Thursday, December 27, 2012

my Christmas surprise...

That husband of mine had a big surprise for me on Christmas morning.
We agreed to our usual "no gifts" for each other but he did not stick to it.
I came out Christmas morning to find two of these beautiful new chairs.


It's the Chas Armchair from Pier 1 Imports:




 I love this chair. It's been on my Pinterest wishlist for awhile now. I have been looking all over for living room chairs but I just kept going back to this beauty. I was shocked to see two of them in my living room on Christmas. It was one of the sweetest things that Brett has ever done for me.

Just recently I saw this chair in one of my favorite blogs The Lettered Cottage . They did a beautiful photo shoot of a charming Southern Cottage and the Chas Armchair caught my attention again. I love seeing it pop up in photos. 

Here's a photo from their blog post:


 I am very excited to work on my living room and so thankful for the new seating! Thanks babe, I love you!  (and i still cannot believe you pulled this off)

and just for fun here's the baby enjoying his mama's new chair...


and my favorite photo of the kiddos from this Christmas...
(at this stage in life we just love the photos where no one is sobbing)


Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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Friday, December 7, 2012

Averi's Bedroom: dressed up for Christmas...

I was able to get Averi's bedroom dressed up a bit for Christmas!
Come on in and you can see what we came up with...
Her door is right at the top of the stairs.
She wanted everyone to be greeted by "Popcorn," her beautiful horse.
(popcorn is only in her dreams but someday we hope to have a real one.)

As you open the door, here's what you see...




 Averi wanted a HOT PINK room. I wanted a VERY SOFT PINK for her room. We compromised on Verbena from Sherwin Williams. Her room has become an ode to Rachel Ashwell and my love for all things Shabby Chic.

The bedding is from the Simply Shabby Chic line at Target.
It is my absolute favorite and it looks great on the vintage iron bed frame.

(and lucky me, i found the bedding in a cute little consignment shop. the lady sold me 2 duvet covers, a full set of sheets, 3 pillow shams, 3 pillow cases and a matching shower curtain for a total of 50 dollars. i don't think you can even buy the set of sheets for that price!!!)


The smaller pillows were done with extra fabric that tie into the bedding perfectly...



Averi's dresser is also from Rachel's Simply Shabby Chic line at Target.
This dresser is one of the very few pieces of furniture we have ever bought from a store. As you have come to find out... I by vintage furniture generally one piece at a time from thrift stores, garage sales, auctions, craigslist or get it as a "hand-me down" (i love it when that happens). This dresser was an exception to the rule. I saved and  bought it for our bedroom when we moved into our very first home. Now, it has found its' place in Averi's room and it has a great vintage feel to it.


The Christmas details include:
a bow, some ribbon, candles, ornaments and a Christmas song in a frame



For her charming bedside table, we decorated her little tree...


If you want to see what this vintage thrift store table looked like before you can see it in this post .


a few of the other details are the burlap bunting...



and a little burlap and ribbon to the candles...
Just how I prefer things, simple and sweet!


I love how her room is coming together.
We still have some more projects before we can call it done, but we're getting there.


Hope you enjoyed her room.  Little Miss was pretty excited about this post :)

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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

the firewood box...

It's that time of year!
The time when we start burning wood to heat the cottage. We needed a wood box, so my husband used two leftover cabinet doors to make us one.

Here's the before pictures so you can see how he used doors...


  and now after a fresh coat of white paint from Sherwin Williams...


We moved my ENTRYWAY BENCH for the new firewood box.
I had fun doing a little Christmas decorating with our stairway and the new box.




The lovely little details include a festive bow with some vintage ribbon...


and some kindling...


I love how this turned out... Thanks babe... you deserve a raise :)


Enjoying the evening ambience...


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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

thrifting and some great vintage finds...

 
 I declared an "independence day" for myself and went thrifting this past weekend.
What that means is I left the hubs home with the two older kids and said...
"I don't know when I will be home today... I wish you the very best" :)
 
The baby and I met up with some friends and hit the town to do some shopping.
It's always fun to do this with a small group. I like to see what others can find for their homes. It's a good way to get to know people and their style.

