Thrift to Treasure

I got inspired by Whitney's DIY apothacary jars over at Shanty2Chic and I just had to make some too ! I'm going to post this at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphois Monday so go check out all of the other great projects.
I made one as a candle, filled one with seashells that were just sitting in a bag under my counter and the last one with wine corks. They are soooooo awesome !

I went to Goodwill and picked up some random candlesticks and two glass globes for a total of $11.50 then bought some Krylon Dover White spray paint for $2.99. All the other supplies I had on hand. I spray painted them and then rubbed with bombay mahogany stain.
I used Gorilla super glue to glue the glass globes to the base. So, for $14.50 I got 3 new pieces.
This is what they looked like before...................

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the tray. I found an extra picture frame in the closet that goes around a digital frame. I painted it white and put a scrap of fabric behind the glass. That one didn't cost a thing !

My goal is to have 100 followers by Halloween. If I reach that goal I'm going to do a fabric giveaway. So please, please click on that button on the left that says follow !! Thank You !

How You Can Dress Your Sunroom Windows

Here is a before picture of the sunroom that we installed today. The room gets a lot of direct sunlight and they had duette shades for privacy and light control. It just needed some fabric to cozy it up.



I made side panels for each window and a gathered valance for the top. What a difference 35 yds of fabric can make in a room. My clients were thrilled with their new window coverings !

Tablescape Thursday

I'm participating in my first Tablescape Thursday over at Between Naps on the Porch.
When I blogged about my birthday dishes, Maria at Colour me Happy suggested I do Tablescape Thursday and I was a newbie and didn't even know what that was !

I must be the only person in bloggyland that doesn't have fall decortations ! I managed to find a few things that were kind of fallish. The vegetable rabbit is a leftover from when I was a vase collector and I don't even know where the veggie cups came from. I went to Joann's to buy foam last week and tried to force myself to buy some fall decorations but the only thing I left with was orange tic tacs !
You can see my roman shades in the breakfast nook have monkeys on them (Teto and Jerome) I have a thing for monkeys. One day I'll do a monkey post and show you all of them around my house. Then I'll be known as the crazy monkey lady.
Since I don't actually have any napkins or rings, I just went up to my workroom this morning and made these from some scrap fabric and fringe.
Thanks for stopping by !

Honest Scrap Award

Design Esquire has nominated me for a Honest Scrap Award. *squeals* Thank you so much !

Here are the rules I must follow, upon receiving this award:

1) Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.
2) Share "10 Honest Things" about myself.
3) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
4) Tell those 7 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

Here are 10 things about me....
1) I eat chocolate every day
2) I've been doing yoga for about 10 years and I love it
3) I love to cook and I cook all the time
4) Chilean sea bass if my favorite fish
5) My goldendoodle rocks
6) I like to scrapbook but it takes too long
7) My degree is in Business Mgt
8) My dream vacation is to go to Aruba or Hawaii
9) I like to watch sports in person but you couldn't pay me to watch on TV
10) My son is a black belt in karate

And now I would like to give the Honest Scrap Award to these lovely blogs........

AB Home Interiors
Colour Me Happy
Creative Home Expressions
Its So Very Cheri
Room Service Decorating 101
Room Remix
Shanty 2 Chic

Stop by and visit these blogs they are beautiful, fun and inspiring.

Mirrored Armoire

I'm participating in Cheri's Knock Off Knock Out at It's so Very Cheri and
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. So head over to these ladies blogs and check out all the great projects.

I found a mirrored armoire in the Ballard catalog about 2 years ago that I fell in love with. Well, by the time I got around to ordering it..................it was discontinued ! I was heart broken !
So, after pouting about it for a day or two I decided that I could make one.
I headed to High Point and bought a black computer armoire and then I took the doors off and brought them to a local glass shop. They cut pieces of glass to fit into each section and ta da now I have one just as fabulous for about $ 600.00 less than the Ballard one.

Beach Kids Room

We redecorated my son's room for his 10th birthday in a beach/surfboard theme. The first time I posted it I was such a newbie blogger that I didn't give it nearly enough attention so I thought I should show you some more details. I found this bedding set online and designed the whole room around it. I found a wallpaper decal of a surfboard and had my wood guy cut a wood shape to fit it. I'm sorry if there are any English teachers reading this because I have just ended two sentences with prepositions ! We also stenciled hibiscus flowers on the sand colored walls.
We painted two of the walls a light blue. I made roman shades from a fun fabric with little surfer dudes and lined them in blackout lining. I ordered 10 blank skateboard decks online and painted them in the two colors of blue then I stenciled hibiscus on these and attached them above the windows to make valances.
This dresser came from the unfinished furniture store and we painted it dark and light blue. I used skateboard wheels for the drawer pulls.
I made this bulletin board out of a scrap piece of wood and scrap fabric. I covered it with 1/2" foam and then fabric. I used white gimp and blue ribbon to make the criss crosses.
This is the other side of the room where the door is located. We put little surfboard stickers over the door and a sign that says "Surf's Up" on the door. You can sort of see the beach fence wallpaper mural the goes along the bottom of the blue walls. I have one other picture of the shelf wall which is one my other computer so I can't post it. We attached about 5 skateboards to the wall that he keeps books and pictures on. Maybe I'll post that pic later because it is really cute !

