Can a girl love two lamps at the same time? & Blog Following Swap

Blog Following Swap-Holy Cow, say that three times fast! Not easy to do but joining this Swap Party is a breeze. SJ at Homemaker on a Dime has initiated a great way to build your blog following. Head over and check out the details. In the meantime, I am now following Jodi at My Life on Cedar Street. She's relatively new on the blogging scene but she's definitely a girl after my own heart.  If you want some eye candy check out her post for yesterday-lots of beautiful pictures of some fabulous homes using my favorite palette-browns, creams, greens and yummy soft rusts.


Ohhh...I just got message from Court at Frog 2 Fab: she's my newest follower through Homemaker on a Dime. Thanks Court! Now, I'll follow her. See, I told you it was easy. We're just a big bunch of followers around here!


Now, I want to share a really quick little revamp I did with some lamp shades I bought awhile ago at Goodwill.

Yeah, $3.99 a piece. How could I walk away? I knew I'd use them someplace, sometime. Great lines and in my color!
My foyer um.. little area next to my front door has a sweet little table on which I recently placed these two PB lamps. Cute, but it just wasn't making it for me..not the right scale or proportion to fill the space but I let it go and went about putting away laundry. ..

and then I saw them-just where they had been sitting for weeks-on my bedroom dresser. What if i popped them right on top of the lamps?? Hmmm, let's run out and see!!

PERFECTION!

I love you both!

Sunday Morning Brain Pop

Ahh, Sunday morning curled up in my favorite chair drinking a second cup of coffee-sounds relaxing, right? Not if your brain works like mine. I started thinking, Gee, I'd like a little round table next to that chair over there. Hmm, maybe a cute little ceramic garden stool would work. Let's see they're round and the proportion would be perfect. Unfortunately, I don't possess a ceramic garden stool and last time I looked they were a bit pricey. My eyes started darting about and voila they landed on the three baskets I have under a table. Well, they're round and the same proportion as a ceramic garden stool. One of those might work!

I leaped out of my seat, flipped one over and popped it next to the chair. See, there's my coffee cup on the table...so much for relaxing with that cup. It was PERFECT!!!! So, now, what to do with the bottom of the basket-a little sanding, a little poly. No, that would mean waiting and I don't like to wait. I want a table now! Thank goodness for saved scraps. I used a piece left over from my coffee table and attached it with the same nail heads.

Done in about 15 minutes.



I love it. It's just the right size and it's FFRREEE and different and cool and awesome!!!!!!! I love the added texture it brings to the room. So what about the hole it left under the table you're wondering? Well, I'll tell you. I removed the other two baskets and replaced them with two different baskets I had there once before. Nothing ever stays in one place very long with a brain like mine!

I'm linking to Between Naps on the Porch-Metamorphosis Monday

2011 Home Goals

I have a few goals I want to accomplish inside my house this year before summer arrives. I hope to do some major projects outside once spring comes around. There are things I'd like to do in every room of my house but I'm focusing on five areas for now.

1. My office.

Honestly, this was organized before Christmas! My husband has built a new cabinet and will finish bookshelves to go on each side of it very soon. (I hope!) We have so many books. It's really time to go through them and reduce. I have a great desk chair that my daughter currently has in her apartment but shall be returning home to me as soon as I finish painting a new chair for her. The desk is bird's eye maple made by my husband that I adore-the desk-no, I mean, my husband. Actually, I adore them both! Lamps, I love. They'll stay. Paint color, I love.  I'll reupholster a cute little chair that's currently in the basement, add some matching window treatments, do a little organizing. Done.

2. Paint two remaining brass fixtures. This will be done by tomorrow. It's so quick and easy. I just want these...

to look like these.

3. Kitchen.

Despite my commitment phobia, I'm adding a tile back splash. I'll keep it simple and classic. I'm trying to layer my decor. I tend to like things simple and uncluttered (pretend you didn't see the picture of my office) but I need to add some depth. To that end, I'm adding bamboo Roman shades to the window.


4. Living Room
Ok, remember my leather table? It's brown. The other tables are not; They need to be.

This hanging vase/candle holder was above the mantel but the proportions were all wrong. There was a mirror here which was nice for taking a quick peek at my cute little face before heading out the door. Don't worry, I'll survive; I'm putting that mirror over the mantel. I'll just need to make a quick swing around to the other side of the room.

Anyway, I'll strip and stain these two tables a dark maple espresso kinda color.

Mirror will go here. The bricks will be painted white. What was I thinking with the yellow? Also the bottom part of the back of the fireplace will be painted white.

I think the bottom half should be white. Don't you? See that mirror on the left side poking out. I'm going to paint it with blackboard paint. It's just too close to the mirror over the mantel. I like looking at myself but it will be a little too "house of mirror-ish".

