Would You Look At These!!

Oh. My. Goodness.

As I was toolin' around through the great world wide web, look at what I found. I'm in love with these babies. I love Wellies anyway, but these??? I couldn't stand it - I MUST have them - haha!

~~Updated to add: Here is the site for the Wellies. I meant to add it and forgot~~

http://tamarahenriques.com/well_toile.html

xo,

Kathleen

The Laundry Room Chandy

I received several emails as well as a couple of comments asking to see my laundry room chandelier. Of course, I am so thrilled you have asked and are interested in seeing it so I thought I would go ahead and post a picture of it. The room is currently a shade of pale French inspired blue. I have been giving a lot of thought though lately, as to whether or not to paint the room in a pretty shade of cream or linen. I love the blue but after 2 years of it, I am thinking I need a change.

Anyway, back to the chandy...I got it from Freecycle. Have any of you heard of this oh-so-fabulous organization? It's wonderful! When I got it, the light was brass in color - just one of those builder grade lights that comes with a house. I got out the trusty spray can of white paint and gave it a few coats. Then, I hung the glass prism drops from it, and for a finishing touch, I added pearl Christmas tree garland to jazz it up a bit. And there you have it - the laundry room chandy - another fun trash to treasure project that cost under $5.00. Gotta love that!

Thank you all for asking about it! I appreciate your interest. Good night all and sweet dreams. Until tomorrow..

xo,

Kathleen

Awards - Thank You!!

Good Morning! I got two awards - my very first awards ever and I am so excited and appreciative of them both. I apologize that I took so long to post these fabulous awards!

First, is the Fabulous Finds award given to me by Olive Rue. She is a photographer with a wonderful blog. Go visit her to see lots of beautiful photos, a fabulous corkboard that she made out of a vintage frame as well as lots of photos of beautiful rooms and decor. Oh!! and she's having a Valentines day giveaway! Go visit her right away!!

The award was created by Olive Rue and it is passed along to "all you insanely talented, dumpster-diving, curb-swiping, flea market finding, thrift store tiara wearing, self proclamied junk shop queens out there. How's that for a title???" ~Olive Rue


I am to pass it along to 8 others...so...this award is going to:


Savvy City Farmer


The Apothecary Shop


Decor To Adore


Kathy's Cottage


The Painted Garden


Whispering Pines Antiques


Reese and Marie


Grits and Glamour




I got another award from Reese and Marie!! She has a beautiful blog too that I love to visit often. She is doing some painting in her dining room and just got a great table from her dad. Chairs are being upholstered and will arrive soon. They sound fabulous! Go visit her, you will love it!! Thank you for my award!!
Here is the award and what it's about..."This Blog invests and believes the Proximity- nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming...these kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self- aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!" "What you have to do...Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

This award is passed along to:


Between Naps On the Porch


Kathleen Ellis


Olive Rue


Our Scented Cottage


Parisienne Farmgirl


Lynne's Gifts From the Heart


A Cottage To Me


Aunt Amelia's Attic

A great big thank you to Olive Rue and Reese & Marie. Both of you ladies have made my day and I thank you!!

xo,
Kathleen

****so sorry for the repeat of this post, I had to fix a link that was incorrect****

Snowy Day Thriftin'

Well, we got lots and lots of snow and ice yesterday and last night so it was a good day to stay in where it's warm and cozy and rearrange a few things here and there. You know how it is. You change one little thing and then that leads to another little thing and before you know it, you've rearranged and tweaked a laundry room here a cabinet there - ha ha, you know the story! I had gone to the local flea market one day last week and found a few treasures. I finally got a chance to pull them out today to find a special spot for them.

I put these fabulous vintage clothes pins in a cute little jar and then added a black organza ribbon. I had a few left over , so I tied them up in a little bundle then added a them to the vignette as well. These are now sitting atop my washing machine in the laundry room. I figure if I have to spend lots of time in there, I might as well make the room pretty right? I even have a chandelier in my laundry room!