He is 12 now........... how long do you think it will be before he grows out of this room ?

Would you like to see window treatments for a log home ?

My Mom and stepdad built a log home last summer in the country. It has a huge wrap around porch with rocking chairs and ferns. I took some pictures while we were there this weekend to share with you. We went and picked out 2 puppies for them yesterday, they loved playing with Zoe ! Aren't they adorable ?

I made these draperies for the living room and dining room. The first time I saw this fabric from Pindler and Pindler I fell in love with it. It was really pricey so we just ordered enough to do cornices and we used a solid linen for the draperies. They are lined and interlined and are on a traverse rod to open. This is a really good way to use an expensive fabric and still get the most impact.

This is my Mom's room, she wanted a soft feminine space. We chose a nice floral with a handsome peacock printed on it and put tassel fringe on the bottom of the valances. The draperies are lined with blackout lining so it can be really dark anytime of the day.
This roman shade is on the back door in the laundry room. It is a sage green toile with a beautiful braid at the bottom.

I had this painted for them at Christmas by a local artist (Mr. Stitches' Dad) haha, ok, I've never called him that before and it really makes me laugh out loud !
He is a wonderful artist and I just described what I wanted in the painting and he did this fabulous still life and it is hanging in the great room and looks so good in their log home.
I'll post more pics later, I just wanted to show the window treatments for now. Do you like it ?

Favorite Design Star

I am loving this season of HGTV's Design Star. Last week they were down to the final three designers and the challenge was to design a room for a celebrity. Lonni designed a guest room for Tiffani Theissen and her husband. The room was already good but she made it great by using her signature focal wall. She had this design printed onto grasscloth, it is gorgeous. She used a piece of reclaimed wood for the headboard but, unfortunately they couldn't get it hung on the wall before time ran out. I do like the simple relaxed roman shade on the windows.
Dan designed a nursery for Jason Priestley (did I mention that I use to have a serious crush on him) oh yeah and his wife. He used a very sophisticated color palette of slate blue and pale yellow. This is a room that can transition to toddlers and teens. I like that he added some nice detail to his draperies but, he should have added shades with blackout lining. Other wise, he did a great job !

Antonio designed this office for Kathy Griffin. The lilac color on the wall was beautiful but his accessories were tiny. That rug looks like a placemat ! He replaced the terra cotta tile with dark wood floors but he forgot to do window treatments (the horror)!! I think she liked the room a lot.

The judges felt like Lonni didn't show all of her designing talents and sent her home. Boo ! So, Sunday night Antonio and Dan will battle it out to see who will be the next "Design Star". They will be decorating an entire house for a deserving family. Who do you want to win ?

Pillows

Holy deleted picture, Batman ! ok, this pic was supposed to be at the bottom of my last post but it magically disappeared. ut oh. This linen fabric had wooden and metal beads sewn onto it and I had to make sure it didn't end up in the seam allowance because I couldn't sew over it.

How High You Should Hang Your Draperies

When you have tall 2 story windows some people don't know where to hang their draperies. My client's room had gorgeous 19' windows in their great room. If you hang your window treatments above the first set of windows it brings your eye down and you lose the beauty of the tall ceilings and windows. Windows are the focal point of the room and shouldn't be covered up and hidden. We extended the panels out about 15" on each side to preserve the view.
We choose these 5" square filigree medallions from Finestra in oxidized copper to hang the panels from. My installer turned them to make diamonds instead of squares. These are tied back about 5.5' from the floor because that is roughly 1/3 the length of the panel.


The fabric for the draperies and pillows was a linen with wooden and metal beads sewn onto it. I had to hand sew the entire panels because the beads would not go under my machine. When you are buying custom work be prepared to pay more for hand sewing.

When you hang you draperies mount them all the way up to the crown molding and go out 5-20" from the window. It will make your room feel taller and bigger and you will love it. How high are your draperies hung ?

Throw Pillows

Don't you just love decorative throw pillows ? You can rotate them around with the seasons. I know I have a closet full of them. They can be made with a self cord if you want simple and durable or with tassel fringe or brush fringe for a dressier look. When I was at the custom home furnishing academy
they had these pillows hanging on display.
I like to use a pillow form that is 90/10 feather/down for heavy weight fabrics and 75/25 for light weight silks. They are nice and squishy.

Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend !