Boot sale bounty

I did the unthinkable this morning. My alarm went off at 6 and I went back to sleep. We had a disturbed night thanks to the teenagers next door and I just could not function.
I eventually got to the boot sale at 10.30 which is VERY late for me. The sun shone a bit but it was freezing.

Want to see what I found?

A very old childrens book with beautiful colour illustrations...

I'm tempted to cut it up...is that dreadful?

Yet another vintage chopping board. I cannot resist...

I love all the cuts in the wood...

This curiously shaped wicker basket? It will be given a paint treatment and possibly wall mounted somewhere.

 

And last of all this ugly table...

Not old, but very sturdy...

I'm seeing it with a padded top and painted legs as a bedroom bench...

rather like this? Obviously it will make the master bedroom every bit as glamourous as this one. I feel a trip to Dunelm Mill coming on, in a quest for foam...

And who has nicked the dolls bed today?

Fat Freddy. And he wants you all to know he's got plenty of room and he does not appreciate my rude comments about his weight!

Enjoy the bank holiday!

Linking with Blackbird has Spoken: Op shop Show Off

 Me and My Shadow: Magpie Monday

and From my Front Porch to Yours: Treasure Hunt Thursday

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Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

May you have a wonderful day filled with happy memories with the special people in your life!



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Spring Break

Kids are officially on Spring Break in little over 3 hours from now, so again I will be taking a little break. In case you need me I'll be here.....

We are off the Big Island! We've been to Maui and Kauai each a couple times, but have never gone to the Big Island. We are all excited to see all this island has to offer. If you've been and you have any favorites dining spots, beaches, etc. please let me know.
You can follow me on Instagram, if it's not too much torture. Ha ha.
Well, I'm off to get some last minute things done that I've been putting off, like buying a bathing suit. (Wish me luck.)
 Aloha!

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Bad Bobbys new bed...

Not much to report this week. I did a bit of caulking on the staircase but realised my best power sander is at my dads in York. I'm not doing anything else without that. The first thing I need to do is use the sander on the step with the glue. If I can't get that off, it'll have to be carpet! So I'm not wasting my time on the other steps until that step is tackled. If the sander doesn't remove it, I thought I might try paint stripper. Anyone got any better ideas?

It's been an odd sort of week. Other things have gotten in the way so I've not been up to much creating. I have made a start on the last bedroom door with the moulding and painting, but even that's been a slow process as I ran out of trim.

I was very keen to get down to the flea market this week having missed so much second hand shopping whilst I was ill.
It did not disappoint.
I've been after a vintage dolls cot to use as a cat bed(!) for a while and I finally found one. It's big, has a drop side so the boys can get in easily and Bad Bobby has really taken to it.

Big yawn. He's very happy in it.

 

 He particularly likes the bunny and the bluebirds.

 Fat Freddy does not want to know. He's happy browsing the Internet and lounging on the sofa.

Which is just as well as the dollies cot would be a tighter squeeze for him!

Bad Bobby has a sore toe and is limping a little. Well, of course he does; it's a four day weekend so the vets is closed! We're hoping it might just get better on its own before the vets opens on Tuesday. If anyone's going to get into a scrape it's Bobby.

Happy Easter to you all. I know Easter is the start of the car boot sale season for many of you. Happy hunting!

 Linking to: Funky Junks Party Junk

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In Valley WA with Rural Communities Design Initiative

Students worked with the Valley community on the Little White Schoolhouse project. The Valley School District and the Valley Historical Society have been planning this project for a long time. The Rural Communities Design Initiative is able to bring the university and community together to work together in a "co-design" process to develop a heritage center that reflects the history of Valley.

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Spring/Summer Fun @ PB Teen

As I am just wrapping up a room makeover for my almost 14 year old daughter (yikes! how did that happen?), and I am gathering things to soon do a makeover for my almost 12 year old daughter (double yikes!), I have been scouting lots of different teen/tween stuff.
I found a few fun new items on Pottery Barn Teen and I thought I'd share them with you.

I just LOVE the colors on this chevron duvet cover! It's so spring like and fun!! And aren't those lights amazing?? Like little disco lights.

 This is a very fun headboard. If we were buying one for any of the girls, this would definitely be in the running.

I thought this was a fun and different one too. I really like the nail head trim. It also comes in pink and teal.

 These pillows are super cute as well. Too bad I already purchased our pillows.

And this chandelier! OMG. LOVE IT!

These chairs are so great and ironically I have the exact chair in my garage waiting for a makeover for the 12 year old's room. So excited to see what it will look like after I'm done with it.

Anyway, I will share my almost 14 year old's room with you one of these days. I am just waiting for a clear, sunny day and when the room is clean. Yeah, I know for both of those things to happen on the same day around here are pretty slim! Keeping fingers crossed it'll be soon.
To see my mood board inspirations for both girls, go here and here.

So, what's your favorite new item from PB Teen?

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The stairs...

 It's been a rubbish few days. I came down with my daughters lurgy. I didn't leave the house for four days and I've been too sick to deal with the mess that piles up when you spend a few days in bed. We've had snow all weekend so I should be grateful that I've not been able to go out.

Thank goodness for the Internet. My waking moments were filled with my important research (otherwise known as pinterest.)

I've been thinking about tackling the stairs.
All we've done since moving in, is rip up the green carpet and underlay.

Here's what we have.

 With gaps...

Screws...

On every step

and glue...

Was this much glue really necessary?

Do I just carpet it?

Or what about painted stairs?

Source

Or wallpapered stairs?

Source

 Numbers?

Source

I've been thinking about this for a very long time.
Then last week I opened a magazine and fell in love.

The stairs not the dog!

