Sassy Hat Giveaway!

I haven't done a giveaway for awhile. What do you say to winning some free stuff?

You may remember this photo below, which I used for my Christmas card this year. So many people loved Nina's adorable hat! (And don't even get me started on Henry's little "newsboy" look. His hat is from Janie and Jack, in case you're looking for one.)

Anyway, back to Nina's hat. It is one that I purchased locally and posted about a few months ago, from a little shop called Marili Jean. Every single time I put her in this hat, people stop me to tell me how cute she is. (Of course I agree!)

Well, Laurie, the talented owner of Marili Jean, has offered to give another one of these cuties away! Just in time for Valentines' Day. Don't you just love her?

photo thanks to Kelly Anderson Photo Design

So, here's how to enter to win: hop over to Marili Jean's website and take a look at all the sassy little numbers she has to offer. Then come back here and tell me which one is your favorite.

photo thanks to Kelly Anderson Photo Design

I will close the comments on Wednesday night. The winner will receive a $20 merchandise credit for anything at Marili Jean.

Now go and enjoy the cuteness!

The Evolution of a Lamp

I bought these two lamps back in May at a garage sale. $8 for the pair. (Man do I miss garage sale season!)

The color of the wood looked a little dated to me, so I took some paint to them. I brushed it on lightly so that the brown of the original lamp would still come through. Then I covered the bottom (metal) portion with a hammered metal spray paint. (I'm sorry I don't remember the names of the paints I used...I did this part last summer!)

They are now a deep brownish-black. One lives in my upstairs hallway, and the other in my new guest room (still a work in progress!).

I loved everything about these lamps, but the lampshades I bought at W*lMart were a little too gold for me. So I covered the shades with a little burlap (using my method described here) and presto! The evolution is complete.

And it only took me eight months.

Mossing It Up

I've been adding moss to stuff lately. Well, not just lately, but more than usual lately. Make sense? :)

Our last name starts with a "G." (I found this one at Hobby Lobby.) Add a little floral moss from W*lMart...

It hangs over my kitchen sink now...but please excuse my photo! I couldn't get a clear shot unless I closed the blinds, and then of course the lighting looks sad and ugly, but you get the idea.
I also had this little urn that I picked up at Goodwill for $3.

One of those little Styrofoam balls was the perfect size for the top.

Isn't everything (in decorating, anyway!) better with moss?

How Inspiring!

How many of you keep an inspiration book for decorating? It's the best thing I've done. You know how, sometimes when you see an adorable new idea, you can almost get stressed out, thinking "How am I going to ever make something that cute?" Well, maybe you don't get that feeling, but I do!

Now I just tear the page out of the magazine, or save it digitally if I see it online. Then I can always go back and shamelessly copy it, on my own time. Here are a few of my favorites:

Adorable Pottery Barn wreath! Not paying for it though...

image from PotteryBarn.com

I grabbed a glue gun, some moss in a bag, and a Styrofoam wreath. Ta Da! (Read about the wreath-making here.)

I have always loved this dresser, in an image torn out of Country Home magazine before it went under (the magazine, not the dresser):

image from Country Home, November 2008

Here's my renovated knock-off version (you can read more about it here):

How about a Ballard Designs "laundry" sign, with a $45 price tag? No thanks.

image from BallardDesigns.com

Here's my version of the laundry sign (that my husband made for me, using wooden letters from JoAnn's and some scrap wood). Probably cost $15 total. Click here to read more about it!

Here's one of the first inspiration pages I ever saved. It's dated October 2003. I loved the kitchen, and especially the "Eat, Drink and be Merry" sign.

So I made my own version, using a French phrase ("Let the Good Times Roll!"). It hangs above my kitchen sink just like my inspiration photo:

This next one, I admit, it's origin I can't recall. Somewhere online. Undoubtedly it's someone's home, and if that someone happens to be you, please tell me so I can credit you. Does it help you to know how much I love your family room, whoever you are?

You may not initially see the inspiration, but I loved how the photo frames above the couch are kind of hodge-podged, different colors, shapes, sizes. That's the look I was going for in my upstairs hallway. I am on the lookout for more frames at Goodwill.

Most of you probably keep an inspiration file anyway. But I just thought I'd show you, truly, how many of my ideas are pilfered. And as my parents used to tell me when my younger sister "copied" everything I did: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Get over it.

Have a great day!

Stains Aren't Always Bad

Have you tried using stain in your projects lately?

I recently bought this antiquing polish at Michael's. It has been so fun to experiment! Take, for example, this mirror that I bought at Goodwill:

I spray painted it gold, but then it was, you know, too gold. So I used some of the antiquing polish to tone it down. Like the result?

I also had this sign in my kitchen that I hand painted years ago. I tried to antique it with sanding, but it just wasn't doing the trick.

So once I had the antiquing polish out, I started attacking everything I laid eyes on. See the difference?
Next was this barn wood frame that I painted a pale blue. Just rubbing a little antiquing polish over the top really gave it some great depth.

Same with this gold frame. I love how streak-y it looks now:

Give it a try sometime! Wet a paper towel and wring it out, then just blob a little antiquing polish on there. Rub it onto your frame or furniture piece or whatever you want, and then be ready with a dry paper towel to blot and tweak. Play around with it until you get the look you want!

Pretty cheap thrill, huh? (For us decorating dorks, at least!)

The Queen Bee Book Review, Part I

I have been on a house-related book kick lately. Julia from Hooked on Houses posted about a few books that she loves, and I took her advice and checked them out. (I have a hard time sleeping at night, which is when I get a lot of reading done! Can anyone relate?)

This first book is hilarious, and totally worth a trip to the library. It's one of those books that you can pick up at odd hours, and just read little snippets as you have the spare time. Each chapter is short and topic-specific: one is just about decorating kids' rooms, or maybe just how to arrange books and knickknacks. I was totally hooked!

In one chapter, the author writes about her friend, Lisa, who had an empty room in her house for which she couldn't decide on furniture:

"My husband doesn't know what's wrong with me," Lisa continues. "Every day he asks, 'Why don't you you buy some furniture?' I feel so inadequate."

I nod sympathetically, though I can't recall a moment in my marriage when my husband has ever said, "Why don't you buy some furniture?" That would be rather like letting a bear loose in a butcher shop. Instead I flash on the two long years our living room remained unfurnished, unless you count the Barbie Jeep and the fake ficus.

"It's so embarrassing," I said back then to my husband. "People think we have no money."

"They're right," he said. Sometimes his realism really bugs me.

See? Hilarious! (Not to mention the fact that I see my own conversations with my husband in this exchange. Anyone else?)

I have a few other books that I've discovered, all house-related, so I'll be sharing those sometime soon! Let me know if you try one of my recommendations, in your (abundant, I'm sure) spare time. :)

Un-Edited Decorating

Sometimes blogging can give people an unrealistic sense of my life. The photos look pretty, everything is clean, and anything I don't want to show can just be cropped out of the photo.

Here's an example: remember this ceramic pot? I wrote about it here. I've always thought it was fabulous!

My almost-one-year-old baby Henry didn't think it was so fabulous.

Little troublemaker decided that Mama's pot looked better on the floor. And that the dirt looked better in his ear. (Don't worry, he wasn't hurt...just entertained by the big crash he made!)

So, I did a little redecorating.

No cropping. No editing. Just lots of dirt in my boy's ear and a nice, non-breakable pot.