Who doesn't love toile?

So I finished the little French Chair.

I did the usual of priming it and then painting it with Heirloom White. I glazed it a bit, but you just can't really tell with the lighting in this picture.

However, to me it still feels like it is missing something.

I am thinking of painting it a deep red instead, to match the red in the toile - what do you think - repaint it?  Keep it the same?

So just where did this love for toile come in?  A couple of years ago, I was on the hunt for some chairs to put in my music studio for clients to sit on when they come for a consultation, or for students to use while waiting for their lesson. I found a set of cherry stained dining chairs at St. Vincent de Paul for $14.00. 

 I didn't bother to refinish the wood since it seemed fine to me, but just changed out the upholstery in the chairs. 

 After I completed that project, I still had some toile that needed to be used up.  Feeling inspired by other's decor blogs, a month ago I made these throw pillows out of the left over toile and put them in the chairs in the family room. 

 Then of course there was the toile embellishment on the end table I recently redid.

I thought you might like to know where I put it.

I am still working on accessorizing and adding more to that area. The cute little owl, I picked up at the thrift store for .75. The lamp was one that was in another room that was not being used. The candlestick was white, I painted it black. I plan on doing something interesting with the lamp shade, but am not quite sure yet.  I am still mulling over that one.

Linking to All Things Thrifty and Mustard Seed Creations.

Gardening Tip - Roses

Those of you that live in humid and rainy conditions no doubt are constantly trying to keep your rose bushes and peonies healthy.

I am constantly fighting black spot mildew on my roses. I have tried eco-friendly products that contain neem oil, as well as more toxic varieties. The best cure is to have sun and some hot dry weather, which unfortunately we haven't had a lot of lately.  Recently I learned that at the International Rose Test Garden at Washington Park in Portland Oregon, the botanist has had a difficult time with keeping black spot off of their roses as well. While watching the news tonight, he made the recommendation that if you have a 4 hour window without any rain and full sun, you can spray the roses with either milk or a mixture of 1 tsp. of baking soda mixed with one quart of WARM water and a few drops of liquid dish detergent. This will change the pH balance within the plant and help stave off black spot on the healthy leaves. It is best to hand pick and remove the infected leaves first however, as well as pick up any diseased leaves that have fallen on the ground. Do not put them in your compost bin. You do not want to infect your nice compost soil with the fungus!

I am eager to try this out on my 4 rose bushes and see if it makes a difference.

Last Minute Gift

It's the end of the wire in our neck of the woods. My girls will finish up with school this Thursday. Yes, I realize that it is later than a lot of you get out. In the meantime, I have been working on some crafts for the teachers as a thank you. One of my daughters is in Special Ed, and has a support staff that goes above and beyond for her. I stewed and stewed over what I could give these wonderful teachers that have worked so hard with her. At Christmas time, many of them received hand knit gifts from me. I finally decided to make them each a Scrabble Pendant. I picked up a Scrabble game at a garage sale a few weeks ago and just got to work on them over the weekend, amongst many, many other projects.  I would like to say that they all turned out perfectly, but they didn't.  This is where I am in the process. For you my readers, I pulled out all the stops in my presentation. I decided to photograph them on a wax paper covered paper plate. Very Glam. No, some of them are still drying. I had a heck of a time driving all over town trying to find some Aaranku jewelry bails. After shopping at four different stores, I found just a few at an upscale bead shop. Then when I was attempting to glue them to the back of the tile with some Krazy glue, I made a mess and gummed up my fingers. I have never made any jewelry, unless you count stringing pony beads with my kids onto some elastic cording. Now, I am just trying to make the clasps on the necklace work and put it all together. In the end if I decide they don't look that great, well, I will just say that the kids made them... he he he...
Hopefully they enjoy the thought and time that went into these pendants and I can let go of some of my Obsessive/Compulsive tendencies and not worry what they think!

The Magic of Spray Paint

I found these ugly 80's inspired plastic wall sconces at St. Vincent de Paul a few weeks ago. For $1.00 I thought it would be fun to see if I could transform them into something usable.  What did I have to lose? 

