Halloween At My House

If you know me or have been following this blog for long you know I LOVE Halloween!  Through the process of moving I have not decorated for TWO years!!  I had lots of fun pulling out my old decorations and buying up pumpkins at our state farmers market this year.  Here is a little house tour of my Halloweenies as I like to say.



The porch was the most fun to decorate because we have this really wide front porch now and it called for lots of pumpkins.  They are a mixture of real ones and fake ones that I already had.  I made sure not to ignore the side where we walk up so I can enjoy them everyday!  I may decide to add spooky spider webs as we near Halloween but for now this feels fun and cheerful.

Inside I found that it is hard to use a lot of decoration because our new floor plan is so open to the living rooms so I created a couple of fun vignette's.

This is a small little Dollar store candle holder spray painted black.


Surprise for you here,  this is a table makeover I haven’t even shared yet.  I’ll be sure to show you the before pictures soon.


I think this little pumpkin in the center was my favorite find at the farmer’s market, it has the coolest colors.

Lastly I have a cabinet of curiosities in my dining room.  I pulled together spooky Halloween décor with ironstone and glass for an intriguing look. 

I just love tying the spooky decorations and the fun colors together at Halloween.  It was also fun to decorate a new house and use my old stuff in new ways.

April

Office Chair

I finally finished the last piece I had from an estate sale my Mom went to last Summer.  The one thing I really wanted from the sale was this really cool old office chair.

I waited a long while before I decided on what to do.  Our office was looking pretty drab with all the brown from the desk, shelves and chair so I decided to paint it white.  If you are looking close at this picture you are getting a sneak peak of the thrift store file cabinets I painted.  The office is still a work in progress.  I’m wanting window treatments, a rug, etc., etc. the list never ends. 
Here is the same chair in white now.

I used ASCP in Pure White with clear wax.  I did distress the chair a bit to bring out some of the old charm.

Now if I can just get the office finished. 

Happy Weekend!

April

Lantern Turned Terrarium

I love TJ Maxx!  Are you a Maxxinista’s too?  I love to just stop in and browse, I find great inspiration there for home décor and fashion and sometimes I am lucky enough to find a great deal!  My local store has a really great merchandiser because the store always looks neat and is displayed nicely. 
Anyway…TJ Maxx certainly did not pay me to write this, I’m just a huge fan.  I was there Friday browsing and found this great little lantern for $20.

As soon as I saw this lantern I knew that I wanted to fill it with plants.  They had several shapes and sizes but this one was just perfect.  I loved the weathered wood and simplicity.  I found some small plants at Lowes Home Improvement.  I had two small pots that I had spray painted white a while back.  I simply sanded them a bit just to distress.

I also had some moss from the craft store and wanted to use that as filler in the bottom around the pots.

I simply repotted the plants and added them to the lantern.  It is simply charming!  Now is the perfect time to find tiny plants thanks to the popularity of fairy gardening.




I had so much fun with this I redecorated my little entry table…

Twice…

It’s nice to have a new item to adore every now and then.  Where do you find inspiration?

April

A Twenty Dollar Chair

This journey started in my favorite thrift store with a $20 chair.  I literally shoved this chair in my car if you remember this Instagram photo…FROM OCTOBER!!

I’ve kept you waiting long enough…here is the whole chair before I got my hands on it. 

I loved it from first sight!  It was in good shape other than scratches and I thought this was the perfect size for a bedroom chair. I knew I wanted it paint lighter and give it a lift with new upholstery.  If you remember during this time we were living with Will’s parents and I had no place to paint so it sat for a while, then moving took over and it was just put on the back burner of home projects. 
Back in April I painted it with my brand new box of Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in Grain Sack, the perfect white/grey color and I could not wait to see the chippyness.
I teased you with this Instagram photo…

Then I forgot to take a photo of the after.  Almost ALL of the paint chipped away, I was so disappointed.  I have this shot from the garage and you can see it a little. It was really bad, worse than it looks.  It mostly chipped all off the back but it was pretty severe and every time I touched it paint chipped off.  I then got the bonding agent and tried again but the paint that stuck was showing through and it looked horrible.

I contacted the team at Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint and they were helpful and indicated that I would have to sand down to bare wood and start over.  I hate sanding! So I opted to sand until smooth and paint with Chalk Paint.  Lesson was I should have tried a test spot!
I’m not sure the colors I used but I mixed ASCP in Pure White as the base with a few others  a pale grey.  I also did not have it reupholstered .  I have a fabric commitment phobia.  Here it is in it’s orange velvet glory.

Here’s a close up, I brushed the sides lightly so I could get a peak at the brown and then distressed.

I'm happy with it for now…at least right this minute, that could change anytime.  I am sure the orange will someday disappear but the pillow helps tie the colors together and the only other color in our bedroom is blue so it’s a nice contrast.  The cat really likes it too, good window seat. 
For $20 bucks it is pretty sweet!
Fun Fact:  I have a strong dislike for the feel of sandpaper and velvet…maybe that’s why it took me so long to finish, HA!
P.S.  See those curtains in the background…trying to make progress in a few rooms around here.

April

Bread Box

I worked on a smaller painting project last week, a little bread box.

This is a very special piece to me, it is my Mom and Dad’s.  It sat on our kitchen counter most of my life and was always filled with bread and snacks.  As a child I loved the little sliding door. 
I asked my Mom about it when she was renovating her kitchen but she thought she had sold at a yard sale.  A few weeks ago I was walking through my old playhouse at home and there it was…crying to me for paint it.

I asked my Mom if I could have it and paint it and she was good with it, however my Dad made me promise not to ever get rid of it.  Apparently it was a wedding gift to them by a lady that my Dad rented farm land from.  So now it has even more meaning and I am happy to own it.


I had fun painting this one.  I concocted my own chalk paint color with a combination of CC Caldwell Emerald Isle, Anne Sloan Pure White, and Maison Blanche Sugar Cane.  I love the color, so bright and cheerful.  I also finally tried the Vaseline technique of distressing.  I rubbed a little Vaseline on the piece before painting.  I then painted the whole piece.  Once it was really dry I took a damp cloth and wiped it down and all the little Vaseline spots wiped clean.  Pretty cool!  I also traced the “Bread” letters before painting and then used carbon paper to draw again and painted freehanded with chalk paint. 
Here is a close up of the distressing.

I could not be happier with this piece.  Happy it’s back in my kitchen

April