Fearlessly Finding Awesome in YOU!

By LM | Published: April 14, 2012

Hey hey hey!  Happy Saturday my friends!  Hope you’re all enjoying the day and getting some much needed recharge time!

In my last post, I told you how I realized how much more color I needed in my home.  I’ve been redefining my style this week, putting a lot of thought and effort into how I want my home to feel.  As fate would have it, Mandi at Vintage Revivals is helping me out!  She started a great club called Fearlessly Finding Awesome!  Our first assignment was to list words that define our personality.  These will help get more of US into our homes!

Her second challenge is to take this super fun Style Quiz from HomeGoods.  I took mine and here are the results!

 

I’ve been nosing around Pinterest and have found some fantastic images to inspire me!

 

 

 

 

I’m so excited just thinking about surrounding myself with color and my collections from over the years!  I know from experience that the more creative our environment is the more our ideas flow.  Who couldn’t use a good happy kick in the mojo!

I hope you’ll join us a bring a little more YOU into your life!

Posted in Home, The Best Decor Blogs | Leave a comment

How Pinterest Exploded My Brain!

By LM | Published: April 7, 2012

Have you ever had an epiphany?  A real life explosion in your head?!  I have!

 

 

Yep!  That’s exactly what it looked like inside my brain.  Don’t be jealous, I’m just special like that. *wink*

I have always liked serene, neutral spaces with lots of texture.

 

 

They are soothing and calming, the exact feel I wanted in my home.  Or so I thought.

While I’ve been working through my 2012 Home Goals and my rooms for the Picture Perfect Room Challenge at Funky Junk Interiors, I’ve come upon a roadblock.   I started with my bedroom in January and I liked how it came out.  Now it’s sort of “meh”.  Wonder what happened there?  Why am I not loving it now?

The room I’m working on now is my dining room.  It’s coming along but I knew something was missing.  I started searching for inspiration and it smacked me in the face on one of my Pinterest boards!  HOW did I not see this before?!  The epiphany was that I need about 200% more color in my life than I have!

 

Source: neofundi.com via Lisa on Pinterest

 

Yeah, that would do it!

I’ve always loved color, used it everywhere and enjoyed how it made me feel.  Something has changed.  It’s just not enough anymore, it seems drab to me.

Hmmm is this a metaphor for my life as well?!  Have I been living a “meh” life?  I have a lot to think about there!  I am truly shocked at this realization, I mean, come on. LOL  Y’all know me, my style, my taste, my favorite things.  Where did the drama go?  The wow factor?!  I have no idea but I’m on a mission now!

I’ve reworked the plan for my dining room and it involves WAY more bright colors than the original idea.  I hope you’ll stick around and see just how crazy I get in there!

Do you have a “meh” room, or area of your life you want to kick up a notch?  I’d love to hear from you!

Posted in 2012 Home Goals, Picture Perfect Challenge at FJI | 1 Comment

The Shocking Truth About My Dining Room!

By LM | Published: March 13, 2012

Is it true? yes.  Is it shocking?!  yes.  Is it really about my dining room?!?!  YES!!

What is it?!?!

It’s almost DONE!  Can I get a party horn or something up in here?  Puleeeeze?!

Seriously, this has been the longest “simple update” in blog history!  Geeze.  But now, I can assure you (’cause I know you’ve been fretting about it while you try to go to sleep) it WILL come to an end.  Phew.  So happy I got that out there!

If you remember, here is where we started, waaaaay back in umm last month *wink*

and here (hangs head in utter shame)

now let me show you where we stand today *big cheesy grin*

I’m so happy with it so far!  Mom and I were able to cover up that lovely hole where the air conditioner was.  FINALLY!  I hung up a collection of vintage plates I’ve had squirreled away in the cabinet.  I know!!  I couldn’t enjoy them in there, darnit!  Now I smile when I see them!

I also changed out the light fixture and added the drum shade I covered in vintage quilt squares.  You can see that tutorial here.

The table has also been swapped out for this round one that fits the space much better.  It was unfinished wood and you can see how I made it over here.

