Welcome to Christmas Town!

Many years ago, when Rite Aide was Thriftys, I would go in the day after Christmas and check out all of the great clearance deals on Christmas decorations.  Thats when I bought my first house....a painted ceramic Clock Shop.  It was on 70% off and I think I paid $5 for it.  I took it home and wrapped it up with the rest of my Christmas decorations, and when I opened it the next year, the day after Thanksgiving, it was like getting a gift.

That year I went back again to Thriftys and picked up another house, this time a Bakery, plus some tiny people, because you can't have a town without people.

So, the town has grown over the years.  I remember when they got electricity.  That was exciting.  Of course, not everyone has that modern convenience, only the ones who can afford it. 

More people have moved to Christmas Town in the last twenty or so years.  They now have a General Store, a School House, an Old Rock Church, and a Cafe, in addition to a Farm House, which is out in the country of course, and a Mansion in town, which is where the mayor of Christmas Town lives.

Since the town has grown so much, it had to spread out.  Here are some pictures, in three different areas.

In addition to Christmas town, I decorate with some vases and glasses that I've picked up over the years.
I put crepe paper, rolled up, inside the glasses, and it looks like a red rose.

I love the Christmas Season!

Countertop creativity

In 1997, when we purchased our new home, color trends leaned more toward the cooler spectrum.
Grays and blues were popular at the time, and for several years later.
So, when I was choosing the color of my kitchen countertop, I went with a speckled blue laminate, which looked lovely next to the ultra white walls... and coordinated well with the indigo (blue) carpet.. . . .
 yeah, I know...what was I thinking?

Fast forward to 2006 and the trend had swung back to warmer, more natural colors.
We purchased light brown carpet and painted our walls a light tan, except in the kitchen, where I opted for a creamy white.
We bought all new furniture and hung sage green curtains and valances. Beautiful!
That's when I ran out of money.
So, what to do with that blue countertop?
What an eyesore.
Since my kitchen is right next to the front sliding glass door, there was no way around it.  Something had to be done about the blue countertop that was staring me in the face every day.

I started researching faux finishes on the internet.
I gathered all of the info I could, then I was ready to begin.

About that time my husband was working out of town, so I knew I could get away with disrupting our kitchen for a couple of weeks.

Here is a picture of my countertop today.

 Here is how I transformed it from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.
You can do it too!
1.  Use semi-rough sandpaper to rough up the
clean counter.  Wipe with tact cloth to remove all
sandpaper dust.
2.  Tape the edge of walls and around sink
with blue painters tape.
3.  Use mini sponge roller and apply one
coat of a good primer that will stick to a
slick surface. Let dry.
4.  Paint a neutral base color. Let dry.
5.  Mix a darker color with faux glaze,
four parts glaze to one part paint.
6.  Use a damp sea sponge to dab glaze
randomly onto countertop.  Let dry.
7.  Mix a coordinating color with faux glaze,
four parts glaze to one part paint.
8.  Again, use damp sea sponge to dab
glaze onto countertop, barely overlapping
the original glaze.
9.  Add one more glaze as desired.
10.Take off and apply the tape between
each color.
11. Leave alone to dry and cure at least
a week, preferably two.
12. Wait for the compliments, cause
people will think you got a new countertop!

Here are some close up pics.


















The colors I used are
as follows: Ivory base, reddish medium brown glaze,
light brown glaze, and black without glaze.

 My kitchen was basically not useable for 3 weeks,
but it was totally worth it.
I spent about $40 in paint supplies at The Home Depot.

Fall is here...gosh darn it!

Here in sunny San Diego we've been
waiting a long time for fall to come around.
Actually, with 95 degree weather outside,
it really hasn't come yet, but gosh darn it,
it's September 26th and it's about time
we start decorating our home for the
coming season!
So, I searched the closet and found
what I call my "bag o fall". 

The bag is full of
left over silk flowers from
my daughter's wedding.
One October, several years ago,
my daughter and her fiance gave me
exactly 10 days to plan her wedding.
Yeah, I know, sheesh....
so, to make it easier, I used what
was "in season" in the stores.
I bought the flowers at Michaels.
I am happy to say that she had a lovely fall wedding,
and I got through it with my sanity intact.
Anyway, here are some before and after pics
from my living room.

