Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I thought I'd check in & say hello to everyone. I am currently going through "spray paint withdrawal"  and missing all of you! This is the last full week of school for my girls. They have a half day of finals on Tuesday and my oldest is graduating from High School on Friday. We are also meeting with the painter, having the house & grounds pressure washed & windows cleaned. That reminds me ... I still have to call someone in to clean the carpets!

So with all of this going on this doesn't leave any time to do some fun projects :( Hopefully things will be getting back to normal in a week or so!

My husband and I have been searching the internet and driving by some houses that are for sale in our area that meet our criteria. Of course we will only buy a house after our house sells, but it helps us to know what is out there.

Here are a few houses that we like that our up for sale.

We definitely love this one and it is only a few miles from our current home, so my daily routine wouldn't change..same grocery stores, Target, etc. Definitely move in ready.

Only one floor :) ... a big plus! ... and lots of wonderful trees.

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Love the porch & the Craftsman style, but the yard is a little small.

We like this one because all the bedrooms are on the first floor with a bonus room upstairs. We like that the lot is almost an acre with lots of trees! Hmmm... what I could do with that backyard...

These past few months seem to have flown by. It's hard to believe it will be June in just a few days. I don't know about you, but I wish we had a few more weeks. Are you all ready for summer? Any fun things planned? 
 I hope all of you will be spending some time with your family and friends this Memorial Day weekend.

Thanks for stopping by,

Pam

Sprucing up the Front Porch

Most of you know that we are getting our house ready to put on the market. And, how many times have your heard that the front  of the house has to have curb appeal and the front door has to look great. Knowing this, I have been working on the front porch. Here is what it looked like last summer.

Don't look too close or you will see my fall wreath! It is my favorite & I still have to either find or make a more seasonal appropriate one. I added some red begonias in the large pot and spray painted a small pot red & planted more begonias. They are easy plants to grow and can take the afternoon sun. I also found the tall green pot & the lantern at my favorite store (HomeGoods) I put some river rocks & a candle in the lantern. The mat is new, but I can't remember if I found it at Ross or HG.

Here's another view.

I really love this bench. Last year I refinished with some bronze spray paint. Good as new!

Hope you had a terrific weekend! We participated in our neighborhood garage sale & sold over half of our stuff! It feels good that our "garage sale room" is now empty! Hope you had a productive or fun weekend too!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Pam

Participating in:

A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday
DIY Showoff for DIY Project Parade

Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Little Red House for Mosaic Monday

It's So Very Cheri for It's So Very Creative 

Inspirational Revelation

I was just over at Centsational Girl and had an inspirational revelation! Remember my Laundry Room?

Did you notice anything missing in there? - one guess .... I have 2 cats who are indoors most  of the time. Yes, you guessed it! The litter box ... and a container for dirty rags... under the lovely plastic laundry sink. The sink & plumbing that the builder charged us $600 for. We still cringe at paying for that one and I have always hated how it looks.

Anyway, back to my inspirational revelation over at Censational Girl's Sudsy Spaces post ... this photo suddenly hit me even though I had thought about doing  this before. Why not cover the space under the sink up with fabric? This would be an easy project, especially if it was Velcroed to the sink. It could possibly be another "drop cloth" no sew project. Hmmmmm

Canadian House and Home

 What do you think? 
Happy Friday to everyone! Hope you all have a terrific weekend!!!

Pam

Daughter's Bedroom Reveal

My daughter's room is ready for a reveal! I still want to add some things to it, such as bookcases, a small chair & some small additions of blue to the room, but if I wait til the room is 100 %, you'll never see it. Besides, rooms always change over time anyway!