Now here is what is left to do:

The molding and flooring won’t take long at all.  I’ve just got to drag the small air compressor up the hill and into my house.  That baby is NOT light!  I am still waffling on what to do with that counter top.  I think I want it dark so I may either paint it or do a little decoupage.  I’m almost finished with the chair that is going in here, replacing the one in the photo.

Here’s a little sneak peek of the chair!  I didn’t remove the fabric yet because I want to make sure I like the paint job before I mess with all those staples!  Here’s what I started with.

and here’s a peek at what she looks like right now:

I’m not sure if this is the final look or not.  You’ll have to stay tuned to find out!

If you’ve made it this far, THANK YOU!  I hope some of you are inspired to take a little leap of faith with some color in one of your rooms!

Posted in 2012 Home Goals, Dining Room | 2 Comments

How To: Make A Patchwork Lampshade

By LM | Published: March 8, 2012

Hey there my friends!  I’ve finally gotten myself moving again on the dining room.  I’m here today to show you how I made over this plain lampshade into a one of a kind treasure!  Here’s what I started with:

A simple lampshade, fabric to cover it (these are actually vintage quilt squares from a yard sale!), scissors, double sided sticky tape (it is conspicuously absent from the photo so it must have been getting a beverage or taking a bathroom break at the time!)  aaaaand

fabric glue and bias tape (for the top and bottom when we’re done).  The only thing I had to go out and purchase was the bias tape.  You could also use ribbon or anything else you like!

First thing I did was start trying to lay out the squares to see how many it would take to go around the shade.  2 problems jumped up and smacked me in the face at this point!  1 – the quilt squares were not “square” and the shade is not perfectly the same size top and bottom. Uh huh.  Props to Mom for suggesting I turn them on an angle and see if that worked out.  Yee to the Haw it did work!  I put that irresponsible double sided tape on the back of 2 of the not so squares and taped those babies on the shade to see how it would look.

I was liking it immediately!  I did have it hanging at eye level so I could get a better idea of how it would look while I worked.  See on the bottom of that left square that it doesn’t reach down to the bottom band of the shade? Uh huh, told ya they weren’t square!  BUT I was liking the idea so I kept taping and taping until I got all the way around the shade.  Once I finished that I made the executive decision that those empty areas needed to be filled up too.  So I cut the not so square quilt squares somewhat in half exactly (or not!) and started filling in the bare spots.

That photo shows how I peeled up the center squares so the “fillers” would be underneath their edges.  I continued, again, all the way around until all the naked spots were covered. No one wants a risque lampshade!  *gasp*

This is how it looked once it was presentable.  Remember I have this hanging up (over another little fixture) so ignore everything else.

Looks pretty messy doesn’t it?  I can see holes where the squares didn’t line up and there are gaps along the edges in some places.  I decided I’d deal with that once the squares were glued down.  Let me say you can absolutely use hot glue to attach these, you don’t have to have fabric glue.  I however cannot be within a mile of a hot glue gun and not get burned so I opted for the fabric glue.  It’s a proven fact!  Trust me on this!

I used the same technique I used earlier, peeled back the squares (the filler pieces first) adding glue to them and smashed them back onto the shade in their appropriate spots.  I trimmed as I went, getting all the fabric that would cover the top and bottom band on the shade.  I wanted that flat and smooth for the finishing step.  I also added a few little pieces here and there to finish covering the entire shade.  That was done with a few snips of the scissors from the extra quilt squares.

This final step (which I have no photo of because I don’t have 5 hands) is to add the decorative trim, in my case the seam binding.  I ran the glue along the top and bottom edge (only one at a time please) and pushed the trim into the glue making it all flat and pretty.

The messy looking well, mess, went from what you see above to…..

Look how finished it is now, I love it!  This is the back of the shade so you can see where I overlapped the trim on the top and bottom bands where they met.  Is it perfect? NO.  Is it going to pass quality inspection anytime soon? NO.  Is it completely me and exactly what I wanted?  YES.  and that my friends, is all that matters!

Here are a few more “sides” for your viewing entertainment!

I hope you enjoyed this wacky looking project to the very end and that it might inspire you to try something similar!!  Of course, you can use fabric, paper, leather, towels, or anything your imagination can come up with!  I hope you had fun today!