Look at these old furniture parts. I found a huge box full of them - all sorts of pieces, shapes and sizes, from old chair rungs to beautiful bed finials. The best part?? The whole box was only $4.00 - SCORE!! I put a few of them in a cabinet that I inherited from my grandmother. I mixed them with my silver baby cup and rattle from when I was a baby. I really liked the rustic wood paired with the shiny silver.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. For those of you stuck in snow and ice, stay warm and safe!

xo,

Kathleen

Sunday Reflections

Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31

Old Grain Sack Pillow

Good Morning and happy Saturday to you!

I wanted to show you a fun little project I did yesterday. As you probably know, I absolutely adore old French grain sacks but my gosh, they're pricey! I drool over those beautiful photos in the magazines where they're all stacked together in a pretty wire basket or sewn into gorgeous pillows!! So I thought...hmmmm...there's got to be a way that I can have one of those. I thought and I thought and this is what I came up with. I couldn't wait to share the idea with those of you who may love them too but can't stand the idea of spending so much money on them. I am so happy with the way it turned out.

This project is for a pillow and you will need:

unbleached cotton fabric

a red fabric marker pen

clear packing tape

scissors for cutting fabric or a rotary cutter and cutting mat

pillow stuffing of your choosing

sewing machine or a needle and thread if you prefer to hand sew it

a needle and thread to close the opening left for stuffing your pillow

The first thing that I did was buy a yard of unbleached cotton fabric. You can find this at Walmart for about $3.50 a yard. I then washed and dried the fabric and ironed out the wrinkles (or you can leave them in - it adds character!)
Then, you want to cut the fabric to the size you want your pillow to be. I used a cutting mat with a rotary cutter but good ole' fabric scissors will work just fine. After cutting, I left the fabric on the cutting mat so that when I painted the stripe on the fabric, I had a surface to work on and it will protect your table from the marker possibly bleeding through.

Now, it's time to get out your tape and your fabric marker. I used clear packing tape so that I could easily see through it to where my stripes were. Tape off your stripes and press the tape down firmly to the fabric so the marker doesn't bleed under the tape. Now you just draw your stripe with your fabric marker. You may need to go over it a couple of times until your desired color is reached. Peel away the tape and voila! You have your first stripe. I did my center stripe first and then worked out. You can do whatever is easier for you - that's just what worked better for me. Now go ahead and repeat the same steps for making any additional stripes that you want. I made my center stripe 1/4 inch wide and the outer two are an 1/8 of an inch wide. The stripes are spaced an 1/8 inch apart.

After you have completed your stripes and peeled away all of the tape, this is what you have.Not too bad, huh??
When you have finished your stripes on one side, go ahead and repeat all of the steps for the other side

Okay, this is what you will have when all of the striping is complete. I ironed the stripes to heat set them when I was finished. The pen I used didn't require it but I did it anyway just to be safe. Follow the directions on your pen.

Sew your pillow together remembering to leave an opening to stuff it. You can use Polyfil or whatever stuffing you desire. I have a featherbed that no one uses so I cut it open for the feathers and stuffed it with those. After you have finished stuffing your pillow, sew up the opening and you're done!!

And here is the finished product!!

Not too bad, I think it would pass as a pillow made out of an old grain sack - and for about $4.00, you can't beat it!!

Have fun!

xo,

Kathleen

My New Table

I have been trying to find a new table for our family room for a while now. I knew in my mind exactly what I wanted - the shape, the style - the only thing I couldn't decide on was the color. Did I want it painted black or did I want a nice distressed wood? Hmmmm...it had been bugging me because I just figured that when I found "the one" it would jump out at me and I would know. Anyway, I couldn't find what I was looking for. After visiting the local flea markets, antique stores, Goodwill (to paint or distress my own) and finding nothing, I was starting to become a little discouraged. After putting the search on hold for a little while, I decided out of the blue yesterday morning to give Craigslist a try. I typed "coffee table" in the search box and look at what came up!!!

