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Picking and fixing
Doing my daughters room has been interesting….fun, but interesting. The last time I decorated her room, she was ten and basically told me what colors she wanted. This time, it is a whole different story. Danica wants things the way Danica wants them. Actually she has a great eye for design, so it is actually fun having her pick out her own stuff and it is fun to have another partner in crime. So a while back we were picking at my favorite antique store and came across this desk. It was in rough shape, but the lines were good, so we got it for Danica’s room. It was love at…
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The story of a frame
A long time ago when I was younger I had a neighbor who was an artist. I loved going over to her house with my mom and visit her. She painted the most beautiful paintings. She always had something fun to show us, and she had great style. I was lucky to get a few of these old frames to use in my home. I had one that I wasn’t using in my storage room, and I thought what the perfect thing to use for a display board for D’s room. It was white, and had great detail, but I wanted to change it up a bit and paint the frame dark…
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Changing it up
Isn’t it funny that in January most of us are craving a little change in our homes. I don’t know if it is because we are spending so much time inside from winter, or just that our spaces look a little plain from Christmas. Whatever it is, I know that for me, I need that little change up in my home in January. Usually it is just moving things I already have around to different spaces, or adding a few new accessories here and there. This year has been great because I found and got a couple of great new items that made my space feel a little more fun.…
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Winter Schminter
Holy winter batman. We are snowed in where I live. We got 20 inches of snow on Tuesday, and I am tired of it! I have been using my stuck in the house time wisely though. I have been working on my daughter’s desk, re finishing it. I have never kept the finish on a piece of furniture wood, so I am learning some fun new techniques. The veneer on the top was coming up, so we glued and sanded it. It is turning out lovely! I have the top stained, and the whole piece sealed. I can’t wait to bring it up to her room! I got some frames out from under…
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re purposing a bed
I have been busy working on my daughter’s room. I have the room painted, her desk prepped, and I found a great bed for her. When I am working on a room I always look for used items that I can re purpose. Either things I already have, or things at antique stores. I went shopping the other day and found this great head board and foot board. I loved the lines on them, and I knew it would be perfect for my daughter’s room. Here’s the thing…it was only 39 bucks. I couldn’t pass it up. It was well built, and I knew I could put a little effort into…
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My favorite shades of gray
Christmas was great, the break was even better, and this week the kids have only gone to school for two days. It has been hard getting back into our schedules around here. It has been so cold and snowy. The kids have had two snow days this week because of the temperature. I guess -20 is too cold to let the kids go to school. So to keep busy, I have decided to paint my daughter’s room. She was ten when we moved into this house, and wanted hot pink and Paris back then. Super cute for a ten year old, but not so much for a fifteen year old…
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Christmas baking – Chestnuts
I love Christmas baking. The smells, the traditional recipes we make every year. I wanted to share a recipe I have been making every year since college. This is my college roommate’s recipe. We use to make these delicious little treats to lure cute guys into our apartment. It is way simple, only four ingredients, but it is defiantly one of our Christmas favorites. My kids request them every year, and they are yummy enough to take to neighbors. Chestnuts 3 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter 3 lbs powder sugar 1 lb melted butter Mix all together and roll into balls. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Dip chilled chestnuts into melted chocolate. Enjoy!
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Christmas home tour – my dining room
So the dining room is my last room I am going to share. It is where we have dinner every night, and has my favorite color on the walls. Christmas is fun to decorate in this room because of all the red that is already there. It just feels like Christmas all over. I decorate my hutch and table every year, and this year I had my new console to decorate as well. I decided to put the village on top of it. I love it because we can sit and enjoy it every night. When it is all lit up it adds such a fun glow in the room and you can see…
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Christmas home tour – my kitchen and stairway
The next part of my Christmas tour is my kitchen, and well maybe the hallway and banister too. I decided not to put a mantle above my fireplace when we were remodeling the family room. So I had to come up with somewhere else to hang the stockings. I decided to hang them on the window shelf in the nook of my staircase. I love this spot because it is right by the kid’s rooms and the red stockings pop off of the white wainscoting. I also love that decorations on the shelf on my wall that my hubby made me goes so well with Christmas. It feels like a fun…
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Christmas home tour – my family room
Welcome! This is the view from my front door. I kept Christmas a little more simple around here this year. I wanted to make my home feel nostalgic, like Christmas’s past. I like to keep a lot of my décor out and add Christmas touches to each spot. Normally I set up one of my villages on this dresser in my entry. This year however, I wanted to keep my typewriter and camera out so I just added a santa and some berries to the mix. I moved my chair and put my tree in the corner next to the couch. I did this last year and I really liked…
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Christmas home tour – my music room
I love decorating my home for Christmas. The music room in my home is one of my favorite places to decorate. I love my villages. We have collected two. The kids and their dad put them up, and the girls love to place the people around. It makes the room feel festive. We have them on the suitcase and floor next to the piano. I went to a house one year and the village was displayed on the piano, but I am not brave enough to put it on our piano. I like how it just spills around it making the space feel like an old town. I put the…
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A tree full of memories
I am excited to share my Christmas tree this year. We got it up and decorated last week. I always try to have it decorated before Thanksgiving. I love putting up the Christmas tree. Back in the day when I was a young mother I sort of went crazy with my Christmas trees. I think I had about twelve around my house at one point. Each one had a theme and had to look perfect. But as I have gotten older, my priorities have shifted a bit. I no longer need that designer tree sitting in my living room. I have something better. My memory tree. It is a tradition…
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Christmas on my porch
I have spent all of last week decorating and getting ready for Christmas. One of my favorite spaces to decorate is my front porch. I kept it pretty simple this year. I took the lantern from my front porch and sprayed it a new color. That was when the grass was still green. I took that lantern and put it on my porch and added a bit of greenery and lights to it. Then I took this fun find and made it into a chalk board to hang a wreath on. We just cut some wood, and I sprayed it with chalk board paint. Then we stapled it onto the…
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How to make something from nothing
I finished my console and I am so excited to share the entire process. I love looking up paint tutorials and learning different ways to paint furniture. Even though I learn about different techniques and ways to paint, I consistently go back to the way I have been painting furniture and cabinets for years. This way works for me, I love the finish, and it holds up well. So here is the cabinet that I bought a couple of weeks ago. It was dated, and dirty! I got it for a killer price and originally brought it home to paint and sell it. I put it in the garage to prep…
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I heart painting furniture
So I posted last on the console I am working on in my dining room. I took a few days last week and finished painting it. Now I am working on the top. I chose to paint it the same dark gray that I painted my dining room table. I decided not to paint it the light gray color the hutch is, I wanted the color to pop off the wainscoting. I painted the inside of the piece the same light gray as my hutch for some fun contrast. I used the same hardware it came with , and notice it doesn’t have a top….I am working on that right…
