Weekend Find

I forgot in my Lancaster post to tell you that we visited Calico Corners for the first time ever. This one is an outlet. There isn't one near us and, being fabric junkies, my mom and I were pretty excited. The prices were absolutely amazing. If you have the chance to check it out, it is well worth it. True outlet prices. There were a few baskets laying around with bundles of remnants. I picked up these two. Do you see that price tag?!

I haven't decided what to do with the fabric yet but I know I'll find a use for it. I'm thinking I may frame some for above the coat rack I'm planning. Which, by the way, I'm almost ready for. So far I have 4 doorknobs for it, needing just 2 more!

Now on to my weekend find, the piece the fabric is laying on.......

We went for a drive on Sunday searching for some yard sales. It was noon by the time we got out of the house so we weren't hopeful that any would be found. As we drove down one street there was a porch sale. I spotted this piece of furniture and was just about to open my mouth when my hubby said, "Yep, I see it, turning around!" I knew this would be perfect for behind the loveseat in the living room. I nervously asked her how much as there was no price tag, fully expecting $20-30. I thought, it wouldn't be here at noon on Sunday if she wasn't asking a fortune for it. When she said $8, I was thrilled! I plan on taking a paint brush to it, I'll show you when it's done. Now I have another surface for "stuff."

Powder Room Inspiration

My husband and I were just discussing our powder room. It's a room I haven't shown on here. After we moved in I did a quick fix to it. Enough to get us by until we could decide how we wanted it to be and afford new fixtures. If you can picture this, the day we took possession of the house our powder room had purple walls, a powder blue pedestal sink with matching blue toilet and gold curtains. Oh...and the light switch cover was green. It was....ummm....interesting. As a quick, Ican'ttakethisanymore makeover I painted the walls a brown and decorated with blue and brown accents. Well, it's time to fix it for real. I've been searching for inspiration and found these wonderful images on Country Living.



When we get to it, I'll post a proper before and after. Right now we're just in the talking phase, lots of outside stuff to do first! Enjoy the pics!

HGTV What is your style?

My style is Cottage Chic

Shabby, yet stylish. Cozy and comfortable with muted shades taken straight from a flower garden. Shabby Chic and Cottage work in my home.

I took the quiz on HGTV.com and my result was Cottage Chic. I'm going to have to agree! What is your style?

Take the quiz here!

Living/Dining Room Information

Hi everyone! Thank you for the overwhelmingly sweet comments on my last post. It's such an amazing feeling to finish a project and have you all to share the results with!

There were a couple questions I wanted to answer!

Missy: The paint color in my kitchen is Tangier Island by Ralph Lauren and the bedroom is Georgian Green by Benjamin Moore.

Ella (love the name!) asked:

I've got a few q's for you. I have a similar stair wall along the banister railing in your 12th picture. Only mine extends the full length of the stairs. space there really needs a face lift. How hard was it to paint the spindles, railing and wall in that tight space? Do you have any tips that make for a nicer finish and easier process there?

That area really was difficult to paint. We definitely didn't do it in a "professional painter" kind of way but it worked. For the wall behind the railing we used one of those long skinny paint rollers.

Picture from Apartment Therapy

The area was tight so we hit the stair rail a few times but that's why we did the wall first. For the back of the railing I took a small paint brush, loaded it with paint and slipped it through the spindles vertically. Then with my other hand I reached around to grab the end of the handle and swiped the paint on as best I could. I'm thinking there has got to be an easier way but we couldn't think of one. If we tried to use a small roller for the semi gloss, it didn't roll and just slid after the first coat. I got up on a ladder after that was done and got what I could from underneath.

If you come over to my house, look up the stairs, turn your head to the left and look closely while squinting, you will see some missed spots between the wall and railing. We did the best we could though!

Completely unrelated now, I've been trying to find a ceiling fan worthy of our master bedroom. Where oh where did you find that simply beautiful ceiling fan?

I purchased the ceiling fan at a local lighting store but I did see it online. Here is the website for the manufacturer Casablanca .

