Pretty Petals

Lace Candles

I covered some of these pretty glass candles with lace today... I am going to give one as a gift to a friend and keep the other two.

 

I love to buy these white holy candles in the glass jars... they burn a super long time and are very inexpensive.  I buy them at "family dollar"... if you have one of those near you they are only $1.50 each. What I love about these candles is that they have no scent... I am always burning candles and too many scented ones burning can give me a headache!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

these are the first little sprigs from my lilac bush... I am anxiously waiting for it to bloom fully.

 

 

 

the candles will look so pretty once the wax burns down a little and the lace pattern shows more through the glass. :)

have a great day!

Heather

 

 

 

An Old Tapestry

I found this beautiful old french tapestry a few summers ago... I love it. I am trying to find a frame for it, but for now it hangs just as it is.

 

Happy Sunday to you!

xo Heather

 

Pretty Pansies

I love pansies, don't you? I especially love these deep dark purple ones...

 

 

 

 

Have a happy day! xo Heather

 

A Beautiful Man

I lost my beloved Dedo this past week. I absolutly adored him and as I sat in the church at the funeral I kept thinking how absolulty blessed I am to have had this man in my life... and for my children to have been able to know their amazing great grandfather. This picture is him holding my oldest son at his baptism.

He lived a long life and died at 93 years old. He came to this country from Yugoslavia to make a fresh start like so many others after World War II... He suffered tremendous heartbreak during the war losing almost all of his family. He never would talk much about it though...  he would just get tears in his eyes and tell me how blessed I am to live in this country.

I will never forget this man... he truly was the kindest and most loving grandfather and I only hope I will one day be as loved by my grandchildren as he was by his.

May you all have a wonderful Easter treasuring the ones you love.

xoxo Heather

 

 

trash to treasure

Someone was throwing this cupboard away in my neighboorhood.... so I snatched it up because it is SO cute... a little pepto bismol pink which is not for me. And how about that brown and white gingham check contac paper?? lol...

but with some PAINT (and a new drawer) it could be a treasure.

 

 I stripped all the lovely paper away.. to find some cute chippy white paint underneath.

 

 

 

 

and then painted it white... with a wash of very pale gray over the white.

 

 

I added a piece of wood where the drawer was missing with some liquid nail (love liquid nail) and I still need to put a pull on there to make it look like it is a drawer.. but really I was too lazy to actually make a drawer. It probably would have turned into a junk drawer anyway, because I have way too many junk drawers, so it is better that it really isn't a drawer.

 

 

It was missing the glass in the doors so I cut some old screen that I had to fit the doors... I love the screen!

 

 

 

 

 

I am kind-of  liking it on my porch... it could be cute with some gardening things inside... I am still trying to decide where to put it.

 

 

I left some of the pink paint to show through... just here and there. I also let some blue show through because i first started painting it blue but then didn't like it and went to white.

 

 

 

 

I have this very small piece of vintage wallpaper that i have been saving forever... I need to do something with it. I love the blue roses.

 

 

 

 

 

These bottles are adorable... I bought them at Michael's craft store for only $2.00 a bottle and they had the little shells on them already. Luv em.. you should get yourself some.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been on a painting spree lately... don't know what is next to get the paintbrush from me.. but if it is anything good I will let you know.

xoxo Heather

 

 

 

Bohemian Style

 

I LOVE Bohemian style...it is relaxed... not fussy... collected... weathered... mix matched colors, textures and patterns. ..fun... youthful. I have loved it since I was a teenager.Here are some pictures to inspire... I like looking at them all together.

You can just pick out that little something that makes it bohemian in each photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

how cute are these little suitcase seats?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

all of the above pictures came from my pinterest... you can follow the links for their sources.

 

source

 

 

source

 

 

source

 

source

 

fun don't you think?

xo Heather

 

Kitchen Cabinets Painted! ~ before and after

I have been trying to fix up our vintage (outdated!) kitchen. When I first looked at this house before I moved in I had a vision of what I could do with this kitchen with my very small (non existant) budget.  It was in pretty rough shape but I saw the potential.

 

 

This is the before.. dishes and all! haha

 

After!

 

 

Before...

 

 

After!

 

 

Before...

 

 

After!!

 

 

 

 

The entire floor was covered in this horrid tile... it was yellow with age and gray. It took me months to scrape this up off the floor. Some parts were glued down so good I didn't think I would ever get it off. I would work on it working my way around the kitchen removing one section at a time. I wish i had a better picture of the whole kitchen with this floor..

 

This is the floor after!

This wood floor was underneath that ugly tile. Someone told me that older homes sometimes have solid wood subfloors which are much nicer than traditional plywood subfloors so I decided to try to refinished it by doing a paint wash over it by mixing chocolate brown paint and water. You can still see the grain of the wood but it is mostly uniform in color. It looks like a very old farm floor I think.. and the best part is that it didn't cost me anything but paint.

 

 

I bought new hardware for the cabinets...  I love how they look with the white paint.

 

So here is my cost breakdown... I made myself decorate with things I already had instead of going out to buy new things so no cost there.

paint and primer $65.00

hardware $55.00

2 baskets for top of cabinets (already had two... needed two more similar in size) $18.00

a whole lot of love $0.00

Total cost for the kitchen redo was $138.00!!

 

you can click the links below to see the hardware I bought...

value pack of Satin Nickel pulls from home depot

Satin Nickel Cabinet pull from Lowes

~Paint color was Swiss Coffee by Behr (home depot) and i used this Zinsser primer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I know that this is not some gorgeous modern kitchen... It is actually a very basic and humble little kitchen... but it is evidence that you can turn something that is ugly and worn into something pretty with a few cans of paint and a little work!

 

xo Heather

 

 

 

mix and match frames

 

 

The wall above my couch is rather awkward because it is the staircase wall. I created a picture gallery of some of my favorite ladies to soften the harsh lines of that wall.

I had 6 vintage pictures from picking them up at flea markets... and then I printed two of the images and framed them in newer frames (that look old) to fill in where I needed them. Before I hung them all up I layed them out on the floor to arrange and also cut paper to the size of the frame so I could arrange them on the wall so I would know where to nail.

 

 

 

A little funky don't you think?

 

 

 

These are some of my favorite ladies..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This whole room was very dark paneling and had an ugly orange rug when I moved in here...  we painted everything white (swiss coffee by behr) and put in a light wooden laminate floor. It looks a million times brighter! Amazing what a little paint can do.

 

Kitchen Shelves

Last weekend I hung some shelves in my kitchen... I did a good job of packing them full of stuff! lol These are just very inexpensive shelves from ikea.. I think they were only $8 a shelf which is great.

I love shelves in a kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have some more pics of my kitchen that I need to post... I painted my cabinets white and it is quite a transformation. I will share soon. Have a great day!

 

xoxo

Heather

 

velvet art journal

This is my latest art journal... The cover is made from a velvet baby bonnet that i was saving forever. I save things all the time and they never get used and end up sitting in a box.need to stop doing that.

 

 

These are some of the pages inside..

I painted this page with watercolors...

Here is another watercolor I painted... trying to learn!

Well, off to make my bed... it is a gorgeous sunny day and I have fresh clean sheets to put on.  I am all into these vintage flower pillowcases lately. I love the bright colors.

 

Have a great day!

xo 

Heather