Family Room Refurbishing Part 1

Several women have emailed and asked to see the refurbishing of the family room since we painted all the walls in the house pink and, since many of you are new to my blog, I thought I'd do it again. I've changed things around a bit. I've also added a tour of it to my sidebar which you can see also.

Most of you know I love decorating my home and doing different things occasionally....OCCASIONALLY?!?!....ok, a lot then. Sheesh, calm down, chicks. It's my lot in life, ya know. Gotta keep Love Bunny guessing where he sits each morning.

Anyway, here is the first round of the redo.

I had hubs make the faux fireplace screen and then I went to work decorating it with fabric. A plaid and a roses barkcloth fabric. I love how it turned out even though I wouldn't want to lift it very often as it's plywood. Clicking any photo will enlarge it for greater detail.

This is the sofa with the slipcover I purchased for $300.00 about 3 years ago and it still looks like new after several washings. I decorate my lamps with roses, lace and ribbon and anything else I want to throw on it. I'm adventuresome. Also, notice the pictures in the background that aren't in frames. I just painted some old mats and fun-tacked them to the wall around the little pictures when I decided that frames were out of sight in price.

I've covered these chairs that are about 25 years old and still in great shape, although, the upholstery is sort of a kilim looking fabric and not truly shabby chic. No, that's not true; I think they'd definitely fit in with the shabby chic romantic look, but I was tired of the fabric and there is no way Love Bunny would let me get them upholstered yet another time. I had the extra quilts as I stopped trying to compete on eBay with my items, and I think they are cozier for the house.

The little footstool is still the same but I've been thinking of doing it over again. Who knows? *Wink*

I found the little ladder at Goodwill....squeeeeeeal.....for $2.00 and painted it pink not knowing what in the world I'd do with it. This is it. I like the juxtaposition of the vintage finials and starfish that I painted pink and added "sparkle" glitter. More wall fluff either given to me or found at thrift shops was given a fresh coat of white paint and hung on the wall. I am a FIRM believer in hanging things low on the wall, such as the mirror, and even propping it up against the wall on the floor as seen in the photos of my living room and the architectural renderings of our home that I had framed and brought with me. I wasn't about to leave them there for the new owners!

I think that's all I'll show for today. I'll put more on later.
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Winner of Giveaway!

The winner of the giveaway for the princess apron is

Charo of Atelier de Charo

So please get in touch with me with your address, sugar, and I'll get it in the mail to you as soon as I can. Congratulations!! Thank you to all who have joined in this giveaway. Of course, you know I'll have another one down the line, right?!

This now belongs to you Charo.

White Linens #3

Again, I love white linens. And I decorate with them lavishly. I don't have a huge collection—far smaller than most collectors but I don't need that much and I put them to use. They don't just decorate the insides of drawers! I use them. I'm not especially a matchy-matchy type of person. I use different kinds on different shelves. (The shelves below are not mine, but alike in what I do with snippets of lace or old pillowcases that have become thread-bare for using on beds anymore.
I've bought shelves at Home Depot and put them up in my family room, office and in the bathroom, but I covered them with lace on the edges to soften the "contemporary" look and feel of them and give them a more romantic feminine appeal. Love Bunny loves it, or at least he doesn't care enough to fight me on it. Actually, he wouldn't dare because we all know who would win that battle. ;-)

Yes, indeed, I actually have ribbons around some of my linens and towels. It just gives them a feeling of luxury in my guest bathroom.

You can even cover up a cheap or abused table with a cloth and make it look glorious, beautiful and majestic with only that small elegance.

Nothing need be said about white covers on sofas, love seats or chairs. They wash beautifully, no ironing and stains bleach right out when little children are involved in making the messes. :-)

This picture just makes me feel good: roses shedding their divine, glorious petals.

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700th Post Giveaway for Pink Saturday 10/3/09

Happy Pink Saturday to all of you. Visit Beverly at howsweetthesound to see all the pink participants. You'll be glad you did.
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Yes, I'm having a giveaway, but there are rules, of course. Very easy rules. This is my 700th post. Yesssssss, can you believe it? I'm doing something darling and cute to celebrate that. First the rules:

1. To enter you must first be a follower and you can add me to your list by clicking on the right hand side bar.

2. You must comment on this post. No anonymous comments unless you include your email so I can contact you.

That's it. Easy, chicks! Oh, I forgot to mention that I'll be drawing the name monday night to announce the winner.
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So here is the prize for the giveaway. No, you don't have a choice, chicks! I get to choose but I think this is a good choice for the domestic goddess in a home, don't you? I made this for a "princess" or "queen" as you can see from the closeup of the fabric. It has froufrou-y gowns on it and crowns or tiaras and is mostly in blue with a tone-on-tone white ruffle with gorgeous lace, ribbon roses and a detachable satin bow. Enlarge to see it better, chicks and happy winning!

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Now, here is what I've also been working on these past few days because...squeeeeeeal...I'm teaching another class at church for the Young Women the middle of October. That squeal was terror, not delight! Yep, I got suckered into it again, but this time it's on a wednesday night and won't take the whole day and tire out this ol' lady, chicks. Soooo, if you want to see all the aprons besides these 3 then go here to view them all. Stay tuned...

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And you thought I was through....hah, shame on you. You know me better than that and you know you're going to get more, right?.....

