Saturday, September 29, 2012

Live: September Snapshots

(My sister sitting in a hammock reading a book with my brothers silly dog.)
Every month I end up with a bunch of pictures taken that I don't do anything with, they are just fun shots of daily life, so this time I thought I'd pull them all together in a little hodge podge post. Enjoy!
 (This might be the prettiest laundry ever.)
 (End of summer fort.)
 (Late one night the sky was orange.)
 (My car loaded with stuff for a photo shoot - yes there is an arm chair in there and a table and two chairs.)
 (Signs for my dad's campaign lining the street.)
(My mom's beautiful dahlias.)

Friday, September 28, 2012

Change: New Couch!

That's right I have finally checked a big thing off of my home improvement list. I got a new (to me) full sized couch. I have been wanting a larger couch since moving into my little house, but I had a few requirements that it needed to meet. It needed to be long enough for an adult to lay down and watch a movie (or nap) on, it needed to petite enough to fit in my 1940's living room and needed to have upholstery in good condition that I could live with for a while until I have the time/money/where with all to recover it. So this is what I found to finally give me that much needed 6th seat in my living room. A petite, but long enough for napping sunny yellow couch in great condition.
The facts of the find are these:
I actually saw the couch on Craig's List a few weeks before I bought it and thought it was cute, but I was trying to connect with a guy selling an amazing Pink 60's MCM couch. Sadly I was never able to actually see the couch, so I kinda gave up not only on that couch, but on getting a new one at all. Enter Labor Day Weekend, my girlfriends and I decided to grab breakfast and hit up a weekly thrift sale in our area. While there my cousin Lydia spotted the couch and called me over. In real life it was a) cuter than in the CL posting b) the perfect size for my house and c) supper comfy to sit on. Great, sold! But it gets better, while I was pondering how I would get it home and what I would do with my old couch, one of the volunteers that run the sale came over and asked if I was interested in the couch when I told her I was thinking about it she disappeared  to return moments later saying that because I couch had been there for a while they would take only $65 instead of the already reduced asking price of $85. Hummm sold again!
So I found away to get it home (a harrowing tale for another day), made space to temporarily store the old couch in my guest room and wrangled a brother to help me move both couches. Right away I knew that this couch was begging for lots of pillows, these are only place holders, but I think you get the idea. It fits perfectly along the wall, but as is always the case when you change one thing I expect that there will be some trickle down redecorating happening over the next few months.
Maybe you can identify a few of the things needed a tweaking in this shot with the chair and coffee table moved back into place. The only thing I really miss about having the old couch is the big shot of teal it brought into the room. I am defiantly going to need to bring more saturated colors into the space now that it is gone.
 
And now just for fun how about a little walk down memory lane of my time with my little free teal couch. Here she is in my pre-homeowner apartment days. This picture is from shortly after I moved in, note the lack of wall art and funky dorm room lamp. This was also in the days when I was in love with my wool shag rug, but for I knew that it was going to be like owning a pet that shed all over you and your house. Sign, but it is so cozy! Hummm this picture has me wondering if that coffee table is still in the basement of my old building (owned by my parents and aunt and uncle), I totally have a place for it in my current basement.
And finally here is a horridly bad picture of my living room before I moved the couch to the wall and with a really out of place bright red, orange and green painted that has been given a new home.

So what do you think? Good buy? Worth the 65 bones? Are you creeped out by used furniture? Do you love a good thrifting deal? Share and feel free to leave a link to a great thrifted find of your own, I love celebrating a good deal!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Live: Fall to do List


I saw my first signs of the changing colors over the weekend, so I think it is fair to say that fall is here. All I can say is Thank God, I am so ready! It also means it is time for me to pull together a little list of things I want to do this fall, so without further ado my Fall To Do List:

  1. Take a Walk Along the River
  2. Paint Guest Bedroom
  3. Listen to Music
  4. Finish the Quilt I've Been Working On for 3 years!
  5. Host a Trick-or-Treating Party
  6. Organize Bedroom Closet
  7. Got to a Bonfire
  8. Spend Time in the Woods
  9. Eat/Drink Lots of Pumpkin Flavored Stuff
  10. Wear Tights!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Live: Summer Wish List Wrap Up




Well is is with something of a sad heart that I have to admit to myself summer is over. So it is time to review how I did on my Summer Wish List.
  1. Visit my brother's family in Virginia. - done and done! You can read all about my road trip with my sister here
  2. Have a new profile picture taken for the blog (and all my other online haunts). - completed 
  3. Grill out. - we sure did!
  4. Swim. - yep, in a lake and in a river.
  5. Spend a day on Big Water (that would be at one of the lovely Great Lakes). - while I didn't make it our to a Great Lake (I still have hopes for this fall), I did spend a weekend at a lake house with a bunch of my cousins!
  6.  Go to the movies. - let's just say my girlfriends and I made good use of our local multiplexes $5 Wednesdays!
  7. Visit with old friends. - yes and it was so great to see friends I haven't seen for years.
  8. Bake a cake. - This one was completed by the skin of my teeth, over labor day weekend for my mom's birthday.
  9. Go to the fair. - yes and we all fell in love with the miniature donkeys, so cute!
  10. Watch fireworks. - nope 
  11. Paint my front door. - nada
  12. Organize the office. - I'm going to say this one is in progress.
  13. Eat outside. - yes even in this summers killer heat.
  14. Cheer on the Tigers at a game. - sadly I have not made it out to a ball game yet this season.
  15. Visit a big city. - NYC baby. You can read about it here and check out my favorite pictures from the trip here
  16. Take a road trip. - yes x 4. Virginia, Massachusetts, New York City and Pennsylvania. 
  17. Wear a fancy hat. - no, so sad, must start wearing hats!
  18. Drink ice tea. - yes, fave summer drink
  19. Sew. - I tried my hand a making a few skirts,they turned out okay.
  20. Read. - this was sorta a softball entry, I'm always reading.
  21. Walk in a parade. - we did three I think!
  22. Meet new people. - I feel like I've done a lot of that this summer.
  23. Spend time with my family. - yes including a weekend spent with about forty of my relatives at a resort for my cousin's wedding.
  24. Dance. - I attended three weddings this summer and danced like crazy and there were all those living room dance parties I held by myself!
Did you have a summer to do list? How did you fare? 

