Fabric-tastic!

This weekend turned into a bit of a fabric frenzy.  First up was this purple/lilac trellis fabric for a master bedroom project I'm currently working on.

Next up was a floral fabric for the master bathroom.  I haven't shown you any pics of this space because we have done literally nothing to it since we moved in.  The walls are still a shockingly awful baby poop brown (the old owner thoughtfully left a half empty can of this paint in the garage - thanks a lot!).  I'm hoping to use this fabric as a jumping off point for the whole room - a nice neutral on the wall and definitely some new flooring.

Lastly I had a quick stop in JCPenney and picked up 2 woolen throws for an unbelievable $6 each!  I think most JCP stores are currently undergoing a major makeover and so lots of the old stock is massively reduced.  I thought these would work well in the man cave.  Another room that hasn't really been touched, but we have argued about settled on a grey/red/black colour scheme.  The carpet was new when we moved in and is a biscuit colour, so I thought these throws would tie in the colours nicely.

I did have the chance to style the screened porch, but the weather was terrible so the "after shots" will hopefully take place this week.

How was your weekend, any fun fabric finds?

Kate

xxx

Back Porch Makeover - The Before

Despite the crazy weather (sunny, raining, cold, hot....make up your mind already!) I'm determined to add some spring brights to our little screened porch.

This is how the porch looked when we viewed the house:

And here it is as a nice blank canvas when we moved in.

Like nearly everything in the south, the porch currently has a nice layer of yucky yellow pollen.  All.Over.It.  Bleugh!  So first up is to attack it with a power washer, then it's the fun part of adding furniture and accessories.

Below are some of my favorite finds from a little online window shopping.  We already have a nice seating set and some of the bright decorations ready to go, I just need to get out there and play around with the layout and maybe steal some additional pieces from other rooms in the house.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

My favorite has to be number 2.  It's only $38 from Old Time Pottery.  CB2 has the same style chair for a whopping $199!

Anyone else working on their outdoor spaces?  Check back to see how it all came together.

Kate

xxx

Birmingham Parade of Homes

We took a break from working on the house this weekend to take a peek round the Birmingham Parade of Homes.  It was my first time at the parade, and in all honestly, most of the homes were unbelievably old fashioned, with generic staging furniture.  Nothing noteworthy or inspirational, just lots and lots of over sized matchy bedroom sets.

When we came across the Signature Homes latest model, it was like a breath of fresh air.  Modern fixtures and bathrooms and kitchens that I would have loved to pick up and plop straight into our house.

There was some serious moulding in the living room.

I loved the back splash in the kitchen, a beautiful grey elongated subway tile.

Neutral tones in the bedroom, and I liked the different hanging heights of the 3 pictures above the bed.

A pretty headboard and unusual pendent bedside lights.

I loved the pop or orange in this bedroom.

And the old locker.

If you don't love a graphic bolster pillow well, you're wrong.

This was a genius use of an awkward nook - a little playhouse with teeny door, window and planter.  Inside you can see the play kitchen and through the window you can just about make out the chalk board wall.

This outside area was my favorite.  It had large barn style sliding doors and a built in kitchen.  Perfect for game day.

Has anyone else been to a Parade of Homes in their area?  What did you think; worth it or a bit disappointing?

Kate

xxx

 

Moody Blues

I mentioned in this post that I was keen to add a gallery wall to our teeny tiny half bath.  I wanted to break up the navy and also add something fun to look at.

I collected lots of different pieces to hang, but they were all really random sizes - not a standard 8x10 among them.  I have also amassed a pretty good collection of white frames in my "quick, buy it while its cheap" phase.  None of the prints fit exactly with the frames or mats I already had, so I decided to do away with the glass altogether and just attach the pics directly to the wall.

I picked up some washi tape from Michaels and got to sticking.

I've also added a few nick nacks to our little wall cabinet.

 

This was a card from Melanie Kimmett's Etsy shop

 

The Hatch Show print was a freebie from a music festival in Nashville.