Boy, don't
these valances
look plain without
the flowers?

And this is my favorite... my piano.

I switched out the champagne
glasses for some crystal
champagne glasses I've had
for many years.

We used them in the wedding and they still have the gold ribbon on them :)

So now, even though it is fricken HOT outside,
I can enjoy the beauty of fall in my home, and
dream of crisp cool weather.

monkeys and elephants

Would you love to have beautiful
artwork on your walls,
but just can't afford it?
Yeah, me too.
What to do?
 Well, when you don't have money, you
have to be more creative.

The Home Depot, like alot of
stores, is a great place to keep
your eye out for clearance items.

"Clearance" doesn't mean cheap.
It just means that they are not going
to be ordering anymore,
and they mark the item down,
sometimes WAY down,
and if you're lucky enough to be
in the store that day, you can snag
some great items for pennies on
the dollar!

I happen to work at The Home Depot,
so naturally I keep my eyes open for
great deals.

I picked up this set of mirror and two
frames when they went on clearance
for $6.50.

 
But I still needed something to put in
them.

So I cut out a piece of wall border
from an old wallpaper sample book, then
taped it in there, just right,
and TA DA...artwork!
The colors coordinate perfectly with
my decor, and the subject matter
does too.

Here's my elephant picture.

(You'll see several elephants if you
look around my home)

And here's my monkey. . . and giraffe.

Even the frames seem to go with the
"old world" tropical style.

Yay!

I don't sew

My mother was a seamstress, and now my daughter is too.
But somehow the domestic gene passed me by.
I don't sew. I've tried.
I couldn't follow a pattern.
The machine made me mad.
So I gave up.
But, the good news is that many
crafty things can be done without
so much as winding a bobbin!

Every once in a while, I will actually do some
sort of craft project, and they usually turn
out pretty good.
Here are some pictures of the old ugly
bulletin board that became a focal point
in our studio.

It was pretty easy.
My daughter had some scrap material laying around.
There was not enough to cover the whole thing,
so I took two coordinating fabrics, and had
MY DAUGHTER sew them together.
If she was not around, I probably would
have just pinned them onto the board
after ironing.
Since the edges were kind of..
well...
edgy...
I trimmed the whole thing
with ribbon.

Nothing on this is permanent.
It is held on by push pins!
If I were really ambitious, I would
paint the frame....
but..ummm..
I'm not.

I had this bulletin board for YEARS,
hanging around, waiting to be used.
Now it commands attention as
soon as you walk in the room.

 By the way...see the really cool antique sewing machine?
My daughter picked it up at a yard sale,
while visiting Navoo, Missouri.
I think she paid about $20.
It came with  a sewing table,
but they had to leave it there
because they didn't have room
in their car! :(

But, now it has become
a decorative
feature in our studio.
How cool is that?

It's all in the details

While waiting for hubby to finish painting one of "my" projects (I guess I could do it myself :),
I thought I'd write a little something about the little somethings, that make a house a home.

I'm talking about the details, the accessories that seem to be the hard part
of decorating for most people.

Every good color scheme needs an accent color.  An accent is the little splash of color
that you throw around the room, to catch your eye, such as in.....throw pillows
(Ha, I crack my self up :).
It will usually show up in small items placed on coffee tables, end tables or shelves.
You don't want to use too much of it, or it ceases to be an "accent",
and will overwhelm and ruin the look you are going for.

My living room/dining room color scheme is sage green and tan, with an ivory background.
My couches are made from a weave fabric that is all-over tan, but if you look closely,
you will see tiny red threads.  Since green and red are opposite on the color wheel,
red was the obvious choice for my accent color.
Don't worry, it looks nothing like a Christmas theme, because the sage green is used on
large areas and the red is used ever so little.

So, if you remember, it was the details that were missing from my home when my daughter
and her family moved out a couple months ago.  Around the same time, my other daughter
was moving out of her place and was getting rid of lots of good stuff, which she offered to
me! Yay!

She had some glassware that she was going to throw away.  Naturally I brought some home,
fancied them up, and now I pass by them everyday on my way to the kitchen.

You can probably find lots of things to put in glassware, like smooth glass pebbles,
but I have no money, so I ran to my studio and grabbed a few lengths of sheer red ribbon
and swirled it into each glass.
Ta da!  Accent color!