So after cleaning them up, priming them and giving them a couple of coats of Heirloom White, this is what I ended up with! I am liking the new wall accents for my front entry.

I may change out the candles for a brighter red. It's all about seeing the potential and what something COULD be when you cast your eyes upon that garish object at the thrift store.

I'm linking this to Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest

The End Table's Long Lost Cousin.

The garage sales were good to me this morning!  I hit probably close to ten garage sales. I picked up this little pink table. I loved the knobs more than anything. The paint job? Super, super sloppy! No primer, cheap paint and brush strokes galore!  Shabby Chic?  More like Shabby Crappy.  It was only $4.00. I am going to give it new life, the process if so much fun! I am not sure where it will go. I will either paint it and put it in my music studio, or put it in my oldest daughter's room.  This afternoon, I put a little paint stripper on the top to see how quickly it would curl. The paint came right off. It reminded me of my grade school days when we used to take liquid Elmer's glue, put some on our hands, spread it thin and then wait for it to dry. Peeling it was the fun part.

Onto item number two.  This lovely chair  is the same style as the end table I recently refurbished. The price was $5.00, I offered $4.00, and it was mine. It doesn't need much work, just some cleaning, priming, painting and new upholstery - toile of course! I think I will use it for my computer nook in the family room.

Last but not least, the end table's long lost cousin!

Guess what? It of course matches the chair and the end table.  I paid $20 for it. I probably could have gotten it for less, the people were happy I was buying it, however the garage sale was a fundraiser for "Relay For Life," so I didn't haggle on that price, as it was going for a good cause. It has some good bones and will be an easy fix. The plan is to turn it into a t.v. console. It's a good thing that my husband doesn't mind that the family room is gradually getting a little frillier.  He just doesn't realize it yet. :-)

So three pieces of furniture that I can refurbish and give new life. Not bad for $28.00!

I Love Craigslist.

Who doesn't love an online garage sale? I check Craigslist multiple times throughout the day. Usually I am browsing on there while playing a game of Farkle against someone on Facebook. Deals are to be had on Craigslist! There is also a whole 'lotta overpriced junk, and interesting dissertations given by the seller, trying to sell their item. My  recent favorite was  a girl's Huffy bicycle I saw listed. What made this so interesting? The description of course. It read something like this, " Nice bike, low miles."  Low miles on a pedal bike? Since when do bicycles come equipped with odometers? That one had me giggling for awhile.

Anyway... every once in awhile you can find a nice piece of furniture for cheap, but you have to act fast.  This corner hutch I scored for just $30!  I nabbed it fast, bought it sight unseen and sent my husband to pick it up on Memorial Day. It is missing glass and has a little water damage on the back at the very bottom. I am thinking of either replacing the glass, putting in bead board instead of the glass, or perhaps some pretty fabric.  What do you think? I will paint it and perhaps update the hardware. I also think it would look great with a piece of molding a long the top. That part I will leave to my husband, since I am kind of klutzy with knife-like objects.  I have a few scars and battle wounds, to prove my point. The hutch is just one of many projects that I have in the works currently, so it may be awhile before I can do a big reveal.

In the meantime, I am on the hunt for an all wood dresser, for the right price of course, that I can turn into a media console.

Ending The Night Terrors of the end table

So I picked up this little beauty at a middle school rummage sale a few weeks ago, for a mere $3.00.

I cleaned it, primed it and sprayed it with multiple coats of spray paint.  Then I antiqued it by applying a mixture of glaze, some brown acrylic paint I had on hand and a little bit of MinWood's Special Walnut stain.  It was still missing something, so I took some toile fabric that I had left over from another project, and decoupaged it onto the drawer. I attempted to put toile on the top, but it just didn't look right, so I ripped it off. The floral knob I picked up at the hardware store, and it was an ugly brassy color, so naturally I spray painted it.  Such fun, and this little end table was given a new life.

Sorry for any shadows that are in the pictures. I do not have a fancy SLR digital camera, so this is what you get!