Some Before And Afters

A very beige home office.

 I managed to talk them into a little color,

the ceiling was his idea. 

It looks great, but oy, my neck!

 The best part of this is not the paint job

but rather the removal of that door!

 Shower curtains have way more personality!

Birthday Backdrops

We have had a few 

first birthdays 

around here. 

I may or may not

have gone a little overboard with

 Maddie's.

But I'm her grandma.

She's our first. 

And her mother said I could.

Something I have noticed in checking out all the 

fun party ideas on line is the use of 

backdrops.

I think they really help to set a

table off and make a fun

focal point for the festivities.

For Maddies' party I hung

streamers from a curtain rod.

I helped Viki out for 

Eliana's birthday with this:

That is just two colors of table coverings

 that I stapled

 (one on top of the other)

to thin latice strips.

I cut them into strips

and then knotted the two colors together at the top.

Here Viki tacked balloons to the wall:

This was in the garage which is probably the 

only place you could do this. 

That would be a lot of holes in your

dining room wall.

Pineapple Tree

 I saw this on line and was just waiting for

an opportunity to make one.

Carol's birthday was just my chance!

Val threw the party and was gracious enough to let 

me have my fun.

It was surprisingly easy to make.

This was all it took. 

A dowel rod slightly thinner than an apple corer,

a block of wood and aforementioned

apple corer.

I used three pineapples but the one I saw

on-line used 5, so you can adjust

it to meet your needs.

I cut tops and bottoms off two of 

the pineapples but only the bottom

off the top one.

The corer was a pretty good fit top 

to bottom on each pineapple, 

I guess I just lucked out in getting pineapples

that weren't terribly tall, next time I will

be more aware of that requirement.

I was able to borrow some palm fronds, 

an eclectic circle of friends helps, 

but if I am going to make this a habit I may

invest in some of my own.

Possibly shorter ones.

LOL

Now for a reason to do this!

(ps, not my photo)

There's A Progression To These Things

I *think* it's done.

Too Many Necklaces

And too many picture frames will 

get you 

this:

I was scouring the house for random frames

to do this:

I had plenty.

The frames as sculpture I found on 

Pinterest.

The frame with screening stapled to the back

to hold necklaces was somewhere in the 

recesses of my mind.

Probably that part labeled 

Pinterest.

Scary.

PS, mom, I found that pesky missing "e." 

WhereYou Gonna Put That?

My husband's mantra.

I spotted this while perusing the internet.

I was drawn to the bare wood on the sides.

I like the juxtaposition of the beautiful wood grain

against the elaborate floral design.

Now, what to paint, what to paint.

A little foray into my sister's basement

uncovered a small bookcase in the

exact wood finish.

It started it's life at

 7710 Oakton Street.

About a bazillion years ago.

Since then it has resided on

Winchester Way

and 

Hampton Course.

It's had a brief stop on

Prairie Street. 

Now, where does it go from here? 

Same Thing, Different Perspective

Sometimes it's good to see things through

new eyes.

When decorating for the holidays 

do you find everything has it's place?

The tree has it's designated corner.

The stockings go here,

and the Santa tree ALWAYS goes here.

Well, I shook things up a bit this year. 

The tree is still in it's corner.

The stockings however are lining the back of the couch.

And shocking!
The Santa tree did NOT go up this year.

But you want to know the biggest surprise for me?

While I chose a different location for the

creche, shocking!, 

I had Shanna arrange the pieces.

And while it is still in the dining room,
I did change the piece of furniture it sits on.
But what is truly amazing is
Shanna's positioning of the pieces.
Joseph and Mary are in the manger.
Jesus is tucked away safely in a drawer till
 Christmas day.
But the young shepherd who should be
crouched down waiting
in front of the manger to worship
The Christ Child?
And the cow who should be lazying in the manger?

Check it out!
The cow is out in the field and the shepherd
is petting it!

Makes perfect sense!
Who knew!!??

Some Things Take You By Surprise

 This is how it started.

And by *this* I mean Maddie.

The onesie obsession took me by surprise.

The twins had to have them.

And then I had to do a reindeer.

And since Maggie and Nelson don't do Santa

I had to do these. 

I don't see this ending any time soon.

Idea Boards

I've seen them done on the TV shows.

Designers put together a slick board

with ideas and inspirations

for a design.

I have and Idea Bed.

That's a bathroom, folks.

Fairy Door

It's in there.

Can you spot it?

This one was specifically a 

fairy door

but I have seen them done with doll house

doors as well.

It's a cute idea and fun to make.

Maddie *may* wind up with a 

fairy village.

I'm Working On A New Project

Big likes to say that I've 

closed up shop

when I haven't posted things here

for a while.

It's not that I've closed up this shop

as much as it is that I've

opened up shop elsewhere. 

I'll keep you posted.

Maddie's High Chair

It's been sitting in my basement for 

YEARS.

I garbage picked it. 

It was brown. 

I knew it didn't want to be.

I had started to help it but ran out of steam.

I guess it just needed a reason to be.

Maddie is it.

Now she has a chair at Grandma's house.

If she could only get enough muscle coordination

to hold her head up.

PSA

Do you have one of these 

beverage dispensers?

I am here to solve a multitude of

issues you may have with them. 

Or at least three.

1) How to get it up off the table so you 

can actually get a glass under the

spigot and not have it drip all over your floor.

2) What to do with them when the summer is over

and you don't have a good place to store it.

3) Your spigot doesn't seem to work?

The beverage just trickles out?

1) A sturdy cake pedestal will raise it up.

2) Fill it with season appropriate tchockies.

3) The real reason for this post.

At coffee this afternoon some friends

(whom shall remain nameless)

complained that their decanters don't 

seem to dispense liquids properly.

Just a trickle if you will. 

You have to take the lid off. 

No air creates a vacuum. 

The liquid won't flow.

It's rocket science. 

Well, science at the least.

You are welcome.

Decorating Over My Doors

I have discovered a new to me blog site.

It's called

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

I went through and was reading some of her old posts.

There was one that posed the question;

do you decorate over your doorways?

I never thought about it 

but,

yes, 

I suppose I do!

But now I am left asking myself;

why is all that empty space

left there?

http://beautyandbedlam.com/over-the-door-plaques-over-the-door-decor/

My Summer

That's a 

bathroom, 

a kitchen, 

a bedroom 

and

2 nurseries. 

Any wonder my poor blog has

been neglected?

What A Little Time, A Little Wine.....

And 235 corks will get you.

I have been collecting corks for years.

Many years.

I have been in search of the perfect

 thing to do with them. 

I found it.

On Pintrest.

But really, it was Anthropologies to 

begin with.

If you look on the left there you can see the 

depth of the corks.

Luckily I drink red so there are all sorts of

shades of purple on the cork bottoms.

I used the band saw to slice off the tops

of the corks and therefor get a flat surface

and then I hot glued a flat thumb tack to each one.

I drew out the pattern with chalk and then 

just started pushing away!

I have more corks.

The 

Art Installation

may expand.

Pretty sure that by calling it 

*art*

and 

*installation*

I can get away with it.

The Nursery

Or at least the beginning.

Michelle loves giraffes.

We are hoping the baby will too.