Milk Glass

One of the things I am playing around in my house right now is staging the shelving in the dining room.  Sadly, I made this goal back in January on my "Home Goals 2011" post.  Since the dining room and living room are connected, am trying to stay away from anything too over-the-top "dining room".  I also have an issue with thinking that these shelves compete with the fireplace, so I try to keep the height of the shelves low.  Here are pictures that show the dining room and living room and how they are connected.

 This summer, I removed the top shelf and touched the paint back up.  I think it looks much more balanced and doesn't steal the thunder from the mantle.  Here is what I just threw together.

I am loving the top shelf full of white dining room themed items, but I want to change out the bottom.  It looks too crowded for the look I am going for.  I would rather keep the walls simple and pimp out the dining room table with a killer centerpiece and an awesome tablescape.

 I love white ceramic pieces. 

 This tray and pitcher came from Homegoods for about $5.00 each.

The goblets and bud vases are milk glass.  A vintage glass that you can find at estate sales, antique stores or in your birthday package from your grandmother (thanks E.I.!)

I'm almost positive that the bud vases came from a florist's shop.  I remember when arrangements came in these vases over the clear glass ones.  I am hoping to keep adding to my little collection.  The white is so timeless and classic!

 

What about you guys...do you find yourselves tweaking and rearranging shelves and table tops all the time?!

Friday Finds

This morning, I started out with VERY good intentions.  I was going to teach all day, coach after teach, tutor after coach and clean after tutor.  Well, I taught the same writing lesson to 133 freshmen, practice finished early because my team rocks and my tutoring kid canceled, and Rusty left on a 4:30 bus to coach an away game. 

 

On my lunch break, I caught up on my Google Reader and saw this inspiring photo:

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This picture really got me thinking.  I started feeling guilty that I haven't blogged in over a month and have completed no major projects.  I miss my time.  I miss my creativity.  Is it summer break yet?

After practice ended, I decided to stop by a thrift store to see what deals I have been missing.  Here's what ended up in my shopping basket:

 I can't wait to get these frames sprayed in some fun color!!

 All 4 frames totaled about $15.00.

 2 little wire baskets at .99 cents each.

This great square basket was only .99 cents.  I am going to fill it full of toiletries and put it under the sink in the guest bathroom.

This wire magazine rack was only $1.00 and will work perfectly in any room!

Then I stopped by the outlet malls and scored these shoes!!!!

The heels and wedges were on clearance for $6.99 with a buy one get one 50% off sale!  The sandals were $2.99 a pair.  Then I scored some $5.00 coupon card at the register, so who knows what they ended up costing.....dirt cheap!!!

And then, just because I could....I bought this huge, flower clip.  WHOA (Blossom reference).

But now I'm home.  Alone.  The weather is perfect for eating and movies. There are a million things I need to be doing and 2 million things I could be doing.  The house is quiet.  I was home before 7.  And this is what I did....

My favorite oversized hoodie and Rusty's Navy boot camp sweats....

A chic-flick....

and....dinner......

 

I wish I were lying, but I'm not!  It's a dream come true!  Cheese, crackers, chips and cookies.  Confession:  while I took this picture, I was cooking a stovetop Knorr's Pasta Side (college days!).  Good news: I drank a Coke Zero with this feast.  Bad news: I haven't been to the gym in 2 months, and I will probably eat a biscuit for breakfast.  Confession #2: I put chocolate icing on the cookies I made to make them like the ones you buy in the mall.

 

I love it!

 

Did you know that this was an awesome Friday to send an awesome week?  It was awesome because I turned 28.  I went to the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain.  My guest bedding I ordered came.  I ordered a new necklace from Etsy.  My team won their 1st competition.  My kids were awesome at school.  The new County Living magazine came.  I cleaned my house during the week, so I can enjoy the weekend.  I am going to dinner tomorrow night at a restaurant that the hubs had to make reservations for.  It hit 67 degrees today.  AND....I discovered gel nail polish!  I lasts for 2 weeks without chipping!

 

Rusty, I know you will get this post on your EVO during the game.  Please hurry home; I am tired of feeling single.

 

Why was your week awesome?!

Sneak Peak

Here's a little sneak peak of the duvet cover I ordered for the guest bedroom! 

I can't wait to see it on the bed with the faux board and batten and SW Svelte Sage walls!!!

 

Source:  http://www.designerliving.com/Madison-Park-Sasha-6-Piece-Duvet-Set-P11188.aspx 

 

College Dorm Room Decor

Last weekend, one of my former students and I held a marathon crafting night to get her all set up for college.  Together, we had collected many ideas...mostly from Pinterest.  After about 6 hours of cutting, gluing, painting and mod podging plus some enchiladas and brownies, we ended up with all of these awesome pieces:

She bought a light gray duvet cover from Ikea and chose these bright colors for accents.

This is an upholstered headboard for a twin bed that we made out of FOAMCORE, 1" foam that we doubled and batting.  We covered some buttons in a light cream and tufted the headboard.  This will work perfectly for her dorm room since she can't put any holes into the walls.  We just looped some ribbon on the back to make a hook to hang from command strips!

