Monday, August 29, 2011

My New Niche

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend. So glad hurricane Irene didn't turn out to be as bad as they thought.
We got a little wind and clouds, but not a drop of rain.

Hope you worked on a fun project. We are working on our family room and kitchen area. Mr. Fanatic  put the final coat of paint on the kitchen ceiling Sunday afternoon. 

Saturday he worked on installing a slide out swivel shelf in our armoire for our tv. Our television has been in our tv niche for 11 years and I haven't been able to decorate the mantel because it just didn't look right to put pretty things in front of the dvd player and stereo equipment. Today, I decorated it for the first time.


Here's what  the niche looked like after we took the tv, shelf and dvd player out. It wasn't looking pretty.
Somehow I had to cover all of those outlets up. I did it by covering a piece of sheetrock with some light burlap. I'll show you how easy it was another time.



Here's what the niche looks like now...









This was a zero cost project since we used some sheetrock and burlap I already had.
Gotta love that!

Pam


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Little Details

Ya'll know we're getting ready to paint the kitchen and breakfast room a different color. It seems like it's taking forever!! We have one more coat on the ceiling to do, then I can paint the walls : )
One thing that needed to be done was to move the chandelier closer to the window by about 8 inches. Can you tell it's not centered over the table? I couldn't wait for this to get taken care of.



So, Mr. Fanatic moved the electrical box and patched up the old hole. Here it is patched. Now that there's a coat of paint on the ceiling, you can't tell where the old hole was. Mr. F. did a fantastic job.

Now, the chandelier is centered over the table. I love it!
Now on to patching all the other holes in the walls!

Pam

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

New Painting Tutorial

A few weeks ago, I showed you my "new" painting. 
I thought today I'd show you how I did it.



Here's what the painting looked like before... The colors in my house are changing and the red and gold will definitely not look good with them.

The first thing I did was trace the design on a large piece of paper.



 Mr. Fanatic took off the frame...

Then I took a big leap and painted the whole canvas white.You can see the frame has already been painted gray and then with tan over that.


After the canvas was painted white, the white paper with the design was cut out and then the design was drawn on the white canvas. After that I painted the design black.


I ragged on  thinned out gray paint and then some tan for accents. I'm still considering whether or not to add some silver.


For now my "new" painting will be displayed in the dining room.


Hope you have a great day!

Pam


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Butterflies Emerge!

Remember a few weeks ago I almost mistook these caterpillars for tomato worms? I'm so glad I found out they were black swallowtail butterflies before I did something drastic!  For days I watched over a dozen of them munch on the tops of my carrots growing in my garden. One day I went out to the garden to see them and they were gone. There was one chrysalis on a carrot branch, but that was the only one I saw.


Fast forward to a few days ago... I saw one butterfly on the deck, so I went out to the vegetable garden and checked the chrysalis, but it was empty. 
This guy was nearby drying his wings.


He stayed there about an hour and a half and flew away just as I came out to check on him.
Pretty cool!

Hope you have a great day!

Pam

Monday, August 22, 2011

Right In My Backyard



I have two urns that I keep on my mantle. I've put Peace Lilies in them in the past, but got tired of having to water them, so I didn't replace the plants this past Spring.  The urns have been sitting on my mantle with nothing in them since then.  

Well, I stopped off at Walmart and found two floral foam 1/2 balls, then went for a walk in my backyard and harvested some green moss after I got home.

I took a small metal spatula with me and scraped off a large piece of moss. I just draped it over the half circle and cut it even with the 1/2 ball.


That's it............so easy.
The next thing on the list is decorating the mantel for the first time since we moved the TV out of the niche. It's still too hot and too soon to decorate for Fall around here. Definitely looking forward to cooler temps after such a hot summer!

Hope you have a great day! 

Pam


Sunday, August 21, 2011

Drama For The Breakfast Room

Hey everyone! Hope you are having a great weekend!
We've been working in our breakfast room and kitchen. We were hoping to paint the ceiling today so I could get started on the walls this next week, but Mr. Fanatic got a trouble call for work and had to leave for the afternoon. The new paint will have to wait yet again. : (
I found some new curtains at Ikea a few weeks ago for the breakfast room and  put them up.
Here's what the breakfast room looked like several months ago with our old  rectangular table.

