Easing into Fall

I have to kind of ease into fall, psyche myself up for it. 

So today, (proudly pats self on the back...)

 I broke down and let a little bit of fall in. 

See it? 

You don't?

Look up there.

Yep. don't let it knock you over with it's awesomeness. I said I had to break it in gently.

In my grand effort to do some fall decorating, I put some jars of sticks up on the ledge. Now whenever the weather decides to get out of the 90's I may get in the mood to do a little more. Or not. 

But I am liking the sticks, and the old window. 

And I thought I'd throw in this pic because it's kinda purty. Won't cost you a thing. 

And just FYI, those baskets are cleverly concealing about 97 toy dinosaurs. If you bump the basket sometimes it will roar back at you. Raising boys. It's fun. And very challenging to an OCD decorator...

Curb Appeal. Phase 2

One more phase of the "spruce-up-the-exterior-of-the-old-parsonage" is now complete. Just to give you an idea of where we started, I'll throw in the before pic one more time...

And here she is today, showing off her freshly painted foundation, porch, shutters, and doors.

Porch and door before:

And after!

What a difference a coat (or 5 or 6...) of red paint makes! It's also amazing the what a little pressure washing can do. Our steps and sidewalk look brand new!

Now if I could just find somebody to volunteer to landscape the whole place.

Any takers?

Anywhere?

Rats.

Lighting up the Office!

The new chandy is up, thanks to my sweet handy man!

Isn't she pretty?

As pretty as it is and everything, it's a pain in the tooshie to get a decent photo of a light! 

When you turn it off, it's too dark, when you turn it on, it's veeery bright. Grrr. Thank goodness for Picnik. 

Here's the office with the new chandy in place.

It's a bit too much bling for the handy man's liking, but I'm loving it!

Thanks, Pottery Barn.

Aren't these cute?

When I saw these hanging jars at Pottery Barn - I thought it would be just the thing for some empty hooks I've had hanging in my bathroom. Pottery Barn catalogs are chock full of great ideas!

But rather than pay PB prices, I headed my cheap little self to the Dollar Tree. It did not disappoint.

I got 3 little glass votives, and a roll of wire, and Ta Da!

Hanging Jar Candles. For 3 buckaroos and about 5 minutes.

Not that anybody really wants to see our twa-lay...but here's where the candles are hanging.

We can now potty by candlelight. Sweet.

(I'm sure we'll be thankful come the next power failure.)

Happy Friday Y'all!

The Good, The Bad, and The Dirty.

The real life of a DIYer isn't all pretty little projects and perfectly staged photos. To get to the good, you gotta go through the bad. And the dirty. The very dirty. 

This is how I spent my last weekend. Oh yeah. Sanding years of gunk from the top of my dining room table.

I just decided I won't be going into the furniture refinishing business. I vowed that before I did this again, I would BUY a new table! (from craigslist, of course!) Not my cup 'o tea. But I think I will be pretty happy with it once it's all done! I still have the 2 leaves to go, then I can put the poly on the whole thing. I wouldn't expect any finished product pics any time in the very near future. Right now I have to get over the sanding-arm-itus. Groan...

I just thought that I was dirty, all covered in gunky varnish slime and sanding dust. Until I found these all over the dining room floor. Hmmm...I'm thinking it's time Carson had a bath!

I caught the dirty little culprit, (but not before he'd successfully left his "stamp" on everything in the house...) and stuck him in the tub, being careful to dump in a few cups of extra bubbles. As cute as these little piggy prints are, I can only deal with so much dirt. So the whole house got a good scrub down. Again. And I'll prolly have to go through the same thing all over again tomorrow. Ah, the joys of BOYS!!!

Designer Lamp on a Thrift Store budget.

The great operation-brighten-up-the-living-room is in full swing and I'm having a grand old time. (I told you I wouldn't be able to make it till Spring!) I'm trying to make it less formal and stuffy, and more casual and cottagey. 