For those of you who have read my blog for a while you might remember the story of getting this apron at a garage sale many years ago for 25¢ brand new in the fold and everything. Well, it got soiled with paint over the years and since I do use it to cook in, it was less than appealing so I added some roses fabric to cover the worst of the spots but I love this old butcher's canvas apron. So I'm been asking Love Bunny to give me some of the canvas he has for his model train room out in the garage. He has said no until the other day when moving some stuff he found a couple of remnant pieces. Squeeeeeeeal.....Isn't this always the case when we start moving things around in the garage?

This is what I made yesterday out of the canvas with some creative ideas thrown in since there is a heavy seam just under that white rick rack. I had to make that the center since I had so little fabric to use but it turned out well.

I added a little rose to the top and this frog I've had for so many years I think the price on it was 25¢ also. I've always wanted to use it so I stuck it on here. Makes me feel important when cooking, chicks! :-)

Then this little doily I cut in half to make pockets out of it. I added the rose since I love them....duh....and gave it a feather stitch around the edges and voilà I have a vintage pocket. ;-)

Okay, the sewing machine is new and I'm still getting used to it and tried out the smocking stitch on it. Somewhere along the line the thread bunched up and if you know anything about sewing this stitch you know you can't "pick" it out so when it started that I just kept going and decided to put a ribbon rose over the worst part. It's mine; I'm not going to sell it and I can do anything I want to with it. ;-)

Then I feather stitched the ruffle. I love it how it turned out. And it's all mine!

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Random Thoughts 10/2/09

Holy moly, I almost forgot the "eye candy" I always have with my posts. I have been meaning to redo this post (it has been prescheduled) and forgot until I saw it this morning. Sorry.

Okay, chicks, this one is mine. I finally talked Love Bunny out of some of his canvas—but that's another story(!)—and he relented after finding some extra in that model train room of his in the 3rd car garage. Anyway, he saw how passionate I was about making these aprons and wanted mine to be exactly as I wanted it—another canvas butcher apron, but froufrou-ed up. So anyway, I just have to attach the ruffle and then this one is MINE! Almost done, chicks!

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Okay, chicks, get ready tomorrow for a giveaway.....squeeeeeeeal!!!!! Tomorrow.... squeeeeeeeal!
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Have you ever wondered how that little thread in the bobbin gets caught up in the needle when we are re-threading the bobbin? I have. It makes no sense that we just thread the needle, drop in the bobbin, give the needle feed a turn and up pops the bobbin thread. Wonder who invented that gadget. Hmmmmm...

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I found the answer to a dilemma we have in this family. We are always running out of underwear despite the fact that Love Bunny and I have at least 20 sets of tops and bottoms and I wash on a regular basis.....okay, semi-regular basis. I simply go out and buy more. This is absolutely true. I recently asked him if he needed more sets and he said if I bought him any more he couldn't get them in the drawers.

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Now, if you've read my blog long enough, you know I am a firm believer in food storage. BUT that goes beyond food. It extends into everything. I also have 2 curling irons, 2 blow dryers.....wait, not anymore—one hair dryer bit the dust recently! Okay, so I need to put extra hair dryer on my shopping list. But I normally have 2 hair dryers. I have several regular toothbrushes, 2 Water Piks, 2 electric toothbrushes. I have 2 fridges—one regular one and a small one in the garage. Two freezers—a big one and a small one. I am a prepared gal, chicks!

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I mention this again because it was recently a random thought in a regular post but it cropped up again today. One of my pet peeves—one of many, I can assure you—is people answering a question with a definition, excuse or a vague answer. Sample from today:

We went shopping and Love Bunny had left his sawing in the garage with the 2 cars outside. We returned in one of the cars and this was said:

Me: Do you want the garage door closed?

LB: Well, the sawdust would get on the cars. (He wasn't finished sawing the wood for his "forever job" of making his model railroad train room.)

Me: I'll take that as a "yes", close the door then, right?

See what I mean???? *Sigh*.......

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I was recently informed by my granddaughter that b**bs should not sit on your stomach. "Is that so?", I said to her. *Sigh*....

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Sometimes the hardest question of the day is when someone asks me my phone number. I usually have to think about it for several seconds before I remember it. I think they think I'm lying!

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I've often wondered how California cops figure out who to stop for a ticket. There isn't a soul on the freeways that isn't speeding. Do they just look at the one that looks the deadliest and grab him? My son had an experience recently that is funny if it hadn't been so sad.

A young man was in a hurry and we all know what that means on the freeways—lane changing every time you pass a car. In this one instance, my son couldn't go any faster but the guy behind him kept trying to get around him from the right lane and then the left lane. Son finally got into a right lane and the guy was following him to the right lane and then as they gained a bit of distance he passed my son again and as son looked to the left the guy was giving him the "one finger salute" and my son was pointing ahead with raised eyebrows and a look that told the guy "to be concerned" on his face. The guy just kept his salute up and screaming at my son until the guy smacked rear end into a car that was stopped ahead of him going pretty fast. Pretty loud crash as son told the story. Well, son warned him but the guy had to be stupid and kept watching son and caused a serious collision. Son had to laugh at that but he was definitely concerned for the people the guy hit violently. Nothing to be done at that point.

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I hear many people complain about the "blahs" in the winter. I rarely ever have "blahs." I'm just a happy and upbeat chick I guess but I just love life and am ever mesmerized about it.

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Why is there and who came up with a day of the year to speak like a pirate?! That one totally eludes me. Aaarrrr!!!

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Conversation:

Mother: Fine, if you don't want to tell your mother...

Adult son: I don't want to tell you.

Mother: Who raised you through childbirth...

Sometimes my old feminist attire slips to the floor and reveals the mother in me beneath the burned bra.

Can I hear it for the mother's of the world? And if you're HERE, you have a mother who has thought these thoughts!

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