Oil Portraits

 Lately I've noticed a lot of oil portraits in my fav shelter mags. You too huh?! I have to say that I like them.

House Beautiful

                              

         I especially like them in a more casual/modern setting.

                                                                          Lonny

                                                                

                                                                Southern Living

                                                                          Rue

Love the gallery wall too!

When it comes to finding such a gem I think garage sales and thrift stores are your best bet for getting a good deal. I've seen some on Etsy and Ebay too that were reasonably priced. 

I however got mine on loan from my Mom.

This is a painting of my Grandmother that was done shortly before she died of cancer. My Mom has had this painting for as long as I can remember. When we started redecorating my parents house (you can find some photos of our progress in my Portfolio) it didn't fit with their new colors. I was more than happy to give it a new home! I LOVE this painting and I'm so glad my Mom loaned it to me...thanks Mom!!

Murano Lamp Giveaway!

If you haven't entered this giveaway yet......DO IT NOW!!! A pair of these beauties may just go home with you!!

The real world

So I thought I'd keep it real on here and post some progress shots. This isn't HGTV where everything magically happens in 30 minutes. (Oh but how I wish it would!) It's been one week and we've gotten a TON of stuff done! Carpet torn out in all three bedrooms and the bathroom, all the bedrooms set up and everyone's clothes unpacked, kitchen unpacked, double broiler and vent hood removed in kitchen, some wallpaper taken down AND I've gotten a bunch of little projects done as well! Like I said, progress in real time. Next up paint, and LOTS of it and some flooring. One small step at a time!
Anyway, here is the proof for you. First up on the tour, the living room. Here is the before, way before..... actually. These are the photos from our first showing....glad that I could see past all of this!

And here it is now.....unstyled, unorganized, unpainted but SO much better!

 Lots of changes will be made eventually. New light fixture (moroccan lantern!) new upholstery for the orange chair and pair of chairs under the window, new coffee table, curtains, paint and accessories.

    Those blinds will be taken down soon....(that front window is HUGE and it gets quite hot in the afternoon) when I am finished making the curtains. Oh and that canvas is just sitting on the back of the couch. :)

Haven't set up our TV yet...planning a really big gallery wall behind the TV and buffet.

Dining Room before:

 After, wallpaper (just the vinyl, haven't gotten to the paper backing yet) torn down and curtains/blinds removed. Unfortunately we found out that there is nothing but studs behind that exterior faux brick crap, so whenever we tear it out we'll need drywall too.

So there you have it....real life/real time progress! I'll be posting more updated shots later this week.....I'm off to strip a piece of furniture for the first time... ever...wish me luck!

What a Hoot

Could I come up with a cornier (yep made up word) title??? Maybe, but it'd take me awhile...........yeah I got nothing. Unpacking, cleaning, organizing, weaning Phin off his bottle and life in general has fried my brain this week. Oh well, they're just brain cells right? :)
My Mom and I went garage saleing last weekend and I picked this cute owl cookie jar for $1.

Here he is chilling with some friends, you know what they say about birds of a feather........ The pair of quail were also scored at a garage sale and the other owl's I got at my local thrift store, all were about .50 or so.

So without further cheesy jokes from yours truly, witness the magic of spray paint..........
(Mr. Cookie Jar looks a little strange because he doesn't have his top on, it was still wet.)

 Pretty cool huh? Gotta love high gloss white spray paint (I use Rustoleum Enamel by the way)!!!

Have you spray painted anything lately???
This post was linked up here

What Lies Beneath

Did anyone else out there see that movie? My friend McKenzie and I used to watch it all the time in high school...scared me silly! Anyway, this post is not about super creepy Harrison Ford but what lies beneath our multicolored carpet. The master has navy/eggplant carpet, Judes is pink and Phins is navy. One of the first things that I did on Sunday when we moved in, besides clean like Adrian Monk (yes it was THAT gross!!), was rip up a small section of carpet in our closet.
Guess what I found? Drumroll please................B-E-A-UTIFUL original oak hardwoods!!!
So, 24 hours after moving into our house we ripped up the carpet in our bedroom. Didn't I tell you mu hubby's the best??! I was ecstatic because they are in REALLY good condition! Here is a shot of the Master bedroom before (with previous owners furnishings...yikes.) 

                                                               And, after!!

YAY!!!! Tomorrow we will be doing both of the boys' rooms. And yes I will be tackling that wallpaper situation soon.....hopefully.  One step at a time.............

Dandy Chandy-Before and After

Right after we closed on our new house last Friday, The Man and I hit up some garage sales.(We weren't moving in until Sunday am-believe me if we had taken possession at closing I would not be out at garage sales!) I LOVE thrifting and garage sales....shocker I know! The Man and I had never gone together before!  It was really weird that I'd never gone with him, especially since we've been together for 8 years now and my Mom and I go almost every Saturday during the summer. Anyway, we had so much fun and found some great stuff!

