottage* for Transformation Thursday
                  Somewhat Simple for Strut Your Stuff
                  My Romantic Home for Show & Tell 

Another Painting Project

I bought this rectangular metal container at TJ Maxx several years ago and never used it. It sat on top of a bookcase in my office/bonus room because the color didn't really go with anything. When I was  decrappifying my house this almost ended up in the garage sale room. Yes, I said room ... in the basement.

And then, I discovered black paint. I started painting a bunch of accessories around my house black. I was addicted!  And so, I thought, why not? Oh how I love black spray paint!

Hmmm, now what to do with it. At first, I used it to hold all of my pens, pencils, paint brushes and markers in my office.

And then I purchase some Peace Lilies at Lowe's and put the whole ensemble on the breakfast table.

Love it! Now, what's next???

What are you painting at your house???

Thanks for stopping by,

Pam


linking up with Domestically Speaking, The Power of Paint Party
The Shabby Chic Cottage Transformation Thursday
Just A Girl, Show and Share Day
Tip Junkie, Project Show and Tell

Featured Guest - Keith Beal

I was surfing around Rate My Space awhile back and found Keith Beal's "My 59 Modern Ranch". I thought it was pretty amazing and wanted to share it with you.

Keith is a remodeling contractor in Cincinnati, Ohio. He bought the house he's currently in about 6 years ago. It's a brick ranch built in 1959. He said "as soon saw it I knew this was the one! The whole house has cathedral open beamed ceilings. lots of glass and sits on about 4 wooded acres. But...the place was in major disrepair. The big challenge was that the house was sliding down the hillside. This probably scared off most buyers but this can be fixed. After months of negotiations with the former owner we finally reached a sales agreement. "

  

"This is the "before" photo. I removed the wall on the left side between the kitchen and dining room and added a skylight in the kitchen. These 2 changes were probably the most dramatic.

This is the "after" photo taken at the same location as the previous "before". I rearranged and painted the existing cabinets, re-used the laminate countertops and built a microwave cabinet (lower left) and enclosed the fridge. SS appliances can upgrade just about any space.

This view is from the entry. There are 2 steps up to the dining/kitchen. The wall you see ran all the way across separating the dining room and kitchen. This was a big change."

I love this shot! (Pam)

 

 

"A night shot of the kitchen. Lighting is so key to a space. I had to use track lights (12 of 'em) due to the beamed wood ceiling. Not a big fan of track lights but I used the mini halogens in black and they're fine.

The Laundry room off the kitchen. Can you see the stacked w/d on the left? I  was undecisive about saving the brick wall (not insulated) but decided to keep it. This exposed brick actually ran thru to the kitchen on the fridge and stove wall. I covered it up and insulated it. The used brick wall contributed to the darkness of the kitchen and felt it didn't contribute to the contempory look I was after."

(The words in quotes were taken off of Keiths post on RMS)

After seeing the previous photos of the interior of Keith's home I would describe it  as open, spacious, mid-century modern.  I would never fathom that the spaces above would be inside the following structure:

A very nice setting for sure, but the outside is very modest. Not that it is bad, but it is so unexpected!  Who would have thought that this quaint home would have so much style inside.

You can see more of Keith's work on Flickr and on his Rate My Space Post

Hope you enjoyed the tour of Keith's home. Thanks Keith for letting me feature your awesome home!


Thanks for stopping by everyone!


Pam


* just wanted to let you know Keith did not compensate me for this feature and I cannot personally recommend him since he hasn't done any work for me. As always, when considering hiring a contractor you can ask someone who he has done some fabulous projects for and ask their opinion. I'm sure he has a couple of references that you could call should you be in need of a contractor in the Cincinnati, Ohio area.