It's good to go and talk to someone about which fans and light kits are compatible. I picked out the light kit I wanted first and then he showed me which fans I could put it on. They call my light kit a 4 - light Victorian fitter, #K44V.

I also wanted to show you my new pillows! I bought them on Etsy from Sa-Sea Boutique . If you haven't been over to her store, check it out! There are some new ones out now that are completely tempting me!

Like this one, how darling is this?!

Or maybe I want this tutu trim.....
Okay, enough shopping for now, back to the pillows I did buy....

I'm thrilled with how the pop of white lightened the couches and the whole space up!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

My Living and Dining Room Makeover

I'm so excited to finally share this with you! Our home went through quite the transformation with the help of a lot of paint. First, lets go back to where we started! The walls were white (and dirty) and the trim was all wood.

The dining room was yellow. There wasn't anything wrong with the yellow but once everything else was painted, it stood out too much. Dining room before:

My starting point was a single picture from Eddie Ross. Isn't he amazing?! Anyway, I loved this pic of the white secretary against the gray walls. I knew this was going to be my color scheme.

I almost didn't post this week because of this.....my couch cushions are at the cleaners thanks to a little puppy named Tucker. I decided to post anyway because hey, this is supposed to be a real life blog. And in real life, I have a puppy that requires my cushions to go to the cleaners. At least I had these euro pillows to throw on there until the real ones come back.

And here is the living room! After many paint samples, the winner was Coventry Gray by Benjamin Moore. I will admit it is bluer than I expected but I really do love it! The ceilings are painted Wickham Gray, also Benjamin Moore. I'm really happy with how high it makes the ceiling feel. With the ceilings being a color, your eye doesn't have a stopping point. I was worried it would feel closed in but, in fact, the painted ceiling did the opposite.

View from the kitchen:

View up the stairs. I decided to do the spindles on the stair railing white and the banister black. It was hard to swipe that first bit of black on it but I'm so glad I did.

Upstairs hallway....

My family wall I'm still working on....

Ready to go back downstairs?

Now I have the perfect spot for my laptop. After having it in the kitchen for a while, it just wasn't working. I'm much happier at the secretary. My mom is embroidering birds for me to go on the wall there to the left. She'll have them done very soon, right mom? No pressure!

The armoire had faux tin panels in the front. It felt a bit too "country" for the room so I painted them white and did some antiquing of course.

I shopped around for a ceiling fan that deserved to be in this room. I wanted something white, functional but also pretty.

The new foyer chandelier is from Home Depot. My hubby had a great time putting all those little crystals on. ;)

These switch covers were a bit of a splurge but I think the little details are so important!

One of my favorite pics of my daughter Ella and our Sheltie when they were both much smaller...

It just wouldn't be my house without ceiling tiles hanging on the walls.

I'm still deciding if I want to paint the french doors or leave them alone.

This rocker is going to be painted white and recovered. I bought two fabrics because I can't make up my mind. Either this floral......

Or this solid that reminds me of linen. What do you think?

A small cake stand makes a great coaster next to the couch.

This armchair was my husband's find at a flea market. It's chipping and glued together in spots but we love it!

The window treatments were purchased at a high end retail store and cost a lot of money.

Did you believe me?? Naw, I didn't think so, you know me too well for that! They were purchased at Walmart. The roman shades are a jute and have a cute frayed edge and the sheers are from their Better Homes and Gardens collection.

For this empty wall at the bottom of the steps, I'm planning a coat rack made out of vintage doorknobs. I'm on the hunt for some locally so I don't have to pay shipping online.

Lets move on to the dining room!

Summer is upon us, what better way to celebrate than with sea shells?

That's the full tour, thank you so much for allowing me to show you around! There are still odds and ends to finish up but the house is so comfy now. I'm sure I'll find new treasures to fill it up but I don't want to rush it. Having the room a bit empty gives me something to look forward to....a summer full of yard sales and flea markets. Yay!