So it's all white for me. Got my work cut out for me though!

(This is Mollie Makes. The Splash of colour refers to a scarf on the other page. They're not being sarcastic.)

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What's Your Road Block?

I am in no way thinking I am a decorating genius. Far from it actually, but it's my passion and I hope that people like what I do to my own house. I am trying to learn more, and hopefully someday someone will ask me for my help to decorate their house!
I think I am ok with picking colors,  (though, I have made a couple mistakes which I'll share at a later time), picking coordinating patterns, and picking furniture pieces (again, not all aces though).
What I really seem to stumble upon and find a road block on is vignettes. I don't know why this simple decorating area seems to stump me but it does.
For example, this is what my new entry looks like.

 See the lonely candles? I know I want to add either a little bench or 2 little seats to tuck under the table to fill that open space and for function to put on shoes. But what to add to the table top? Totally stumped. I want to add something that makes sense and is also pretty. I see in a lot of photos of vignettes styled with a lamp, a plant, books, etc.
I have the overhead light, so a lamp would just seem overkill to me and wouldn't ever be turned on.
A plant? Yes, I could definitely put a plant there. Books? While it looks really great in photos, it doesn't seem practical to me. I mean if I want to go look for a book, one of the few last places I would go look for one would be in my entry. Does that make sense?
Ugh! Maybe I am over thinking this too much.
Then I have another console table to worry about. A new purchase that is sitting bare and naked. Waiting to be prettied up.

I can't add a lamp here because of the sconces. Here I could definitely put some books, or a plant or both, and I will most likely add some sort of bowl for keys since this is near the door where actually we come and go- not the main entry. I really want to add things that are special and meaningful too. So the search goes on.

What do you have on your entry table or other console tables? Am I making this more of a big deal than it should be?
What are your biggest road blocks when decorating?

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Entry Tweaking

So, if you are just tuning in... I am on a mission. My mission is PAINT IT ALL WHITE! Well, not all of it but most of it anyhow.
My most recent victim project has been the entry. My plan was one weekend while my husband was away on a little golf work trip, I was going to surprise him and have the entire entry painted and put back together before he got home. It was a good plan, a plan that should have been easy to execute. However, when it comes with projects and well, me... there always has to be some sort of snafu. What could go wrong? My underestimating my painting skills I guess is what ultimately went wrong. The plan was not to paint the ceiling. I was painting the walls white. The ceiling was already white and didn't need a new coat. I thought I was skillful enough to paint the top of the walls without hitting the ceiling. But dang wouldn't you know it the ceiling and walls were a little higher than I was imagining and I kept hitting that darn ceiling. I tried to keep up and wipe up my mistakes but there was a lot I missed and came to a point where there was no going back. I would've painted the ceiling myself, but there was a chandelier involved and other obstacles that I just new I should stop before there was any more damages. Fast forward to my husband coming back home, guess what honey? He wasn't so amused. He had to finish the ceiling for me. So much for getting a project done without his help.
Anyway, we made it through and then I decided I wanted to paint our entry door interior side black. The exterior side is already black and I thought with the rug and with the walls being all white now, it would look really nice. Three weeks later, here we are. Moldings, door, walls, ceiling, closet door all painted. Hurray!
It is still not 100% done, but I thought I'd share my pictures now since I haven't posted in ages!

 Before/During painting.

 

After painting walls when door was white

 

After

 

 

 

 

 I love walking through the entry now and it being so filled with light.  I can't wait to find the right little accessories for the table and little ottoman or foot stools to tuck under the table. I am also in LOVE with my new prints? Do you like them? I got them from Joss & Main when Melanie from My Sweet Savannah had here curator sale. I think they are a great new addition to the entry.

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Lace lampshade makeover...

When I showed you how far the living room had come in my recent post, I said that the lampshade was under construction...

This is something I've been dying to tackle for ages. I was tempted by the patchwork lampshades of Vix and Dee Dee but as much as I admire the look in other peoples homes, I can't embrace colour in my own. Just can't. It scares me. I've said this before, but I want to live in a White Company catalogue.

Anyway, earlier this week I was trapped in the house with a sick child, no biscuits whatsoever and Scooby Doo on telly ALL DAY so I decided to get cracking with my lampshade to help take my mind off things. I'm such a great mum...


Here's my plain shade with all the trim ripped off. I also pulled out the lining as I wanted the light to show through the lace.

 So here's my BLAND version. It involves cutting up lacey doilies and vintage lace tablecloths. No doubt we all have a secret stash of these. Doilies aren't cool. But if they're hand made lace and under a quid, I cannot resist their allure.

This is a cool project if you have ripped or stained lace and doilies or tablecloths. You feel less guilt cutting them up if they're damaged. I also gave the cotton lace a bath of tea to dirty them up a bit.

I covered one side at a time of the shade with white glue, positioned on my lace and trimmed the excess, leaving enough to turn over at the top and bottom. I like to use Aleenes Tacky Glue which is a habedashery glue. It holds your work in place whilst wet and dries completely clear unlike Mod Podge.

With the next side I overlapped it slightly using the pretty edge. Once I'd gone all the way round I glued velvet ribbon at the top and bottom.

And when the light is on?  It's at it's best.

And my husband came home with snacks! What a guy...



I'm inordinately excited about this! The ONLY thing worth watching on telly...

Even if it is total nonsense...
Who is your favourite? 

Linking with Jennifer Rizzo; Fabulously Creative Friday
 The Shabby Nest: Frugal Friday
 The Rosegarden In Malevik
 Funky Junk Interiors: Saturday Night Special
 Three Mango Seeds: It's Party time
and It's So Very Cheri

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