Abby’s New Bedroom—Blue, Purple and Pink Ponies!

My neice Abby is turning six next weekend, and to celebrate, my mom and I decided to redecorate her room.  It was formerly decorated with shades of pink and green and ladybugs.  We bought a new bedding set as our jumping off point.  I know Abby loves horses and her favorite color is blue, so with that in mind I went trolling the internet for the perfect comforter.  And the internet delivered.  :)

After the bedding arrived, we picked a paint color that was a shade lighter than the blue in the comforter.  Then we went to work clearing out her room of all the furniture and toys, clothes, etc. and painted the walls a pale blue.  (I took a bunch of before and progress pictures, but they are all on my mother’s camera, and I haven’t been able to get them from her, yet.  You will just have to use your imagination… we all know the “afters” are what you are really here for!!)

Mama took all of Abby’s furniture home and primed and painted it glossy white.  It was formerly cream with a metallic gold trim.  The aged brass handles were spray painted hot pink!  Love!  After all the furniture was finished, we took it all back and rearranged the room, dressed the windows and put all the toys and books back.. that was the fun part! :)

Here is how it turned out:

We bought hot pink thermal drapes from Bed Bath & Beyond, and polka dot sheers from Walmart to dress her big window.  The bulletin board behind the bed is leftover from my old bedroom as a kid; I just painted the frame white and stapled fabric over the cork part.  I thought it would be a fun spot for Abby to showcase her artistic creations!

And the end of the bed, we put her old beanbag which was a perfect match to the bedding.  After a couple of years it was a bit flat, so we added two bags of shredded foam from Joann’s.  It’s as good as new, again! 

The bookcase is on the wall opposite the door.  I decorated it with books, toys and some photos.  More toys are stored in the drawers below. 

 

All of Abby’s smaller toys are organized in the bins on the other wall.  I later added some artwork over the organizer.  We also got two of these pink striped rugs (from Sam’s) for the room, one here and one by the bed.

These paintings were in Abby’s nursery, so I think it’s sweet that they found a spot in her new room!

And across from the window is Abby’s dresser and mirror.  She had this cute jewelry box which matched perfectly!  I just added a couple of wooden painted boxes to organizer her hair accessories.

We installed a hook rack (from Lowes) for all of Abby’s purses and what not.  I painted the heart and flower artwork hanging above.  We also added a lower set of hooks by the door so Abby can easily hang up her backpack and jacket each day.  The lamp is from my college days, I just painted the base pink, to match. 

It took a lot of work (mostly on my mother’s part!) but I am so happy with how this room turned out!  I hope Abby loves it as much as Mama and I do! :)

Happy 6th Birthday Abby!

Snow Birds Winter Mantel

Brrr! It’s cold outside!  Winter has officially arrived and in celebration of this wonderful cold, crisp, snowy season I have created a winter mantelscape! :)

I kept some elements from the Christmas mantel and layered around them: pinecone wreath followed by the white feather trees, plus the pinecone trees from upstairs, candlesticks and snowflakes, and front and center I put my new snow birds that I got for Christmas.  (Thanks Molly!)  And below I hung a pom pom garland.  Isn’t it cute?

I think the feather trees were clearly made for this arrangement.  They were crying out for some symmetry, so I provided. :)

And the little snow bird ornaments fit right in with the display with their furry white feathers and pinecone wings. :)  Cute cute!

Now if only we would get some snow! 

Hope you are enjoying this wintery weekend! 

Giftwrap Organization

It’s that time of year… time to clean and organize after the Christmas chaos!  I am trying to get back to a clean slate and put away all the decorations in an orderly manner.  So I thought to organize my giftwrap in a clever new way.

My closet under the stairs is where I keep all the gift boxes, bags, wrap and bows.  Last year I showed you how I had added shelves in the back and stashed all my paraphernalia in bins.  The giftwrap was stacked in a tall hamper. 