These looked kind of bare, sitting on the piano alone,
so I added some red glass candles that I've had in my bathroom forever.

Here is what it looks like now.

So, I got these champagne glasses from my daughter, but you can find tons of them
at the thrift stores.  I think I bought the glass candles at Walmart for a couple
bucks each.  The ribbon came from Michaels, a spool for about two bucks.

Thrift Store Thursday

There are probably alot of people who have never shopped at a thrift store before.
If you are one of them, then maybe it's time to check it out.
My favorite one is The Goodwill Thrift Store in Santee, CA.
Whenever I am nearby and I have some extra time, I head over there,
just to see if there is anything that I have to have.

Since starting this blog, I thought I'd make a point to go at least once a week,
or at least post about something that I've bought in the past.

Today is my day off, so off I went, with a twenty dollar bill in my purse,
just in case there was something that had to come home with me.
When I got there, the parking lot was so full, I almost had to turn around.
Luckily there was one spot open!

When you walk in, there are racks and racks of clothes,
but I head straight to the back where they keep all of the furniture.

When you're shopping at a thrift store, the trick is to find something
unusual, something that you just can't find in a regular store.
It must be of good quality, such as solid wood, and something that is
either perfect the way it is, or can be painted or fixed in some way,
so as to make it great.

You should also make sure that you can actually use it
 in your home.
Don't become a junk collector!
(this is what I tell myself all the time :)

So, if I find something that fits all of these requirements,
I still won't buy it if it's over-priced, and for me,
that's got to be pretty low.

Here are a few things that I would consider buying:


 Night stand - this wasn't priced - see the solid maple stamp?

 

Unfinished coat hook shelf - $2.99

This would need to be primed, then painted,
which would be pretty easy.  It was a great
price too....but I just couldn't think of where
I would use it...darn!


        
                                                    
 Palm tree plate - $3.99
 This would look awesome sitting on
  the night stand in my guest room, but
  I thought that the price was a little
  high. I really love it though,
  and it was super hefty.
                                            
                                                    
                                                     
                   

This is a really nice, full set of china,
with an unusual print.
At $59.99 I thought it was a good
price,  but I'm not in the market for
dishes right now. 

I love baskets, but not just plain ole
every day baskets that you can find
anywhere. I always look for the most uniquely
 made baskets I can find.

Here are some of the ones I liked.                                   
They were priced from $2.99 to $3.99                 See the one on the left?
I was racking my brain to figure out what
I would use it for....but I couldn't think of anything,
so I left it for someone else to take home and love.


 By the way, if you're a reader like me, you'll want to
check out thrift stores for books. At these prices,
you'll never have to go without something to read.

 So, I didn't buy anything great today.
But I did pick up a VHS tape of An
American Tail.  It looks brand new,
and at .99 cents I couldn't pass it up.
We may be the last household in San Diego
 that has a VHS player, which is in the playroom.
My grandkids will like watching it the next time
they come over.

So if you're new to the thrift store thing, try it,
you might like it. Go in sometime when you have
about an hour to kill.
Walk up and down the aisles, then walk up
and down them again.
With so much stuff it's hard to see things the first time.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

Love this cabinet

Last month my daughter Samantha and her family were moving out of their apartment.  Since they were going to be living with her in-laws for 6 months, to save money for a house, they couldn't take everything with them.  So, naturally, I went over to see if there was anything she was getting rid of, that I might want.

I picked out several items that I thought might find a new life in my home.  The problem was to convince my husband to go pick them up.  Since Samantha was giving a recliner to our neighbor, my husband was willing to go get it for them.  While we were there I pointed out several pieces that I'd like.  Well, I didn't get everything that I wanted, but I was able to get him to load up several items.

As we were taking furniture down the rickety stairs (yikes!), a cabinet on her porch caught my eye.

Fortunately, hubby thought that it was cool too. Yay! My first thought was to give it to my son, to put it out on his porch.  He has a cool beach/artist studio look out there, and it would work perfectly.
When we got it home, though, my husband brought it in and put it in a corner of our dining room.

 The designer in me started thinking and next thing ya know, I forgot all about giving it to my son.
                                                                      (Sorry Nick)
I grabbed the water feature off of my dresser, which I had won at a Christmas party several years ago, then I found a candle that Samantha had given me, to put on top. It fit perfectly.
                                                                             Ta da!