 

I do eventually plan on adding custom mats to each of the prints, but the cost can quickly add up, so in the name of all things cheap and cheerful we'll be sticking (pun intended) with the tape for now.

Kate

xxx

 

Mini Makeover

This weekend I finally tackled a loooong overdue mini makeover.  By long, I mean I've had this sad little plant stand on the to do list for 2 years.  Yes, 2 YEARS!  I bought this on my very first trip out to Bama Flea Mall for a cheaper than cheap $5.

The minute I got home, I sanded it down ready to be painted.  And that's how it has stayed.  It even made the move from our last apartment to our first home - I refused to give up on my little project.

I'm trying hard to use up the paint and craft supplies I already have.  I hunted around in the garage and found a tester from when we were deciding on the living room wall colour.  It's just one shade lighter than the colour we finally settled on (Behr, Opal Silk).

I gave the plant stand a quick 2 coats.  I wanted to add a little detail, so used a gold paint pen to mark a single chevron.

I'm contemplating turning it into a little table - maybe with a frosted glass top?  Maybe!

Kate

xxx

Package Pals Part 2

Look what arrived on my doorstep this week:

A whole load of crafty goodness from my Package Pal Sara.  Sara's amazing blog, Sara Does, is packed with crafty tips and creative ideas.  To find out what Package Pals is all about, check out Jamie's blog CRAFT.

Now onto my loot.  The rolls of beautiful paper are for making my own envelopes - you can see the pink template bottom right.  Such a cute idea (find Sara's full tutorial here).  I have to admit, I'm so obsessed with the print on the turquoise floral paper that I may have to pop it into a frame.  You know I'm a sucker for cheap art!

The extra large eraser and 2 round pieces of wood are for carving my own stamps and creating their little handles.  I would never thought of this, but what a genius idea.  I'm thinking maybe my initials, or perhaps a star or even a quatrefoil shape.  I have some plain cream napkins that I've been looking to jazz up, so I think this would be the perfect project.  Stay tuned.

And the fabric is for sewing my own scarf.  I didn't mention that purple was one of my favorite colors, but I'm sure you could tell by looking round our home.  I've had my eye on a sewing machine so this will definitely be my first project when I take the plunge.  Check out Sara's tutorial on how to create your own scarf.

A big fat thank you to Sara for a fantastic package, and to Jamie at CRAFT and Julia at Stars and Sunshine for putting the whole thing together.

Kate

xxx

To Mount or not to Mount

This weekend was the final straw, I couldn't spend one more minute looking at these wires.  It also didn't help that last week I read an article about why you shouldn't mount your tv above a wood burning fireplace.  Plus it was at an awkwardly high angle, so really wasn't comfy to watch for any length of time.

You can see we already had a little unit on the left that all of the receivers (or whatever they are) were supposed to go in. Of course, they never actually made it into the cabinet and have been sitting on top for the past 8 months.  Uuugh, those blooming wires! 

The switcheroo was very easy.  We popped the receivers into the little cabinet (it has handy sliding doors to disguise them when they're not being used) and took the back off so all of the wires could run behind it.  The proportions of giant tv to tiny cabinet aren't ideal, but we'll make it work for now and be on the look out for a wider cabinet.

It also gave me the opportunity to pretty up our mantel.  I hunted round the house for things we already had that I could use.  This is how it looks now, though I'm sure I'll be playing around with it.  Watch out for many more mantel updates in the future - I'll be taking full advantage of my new found decorating space.

The little origami fox was a Target clearance find, along with the flower pic.  I can't get enough of those Target end cap clearance goodies.

The glass owl was an antique mall find.  I think it's supposed to be a bookend, but this little guy is flying solo.  And the love is an Urban Outfitters Christmas decoration.

Not bad for working with what we already had.