Well that was working fine, until I came across this on Pinterest:

My closet is super deep so I couldn’t mount shelves on the back wall, and I didn’t actually have any of those wire shelves, but I did have a bunch of tension rods!  So, I created my own version of this storage idea:

This is the simplest thing EVER!  I just snapped the tension rod in place against the wall and the edge of my shelf.  You just have to pull it out far enough from the wall for the fattest roll of paper to fit behind.  Then I organized all my wrapping paper standing up behind the rod.  It works for short, tall, thin and fat rolls equally. They are super easy to get in and out when you need one, plus you can easily see all your options.  Genius!  Now I have reclaimed all that floor space that I was using by standing a hamper in there. 

Now I’m on a roll!  (haha) Off to organize more things! :)

2013: Before & After

Well, another Christmas has come and gone.  I still have a mess of gift bags and boxes to put away… can you believe the year is almost over?  It’s almost 2014, which means its time to look back at our accomplishments this past year and start planning next year’s projects!  Here is my goals list for 2013, as I outlined in last year’s summary post:

• Make curtains for den windows
• Make new curtains for the living room to match the new couches!
• Rebuild deck…
• Clear out “the last frontier” for sunny vegetable garden. 
• Finish exterior spruce-up with black shutters, black storm door, and freshly painted white trim
• Resow grass in back yard (again)
• Resow grass in the front yard
• Repaint/replace garden swing in English Garden
• Reupholster Antique Chair for Office
• Mount new TV on wall and rearrange gallery frames
• Refinish dining table and side table in living room
• Install overhead lights in the closets upstairs

Considering that I only completed six of my projected goals, it seems I was very lazy last year.  But I managed to accomplish some things that weren’t even on the list—spontaneous projects that sprang from my mind without too much forward planning!  Here’s a look at the notable projects of 2013…

Last January we revealed our new reupholstered couches in the living room, along with a new TV and gallery wall arrangement.

Unfortunately, even though it was on the list last year, I never got around to making new draperies.  Probably because I found my dream fabric and it was $30/yard.  Aaack!  So I am still trying to work that into the budget or possibly find a cheaper fabric.  It’s going back on the list. :)

And in April, we marked off another project from the list—the unsightly garden swing in the English garden.  I originally intended to repaint it and rebuild the frame, but in the end we decided to tear it down in favor of a more open view.

We also reseeded the backyard in the fall of 2012, and the front yard in the fall of 2013.  The backyard reveal was last Spring and hopefully we’ll have lovely green grass to share from the front yard next Spring.  :)

We also cleared out a bunch of smaller trees from the area around the English garden as well as some larger trees from the lower woods, as you can see from those pictures.  It’s a bit more open now.  That is an ongoing project until we can get some heavy equipment down there to do some grading.

Over the summer I broke out my paintbrush in the guest bath and in the kitchen.  The bathroom went a lovely deep teal color:

  

And the following month, the kitchen underwent a major transformation with newly painted cabinets!  One of my best projects! :)

I never did get a rug for that room, but I did make a new valance for the window. :)  I have really enjoyed my new white cabinets, and they looked especially great for holiday decorating!  I have some more plans for this space, too, so stay tuned! :)

In October, I marked off another task from my to-do list by painting all our exterior shutters black.  We also removed the rock path from the front yard and reseeded the whole area.  I’ll tell you all about that in the Spring! :)

I know, I still need to repaint the sidelight trim and the storm door black.  It’s going on the list. :)

2013 was a fairly productive year, but we can always aim higher in 2014, so here’s a look at our future goals:

• Make new curtains for the living room to match the new couches (maybe this year!) 
• Rebuild deck… (probably not happening this year either!)
• Clear out “the last frontier” for sunny vegetable garden?
• Finish exterior spruce-up with black storm door, and freshly painted white trim
• Refinish or replace dining table and refinish side table in living room
• Refinish secondhand dining table for kitchen (already in the works!)
• Repaint dining room with satin paint (the flat paint is so grungy)
• Edge parking area at top of yard (we started replacing the gravel this year, so hopefully will get that finished up in 2014

Rest assured, my project-planning brain will come up with tons of awesome projects to add to the list as the year goes on.  Stay tuned for all of the upcoming projects at the Horvath House! :)

Happy New Year!