Linking this project to these fun parties:

Hooking Up with HoH

Inspiration Friday at The Picket Fence

Tip Junkie Homemade Projects

Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots & Jello

Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Sunday Showcase Party at Under The Table And Dreaming

Flaunt It Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

DIY Project Parade at The DIY Show Off

Posted in 2012 Home Goals, Dining Room, How To, Picture Perfect Challenge at FJI, Vintage | 1 Comment

Side Table Redo for the Dining Room

By LM | Published: March 1, 2012

My dining room make over is finally shaping up my friends!  In the last week I’ve made some major progress and couldn’t be happier.

I found this little gem at a flea market about 5 years ago for a whopping $20.  I loved that it was raw wood and the little curvy bits on the apron.  Too cute!  Today I’m going to show you a quick way to make over an unfinished wood table.  You’ll need: paint, paint brush, small bowl, water sand paper and some type of top coat, I used wax but you can use polycrylic.

Here is the little table in it’s before state:

This table has never had anything done to it so sanding wasn’t needed.  First I put about 1/2 cup of paint in my bowl and added half a cup of water.  I mixed it up really good and just started slapping it on there.  I wanted to see what type of looks I could get out of it so I did each side a little differently.  I can only see one side at a time, right?! lol  Here a few pics of the results.

The first photo is doing a heavy coat of paint/water, just like I’d do with regular paint.  The second one is a lighter coat and I didn’t go back over it with the brush.  I just let it sit there and it did that blotchy thing all on it’s own!  Most of my projects go like this, experiment and see what happens.  That’s what makes it so fun to me!

Ok then I got a small block of wood with 150 grit sandpaper (rough) and sanded, scratched and generally scarred it all up.

I tend to get into the sanding and distressing.  It’s a great way to work out your frustration too, fyi *wink*  I wiped it down to get the dust off then all that’s left to do is protect the finish.  I used wax for this but like I said poly would work just fine too, you’ll just have to do a light sanding with 220 grit sandpaper after.  So here we go with the wax!

I used that staining pad to put it on.  You can use a soft cloth, wax brush, or whatever you have around as long as it’s not rough.  I know that staining pad looks rough but it’s not really.  Just wipe it on and let it dry.  Then comes the fun part … BUFFING!  Make sure you have a clean soft cloth, not the one you used to put the wax on!!  Put on some fast music and start rubbing your little heart out!  In this next pic you can see where I’ve buffed it and where it’s still “hazy”, just like car wax.

See?  The left side is still hazy and the right side and center aren’t.  You have to do this on the entire piece no matter what type of sealer (topcoat) you are using.

Here’s the finished product!

Even with my less than stellar photography skills you can see how the top just glows.  THAT is what I love about a waxed finish.  If you could see this in person you’d be amazed at the result.  Seriously, it GLOWS!

One last little bit…  I took down the chandelier that was in here and after much playing around with different things I’ve almost finished the new light fixture ….  be warned, this image may scare small children .. or YOU!  It’s going to rock when it’s done, trust me!  hehe

Hmmm …  looks pretty sad there, doesn’t it?  Have no fear my friends!  It’ll be the swankiest light fixture around very soon!

I’m linking up to these fabulous parties this week:

 

Posted in 2012 Home Goals, Dining Room, Furniture Revamps, How To, Picture Perfect Challenge at FJI | 1 Comment

Dining Room Update and Some Furniture Redo’s

By LM | Published: February 14, 2012

Here we are my friends, February 14, also known as Valentine’s Day!  I didn’t plan a post for V-day but here it is anyway.  Since I’m here I do sincerely hope you’ve had a great day, felt and given lots of love!

 

 

Now onto my progress in the dining room or whatever it’s going to be… are you ready?  Sure??

not.  one.  bit.  of.  progress.  has.  been.  made.  since.  last.  time.

ehem, what’s up with that?!  Well I’ve been busy with some furniture make overs for the store, throw in a few bad health days and indecision on a color palette and there ya have it.  I HAVE however, now figured out my color palette, yippeeee!  I’ve been a little lacking in the motivation department too and I hope to kick that in the rear and get going again.

Here are 2 of the furniture pieces I have done this last week.  Hope you like them!

