I see a red door and I wanted it painted black!

I know I haven't posted anything in a very very very long time.  I do have a very very very good excuse though!  My excuse is that I have been spending time with my family and making decisions on what projects I want to tackle next on the house.  The things we have done are not major projects, but alas, here they are:

I got bitten by the black door bug.  I started when I realized how dirty the exterior garage door was.  I had to do something about it so naturally, I painted it the same color as I had the exterior doors; a dark blackish blue color called Cracked Pepper by Behr.

After I did that, I started noticing how ALL the exterior doors had finger prints on them and I wanted to break up all the white we had going on.  (My husband hates that I am constantly changing my mind FYI!)  I went and bought more black paint in a different shade of black for the doors and before J could stop me, the doors had paint all over them!  He did end up liking what I'd done though... he always does!

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after!

Garage door (interior)

Front door

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After!

Spring Teaser

I just posted Valentine's stuff but I've already cleared all that and pulled out my Spring and Easter decor.  Wishful thinking I guess....

Late Valentine's Day

I know my Valentine's Day posting are super late and no help to anyone looking to decorate now.  Hopefully this inspires you to do something for next year's special day of love!

I have been saving all my jars from cooking to come up with this sweet design.  I was actually playing around with some stuff for an up coming wedding but decided to use this as part of my Spring decor this year.

This maybe took me a whole hour to do.  I just cut a few triangles out of left over linen and  stamped three different color hearts on each triangle with a paint brush and acrylic paint.  I simply hot glued the triangles to yarn and hung this from my mantel.

I had some left over curtain fabric from the pillows I made at Christmas.  I traced a giant heart, sewed red fabric underneath in the heart shape and cut the tan fabric out just inside the stitching to reveal the hearts.  Easy Peasy Slipcovers!

Now this guy took me forever!!!  Although this project was simple, making all the crepe paper roses and burning myself on hot glue was hardly worth the effort!  I planned on making two more smaller ones but opted out and I'll save that for next year.  Instead of purchasing Styrofoam balls, I just rolled up newspaper and taped it in a ball shape with making tape to save money.  This cost me $140 minus 40% with a coupon from Hobby Lobby.

A close up of my quickly strewn together Vday decor

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I printed this Q out on some vintage sheet music I had.  DO you have any idea how hard it is to find anything with a Q on it???

For this beauty, I just collected a bunch of Q monograms from the internet and  pasted them all on a word document.  I put a sheet from an old book in the printer and TA-DA... art!!

I glued a Q I painted with black paint on an old frame I lined with  burlap

My mantel

I pulled an old swimming noodle out of the trash and bound torn strips of linen around the noodle.  My kids have three bow and arrow sets that drive me nuts so I stole an arrow for this project.  That's one less arrow I'm getting shot with...

My formal mantel

Classy Dog Feeder... a family feature

My brother sent me a text with this fantastic piece in it.  This is a dog feeder he built out of an old dresser.  He has two VERY large dogs and this is such a classy functional way of keeping the food and all other dog items in one place.  The top drawer holds the leashes and brushes and poop bags and anything else doggy related.  If I ever get another dog, you can bet your sweet hiney I'll have one of these in my house!

This is the dog feeder my talented brother built for his dogs.

Our Christmas Decor

Since I debuted the rest of the house during the holiday season, I mind as well show you the rest of our Christmas decor.  Enjoy! 

These are my entry way votive jars.  Nothing fancy; just pine from our trees, snowflakes and candy.

This was a giant mason jar I used looking glass paint on to create a mercury glass effect.

Branches from outside spray painted white then painted with two types of glitter.  I LOVE snowflakes.  I just LOVE LOVE LOVE snowflakes of any kind!

The completed project

Please ignore the missing trim under the island.  Hubby just hasn't gotten to it!  I chose to decorate my shelves with an old set of encyclopedias and my Lenox snowmen and mercury glass... of course!

LOVE LOVE LOVE these giant mercury glass ornaments from Home Goods!

More of the faux mercury glass I made

Here is a close up of the pillows I showed off in an earlier post.  Old curtains and acrylic paint DIY.

This was a dollar store/Goodwill replica from a Pinterest inspired post!

My star!

This year the tree is decorated with anything glass, gold and silver.  We used blue and white lights and an assortment of family heirloom ornaments.

Here she is in all her unlit glory!

These stockings are simply an old sweater, felt, pompoms, some funky fringe and mercury glass letters I found at Kohls!

I took the advice of a Pinterest tip and hung my stocking on a small curtain rod and two stocking hooks!  It really does work like a charm.

Found this rustic beauty at Home Goods.  Love the simplicity of the drift wood in its natural state.

You guessed it... I made this lumbar pillow out of a place mat!

Door Decor in Entry

There is a large space above our front door and I really have NO CLUE how I'm going to decorate after Christmas! However, I decided for the holidays to go with a nostalgic scene right out of my childhood. The tree is decorated with brightly colored ornaments and childhood ornaments. I mean we're talking a Popsicle sled I made in first grade! The stocking are the ones my Mom sewed for us all and yes, that's my rocking horse and sled I grew up with.

 

Living room and Fireplace Makeover

Here is the living room right after we moved in.  Tall ceilings, one wall with green paint, ugly drapes and a tiny living space.  

 HERE is our living room today! Note the finished archway that J put in for me!  The fireplace trim is simply some poly resin decorative stuff I found at Hobby lobby and regular old decorative wood trim all painted white.  Nevertheless, I love it and it does wonders.  I can't wait until J gets the crown molding up! 

Here's a close up of the mercury glass I have displayed all over the mantle.  Love me some mercury glass!  I did buy the looking glass paint and I have had a ball transforming random glass stuff to beautiful shiny decor! My tip for the looking glass paint, after reading several tutorials online, is to spray a light coat of paint inside your glass object.  Then, lightly mist...LIGHTLY as in one spray up in the air and catch it in your glass, the inside of your creation.  Take a DRY paper towel and blot the inside and even scrape it down the inside of the glass to remove and scratch away the paint.  Do this several times until you get the desired look you're going for and you will have beautiful faux mercury glass decor.

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