I got this brass chandelier for $15, it was in perfect condition!

 I used Valspar Premium Enamel Spray Paint in Mint (Satin finish) and because I wanted a lacquered look I also used a clear High Gloss finish coat. I almost went with Coral but decided on the Mint since it will hang in the hallway, open to the dining/kitchen/living room. The Coral was so pretty though I may have to use it on the chandy in our office.

The first thing I did was remove the bulbs, the white sleeves and then used painters tape to cover the sockets. I cleaned it really well and then started spraying.

The color is really off in these photos, it isn't white or cream but a really pale mint. It is actually the EXACT color of Jen's nail polish below! Nice manicure Jen!!! ;)

Anyway, I had to do 3 really light coats, when it had dried I did two coats with the clear high gloss. I also swapped out the bulbs to modernize/freshen it up. Here it is waiting to be hung.

 And here it is after my Dad hung it for me. Lights on.....

 Lights off. I need to find a different ceiling cap because the one it came with isn't deep enough, but for now at least it is hung and we have light in the dark hallway.

 Here you can actually see the true color. I have to say I am LOVING how it turned out!!!

One more time just for fun.....Before:

                                                               And After:

This post was linked up here!

And here

 

A Diamond in the Rough

That's exactly how I see our new house and I hope you will be able to as well! Sorry for my absence, we been staying with my parents for the last week. We finally closed on the new house Friday morning.
As much as I love my family (which is a lot!) we are anxious to be in the new place. We thankfully don't have long to wait.We're moving in tomorrow morning!!!!
So here are the pictures I promised you....months ago. These pics were taken by mke the day we had our home inspection.
Here is our "diamond in the rough".

                                  Exterior: At least it has curb appeal!

                                                                  Living Room

                                                            

       Dining Room and Kitchen....I still have no words for this.

 

                                            Basement Family Room

Bedroom  # 4 (right off of the Family room) which will be our home office

                        
             Laundry room......LOTS of space compared to what we had! Plus The Man and baby P :)

 I don't have pictures of the bedrooms or bathrooms. You're not missing much though, more crazy wallpaper, different colored carpet and a whole lot more pink! Can't wait to get moved in and start fixing her up!!!!
I'll be posting here and there over the next week until we get settled. But I will have a bunch of before and afters and maybe some tutorials!
I also updated my portfolio so go forth and check it out!! Here's a little teaser............

Moving Day and some randomness

Well, moving day is upon us! We spent our last night in our house and now it's time to pack it all up. It is definitely bittersweet! We are excited to move into our new bigger house but we will miss our old one! We have lived here for five years, The Man and I bought this house as (somewhat) newlyweds. We'd been married for a year and a half. We brought both of our boys home from the hospital here. We have so many great memories here!! As excited as I am to move, there are things I will miss:
Original (1890) door hardware.....so pretty!

 Our upstairs (almost) floor to ceiling windows. So much natural light!!

 Really cool old heat registers.

There are so many other things but I can't get to them, because our house looks like this right now:
This is the dining room, believe it or not. Looking from the living room

 From the kitchen

 Our beautiful bay windows can hardly be seen and just for scale purposes-these ceilings are 10 feet tall! I told The Man it's like an episode of Hoarders! Almost makes me hyperventilate to tell you the truth.

Uhaul here we come!

Before I packed up everything last week I got a shot of all the fabrics for Phins room.
I may not use the yellow cane fabric because I have an ivory and orange dhurrie rug that may go in the room. Still haven't decided.

 Chevron fabric will be pillows or changing pad cover, the middle will be new upholstery for my Grandparents rocker, plaid will be a pillow or maybe a valance.

 Heather Ross fabric, the Owl and the Pussycat in Aqua, will be the crib sheet.

 Close up of the rocking chair upholstery, it's has the best texture!!

Also here is the fabric for the Dining room drapes. Horizontal gray and ivory stripes!

Drapery will be similar to this (from TradHome)

Also I'm so excited about some new furniture we were........wait for it.......GIVEN!!! Our extremely generous neighbors GAVE us this buffet and hutch!!!!!!

I need to fix the bottom drawer on the hutch but these pieces are beautiful!! They will both be going in our new home office. That hutch will be perfect for storing all my fabric...it's too pretty to put in a drawer! ;)
So a big shout out and THANK YOU to our neighbors C & T (and gang)!!!

Speaking of fabric, here is my stash:
Yes, those are stacked. I think there is 11 bolts there.

 And a few more

And this is only what is on the bolt....I have lots of yardage elsewhere!! Now to pack it all up! I'll be MIA for a few days as we aren't moving into the new house until the 19th. My parents just have my brother move out (he and his new wife moved to WA on Tues. : ( Mikey and Jenn-if you're reading we miss you!!!) and then they get the four of us for a week. Poor Mom and Dad! ; )   I'll be checking in periodically and will post pics of the new house after we close! Thank you Lord for the blessing of a new house!!!!!