DIY Sisal Umbrella Stand

This is how this project ended up. A pretty close picture of what I imagined it would look like. Here is what it looked like before a zillion sticks of hot glue and yards of rope. Can you believe this glass container was brought home from a curbside trash pile and survived in my garage

my house got a “make over”

Have you ever noticed how different you look and feel when you apply just a touch of mascara, some blush and lip color.  It doesn’t have to be much, just a hint.   Most of the time I go without makeup, I will even curl my hair and feel wonderful and refreshed.  I mean if I

duck egg

my newest love. duck egg.  as in the color, not an egg.  which by the way, are duck eggs blue? i wouldn’t know.  but i do know that i’m smitten with the paint color ‘duck egg’. can you blame me? it’s so fun to open a fresh can of paint, especially Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

the new hearth

Considering it took me 25 years to remove something that I didn’t like in my home, the fact that it took me a few months to complete the new hearth is like… a blink of an eye. It all began one Sunday morning when the desire to remove the brick hearth around my fireplace, moved

a door frame for Christmas…and more!

West Wing…Sun Room…Library, it’s a room with many names.  A room that was once the back patio, a door way that was once a wall one window and a door to the back patio.  Since we needed more room and more light, we removed the wall, enclosed the patio, added french doors (for light) and

there’s more to it…the big reveal continues

After writing yesterday’s post about the entry reveal, I stumbled upon this photo of the “real” before of our entry plus all the junk we piled into this small space when we were beginning this tiny little renovation.  We started in that corner to the left. This was then… this is now… and  off to

Ready to reveal…enter here

We’re finally in the home stretch with our den renovation.  Since our entry, den and small sun room areas all flow together, we redid all three at the same time. All three were painted different colors. They all blended but it was time to lighten things up a bit and tie the three areas together.

going for the “Old World” look

Last Monday I headed south to my daughter’s house, with a weeks worth of clothes, a huge roaster, a turkey platter, electric knife, a decorative plate, a can of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Antibes Green, a can of AS dark wax and a brush. We had much to do in two days. My jobs

we’ve only just begun…

 we painted our den a lovely shade of red…in 1995 it’s now time for a change we finally took action on what we’ve talked about for about 2 years now a new color i hate decisions especially those that i will have to live with for 16 more years so it’s gotta be the right

31 Days of Before & After ~ Day 23 “Corrected & Completed”

Years. It’s been years. Many years that I had planned to do something with this eyesore. Back up. It wasn’t always an eyesore, but it became one when I began experimenting and then walked away from the project and never finished. Now you know my secret. Thus the reason for me taking this 31 Days