5. Family Room.
This is our major project. This room requires a little construction, new furniture and a flat-screen television. It's going to be a slow row to hoe. This room has always driven me crazy. It's big but poorly designed. Plus, Hubby likes his recliner off in the corner...he's not a big TV fan. I could never figure out how to fix this room without major renovating. In a moment of clarity, it hit me! A solution! As long as I could move eliminate that darn recliner. Hooray for me! I finally convinced him to move it. How could he refuse, after seeing how excited I was. The TV is on the built-in cabinet but only people sitting on the sofa can see it. The rockers need to be turned around to see the TV-a major pain. 

This is one end of the room.

 Behind the bi-fold doors is my laundry room. Behind the other door is a bathroom. Here's my solution. Ready? Remove the bi-fold, replace with a regular door. That will give me about 6+' between them where I'll put a console table with flat screen, yeah baby!
Like this...

Picture two leather chairs facing that wall.

I'll keep one rocker in the room. (Hubby made them and I love them). It will stay down by the bathroom door.

Here's the other end.

With the chair gone, I can swing the table around so it's parallel to the door. Yeah! Here's what I have in mind for above the table.

Love the lanterns hanging on the ladder. It's Pottery Barn but I'll have no problem knocking it off! We'll build a mantel around the pellet stove.

Something like this.

Get rid of the RED sofa, green bench and dining chairs. Replace sofa with something like this Crate and Barrel sofa...

and dining chairs with these.

Replace of the PLAID valances with the window treatment Sherry and John used at Young House Love.

Shades are places high above the windows to give the illusion of a much larger window.
Re-paint the YELLOWY-GOLD walls with something more muted and paint the built-in cabinets white!!! That's all. Can't be too hard! Follow me and watch my progress!!
I'm linking this to The Nesters Home Goals Party.

Industrial Lighting?

The days are getting longer! Can you feel it?? Everyday, there's a few more minutes of daylight. I love it!

When I posted my new "leather" table I received so many nice comments. Dee Dee at D Dzine said it looked like it came right out of Restoration Hardware. Wow!! Thanks, Dee Dee! Hearing that made me think, Hey, I haven't looked at Restoration Hardware for ions. Why bother...can't buy anything! But, I thought I'd take a peek and dream a little. These lovelies caught my eye.

Very cool. Love the clean lines. Anyway, I left the sight and went about my day heading to the basement to pull out some things I had put away during Christmas. Then, I saw it. I'd seen it a hundred  times before sitting there in a corner of my husband's shop. This time I stopped in my tracks, grabbed it by the neck and hauled it upstairs.

Hmmm..possibilities? I took a little metal cleaning, polished 'er up and raised her up to her full height Ehhh..I don't know, it's not exactly RH. I'll need to live with it to decide if I like it. To me it still looks like my husband's shop light. What do you think?

Sorry, I don't know why the pics are sideways.....urggg. I'll try to fix later. 





Leather and Luck

First blog of the new year!! I hope the year brings many blessings to you and those you love. I'm still trying to get the hang of this blogging thing. There's so much inhale and process. I could get lost for in the blogosphere days; there are so many creative inspirational people to learn from.


Table, yes, that's what's on for today. Remember before Christmas, I posted a picture of a table I found for five bucks on Craigslist. Of course, you do but here's a reminder.

Not too pretty but I liked the lines. First thing I did was remove the ahem, yes,faux wood contact paper and then paint it brown. Then, I just needed to live with it for a while. I had all sorts of ideas spinning around in my head. See how it has a lip around the top? I wanted something inlaid. I thought of reclaimed wood, paper, then it hit me-LEATHER. Or, in this case, leather-wanna-be. I cut the piece to fit and used spray adhesive to bind it to the table.

It still needed something. Ahhh, yes what's leather without studs?? Nothin'! That's what! Had some, used 'em. It was that easy.

It took a while to get this done with the holidays and all. But, I'm happy with the way it came out. What do you think?

I just grabbed the luminaries from the top of my china cabinet and popped the books on the bottom. Not permanent. I'll replace the books with others I like better and the luminaries with something more colorful that ties in the rusty orange colors I have in the room.(Did I mention adore orange! It just makes me happy) I just really wanted to get this posted. I'll post new pics when it's just the way I want it.

I figured out why I was so attracted to this piece initially. It has the same lines as my vintage Scandinavian designed chair that belonged to my husband's dad. It works so much better than the table I had with curved legs. Another bonus is the rectangular shape of the table allows me to use my flokati rug that I bought too early in my trip and slumpped  it all over Greece. It was in my bedroom but I have always wanted it to play a more visible role in my home.

Next for this room is a make over of two other tables. My husband made both of them. They're made from ash and finished in a light stain. For some reason, I can't bring myself to paint his pieces so I'll be stripping and restaining them in a dark espresso kind of color. I'll also be adding panels to the window. I'm a minimalist at heart but I'm trying to layer my decor a bit more. After removing my Christmas decorations from the mantel and fireplace, I've decided not to put back what was there and change it up a bit. I'm thinking a mirror and...

I am joining link parties at Between Naps on the Porch , Boogieboard Cottage and House of Grace.