What do you think?

My Mother-in-law took these faux metal panels out of her kitchen and saved them for me. Now I need help. Should I put them up in our kitchen or leave the creamy wall paper that is there now? Here are a few pictures to help you decide.





This is what the back splash looks like right now. What do you think? Should I panel or not?

My Down east outfit

I created this look and submitted it to Sensibly Styled for a giveaway. I hope people like it. It is totally something I would wear. To vote go here voting will start on Monday so you have to wait until then, and it will only allow one vote per computer so be creative. Vote for my look and I will Win that Sweater pictured. I am outfit #5 emily h. Vote Vote Vote. The voting will be closed at 7 am on Wednesday Feb. 3

We would like to wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas.

Dare to Design for Shabby Apple Dresses

Dress Design For "Shabby Apple Dresses"

My inspiration for this dress came from the Iris flowers that grow in my mothers flower garden pictured above.
As the flower blooms the petals fold back to create a very unique shape.
The petals of the flower inspired this asymmetrical collar.
The color pallet comes from the Iris flowers as well.
The fabric will be a woven cotton to make it light enough for spring and still hang well on the body. It will be a vibrant blue with a green print for the collar and sash.
This dress will be perfect to wear to a picnic or a spring night out.
It will add a touch of whimsy to any woman's closet.

I heart halloween

This year I decided to have a Witches Tea Party. All of the guests showed up in great witch costumes. We ate a spooktacular meal of Witch's brew (cheesy potato soup) in pumpkin bread bowls, bone bread sticks, a Halloween pasta salad and a spider web jello salad. For Dessert we had a pumpkin roll that was divine. Thanks Lanelle. We played Ghost bingo and did a Halloween word search. It was a lot of fun to dress up and decorate my house for the occasion. Can't wait for next year.

Here are some photos of the food.

These are glasses I got at dollar tree and cut vinyl labels for the outside. I Got the Idea from Better homes and Gardens but can't find the link anymore.

The Jello Salad. Thanks Christine.

Pasta Salad in a Cauldron

Bone Breadsticks. I got this idea here.

Pumpkin Bread Bowls. Thanks Molly

More Projects

On my list of things to do this summer was to get Eden a chest of drawers. My mom had this one at her house and let me have it. It obviously needed some TLC. I wanted to have a pottery barn feel with a little shabby chic. so this is what I came up with. I remove the remaining Silver hardware. I filled in the holes and created new ones with Clint's power drill. Then attached the new wood pulls that I painted along with the whole piece. Above is the before and below is the after.







And here is a close up of the shabby chic detail. I think it turned out great.


The next project that I had on my list was to cover the chairs I got from my Sister in Law. I have only gotten to one of them, but it is the one in our living room. The one downstairs will have to wait until I decide what I really want to basement to look like.



This is the lovely chair before (above) and Below is the after.



and here is an up close so you can see the fabric detail.



One thing that doesn't show in the pictures is the zippers. I took them out of the original cushions and put them in the new ones. Now I can take them on and off easily when they need to be washed.

I got some great tips on how to slip cover a chair from Here. My chair has a bit different shape but it was nice to see the process step by step first before I jumped on a project like this.
thanks pink and polka dot.

Summer Projects

I made a list of things that I want to accomplish while I am home for the summer. I wanted to do a project per week, but trips and things have sort of gotten in the way of that. I have altered my plan to work on something daily so i can get as many projects done as I can. Here are some of my summer projects so far. I love how they turned out.

Project #1
Half bath cabinets

This is the before.

And this is after. I love them.


Project #2
Is our small pantry or shelves in the kitchen



Here is the mess before. WOW!!



And this is how it looks now.
I could look at it for days.
I primed and painted all of the shelves you notice
the old brown color in the before.
Now it is bright white and clean. On the top shelf I
got baskets from Dollar Tree
made labels using my silhouette machine.
I also cut some lettering out of vinyl.
Here is a close up of the baskets.

They will help us stay organized. I think it turned out great.
The colors go really well in my kitchen. I wasn't sure the dollar store
was going to have what I needed for this project.
Why would I doubt they always pull through.
With a little creativity you can decorate and get organized on a budget.