Letters/ABC

Hobby Lobby has the greatest selection of letters of all kinds--metal, wood, plastic! And...they were 50% off this week. I had been wanting a few to do some special decorating!

These were plastic ones. I love the shape of the letters--fancy Nancy! They were white but a little spray paint took care of that. The little washboard underneath was a present from my big brother I got YEARS ago! It's had a place in my laundry room. I'm just glad that I have those little white boxes named washer/dryer though.

This one was already black so no painting needed. I liked the size and the more "formal" shape to the letter. It earned a place of distinction over our fireplace in the living room.

I got my inspiration from a blog: Life With Team Carroll. Cara has lots of decor items you can visualize in pictures! You can take a goodbye tour of her house here. Since they moved recently I am awaiting her new tour on...HOUSE HUNTERS on HGTV. How exciting is that!!!!

Until next time...

Window covering update

The before:

My son was moving in with us for a while when he relocated back home and his house was leased. I did a quick makeover to make the downstairs more masculine--note the dark brown slipcovers and brown blue drapes and pillows.


The middle:

I updated the fireplace to make the room a little lighter. But the dark slipcovers and drapeless windows still didn't "make me happy".


The after:

These drapes have been stored for a couple of years. I used them in the dining room and living room.

I had a bolt of fabric I had  purchased years ago (when I used the drapes) and had never used. With my new  love of Chevron fabric I had enough to make four pillows that are two sided--one with the chevron and the other side with the black floral. 

I ordered new slipcovers on line from Walmart! At a good fantastic price! I may paint below the chair rail a lighter shade--maybe!!!

The total make over was less than $100! My kind of budget.

The slipcovers were a total of $75 and the chevron fabric I picked up at Hobby Lobby for $13. The fantastic thing was that it was the same quality of fabric as the floral!

I feel much better!

Good Daughter-in-law Deed

I've been wanting to get rid--yes want to take a hammer and knock these down.  They are from the 70's in case you are too young for that. They don't belong to me. Which creates a problem. It would really be tacky to say--do you know how ugly those are?

Now, do you understand? Enough said. Every time we visited from 900 miles away I stared at those. This time my mother-in-law isn't quite herself. As in suffering from pain and short term memory loss. We actually did a few projects around the house and casually mentioned--would you like those painted? 


We couldn't tear them down. That would have caused a bigger problem as in replacing the carpet. (That is another story--we heard over and over about the dirty carpet). 


MIL said that it was fine. This is the result. Better. Not what I really want but much better. I wish we could have taken down the spindles but she is in l-ooo-ve with those.

Removing the spindles is possible. I know. We used to have them in our house--here:--they were right behind the loveseat. Much better. Refreshing.

So my good deed gave me a little peace of mind! Mr. Spouse is going to paint the dining room since he is still there. MIL is in the hospital after having surgery yesterday. Prayers accepted.

Driven by Paint

Savy Southern Style is allowing me to vent. I'm sharing here. Paint problems! It seems all paint is not the same. I tried. I wrote down which paint was in which room/rooms. I had a few places to touch up in the family room and laundry room. I took the can labeled with the color and touched up a few places. But it wasn't the same. You know what that means? If I can't find the paint that matches from my multitude of cans the only thing to do is to paint the entire room.


I tried four different ones until I finally tried one that I had taken to my son's house. It saved me from painting the entire family room.

Then on to the laundry room. There were just a few teeny tiny places that were causing me to be sure that a little paint would take care of the problem. But this time--I couldn't find the paint to match. One would look a little too light and one would look orange. 


The one good thing about the whole project was I cleaned that room totally out. I ironed all my clothes that had been set aside for months. I did all this the night before so I could get an early start.
 I took the inspiration color from my latest "gray" love from my master bedroom.

I had two half cans of the same color--well it says it is the same color. I poured the two cans together and added a touch of white to lighten it a bit since the laundry room has no windows. 


The added touches are black paint that is actually a gallon of mis-tinted paint I got for practically nothing. I've painted the vanity, mirror frame, cabinet, and shelf with it. I'm still on the look for a few more accessories!