Oh my gosh...this was THE ONE!!! And the best part? Look at the colors - a mix of both black paint and distressed wood. The best of both worlds. I responded to the seller right away and here's the really cool part of it all...when she responded to my email, it turns out that she's someone I know but haven't seen in about 2 years! I met her about 3 or 4 years ago when I bought something else from her. It was so nice, that I bought some other things from her that she was selling on Ebay. Go figure! She paints beautiful furniture as well as many other things and she sews too! She is one talented lady and I was thrilled when I found out that she had done this table too.

So here it is, quite at home in it's new surrounings and I couldn't be happier - hubby loves it too - so that makes it even better!

Have a great day everyone!

xo,

Kathleen

Snowy Days!

They were calling for a possibility of snow and look what we got!! It was so beautiful to watch it fall all day long. What is really amazing to me is that when you step outside, it is so quiet, you can actually hear it falling--YES! You really can! The kids had so much fun pulling out the sleds and we live up on a hill so all of the neighborhood kids came over to join in the fun. After a long evening of sledding, it was back inside for pizza and hot chocolate.

It was so cold outside today that we decided to stay inside and clean out and organize the kids' playroom and my craftroom. So now I am exhausted but it is a good kind of tired. The kind where I feel good because we got a lot accomplished!

Have a good evening everyone and until tomorrow...

xo,

Kathleen

Decisions, Decisions...Help!

First, I just had to share this photo. Last night my youngest started playing, well, banging actually, on the piano. I put him up on the bench and he looked so darn cute. Once there, he started gently playing and was so delighted by the sound. I had to get a picture!

Okay, now for my plea of help. Because I am not a trained designer and because I have to make a design related decision, I wanted to ask for your advice. We are getting ready to paint our living room and I am in a dilemma over color choice. Our home is a center hall colonial so when you walk into the front door, you're standing in the foyer and the dining room is on one side and the formal living room is on the other. As the name implies, there is a center hall that leads into the kitchen and great room. The kitchen is red and the dining room is red as well (same shade). The great room off of the kitchen is painted in a taupe color and the hall and foyer will be painted in the same shade of taupe.

Here is the red that is in the dining room and kitchen.

Here are a few shots of the great room off of the kitchen.

This is the look that I want in the formal living room as well.

I want it to be casual and comfortable but elegant and timeless too - all with a French flare of course!

So here's the dilemma. This is the living room in it's current state:

I have really grown tired of the yellow and the whole room seems kind of outdated to me. Or maybe it's just because my tastes have changed - I don't know - but I do know that I want a change.

What color do I paint this room? I want it to blend with the taupe and red colors that are currently in the other parts of this level of the house. I'm not sure if I should just use the same color again because that is easy or go with something different. This is where I'm stumped because I'd like to go with something different but I don't know what color to use. You can see this room from all of the other areas of the house so it has to coordinate really well without being too busy. When you walk in the front door, you can see the colors of the kitchen, great room, dining room, living room and foyer all at once. I want everything to be balanced without being too matchy matchy and because the house itself is so symetrical, I don't want a wrong color choice to make one side or the other too heavy. Help!! What do I do?? Am I being too picky? HaHa!

Thank you for your help - I can't wait to read your ideas! Have a fabulous week!

xo,

Kathleen

Sunday Reflections

For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful. Wonderful are thy works!

Psalm 139:13-14

Beautiful Sunlight

Good Morning!

Don't you love the way the sun streams in through the windows in the early morning as the sun is rising. The way it's soft light lands just so on a favorite piece of furniture? The way it casts a cozy glow on the room and makes you want to sit and just "be" for awhile. Our family room has a nice southern exposure with rolling mountains to the east. As the first rays peek over the mountains, the room is suddenly bathed in beautiful, soft light. I love this time of day! Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

xo,

Kathleen

Hello From the Cottage

Hmmm...what to write for a very first post? After asking myself this, my first thought was that I want it to be witty, smart and the type of post that will make you want to return again. Then after a few moments of thought, I decided on a post to simply say "hello"

After lots of time spent reading many, many blogs out there, I decided to start one of my own. I thought it would be a fun place to share decorating ideas, fabulous flea market finds and maybe some recipes sprinkled in here and there. So, "hello." I do hope that you'll return again to visit!

xo,

Kathleen