We plugged in the water feature, which thankfully still works, then lit the candle. Beautiful!

I'm debating whether or not to refinish it. The color is honey and my furniture is cherry, so I guess I have to, but I really like it the way it is.  Meanwhile, it is another hidden storage space that we can use for all the stuff that seems to accumulate. In the evening we turn on the water feature, light the candle and relax.

I finally have a piano!

I have always wanted learn how to play piano, but I have never been able to afford to buy one.
One Sunday about two years ago, my husband and I were attending Sacrament, when they announced that there was an old piano that the church wanted to give away.  I nudged my husband and whispered to him that I had to have it!

After Sacrament I made him go talk to the Bishop and make sure that we were the ones who would be taking that piano home.  I had never even seen it, but I knew we had to get it.

Three days later we went to pick it up, with the help of four strong young men, namely missionaries, who were helping us as a little service project.  That piano was so heavy, they said it was like carrying concrete.
But, they got it into our house and we looked it over.

It was pretty ugly.  It was a solid wood upright, with a blond, almost white washed finish. It was beat up from years of hanging around Primary and Sunday School class rooms. There were about 6 keys that made no sound.  In the next several weeks my husband was able to fix the insides and it turned out that it was in pretty good shape, and it was in tune!  The next step was to make it look like it belonged in my living room.

My husband and his cousin went to work, sanding it down and getting it ready to take a new stain.  I went to Home Depot and bought two cans of red oak stain and four cans of spray lacquer in a satin finish. They worked on it right inside of our living room, considering that the monster was so heavy, plus we didn't want to move it too much, that it got out of tune.  It took them two days and another day to dry really well, but they had it looking nice!

Now for the bench seat, which was just a plain wood bench with no cushion.  I went to JoAnns and purchased a yard of beautiful fabric that would coordinate well with my couches, plus a heavy duty clear vinyl.  My husband upholstered the bench and put the clear vinyl over it, so that it stays looking pretty for years to come, no matter how many sticky grandchildren hands come in contact with it.

I took 6 months of beginning piano lessons at the local adult school, and I have a great time, pretending that I can really play.  Someday I will have time to go back and get some real lessons, plus all the time it takes to practice.

 In the meantime, I have a beautiful addition to my living room.  Not only is it lovely, it turns out that it is super old, practically an antique!  According to the stamp inside, my piano was made in New York in the year 1916.  We took it out of a building that had been built in 1960.  I can only imagine how it traveled from place to place, finding a home in churches across America, until it ended up in my living room, where it is going to live out it's beautiful new life.
I can't find the BEFORE pics, but check out my piano now!

Making an Ugly Duckling into something beautiful

Hi, I'm a mother of three children who have grown up and moved away from our 4 bedroom home.  For the first time ever, my husband and I have the whole house to ourselves, empty nesters I guess they call it.

For the past year my oldest daughter and her family had been living with us, helping us pay the bills, since my husband was an out-of-work carpenter. When they moved in, I had to downsize...alot...and I got rid of truck loads of stuff.

When they moved out a month ago, my home was suddenly clutter free. Great, right?
Yes, and No.  We still had our furniture, and that's about it.  Except for the artwork on the living room walls, my home was devoid of any sense of style.

Some people could live like that. Not me. By nature I am an interior designer.  By trade I am a design consultant.  When I walk into any room, no matter where I am, I start thinking about ways I would make it more beautiful.  I think about furniture placement, color, fabrics, texture, all those things that can make even the smallest room a great place to live in.

Because my husband just went back to work...construction...uhg...
and the fact that we just lost a huge source for paying our bills, I really have no money to go out and start shopping for fabulous items to fill my home.  So, instead, I have to do what I've really always done.
I find things and transform them into pieces that make people say "wow, that's beautiful, where did you get that?"
I keep my eyes open and things appear, on the side of the road, next to dumpsters, and of course at thrift stores.  I spend very little money fixing them up, and then I find the perfect spot to place them, where they can have a new, beautiful life.

This blog is about my design adventure, filling my home with style....taking an "ugly duckling" and, with very little money, making it into a beautiful swan.  I hope I can be an inspiration to others in making their house into a home, on a shoe string budget.