happy valentine's day

However you choose to celebrate, or not celebrate, I hope you enjoy a little something sweet today!

Via Pinterest

gold metallic glow

C'mon ride the train. Woo Hoo. The gold train. Sorry, I'll stop. But I'm seeing it everywhere, and I'm joining in the fun.

I've seen several people use the new metallic spray paint from Rust-oleum recently, but after I saw Julia's table over at Pawleys Island Posh I knew I had to give it a try.

Enter this sad little shade.

I picked up this piece of damaged goods, along with its brother Darrel and its other brother Darrel, at a high school rummage sale (remember these Becca?). I have a feeling that the owner of these shades work up that morning and thought, 'Crap! I was supposed to bring something for the rummage sale!' And then proceeded to go down into her basement and pick up the first thing she found.

Although the outside is a nice black satin-ish type fabric, the inside is paper. Paper that has suffered some type of water damage. (not a statement you often make about a lamp shade)

Who in their right mind would buy these things? That would be me.

Luckily I only paid $2 for all 3. Since they were already in such poor condition and they were just gathering dust in my basement, I figured why not spray some gold up in here!

I was thinking moody, library lampshade. Man smoking a pipe in the corner in a big leather chair type lampshade. Like this.

via SFGirlByBay.com

Or this.

via Pinterest

And I'm happy to report...

these suckers look good! 100% improvement.

They still have a few little dents here and there, but you can't tell (unless you are taking close up pictures of them). And you've got to give these guys a break. They were obviously involved in some sort of flood that had left them for dead.

I'm loving the glow they cast.

So pretty. Saucy really. I feel like I need some candles and wine.

I'm in love. Especially after only spending under $10 for the whole thing - shades and paint. I think they will live in my entryway. I'll spend some time this weekend styling these bad boys up.

But I'm not so sure they should go on these silver lamps. What do you think?

Should I paint the lamps too? (trust me, they aren't precious) I don't want blow my $10 margin with some crazy expensive lamps. Maybe Goodwill? Any ideas?

In other news, I'm staring at an electrician's crack as I speak type so we can finally wrap up this living room project. So what do you think? Do I have more gold painting in my future?

Linking up to Emily Clark's Working With What You Have. 

domino is coming back

A friend gave me the best news this morning - Domino is coming back!!

I bet you have more pictures from that magazine pinned than you realize and now we'll be able to see even more. You can read the announcement here.

"Quick Fixes" will have at least two issues, one in April and another in the fall. And when they sell as well as I suspect they will, maybe Condé Nast will pull the trigger and bring back the monthly treasure!

Is anyone else as excited as I am? Have a favorite article or imagine from Domino? Anyone else have  a pile of them in your bedroom closet like I do? Yet another reason to look forward to spring!

estate sale score

I never have trouble walking into an estate sale and finding something I want, but it isn't everyday that I find something I actually NEED. (there's that whole need vs want struggle again).

I ran into this particular estate sale on Sunday afternoon, so it had already been going on for 2 days and the house was majorly picked over. I was so sure I wouldn't find anything that Luke and the girls stayed in the car while I did a quick scout. I was running thru in record time with nothing good to pick up until I walked upstairs and found this.

crooked iphone picture

A dresser for the girls' room has been on my 'hunt list' for a while and this one is perfect. Not only is it already perfectly painted in a non-offensive color (very hard to find if you frequent estate sales), but the drawers open and close as if it was a brand new piece of furniture (a pet peeve of mine), and it had a $100 check from 1973 stuck to the bottom of the top drawer. All of this for the low low price of $70!

The estate sale ladies were so nice they even threw in the mirror above it for free and watched the girls for us while Luke and I trucked it down the winding stairs and out to the car.

I took it home and put it to use right away. I don't even know what to do with all this storage. I'm giddy!

Along with this score, I also managed to get a painting project done and we made headway on another lighting project for the dining room. More on those things later.

Here is to a week of crossing things off the list!

what's my motivation?

Did anyone else want to be an actress when they were little? Just me? Ok, moving on.

