Tweaking an already good thing!

In the winter, I love my dark green room, painted "Green Briar." But every spring I wish it was lighter. I have no overhead lighting in my formal living room- or music room as we call it. I have a huge bay window in there but since its off my covered front porch not a lot of light comes in there. So it is overall a pretty dark room. In the spring I always want to lighten it up and freshen it. But painting it seems overwhelming- and I know in the winter I will regret it- plus my hottie loves the color. Well since I started following all these awesome blogs I've realized that I can have different art work and accessories for different seasons- which it great for me cause I change my mind ALL.THE.TIME:) So thanks ladies for making me feel comfortable switching it up;)



I love spring. I love decorating. I love the Goodwill and the other thrift stores in town. I was out one Saturday afternoon doing the dreaded big grocery store trip and well, I have to pass the Goodwill to get there, so I thought- "um, I'll just run in real quick" famous words I speak often... And this time, boy was I glad I did! I ran into these beauties- white canvas stamped (by some other lovely creative person) with this green design. Perfect for switching out in my room in the spring- a way to lighten up the room. Bonus- the set was $6.97!!





Aren't they lovely? Well I thought so. But once I put them up I thought maybe they were just a bit stark and lacking character. So I thought I would try adding a bit of glaze to them to add to the charm. I wasn't sure what color to do since I didn't want them dark....

Lucky for me my good old friend had this taupe on hand so I gave it a try. And I loved it- it ages it a bit- plus its a bit shimmery- but not too much....

Here is one without it and one with it. Can you tell? It was hard to get a picture to show it- but trust me- its PERFECT!

Then- I just so happened to have a ton of topiary forms that I picked up at another local thrift store. I have 3 large ones and 3 small ones. These are the small ones and were $.50 each. I bought some moss at the dollar tree and used less than one bag for both of them. I put on the moss with hot glue.

I also picked up these 2 ceramic pots at the dollar tree to put the topiaries in. I had to cut the foam form on the bottom a bit to make them fit but it was easy peasy. and What a deal! I made both topiaries for $4!

Here are some after shots of the top of my piano. I've also done some other things- switched out the curtains and so on.....

And that little guy, Mr. Bird- I picked him up at the dollar tree too. Man, I love that place too!!

And there you have it- a lighter, fresher look! It looks a ton better- the before included a black framed Renoir print- I really like it, but its really dark. And I did this for only $12- and I'll have all of this for every spring to come. I have learned so much from my blogging friends- guilt free, c.h.e.a.p., mind changing ability:)

I'm linking to A Soft Place to Land - DIY day - check out all the other creative inspirations!

"You"nique for the Unique

Ok, so it was Christmas and a few of my besties and I decided to draw names from a hat. Well, I was extremely thrilled with the idea! I mean, my besties have some of the best taste in this part of the northeast- so woohooo! I was about to get an awesome gift!!
Then reality set in- I guess that really didn't happen until we actually pulled the names. Then- you guessed it- I got the girl who has it all! How do I sum up this sweetie- um, she is eclectic, honest about her feelings, extremely generous- oh and LOVES to SHOP! Yep- now that is a lovely UNIQUE compassionate Chic but also the hardest of the bunch (in my opinion) to shop for. Remember the part when I said she was honest about her feelings- well that was not an understatement. Now don't get me wrong here- that is something that I truly admire her for - she is upfront- what you see is what you get- not even close to Fake. Well even though I find that admirable in this particular instance it scared the heck out of me:)
So what do you buy the girl who has everything, is eclectic and will certainly let you know if she doesn't care so much for it- I was shakin' in my boots!
Well- this is exactly why I love Blog world!! I knew I needed to do something fun to match her personality and certainly something that was one-of-a-kind so she wouldn't already have it- so off I went to search my blogs. It just so happened that I saw a post about someone making a skirt into a purse- ahhhh perfect- she loves purses!! I hit the thrift stores and found a few skirts- I bought two. The one I liked was hot pink corduroy- I was worried about the color- I mean not many people can pull off a funky hot pink corduroy purse- but Jules- well she has the funky unique personality for just that. Now I was getting excited! I was planning to simply sew the bottom shut- turn it right-side out like the post I saw- sweet and simple. But once again my perfectionism and need to please took over- I wanted her to love it- so the fury began! I just so happened to be taking a sewing class at the time and we just so happened to be making quilted purses with linings and pockets- this made me want to add pockets for organizing- I mean she has 5 kids- she needs all the help she can get:) Then I just went as funky as possible- cause she is so Fun- I had to do it up for her!

Unfortunately I don't have a before picture of the skirt- but I think you get the idea. The side angled pockets were part of the skirt. I added a purse strap that I bought at JoAnn's with my coupon and a magnetic close. I was shooting for a hobo bag. The flowers I made with material that I used for the pockets and lining. I followed blog posts once again for these. I did use a light weight interfacing between the lining and corduroy to help shape it. Anyway, check out the pics to get the idea.

But the best part- well that was her extreme excitement when she opened it. And the reaction from the rest of the gang too. I'm telling you- to impress these ladies the way that I did- well that was far better than receiving any day. And Jules- well, she told me this was her favorite gift this year- that is priceless:)
(PS- I did get an amazing gift as well- I cried when I opened it- my bestie hit the nail on the head- she is such a great shopper and thoughtful friend:)

linking too

metamorphis monday at between naps on the porch

and DIY day at A Soft Place to Land