This cabinet was brown. 

The vanity was white and the mirror was a brown one I got at TJMaxx. Much easier to do for me than to add trim to a mirror,

Wash stand is an antique from a hotel. We stripped it and poly was applied.

Again, a use of black paint. I need to redo the accessories.

I like the pop of black with the Mindful Gray SW paint color.

Aqua hobnail that was my grandmothers.

Just doesn't match but is one of my favorite pics. I love the hydrangeas.

Mr. Spouse recently painted our shutters. They were green and are now a chocolate brown.   LOVE!

Day 2--Meet and Comment

Jenna's second day of the challenge is to describe why and what I blog about.

I began this blog about a month ago. I became interested in some blogs that were not teaching related and enjoyed meeting new people and gaining inspirations from their activities/decorating/cooking, etc . I guess some of the first ones that I came upon were:

Life With Team Carroll

Babbling Abby

The Yellow Cape Cod

My latest one that I absolutely am interested in is the remaking of a house that needed lots of love over at Southern Hospitality. Rhoda has gone through some tough times and is now at the point to take a house and make it a home. That is /has been my desire. I've lived in my house for 32 years. So it isn't new. The rooms have been home for me for quite a while. Memories abound--both good and bad. But I'm always wanting to change little things here and there to make it a loving place and a comfortable place to relax.

I like a challenge. I like to think that I can understand the blogging aspect itself. I created this blog by myself. Lots of google searches to find ways to change HTML. I'm definitely not an expert. But I keep trying.

Now, I have time tonight to search and read/comment on ten new blogs.

Meet and Comment

Hi! I'm a new blogger in the home/family world. I have had a teaching blog for over a year. But since I am new--I really need some friends. I feel so...well lonely! 
I am joining Jenna's Journey and the 3rd Annual Commenting Challenge.


I am a first grade teacher and love the decorating of my classroom. I love to read and the joy of teaching my firsties to engage in the world of books is heart rendering!


I am married to a wonderful guy. We have been married for 35 years now and he is my best friends. We have had three children--all boys. My first son is now deceased. He was a police officer. My next son is married and is in the nuclear engineering field. My youngest son is a coach and high school teacher.


I have been a follower of HGTV and love to peek inside homes all across America. I started out watching Matt and Shari on Room by Room. I guess this started my redecorating. We've done lots of projects in our home!


Please join me in my journey of blogging!

Fireplace Makeover

I was inspired by a post on The Yellow Cape Cod. 

After viewing this I was determined to try this. But fear set in. Once I had started the process, there would be no going back. I went to SW. And looked at the same paint that was recommended. I really didn't want to spend $50 for the paint. So off to Lowe's. The paint mentioned was acrylic latex. Indoor paint. I asked the workers that were mixing paint. They said they didn't have anything that was acrylic latex in indoor paint. So, in my car and just went home.

I slept on it a few days. I came back and read the tutorial. Again, I went to Lowe's and decided I would read the labels because surely they had something. Well, this time the workers were running through with their big loader cart and I kept having to step out of the way. I could NOT find anything and just gave up and went home...again.

I slept on it a few more days--it sounds like I do a lot of sleeping but I promise you that isn't the case.

OK. Third trip to Lowe's. Walked in and went to the Valspar paint--flat indoor white paint--and there in nice big letters--100% acrylic latex. Now I'm not even sure why this is what is needed. But I grabbed that paint and paid for it--it was $27. Much better than $50.

I thought it would take hours and hours to complete. I finally got my nerve up. And started:

30 minutes--cleaning off the mantel and wiping down the brick.

10 minutes--preparing by taping off areas and mixing the paint/whitewash mixture.

I mixed two cups of paint and two cups of water. It is really,, really thin!

45 minutes--painting on a section and then wiping it off. And project was complete!!!!

What? I did it in only a little over an hour????

I'm not finished with accessorizing. But I just placed a couple of things there to see the contrast.

I think I'm going to sleep well tonight! I'm a happy camper.

Linking up to Beneath My Heart best June project.