Friday's Favorite

By now, it's no secret that I love flowers. Hydrangeas are among my favorite for summertime. We have several in our yard. This year they were so pretty.

 I only treated myself to a few of the blooms, but what a treat they were. I enjoyed them so, so much. 

In fact, I still have one bloom that I've been enjoying for two weeks now. I'm hoping it will last another week or two.  So pretty!

Happy Friday!

Sister See

It's Thursday and you know what that means-a trip to Sister's house. This week's feature is a bench that belonged to my grandmother. Sister's house has the perfect wall for the bench. It is near her entryway making it convenient for holding her purse or taking a seat to put on shoes. We used a linen fabric for the seat cushion and matching pillow. The initial monogram on the pillow added a touch of personalization. I think the bench is just lovely. 

So glad you could join me for this week's edition of Sister's See. I'll be back next week for more of the tour. We'll be working on some things this weekend that I'm anxious to share- so stay tuned!

Hold It!

I bought this acrylic napkin holder a few weeks ago and couldn't be happier. It is perfect for holding cheap, everyday napkins. This particular napkin holder stands upright, taking up very little counter space-love that! Have you ever found something so simple, yet so practical that you are reminded each day how great a purchase it was? This is that for me! Before, the napkins were in a mess in one of the kitchen cabinets! Now, they've got a cute little home to call their own. It's the simple things, right? 

Cross Your Art

I am loving all the metal crosses that I've seen everywhere. Hobby Lobby has had some really great metal ones-a lot of them are on clearance now. Most of them, however, require that the cross be drilled to something (like the wall or another piece of wood, etc.). Not wanting to attach the cross to the wall, I had the idea of framing the cross. Well, it just so happened that I had an extra piece of wood that was just the perfect size. I also had a frame that I'd picked up at a yard sale. So, with a little experimenting for the color, I painted both the wood (a light blue) and the frame (an off white). I distressed the frame a little and then attached the cross to the wooden board and the board to the frame. This was super easy and quite inexpensive (less than $10). I really, really love the way this turned out! 

Door Decor

Awhile back, my mother-in-law showed me this picture because she knows I enjoy floral arranging. It's from Budget Decorating-a Woman's Day publication. As you might notice, I tore it out and have been holding on to it for quite sometime. 

I have been on the hunt for a perfect bucket to make an arrangement for our front door. I finally found the perfect door bucket, but it was just a plain galvanized bucket. I thought about painting it, but then saw some wrapping paper and new that would be just perfect-it's damask. So, I cut out the shape of the bucket with the paper and decoupaged away. Then, I got some fake flowers (oh, the tragedy) and made this little arrangement. I'm loving it for summer!

Friday's Favorite

A few years ago I tried a Voluspa candle. Now, they are my favorite. You know it is hard to find a really great candle. Often times, they don't smell or just the opposite- they have a very overpowering smell. Sometimes they come in an ugly container, don't last very long, and the list could keep going. Well, not so with these. The smell is evident, but not over done, the containers are simple and sleek, and they burn for a long, long time. 

Now, I'm not an expert on all the scents, but I do have a couple of favorites. For the fall and winter, I love Santiago Huckleberry. In the spring and summer, I prefer Saijo Persimmon. So, if you are in the market for a new candle, you should definitely try one out. 

Happy Friday!

Sister See

As promised, I'm back with more to show you from Sister's house. You can see last week's feature here. Today, is going to be a little bit of a tease, I'm afraid. Last weekend, Sister bought this wonderful old, metal bed. We already had an idea for this room (even before she bought the house) and have been picking up pieces for it all summer. We almost have all of the key pieces and it is really coming together fabulously. Until we're completely finished, you'll have to settle for this. These are the linens and fabrics we're planning to use and here's a sneak peek of the bed. More to come soon, I hope!  

Silver Service

Well, I'm a copy cat. But, isn't that the great thing about blogging-getting new ideas? Shannon, from Bless Our Nest, always has the cutest silver trays that she turns into chalkboards. So, this past weekend I went to a few yard sales and picked up this tray for 50 cents. I was so excited because I knew that it would be the perfect chalkboard. Here it is before it got the treatment. See all those scratches?