That’s it for me tonight.  Short and to the point I know but it’s one of those days! lol

 

Posted in 2012 Home Goals, Dining Room, Picture Perfect Challenge at FJI | Leave a comment

Look Forward with Me: 2012

By LM | Published: February 10, 2012

Hello my friends!  I hope this finds you happy, well and having a good day, wherever you are!

Have you looked back at the last month?  If so, did it go like you wanted?  Did you do the things you “resolved” to do?  If so, great job!  If not, it’s never too late to start!

How many times have you read something like that each year?  How many times have you wanted to do better?  be better? live better?  For me, every.  single.  year.  I’d make a lot of plans but nothing would come of them.   I’d get supplies but no projects would magically be done.  I had hopes and wishes and dreams and never did anything about them. I had to do lists and will do lists and gotta do lists everywhere!! Does that sound familiar?  2012 is different for me.  Want to know why?!?!

I have REACHED a goal!  *dances around in the falling confetti*

I was able to accomplish my bedroom *freshening* in January.  I realize that finally finishing a room in my home may not sound like much of a big deal to many of you.  It is a HUGE deal for me! I have reached a goal. I think the word “goal” intimidates us before we even start  I’ve learned that to make things happen in my life, I have to break my goals down to very small steps.  Each time I complete a step I get a sense of accomplishment and motivation to make another.  Make sense?

It doesn’t matter what area of our life we’re talking about either.  Home, relationships, health, food, these are all areas we have goals in, don’t we?  ”I want to be a better mother.”  ”I want to eat better.”  ”I want to take better care of myself.”  These are all things we have in common.  Each and every one of us have said those words (or something similar) at some point in our life.

A few months ago I made up my mind that this year would be different. I happened to read a post by Tobi Farley, a nationally acclaimed interior designer who happens to be local. Her post smacked me right in the face!  I’ll link to it at the bottom of this post.

I’ve faced challenges before and made it, so now I’m giving myself the challenges.  I’m taking the crap life throws out on my terms! lol  (that’s what I’m telling myself anyway!)

I’ve heard it takes 17 days to form a new habit. Or 21.  Or 30. Whatever.  It takes time. Diligence. Practice. Making yourself do it.  You know those things you do on autopilot everyday?  Brush your teeth, put clean clothes on, wake up your kids, feed the cat… those are all habits that either someone taught you or you trained yourself to do.  Why is it so hard to make a habit now?!?!  We’re adults, we’re rational (most of the time), we can see the big picture of what we want our life to be like.

Can you see the big picture?  I can and it scares me!

 

 

If you can’t see the big picture yet, stop and think about it.  Pick up a pen and write about it.  Dream about it. Pray about it.  Decide what it would look like to you.  If you can see the big picture, write about it anyway.  My thoughts have a way of snowballing when I put pen to paper and I bet yours will too.  Get things out of your head and onto paper.  USE A PEN, not the computer.  It’s just not the same!  I challenge you to do this.  Do this one thing.  Put your goals, wishes, dreams and biggest hopes on paper!

 

 

I hope many of you will read Dream a Little Dream in 2012 by Tobi Farley.  She is a great writer and motivator and I believe you will enjoy her story as much as I did!

 

Posted in Goals, Personal Growth | Leave a comment

2012 Home Goals: The Dining Room

By LM | Published: February 8, 2012

Hey everyone!  I hope you’re all having a fabulous day!

It’s cold and icky outside today so I’ve been inside scheming and working on my room refresh for February, the dining room!  I really shouldn’t call it that since I don’t *dine* in there.  Actually I don’t do anything in there so this little space needs a purpose in life.  I can’t have wasted space!  My home is very small and I want every inch to work for me and the things I like to do. This has been a neglected little spot and it’s pretty scary! I haven’t decided exactly what to do with this spot yet but I have a refresh plan so here we go!

Yes that is the entire space!  Told you it was small.  Here are 2 more photos then I’ll walk you through what I’m up to.

So take a look at that cabinet area where my books are stacked.  Why are they there? umm… that’s just where some of them landed. yikes!  Behind that you’ll see what looks like a sheet of plywood leaning against the wall.  Guess what?  It actually IS a sheet of plywood!  Whodathunkit?!  There used to be a window unit a/c there that we removed a while back to put in my mom’s shop.  The hole is filled in, I just haven’t put the last piece to cover it on the inside.  That’s #1 on the list!

