Creative Lampshades

What a cool idea for a lamp shade! Use an old shirt! From http://bethcrabtreehunter.blogspot.com

Window Mistreatments

I've officially joined the window "Mistreatment" club at The Nester's.

Oh, just the club I need to join. I've been procrastinating making curtains for my Master bedroom and came up with this lovely idea!! My husband still laughs each time he looks at them. Mistreatments is the perfect word.

(note: they are 95" curtains folded in half and hung on rings. sad, I know.)

How to throw the party of the season | mydeco

How to throw the party of the season | mydeco

1930s style glamour

Addicted To Throw Pillows

Hi, my name is Debra and I am a throw pillow addict.

I admit that not only do I feel the need to change throw pillows frequently, and I hoard fabrics for that purpose, and I stash pillows in my attic -- I also try to get others to join in my addiction. I am hopeless!

Here is a new thing I recently (did to serve my addiction) ahem -- came up with. Quick and Dirty New Throw Pillows!!

My little "behind your head when reading" pillows were showing dirt and wear so... I took two little pieces of an "end of the bolt" wonderful bargin fabric I had in the attic.

 Cutting the pieces just a little bit larger than the top piece of fabric, I simply folded it over at the edges and began to sew with my large turkey needle. I carefully grabbed a piece of the trim with each stitch and tried to keep the fabric right along that edge.

And here is my completed "new" throw pillow! I did one more for the other side of the couch too. (I love symmetry in my world) Bonus! Look closely at the largest pillow at the back and YES, I admit it, it is a Quick and Dirty Throw Pillow also. I used left-over fabric from the breakfast room chairs on the fronts of these pillows.

Happy sewing and best of luck with your home addictions.

Lake House Kitchen Backsplash Project!!

Here is Steve and Lexie sorting out the kitchen the first summer we visited the Lake House. Notice the grey backing board on the backsplash. At the time not even the electric outlets were fastened to the all and had no plug covers. The previous owners had planned to tile this area but didn't get to it. And neither did I that summer or the next...

So, first I took down the boards and decided to paint to match the rest of the room. The backing was plain old paneling so I used some kiltz before trying to cover the wood. It took several coats but it finally came out very nice.

In between coats I touched up the white cabinets.

Then I painted two unfinished pedestals white to match the cabinets and placed one at each end of the upper cabinets for effect.

What a nice vacation kitchen! All ready for next time.

The Lake House Kitchen Floor Re-do!

One of the biggest projects that needed completion at the Lake House was the kitchen. The tile floor grout was chalky and breaking off making a mess everywhere. We had a big rug over it for the past two summers but I decided to tackle the job once and for all. (I hope!) Having never done more than the two table tops of broken tile before I was really worried that I would just make it worse.

The girls and I took two days to get it done. First, began gouging out the loose grout with flat head screwdrivers. Probably not the safest way but it worked for us. Then I vacuumed and began grouting according to the directions on the ready-made grout purchased at Lowe's.

The first side came out good! So we walked carefully walked around the newly grouted tiles and admired our success.
The next day we really worked hard to get all the grout up that was damaged. We had to replace two tiles that came up with the grout chopping, so thankfully, we had extras around. (I used those two damaged tiles for the tabletop project.)

Here I am (with sore knees) adding grout to the last section of tiles. I know I took a photo of the girls working on the grout but it must be on one of the phones and not the camera's so I'll add that later. Anyway, the floor came out so great! I'm really proud of our work. Next, the backsplash!