Monday, January 30, 2012

Mr. Rooster's New Roost/Stand Makeover

Happy Monday to all!  Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful weekend.  I spent the weekend fighting a sinus headache so I only diddled a little bit.   While diddling I discovered a new use for a new old thing!

Back in the fall my father helped an elderly lady from his church doing some major purging at her home.  When he was done he had managed to drag home an assortment of junk and jewels.  I spent a day helping him sort and clean his garage and was rewarded with some jewels to bring home with me.  One of those was this old plant stand.

Sorry about the sideways pic
I was planning to do a lot to it by adding trim and painting and distressing but in the end I simply painted and distressed it.


So much better, I love the chippy distressing.
I have been using it as a plant stand but this week we got a new kitchen set and I lost the top of the old china hutch as a display area.  My new china hutch has an arched top so no way to display on it.  I had made this cutie patootie rooster years ago and he has been perched on top of the china hutch ever since. 


 Now I was in a quandary since Mr. Rooster is too tall to go above my cabinets and too tall to sit on the counters without blocking the cabinets and too big to use on my island.    Think, think, think....ah ha...just before I was going to banish Mr. Rooster to the attic for a while it hit me....he would be perfect on my plant stand!


Although I loved it as a plant stand for my asparagus fern I like this much better.  I love it when you bring home junk and end up with a jewel....and Mr. Rooster is pretty darn happy with his new roost!  Thanks for stopping by.

I am linking up with  Metamorphis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch




and Debbie's Newbie Party at Debbiedoo's Blogging and Blabbing


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Snowman Tablescape

In honor of the chance (slim as it is) that we may have a bit of snow at some point this winter I put together these Snowman tablescapes.  It is so happy looking and bright it is just perfect for dreary January days.  Won't you join me for a tour of two tablescapes sure to brighten your day?

The first tablescape is my dining room.  I love, love, love crystal so I loaded this table with lots of it. 

The plates are Food Network from Kohl's.  The plates were a Christmas gift from Wonder Hubby about 3 years ago.  He used all that Kohl's cash smart guy that he is!  I went through a nothing but square plates phase and these were from that time frame.

You have seen my shaded crystal candlesticks before, they are so versatile I use them all time. The hanging crystals could be icicles, don't you think?

The cake plate/snowman stand is from Burton and Burton.  I love all the soft colors of the snowman but he is extra special since I had to get really ugly to keep him in a serious dirty Christmas incident several years ago.  Anyone that knows me should have known once I got this goodie I would do whatever it took to take him home with me, duh.  I'm just a little competitive that way!


The napkins, napkin rings and placemats came as gifts from Hubby.   I love the silver sparkle in them.  The napkin rings are new this year and a great improvement from the plastic snowflake napkin rings I had fashioned last winter!


The dessert dishes are also a gift from Wonder Hubby.  He spotted these in a antique store in the summer of 2010 and hid them till Christmas 2010. 

I love how the candlelight makes all the crystal sparkle.

Now we are on to my breakfast nook snowman table. 


The plates are from Kohl's as are the placemats and napkin rings....yes all gifts from Wonder Hubby.





Of course I managed to work in a little Fiesta.  I love my red pitcher, it is my favorite (well at least until spring and then I bet yellow wins out, I'm fickle that way).   The plates have the cutest raised snowman design...I almost hate to cover them with food :)


The centerpiece is from my store.   He is on springs so he adds a little action to meals!  I always used it to decorate the store and could have sold it a million times but I kept it just for me.

The candles are ice cubes and snowballs.  I am amazed how many ways I find to use them.  The ice cubes are great in the summer.   The glasses are 1980s Fostoria....wedding gifts...still love them. 


I hope touring my tablescapes brightened your day.  Thanks for stopping by.
I am joining

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for



Monday, January 23, 2012

Pottery Barn Light Knock Off

A long, long time ago in blogland (3 months in real life) I began the process of making over my daughters old bedroom.  I have talked about it here, here and here!  My inspiration for the room was a variation of the Pottery Barn room below from the Fall Catalog.

