A Garland Will Rise

Easter mantle

This is my minor, yet irritable, yet fixable and I'm okay with that lament. I have one space in which to arrange decorative items that my boys cannot climb and destroy, the only safe surface in my home (besides the top of the refrigerator)is my mantle. (click on images to enlarge for detail)


Halloween mantle

Oh, the IKEA shelf that matches my tv console, you complete me. I have had lots of fun arranging my mantle. I was even about to show it to you because I recently made it so cute!

But, it fell down. Not just fell down, "oh honey let's put this back up".


Christmas mantle

Fell down to the point that now there are gaping holes in the wall and we (as in husband) had to push the wall back together to try and make it flush.


Valentine's mantle

Perhaps I got so overjoyed with some new pieces that I forgot they were a little heavy, and our walls are a little flimsy, and though it was anchored, it wasn't anchored in any studs and that shelf has been there 3 years and all. Surely, this wasn't MY fault then, I ask ;)


Globey mantle

So, what do you do when you have no paint to cover up the mantle's shadow of shame, and no mirrors/paintings... to cover it... and you have guests coming over in a few hours (and you nor the boys nor the house are near ready)?



I took some scraps from the freshly slipcovered pillows on my couches in my room and cut out triangles. I used no pattern, so they aren't perfect, but they are okay.



Then, I hot glued the right side of the fabric to the lower half back of the ribbon.



Once I completed that "task", I pinned some lace on the upper half of the front of the ribbon. Notice, if I had hot glued the fabric to the top half of the ribbon as well, then no pins or sewing needles would be able to go through that.



Now, I hang my little garland. It's not perfect and if you look close, you can see some unpainted wall behind the swoops, but it's purpose was to mask the nasty holes and that it did. Hey, it's temporary, and I like it! I have been aching to make a banner for a while now, but it's amazing how we only do things when we have the need to do it.



All the while, my eldest says, "You make my house pretty?" "You so nice mommy!" "Daddy is going to be so happy!" "You so special, mommy!"

I was given the giant letter A already painted white by a friend, and I remembered I had 2 smaller A's, so I threw them up there. Isaac helped pass me the letters as I balanced on a chair and painted the fronts while they hung on the wall. Yeah, I do that.



The metal scroll I got at a garage sale and beautified it with layers of blues, greens and white paint.

The white paint was almost gone so it made all types of squirting noises.
"Sounds like Isaac going poo-poo!" my son exclaimed happily.

I gave my eldest the leftover white to hide the nasty hole where we banged up the wall in the hallway moving furniture.



Then, he begged for more colorful paint and I let him paint on the wall he vandalized a couple of months ago. This wall can be his! (He did get carried away and painted the faux grout lines on the kitchen floors, but really, nothing could make those apartment laminate floors look any worse.)



You can see more project show off at Between Naps on a Bench's weekly post, Metamorphosis Monday and even more at Kimba's A Soft Place to Land DIY Day! Do you have any crazy quick fixes? How long did that temporary quick fix end up staying there?

Eventful Times

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted in a month! Which is really sad because it has been quite an eventful month... maybe that explains the lack of posts? We had our semi-annual General, Relief Society and Stake Confernces for our church, which were amazing and refreshing by the way. Such a spiritual and almost healing feast to the inspired words of these men and women. You can read or watch some of them HERE. One thing I loved, is Dieter F. Uchtdorf said in one of his talks, how we as as a people, are happiest and fulfilled when we are creating something. Putting our minds and bodies to work to make something is a spiritual act. And why shouldn't it be, since we are sons and daughters of the master Creator, God!



Well, it was our 5 year wedding anniversary and so we took the family with some friends to the Texas State Fair. It was expensive just to go and park, and then you have to pay to play each game and each ride. Only a couple lame-o shows were free. We had 20 tickets left at the end of the night, it made me sick to my stomach we had spent so much money for nothing, so I took my tickets to the people in line to buy MORE tickets, and I sold mine to them for a tiny discount. But, the weather was wonderful, the company was fun, the kids loved the petting zoo and we got to see Michelle Branch sing one of her famous songs...



I also have been getting more sales, which is so great because David had to buy a couple of new suits for interviewing and such, so it has really helped. Thank you so much customers, you are all truly appreciated!!

Due to my busy order time, I have neglected (cleaning, cooking, doing my hair, being a top notch mom)... so I decorated our ONE and ONLY shelf for Halloween so the kids could have a segment of the outside world in our home. I was at Joann's picking up some fabric for a puppet I am making and saw the 60% sale for Halloween stuff. Since I refuse to buy anything full price, and we silently decided not to fight our jam packed storage closet for holidays this year... I picked up a couple of things and used what I had left around the house, oh like a feather boa, some vintage chandelier prisms, a little swallow stamp I used on the mirror (I got the idea from HERE)...







