More Ledge Art

Still haven't spent a dime on my living room picture ledge but I did dig around the house and come up with a few more frames.  I filled them up with some temporary printouts and magazine clippings to help me visualize.  I'll continue to tweak the ledge but at least it's better to look at now.

Bathroom Window Treatment

I searched premade window treatments for my little window in my guest bath but I either didn't like what I found or didn't want to fork over the money for it.  Story of my life.

I decided I was better off just making my own.  I searched fabric stores online but nothing really jumped out at me.  I liked how the ugly old shade let in light so I didn't want anything too heavy yet I didn't want just plain white.  I decided to just roam Target in search of fabric I liked.  I checked out their drapes, table clothes, sheets and shower curtains.  Random, yes.  But a cheap way to find fabric.  I found a keeper in the shower curtain aisle!

It is white with just a simple border pattern around the bottom.  My goal is to eventually sew this into a roman shade with the border along the bottom of the shade.  But until I get around for that, I figured I would just wrap it around my existing shade since the curtain was basically twice the width of my shade.

Biscuit was helpful as always with this process.  What's it with dogs and the need to sit on things?  I rolled the shade back up and stuck it on my window.

Not bad for a temporary fix.  Once I actually sew the roman shade, there will be less white at the bottom so the border will be lower.  And since I was at Target buying stuff (my new alarm clocks included) I picked up a couple more things for the bathroom including this awesome plant that I can not kill because it's plastic!

And I got a new print to hang above the towel rack.  It is a little bigger than the one I had hanging there before.

Hopefully I will finish painting all the trim tonight and be able to clean the bathroom back up.  It should be good to go until I get around to sewing my roman shade.  Note to self:  Google 'How to Make a Roman Shade' soon.

Terrific Trash!

Man, between the holidays and a nasty cold I've really fallen behind in life.  Fear not, I'm back.  Remember the nightstands I stole from my neighbors bulk trash pile in the middle of the night?

Over the past couple of weeks I'm been working on them off and on.  I sanded them all down and primed them with some Kilz primer I had on hand.

I decided on a bold Purple for the chests.  After a failed attempt at buying regular paint to use, I resorted to my old standby...spray paint.  It worked like a charm!

I moved them into my bedroom and they work great!  It's still a work in progress in here.  I need to figure out what I'm doing with my headboard situation but I'm still up in the air on that.

So the some total of this project amounted to 2 cans of purple spray paint...$7.50.  You just can't beat that.  I think they look like I could have spent a couple hundred on them.

Trophy Time

No, I will not be handing out end of the year superlatives.  But there will be trophies involved.  Ever solve one of those problems that you didn't realize was a problem until you found the solution?  Well I did last week.  My problem: A whole big wall with only a funky orange mirror on it.

My solution?  Well, white ceramic deer head trophies, of course.  Problem solved!

Who needs boring sconces when you can have faux animal heads glaring at your dinner guests.

They are a little quirky and I love them.  They help fill up space on that wall that I didn't even realized needing filling.  Actually this all began because I wanted the "large" deer head at Z Gallerie that was basically life sized and cost $250.  I wanted it so bad yet had no idea where it would fit in my house.  My compromise...2 small deer heads that only ran me $80 total.  And I might add, my office holiday bowling party winnings paid for these suckers.  So they were basically free!

So now I'm over the expensive deer head but now I'm kinda eyeing the $129 giraffe head.  He'd look really cute in my office.  I better start practicing my bowling. 

No actual animals were harmed in this post.

More Thieving

I have no shame.  This week is bulk trash week in my neighborhood.  I can't help but scan people's discards when I drive by.  You never know.  I've rescued frames from dumpsters.  My now navy office chair was once just a lonely wooden chair on the curb.  I think of it as recycling.  Upcycling even.  Giving new life to stuff and saving space in our landfills.  Or at least that's how I sleep at night.  I say this because this past weekend I "stole" some curbside trash.  I passed by it a few times before running across the street, dressed in black, around midnight on Saturday.  I also made sure to turn all my porch lights off.  The last thing I need is the neighbors talking about me.

Behold!  Two nightstands that I don't really need...still damp with dew.  But they have such potential that I couldn't let them be destroyed.  They just need a little spray paint!  [Doesn't everything?]

The hardware and gold trim are pretty awesome.  Like I said, I don't need any nightstands in my house but I still might be able to use them.  They could be end tables for my low sectional in the living room.  Or possibly a storage bench at the end of my bed.

I have no idea what color I'm going to paint them.  I could do something really crazy, like Kelly Green.

Or I could just go with a crisp white.

At least this project is a cheap [read: free] form of entertainment for me.  As I mull over my color choices I just pray my neighbors don't come over to borrow any sugar soon. 

Needlepoint Saves Me $158.00

I have already discussed my obsession with Jonathan Adler.  I just love everything he does.  Unfortunately I can't afford 90% of what he does, but such is life.  [sidenote: Barnes & Noble has a line of JA designs especially for their stores and the prices are awesome!  Haven't picked anything up yet, but might after Christmas.]  Anyway...another thing I love in life is the movie Mommie Dearest.  This is in no way to be a reflection on my own childhood.  I just love me some demented Joan Crawford by way of Faye Dunaway.  So I was super excited to see this new pillow in Jonathan Adler's Needlepoint collection.

I love everything about this pillow.  Everything except the price.  $165.00.  No, even I know that's too much for a 9" throw pillow.  That's when I got the brilliant idea to learn to needlepoint and make my own.  I started out in early November after purchasing about $7.00 in supplies (yarn and the grid).

I just sort of freehanded it from what stiches I could see in the photo of the pillow.

I ran out of room for the third hanger but still think I did a pretty good job!  It took about 5 weeks (which may be why the hand stitched pillow is so costly) and I finally finished it last night.

I was going to turn it in to a pillow but now I think I'm going to frame it and hang it in my soon-to-be-redone master closet.  That renovation won't get started until after the new year but in the meantime I'll be starting my next needlepoint project.  This next one will become a pillow eventually.  So, sorry about stealing the JA design but I think of it as a nod of appreciation.  And once I win that lottery, I promise to hit the Jonathan Adler store for a shopping spree.