First stop, the coffee table. Wanna sneak peak?

I think the game pieces give sort of a "hey-y'all-come-play-some-games" feel to it. It looks a lot less stuffy than the formal arrangement of red flowers. The fact that the red flowers reeeeally needed dusted had nothing to do with it. Promise. 

Moving on.

Remember the old brassy lamp?

Here she is today! (Also sneak peak #2!)

I loooove paint. Now it looks pretty and restful, and not a bit bold and brassy.

(I used some clean metal primer first, then finished her off with 2 coats of Krylon Dover White gloss. I really like the dover white, it's somewhere between white and cream.)

I'm ashamed to confess that this innocent little lamp gave me the willie-nillies. I got it all painted up and was so excited to try it out. I put in a bulb, plug her up, and I'm putting the shade on it, and it just randomly comes on and goes back off again, on and off, on and off...weird.

 Hmmm...scratches head...

Come to find out (Really it didn't take me very long to figure it out...Seriously. You can stop laughing...) it's a touch lamp, and every time I bumped it, it came on :) So not only is it pretty, it's convenient! I think that calls for a happy dance! And something chocolate...

Linking up with Chari's Finished Object Friday!

Thrifty Treasures...

Wanna see some things I found last weekend? Our first stop was an estate sale in an old victorian house. I didn't think I'd actually find anything I could afford - I just wanted to see the inside of the house! But I was pleasantly surprised to find this old washstand complete with the pitcher and basin, marked 20.00. As I was looking it over, the lady said I could have it for 15! I love the candle holders each side of the mirror. 

It looks so sweet in the guest room.

Then we went to a Salvation Army Thrift Store that I hadn't been to in years. They had LOTS of treasures! I made it a point to check in more often :) I grabbed this old window for 2$.

I still need to clean it up a little.

I also found these vintage books, from a set of classics. I asked how much, and she said take all 3 for 50 cents! When I got home, I looked inside and found that they were from 1857. Cool.

I may go back and see if I can scrounge up some more of them!

Then I found this vintage sewing machine table, with the old machine still in it, marked 7$.

I'd been needing something for this spot ever since I moved the previous sewing machine table to the guest room. I'm toying with the idea of painting it a fun color, turquoise maybe?  I just realized that I now have 3 of these old sewing tables, but really, they make great end tables, and nightstands! 

Then at the big Thrift Store, I got this big old lamp, in all of it's brassy glory for a whopping 4$.

I've already done a makeover on it, and I'm LOVING it! I'll show it to you tomorrow, so stay tuned! 

Curb Appeal. Phase 1

I've been painting again. (GASP!) I'm sure that's a real shocker for ya. But this time it's outside. The old parsonage was needing some help in the curb appeal department.

Here's the before. Because I can't hardly write a post without throwing in a "before"...

And where there's a "before", there must be an "after".

(Just don't look at the flower beds. That's phase 2.)

Look closely at the glider. I have a visitor.

Do you see her? How about now?

Meet Rosie, our neighbor's pooch. It's a nice set-up, actually. She belongs to the neighbors, but she seems to prefer our porch. Perhaps our chairs are more comfy? So she eats at her house, then spends the rest of her time guarding our house. Besides, now her adorable little puppy spends a lot of time here, too.

He's so totally irresistibly sweet. Even if he does rearrange the porch furniture and chew on my pillows...

How about another "before"? 

The floor and bricks were painted burgundy many years ago, and have long since faded to a lovely purple.

And of course, the after.

Here's hoping the new tan color will last better than the burgundy. It's actually quite a bit darker than it looks in these pics - I'll blame it on the bright sunshine.

Notice my spray painted planters? I think they look pretty good with our new house number plaque.(Available at Home Depot if anybody's wondering.) Now I need to find something to hang on the door. Funny how a little paint (and quite a hefty portion of elbow grease...) can perk up a tired house!