Inexpensive Wall Art~

We recently painted our girls' bathroom.  The bathroom had been a bubblegum pink color.  The original idea (or the girls') was to make it look like Juicy Couture (the chocolate and pink with the cute little logos).  Well, that never happened!  And, the pink was so bright we had to put a dimmer on the light.  Pink is not a good color for a bathroom...the girls had the hardest time with makeup application due to the hue it would cast on their faces while applying!  Who knew?????

Anyhow, I am still adding the finishing touches to the bath since it received it's new pretty blue wall color (Jamestown Blue, Pottery Barn).  We love it with the rich chocolate cabinets the girls have.  I was at a loss for art however.  Couldn't find anything with the right colors.  Then when in JoAnn's one day I stumbled upon some scrapbook paper I loved, and the perfect colors too.  I found some great 12X12 frames on sale at Michaels.  One piece I left as is, I liked the bold graphic design.  Then I found the stripe. I cut out the letter J (for our last  name) from another piece of the graphic scrapbook paper and glued it to the striped one. Instant ART!!

When I get all the finishing touches in place, I'll reveal the whole room (what there is of it, it is quite small actually).

Fall Tray~

We have an iron tray with glass that we keep on our coffee table in our family room to set drinks down on and the remote controls.  I decided to add a bit of fall to it as the leaves here are FINALLY changing now that the South is cooling off.  I had some  burlap left from another project, so I just cut a piece the size of the glass, fringed the edge and placed it on the tray.  I went out into the yard and collected some fallen leaves, dried them, and placed them on top of the burlap and covered with the glass.  I love all of the beautiful colors nature  has to offer!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!  It is beautiful here.  We have been receiving some much needed rain, but expect clear  cool skies for Halloween!

Paint Formula~

After I posted the Before and After pictures of our entertainment center and fireplace surround, several of you asked about the paint I used and the formula.  So, here you FINALLY have it. We have used this color in several areas of our home (entertainment center, fireplace surround, back staircase, kitchen island, all bathroom cabinets) and love it.  Very easy to keep clean and it goes with EVERYTHING! It was a custom color mix at Porter Paints.

Homecoming 2010~

This past weekend we hosted 7 of our daughter's friends for Homecoming pictures, dinner and an after party.  A great time was had by all.  I was VERY impressed with the entire group, their manners were impecable!  It was such a blessing to be able to host them in our home.  Okay, enough talk...I know you want to see pictures!!!

The table is set~

Some fall flowers for the entryway~

Our Daughter~

Hamming It Up with a friend of hers who is a great photograper, he came home from college to take pictures for the group.

The Group~

Dinner~

As you can see, they all had a great time!  I couldn't get over how beautiful the girls looked, and the guys cleaned up well too! After the dance they came back to our house to induldge in the chocolate fountain and hang out.  The girls spent the night...they were up early, out the door with bagels and juice in hand and off to church by 9:30am!!  I was super impressed.

Adding a little fall~

We are finally enjoying cooler temps here in the South, and with that I have slowly been changing out our summer decor with items more suited to this time of the year.  I am really trying to use things we already have this year, rather than buying new.  I figure the Christmas decor will come out soon enough!

The first  thing I changed out was the flower bucket on our front door.

Next, I traded out the seashells for some pinecones in the large bowl  that sits on  the table in our library.

I then swapped the seashells in a hurricane in the library for a grape vine wreath I loosened and placed in the bottom along with some green Spanish moss and acorns.

Once again the seashells were stored away along with the jute roping and sand, and replaced with miniature pinecones my daughter collected years ago on a trip to North Carolina.

The bird's nest with little blue eggs on my cake plate with a cloche now holds a little white pumpkin.  I love these!

The iron crow I purchased at Pottery Barn came out as well...

And lastly, as least for today, my newest love~my Willow House lantern (set of two, this is the larger), got

some of the grapevine wreath as a base for a yummy smelling vanilla candle and was placed in the center of our dining room table.

Little by little we are starting to see fall around here in the South.  A welcome reprieve after several long months of 95+ degree temperatures.

I've been featured!

A very special Thank You to Vicky, Room Service Decorating~101, for featuring our fireplace surround "Before & After".  What a wonderful surprise on a cool crisp Monday morning!!