Finally Dressed for Fall

So, I'm still trying to figure out my "Fall Look" in this house.

I've never had a mantle without a big screen TV in the middle of it!

Anyway, this is what I've got so far...

Downstairs I made some chubby pumpkins and stuck them on candlesticks...


I used this tutorial (posted by my Kentucky friend Danielle, Hi Danielle!) to make my pumpkins but then added a fabric stem instead.
Yep, that's what I got so far.
Recently found out that we will have 20+ people staying in our home for the Thanksgiving weekend.
I've got a lot to do... Can't wait!!

There she is... a chandelier redo and one very happy nannygoat.

I've been keeping an eye open for my "diamond in the rough".

Checking yard sales... goodwill... thrift stores.

Finally found her here.

I saw another lady eyeing her but I swooped in and grabbed her quick as a wink.

She was a mere $15.00!

A little spray paint primer (best invention ever!).

Then I spray painted her with Krylon's "Celery" which is a light creamy green color.

Yum.


The Chandelier was missing the candlesticks that cover all the electrical so I made my own.
I bought a plastic tube at Home depot and cut it into five little "candlesticks" then I use hot glue to give it the look of dripping wax... perfect.

Finally, I spray painted the candles white so they looked like this...

We knew we wanted to swag the light so that it hung over the bed in my 9-year-old daughters room so we bought a "Swag kit" from Home Depot with extra long cord and chains.

I made a simple chord cover to soften things up a bit.

So pretty.

But, not quite there yet.

So, I added little lampshades...

MMmmmmm.... there we go.

BEFORE

AFTER

What do you think?

balancing a big room and filling an empty wall

In our new house we have a great big family room downstairs that we LOVE!

On one side of the room we have this...

We needed an entertainment center with A LOT of storage for all our books, games, and yes VHS movies (I know, I know, I'm a little behind on the technology front).

As much as I would love a huge wall of built-ins or a ginormous Potter Barn entertainment center these 5 bookshelves from Target have been a great solution for a really reasonable price.
See the old window frame on top? My sweet friend recovered it from her home renovation.

It was one of the original windows in her 130+ year old house

and it is one of my favorite things in my house. Thanks again Tiff!

On the opposite side of the room we had a few chairs and a huge blank wall so the room looked very heavy on one side and bare on the other.

Sorry, no pictures of the huge, blank, beige wall.

Just use your imagination. ;0

I knew I wanted to use the wall to display our family photos and I framed each 8x10 in a beefy matted frame like so... But it wasn't enough.

So, I added these "buttons" and some ribbon above the frames ...

and then some vinyl lettering below the group of pictures like so...

The wall is 9ft high and 16ft wide and by the time I finished the display of family photos with the lettering it measured 9ft wide by 3ft high and made a huge difference.

But it still felt out of balance with the other side of the room and since I wanted to keep things very clean and open feeling I decided against adding more furniture/ accessories to the wall and instead picked up my paint brush.

I taped off the wall for 18 inch stripes (making sure I didn't need to paint where I had the vinyl lettering) and took the original beige paint and added white (just like with my painted wallpaper) to create a bit of a contrast without making it too "bold".

I wanted it to visually draw your eye but not smack you in the face.

And here it is all finished...

I LOVE it!

If I had really big muscles I would have moved the elliptical out of this picture but... well, I don't... which is why we bought the elliptical.

Next up for this room- DRAPES!

I already ordered the fabric... can't wait!!!

Painted Wallpaper

I first saw "painted wallpaper" a little while ago

here and here and LOVED it

but

this post by jones design company was the final straw.

I HAD to do it!!
She even has the template you can download!

I decided to make my pattern a little bigger

(because I'm lazy and didn't want to paint as much!)

so I enlarged it before I printed it.

Then I traced it onto cardboard and kept the paper pattern for corners and edges.Just trace, trace, trace and then grab a little paintbrush (the size you want your lines so you can paint it in one stroke) and paint, paint, paint inside the line.

If you're like me you don't have hours and hours to spend on any project so I would paint a few then wrap my paint up tight in a bag to keep it from drying out.

Works great!!

Let me just say that my wall is FAR from perfect but the great thing is you really can't see the imperfections unless you really get close and stare for an awkward amount of time.

Nobody looks that close... except for maybe your mom... and your sister... but that is only because they are trying to figure out how you did it so they can copy you! Don't let the fear of imperfection stop you from doing this!
You will love it!!

Total time spent: About an hour a day for 6 days (to do a 10x14ft wall)

Total cost: $0

I just used the leftover paint from the wall and added a little white paint to lighten it.

What a difference!!!

I can't show you the whole room yet... it's not ready for the public.

(in other words: the bed's not made and it's covered in dirty laundry)

okay, okay,

I'll show you anyway

Yep, that's pretty much what it looks like. ;)

We bought a brand new house and are busy, busy, busy, making it feel like it's "ours".

Not to mention doing all that stuff you have to do with brand new houses like:

Building hanging shelves in the garage...

Window coverings for EVERY WINDOW IN THE HOUSE...
so our neighbors don't have to see us in our underwears... your welcome.

Hello expensive btw!! But, it has given me lots of opportunities to practice my immature sewing skills as I am making curtains for all of those windows. Can't wait to show you what I'm learning!!

Painting walls... because I'm just not a beige-all-over kind of person.

I made it for 3 months and just about lost it so now I have one beautiful blue wall in my master bedroom and ahhhhhh, it feels much better. More on that later.

And just a little crafting on the side...

You KNOW I had to make one of these beauties.

What is it about creating something... it just makes me smile.?!?!

You can't see me but I'm smiling right now... ;)