A Pinterest Project in the Making

I am one of the few who is not yet on Pinterest. It’s actually not for a lack of trying. I have requested an invite a couple of times but to no avail. Hmmm. If you are listening, Pinterest, I am sort of offended! But I do hop on from time to time to look through all of the glorious inspiration. Have ya’ll seen this { I picked that up in Austin, by the way}.

via pinterest via green eggs and ham via Crazy Wonderful

I need to do this. I have ties that belong to loved ones I have lost and ties that hold special meaning to us but my hubby no longer wears . . . wouldn’t this be such a cute way to breathe new life into them. Does anyone know where the actual tutorial is for this. I tried to hunt it down but to no avail. And I had Revenge on DVR waiting for me as well. PLEASE shoot the link my way if you have seen it. I am dying to try this one out.

UPDATE: Thanks to my WONDERFUL readers for tracking down the tutorial from Shelley at Crazy Wonderful.

Have you copied any great idea from Pinterest or blog lately? Would love to hear about it.

 

DIY Lined Cabinets

A while back I lined my kitchen cabinets with Waverly Lovely Latice fabric. It was a really easy process that changed the whole look of the room. I have received so many emails asking how I did it so I wanted to show you today. Whether you are lining a bookcase, cabinet, or built-in, you could use the same simple method.

I am sure there are a million ways to do this all over blog land, but I chose to use fuse tape and the glue gun {thanks to my brilliant sister}. After you have selected a fabric:

1. Measure the space. Add one inch to each measurement and cut your fabric.

2. Turn over the fabric an inch on all sides and press with an iron. {And no, I do not iron on my wood floor but did stage the photo on the wood floor since I did not snap a photo the first time around!}

3. Place fuse tape under the fold and press. This will give you a nice finished edge all the way around.

4. Once you have emptied the cabinet and removed the shelves, you can use the glue gun to adhere the panels to the back of your cabinet. The nice thing is that it won’t be permanent so you can change fabric or remove when you need to.

 

Here is a look at the finished edges against the cabinet. Don’t worry if it does not go exactly to the end. You will never see that once the shelves are back and the cabinets are loaded!

We keep our everyday white dishes in one of the glass cabinets and our drinking glasses in the other.

I also used this fabric on my bulletin board by our back door. You can see the DIY tutorial here.

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And I am back from my adventures to Austin. Went with a dear college friend of mine and had an absolute blast. Once I recover and get my energy back I will do a recap of the trip! Hope you are all off to a great week so far.

A Girl Who Loves to Travel

I have always loved to travel. Give me a suitcase and a destination and I am one happy girl. It’s time. It’s time to go experience a new place. I am off for a couple of days and will be back to tell you all about my adventures.

via

via fashion rogue.com via pinterest

Looking forward to savoring some time with a dear friend of mine and seeing what kind of trouble we can get into.  Have a great weekend. Hope you all enjoy your own adventures. Be back soon.

DIY Map Coasters: Country Living Knock-Off

I have been super inspired by my shelter magazines as of late. Just a couple of days ago I showed you my DYI Brass Cornered Frames that I copied from House Beautiful. This time it was Designer Nathan Harkrader who inspired me with his map coasters. I stumbled upon them in Country Living. The great thing is that I ended up pulling these off for $1.25!

……………………..my inspiration

I started out in the tile aisle wanting to use tumbled tile like in the magazine. But then when I started picking them up and feeling them, it suddenly dawned on me that with two little ones in scurrying about it would be a big mistake to have heavy breakable tiles sitting around. Next to the tile section in my local home improvement store were these fantastic laminate samples. And do you know what? They are free. Shhhh. I picked up four of them.

What I used:

• 4 samples of laminate flooring
• one piece of scrapbook paper
• spray adhesive
• urethane

I think my friend Chris from Just A Girl has made some pretty cute coasters using the same type of thing. My dear hubby used his table saw to cut off the one uneven edge and to square them off. What I love is that they already have a layer of foam attached to the bottom. Ta da!

There is a super cute scapbook store in our neighborhood so I scooped up three pieces so I could decide once I was home which one I liked best.

Once I traced and cute four squares of paper, I used craft bond to adhere them to the coasters. After they dried, I applied two coats of urethane to the top of each one. Although these will mainly be used for cocktails and wine glasses when we entertain, I wanted to make sure they were water resistant so they would not be damaged.

……………………. map coasters

And for a grand total of $1.25 {for the paper} I am ready to invite you over! {I had the spray adhesive and urethane already on hand}. What do you think? Maybe not an exact match to the tile inspiration coasters, but they are making me smile.

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Between Naps on the Porch

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Savvy Southern Style

The Shabby Nest

Tag, You’re It!

My sweet friend Carmel from Our Fifth House tagged me in a “get to know you better” type of game. You know the ones that get sent around via email where you are asked a bunch of silly questions. But let’s face it. We all secretly like reading them and I am a huge sucker for these questionnaires so here we go!

1. If you had a time machine, where or rather when would you go?

via http://tinywhitedaisies.tumblr.com/page/11/ via pinterest

Wow. Talk about starting off with a doozie. I would be lying if I said there weren’t a couple of things I wish I could completely change about the past. But I have always believed in moving forward. I  choose to stay in the here and now. Super blessed to be on this journey with my family. I treasure each day. Life is good today {Zac Brown Band, anyone?}

2. Diamonds or Pearls?

via http://weheartit.com/entry/3244165/ via pinterest

Both. I love a great set of pearls, but diamonds are just so darn beautiful. What’s not to love about them both?