Amber also bought one of these $5.00 lamps from Wal-Mart.  We just took some extra fabric from the headboard and made some little rosettes with ribbon accents.

For some quick door decor, we mod podged this letter A with some scrapbook and tied a ribbon loop.

I got this bunk bed ladder at a garage sale for $1.00.  We sprayed it with spray paint and used the belt sander to rough it up a little.  Since she won't have a lot of floor space in her room, she plans to use this ladder to take advantage of some vertical space.  She will hang her purses, hats, scarves, throw blankets, etc on this ladder.



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Inspired by this picture on Pinterest, we decided to make some cheap art with the toilet paper rolls I have been saving for the last few months.

Literally, we sprayed some flat canvases with spray paint or used some acrylic paints for a base color and glued contrasting painted toilet paper roll clippings to the canvas.  The designs are limitless!!  I love the girly flowers she went with.  That blue color with white flowers really made me want one of my own!  Hanging on a wall, it truly looks elegant.

It was a great night of collaborating with ideas and techniques.  I can't wait for her to get to college, set up and send me some pictures of everything together!

And wouldn't a slipcover for under $49.99 from UglySofa.com look great over a beat up couch in a dorm room!  My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia is hosting a KILLER giveaway!  Check it out here!

What about you?  Did you live in a dorm room during college?  Remember your color scheme or decor?  I lived at home and commuted, so my high school bedroom followed me into college! 

Linking up to the Pinterest Challenge over at: Young House Love, Bower Power, Style By Emily Henderson, Making A House A Home. 

Decorating With River Birch

I just wanted to share a few pictures of my entryway bench.

Before last week, I just had the two blue baskets.  The middle one was empty due to loaning it out, and it started to look lonely to me.  I got this idea stolen from Pottery Barn totally original idea and decided to fill it with some wood.

 

But not just any wood.

 

River Birch.

 

I love it!  I called up my childhood girlfriend, Holli, and she and her husband went to her dad's property and harvested some wood for me.  She passed it off to me last week when we met up for dinner, and that same day, I cut it up to the dimensions of my middle cubby.

I am loving it!

 

And I just found this tutorial on how to make a cushion for this bench....

 

And we also saved a little branch for this project:

Love Logs!



Coffee Table...er...Situation

Over the last few days, I have been analyzing our coffee table.  Well, we really don't have one.  Here is what we have been using since we moved in.

Now - I love this huge basket.  When we first bought it, we had it between our couch and wall.  It functioned as a home for our quilts.  I have no idea what brought it out into the middle of the floor, but I slapped a tray on there and it stayed.

But it's just not working for us.  Here's what I have pinned on Pinterest for inspiration.

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I love this option because it can function as a coffee table, a place to kick up your feet and a place you could sit on if I needed to move it around when we have a full house.

I am currently a MWF seeing a SRCT....let me translate: Married White Female seeking a Short Rectangular Coffee Table that I can upholster.  I am shopping Craigslist, yard sales and thrift stores.  I love the size of the basket, so I am looking for the same size and shape.

Of course, when I find one, that will only begin the torturing part of deciding on a fabric!!!  Anyone want to do a little mood board for fabrics that will work well with Sherwin Williams Ancient Marble walls, nude couches, white curtains and some dark, rich brown woods?  I'll love you forever :)

 

Bedside Bling...

Without much of a budget and nothing really rushing me, I have been tinkering around in the guest room since the recent overhaul.  So what do I do?  I just roam around the house and start grabbing what I have.  I knew that I wanted to flank the bed with tables of some sort, but I don't have any.  I threw this $14.00 thrift store chair beside the bed and love how it could function as a table!

For now, I threw a $5.00 yard sale end table (that is in desperate need of painting) on the other side with a $4.00 consignment shop lamp.

I love the curves of this lamp.  Those same curves are on the vase that I placed on the chair, actually... I guess I like big bottoms, haha.

There isn't a lot of space in the room after we put in a queen size bed.  I think the room is 10' x 11'.  A day bed would be perfect for the size of the space, but not in function.  We mostly have lovely romantic couples like us who need enough room to rhomp in when they stay over (did I just say that?!)...so... god save the queen...size bed.  Anywho....I am thinking a sweet little campaign desk on this wall would be so perfect!

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For this room, I would need a more narrow desk, but I am thinking this is completely DIYable...

 

Oh!  I don't know exactly where these will go, but they were $4.97 at Wal-Mart in the college section.  They had this chrome color and a brushed nickel color and a lot of empty rows that I am sure were filled with different colors.  They had about 5 or 6 different color shades that you could also mix and match up at $4.97 each.  Yesterday, I grabbed 2 to move around the house and think I will keep them no matter what.  They are so small and cute and big bottomed and can be sprayed any color!

Happy Tuesday!  This is my last wee of freedom...I start back to work next Friday :(