User submitted photo

I loved the headboard and ended up with a mantel instead of shutters but I adored the pendant lights.  The price tag, however squelched my adoration a bit.  Wonder Hubby urged me to order them but I just couldn't justify the expense for the guest room so.... I looked at my PB catalog longingly everyday and wished.  One afternoon our spare daughter Bri was over and I was once again thumbing through my dog eared PB catalog when Bri said "you can make those."   Make them?  Although this is normally my first thought when I see something I like it had never occurred to me to even consider making them.

Wonder Hubby studied the picture and agreed that we could probably make them.  I was now on a quest.  First I had to figure out how close I could get with parts and pieces and second I had to find the parts and pieces.  We visited lighting companies and salvage yards trying to locate the right pieces and eventually after some pretty heated words at Home Depot with Wonder Hubby over taking apart a pendant light, I pretty much conceded defeat and was ready to walk away.   How could this man not see it is not a waste to take apart a $14.00 fixture to piece together a light that would save him $100.00 per light?  

 I promptly started a week of pouting that ended with Wonder Hubby admitting he had thought about it and had decided we could make it work.  So before he had time to change his mind I shoved hustled him into the car and off we went to collect all the parts and pieces.  He had created such doubt in me I spent the whole shopping trip with my fingers crossed that this would indeed work since I had spent so much time pouting convincing him it would!

We started with this pendant light kit.

Conduit
Assorted elbows, extensions and brackets.
A small wooden plaque.

We disassembled the pendent light kit using the "guts" and top of the light only.  Then I painted the plaque, the hardware, the pendent light pieces and the conduit with Rust Oleum Oil Rubbed Bronze (love this stuff!).  After a couple of coats and lots of drying time we were ready to get started.

Wonder Hubby pre-drilled the holes for mounting the plaque.

Then he located the studs.  We were so lucky that the studs and the electrical outlets aligned perfectly!

We mounted the plaques on the wall and then threaded the wiring through the conduit.  We had to wire the pendent light on once the conduit was mounted and also wire on the plug. 

 All that was left was too attach the globes...and ta da....my PB knock off lights!



I love the way they turned out. Everyone that has seen them has fallen in love too! In fact, I think we are going to have our own copy cats:)   Total cost for both lights $70.00!   FYI....I overheard Wonder Hubby telling a friend about these and it sounded like he was saying they were his idea and no problem to make....seriously?   Thanks for stopping by. 
 I am joining Debbie at
 
and Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday.







and Kim at


and Judy at DIY by Design



Becky @ Beyond the Picket Fence

Beyond The Picket Fence

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Happy Winter Wreath

Just before Christmas I decided to makeover an old wreath for my back door.  I wanted something that would make me happy every time I came in the door so I knew I wanted something bright.  I went shopping around the house for supplies.  First I found an extra wreath in the attic. Oh my gosh....I'm lucky I found anything there.  This is part of my attic. It is the Holiday area and it is a mess.  Wonder Hubby started building shelving in this a couple of years ago but I need much, much more.  Instead of playing and blogging....I should be working on this but alas....it is just too cool for that today, whew!



I also found this little sled in my some painted some not stuff and decided I could make it over since I didn't want anything holiday specific.


Then I shopped some more and found foam snowflakes that I was pretty sure I could work with.  Okay now I had some stuff but it needed something, hmmm.  After a quick trip to Dollar General and 2 dollars later I had these cute little Christmas balls.

I  remember all the multi surface paint I had from the Trivet project I showed you here.

Love this paint!  It has good coverage on glass and other slick surfaces which is sometimes hard to get.  Then I had some really messy fun and painted all the balls with circles and then covered those with glitter....love me some glitter girls!  Glitter makes me smile so I love some glittery stuff! 


After I finished the painting the balls I did a little paint makeover on the sled then I assembled all my goodies and gave my wreath a trial run.  Good but just kinda blah.  Then I had one of those ah ha moments when you hear singing.  I remembered I had just a smidge of deco mesh left from my Gingerbread tree.   I wired on the deco mesh, then the sled and then clustered the balls on the foam snowflakes.  This is what I ended up with.






 I just love how it turned out.  It is so bright and cheery....very nice to see on a dreary day.  I am linking to:

>

Sunday's Best Linky Party!