3. What's your favorite movie?

via pinterest

Hmmm. Father of the Bride for sure. I love light hearted feel good movies. I also love The Notebook because it’s unbelievably romantic.

4. When you were a kid, what was your favorite television show?

via

Who’s The Boss! Totally embarrassed to admit it, but I wanted to be Alyssa Milano.

5. Let's pretend you found $50 in your couch cushions, what would you run out and buy?

via http://investforlater.tumblr.com// via pinterest

Another couch cushion . . . maybe there would be $100 in that one

6. What is your favorite color?

via apartment therapy

I don’t do well with favorites. When I was a little girl I slept with a different stuffed animal each night so as not to play favorites. White is one of my top picks. Fresh, clean, beautiful. Yellow makes me smile and is such a bright and happy color. Green is my go-to and is a nod to the outdoors. I could seriously make a case for every color of the rainbow. Love them all.

7. Why did you start your blog?

I was inspired by what other talented women were sharing via their blog. I desired an outlet for my creative ideas and projects. It really just came about naturally. So blessed that it did. It’s been an amazing journey and I am so very thankful for all of my readers. Especially because the only readers I had in the beginning were my parents and hubby! {Who are still reading to this day. Thank you}.

8. What is your favorite home decor store?

via west elm

West Elm. . . . HomeGoods for deals. . . . Z Gallerie.  I also love Etsy for pillows and unique décor items.

9. Name one thing in your make-up bag you can not live without?

via luuux

Lip Gloss. I wear MAC Love Nectar and I wouldn’t leave home without it.

10. Do you watch Revenge?

via

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I love it. We just got hooked on it and watched the entire season. We don’t watch very much TV but something needed to fill the void that losing 24 left. Nothing like a good drama to escape into.

11. Will you still be my friend even though I made you suffer through this little game of tag? {Carmel from Our Fifth House}

via

Hmm. I will give that some thought and get back to you!

So now you know a little bit more about me. I am now tagging you, my readers. Here are three questions to choose from. Pick one and answer in the comment section below. Let’s learn more about you! Everybody’s doin’ it!

1. What is your happy place? Whether it’s simple or elaborate . . . .what brings you the most joy?

2. When eating an Oreo, do you eat it as is or take it apart? { I am an as is kind of gal}

3. What’s the hardest thing you’ve learned to accept about yourself? {deep, I know}

So pick one question and let’s hear what you have to say. Tag, you’re it!

 

DIY Brass Frames: HB Knock Off

While I love to browse through Pinterest and other online sources for inspiration, nothing compares to thumbing through my favorite shelter magazines. Recently I spotted two projects I wanted to knock off. The first is something I saw in House Beautiful. It was actually an image from Baker Furniture {The Barbara Barry Collection}.

Snapped the above photo with my phone so I apologize for the quality. Do you see those frames? I LOVE them. I had just completed a DIY brass side table and knew I wanted to repeat the brass finish in a couple more spots so it really felt at home in the room. I have similar frames in my living room already . . . I just needed to add the brass corners. My first thought was to spray paint each corner. But then if I ever changed my mind, I would be stuck with the frames sporting some serious brass. So it occurred to me that I could actually spray the painters tape! Great for two reasons. I can remove it if I ever want to AND it is somewhat textured so it gives off more of a gold leaf effect then if I had just painted the smooth frame.

Apparently, I checked my brain at the door the first go around. Do you see what I did there? I actually stuck the painter’s tape to the newspaper. Good one, Courtney! Really good. So that whole thing went out with the trash.

Ahhh! Much better. I elevated the tape so it wouldn’t stick to the newspaper. Actually super embarrassed about this mistake. Oh well. Live and learn.

While that was drying outside, I marked off my corners. I used 2 3/4 inches as my measurement {just eye balled how much gold I wanted}. I made a pencil line where the tape would need to end.

Lay the tape very gracefully on the frame and be sure to overlap the edges. I used a width of tape that exactly fit my frame edges. Worked out great.

Because I had the tap overlap the edges, I could carefully snip where I needed to and fold the tape down to cover all of the inside black edges of the frame.

The nice thing about using tape is that you can move it if need be. It’s super easy to work out any creases as well.

…………………. my new frames!

…………………………….. before

{Here is a daytime before shot before I glammed up the frames}

………………………..……. after

I wish you could see them in person! They have such a pretty sheen at night {above photo} but it’s tough to capture. So my magazine copycat project number one is done! And the frames are a nice compliment to this little number:

Stay tuned for another magazine copycat! Hope you all had a great weekend!

Sharing With: Between Naps on the Porch

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Home Stories A 2 Z

Savvy Southern Style

The Shabby Nest

Remodelaholic

Friday Eye Candy: Glam + Fearless

So we still have a little one under the weather so we will be chillin’ at home for the weekend. Not a bad idea since I have projects piling up on me! I am hoping to show you a couple next week. In the meantime, here is some tasty eye candy to kick off the long weekend. Enjoy courtesy of Traditional Home.

Oh, that antique coffee table and those pretty chairs. They make the room

This close up shot makes me smile. So gorgeous.

I love the bold rug with the graphic fabric. Great mix of dark and light.

What’s not to love? I could easily sip my morning coffee at this table! Could you?

Do you notice how each room gets even better. My husband would kill me if I started spraying things gold in our room. I am tempted though!

And then there is the front . . .enough said.

Interior Designer: Colette van den Thillart

See the full piece from Traditional Home here.