Little Random Project
We have been hard at work over here. Finally one tiny, random project to show for it! lol. At a garage sale recently we found a couple of items to keep us even more busy, including this vintage wooden rocking horse. Rough shape, but only $2, so we decided to give him a little work.
Before:
And after some cleaning up and a new tail and handle…
There is not much in this little room… yet… but I think this will make a super cute addition some day.
We have also been celebrating! More news to come! And, we are exactly four months away from our wedding date!!
Thinking Spring and Weddings
So, not only have I been super busy with the new job and projects around home, but I am also planning our wedding for September 8. I didn’t tell you? 🙂
The groundhog may say there’s more winter, but I think if I keep imagining beautiful flowers like this, spring will be here before I know it.
These are also some of the wedding colors and style, so stay tuned for more ideas in that area too! Anyone else ready for spring!? Stay tuned for more projects around here as well!
No-Sew Curtains
Every room of my new house has needed curtains. But, wow! Curtains are expensive! I always see other people’s fun curtains and think, “I can do that!” But then I get started and realize, oh yea, I can’t sew. At all. My mom suggested using iron-on fabric hem tape and making faux roman shades. Light bulb!
I have a little mud room, where the dog kennels and laundry live. These blinds were broken and grimy. I thought this was the perfect place to try this experiment out on. Its a small room, so it can take a bright punch, plus we aren’t in there all the time, so if they aren’t prefect on the first try its no big deal.
So, after reminding myself that the situation couldn’t get much worse, I set forth. I bought a few yards of a fun, floral fabric for each window. I used tension rods, and used these to mark the width of each window. Once I had the width I used the hem tape and ironed a hem onto each side. Then ironed a hem to the bottom and a pocket at the top. I hung the curtains, rolled them up, and tied in place with matching ribbon. Viola!
The bright fabric ties in the red antique table I use for folding laundry, and the fun towels I bought for next to the sink. You can see here that the whole little room needs some work, but for now at least the curtains are fun!
What a simple technique with big impact, no?
I love this big old sink, even though it needs some work too. Here you can see the little purple and yellow picture that I hung too. You can also see the antique expandable mirror.
I think this experiment turned out pretty well and will definitely use this to make me braver for my next curtain project!
Sneak Peak of the Outside
I am learning how to use the Blackberry wordpress app to update posts, so I thought I would test this out by giving you a little sneak peak of the outside of the new house. Now that the flowers are all planted things are starting to look bright and fresh!
Touch of Spring
Here’s a quick peek at the bit of spring I brought in today…
And just a little sneak peek into the kitchen and living room. Hope that helps brighten the day!
Dining Room Inspiration
I found this dining room photo on flickr and just couldn’t resist showing you all. This room is just awesome! I love how elegant and glamorous it is, even when paired with the rustic wood table. I love the mirrors on the table; what a simple yet glam way to dress the room up. The wall paper makes the room bright, but still in the shades of gray that I love right now!
untitled photo by uydurrukcu on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/uydurrukcu/5033782889/
More Flowers
A few of the seeds we planted in the spring (which I forgot about!) have popped up now! They are tall purple flowers, and oh-so-pretty! They are in the front of our house by the mailbox. Not very exciting out here, but they do brighten the space up a bit.
When I got home last night I was surprised to find flowers and candles on the table and a spaghetti dinner waiting for me! Aw! I had this vintage table cloth (from the engagement party) on the table the other night when we had friends over, so it looks all fresh and summer-y in here!
Sweet, huh? And, don’t worry, I do have a few more (and more exciting!) things to show you all this week! I am trying to figure out how to change bitmap pictures into something I am able to upload here. Any ideas? Anyway…stay tuned! 🙂
Tid Bits and Projects
It seems like I havebeen so busy around here… but where is my progress? I have so my projects currently on my plate, and have been working on them, really! But, none are officially completed yet. So, I thought I would just fill you in on some of the tib bits going on around here and a few of the before shots of some current projects.
Some awesome flowers have sprouted up in the back yard. I forgot that I had planted them there in the spring! I love lillies, any kind, especially orange ones!
We are also still taking care of Gillian, the salamander. He is still in the rubber tote sitting on the table, grossing everyone out. But, we are searching for a small tank to keep him in. In this picture he is right next to the end of the leaf. Those two black dots are his eyes; he is burrowed in the dirt.
The dogs made a nice mess for me to clean up this morning. They decided that the five minutes they were left alone in the yard was just long enough to dig for moles. Here they are trying to look all innocent and quite muddy! Also check out Marley’s new collar. She thinks she’s tough!
Tony was the sweetest last night and had his amazing spaghetti pizza ready for me when I walked in the door! I even have some for lunch today.
And, here are just a few sneak peeks of the projects I am working away on…
Stay tuned…
Junkin’ Projects
I have finally gotten around to a few projects with the junk we found at the junk yard! Here’s the elephant statue all painted up and pretty with a teal pot and pink flowers:
Don’t mind our mud pile of a yard. All this rain has made the place a pit!
We also painted a few pots for the back yard.
And, I painted the little lantern from the junk yard teal as well. It sits on the front porch. I also made a tiny table for a few drinks out of a plant stand and a clay pot bottom. This project was inspired by Crafty Nest, so check out her even cooler project here: http://www.craftynest.com/2009/06/plant-stand-lazy-susan-mini-side-table/
Did you also notice the antique lantern on the floor? That’s from my grandma. It even has a globe made by Pyrex. Very neat. Any suggestions?
Yard Progress
A lot of work and a few sore muscles, and we now have a usable yard. The backyard, as I have mentioned before, was three lots of mounds of compost. An unusable waste is what I call that. Compost is a great idea, but an entire three lots full? No thanks. So, I set out to get the yard summer-ready. We are finally almost there.
I started by pulling the massive amounts of growing weeds out of the compost piles. Once fairly clean, my options for the compost were to either give it away to people who used compost or to spread it out evenly. Upon further inspection I realized that the compost was old and mostly now decnt soil. I decided to spread it and make level ground around the fire pit area. This took an entire day and I was definitely sore after all the work, but it was well worth it. We sprinkled grass seed on the raw dirt areas and are hoping that something other than weeds sprouts by the time we have our backyard engagement party.
These pictures look boring after the rain, but it was much cuter the other day (and will be when we have company over!). We have moved the picnic table out near the fire and have a table cloth for it. We also have a large hammock and fun pillow ordered for in between the trees. The large log near the fire is actually a seating area. We are using it as-is right now, but will form it into a bench later. We also have some cute red paper lanterns to go in the trees and a few buck candles to go around the area. I think it will all come together well.
We also worked on the side of the house near the alley. We have a hard time finding keys and getting into our kitchen door in the dark, so we added a few inexpensive solar lights to the walk-way. They really make a boring area look homey. The former residents of the house also left an annoying pile of rocks near our parking area. We have no idea what they were meant for, and they are now growing weeds. So, we dug in and Tony arranged them where my car goes. There is only one slab on cement and a lot of mud where I park. This may not be the cutest solution, but it definitely helps and now its all ready for when we get more cement poured (or better yet-a garage!). Didn’t Tony do a nice job making the rocks look neat and even!?
And, on a prettier note, our peonies are in bloom! Another bush of pretty pink flowers is also in bloom, which I think might be a kind of roses. Here is a shot of the rose bush and the bouqet we cut for the table and even some for the bathroom. They smell great and you gotta love a free touch for the home! 🙂
So there you have it, our yard progress. Not super exciting, but it has opened the way for us to work on a few more diy projects for the yard. We will keep you updated!
Make Mine Eclectic 