A Rustic Brown, Green, Silver and Gold Christmas Mantel!

It’s only 4 days until Christmas!!  So I am back to share my Christmas mantel in the den.  This year I continued my silver and gold theme as I have done in the past, but I added a couple of things just to change it up a bit.

For starters, I took down the artwork over the mantel and put up my pinecone wreath (from Target) in the center.  Then I hung up my glistening pine bough underneath the mantel.  I layered it with more pine sprigs, gold feathery leaves, brown pinecones and glitter pinecones, plus a string of lights!  The top got an assortment of candles in crystal, pewter and glass holders and my glass trees, plus a few more sprigs of greenery and some pinecones.  My NOEL letters were center front, again. :)  Silver and gold snowflakes completed the display hanging from the pine garland.

On the hearth I displayed my new PB look alike lanterns that I got for Halloween (from Amazon).  They are adorned with some glittery sprigs and pine sprays. 

Inside the fireplace I decided to stack cut wood like I saw in Country Living magazine.  It’s a nice rustic touch that eliminates the ugly view of the inside of the firebox.  My Papa came and we cut down a couple of little trees and hauled them out of the woods and up to the house.  By the end, I was regretting my plan!  :)  But I think it turned out nicely, even if it was really hard work! :)

On the coffee table I gathered a bowl of ornaments and pinecones with a trio of candles. 

And the couch is sporting the green snowflake pillow that I made a couple years ago. 

The blue dresser also got a nod to the season with a couple of white feather trees and a gold grapevine Moravian star.  I am planning to add some glitter to this little jewel, soon! :)

Last but not least our stockings were hung on either end of the mantel…  Santa, we are ready for you! :)

Merry Christmas Everyone! :)

…la la la la!

I’m back!  Last time I shared our Christmas decor in the living room and foyer.  Today, let’s venture into the dining room and kitchen! :)

The red and gold theme continues on the dining table with my red and gold swirl placemats and runner. 

The centerpiece is layered with greenery, glittered holly leaves, berries and sparkling ornaments.  Red tapers and gold votives light the spread.

My Lenox Holiday china is paired with red chargers and red napkins. 

More greenery and pinecones are encircling the chandelier and gold snowflakes hang beneath.

And over on the mirror is my iced wreath.  I love it against the silvery mirror!

In the corner is a lovely red poinsettia in a silver pot.  I had glittered the flowers, but it looks like Bandit knocked most of it off. :)

The opposite corner is sporting another potted poinsettia.  My Christmas cat plates are hanging above.

I also brought out the silver tiered server (and even polished it!) and filled it with ornaments in sparkling red and green.

And of course next to the flatware cabinet is the doorway to the living room which is adorned with my evergreen corner swag.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided to replicate it in here for my dinner guests to enjoy. :)

Basically I wired two pieces of tree clippings into an L-shape, then I added red glitter branches, ornaments and a bow with floral wire.  Then I just hung it up on a nail and reinforced it with some pushpins.  :) 

Now onto the kitchen!  My new white cabinets are so easy to decorate.  They go with everything, even red and green!  :)

The colored ornaments are in the window along with my DIY yarn ball wreath from last year.  I still love it!  Colorful lights are strung above and red and green kitchen accents are sprinkled on the countertops.

My mini hot chocolate station is on hand with cocoa mix, mugs, spoons and candy canes!  The tray is lined with wrapping paper for a quick seasonal update!

Peppermint candles are glowing on the stove…

and the little Christmas cats and bear join the ribbon candy tree on the kitchen shelf.

My kitchen table is set with my Pier 1 peppermint stripe plates and the cupcake candles.

For the centerpiece I created a Christmas “snowglobe” with my new mercury glass cloche that I got back at Halloween.  It’s from World Market.  Inside is a little gingerbread house and a couple of bottle brush trees.  The “snow” is actually sea salt! :)

This is my favorite thing this year! It’s so cute!

That hot chocolate station looks so inviting, I think I’ll go grab a mug and some whipped cream!  Be back soon for the final stop on the tour—the Christmas mantel!  Stay tuned!