My budget was $50 dollars.
The things I was looking for...
1. side tables (one for each side of my vintage pink sofa)
and/or
2. pressed back antique chairs (for my dining room)
 
First stop: GOODWILL....
 
Amy Dee (left) was the one who did great here, Julie (right) had to help hold her finds for the photo.
 

 She got some great frames and a mirror (all to be painted), a curtain panel (fabric for pillows), and some glassware (to be painted and most likely used for jewelry).
 
Next stop: SALVATION ARMY...
 
Amy found two really cute curtain panels.
 
 
Amy Dee found a vintage milk glass lamp.
 (perhaps for the baby girl's room... hooray for a GIRL!)
 
 
Though not on my list... I had to buy this camo coat for my B-Boy.
He was happy to have it.

 
Next stop: FURNITURE ZONE...
 
Julie bought a beautiful little Florentine tissue box.
 
 
Next stop: IRON HORSE ANTIQUE MALL...
 
This is where things kinda fell apart for me. No, I didn't go crazy and blow my budget. However, my sweet baby Finley who didn't make a peep that day decided this was the perfect place to have a blow out poopy diaper. So, I didn't do well documenting the rest of the girl's finds.
 
Here's what I found...
 
 
I love this little side table. It just needs a fresh coat of white paint. I probably created a dilemma; now I need to find a matching one because it fits perfectly next to my sofa.
 
 
Since I wasn't finding the pieces I was hoping for, I splurged on some Ironstone.
 
 
The good stuff... I love it!
 
 
I had to pass on this beauty...
I'm afraid the PINK Buick was not in my budget :)
 
 
So, here's what I spent... (plus $2 dollars for B-boy's coat)
 
It was a good day. All my friends did well too. Great finds and well under their personal budgets. I hope to be able to follow up with them and show you some of their completed projects.
 
Linking to:
 
 


Monday, October 29, 2012

the little details...

I worked on two small projects for Averi's room this past week.
I took inventory of what I had on hand. Then I went to my good friend Mr. Pinterest for some inspiration.
 
The first thing that caught my eye was a girl's dress in a vintage frame above a bed. I LOVED that idea! I thought this would be perfect for her closet door, it needed a little something. This accessory turned out sweet and very girly.
Perfect for Little Miss...
 

 
I had the vintage frame on hand and I painted it pink with the leftovers from her wall color (Verbena from Sherwin Williams). For the inset of the frame, I thought the burlap provided a great backdrop and contrast to the white sundress. Averi wore that sweet little dress for her Fancy Girl Tea Party this past summer. So, for my husband who says I don't have a sentimental bone in my body... I think I did great creating a piece with some sentimental value :) 

 
The other project I did was with a couple photos of Averi. I got this fabulous idea from The Winthrop Chronicles . I followed her step-by-step instructions for putting a photo on a piece of wood for a wall hanging. This was such a fun project! Here's how my photos turned out...
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
So beware friends and family! You might be getting something mod podged to a piece of wood for Christmas this year because I think this is just BRILLIANT!
 
The other project I've done for Averi's room is this charming bedside table .
 
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Monday, October 8, 2012

one man's junk...

 
It's true what they say...
"one man's junk is another man's treasure".
I love when it happens to me.
 
I was driving through town one day and came upon this...
 
 
a little bench sitting curbside by a trash can.
I couldn't imagine why someone would throw it away.
Just to be sure I went to the door and asked the homeowner.
She said, "Oh yes honey! We don't need it anymore, take it if you want."
So I did :)
 
Here she is after a fresh coat of white paint...
 
 
White paint seems to make everything better.
The bench was just what we needed in our little entryway.
Here she is all dressed up and ready for business...
 


 
My other treasure came from a dumpster.
The hubs rescued this vintage child's rocker...
 
 
She needed a bit of work but he knows I love Jinny Lind furniture so he brought her home for me.
After some repair and some more white paint here she is...
 
 
The sweet little rocker has found its place in our boys room.
In all likelihood it will find itself broken again but for now we will enjoy the little darling like this...
 
 
Hope to find some more great pieces of furniture like this for my home!
 
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