Best. Inlaws. Ever.

Seriously.  My mother in law is visiting us from Florida and look what she brought me!!  I was one happy girl.  Her husband knows I collect milk glass and happens to work at a thrift store (best job ever) so he gathers it for me.  It was like Christmas morning unwrapping each piece.

Good news and Inspiration!

I have some very exciting news to share with you all, and no I'm not pregnant.  It seems any time I have "good news" lately my family's first response is "your pregnant?!?"  One day, just not yet :)  Anyways, the real good news is I have recently started a part time interior design job with a local interior designer.  I am so excited that the Lord has blessed me with this awesome opportunity.  I am still working full time at my current job so things have definitly been busy, but I know it will be worth it to get where I want to go.  My heart has always been to do interior design, as you can tell by my blog I enjoy it so much, and I'm so excited for this avenue to express my creativity and hopefully get where I want to be!

and some inspiration on some things I'm loving right now...

love, love, love this bed.  Seriously it would look great in my bedroom!  I'm not a fan of the price tag so I think I may attempt to DIY that when I get a spare minute....

bed

great side table

table

I'm loving nesting tables right now...

tables

and you know I love a good light fixture...

light

I found the source for this rug from bryn alexandra, they have great prices on their cowhide rugs!  I am loving these rugs right now...Just need somewhere to put one...

rug

or this great one from IKEA

rug

or world market has a great one too...

world market

I think my obsession with these began with Emily Henderson's final room on Design Star, love it and the layered rugs....

source

ok, you get the point...time to moooo-ve on (corny I know, just couldn't help myself ;) 

black and white stripes, I love them...so classic....

above room images via decorpad

and I'll end with this great rug from IKEA that has me seeing stripes...

source

Ikat Side Table

I came across this little side table at a yard sale for $5.  I thought it had good lines, and for $5, I couldn't pass that up...

So here it is....

I wanted to paint it a pretty, unique color so I settled on this blue spraypaint (Rustoleum Night Tide)  It's a really pretty color blue, only one problem...It looked really splotchy on the large flat surfaces.  Sometimes this happens to me with spraypaint and other times it doesn't.  I think this time I got to impatient and put too much on at once.

So I decided to cover those areas with some Ikat fabric I had stored away for something just like this.  I just attached it using a staple gun and then I used some coordinating ribbon to cover up the staples.  

I think I actually like it better with the fabric anyways, I guess sometimes mistakes are good!  It makes it more unique and I love the contrast with the gold handle.  I have absolutely no where in my house to put this but hopefully someone will love it as much as I do when they see it in our shop!

Fun Fall Decor

Here's another take on the cake pedestals you've all seen in blog land.  I did some like this last Christmas for gifts.  Anyways,  I started with these candle sticks from Goodwill ($0.99) and sprayed them glossy black to make them look like glass.  

then I found these plates at the dollar store....

attached them with a little epoxy and voila!  I had these cloches laying around, because I just love cloches, so I added them to the tops for a little extra interest....

and I found these cute little pumpkins at Walmart, I love the variation in color.

I plan to use these for a costume party we are having, I think the black will be great for halloween or any time of year for that matter!

New Fall Table Scape

I love the oranges and reds for the fall season, but I just wasn't happy with the way those colors looked in my dining room. So, I gathered some things I had in the garage and found some great pumpkins at Walmart and did a little rearranging. The result is much simpler, cleaner, and more fresh...

a gray pumpkin, what's not to love!

 

who knows, I may change it up again before the season is over, I know I know I have decorating ADD



Surprise!

ok ok, enough waiting...here is the surprise my dad got me from Goodwill!  Isn't it great?  It's solid wood and had great lines, good eye dad.

it had been painted several times, several different colors, including hot pink...

just needed a little sanding, some new hardware (which I got for $0.50 at the habitat restore) and some paint...

These pictures are really dark for some reason, sorry about that...

and good 'ol honest Abe...I've been wanting a bust for a while, preferably a larger one and I happened to find this one at Goodwill for $0.99 and thought it was just too cute.  It's actually an old Avon perfume bottle.  Who wouldn't want their perfume in a bottle that looks like Abe Lincoln?!? ;)  Anyways, it will work for now, but I've still got my eye out for something bigger

Goodwill

My dad was out and about on business the other day when he texted me a picture like this...

and he got me a surprise, a very good one.  I gave it a little makeover and will share it tomorrow... :) 



Chandelier Bench

I found this lovely little bench on one of my recent yardsaling adventures.  I loved the original brass feet and the fact that it opened for storage.  The brass feet weren't the only original thing it had...it also had it's dirty vinyl.  I knew that could easily be changed so I took it home with me. 

I started with a little white paint and then some burlap.  I used a chandelier stencil to dress it up a bit and also lined the inside with drawer paper because it had seen better days.

Antique Mirrored Dresser

First, I will apologize for these pictures because they were all taken with my iphone because I keep forgetting my camera.  I found this dresser and loved the lines of it, but it was in pretty awful shape.  The top was completely ruined, but I just had a feeling I could bring it back to life.  So, I started with a little paint as usual...

Then I had the idea to add plywood to the top and paint it to match the rest...Here's my very scientific way of making sure the plywood stayed flat while the glue dried...

Well, the plywood didn't work so well, it just looked like plywood glued to the top of a dresser, not the look I was going for.  So, a friend of mine gave me a builder's grade mirror that they had replaced in their bathroom for free!  Free is always good.  I did a little research and took it to a glass shop in the area and they cut it and finished the edges for me for $10!!  I also glazed it and added some detail to the top drawer to make it a little more unique and feminine.  I think the mirrored top adds so much and makes it seem more glamorous.  I wanted to take it inside the house and stage it for pictures but my husband didn't see the point in that since we were taking it to our booth.  Boys don't understand these things... :)  So, again, pardon the poor pictures...

I kept the original hardware on the bottom drawers and replaced the top drawer hardware with glass knobs.