Before I show you my daughter's bedroom, let me show you what it looked like before. At least a little bit of it. I wasn't blogging before we painted the room & the only photos of the entire room that I have were taken with a camera that had film! It was a cute room for a little girl. I designed &  made the bed with my husband's help for an interior design class when we lived in California. I made my oldest daughter one as well, & made them so they could be used as bunk beds because I knew that we would probably be living in an apartment for awhile when we moved here & the girls would be sharing a room. I painted butterflies & flowers above the bed & on the wall at the entrance like the ones  on her comforter. My daughter didn't want to repaint the room for many years because I had painted those butterflies & flowers on the wall & even asked me to cut out the sheetrock & save them. Awww, she is so sweet. She was finally ready to paint over them after she turned 16. Mr. Fanatic had a difficult time painting over them and felt like he was painting over her childhood...tear :. (

...Back to the makeover .... Here are two photos  I used as inspiration

 for my daughter's bedroom's new look:

Canadian House and Home

This photo is my favorite. It is a little too French and my daughter wanted more of a Coastal theme, but it was great inspiration! Notice  how the distressed  shutters, distressed creme colored chest & linen curtains go with the grey walls. If it hadn't been for this photo, I never would have paired those two colors together.

Aidan Gray

 Back to the reveal ... drumroll please ..... here's what you see as you walk in...

Remember that bookcase is going & a taller one will be built on either side of the windows. I also want to raise the bed & the headboard up a few inches Here you can see the lamp that I made a slipcover for and the nightstand I made over. You can click on the links to read more about these projects.

I love the white dresser I found on Craigslist,

Mr. Fanatic still has to hang the shutters, which is a mirror inside. I found the shutters, lamp & clock at  HomeGoods. The coral is from a recent trip to Seal Beach, California & the glass bottles are from Hobby Lobby.

The headboard is a Craigslist find. The pillow is also from HomeGoods

We were going to make something with shells & burlap for the walls, but we found this at where else? HomeGoods.

I love these little metal containers. I saw them at Marshall's and thought they were cute, but didn't buy them. I went back later that evening when I figured out I could use them in my daughter's room. Wouldn't these look good in bookcases that were backed with some really colorful wallpaper? ......Always thinking.....

and here's the Coastal Lantern, some coral & a cute distressed box....all from guess where.

So, there you have it! I'm glad my daughter likes her new room. I think she had fun helping with the design and now understands the process of putting a room together.

This was my first Shabby Chic Coastal Cottage theme for a bedroom and it was a lot of fun & not too much money to do. I hope you like it too.

Thanks for stopping by:

Pam

The paint colors for this room are: Trim: Valspar Kitchen and Bath Enamel, Semi-Gloss in Ultra White, Ceiling: Valspar Eggshell in Summer Grey and the walls are a custom color ...here are the numbers:

101-1 Y19.50  107-0Y20.00   109-0Y6.00 

Update:

The bookcases are finished and look gorgeous! You can see them HERE.

Linking up with : 
Southern Hospitality for Thrifty Treasures
My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday 
Finding Fabulous for Frugalicious Friday 
Inspired By: Fun New Things

Drop Cloth Curtains

I feel like I totally cheated on these curtains for my youngest daughter's room. 1. They were cheap... I purchased one-4ft x 15ft drop cloth at Lowe's for $9.97. Home Depot has a drop cloth that is 6ft x 9ft which would have been ok, as well, but I would have had to buy 2 of them. Remember, we are putting our house on the market in 2 weeks, so I want the house to look good, but I am watchin' the money.

Back to why I feel I cheated on these curtains ... Reason # 2: I just folded the canvas dropcloth in half

cut it in half so that each piece was 7 1/2 ft long,

folded over the edge to the desired length, ironed the edge & clipped on the rings. No sewing! The two side edges are the selvege and the bottom is hemmed. I could have sewed them at the top, but if I have to wash them, they are probably going to shrink up, to I could hem them at that time, if I wanted to.

I couldn't find white rings with nickel clips, so I settled on the wood with nickel clips. Since this is a Shabby Chic room, things aren't supposed to match, right?

The 3rd reason why I feel like I cheated with these curtains is that they were up in 30 minutes! It took me 2 years to sew the simple curtains for my Master Bedroom ...& I already had the fabric! Even the curtains in my oldest daughter's room that I purchased at Target took me longer because I had to sew the rings on!

It's been raining off & on today, so I did not get to spraying a thin coat of lacquer on the nightstand, therefore the final reveal of the entire room will have to wait!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pam
linking up with: Blue Cricket Design for Show & Tell