Next week I'll have my Fall To Do List!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Make: Flower Paper Mirror

I'm a fan of quick and easy projects that takes an object you might just pass by and turns it into something special. I think you will agree that today's DIY does exactly that.
What you'll need:
A framed mirror - mine is from the dollar store!
Book with yellowed pages - one you don't mind cutting up
Scissors
Glue Gun and Glue
Beads

What you might want:
Flower shaped paper punch
Gold paint
First cut or punch your flowers, I used a few paper punches and cut some petals that I bent and glued into flowers. I also cut a few leaves. My main goal was to have a multi dimensional look so I made sure to make a few taller flowers. Next use a few of your beads for the centers. I also ended up going back in with some gold paint and giving a little "dusty" of gold on a few of the flowers.
After making the flowers I suggest that you just play around with the placement of the flowers for a little while. I knew that I wanted to hang my mirror lengthwise so that gave me a starting point, I also try and work in odd number, so that helped me out in my placement. Once you've found a layout that you are happy with hot glue your flowers into place.
 Finally find a new home on your wall for your little Dollar Store mirror. I think mine is looking rather sweet in my hall (read: stairwell) of mirrors!

What would you do with a $1 mirror? Do you have any other dollar store transformations?

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Flower Power: Autumn Dahlias

Shall we talk flowers? Sure! It has been a while!
The other day my friend Kris gave me this beautiful pitcher. I really loved the gold flowers on the white, there is something so classic, but modern about it. Right away I pictured the pitcher filled with flowers and I knew just the flowers to get.
Dahlias are my favorite flowers and this year my mom has a bumper crop, so I headed over to cut a few.
 (Hi awkward picture of my hand, you were taken so everyone could see how massive this flower is!)
After cutting the blooms I laid them all out to get a better idea of what I had to work with. One this about the dinner plate dahlias is that it is hard to get a long stem because they tend to grow with three buds at once each blooming on their own, so unless you are willing to loose a few future blossoms you have to stick with short stems. The other thing that can be a little tricky is that the heads weigh a lot so it is best if you can use the side of your vase to help prop them up.
Next I gather the flowers I will use for the center of the arrangement. I sometimes find it helpful to rubber band the stems together so they hold together nicely in the middle.
Then I plop them down in the vase/vessel. I actually really liked the way the whole thing looked after this step, but I had pictured flowers over flowing from the pitcher, so I kept going.
Here is what I had after I put the last of the flowers in. It might be a little overboard, but I kinda like it.
Hummm, what do you think? Have you been up to any late summer flower picking? 

Check out more of my Flower Power posts here.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Share: It's always a good time!


Have you seen this yet? I love being from and living in Michigan and so do these folks! My hometown - Ypsilanti is even featured just before the end.

P.S. sorry for getting that song stuck in your head?

P.P.S. okay I'm only a little sorry!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Find: Unraveled Design

Last week I shared a print by Unraveled Design as part of my end of summer Pinterest faves. Well let me tell you that print was just the tip of the iceberg. I am now crushin' hardcore on these bright and encouraging prints and you bet I'm saving my pennies so I can have one hanging in my little house.
I'd put this in a bathroom, it would be a great reminder to be positive as you start your day.
How sweet for a nursery or a college dorm room.
I'm picturing this one in a little girls room or a ballet studio changing room.
And this could really go anywhere. But I think I'd put it by my back door. 

Which one would you take home if you could? Have you stumbled upon any great inspirational art recently?

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Make: Flower Globe

Today we have a fun little diy project for you. I been picturing this great ball of flowers for a long time now, but I finally had the chance to sit down and make it over the long weekend. Now in all fairness I think that I should admit that, subconsciously I was inspired by this Shania Twain video (that I hadn't seen in a million years until I looked it up for this post, I thought that dress was amazing when that video came out, clearly the  imagery never left me).
What you'll need:
Paper Lantern - I picked mine up at Ikea
Silk Flowers - I got most of mine from the dollar store (I used more thank pictured here), I also pickup a few bags of faux rose petals (from Ikea)
Hot Glue Gun & Glue - A crafting essental you should already own, but if not you can get them at your local craft store for a few bucks
Wire Cutters or Scissors - not pictured, but you will need these to "break down" the flowers
First: "break down" your flowers by pulling them off the stems and cutting off the bases leaving them as flat on the bottom as possible. Again this is only about half the flowers that I used, but my lantern was pretty large. 
Second: glue flowers onto lantern. I recommend using your largest flowers first and then working in clumps around the lantern filling in the wholes with rose petals and leaves.
Third: string your lantern on a ribbon and hang it wherever you choose. Can't you imagine how great a bunch of these in differing sizes. I keep picturing them at a bridal shower or even a wedding hanging from trees or under a big white tent. You can most likely still use the lantern as a light, though I'm not totally sure how the glue would hold up.
So what do you think? Any flower globes in your future? Did you do any fun projects over the long weekend?
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...