I am always looking thru Sarah's House episodes on DVR, old issues of Domino, Pinterest, basically anything to get the juices flowing when its time to start a new project. So, to pump myself up for a long to-do list, here is some weekend motivation. Can you hear the Rocky music playing in the background?

You Paid More Than Me via Pinterest

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

Seeing a theme here? 

How do you get motivated? Any special projects you are ready to tackle? Happy Weekend!

am i red?

A big thank you to Emily A. Clark for the feature today on her blog!! You sure know how to make a girl blush.

Emily A. Clark

And welcome to all my new readers. I've got some big things in store this month so stick around, I'm just getting warmed up!

step into my gallery

The glory of a small cottage is that every room has a distinct purpose. There is no guesswork. No extra rooms that you struggle with how to use. We use every inch of our house and we use it well. With one exception...our 'whatever you call it' space.

It isn't really long enough to be considered a hallway, and its not a vestibule or an alcove. Its just a weird purgatory place that has no purpose.

It has been three different colors and had countless pieces of furniture in it - bookcases, dressers, arm chairs, tables you name it. For such a small space, it's had more changes that any other room in the house. I'm afraid I've made it a bit schizophrenic. Poor little 'whatever you call it' space.

empty, except for the time-out chair

After its latest iteration I cleared the space and figured I would leave it blank until it talked to me and told me what it wanted. It is schizophrenic after all, so talking to me isn't such a crazy idea.

And this is how it sat for some time. And for those that know me, you know how difficult it is for me to live with blank walls. But with my new moto 'slow and deliberate' comes patience. Begruding patience.

It may be a nothing area but Eve finds it a good crawling path

Then, finally. What? What's that you say walls? You want to become a gallery? Ahhhh (that's the choirs singing in praise) Finally! A decision, a direction. No problemo, a gallery it is. Personally I think it was Pinterest seeping out again as I pin quite a number of gallery walls, like these...

 

via Young House Love 

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

But whatever, I let the space think it chose. I'm a team player.

I've had gallery walls in the past, but most were pretty organized and followed the 'rules'. You know, all the same type of frame, all the same finish (b&w OR color - heaven forbid both) blah blah.

However this time I wanted more quirky, a bit messy, and color. Luckily, due to my addiction to wall coverage of all types, I had plenty of frames to choose from. Wahoo, a $0 project. My favorite!

I also thought this would be the perfect time to test out a tutorial I see on blogs and in magazines all the time - creating templates of your frames to organize your wall before hanging. If nothing else, my plaster walls would thank me.

To be honest I was skeptical at first that it would be too much time for not much of a difference than the old eyeball method I've honed over the years. But I am an official convert. This is the best way to hang pictures...ever! Period. (and a great way to get some additional use out of the Sunday paper) I'm gonna become a picture handing fool now. Watch out.

I'm sure you've read these before, but to recap in a few simple steps:

Trace each frame onto a piece of newspaper/craft paper (luckily several of my frames were the same so this step didn't take very long).

Cut out each template, marking with a pen where the hook will be, and start to play with the layout.

measure twice, nail once

Once the layout is looking good tape those suckers onto the wall.

'suckers taped to the wall'

After taping, stand back, move templates around as needed and stand back again. Repeat several times.

Use that trusty mark you made earlier on your template to nail thru the template and onto the wall.

Thank to some help from my husband, the whole process only took about an hour from start to finish. And now our little 'whatever you call it' space has purpose!

Doesn't it look so happy?

With two beautiful girls it wasn't hard at all to find pictures. I also included the chair prints I've been dying to use from Danielle Oakey. You'll notice her lovely red Chinese Chippendale in the top left and the blue Shield Back Chair in the bottom right.

Artwork by the lovely Amelia.

The silhouette is Amelia from a few years back. The black and white is a favorite picture of my great-grandfather holding my newborn mom. And yes, that is a pipe in his mouth.

Now there is some good eye candy for anyone who has to do time in the timeout chair.

So there you have it. An easy way to add some jazz and purpose to an otherwise unused space. Have any of you tried the Gallery Wall tutorials out there? Have any tricks for hanging things on plaster walls? Anyone else LOVE getting fresh flowers from Trader Joe's?