Kate

xxx

Package Pals

In March I signed up to Package Palls.  Hosted by CRAFT and Stars & Sunshine, the idea is you are matched up with your Package Pall and throughout the month collect and put together a crafty package for them.  I'd never heard of this idea before, so as soon as I read the concept I signed up.

I was matched up with Sara at Sara Does.  She has an amazing blog packed with fun and original ideas.

After emailing our likes and styles, I knew I wanted to do a mixture of crafty goodness and thrifty finds.  This is what is currently winging its way to Sara.

For crafting I picked up 4 napkins in a fantastic print, I thought they would be perfect for making a pair of funky cushion covers (hanging in the back of the pic).  I also found some fun matching trim.

A set on mini letter stamps and an ink pad, an apple stamp and washi tape for a quick craft fix.

For thrifty finds I found a cute wooden frame (the possibilities are endless, paint it, stain it, tape it, stamp it), some vintage scrabble letters that spell out Sara Does and old school number flash cards - I've seen them used in all kinds of craft projects

All this was squished into a cute turquoise card holder.

I hope she likes it!  I'll let you all know what I receive as soon as it arrives.  And if you want to see what everyone else sent and received, check out the Link Party over on CRAFT (yes, we're fashionably late to the party, ha!).

Have a fantastic weekend.

Kate

xxx 

Thank You

Just popping in today to say a huge THANK YOU to Grace and Kate (another one, I'm not thanking myself, ha!) who have recently featured a couple of my projects:

Grace at Design Sponge who featured my super size cross stitch:

Kate at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating who is featuring my striped hallway today over on her blog.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to you both.

And if you're visiting for the first time, hello!  Thanks for stopping by.  Feel free to have a good poke around.  To make it easy to catch all of my updates you can follow along at Bloglovin right here:

 

 

Kate

xxx

Take the Tour

The first thing I do when I stumble across a new blog is to track down their house tour, anyone with me?  I love having a nosey round other peoples houses - and all from the comfort of my own sofa, perfect!  I'm constantly finding inspiration in other bloggers style and design.

These are a few of my favorite house tours - the perfect way to waste a few minutes:

Sarah M Dorsey Designs - love her colour choices and mixture of prints

Yellow Brick Home - amazing to think they packed this much style into just 650 sq feet

Making It Lovely - a fantastic sense of style

Tudors Down - a sea of mid-century, so 2 thumbs up from me (check out their latest tour at AP)

And with all the changes around here I've been busy updating our House Tour page - so feel free to have a look around.  I won't judge!

April is turning out to be a busy month for house poking aroundery (definitely a word!).  First up is the Birmingham Parade of Homes.  I've never been before, so am looking forward to seeing what decorating ideas I can shamelessly steal.  Then at the end of the month it's the Decorators Showhouse.  Each local designer gets a room in a huge house to decorate.

Here is this years house:

You can count on it being massively incohesive as the designers each try to cram as much of their style into their one room.  Some go subtle, some go neutral, some go bold.  It's guaranteed to be an interesting mix.

Kate

xxx

Sucker for Succulents

I'm ashamed to say we have absolutely no plants in our house.  Mainly because I'm a crazed plant killer.  Clearly if we were going to add plants, it needed to be something hardy that wouldn't shrivel up and die a day after I forget to water it (which I inevitably will). 

So this weekend I hot footed it to Lowes to jump on the succulent bandwagon.  I picked up 3 for $4 each.  I already had 3 little red buckets from the Target dollar section.  Our window sills are irritatingly narrow so they weren't going to fit there.  Instead, I decided to try and hang them.  Luckily I found a measuring cup hook at a local flea mall that worked perfectly.

There were lots to chose from.  Ultimately, I went for the ones that looked the weirdest.

I love the strange shapes.

If I was going to name this one it would be "the claw" - I'm sure it's actually called something like the "succulentomiticus clawstotensis".

They hang in our kitchen, right below our red retro clock.

I love the mixture of old wooden hook and crisp red buckets.

Fingers crossed I can keep these sweet little plants alive!

Kate

xxx