Here's what the breakfast room looked like with the  "new to us" round pedestal table we found on Craigslist, but before the curtains...

Here's what the breakfast room looks like today with the curtains...



If you look closely, you can see where we cut in with the paint in anticipation of painting today.
Can't wait to get the new paint color on the wall... and, I might have something planned for new lighting, as well.

Pam


The Ikea curtains are called Vivan.

Monday, August 15, 2011

A Little More Organizing


One thing about our home is that it's constantly changing. Cleaning and organizing is just a fact of life. Remember my favorite motto from Bissell; "Life's messy, clean it up"? I always have to remind myself of that!
I do have a confession to make....I do love the organizing part. 


organized closet, diy design fanatic, diy, organization

But, loving organizing things can also be a curse. (I know, that's a little dramatic). I'm a recovering perfectionist and little things bug me.
Like the following shelf, for example. One basket, with stuff on the side. I've been looking for two baskets that fit on the shelf side by side for awhile now. I could have bought them right off the bat if I wanted to spend the money and pay full price. But, since it wasn't that big of a deal, I waited to find two baskets that fit and weren't too expensive...oh and went with the other baskets in my closet.
organized closet, diy design fanatic, diy, organization

The other baskets in my closet hold tanks, t shirts, etc.
organized closet, diy design fanatic, diy, organization, baskets


Of course you know I found the two perfect baskets at HomeGoods. The shelf looks much neater now : ) Note to self...what's up with the two shelves above the baskets?



You can find the details on the tracks for the baskets HERE
It's pretty easy and the tracks can be installed in one afternoon. 

Leave me a comment and let me know what your dream master closet would look like...I read every comment!

Pam 
The tracks that the baskets are on are called shelving standards and are available at Lowe's and Home Depot.
Shelving standards (double track) at Lowe's
Double track brackets at Lowe's

Sunday, August 14, 2011

I Give Up!!!

Hey everyone! 
Do you ever have a difficult time trying to find a specific piece of furniture for your home? 

I've been looking for an antique dresser that I can refinish for my foyer. I just don't seem to have enough storage for my tablecloths, napkins and placemats and all of that is crammed into my dining room buffet. I've searched and searched on Craigslist for nearly a year trying to find an antiques dresser that's about 40-42" wide x 20 or so inches deep and 30-32" high. I know they're out there because I see them every week on linky parties where they've been beautifully transformed. Alas (sigh), I cannot find one for my own. (drama goes here ~ hand to the forehead). 




Finally this weekend I had Mr. Fanatic bring down the dresser from my oldest daughter(who moved to California)'s room. I figured it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't being used and I could use it while I keep looking
for right one.

Here's what that space looked like before:

And most recently, it looked like this:

Here's what it looks like now:

Unfortunately, there isn't an outlet on this side so I can't have a working lamp on the dresser ...sounds like another project for Mr. F.
Sorry honey!


I think I need a big plain mirror for this space as well....



It works ok, for now.
Now back to working on the family room. The main part of our house is a total mess. Hope you'll come back to see it!

Pam 

Joining: 




Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Blooming Monkey Grass

Our backyard garden doesn't look it's best in the summer and the heat this summer has been particularly  brutal on our plants and grass. I don't have  grass anymore because it's been fried, but I do have a carpet of green weeds! The sun also takes a toll on my other plants, as well.
One plant that I has done well, despite the heat is monkey grass, or liriope. I  love when it starts blooming in the heat of the summer when most everything else is struggling.
I have monkey grass planted all over the yard. It doesn't take much water and it grows fast. I didn't purchase any of my monkey grass. My first few plants came from  a nice handyman who worked on our punch list when we first moved into our house 11 years ago. I just keep dividing plants every couple of years.

I have some planted on the edge of my basement patio.

I also have a lot planted in the woods.

This year, I divided and planted more liriope when I covered up one of the paths to the creek.









Hope you are staying cool today! our weather pattern is in a cooling trend and I'm  looking forward to it.

The kids in our neighborhood are starting back to school this week and my youngest daughter starts college next week! So glad she's staying local, especially with my oldest daughter moving to California this past May.
We would be a mess if they both flew the nest in the same summer!

Hope you have a great day!

Pam