Butterflies…

 

 

Now, if I could just get my busy, little hummingbirds to sit still long enough for a photo. :)

July In the Garden

I can’t believe July is almost over!  It has been both very hot and very wet in turns… but the garden is thriving nonetheless.  Here’s a quick tour of what’s blooming in the garden this month. 

A little yellow coreopsis lingered into July along with the purple coneflowers…

Our pink Rose of Sharon is making its comeback after being pruned back last year.

The Black Eyed Susans are plentiful and cheerful!

 

The hot pink Crape Myrtle in the front yard is putting on a show this year, despite being torn in half by a falling tree last Spring.  Luckily the “good” side faces the street. :)

 

Happy Summer!

 

Bored? Make Chalkboard…

Here is an easy DIY summer project for you!

Take one old frame from thrift store/attic/friend’s attic  + chalkboard paint + spray paint = Fun framed chalkboard!

Step 1: Obtain old frame from friend’s attic.

*Photo has been altered to protect the innocent :)

Step 2: Spray frame desired color.  Spray insert (plywood, etc) with chalkboard paint.

Step 3: Reassemble frame and decorate with chalk!  Hang in kitchen!

Optional Step 4: Make another for your mother! :)

      

Voila!  Easy DIY chalkboard.

Super Fantastic Fourth Photos!

That’s fourth, as in fourth of July! 

Just had to share my super fantastic fourth and fireworks photos!  You see, it’s easy to be fantastic when you take about fifty shots… then just weed out the blurry ones! Ha!

Here’s a few from our house, donning patriotic duds for our cookout:

I love bunting! 

I have wanted red, white, and blue bunting for July 4th since I was a little kid, making my polka dot Uncle Sam’s hat out of tagboard and running up and down the street with my sister and our flag singing America, the Beautiful.  (<— dorks)  Now I finally got some for my stair railing!  Yay!

I also made a couple of flag pillow covers from a screen printed flag that I got free from the fabric store a couple years ago.  Perfect!

Plus, we went all-out patriotic this year and bought a flag for our porch.  Doesn’t it look super fantastic on our "colonial-esque” house?  I think so.

And here’s a few from the fireworks show at Tanglewood this year: 

   

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend!

Happy Fourth and Happy Birthday Blog!

Happy Birthday America!

 and

Happy First Birthday to my Blog! 

Yes, I have been blogging here for one year!  I’ve written 83 posts.  That’s a lot of rambling and self-absorption!  Thanks for reading my little blog, it makes my day! 

Hope you all have a Happy Independence Day!

La Salle de Bain

Preface

I’m going to let you in on a little secret… my house is not perfect.  And neither am I.  ::gasp::  Let me tell you a little story about how imperfect we are.  And the great lengths we go to disguise it.

Chapter 1

The kind folks who lived here before us left two stick up hooks on the back of the bathroom door.  Sounds innocuous, no?  I’ve done the same kind of thing… only to my parents’ house and college dorms.  I definitely wouldn’t do it in my own home… my beautiful, perfect, double-stick-adhesive-free home.  So, as soon as we moved in and I began slapping “Sarah” all over this place, (namely slapping a purple wreath on the bathroom door… poor Michael) I had to remove the seemingly innocuous stick up hooks.  Let’s just say they didn’t go without a fight.  And maybe I wasn’t the victor this time.  And maybe this ruined my chances for a “perfect” house.  ::sob::

This is why 3M invented command strips, people!

Anyway, I tore off part of the fine wood particle door with the first hook and left a great chunk of adhesive foam with the second.  Grrr!  Not to be deterred by this bump in the road to my perfect house, I slapped that purple wreath over the marred surface without a second thought.  And then I proceeded to ignore it for two years. :)

Chapter 2

Enter, bathroom makeover.  Pictures are un-hung, towel bars removed, and silly purple wreaths taken down for the painting to begin.  And there, right where I left them… the ugly marks from the evil stick up hooks… mocking me again!  Y’all know me, I’m not going to be mocked by some sticky foam and scarred wood!  Enter spackle and scraper and elbow grease!  Take that sticky foam!  Tick, tick, tick…. spackle dry… sanding…

GAaaAahHH!

Evil sticky foam spackle section leaves a lovely little smooth place on otherwise wood particle textured door!  ::wail::  Paint over evil smooth spackle spot and wait for inspiration.

Chapter 3

Enter ugly butterfly canvas print. So ugly that I never even took a before photo.  And so ugly that the thrift store practically gave it to me to paint over one day.  Yay!  We are saved!  Paint over it we shall!  But what? 

A sign so people will know they are in my perfect, fantastic bathroom, in case the surroundings and fixture fail to alert them.  A sign with “Bathroom” written on it.  Yeah, but in French!  Cuz French is fancy!  Parfait!

Search internet for fancy design for fancy sign.  Find fancy font (Freebooter Script- dafont.com).  Resize and print.  Add more flourishes for extra fanciness: 

With pencil, transfer to newly painted canvas.

Paint to match wall color.  Add brown shadows = Super Fancy!

Hang on door over ugly spackle spots.  Voila!

 

La fin.

Vanity Fair

After many hours of sanding, staining, cursing, and aching… the guest bath vanity is finished!  No more worn, dated cabinets of unknown orangey color and “antiqued” brass knobs.   It may be the same old cabinet from 1984, but this beauty has a new lease on life!

Here’s another look from before:

And here is my photoshopped inspiration photo:

And now, the big reveal:

From inspiration to reality was as easy as a few days work, a can of stain, a $25 mirror and $17 in new hardware…  I used a one-inch artist’s brush (that seems crazy, but it worked for me and gave me better control than with a big paint brush) on the first four coats followed by one topcoat applied with a foam sponge brush.  I am in love with the results…

 

I snagged the satin nickel knobs on Ebay for less than half the cost of Lowe’s.   And I simply spray painted the old hinges with oil rubbed bronze and reused them instead of buying nickel ones.  They blend in so well, you can hardly see them. :)

The new mirror looks right at home now with the matching cabinets.  Our guest bathroom is so beautiful after the transformation!  Soon, I will forget how it used to look and the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and pride will go away… we can’t let that happen, so here’s a side by side comparison of the before and after composite photos for your (and my) viewing pleasure.  :)

    

(Please forgive the bad splice job; I just can’t seem to figure that out!)

So, what do you think?  Are you ready to give it a try on your old vanity or some other piece of furniture that needs a face-lift?  You can bet this will get the ball rolling around here.  I have plans to do the master bathroom cabinets and our office bookcase in the future. 

That brings us to the end of this fair vanity makeover.  Still to come in the guest bath project are a new shower curtain and artwork.  Keep it here for all the latest!

P.S. Before you ask… those are green apple candles in the iron urn (Thanks Debbie and Nichole!).  Don’t know why you would want an apple (or a bunch of them) in the bathroom… but they are green, so there you go.  Don’t ask me…. I can’t explain my motivations. :)