I think it turned out very pretty, and my kids love it! And of course, there is my little Blythe doll! She wanted to be a cat, so I made her cat ears and a shabby black and white striped tutu, no way was I going to paint her expensive little face though. Don't you just love her boots? The display is still missing something. I think maybe a glittery silver and black pennant up top that says "Happy Halloween" will look good, maybe I will make it soon and post pics. See that crazy wire man? David made that, he is crafty :)



And now, for the good wife part, I think I am going to attempt to use the AMAZING smelling Indian Spice kit I got from Purpose Design for David's Birthday. (ps I got the one in the metal box, but isn't the beaker spice lab awesome!?)



Thanks for keeping up with me, more news/rants/goodies to come later! Before you leave, check out my pretty new banner! Thank you Sea Dream Studio for making it for me!! Now, I am off to do some MAJOR cleaning/organizing!! I know you are jealous ;)



xo
Lisa

Simple Decorating Touches

I have been thrifting a lot lately, and though I am not done in here yet, you can see the direction I am taking (my two inspired posts for this room are Alchemie and sfgirlbybay). I wanted to show you how a fresh coat of paint, fabric and ribbon can transform a small space within minutes. Shop your house and see what little changes you can make to add a punch of color, elegance or texture. For more inspiration, visit The Nester's series,10 Minutes to a Room You'll Love.

This black wrought iron Pier 1 candle holder was a gift about 8 years ago~ back when black wrought iron was the only way people decorated. The pumpkin refugee from my Halloween mantle is still hanging around. The adorable picture behind the candle is from The Dreamy Giraffe, who is having a bogo sale right now!)





I painted the candle holder orange and hugged the candle with a piece of fabric that I am adding to my room in spurts and a soft blue ribbon. (ps, that ice cream cone is actually bubbles!)


I love my shabby gussied up candle holder. I got it in Granbury on my honeymoon. Sometimes, I drip her in vintage chandelier prisms and crystals. Today, she is going orange. I have no fear in painting, or dry brushing rather, since it can always be painted back in minutes. I don't use spray paint, as I want to choose where to apply the brush since I like an uneven, dappled texture that still lends a shabby, though colorful look, and some pieces should be covered while other chips and such I prefer to leave exposed. Maybe that is the hairstylist part of me talking, as I am very particular about where I place each particle of color on a strand of hair for the same reason.



The dried flowers are from various flower bouquets my sweet hubby has given me throughout the years. The tussie mussie was a rusty tin and the flowers were full and lovely, but have become victims of my toddler's sabotage, so it needed a mini makeover. A coat of black paint, a bow and $1 a bunch flowers did the trick.



I added ivory polka dots and accents to my already perfect clearance Joanns mushroom and acorn bird feeders with a lightly tipped paintbrush. Can I tell you how much I LOVE my new curtains? They are a lightweight, but still have a good drape to them, they have a nice linen texture, a warm khaki tone and though they are simple, they are softly accented. These are what brought my room together and inspired me to finish decorating. I bought 4 sets (8 panels) for my 2 large windows. You can find them HERE!



I found this ugly little shelf at Goodwill for $2. I didn't want a bold yellow, so I mixed my yellow acrylic paint with some water and applied one thin coat over the natural wood. You can still see some woodgrain, but the color yellow is perfect and soft. It holds a lot of my little treasures that I couldn't display anywhere before.



Like my jeweled bottles? get them HERE!

See that cute cameo photo? This is what it looked like before (another thrift market find). You will LOVE the results of the other two frames... coming soon!



The key holder I have had for a couple years, I covered in the same fabric, just a bit of tape in the back and wallah! I also dry brushed my ivory frame orange, (that MANY of you have, I know!!) used that fabric to back our photo and painted a rusty star robin's egg blue and tucked it into my vintage mattress spring.



I have had this frame for about 8 years or so. It has always been cute and has served me well. But, it needed a change, and I really don't want to paint EVERYTHING, so... I threaded it with ribbon, tied a bow and hung a vintage brooch to cover the nail. See that globe in the reflection? My hubby got a 5 year gift from his work. He got to choose his gift of about 15 different things, watches, pearls, awesome binoculars, luggage... so he let me choose :)



It was that or the binoculars. It was tough, but how often do we need binoculars? Well, that very night I submitted our choice, we saw 5 COYOTES cross the road in front of our window, 3 of them lay low while 2 of them stalked a small animal and took off. That is when we needed binoculars!



Now, this is our trusty IKEA sideboard, turned tv console that we have had almost 4 years. I added the same fabric to the back of the windows, I just cut out a piece and taped it on. It matches our mantle perfectly in width and color, that makes our wall seem more seemless. The hairbands babyproofing, that floated piece of wood (which was a shelf in there- but it keeps the kids out of the equipment, so it will have to do). I do have plans for that ugly piece of wood, but it will have to wait! I am sure, this thing will be repainted once we move into a house. When I do, I will use Jenny Garland's refinishing furniture with spray paint video tutorial! More thrifted makeovers can be found at Reinvented's Linky Party.

What have you made over, or are to inspired to makeover?