And, here it is now, in its new life, with a few coats of chalkboard paint. Recycling at its finest!

Now, don't forget to come back tomorrow to see what's up at Sister's. It's my new series-Sister See. We'll be visiting her on Thursday to check in on her new place and the progress we're-I mean I'm- making with all of our projects-and by that I mean all the projects my mama keeps suckering me into doing. No really, it is a lot of fun and I do love a good project. Anyway, you can click here to see last week's post.

Fabric Fever

I have a constant case of fabric fever. Right now I have a yard of this fabric. I'm trying to decide what to do with it and if I'll need another yard or two. I would like to incorporate it into our living room/dining room area. You can see our living room here and dining room here. The pattern is very bold so I'm thinking it should be limited to a pillow for the couch or seats for the dining room chairs. I love that it will introduce some new colors into the room-like navy and coral-while working with some of the room's existing colors. Here it is draped over the chair in our living room. Decisions, decisions. What do you think?

Flag A Flyin'

Right now I'm loving my summer flag flying in the breeze! It is sporting lime green, hot pink and black with stripes and polka dots. Those colors are always a great combination. Yard decor at its best.!!!

Friday's Favorite

There is something wonderful about coming home to a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers. That is what happened yesterday. My sweet mama brought these zinnias to me from our local farmer's market. I put them in a vase and have been enjoying them so much-definitely a Friday Favorite! They are bright and happy and just perfect for the carefree days of summer. Hope you have a fabulous Friday!!!

Sister See

I'm going to try really, really hard to make this a weekly post. It won't be a formal tour of my sister's house, but each week, on Thursday, I'll try to show something from her house- a project we've completed, a piece of furniture we've refurbished, an object we've repurposed, a corner we've decorated and eventually a room we've finished. 

So, here's a little corner we decorated right away. It definitely was a team effort trying different pieces of art and other objects. It really helps when you have another pair of eyes and set of ideas. After playing with several arrangements, we settled on this. Even before all of the boxes were unpacked we had this corner all fixed up. That is the fun stuff, right?!? Of course, I'm sure it will change, but for now, I'm loving this little corner. It's so welcoming and cozy and just plain homey.

Hope you'll come back next week to see more from Sister's!

Back Porch Beautification

Yesterday, I promised to show you where this little tray found its new home. So, here's the scoop. This year, my goal has been to spruce up our back porch. We go through the back porch several times a day, so I wanted it to be appealing. 

I had been looking for a wicker chair and was super excited when I found one for 50% off. I already had the green pillows so I knew they'd be perfect with the chair. I got the small candle lanterns last year at Old Time Pottery for a few dollars and spray painted them green to match the pillows. I found the fern for 50% off. So, with all of that in place, I decided to paint the little tray to coordinate. I'm loving this little corner of our back porch now!

Tray Transformation

Whew, it has been awhile. I've been busy and hopefully will have some great new posts to prove it. Today I'm featuring a project that I completed a couple of weeks ago. When Sister was packing up, I came across this lovely little plastic tray we'd had a few years back. It was about to be tossed in the donate pile. So, I rescued it and moved it to my pile. By the way, I love it when Sister moves. I get all kinds of goodies. Anyway, here is what it looked liked before getting the special treatment.

After a couple of coats of green spray paint, I added our name and polka dots with a white paint pen. Of course, it is not suitable for use with food now. However, I have other plans for it. Here it is in all of its green glory. 

You'll have to stay tuned tomorrow to see where it found its new home on the back porch!

Happy Fourth of July!

I am proud to be an American. I am so thankful for all who serve and have served our great country to give us the freedom we celebrate today. God bless America, land that I love!!!

We're enjoying fireworks on the beach, good food and a wonderful time with family. Hope you have a happy day as well!

Changing and Rearranging

This past weekend, I needed to change things up a bit. Normally, our kitchen table is set with four place settings that include: a charger, dinner plate, salad plate and cloth napkin. Well, we used our kitchen table to serve our buffet style Sunday dinner so I had to clear off everything. The chargers are too large to fit in the cabinets so I had to get creative and find a home for them. I used this one as a tray on the counter. I liked it so much, it might just have a new home here.