Outside Inside: Urns

One thing I love to do in my home

is bring the outside in.

I've actually got plenty of
"outdoor" piece indoors.

See here:

Shhhh
This coffee table that sits smack dab
in the middle of my living room
is actually an outdoor patio piece
from the Target collection:
circa 2006

It was just the table I was looking for.
Who cares that it was in the
"garden" section, right?

So I've been mulling over what to do with
the dining room table.
Duh.
Urns.

I grabbed a couple of cement urns I had right on my porch.

From this post

Threw a couple ferns in them.
Voila!

Outside in.

I think I'm liking the look.

Would love your thoughts.
What do you think?
Anything I need to add?
zhush up?

Let's hear it:

Knock, Knock...Who's There? Spring, Is That You?

Temperature is on the rise.

Giddy up!
You know what that tells me?

Time for some color.
Time for pop,
(and I'm not talking soda, here, ladies).

Talking about two things:
wardrobe and living space.

So here was my idea...

Remember this post?

My latest inspiration?
My latest obsession, delight and craze?

Oh yeah.
Stripes.

Been itching to add a new mix to the living room.
Hello interiors A.D.D.

Enter sewing machine and
extra fabric laying around.
Give me a day with nothing on the schedule
and hello new pillows.


Hello, spring.
Welcome, welcome.
Make yourself at home!

This was the "winter" look.
Don't worry.
Only stashed the pillows in
another room for now.

So the living room went from this...

See more here

To this...

It's true.
Not a ton of color.
But just enough for me.


Oh, do tell me
what you think?

Client Teaser:

Been working with a local gal

sprucing up her digs.

Here is a sneak peak of
what's happening over there...

Again,
only a sneak peak...

More to come.

So what did you think?

Favorite Freebie - PICNIK

Just discovered this.
Love.

I think you will, too!

Peeps, meet Picnik

This website allows you to do really nifty,
cool things with your photos.

Oh.
And it's absolutely FREE.
Who doesn't love FREE?

Check it out...

Original Photo

After applying 'BOOST'
(what did I tell ya?)

*Home pics of our pad left behind in San Diego

Original Photo

After applying 'HDR-ish' effect

Original Photo

After applying 'CinemaScope'

Cool, huh?

One more for the road...
Original Photo

After applying 'Cross Process'

You can even add text and symbols.

Makes me a better "photographer".
Don't you think?

Do we not love modern technology?

Take a sec.
Stop on by and play around a bit.

Let me know what you think.

DIY gone wrong...very wrong

See those adore

white
lacquer
chotchkies?

Yeah, those.
On top of the mantel.

Much like this pair of white vases
atop this sleek, smooth white sofa table?

You see,
these started out as my original inspiration.

I was thinking
Johnathan Adler
meets Nate Berkus.

As always,
thinking of ways to cut costs,
I pulled out my always-on-hand
can of spray paint and pulled my
fav accessories for a little
home decor color
spruce me up.

I just wanted a quick little face lift to
my already
fond-of pieces.

Easy, you would think.

Not so fast, my friend.

Little did I know,
that freezing cold conditions out here in DC-land
is not kind to any spray paint project at the moment.

After the fact, I realized that
under 50 degrees is not an ideal temperature to be
spray painting in your garage in between
segments of Access Hollywood.

I know.
I should have know.

Only problema I have now,
what to do?

Check out my dilemma.



So much wrong with this picture:
paint not even,
paint not thorough,
looks horrible, awful, icky, bad,
blah,
blah,
blah.

The optimist in me leads me to my next question:
Where is my lemonade in this?

Taking suggestions.
Be gentle.

Shower Curtain Slip Cover

Yes.

I did say,

Shower Curtain Slip Cover.

Let me explain:

Meet my favorite down throw blanket
in the whole wide world.

We have been together for a long, long time.

I think I got it at
CostCo
a million years ago.

I don't think I paid more than
$10 for it.

You see,
this little down throw is
pure perfection.

Perfect dimensions for ultimate body coverage,
and perfect warmth beyond warmth.

Only one problema:

there is not a single item in my whole entire house
that resembles this color
what so ever!

Clearly, I have color issues in my house.

I digress...
back to the solution.

Decided to simply slip cover my throw and call it a day.

Had a bit of trouble finding the right fabric.
Had to resort to the shower curtain aisle.

Have no fear.
This was not the plastic lined, shower curtain,
just the fabric one
(much like a drapery panel)

See below...

This is what it would look like
as the shower curtain it was intended to be.

Good old Wallie.
You can find it here

Sorry.
No pics of my actual sewing.

Pretty much sew a square sack inside out.

Remember my lack of patterns,
and my carefree "wing-it" mentality?

Wish I had more for you.

Here is my end product, though.

Voila!
Love, love, love it!

It will work in any common space in my house,
or bedroom.

Yeah for new life in my favorite down throw.

Yeah.

Tell me how you breath new life into your favorite things at home?

As always,


for visiting.

Hand Made White Twill Stockings

This year I decided to revamp

my Christmas Stockings a bit.

Let me explain how I got there.

I was tired of the old ones made about 9 years ago.
You see,
the three fabrics I used for the guys below I had
also made an ottoman cover.
That cover is long gone, but lo and behold, I was still using
the "matching" stockings year after year.

Not any more, I said.

If you noticed I'm slightly partial to the
white twill slip-covered "look",
That is correct.
All of my upholstered furnishings in my house is slip covered
with my tried and true, white twill.
Can you see the theme here?

So I went down to my trusty fabric go-to store.
WalMart
$4.67 a yard
2 yards later...


All the trimmings,
some of which I used, some not so much.

I love using the white twill because I can cheat and use
the ready-made white piping to go with.
Let's call that our little secret...

I also bought some thick ready-made 3-inch white ruffle by the yard.
One yard to be exact.

I rummaged through my craft drawers and found
anything white I could
use to add to these bad boys.
I put it all in a pile and went to town.

I wish I could post the pattern I used.
Sorry, no pattern.
I'm a wing-it girl.

I went in blind.
All in knew, is that
I wanted three white-on-white stockings.
I also wanted them all a different.

Stocking #1:
Let's call this the Tatum
I started simply sewing layers of ruffle.

I added a little ball fringe for a more pizazz.

Still more pizzaz.
Looking good.
Let's go on to our next selection...

Stocking #2:
We'll call this the Madison.
I was dying to incorporate some rosettes.
I found out how to make these DIY Rosettes on this website

Easy...peasy...

I thought just the rosettes left my stocking a bit plain.
Needed to jazz it up.

I found an old fabric wine bag.
Cut the seams apart and sewed it on top of my panel for
some much needed shimmer shimmer.
Now it was ready for the rosettes.
Must better.

I also added a bit of piping between my top panel and body of the stocking.
Sorry about the relaxed directions...
Again, I'm a wing-it girl.

Okay,
Stocking #3:
Of course,
this one is called the Tess.

Used the same ready-made ribbon,
although this time I sewed it upside down, in layers.

At first just two layers...
then a third...
and a ribbon
(Leftover tie from a gift wrapped
package from Anthropologie)

I'm liking the progress.
All they needed at this point was the back panel
and...

Voila!

The Tatum

The Madison

The Tess

I hung a Restoration Lettered monogram over each stocking.
You know I love me a good monogram.

I think I surprised myself.
They came out better than I originally imagined.
Not bad for some scraps in my fabric bin,
some cheap Walmart fabric
and one day at my machine with a lot of Christmas music
to keep me company.

Which is your favorite?

As always,


for visiting.