As cute as I think the table is, it’s just a dump zone.  These photos are actually very mild compared to what it normally looks like.  Oh and it’s a cat zone so it must be replaced.  I’m moving in the round table I had beside my bed and it won’t take up as much space.  Trying to use what I have!

#2 & #3 – Move books to bookshelf, what a novel idea!  Change out table.  Snap snap!

The light fixture is a yard sale find that I spray painted black and added some flea market shades to.  Yes the yellow used to match!  I am planning on reusing that fixture and just painting it a bright color.  Turquoise perhaps?  That would be niiiiiice!

The floor is something I can’t do much with right now.  That would be a big chunk of moola to replace and I’m not prepared to do that right now.  That is NOT #4!

#4 – Repaint light fixture, replace or cover shades.

The sweet little chair is there and I never use it either, just like the table.  It’s not comfortable, not in the least so it gets replaced.  Luckily I have several chairs to choose from in my stash so one will get painted and have new upholstery put on!  I learned how to do that!  Yaaay me!

#5 – Redo a chair.

The windows are naked of drapes because I moved the gold ones that were there into the bedroom last month.  I sort of have a curtain fetish so I have some I can use but I’m really really wanting something funky.  No idea where I’ll end up with that but stay tuned!  The lovely white black out shade is a must in my home!  You can see it’s pulled down some and it’s the middle of February!  The sun will heat my house right up to 90 degrees if I leave that open all day.  Yay for mother nature!  Anywho, the shade stays but I’d love to cover it some way.  It’s not at all attractive!

#6 – Give the window some lovin’!

That’s my plan in a nutshell, the *bare bones* of it anyway.  Decor is the fun part, these are the necessary parts! lol   So to recap my plan is:

#1 – Finish covering a/c hole.

#2 – Move books to bookshelf.

#3 – Change out table.

#4 – Repaint light fixture.

#5 – Redo a chair.

#6 – Bestow some good lovin’ on that window!

Speaking of the window, do you like my view?  This is the second story of my house so all I see outside is trees.  It’s fantastic!

Be back with an update soon!

 

 

 

Posted in 2012 Home Goals | 1 Comment

Enchanted by Chevron

By LM | Published: February 5, 2012

Hello my friends!  I wanted to do a little weekly series here about design trends that I am over the moon about!

The more I delve into fashion and home decor, I find myself drawn to some more modern elements.  Surprised?  I sure was!  This week I’d like to share with you some beautiful chevron inspiration from pinterest!  Some of these are modern and some have a decidedly funky feel.  I know you can guess which ones are my favs!  Just notice how many areas of your home and style you can work this fun pattern into.  It’s a keeper for sure!

 

 

Source: twopeasinabucket.com via Lisa on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

Source: etsy.com via Lisa on Pinterest

 

 

Source: modcloth.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Posted in 2012 Design Trends | Leave a comment

My Bedroom is Finished!

By LM | Published: February 2, 2012

Hello my friends!  I’m so excited to share with you my first big accomplishment of the new year!

As I’ve said, I took on a challenge from Donna at Funky Junk Interiors to complete a room in my home.  Now I’m happy to say the first room is finished!  Wooohooooo! Remember, this is not a make over.  This is completing unfinished projects, decorating and fluffing, with what I have!  Here is my favorite photo.

There were a few things on my list I didn’t get done but I decided that’s ok!  It’s *done* enough and I’m happy with it.  Remember, I’m using what I have as much as possible!  I only spent NINE dollars in here, everything else was from my stash.

Here are a few more photos (blame the quality on the operator, not the camera lol)

That photo above is where I spent my whopping $9, for 3 knobs at Hobby Lobby! :D

I’m tickled pink to have this room done and totally ready to hit the next room on my list!  If you have a room (or rooms) that you’d love some motivation to finish, join Donna and the rest of us!

Hope you all have a blessed day!

 

Posted in 2012 Home Goals, Bedroom, Picture Perfect Challenge at FJI | 1 Comment